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For more on prospect development, visit www.afpnet.org. Search: Resource Center

ProsPect DeveloPmentFinding, cultivating and stewarding prospects

Is social media transforming Philanthropy?By Sa lly Boucher, cFre

•Raise funds throughnontraditionalmethods, including community,nationalandinternationalcampaignsWithintheprospectresearchpro-

fession, the discussion of the uses,misuses,prosandconsofsocialmediahas been an active topic for severalyears.AsurveyconductedbyWealth­Engine (June–July 2011) of 1,300U.S.­based fundraisersandprospectresearchers explored the ways non-profitsareusingsocialmediaintheirprofiling, prospecting and engage-mentactivities.

2. What’s working: Details from social media sites help flesh out prospect pro-files and alert analysts to events that may warrant additional research.The majority of development profes-sionalsrespondingtothesurveyindi-cated theyusesocialmediamost fre-quently for finding details regardingemployment, education, familial rela-tionshipsandmaritalstatus.LinkedInisthemostpopularsite,with72per-centofrespondents—and84percentofthosewhoidentifiedprospectresearchastheirprimaryfocus—usingLinkedInasaregularsourceforthistypeofinfor-mation.LinkedInwasgenerallyconsid-eredmorereliablethanotherplatforms,such as Facebook andMyspace, andsomerespondents felt itwas likely tobeevenmoreup­to­datethancorporatewebsitesforaccurateemploymentandjobtitleinformation.

“Facebookwasnotoriginallycreatedtobeacompany.Itwasbuilttoaccomplishasocialmission—tomaketheworldmoreopenandconnected.”ThisistheopeningofaletterMarkZuckerberg,Face-bookCEO,includedwiththeFacebookinitialpublicofferingappli-cationfiledonFeb.1,2012.Unlessyouhavebeenunderarock,youhavewitnessedthephenomenal

resultsoftheneweraoftransparencyandconnectionbeingusheredinbysocialmedia.TheArabSpring,themeteoricriseofnewcharitieslikeCharity:Water,andthemobilizationanddeliverycoordinationofresourcesandmanpowerinHaitihaveallbeenfueledinpartbysocialmedia.Zuckerbergcontinued,“Thereisahugeneedandahugeopportunitytoget

everyoneintheworldconnected,togiveeveryoneavoiceandtohelptransformsocietyforthefuture.”Thissoundsalotlikephilanthropy,notunlikewhatwedoeveryday,work-

inginthetrenchestopositionourorganizationstobuildabetterfuture.Isn’tphilanthropy—atitscore—allaboutcreatingandstrengtheningrelationshipstoenhanceourmissions?Socialmediaisallaboutconnections.Philanthropyisallaboutrelationships.Whatistherelationshipbetweensocialmediaandphilanthropy?

What Is ‘Social Media’?Socialmediaisliterallytransformingthewayweliveandwork.Inthebroadestsense,thewidespreaduseofsocialmediaisbreakingdowncommunicationbarriersandopeningorganizations,companies,governmentsandindividu-alstonewkindsofinteractionsandnewlevelsoftransparency.Socialmediaplatformshavesubstantiallychangedthewayorganizations,communitiesandpeoplecommunicateandarenotablydifferentfromtraditionalmediafortheiraccessibility,lackofhierarchicalstructureandrapidinteractivity.(SeeFigure1.)

1. Charitable organizations are using social media in creative and innovative ways.Manynonprofitsareusingoneormultipletypesofsocialmediatohelpmeetsomeofthesestrategicobjectives:•Enhanceprospectdevelopmentthroughprofilingandprospectidentification•Increaseconstituentengagementviacommunityandrelationshipbuilding

www.afpnet.org Advancing Philanthropy 45

JenniferHuebner,aresearchanalystattheUniversityofVirginiainChar-lottesville,Va., explains how shehassuccessfully harnessed the power ofLinkedIn:“I’vesetupsearcheswithinLinkedInwithspecificcriteriatolocatealumni who have recently been pro-motedorchangedpositions.Thishasbeenagreatwaytoidentifyprospectswhomaywarranta second look.Wehaveused itnotonly in ferretingoutdetailsofemploymenthistoriesbutalsoasanopportunityforourgiftofficerstoproactivelyreachouttoprospectswithcongratulationsandbuildrelationshipswiththem.”Facebook is considered a useful

research resource by 52 percent ofrespondents (54 percent of research-ers),withTwitterandYouTubeadis-tantthirdandfourthinpopularityforresearchpurposesat13percentand12percent, respectively. (See Figure 2.)Researchersareusingthesesources,inadditiontothewayssuggestedabove,to•determinethesocialandprofessionalnetworksofdonorsandprospects;

•identifytheinterests,hobbies,causesandmissionsaboutwhichprospectsshowinterestandpassion;

•digdeepertobuildamorecompre-hensivepictureoftheirprospect;and

•find photographs and/or video oftheirprospects.

