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Executive Summary - Final Deliverable Report

Prepared for: architreasuresPrepared by: Jeff Son, Marta Budwiskowska, Vaibhav Manchanda, Varsha Sundar, Wendy Wei

Jeff Son <[email protected]> Marta Budzikowska <[email protected]> Vaibhav Manchanda <[email protected]> Varsha Sundar <[email protected]> Wendy Wei <[email protected]>

December 14, 2012

University of Chicago

mailto:[email protected]










Introduction 3Client Profile 3Current Situation 4Problem Definition 5

Scope of Project - How can architreasures become more sustainable? 5Deliverables 6Methodology 6

Foundation List 7Social Media - Marketing Strategy 8

Why should architreasures care about social media? 8What should architreasures look to get out of its social networking efforts? 9

Social Media Research 10Key Findings: Industry Benchmark Reports 10Recommendation 1: Marketing over direct fundraising 11Recommendation 2: Integrate social media with traditional marketing efforts 12Recommendation 3: Send out a monthly e-newsletter 13Recommendation 4: Allocate more staff time to social media 14Jewels in July and Brewery Comparison 15Immediate Plan of Action for Social Media 18Best Practices in the Online Domain 22

Collaboration Strategy 29Why should architreasures collaborate? 29With Corporate Partners 30

Key Findings: Statistics 30

Final Executive Summary - architreasures 1

Key Findings: Collaboration Continuum 31Key Findings: Corporate Philanthropy vs Social Investing 33Criteria for Identifying Potential Businesses Collaborators 34architreasures Pitch Ideas 34Best Practices for Business Collaborations 35

With Other Non-Profits 36Key Findings: Case study Take-aways 36Criteria for Identifying Potential Nonprofit Collaborators 40architreasures Pitch Ideas 40Best Practices for Nonprofit Collaborations 41

Works Cited 42Appendix A - Foundation List 43Appendix B 54

Corporate Partnership Case Study 54


Introduction

Client Profile

architreasures is an arts-based community development organization focused on reducing social isolation by creating grassroots partnerships to build public spaces. Founded in 1996 to meet the expressed need for Chicago communities to organize, build capacity, and participate in the redevelopment of their neighborhoods, architreasures serves communities from Humboldt Park to Woodlawn – impacting a total of 26 communities in Chicago to date. Through every project, architreasures emphasizes direct community involvement By connecting low impact youth, volunteers, artists and architects through community projects, participants feel more socially connected, gain critical thinking skills and feel an increase in pride of where they live. architreasures’ accomplishes long term outcomes as well, such as increasing social capital within communities and creating a safe outdoor space. To date, architreasures has completed 95 community projects with an annual budget of about $200,000 and employs three full-time and two part-time staff.


Current Situation


Problem DefinitionCan AT become more sustainable through increased marketing efforts and stronger partnerships with local organizations that will attract more grants, individual donations and business sponsor-ships for the organization? How can marketing and partnerships help AT become more sustainable in the long run? How can AT get immediate relief for the end of this fiscal year?

Scope of Project - How can architreasures become more sustainable?• Identify appropriate sources of funding and prioritize into tiers

• By being more selective in grant applications, AT can save time and money• Establish marketing strategy that will penetrate mainstream and social media spheres

• By using marketing strategies, AT can increase public donations as well as raise awareness for their cause

• Collaborate with local businesses and organizations that share a common vision of community building

• By partnering with local groups, AT can increase participation, secure in-kind donations and strengthen their network


MAXIMIZE- Exposure

- Unrestricted revenue

MINIMIZE- Cost

- Staff Capacity- Turnaround rate

Deliverables• Foundation List

• Database of funders determined on priority basis for categorization (e.g.. Tier 1, tier 2, tier 3)• Social Media Marketing Strategy

• Marketing strategy with emphasis on social media • Collaboration Strategy

• Details of how to approach potential partners, and partnership-building strategy

MethodologyObjective Activities Outcomes

Establish database of funding sources in priority order. e.g.. Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3.

- Access Donor’s Forum- Determine priority basis for cate-gorization- Identify appropriate sources of funding and categorize

- Will have access to a regular and sustainable stream of funding- Will be able to save time, money and effort by only applying to grants that have a good yield rate.

