Mack Campbell

Boston Children’s New Website

Mack Campbell — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 16:00:48 +0000

I have a man crush on the people that designed the new fundraising pages for Boston Children’s.

It’s beautiful – and built in Blackbaud NetCommunity. I’m not going to provide a complete review, but I’ll highlight three key elements that I believe raise the bar in healthcare fundraising websites.

Use of a banner based almost entirely on pictures of people; (Fundraising rule #1: People give to people who help people.)
A big A** donate now button; (Fundraising rule #2: Make it easy for people to give.)
Integration of social media and video (Fundraising rule #3*: Meet online donors where they are.)

*It’s not really fundraising rule #3, but I wanted to continue the trend. Overall, Boston has done a great job. I hope all of their work pays off with a dramatic increase in online donations. We’ll have to wait and see (and then see if they share that info – I might be waiting a while.)

Check out there website here >>

Online Giving vs. Online Revenue

Mack Campbell — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:38:48 +0000

One of my mentors is a stickler for terminology and making sure you are very accurate on what you are saying (or writing). When pulling reports from Raiser’s Edge, we’d constantly talked about all of the different ways we could pull (i.e. manipulate) data to best represent what was happening.

We constantly talked about philanthropic and non-philanthropic revenue. We even broke all gift records in Raiser’s Edge into those categories. (If you want to know how, email me at mackecampbell (at) gmail.com).

I bring this up because Steve Maclaughlin on his blog, Connections, just posted a great analysis of 2009 Online Giving Trends. Not to discount the information in any way (I’m using it as a quasi-benchmark as I study our online revenue), but he uses the terms “giving” and “revenue” interchangeably in his analysis. I know that not all of my online revenue is (philanthropic) gifts, so what are we looking at in terms of details?

I guess I’m splitting hairs, but it’s just an observation.

Online appeal results in $2.4 million in donations

Mack Campbell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:47:13 +0000

Rick Warren announced last Wednesday that his church needed $900,000 to stay in the black for 2009. Today, he announced they received $2.4 million – no gift was larger than $100. This all stemmed from a letter he posted online. That’s an amazing letter! Full story after the jump…

From Huffington Post:

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — Evangelical pastor Rick Warren’s plea for donations to fill a $900,000 deficit at his Southern California megachurch brought in $2.4 million, Warren announced to cheers during a sermon at the church on Saturday.

Warren said the amount raised after the appeal was posted online Wednesday included only money parishioners brought in person to Saddleback Church by New Year’s Eve. More was arriving by hand and by mail, he said.

“This is pretty amazing,” said Warren, who made the announcement by bringing out 24 volunteers each holding a sign for $100,000. “I don’t think any church has gotten a cash offering like that off a letter.”

The pastor said he planned to talk about what he called his church’s “radical generosity” in the rest of the weekend’s sermons. He said the total came from members, and the donations were all under $100.

“We’re starting the new decade with a surplus,” he said. “It came from thousands of ordinary people. This was not one big fat cat.”

The posting on Warren’s Web site read: “With 10 percent of our church family out of work due to the recession, our expenses in caring for our community in 2009 rose dramatically while our income stagnated.”

Warren said the church had largely managed to stay within its budget during the year, but “the bottom dropped out” when Christmas donations were down.

The letter cited the church’s accomplishments in 2009 and detailed how the donations would be used, including the church’s food pantry, homeless ministry, counseling and support groups.

Warren made similar pleas after Hurricane Katrina and the 2004 Asian tsunami, raising $1.7 million and $1.6 million from Saddleback parishioners.

Warren is the author of numerous books, including the best-selling “The Purpose Driven Life.” He was named the top newsmaker of the year for 2009 by the Religion Newswriters Association, gaining attention with his invocation at the inauguration of President Barack Obama and comments in the aftermath of California’s Proposition 8, which overturned gay marriage.

He founded Saddleback Church in 1980 in Lake Forest, about 65 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

Website Navigation: Less is More

Mack Campbell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 17:00:08 +0000

When the web was first invented by Al Gore, the prevailing thought was to have a link to every page on your website on every page of your website. Thankfully, we’ve evolved – often in the name of design. During the evolution, we created a navigation of menus and sub menus and sub-sub menus. Today, we see less and less navigation. This forces web designers to truly think and study what visitors are seeking and how is can be organized for them.

Several years ago, I did a redesign for a church in Dallas. It was a pretty large church with a lot of resources online. I almost quit over the navigation. It got ugly. I wanted one navigation bar containing 5 links. They wanted that menu with flyout submenus and then a side navigation that was static on all pages. Basically, it was 1956 web design 101. Sadly, they won.

While the new design led to increased donations, I don’t believe it helped people find what they were looking for. All of the options are too much for people.

Compare your navigation to a restaurant menu. With a cluttered menu (think TGIFriday’s or Chili’s), you are bombarded with page upon page of options. In the end, you just look at the pictures, panic, ask the server their favorite item and go with that. There’s a reason why high-end restaurants have simpler menus. It’s not just about the chef’s supplies for the night – it’s more relaxing to read your options of 4 entrees. It’s a better experience for the diner.

When you’re considering your website, look at navigation and see how you can make it more simple. And repeat.

For an example, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation is a great example of a simple navigation.

About Mack

Mack Campbell — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 16:07:35 +0000

I thought about just pasting my “official” bio on here, but it’s stale, cold, and makes me seem like I’m full of myself (I am, but that’s a different story). Really, I just didn’t feel like updating it this morning….

Yeah, I’m young, but I got started working for non-profits early. I’ve been doing it since high school when I led the volunteers of an inner city youth program. Since then, I got a Masters degree in non-profit management and now work for Children’s Medical Center in Dallas.

I have an amazing job where I get to (indirectly) help make life better for hundreds of thousands of kids each year. Specifically, I work in data management (aka Development Services, Operations, etc.) in the Office of Development. Translated, if it concerns data, I’m involved. For those of you who thought “well, that’s everything,” you’re right! You’ve now got the jest of my blog. I also work with our online fundraising programs and social media.

I’ve talked with colleagues, mentors and see the pains of other organizations as they deal with their data. It’s almost like a burden – the good non-profits realize it’s a gold mine.

Future posts will cover my thoughts, observations and experiences concerning online fundraising, social media and data management (in case you couldn’t tell by the purple and green logo at the top).

I will attempt to be real and honest in my posts. They won’t be polished. They’ll be written like I think (I think with misspelled words too). In an attempt to be real, here’s a pic of me as I write this on a Sunday morning at a coffee shop.