3. Tapping into social networks helps nonprofits build prospect lists.Fifty­six percent of respondents usesocial media to determine the socialandprofessionalnetworksoftheirpros-pectsanddonors.Thishelpstobuilda 360­degree view of an individualprospect by identifying relationshipsthatcancorrelatetohigheraffinityforyourorganizationanduncoverpoten-tialinfluencersandnaturalpartnersinthequalification,cultivationandsolici-tationprocesses.This type of networking informa-

tionalsocanbeuseful in theareaofprospecting. An organization’s innercircle,forinstanceitsboardmembers,isfrequentlyaskednotonlyto“give”

butto“get.”Thesediscussionsarenor-mally conducted face­to­face, duringwhichcommittedboardmembersmay,giventheirunderstandingoftheirinter-estsanddrivers,suggestsomeoftheirsocialand/orprofessionalconnectionsasgoodprospectsfortheorganization.Asimilardynamiccanworkwithin

thecybersphere.Nonprofitsareusingthenetworkingdatavisibleinapplica-tionslikeFacebookandLinkedIntopro-actively identify their supporters’ con-nections. These connections alsomaybegoodprospectsfortheorganization.Nonprofitsarealsoidentifyingpros-

pectsandpotentialprospectsthroughexisting groups on social networkingsites. For instance, a health­relatedorganizationmayjoinhealthandwell-nessFacebookgroupsinitsregionornationally.There,itcanlistenandlearnwhatmemberscareaboutandaddrel-

evantandmeaningfulcontentinanon-threateningmanner.Inthisway,itcanidentify the interests and passions ofgroupmembers anddeterminewherethereispotentialoverlapwiththeorga-nization’smission.Followers and those who interact

with, “like,” add content to or postmessagestoorganizationblogs,micro-blogs, websites, social networkingpagesorothersocialmediaoutlets,areexpressingadesiretobeginormaintainarelationship.Minimally,theorganiza-tionshouldbeawareofthesefollowersand supporters and research them ifwarranted.Onestep is tocross­refer-encethesesupporterswiththeinstitu-tion’scurrentdatabaseofdonorsandprospects.Mark Miller, director of philan-

thropic marketing and communica-tion at Children’s National Medical

The Ethics of Social MediaMost respondents to the WealthEngine Social Media Survey 2011 strongly cautioned themselves, their organizations and anyone using social media as a source for prospect data to be fully aware that social media data are self-reported and should be verified using other sources when possible. Many researchers either do not in-clude details from social media if they cannot be cross-verified, or at the least include a note within the profile that information is self-reported and not verified.

Seventy-five percent agree that social media is ethical to use because it is pub-lic information just like any other public source, but almost all drew the line at creating connections with prospects (“friending”) for the purpose of collecting per-sonal and otherwise hidden information. Among the 5 percent who disagree that it is ethical to use data from social media in prospect research, their concerns center on the accuracy of the information. Many respondents commented that the use of these data should be in accordance with the APRA Ethics Statement, which says in part that any data collected and recorded be both accurate and appropriate to the fundraising process.

ProsPect DeveloPment

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46 Adva n c i n g P h i la nthropy November/December 2012

CenterinWashington,D.C.,explains:“Wewantedtobetterunderstandhowourdonorsareusingsocialmedia,sowe cross­referenced emails from ourdonordatabasewithpubliclyavailableinformationonthreesocialmediasites:Facebook,TwitterandLinkedIn.Withthisinformation,we’velearnedwhichtoolsourdonorsareusingandwhichplatformsareworthinvestingintomeettheirneeds.”Includingthistypeofbasicresearch

inyourorganization’ssocialnetworkswill tell you if most of your follow-ers are already donors to your causeandwhich are potential annual fundor major­gift prospects. Additionalresearch, social media surveys andcontinued engagement through socialmediaandothermethodswillgiveyouideasonhowtomosteffectivelyculti-vatethoserelationships.

4. Social media provides organizations with new ways to engage followers and cultivate relationships.Nonprofitsthatareusingsocialmediato engage and cultivate relationshipswiththeirdonorsfinditvaluableinanumber of ways.More than 90 per-cent of survey respondents use social

networkingsitestoshareinformationabout their organizations, missions,upcomingeventsandactivities.Whilethese are important and worthwhileactivities, many experts stress theimportanceoflisteningtoandinteract-ingwithfollowersasbeingakeyingre-dientfordevelopingrelationshipsandturning them into beneficial connec-tionstomeetorganizationalobjectives.

