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CONTENTS
Introduction......................................................................... 4
Driving Traffic..................................................................... 8
Conversion.........................................................................13
Repeat Engagement............................................................19
W
e are now more connected than ever before.
Power in numbers — especially online — has
become our everyday reality. Rallying, organizing
and motivating are no longer hurdles, but life-changing
opportunities. Passions become movements. Movements
make impacts. Impacts re-shape our world. In the spirit of
connecting for good, Microsoft’s Bing and Hotmail teams
brought together luminaries within the tech industry to help
DonorsChoose.org address its ongoing technology and
marketing challenges. Deep Focus attended the event and
distilled the best ideas, tactics and creative solutions into an
in-depth analysis that can serve both nonprofit and for-profit
companies with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.
I. INTRODUCTION 4
Rallying, organizing
and motivating are
no longer hurdles,
but life-changing
opportunities.
I. INTRODUCTION 5
What is a Social Hackathon?
The Internet can be a nonprofit’s biggest ally. Via the Web,
a nonprofit can promote its causes, reach audiences and The challenges facing
receive donations that allow it to survive and grow in the
DonorsChoose.org
new economy. However, the high cost of marketing and/ For a third year running, the
or technical services prevents many nonprofits from taking average DonorsChoose.org
full advantage of what the Web has to offer. And like donation has dropped.
startups, a nonprofit has little margin for failure and has
DONATIONSDONATIONS
to make use of limited financial resources. Every dollar is
precious.
2DONATIONS
Understanding this dilemma, Bing and Hotmail brought
together giants from the interactive world for an altruistic
10
08
9
00
20
20
brainstorm – a social hackathon – in San Francisco to
10
8
9
provide creative technology and marketing strategies
09 200
10 00
20
2
Current acquisition cost = $25
08
for DonorsChoose.org. Dedicated to funding classroom
20
20
20
projects across America, DonorsChoose.org has raised Goal in order to become
over 75 million dollars and has helped more than 4.5
scalable = $15
$15
million students since it began in 2000. But the 25% $15
DonorsChoose.org team still faces challenges, which 25% $15
they were candid about in the interest of helping other 25%
nonprofits learn from their mistakes.
I. INTRODUCTION 6
The Social Hackers
The brainchildren contained in this book belong to the following brainparents, who selflessly
donated their time and energy to thinking about DonorsChoose.org. Learn more about each in
section IX. The Problem Solvers, page 47.
I. INTRODUCTION 7
II. DRIVING TRAFFIC
D
riving traffic is difficult for any site and is particularly
challenging for sites that solicit donations. The
Internet has become a sea of good-doers, making it
especially hard for nonprofits to stand out amongst the crowd.
DonorsChoose.org is no exception, having struggled against
the common issues of inconsistent and unqualified search
results and lack of brand conversation among social networks.
The DonorsChoose.org team had only passively looked at search; with 20,000 individual
projects, they asked themselves, was it worth it to monitor these from an SEO standpoint?
They were advised to dig more into trends around the way people searched for and
actually decided to donate to certain projects. What kinds of searches kept leading people
to DonorsChoose.org? What kinds of searches led to completed classroom projects on
DonorsChoose.org?
Searchfacets
Search facets used
used thethe most
most
INTERNAL SEARCH FACETS (%)
37
17
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■■ Use targeted keyword phrases in search engine keyword ad buys that correlate to the
nonprofit’s specific mission. Broad terms might be applicable but don’t drive qualified
leads. DonorsChoose.org has many classroom projects related to yoga, but the broad
term “yoga” will not be as effective as the targeted keyword phrase, “yoga in the
classroom.”
■■ Create lightweight pages with sectional, regional and topical content related to the
mission separate from the actual project pages themselves but that could then allow
users to find related projects. The content will drive qualified leads through SEO and
increase the site’s relevance. DonorsChoose.org, for example, could develop topical
pages about the importance of helping girls become interested in math and science
since many of their projects pertain to this cause. This tactic will help drive qualified
traffic and encourage sharing amongst social networks.
