How's that PAC?

Wow!  Talk about a hot political issue.  Health care reform.  Now, I'm sure many/most of us followed the heated debates over the past year, the Tea Parties, the posturing on both sides to make themselves heard.  And I thought both sides were loud and clear ... then last night, the vote!  I think I've lost part of my hearing!

Okay, I'm exaggerating.  But this issue is a live one.  Democrats, Republicans, and allies on both sides are raising money like crazy.  The email marketing started before the sun came up.  Fight the bill!  Defend the bill!  Overturn the bill!  Advance the cause!  Click here to find what is REALLY going on ... and on ... and on.

All of this reminds me of a very important question:  how is your organization's Political Action Committee, or PAC?  Is your technology up to date?  Online giving in place?  How about tracking and reporting capabilities?

There is some very good SaaS technology out there to support the typical PAC.  Need something more sophisticated?  Open source platforms can be developed pretty quickly that will combine the best of vendor COTS software with the customized extras that give you exactly what you need.

And I know, this blog post does sound like a crass commercial message.  But in reality, we are all so busy that many of us are often spurred to action when the bugle sounds, not three months in advance.  That's no reflection on us - more a reflection on the very busy times we live and work in.  So, there is no better time for a health-check on your PAC.  If you need some help, you know where to find us.

Donor Experience - What's the Big Deal?

Participating in a workplace giving web forum today, I was pleased when someone raised questions about 'donor experience' - why does it matter so much?  Great question.

Think of every experience on the web/Internet as an experience in communication ... an invitation to engage in a dialogue.  With so much to do, with so many places to go, things to do, and people to talk to - in cyber space and the real world - if you want someone's attention then you've got to provide a worthwhile experience. 

Marketing and sales departments in the corporate world understood this first.  Governments and nonprofits followed.  But that's the past.  Today, the most effective fundraising organizations recognize that successful fundraising begins with successful communication ... and successful communication is a multi-media experience.  That's why web technology - especially social media - can be such an effective tool for engaging and organizing people to support a charity's cause.  Just ask the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Nobody does it better than they do.

"But how does this apply to workplace giving?" you ask.  "After all, our giving programs involve a one-time ask in the fall, followed by a year of payroll deduction.  We aren't professional fundraisers."

My answer is simple.  Donor experience is the ticket to the dance.  Giving through the workplace offers great benefits to the employee donor - payroll deduction and, often, matching dollars, are two of them.  But while those benefits help close the sale, today they don't open the door.  Donor experience is the key. Let me put it a different way:  there is a reason why nobody looks at DOS prompts anymore - right?

Before an employee will participate in a giving program, he or she wants to know:  Do I trust this?  Who else is doing it?  Does my company care?  Is it easy?  Is it interesting or even fun?  Can I share my opinion?  The answers to all of these questions are communicated through the 'donor experience' ... and most of the answers are communicated quickly and visually, through aspects of a website such as design and feature options. 

If the donor experience is inviting and positive, then you've got a good chance at engaging the donor.  Once engaged, you are on the path to success.  Don't ask the employee donor to watch a 15" black and white TV when the market standard is a 52" wall-mounted plasma color TV with surround sound.  Donor experience is a big deal.

Didn't we do this already?

I was recently chatting with a workplace giving professional at a Fortune company. As I was describing new capabilities for workplace giving technology, she stopped me. "Didn't we do this already?" she said. "I mean, we automated our campaign four or five years ago."

And the answer to her question? Yes and no.

Like all good technology, workplace giving platforms are out of date. By "good technology" I don't mean "well designed" or "designed for a lifetime". I just mean it is being used, and used a lot. Use forces change. And workplace giving technology hasn't changed much.

When I was designing one of the very first online giving programs in the United Way system, it was a simple client server program that could be installed on Windows 95. We piloted it in over 25 companies the first year. They loved it. United Way thought I was crazy. Then at KindMark we built the first giving platform that integrated multiple giving programs. ASP and .NET stuff.  Hard coded reports. Tons of permission controls. Payroll deduction automation was the most important feature.

Now, we need a better mouse trap. Most of the technology platforms we build at Carr Systems are open source - Drupal based. Modular architecture, lots of workflow, minimal raw coding. Drupal brings with it a wide array of community or social tools - CMS tools for users, multi-media display, group administration, peer to peer chatting, and a lot more.  Open source platforms function more like the way people expect technology to work - it's easier, more flexible, and more fun.

So, for all my friends in the workplace giving world, "yes" we did this already. We automated online giving payroll deduction campaigns. And we built volunteer tracking systems. And we integrated program platforms. And it's time to do it again.  New tools for online fundraising, donor experience, and social media are talking to us.  We need to build better mouse traps.