For the past two years,Children’sNationalMedicalCenterhaspubliclyrecognized hundreds of communityandcorporatedonorsthroughaweek-long“thank­a­thon”onTwitterduringThanksgiving.“Nonprofitsarestillfig-uringout thebestways touse socialmedia for fundraising,” Miller says,“buttheyshouldn’tignorethetremen-dous value in stewardship, especially

How survey respondents (1,300 prospect researchers and fundraisers) are using social media in prospect development.

How Researchers Use Social MediaAccording to the WealthEngine Social Media Survey 2011,• 16 percent of prospect researchers have found blogs to be useful sources of

information for prospect research;• 17 percent use social media resources once a month or even less often;• 25 percent of researchers have tried video-sharing sites for prospect research,

but only 5 percent have found such sites useful;• 40 percent of prospect research professionals believe that the growing infor-

mation from social media sources increases the value of the profession;• 48 percent of prospect researchers use social media resources daily or more

frequently;• Researchers in higher education use social media at this frequency slightly

more than average (50 percent); health care just about average (47 percent); and other nonprofits less than average (40 percent); and

• 75 percent agree it is ethical to use social media in prospect research.Visit http://info.wealthengine.com/rs/wealthengine/images/aPra_2011_

SocialMedia.pdf for more information about the survey results.

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www.afpnet.org Advancing Philanthropy 47

ProsPect DeveloPment

for corporate partners. The thank­a­thonwassuchasimpleidea—andcostnothing—but the feedback from ourpartnerswassopositive.”Not all social media, or even all

socialnetworkingsites,arethesame.YourTwitterfollowersmaylookcon-siderablydifferentfromyourFacebookfans.Totheextentpossible,organiza-tionsshouldbelearningwhothesefol-lowersareandtailoringtheir interac-tionsandmessagesaccordingly.WithinFacebook,forinstance,youcanobtaindemographicdatarelatedtoyourfol-lowers,includinggender,location,agerangesandthelike.Thedemographicscanbeespeciallyusefulasyousegmentthese followers for future cultivationopportunities.AtChildren’sNationalMedicalCen-

ter, for example,Miller can see thathisorganization’sTwitter audience ismorenationalthanitsFacebookaudi-ence,whichtendstobemoreregional.Andwhilemorethan50percentofallFacebookusersaremale,nearly80per-centofthepeoplewhofollowtheChil-dren’sNationalMedicalCenter pageare female—whichmakes sense forachildren’shospital.Youalsocanuncoveryournonprof-

it’sbestadvocates,whomaynotbethelargestdonorsbutarewellconnected

andcanserveadmirablyinavolunteerrole.Associalmediausagecontinuestogrow,sowillthevalueofvolunteerswhoare•influentialwithmanyonlinefriendsandfollowers,

•passionate about your organizationand/orcauseand

•technically savvy and comfortablewiththeplatformsthatareimportanttoyourcommunicationsstrategy.

Where Are We Headed?While the ways nonprofits are usingsocialmedia(inadditiontofundrais-ing)areexcitingandmovingusinnewdirections professionally and person-ally, the most exciting developmentsareyettocome.Thefield isdevelopingso fast that

whole new, as yet unimagined, tech-nologieswill undoubtedly burst ontoourtablets,smartphonesandthecloud.

Tips for Using Social Media in Your Organization1. Don’t have a “social media strategy.” Integrate social media into your exist-

ing strategies.2. create guidelines for the effective use of social media. This documentation

and/or training should address all legal and ethical considerations, how to appro-priately represent the organization in the digital sphere, how to coordinate the or-ganization’s messaging across all communications platforms and how to respond to negative publicity.

3. Form a cross-departmental team to coordinate efforts and educate the or-ganization about the benefits of tapping into social media platforms. Social media is a tool that is useful in many departments: fundraising, research, marketing and communications, stewardship, engagement or community relations/outreach. The opportunities to work together to craft effective messaging and interaction strate-gies with your organization’s friends and supporters could improve all aspects of your team’s internal and external communications.

4. encourage conversations. Interactions between the nonprofit and the fan are important, but fan-to-fan communication may be even more beneficial in cre-ating community around important issues. Post questions and create surveys that allow for engagement; these do not always need to be specific to your organiza-tion’s mission but can tie nicely to current events.