■■ Acquire email addresses from new donors upon their arrival to the site. Email
marketing not only helps acquire new donor information, it also aids in social mapping to
target new traffic generation.
■■ DonorsChoose.org already had this, but it bears repeating: create a fan page with
enough content and updates that Facebook users will constantly be engaging with
the brand. This serves as a base for all of your paid and unpaid outreach, and as a
continued resource for people who look up your organization within Facebook.
■■ Drive community participation. For example, ask fans to share stories that relate to the
nonprofit’s mission. The stories will also appear as organic impressions in friends’ news
feeds.
■■ Target Facebook ads towards friends of existing fans. If they have already seen similar
content displayed on their news feeds (as described in the example above) they will be
predisposed to participate.
■■ Implement an advanced “Like” button that allows users to comment on a project. The
comment will not only show up in the user’s newsfeed, but so will the project’s photo,
description and, most importantly, a link from which the nonprofit can track and build in
analytics.
C
onverting visitors from passive content consumers
to active participants and donors is a nonprofit’s
greatest challenge. In the case of DonorsChoose.org,
conversion success relies on creating rich, engaging content
that forges a personal connection with visitors. To date,
DonorsChoose.org has focused too heavily on solicitation and
has not capitalized on its ability to tell compelling stories. Once
an emotional connection is made, donation requests will bring
higher conversion rates.
III. CONVERSION 13
Converting visitors
to active participants
and donors is a
nonprofit’s greatest
challenge.
III. CONVERSION 14
Start with the magic. Not with the give.
Capturing the hearts and minds of users before asking for donations is a far more effective
approach in driving conversion than leading with the ask.
■■ Lead with story; support with statistics. Of course some donors will want to be
assured that money is being accounted for and they are in fact providing a solution.
DonorsChoose.org has this data, and they present it, but they weren’t doing as well
telling the story that accompanies the statistics. Other nonprofits may need to work to
surface the supporting data.
■■ Email marketing is alive and well. It’s a smaller ask to get someone’s email than
to open their wallet. Storytelling in the emails you send will continue to encourage
conversion and you may also want to mobilize that email audience to do other things
than donate (write in support of public funding of your kinds of programs, etc.).
■■ Create urgency and show progress. Thermometer or money icons that show how
much has been donated and how much more is needed to reach the goal encourage
conversion. DonorsChoose.org was also advised to help visitors “create their own
urgency” by presenting projects targeted to that user if possible.
III. CONVERSION 15
Make them the hero of the story
When a user engages with a story and makes an impact through donation, they are more likely
to champion the cause through their own social networks. Creating a larger meaning for the
user, enabling them with a voice and allowing them to share their philanthropic efforts with
friends, will exponentially increase the measure of future conversions.
■■ Create Epic Meaning, a way to make users feel like they are a part of something larger
than themselves. Inspire the user to effect greater good in a way that they could not
achieve alone. A word of caution: be sure the Epic Meaning does not distract from the
nonprofit’s mission, but builds excitement around the ultimate goal.
■■ Create Epic Win. Give the user the same sense of accomplishment that hooks people on
gaming. When a donor takes action, make them part of the win. Although games or gaming
partnerships may not be right for every nonprofit site, game mechanics did work for Zynga in
raising money for Haiti, so don’t rule out the lessons of the gaming world entirely.
III. CONVERSION 16
Conversion: a UX perspective
A major factor in boosting conversion rates is search functionality within a nonprofit site. The
DonorsChoose.org interface is geared toward directed searches; when users know what
they are looking for, the search experience is positive. Exploratory browsing, however, is far
less successful on DonorsChoose.org, which is particularly problematic for the organization.
With over 20,000 active projects on the site at any one time, almost any general interest or
keyword will return a long list of matches.
