> > * Finally, we need data about our existing donors. There needs to be > a system where we have email and postal addresses so we can contact > them. We need to know how much they donate and how long they have been > members for. We need to know how many people are joining/leaving over > time. We need to know why people are joining/leaving. This will > require new infrastructure, and we need advice from the board about > what is technically required and how we can get it.
Many non-profits especially those in the arts have opt-in newsletters. I know that when I go to say, for example, the local symphony's website they have an email subscription box to sign up for these. If a person donates or goes to a concert they automatically sign the donor up because they capture their email address. I think if GNOME was to do something similar, and of course I could help here, we could start with one newsletter. That newsletter have a broader focus than just talking about software releases and it should talk about the foundations activities. . One obvious thing we should be doing is > sending regular updates to donors, probably as an email (I wonder if > this could be tied in with the annual report somehow - eg. quarterly > donor updates could be used as the basis for each annual report). The newsletters should be sent frequently but not so often that they become annoying. I would send a newsletter at least monthly or every two weeks. That way it becomes a regular thing that the donor looks forward to. On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 5:30 AM, Oliver Propst <oliver.pro...@gmail.com>wrote: > On Thu, Apr 24, 2014 at 11:13 AM, Allan Day <allanp...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Oliver Propst <oliver.pro...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> When we are doing a campaign we tend to be very focused on it (thus > >> busy), and not have the resources to focus on more long term planning. > >> > >> Thus its a a good time for us now to think about how we can improve > >> our fundraising efforts [1]. A great start is to learn how from how > >> other free/open source projects have conducted their fundraising > >> campings. > > ... > > > > Thanks for getting this started, Oliver. I've been thinking about this > > a bit myself recently, and I'd like to do some work on Friends of > > GNOME if I can find the time. I wanted to discuss it in a team > > meeting, but the mailing list works. > I have added this an agenda item for the upcoming Engagement Team > meeting set for next week [1] > > > > So, some general thoughts: > > > > * One of my main issues with Friends of GNOME right now is that we > > don't do enough to engage with existing donors. If people donate, the > > least they should get back is regular updates about how we are > > spending their money. Right now, Friends of GNOME is a black hole - > > people make their donations and that's pretty much it. This is not an > > effective way to encourage people to keep donating or to get them to > > donate more (see below). One obvious thing we should be doing is > > sending regular updates to donors, probably as an email (I wonder if > > this could be tied in with the annual report somehow - eg. quarterly > > donor updates could be used as the basis for each annual report). > > > > * We ought to be looking to existing donors as the potential source > > of additional cash. If someone is making a regular donation, the > > chances are that they will also be willing to donate to periodic fund > > raising campaigns. This is the way a lot of charities operate - once > > you are a donor they will contact you about their campaigns. One thing > > we need to do here is separate Friends of GNOME and our fund raising > > campaigns into different entities. > > > > * It doesn't seem like the adopt a hacker postcards and the t-shirts > > are being tracked and distributed very effectively, and I'm not > > convinced that we have the administrative capacity to do a good job of > > these. I wonder if we should drop them in favour of other incentives > > that don't have the same administrative burden. Ideas: discount > > vouchers, vouchers to spend on GNOME merchandise, freebies at > > conferences, membership badges you can download and print at home. > > > > * It's time to be thinking about another campaign. When that happens, > > we need to be certain that we will be able to use the money fairly > > quickly - this hasn't happened in the past, and that is potentially > > damaging. (Again, people need feedback about how their money is being > > spent, otherwise they might not donate again.) We should think about > > what we actually need money for, and I'd like the board to provide us > > with some advice here. There are outstanding sysadmin tasks, for > > example, like upgrading Bugzilla, or maybe we need to improve our > > infrastructure in some way. > > > > * Aside from the funding campaigns, we don't actively promote or > > publicise Friends of GNOME. This is a basic error - we should be > > routinely inviting people to join, posting about the scheme, and > > advertising what we are doing with donations. This should be part of > > the Engagement Team's regular activities - not just when we happen to > > have a campaign running. A good way to start here would be to come up > > with a plan for what kinds of posts we should be making and how often > > we should be making them; this is something we can check ourselves > > against at each team meeting. > > > > * It seems to me that the Foundation's money goes into a central pot > > - I don't get the impression that particular income is earmarked for > > specific uses. I wonder if the finances could/should be organised in > > such a way that we can definitely say where Friends of GNOME money is > > going, or even channel it to areas that we think are more interesting > > to donors. Again, that's something for the board. > > > > * Finally, we need data about our existing donors. There needs to be > > a system where we have email and postal addresses so we can contact > > them. We need to know how much they donate and how long they have been > > members for. We need to know how many people are joining/leaving over > > time. We need to know why people are joining/leaving. This will > > require new infrastructure, and we need advice from the board about > > what is technically required and how we can get it. > > These are all great points I agree with. We can elaborate more on how > to adress this at the next meeting. > > 1 https://mail.gnome.org/archives/engagement-list/2014-April/msg00054.html > > -- > -mvh Oliver Propst > _______________________________________________ > engagement-list mailing list > engagement-list@gnome.org > https://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/engagement-list >
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