PR 101

For only the second year since records have been kept, charitable giving in the United States declined in 2008, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal. The paper reported that “according to an annual report released Wednesday by the Giving USA Foundation, U.S. giving in 2008 totaled $307.65 billion, down about 2 percent from 2007’s record total of $314.07 billion. When adjusted for inflation, the drop is 5.7 percent.

“The reduction is the first in the survey’s 52-year history caused by economic conditions. A slight decline in 1987 is attributed to changes in tax laws.” Experts estimate that 2009 will also show a decline in giving, the paper reported.

Clearly, charitable organizations should be rethinking the way they fund raise. The old ways are not working as former donors react to the recession.This is not the first recession charities have weathered. There have been several since records started being kept in 1957. Yet, for the first time, donors are backing off.

What have charities done in response? Stepped up their traditional fund raising methods of mailings, phone calls and emails. Judging by last year’s results, these methods are no longer working. Plus, I suspect sending out more letters and making more phone call raises administrative costs, thereby taking money away from the various charities’ missions.

To me the solution is simple – adopt social media methods. Start blogging, tweeting, using Facebook and other social media sites to get their message out. I think it will be a lot more effective than the way charities and foundations are doing it now. Instead of sticking their hands out, charities should be demonstrating the benefits they provide. Entice people into giving; don’t beat them over the head.

Let’s look at the way it is being done now. In my mail each day are solicitations from a number of charities. At the Cole household, we probably get somewhere around seven or eight such mailings each week. All come from worthy causes who appear to have real needs. Some send pens or mailings labels, while others included poignant pictures or sobering statistics about the effect of this disease or that pollutant.

In addition to the snail mail, we receive emails and phone calls from various groups. The range of groups who call is even wider than the mailings. They range from my wife’s and my alma mater to groups we support and a lot we don’t. They usually come in the evening around dinnertime. I guess they assume that’s when people are home. The colleges always seem to have some hapless student make the calls.

These solicitations annoy the hell out of me. I think they are ineffective and counter-productive. Instead of convincing people to donate, I have the feeling they do just the opposite. And how much do these organizations spend buying pens and mailing labels? I use them, but it doesn’t make me want to donate. My biggest peeve: the multiple mailings from the same organization. Don’t the local, state and national organizations ever talk? Do they really think people are going send three separate checks?

I am not just speaking from the hip. I have participated in, worked on, and run a number of local charity events. Because diabetes is prevalent in my family, I have done a lot of volunteering for the American Diabetes Association. I have also done pro bono work for a several charities.

Instead of killing whole forests, I think charities should be concentrating on converting their donors into true communities. As blogger Andy Sernovitz noted in the “Smart Blog on Social Media,” the key for anyone trying to do anything on the Web is community-building.

Sernovitz’s suggests:

• Create focused communities. A group focused around a central issue or mission will be much more active than a general fan club.
• Offer training and certifications. Use your groups as virtual classrooms for educational training and offer things members can add to their resume.
• Reward participation. Promote your active community members by awarding them leadership roles and credentials.

Now, I firmly believe with two decades social media is going to knock traditional advertising, marketing and public relations ass over teakettle. (Sorry, the Irish in me comes out sometimes.) It is already happening. Study after study is demonstrating that before consumers fork over hard-earned cash for anything, they want to know everything they can about their purchase or donation. I believe the recession has heightened that.

The other effect the recession is having is that people are reassessing their spending. “All in all, 51 percent of Americans project that they are going to settle into a new, normal pattern relating to either spending or saving. Within this universe, a group of significant interest is those who say they are going to be not only spending less in the years ahead but also saving more — behaviors that would mark them as true exemplars of the ‘new frugality,’” according to an April 27 report from the Gallup organization.

I think most people are going to reassess charitable giving as part of their personal spending reviews. So, as I just said, they are going to need a reason to donate beyond just a free pen or some mailing labels. True, there will some loyalty from long-time donors. But, I can tell you from experience you cannot rely on just them. You need the so-called “casual giver.”

Couple this with the coming of Gen Y. This is a group of people who have little or no brand loyalty. They also don’t have a lot of money. They don’t read newspapers, and they don’t watch a lot of television. Where they do get their information from is the Internet. You want them to donate, you have to go where they hangout. That would be cyberspace.

So, it’s time to turn to social media –  blogging, twittering, podcasting, vloging. The entire social media toolbox needs to be utilized.  Not doing that is asking for trouble.

What do you think?

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My background: I worked as a reporter for 25 years in central Illinois, upstate New York, suburban Detroit and Milwaukee. I now help clients with marketing communications through my company – JJC Communications LLC. If you want to know more about my company, and myself, click the link. It’s a cliché, but it’s true for me: no job is too big, no job is too small. I have worked with companies on the Fortune 500 list and I have worked with companies that have one employee. The service I provide is the same for all.

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