Streamlining the browsing process and providing suggestions based on profile data and
tracking on DonorsChoose.org will enhance the user experience and increase conversion
rates. It begins with the home page, but as pointed out in prior sections, a user may enter
via search and start deeper within the site. Every page should indicate its place within the
donation framework and allow the user to learn more.
■■ Keep it simple. The home page for DonorsChoose.org is currently burdened with
two objectives: defining the organization and soliciting donations. Leaving donation
solicitation to the project pages will relieve the burden on the home page and make for a
cleaner, simpler engagement.
■■ Personalize where possible. Utilize profile data from social platforms such as Facebook
or LinkedIn to pre-filter choices for the user when they arrive to the site. For example,
DonorsChoose.org can use Facebook profile data to lead with projects pertaining to a
user’s interests and hometown.
■■ Leverage collective intelligence decision making to narrow choices for the user. In
the back end technology of your site, create a setup that learns from what users want
most when they drill down on certain topics as well as presents choices for them in
a structured way. As an example of this kind of presentation, Hunch.com provides
personalized recommendations on thousands of topics using social profile data and
preference questions. As users rate results, the system learns and makes the results
more relevant, and they are never confused about the choices because they are laid out
so clearly.
III. CONVERSION 17
■■ Let people skip ahead, or present alternate browsing mechanisms that cut quickly
to an endpoint. Provide alternative routes with fewer decisions for those reluctant to
engage in a long process. DonorsChoose.org does this well, offering users the ability
to find projects pertaining to their specific interests as well as a quick option to support
projects in need of urgent funding.
■■ Adopt and deploy disparate tactics and track what works. Shift resources to the best
tactics to build scale.
■■ Employ live testing, such as standard A/B testing, in which a portion of traffic is
directed to one version of a page (A) and the remainder to another version (B), and more
sophisticated multivariate testing in which multiple variables are tested and tracked.
■■ Create prototypes for ideas that are more difficult to implement and utilize services like
fivesecondtest.com to get rapid feedback on new design and message directions.
■■ Text Testing. Experimentation and testing should not be limited to visual elements;
different text approaches to defining the nonprofit’s mission or presenting projects
should be tested as well. DonorsChoose.org was urged to look at its project pages,
analyze the effectiveness of the teachers’ writing and potentially create a template to
simplify the work of describing each project.
III. CONVERSION 18
IV. REPEAT ENGAGEMENT
T
hey came, they donated, they left. Now, how do you get
them back? Repeat engagement is vital in generating
awareness and continual growth for a nonprofit. High
return rates are the function of positive and satisfying user
experiences.
■■ Create a sense of urgency. If a time limit is placed on funding a project, people are
incented to come back sooner check on the progress. Designing widgets that inspire
urgency are covered later in the developer community section.
■■ Emails notify donors that photos of their completed project have been posted online.
The emails end with actual thank-you notes from the students and teachers, providing
the donors with a feeling of pride and a reason to repeat the experience.
■■ Emails sent to most active donors highlight current projects in need of funding and
feature heartwarming photos of the students.
■■ Modest tracking of interests and past projects of high and frequent donors allows
DonorsChoose.org to give them a more filtered experience.
■■ Donors also may find it more fun if there’s an “all about me” page — a thank-you page
from DonorsChoose.org that lists all the projects they’ve donated to, something that
creates sharing or bragging rights.
■■ Keep in mind that repeat donors have different triggers; some want to feel serious and
epic, while others want the process to be light and fun. Addressing all of them will help
the nonprofit achieve greater odds in maintaining an attentive and active audience.
E
nticing developers with APIs (Application Programming
Interfaces) can be an effective method of engendering
partnerships and scaling development and reach.
Well designed APIs have the potential to do everything from
driving traffic to developing new features and business
models. Surfacing data from your Web site can take the form
of advertising donation drives, listing links to new campaigns
or projects, or presenting an individual donor’s stats like a
scoreboard as a reward for high donation levels. That being
said, providing interfaces to that kind of data is not a panacea.
