Christian Leadership Alliance

Building a Team

Price: $12.50
Member Price: $10.00

See more …


In which Season does your ministry raise the most financial resources each year?

Take the poll

High-Tech's High-Wire Invitation

What the paperless weight of the Internet means for fundraising
Outcomes, Sep/Oct 2007, Vol. 31, No. 5

Go back 20 years.

Two decades ago, if you wanted to carve out a successful broad-based fundraising campaign, you relied on the proven implements of direct mail:

• an eye-catching carrier envelope and teaser line that said, in effect, "Open me, now!"
  
  
• a compelling letter from the CEO (or high-profile celebrity spokesperson)
  
  
• an easy-to-fill-out response card and postage-paid business-reply envelope.

To an anthropologist examining the tools of modern-day fundraising, 20 years just might qualify as "ancient history." For sure, don't expect to see a Cheshire label exhibit at the Smithsonian Institute any time soon. However, if you really want to make a lasting difference in the life of your organization, you'll need to act now—and take advantage of a growing opportunity that's beginning to redefine how Christian nonprofits reach donors everywhere.

Today, with each new Blackberry and long-awaited Apple, the fruitful landscape of Christian fundraising is shifting. Credit the seismic (dare we say "historic") tremors to the paperless weight of high-tech.

Whether its micro-sites, online giving or streaming video, ministries are discovering how to reach donors—one click, one page view, at a time.

• Last fall, Moody Broadcasting Network launched a $1 million multi-channel fundraising campaign which combined a micro-site, email, telemarketing, direct mail and on-air spots. Moody reached over 80 percent of its goal within two to three months. (See "Operation Next" at www.moremoodyradio.com).
  
  
• The Heritage Foundation purchased a digital resource center (a private label YouTube.com service which allows a ministry or nonprofit to fundraise on the Internet using state-of-the-art video tools, such as a video blog, video email and video podcasting). With such tools, the foundation experienced a five- to six-fold increase in traffic over campaigns using only text email.

Tom McCabe, Founder and Principal of KMA, a direct marketing agency in Dallas, explains why the computer has become a new gateway to reach donors: "Online communication can acquaint people and help them learn more about the organization in a private setting, where there are no strings attached, and no commitment has to be made."

Clearly, the prevalence and mainstream appeal of online streaming video is raising the visibility of, and funds for, faith-based and other charitable causes. "With streaming video, an organization is able to communicate a compelling message personally with a donor one-to-one," says Chris Wyatt, CEO of GodTube.com and acting chief technology officer for KMA in Dallas.