Establish strategy that will pene-trate mainstream and social me-dia spheres

- Determine appropriate budget allocated towards media/marketing- Guidelines for Internet/Social media operation- Come up with “Best practices for marketing strategies” - what com-parable non-profits are doing, evaluate success stories

- Will develop a calendar of events and encourage regular donor pres-ence at annual/monthly events.- Greater awareness of architreasures as an organization in Chicago area- Will increase donor participation at community and project events

Establish strong and broad part-nerships with like-minded local businesses and non-profits

- Develop approach strategy and checklist of how to go about selecting partners and develop-ing lasting partnerships

- Can develop a source of stable revenue- Will develop network to approach for project funding- Will improve overall sustainability of architreasures


Foundation List

The Foundation List Deliverable was created in order to address the immediate organizational goal of reducing the deficit by the end of the current fiscal year. The aim was to find grants that are the most compatible with architreasures’ mission. A list of Chicago-area foundations was obtained from the Donors Forum, and filtered by: area of operation, specifically arts and community-building focused foundations; size, with small foundations being preferred; and application requirements.

By being more selective in the grant application, we believe that architreasures can save both time and money, which is why the list was then further divided based on priority basis for categorization, here called Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3. Tier 1 focuses on grants that are highly compatible with archi-treasures, have no deadline, and no formal application. Minimal application requirements were pre-ferred due to immediacy of funding need. Priority was given to small, family owned, Chicago land based, foundations, which are more likely to support our client. Tier 2 includes grants do have deadlines and some sort of application process, and is ordered by application deadline. Grants with multiple deadlines were included more than once and marked appropriately. Tier 3 includes grants requiring an application but without a deadline. Both small and large foundations were in-cluded in Tier 2 and 3.

Tier 1 is included in Appendix A, and the rest will be provided in an Excel spreadsheet for ease of use.


Social Media - Marketing Strategy

Why should architreasures care about social media?


Almost every non-profit is taking advantage of commercial social

networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and LinkedIn

• Facebook the most popular network by far among nonprofits

• Twitter next with rapidly growing nonprofit base

• MySpace in a death spiral

Community sizes on social media platforms are growing

• The figure above represents the size of the social media following that the average non-profit respondent has accumulated

• Average fan base growing rapidly on Facebook and Twitter (by 30% and 81%, respectively in 2012)

• Nonprofit pages on Facebook have by far the largest fan base

What should architreasures look to get out of its social networking efforts?

Long-term outcomes desired:• Increase participation (volunteering) in community development projects• Increase attendance at fundraising events• Increase annual appeal giving• Increase opportunities for collaborations with other organizations

Short-term goals that you can start working towards:• Increase supporter base on social networks• Increase the number of e-mail subscribers• Engage supporters on a regular basis and keep them updated• Engage with other organizations doing similar work – build connections

So how do organizations start increasing their support base?


architreasures requires some sort of marketing impetus; Marketing spends make up a negligible part

of architreasures' budget

• Traditional advertising methods such as sponsored advertisements in various media and printed marketing materials can be quite costly

• Social media marketing costs are considerably lesser and are spread over a longer period

• Can gradually build supporter base and increase the level of interaction with them

Social Media Research

Key Findings: Industry Benchmark Reports


Online survey conducted over the months of January and February this year• 3,522 respondents• North America based only• Good representation from Arts & Culture, Human

Services, Public & Societal benefit• Almost 50% had annual budgets less than 1 million

Why we chose this report• Very recent and therefore relevant – social media is a

rapidly evolving phenomenon• Large sample size and good mix of organization

types and sizes – reduces chance of bias

We realize that some of the organizations sampled may be very different from architreasures, but believe that it is nevertheless useful to observe what the sector as a whole considers valuable in the social media sphere

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

• Focus social media efforts as a means to enhance the reach and effectiveness of traditional fundraising efforts, not to directly garner funds.

• Integrate social media with all other marketing and outreach methods to capture the largest possible supporter base.

• Improve email campaigns by sending out a quarterly e-newsletter to keep donors and supporters updated.

• Focus and prioritization on social media development

Recommendation 1: Marketing over direct fundraising

Direct Fundraising on Social Media – How effective is it?

• Direct fundraising on social media is not very common, nor is it very fruitful• Some fundraising efforts are successful on Facebook but is probably something that only

organizations with large support bases can achieve


Type to enter text

What role does social media play at a nonprofit?

• Respondents across the board use their social media communities as marketing tools for their organization

• Fundraising is also widely cited as something social media can help achieve

Even among those organizations that are sponsoring Facebook

Advertisements, the primary goal remains firmly marketing-

centric.

