Impact on Nonprofit Capacity Building

A tension exists between online fundraising and the time and resource investment that it takes. Nonprofits must successfully use social media and online tools for fundraising to succeed in a contest or online fundraiser. However, this presents resource difficulties for nonprofits who want to allocate staff time and resources consistently.

Give to the Max Day sought to counter some of those tensions with a training program that provided skills and turned the contest into a capacity-building exercise. Eighty-eight percent of nonprofit survey respondents felt the training program was very helpful, moderately helpful, or just helpful. And 84 percent of nonprofits reported that the training increased its ability to interact and fundraise online.

PostSecret’s Frank Warren, who raised money for his preferred nonprofit—the Kristin Brooks Hope Center—participated in two virtual town halls and the team used the training materials on the site. “The virtual town halls were useful,” said Frank Warren. “People are participating in them, and it made a difference.”

Some nonprofits surveyed felt the training was helpful; however, a clear division was revealed in the base level of nonprofits’ knowledge and their success in training. Experienced nonprofits mentioned that the level of some training components on social media and storytelling was too basic for them, while others felt the training was too complicated, citing a need for more basics. Revealing the ever-present capacity issue, several nonprofits specifically asked for training on time management and social media.

Beyond training, the event succeeded as a capacity-building exercise. The Give to the Max Day contest increased the nonprofits’ general experience with 72 percent stating they would be able to apply lessons learned from participating in the contest. Sixty percent of nonprofits indicated they had increased their awareness of online fundraising tools.

Nonprofits not only cultivated new donors, but they also recruited a significant amount of donors to a new giving platform. Seventy-five percent of participating donors said that Give to the Max Day was their first time using a social online fundraising platform.