Without a clear strategic and tactical approach, the creation
of APIs can quickly become a waste of precious time and
technical resources.
Developers using the DonorsChoose.org API are able to reach the site’s database of over
20,000 projects in need of funding and they can input criteria to receive a list of projects that
meet specified requirements, including subject, keyword and location. The API also allows
users to buy gift cards and fund a project from a third-party site, but these new transactional
features have yet to be implemented. The following are examples of how the API has been
used.
Chevron. Chevron
implemented a project in
the San Francisco Bay Area
where users chose which
projects to fund by pumping
gas. Different gas stations
funneled money to certain
projects in the area.
These examples illustrate how the DonorsChoose.org API helps corporate partners heavily
customize their cause marketing campaigns. A successful API would also tap into marketplace
giving by finding ways to entice garage developers into it to reach a wider audience. The
following recommendations will assist in developing a sound API strategy.
■■ Tackle the problem of API usability like Google. Break it into the four “1s.” Within 1
minute developers should recognize what the API can do; within 1 hour they should be
able to download the SDK and get something working; within 1 day they should be able
to complete their first app; and within 1 week they should be able to integrate the results
of the API into an app they already built or are currently building.
IT SHOULD TAKE…
MINUTE to convince developers that it’s worth their time.
WEEK to hack the output of the API into an app they already
built or are currently building.
Chris Messina. Google.
■■ Save developers time and be intuitive. Don’t require the developer to maintain a
large mapping of your app’s constant values in their own app (e.g., the Subject ID for
“Health & Wellness” is 27). Use standard formats and identifiers whenever possible
(e.g., reference locations using established metrocodes instead of your app’s internal
constructs). Avoid confusing developers by having API endpoints misrepresent the data
format (e.g., JSON requests have .html extensions when the format is obviously not
HTML).
■■ Make it pretty. Facebook detects when its JSON is being viewed in-browser via the
request's user-agent and then specially formats the JSON layout to make it easy
for developers to eyeball and see what data is coming back. Then, under normal
circumstances, the API responses are condensed for optimal performance. Another
complementary option is to create an API explorer page that allows developers to
interact with the site’s UI and see the corresponding API requests and responses.
■■ Know your verbs. Make an inventory of the verbs and objects in your system and get
a clear understanding of the how people interact with them. “Like” and “Tweet,” for
example, are the essence of Facebook and Twitter distilled into single verbs. Identify
your verb and encourage its use through API implementation.
Brands and agencies often leverage philanthropy in their consumer campaigns, which can
considerably benefit a nonprofit with a solid API. People often exhibit brand loyalty because
they associate the brand with giving back, so a nonprofit should help them rev up their good
engine. Touting statistics of the organization’s impact when marketing an API to brands and
agencies can help seal the partnership.
Adapt to attract
If an API comes to be used in a different way than originally intended, it may make sense to
shift efforts to supporting the new focus. The Cheezburger Network found that while striving
for broad garage developer adoption, their API was primarily being used to develop mobile
apps, so they evolved their API (found at developer.cheezburger.com) to further support
mobile applications. If DonorsChoose.org tailored its API to help its corporate partners build
cause marketing campaigns, the API might invite less innovation from the garage developers
but achieve greater utility in its most common use cases. Each organization has to consider
where it is placing its bets, and if they don’t pan out, be flexible enough to adapt to what is
working well and abandon what’s not.
S
ome nonprofits may find success in developing
embeddable units like widgets (modules that run on one
site but may draw data and content from another), plug-
ins and dynamic banners that users can co-opt to promote the
cause. As is the case with APIs, an organization should carefully
weigh the potential results against the resources necessary to
develop and maintain a successful widget strategy.