• Facebook is most useful for increasing organizational visibil-ity, building a strong base of supporters and mobilizing sup-port for events/causes

Recommendation 2: Integrate social media with traditional marketing efforts

Social Media supporter base grown through integration with multiple outreach methods

• A majority of organizations promoted their social media pages on their website, communication mailings, newsletters as well as on printed materials at their events

Benefits• Increasing number of followers on social networks• Increasing subscription list• Increased attendance at events• Ensures that individuals very interested in contributing to architreasures will be able to en-

gage with the organization on multiple platforms – social networks, volunteering at events, emails

Cost of integrating social media with traditional marketing efforts = 0


Recommendation 3: Send out a monthly e-newsletter

"Your e-newsletter is the number one force driving traffic to your website, your blog...and your social networking profiles"

- Heather Mansfield, Social Media for Social Good

• Email is the one online tool that is widely used across generations – most studies state that 8 or 9 out of every 10 people use email

• Allows supporters to keep track of your progress and be aware of your fundraising needs• People are much more likely to engage with your newsletter than with a fundraising appeal

• E-newsletter click-through rates are almost double that of fundraising appeals*• A "Donate Now" tab as well as Social Media icons can be easily incorporated into an e-

newsletter• Online revenue per usable email is approximately $12*

Newsletters should have the following broad content categories:• Mission Progress Updates – Anything to remind supporters that you are making progress in

your mission• Completed/upcoming project descriptions• New collaborations that you may have begun• Special achievements

• Calls to Action• Volunteer at a project• Attend a fundraiser• Sign a petition

Why monthly?• Keeps people engaged

• The highest open rates are seen for those organizations that send 1-2 newsletters per month• No additional cost

• architreasures is already paying a monthly fee to Mad Mimi (e-mail marketing service)• Ensures variety in the content of email communications

• At the moment, most of the e-mails that go out are Calls To Action e-mails


Recommendation 4: Allocate more staff time to social media

Hire one part time staff as Marketing and Outreach In-charge• social media• e-newsletter and other e-mail communications• to look for and avail of collaboration opportunities with other organizations, especially businesses

that can help fundraise

Top 3 Factors for Success on Social Networks

Winning Formula – Get a plan, get buy-in and get an experienced team member to lead the new initiative!


89% of respondents had formally allocated some staff time to social networking efforts

in 2012

• Fewer organizations remain on the extreme left of that spectrum each year – the first two categories were 7% lower this year

• This calculation does NOT include staff time allocated to other marketing functions

Jewels in July and Brewery ComparisonWe must keep in mind the purpose of our benchmarking approach: to recommend the best marketing and fundraising strategy suited the architreasures’ needs. With our evaluative process complete, we can now shift from broad industry standards and models to specific tactics ArchiTreasures can use for successful fundraising. Thus, after a brief overview of architreasures’ past events, Jewels in July and Revolutionary Brewery, in this section you will find a comparative cost benefit analysis and recommendations for future events from these findings.

Jewels in July

Jewels in July is an annual fundraising event that was featured at the DIRTT Green Learning Center this year. With great food and drinks, it’s a time for people who are interested in community building and civic engagement to socialize and find out how to be a part of AT’s mission. Guests may also indulge in a silent auction showcasing art, craft, photography, dinners, wine, vodka, and more.

Revolution Brewery

The Revolution Brewery is a fairly new fundraising project that architreasures put together on November 12. With tickets priced at $40 a person, the event was a time for potential clients, volunteers, friends, and acquaintances to socialize and gather to be exposed to the AT staff and name. There were donating opportunities and raffles that also helped raise money. Overall, the event featured a great turnout that had few expenses and raised a substantial amount due to its social environment and venue.


Cost-Benefit Analysis

The total profit for the Brewery fundraiser is proportionate to the total profit Jewels in July brought in when compared to the amount of expenses each event required. However, Jewels in July required much more staff capacity in terms of preparation i.e. finding auction items, securing a band, sponsors etc. while the Brewery was put together on shorter notice.

Even though it took more time and money, through the additional donating opportunities at Jewels in July such as a Donation Tree, auction items, and corporate sponsors, Jewels in July brought in more money per ticket sold than Revolutionary Brewery. By comparing the pros and cons of both, we hope to combine the ease of organizing the Brewery fundraiser with the monetary intake of Jewels in July.


PROS

CONS


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