Philip Tomé

Wiki Charities Will Lead Change

Article written by Philip Tomé. Originally published on RaisingFundsBlog.com, 2008.

The Donor Experience

What do you feel as a donor with control over the use of your donated funds? Do you feel empowered? Do you feel like an active participant in good works? Is the act of giving more meaningful – compared to the usual “ask, give, and take” fundraising model? Through my experience of charitable giving, the answer is yes to all of these questions.

The Beneficiary Experience

What do beneficiaries feel when they control or influence the appeal for funds? Do they feel empowered? Do they feel like active participants in change? Is the act of receiving made more meaningful and the commitment to change strengthened? Based on my world view, the answer is: who knows?

I have yet to see a large community of potential beneficiaries control an appeal for funds and its sundry activities. There is always an intermediary.

Enter the Wiki

Wiki defined: online collaboration model and/or tool that allows users to edit the contents of webpages through a web browser.

Using international relief and development as my focus; what if beneficiaries (the other side of fundraising) assumed greater control of conversations with donors? What if the intermediaries – from the fundraising perspective – were eliminated or their involvement reduced? Could a wiki charity work?

I asked Billy Sharma for a fundraiser’s perspective…

Q: Are there any beneficiaries who control or influence the appeal for funds today?

A: To my knowledge, most of the control is in the hands of an intermediary that solicits the funds. Many charities like Christian Children’s Fund, Save the Children, Canadian Crossroads International, and a host of others who work in different counties abroad do take their cue from the actual problems that exist locally.

Without passing moral judgment, it would be difficult to see how this could be turned around because there is an equal chance of abuse (of funds) if the beneficiaries were to control the funds. There is no perfect solution in an imperfect world, just the hope that the intermediary or charity is transparent, caring and responsible. Besides, I hope there are enough controls by the Government to revoke licenses, local media and inside whistleblowers to keep them honest and on their toes. I doubt any controls could be applied or imposed on beneficiaries as individuals and if so, who would be responsible to do that?

Q: What do beneficiaries feel when they control/influence the appeal for funds?

A: This is purely subjective because beneficiaries are individuals and it is impossible for one person to speak for all.

Having stated the above, I would imagine that (a beneficiary controlling/influencing the appeal for funds) it would allow them to channel funds to areas most crucial (since they know where it hurts the most and what is a priority) and make them feel empowered.

I also think a more important question to ask is: how would donors feel if beneficiaries were in control? Would they give more or would they give less if this was the case?

Billy Sharma is a freelance copywriter/art director and provides complete creative, direct marketing and advertising services to many charities and direct marketing agencies in Canada and the U.S. For the last fifteen years, he has run his own company, Designers Inc. He is a frequent speaker on direct marketing issues, a judge for various awards shows and writes a monthly column called Direct & Personal for Direct Marketing News and a newsletter called Direct Forum both available on his website: www.designersinc.ca.

Differences Between Traditional Charities and Wiki Charities

A traditional charity perpetuates one-way information flow. These types of charities tell donors there is a need, ask for a donation of resources (money, time, talents, etc), and – if donors are lucky – send a progress report in a few months. Rinse and repeat. Traditional charities and their fundraisers have been operating this way since the 1800s and, up until now, that has been OK. But, not anymore.

A wiki charity fosters and maintains rich interactions between donors and beneficiaries. A wiki charity enables conversations, utilizing technology to link the needs of potential beneficiaries and the resources of donors. These types of charities engage all stakeholders and beneficiaries in the development process.

Demographics Are Forcing Change

The end is in sight for traditional charities. In 2008, the first Baby Boomers will turn 62 years old. These Boomers will qualify for early retirement. Retirement shifts financial priorities – no surprise. The net result for fundraisers will be reduced funds raised through traditional, one-way channels from this group.

Younger generations of donors – the people we are all desperately trying to attract – are fundamentally different than their parents. They have different response triggers. Gen X (to a degree), Gen Y, and Gen Z demand closeness with their philanthropic partners. We have Web 2.0 to thank for that. Successful charities (wiki charities) offer control, interactivity, networking and community-building opportunities, and information aggregation to their donors, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders.

Now more than ever charities are being forced to become enablers of giving, receiving, and change. Say goodbye to the days of asking and taking. Young donors – Canada’s future financial heavyweights – want to be connected to the people they help. If your charity isn’t relevant in this respect, you should prepare for diminishing returns starting now (although I suspect you’ve noticed this trend for the past two years).

Technology being what it is today has put pressure on charities to demonstrate success in real-time. It is no longer good enough to publish success stories and pictures in an annual report. Most international relief and development charities’ websites I’ve visited are littered with appeals, success stories, and professionally-produced images and videos. Again, up until now, that has been OK. Wiki charities recognize that user generated content, webcams, Internet telephony, and virtual communities (bound by a common goal) attract younger donors and lead to improved levels of sustainable funding.

Wiki charities understand that fundraising is shifting from push (for example: the charity saying, “The field needs X. Please donate Y”) to engage and co-create (for example: the beneficiary saying, “I need donor resources to enable me to do X” and the donor saying, “I want my resources to do Y”). Wiki charities go beyond connecting needs and resources. Wiki charities enable people of disparate ideas, countries, financial resources, etc through editable and collaborative technologies to create long-lasting, positive human change.

How to Become a Wiki Charity

The One Laptop Per Child initiative and a worldwide belief that the Internet will be used to disseminate valuable information (critical to the eradication of poverty) lead me to believe that gaps in technological infrastructure will be plugged within the next decade. Traditional charities will have to embrace the wiki approach to raising funds. Over 100,000 Canadian charities have their futures at stake. In the meantime, what can your charity do today to be more wiki in nature? I asked Glen Webster, Vice President of Strategic Planning for Klick Communications Inc… Here’s what Glen had to say.

- Establish the goal of the wiki up-front – likely establishing a more personal connection between beneficiary and donor to enhance the good feeling that comes with donating

- Identify beneficiaries, or aid workers in the field with beneficiaries, that are willing and able to express the benefits of the aid they receive

- Make sure the stories are personal and tangible
o Risks – negative information can be shared as well, transparency must be guaranteed – be prepared to accept the bad with the good

- Identify donors that want a personal connection with their donation, for example:
o Sponsored children
o Projects listed on social investment exchanges
o Individual memorial scholarships
o Youth mentorship non-profits

- Segment and test with well-suited donors and beneficiaries

- Support the web-based wiki with event-triggered e-mails that link to the wiki and pull participants back online; complemented by search engine marketing strategies to leverage the benefits of these testimonials

- Be prepared for the administrative challenges of directed donations

Glen Webster is the Vice President of Strategic Planning for Klick Communications Inc., Canada’s leading web application development firm and interactive agency. Glen has 15 years of post-graduate experience in business analysis, project management, and management consulting with firms like CGI, Deloitte Consulting and Price Waterhouse. He has e-enabled non-profits like the United Way of Greater Toronto and corporate donors like Schering-Plough and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. Glen is well-regarded as an authority on e-business and has taught post-secondary courses on the subject in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business, Ryerson University, and Toronto colleges.

So What?

I’m not suggesting fundraisers should find new jobs. To an extent, donors will always needs fundraisers to help them understand in their cultural context the needs of the world’s impoverished people. However, the need to shape appeals and push those appeals through offline channels will give way to a need to enable online collaboration between donors and beneficiaries. Losers launch websites; winners launch communities.