In the past, a neat WordPress plugin was created for DonorsChoose.org that suggested
projects based on blog posts, but it wasn’t adopted organically nor promoted aggressively.
DonorsChoose.org also experimented with a widget that recommended projects on
GreatSchools.net, a resource for information about local schools, but it didn’t perform
successfully. To date, the widget approach employed by DonorsChoose.org has not
returned on investment. To that end, the following tactics were suggested for revamping
DonorsChoose.org’s widget strategy:
■■ Focus resources on developing tools for targets that are already energized around a
cause. Teachers are DonorsChoose.org’s most energized supporters, so the embeddable
content should be geared toward helping them share their passions with others.
■■ Team up with other nonprofits to develop functionality that allows one embeddable unit
to promote multiple nonprofits. Sites like the New York Times would rather deal with one
widget than 20 different widgets from multiple nonprofits.
■■ Find the right balance between encouraging users to ask for help solving a problem
and allowing them to show off what they’ve accomplished.
■■ Utilize the skills of a developer community that has already formed around the cause.
If an API strategy is attracting developers, reach out to them for help and suggestions
for building widget functionality. Think about niche developer groups such as academics
who might want to study your nonprofit data, “hacker journalists” or students who may
be interested in using you for a class project.
Stay up to speed
The Internet changes rapidly. What is considered standard today differs greatly from the
standards of a few years ago. Make sure widgets, plug-ins and other embeddable units are
up-to-date, and keep the following in mind:
■■ Think about keeping your widgets simple; try basic DIVs and IDs that users can style
with CSS. The advantage of creating behaviors via CSS is that it downgrades nicely to
mobile devices.
■■ Consider using oEmbed format (oembed.com), which allows users to turn a normal
URL into structured data that can be embedded on their site. The Twitter details pane is
currently using it so when someone tweets a link, the blog knows how to use it.
■■ For dynamic banners, use JavaScript to look at the SEO data for a page and pass it
along as arguments to the iframe, to update the page content dynamically based on the
information. This alleviates the need to implement a roll-your-own Google AdSense to
parse the content of the pages.
■■ Wait until the goal is 4/5 of the ■■ Consider showing the number of
way complete and then display the people positively affected as opposed
thermometer. to the number or dollar amount of
donations.
■■ Set attainable milestones and
re-calibrate the thermometer after every ■■ Leveling and weekly leader boards
milestone. are viable alternatives to the classic
thermometer metaphor.
■■ Change the scale. Twitter found that
the need for accuracy decreased as the
numbers got larger.
The DonorsChoose.org team considered their API and widget portfolios separately, but
they should think about how both might work with geo-location services like Gowalla or
Foursquare, or tied into the rich data of the Facebook API.
T
he primary goal of the DonorsChoose.org social
hackathon was to solve the problems DonorsChoose.org
faces on a daily basis. There were, however, sessions in
which the broader theme of equipping nonprofits for the future
was discussed and developed.
■■ Consider growing areas of the nonprofit that are considered small parts of the charter
or expanding into areas just beyond the current scope of the organization.
■■ Branch out into content creation, content publishing or manufacturing for the cause. Go
beyond generating money for relief and create the relief itself.
■■ Broaden the ambition of the organization to change societal norms, such that doing
good for the cause becomes a social imperative. People are expected to bring gifts to
a birthday party. Imagine if the expectation were adjusted to require donating to charity.
Pursue the logic of how a nonprofit could bring about that kind of change.
■■ Create a global community around the cause and expertise, expanding beyond the
current region or country. In the case of DonorsChoose.org, become a global PTA.
■■ Take on large scale projects and/or implement a subscription model for donations.
For example, allow users to sponsor a class for an entire school year.
■■ Pivot the nonprofit and move toward becoming a research organization. Developing
proprietary insights into solving societal problems becomes the new business model.
■■ Produce entertainment properties based around the nonprofit. Partner with a network,
studio or production company to develop a film, reality show or Web series with the
nonprofit at the center of the action.
