In today’s world, organizations both large and small are all forced to do more with less. However, for nonprofit organizations that are already under constant pressure to run a lean operation, increase efficiencies and keep costs low, the need to raise money is a constant.

The agencies that comprise Washington State Community Action Partnership (WSCAP) confront these same stresses – especially as more and more families find themselves in poverty.

WSCAP is working to build healthy communities and eliminate poverty. The partnership is made up of 26 non-profit organizations and four local government agencies. It serves low-income families and individuals in all 39 counties in the state of Washington and has been providing vital human services to those in need for over 40 years.

On Sept. 12, Molly McWhinnie and I had an opportunity to speak with WSCAP about leveraging social media for fundraising. The goal of our presentation was to provide this vital group with insight into how they can use new social media platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, to successfully build awareness, engage with their target audiences, and raise funds. 

Through our work we learned that many organizations truly believe that social media is a transformative tool with the power to change the way they connect with and empower their supporters. However, while social media can ultimately serve as a valuable tool to raise money, it’s not easy to accomplish and must be used effectively.

Given this, we decided to focus our three-hour session on teaching participants how to successfully utilize social media in conjunction with other marketing communication activities to get the most return on investment and put the most money in the bank.

We discussed:

• Tangible tips and guidance for leveraging social media to boost fundraising efforts, including:
• Identifying your target audiences and the online communities where they congregate
• Strategies for engaging your target audiences through social media
• Online tools that make it easier for organizations to raise funds via social media, keep fundraising efforts organized, and manage content
• Creative and compelling social media fundraising tactics

Lastly, we invited attendees to analyze a case study and share their ideas for how a nonprofit could raise $50,000 leveraging a social media fundraising campaign.  

Molly and I enjoyed leading this seminar and helping participants with WSCAP gain insight into techniques for applying social media strategies to help with nonprofit fundraising. We look forward to seeing which of the ideas we shared they put into practice in the coming months, and hope to develop a follow-up blog post to report back on their activities.

For more insight and ideas into best practices using social media for fundraising, please check out these blog posts.

• Marketplace Money Focuses on Social Media and Donations to Charities, Jan. 21, 2011
• Social Media and Fundraising, Jun. 4, 2010
• Tools for Fundraising, Sept. 15, 2010
• Nonprofit Success in Social Media, Aug. 3, 2009
• An Experiment Fundraising with Twitter, Sept. 4, 2009