Summary
This project offers an overview of the possible benefits of online fundraising for art museums. As technology continues to evolve, so do the ways people interact with one another. In the last few years, multiple reports on philanthropy statistics have shown a growth in online giving (Giving Institute, 2018). Each year, increasing number of donors report a preference for receiving updates from organizations digitally, whether through email, social media, or the organization’s website (Castillo, 2014). Reports record a percentage of donors preferring to give online as high as 54% (McKeever, 2018). Other trends highlight growth in giving to crowdfunding campaigns through online peer-to-peer fundraising. For art museums, this offers an opportunity to develop relationships online with their audience.
As a result, it is essential that art museums develop the skills to partake in online giving. Beyond offering an easy way to receive donations, going digital gives art museums the ability to build identities as welcoming, accessible, and responsive organizations and reach wider audiences than ever before. The Internet allows museums to reach and cultivate more diverse groups of donors, more efficiently.
To demonstrate the benefits of online fundraising, this project and includes two case examples, an online annual appeal and a Giving Day campaign. These cases offer information on how the campaigns were implemented at each museum, the methods of evaluation used to determine success, and how suggestions for other museums based on lessons learned.
Cases
Case 1: The Wadsworth Atheneum
This case incorporated online giving into the Museum’s annual appeal campaign, with a goal of increasing online giving overall. The solicitations included a direct mail piece and an email, both directing people to the Museum’s webpage to donate online. The campaign also included a Facebook fundraiser to determine whether the platform was a good fit for annual appeals. The goal was to receive at least five donations through Facebook.
Case 2: UConn Gives and the Ballard Institute
The Giving Day campaign was part of the UConn Gives event on March 27th and 28th, 2019. The Museum was one of 123 participating initiatives and organizations on campus online. The goal was to reach 100 individual donors, recruit 3 Champions to take part in peer-to-peer fundraising, and increase engagement on social media with a UConn Gives social media campaign.
Conclusion
Through this project, the value of online giving became very clear for both museums. In both cases, the results exceeded expectations and surpassed the objectives set out in the project plans. The medium allowed for in-depth analysis of the data obtained and indicated low-cost opportunities for testing multiple components of the solicitation effort. The key findings of these cases demonstrate the necessity for strong collaboration with the marketing team in order to best adapt solicitation language and methods and fundraiser promotion to the digital channel. The cases also point out to the value of data analysis to develop better narratives and increase response rates. Pursuing fundraising campaigns online enable development teams to testing their narratives, images, and social media promotion to determine what results in higher response rates from their audience and make solicitation more efficient.
For both organizations, the campaigns will need to be integrated into a long term strategy in order to retain the first-time donors gained during these cases and to cultivate the others. Email and social media allow the museums to stay connected to their donors through regular updates throughout the year at a low cost to the organizations.
Margaux Ancel 