5. celebrate your stakeholders. Post promotions, milestones, etc., for your constituents, volunteers and staff—let your social media followers feel a sense of personality and community.

6. Test and learn. The only way to gauge what works is by posting frequently, building a following and trying new techniques.

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48 Adva n c i n g P h i la nthropy November/December 2012

ResourcesFacebook CeO Mark Zuckerberg’s letter that was included with the Facebook initial public offering application filed on Feb. 1, 2012http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/technology/2012/02/facebook-ipo-mark-zucker bergs-letter

AFP Social Media Guidelineswww.afpnet.org/files/contentDocuments/SocialMediaGuidelines.pdf.

APRA ethics Statementhttp://www.aprahome.org/p/cm/ld/fid=110

Further reading:• “The growth of Social Media: An Infographic,” Search Engine Journal

www.searchenginejournal.com/the-growth-of-social-media-an- infographic/32788

• Philanthropy and Social Media, Institute for Philanthropy, September 2011 www.instituteforphilanthropy.org/cms/pages/documents/Philanthropy%20and%20Social%20Media.pdf

• “Social Media: From Tactics to Strategy,” Academic Impressions www.academicimpressions.com/news/social-media-tactics-strategy

• “State of the Media: The Social Media Report,” Nielsen www.nielsen.com/content/corporate/us/en/insights/reports-

downloads/2011/social-media-report-q3.html?status=success

But evenwithout the next big thing,some technologies, alreadydevelopedanddeployedinthecommercialsectorandlargernonprofits,havethepoten-tial tobe game­changers for thewaywe do prospect development. Theymayneedanothersteportwotomakethemassessable, affordable anduser­friendly,butwhenthetimecomes,theseinnovations will represent significantopportunities.

Social network visualization:Thereareamultitudeofproductsandtech-nologies available that allowusers tomapordisplayquantitativelytherela-tionshipsbetweenpeople,subjectmat-ter,usagefrequency,organizations,etc.Somenonprofitsarealreadyusingthesevisualization tools in innovative andeffectiveways.Formost,though,thesetechnologiesarebeyondbudgetreachortechnologicalcapabilities—orboth.Itwon’tbelongbeforeauser­friendly,

relativelylow­costproductwillbecomemorewidelyavailabletothenonprofitmarket,andwhenthathappens,imag-ineviewingyourorganization’ssocialnetworks,ordonormanagement sys-tem,bytherelationshipsitrepresents.Thiskindofvisual transparencywillprovidedeepinsightswithjusttheclickofamouse.(SeeFigure3.)•Whoaremyorganization’sinfluenc-ers—thepeopleweneedtoengagetohelpspreadourmessageandserveourmission?

•Whomshouldweinvitetothisevent?•Whoshouldmanagethisprospect?•Who can help us connect to thisprospect?

•Whoisconnectedtothesegrant­mak-ingfoundationsorcorporations?Theopportunitiesprovidedbyvisu-

alization technologies that representcomplexpatternsofsocialandprofes-sionalconnectionsandinteractionsofourconstituentswillbepowerfulnewtools forprospect researchand fund-raisingoffices.

Data mining/analytics:Inthecom-mercialsphere,companiesarealreadybringingtomarketsophisticatedtech-

nologiestomine,analyzeandintegratethewealthofdatagenerated throughsocialmediainteractions.Thisunstruc-tureddatarepresentsahugereservoirofuntappedpotential.Whenyouareabletoharnessthisdataanduseitinyourdataminingandpredictivemodeling,youwillbeableto•better understand your constituen-cies,yourfansandtheirnetworks;

•monitorandadjustyourcultivationstrategytoalignwithconstituentper-ceptionsandinterests;

•optimizeconstituentexperiencesandrelationships;and

•determinethebestsocialmediaplat-formsforyourorganizationandtheoptimaldeploymentof resources intheseareas.Thesetechnologiesarejustaround

the corner. Completely new and

unimaginable technologies are rightaround the block. Social media istransformingphilanthropy.Andmaybephilanthropy is at theheart of socialmedia, too.Nowthat’sapartnershiptotweetabout!

Note: The article “Is SocialMediaTransforming Philanthropy?” by SallyBoucher, CFRE, was originally pub-lishedinthe2012SpringissueofCon-nections, the online magazine of theAssociationofProfessionalResearchersfor Advancement (APRA),www.apra home.org.Reprintedwithpermission.

Sally Boucher, CFRE, is director of research at WealthEngine (www.wealth engine.com) and the primary author of the BestPractices forPros-pect Research in Higher EducationFundraisingReport.

www.afpnet.org Advancing Philanthropy 49