S
marts. Brilliance. Open minds. And a healthy sense of
collaboration. Mix well and bake thoroughly, and you've
got your own Social Hackathon. As interesting as what
DonorsChoose.org learned during the social hackathon was
the process by which the knowledge was created, and that
process is available to anyone who wants to put in the effort.
W
e are deeply thankful to the following participants
who made the DonorsChoose.org Social Hackathon
an enlightening and heart-warming event.
URL: http://www.bing.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/baoki
Chris Messina
Google
Duane Forrester
SEO, Bing
Matt Harris
Leah Buley Developer Advocate,
Experience Designer,
Twitter
Adaptive Path
Matt is a Developer Advocate at
Leah Buley is an Experience Twitter. He is also a hacker and
Designer for Adaptive Path. She British expat who is married to
writes and speaks regularly on @cindyli and lives in San Francisco.
tactics for inviting people into the
user-centered design process.
Leah is currently working on a book entitled The UX Team of
One, to be published with Rosenfeld Media.
A published author on the topic of software quality, James writes Under Ian’s guidance, Deep Focus has been lauded for its
a blog focussing on technology at http://www.jamessenior.com. expertise and excellence at using digital media, technology,
You can also connect with him on Linked In, Facebook, Twitter creative, and communications strategies to create engaging,
and, of course, Windows Live. value-driven experiences that get people talking. The Emmy®-
nominated firm has been responsible for many memorable,
Outside of work, James is a keen golfer, skier, basketball player award-winning efforts over the years including 2009’s
and is a singer/song writer - although not all at the same time. MadMenYourself.com, and has been the recipient of numerous
He also enjoys spending time traveling and sampling new and distinctions, including several Webby Awards and a Cannes Gold
interesting cultures. Lion.
Kristina Pifer is a user experience An avid technologist, Ian blogs at http://www.ianschafer.com and
designer with more than a decade can be followed on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ischafer.
of industry experience. Prior
to working with startups as an
independent advisor, she most
recently built and led the product
design practice at Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, an award-
winning agency in Sausalito, CA. Her portfolio of work includes Rooly Eliezerov
projects for Williams Somoma, Charles Schwab, Priceline,
Safeway, and Kinkos, among others.
President, Gigya
Kristina is also passionate about cause-based programs and As President of Gigya, Rooly
has provided design leadership for projects with Hopelab, supervises overall product strategy
CommonSense Media, and George Lucas’ Edutopia. and development. He is a veteran
of the Internet advertising and
Kristina lives and works in the Bay Area. You can follow her at marketing industry, with a focus
twitter.com/diavolina. on product development. Before
joining Gigya Rooly served on the board of Metacafe, held the
position of General Manager at SmartShopper, and was the VP
of Products & Marketing at Hotbar. Rooly holds a Bachelor of
Architecture degree from the Pratt Institute in New York City.
Too often technology conferences are about one-upmanship or high gloss; we wanted
a simple, focused and smart one-day event that would allow us to distill and share what
DonorsChoose.org learned from some of the best competitor companies in the industry.
Everyone left feeling savvy and energized, having shared and learned things useful to their
regular day jobs. We know this Web 2.0 playbook will be especially useful to nonprofits, but we
hope that startups and other online businesses may find nuggets in here of use as well.
We also hope that you will try out having a “social hackathon” of your own and share your
findings with us.
So naturally we were thrilled to be involved in the Social Hackathon in making this playbook
and its companion videos (see www.deepfocus.net/hackathon) as valuable and as available
as possible.
We hope that this book and the companion site has been as eye-opening for you as it was
thrilling to create for us, and that its just the start of your journey into dreaming of smart,
creative ways to use digital in clever, measurable ways that extend your brand and create
results—good results. This is the stuff that gets us up in the morning. We'd love to geek out
on it more with you, so keep in touch at www.deepfocus.net.