canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook

[Manish Vaidya]

Hey y'all,

At tonight's fundraising meeting, Pike, Nikki, Corey and I tried to sift through the confusion and make some decisions about the dates & times of the canvassing and phone banking.

Folks who were at the meeting, please write back to confirm or edit the info below.

Once that happens, Melyssa or Roni, can you update the times on the web site events calendar and facebook, and add a post to the web site about it?

thanks and xo

manish

updated info (for our internal use):
Saturday, March 19
1) canvassing 1pm-4:30pm [meet at 17th & Castro at 1, your team canvasses from 1-4, then all teams meet at Lyon-Martin (1748 Market St. #201, @Valencia) for a quick debrief]
- Pike is coordinating

Sunday, March 20
2) canvassing 1pm-4:30pm [meet at Lyon-Martin at 1, your team canvasses from 1-4, then all teams meet at Lyon-Martin to debrief]
- Nikki is coordinating

3) phone banking 4pm-8pm [meet at Lyon-Martin at 4, do calls from 4:30-7:30, then debrief]
- Corey is coordinating and can get enough people to do the calls, so no need to put a big call out to get people to phone bank

Saturday, March 26
4) now i can't remember if it's a canvass or a phone bank on the 26th...i think it's a canvass..um let's not worry about that for right now :)


content (for web site and facebook):

facebook:
- change "Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin on 3/19 and 3/26" to "Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin on 3/19 and 3/20"
- change the time to "Saturday, March 19 · 1pm-4:30pm"

web site events calendar:
- for 3/19: change the "Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin" time from "Sat, March 19, 12pm – 3pm" to "Sat, March 19, 1pm - 4:30pm"
- for 3/20: add an event: "Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin" with the same content as the 3/19 canvass, except change the date to "Sun, March 20, 1pm - 4:30pm"
- for 3/20: change the time of the phonebank from "2pm - 5pm" to "4pm - 8pm" and add a note: "We have enough volunteers signed up for this. For other ways to help, visit our Get Involved page: http://www.savelyonmartin.org/?page_id=15"

web site post:

Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin on 3/19 and 3/20

Time to hit the streets to Save Lyon Martin. We're going to hit all
the neighborhoods and shake our cans for the clinic. We need to
raise $500,000 by the end of the month to provide the financial cushion it needs to stabilize. Last time we raised thousands just in one day. We can do it again. Spread the word because we need lots of hands and cans to help.

In a very short period of time, this amazing community has rallied to raise over $327,000 (50/50 cash & pledges) to help the clinic stay open. Queer, Lesbian, Trans, Straight, Gay, Clients, Friends, Family, Former Clients, Supporters, and Activists make up the Save Lyon-Martin Community Group. Please get involved and spread the word.

Please let us know you're coming! RSVP at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152616528130935&ref=mf

Other ways to help:
# Donate online at www.lyon-martin.org.
# Send a check to: 1748 Market Street, Suite 201, SF, CA 94102.
# Donate by calling 415-901-7131.
# Check our events calendar for other ways to get involved: http://www.savelyonmartin.org/?page_id=10
 
Please let us know you're coming! RSVP at:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152616528130935&ref=mf

[corey bohman]

Looks great Manish! Slight correction about the phone bank needs. We have 12 phone lines, and I do need some help, just not tons of folks. If any of you wonderful people want to make calls, please come by from 4-8. And let me know ahead of time so I can keep track.

Also, there will be a second phone bank on March 22nd, but we have 13 Stanford students, so I think we are fine for that. But just so everyone knows we are doing two rounds of calls.

Thanks,

Corey

---

From: Manish Vaidya <socialju...@hotmail.com>
To: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wed, March 16, 2011 8:57:05 PM
Subject: canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook

[sabrina a]

I went ahead and edited the 3/19 FB event to 1-4:30 and 3/19 and 3/20. I'll email folks too to let them know of the 3/20 change. Is someone already planning on doing the duplicate 3/20 page?

Sabrina

---

From: socialju...@hotmail.com
To: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com

Subject: canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook

Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:57:05 -0700

[chvaza]

everyone, With the 3/20 ph bank now 4-8, I'm sorry to say I wont' be able to be there. If I can help with any prep work or other aspect, please let me know. ALSO - please read the ERIC's UPDATE message I posted. c . --- On Wed, 3/16/11, corey bohman <corey...@yahoo.com> wrote:

[Nikki]

Hi Manish,

This is Nikki. I believe that the canvassing on Saturday 3/19 is
between 12:00 and 3:00PM followed by regrouping at Lyon-Martin and on
Sunday 3/20 it is beween 1:00PM and 4:00PM followed by regrouing at
Lyon-Martin. I believe these times to be accurate but you might check
it out with Pike for a 2nd interpretation just to be certain. The
meeting and regrouping locations you listed are correct.

Thanks for helping to get it posted and get the new information out.

Nikki

[chvaza]

Re the website update below. As of today the rainbow says $338,880 has been raised.  And since we went back to the single rainbow last Friday - all the money shown on the rainbow is cash that's in hand.  So the pledges that were made have all come in.  (With the exception of the one $40,000 pledge which it has been determined is not going to be fulfilled. The rainbow reflects that adjustment)   (it's this kind of detail that will be covered in Eric's next full update - see my earlier post tonight) --- On Wed, 3/16/11, Manish Vaidya <socialju...@hotmail.com> wrote:

From: Manish Vaidya <socialju...@hotmail.com> Subject: canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook To: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com

[pike on a bike]

Hey all,

Yes, so since the original facebook post did say 12-3, I think we should still count on meeting at noon on Saturday, though we/ I can go til 4. I think it may get really confusing if each day has different times, but I don't want to commit Nikki to 12-4 if that isn't what she was planning on.

On that note, I know that Nikki was hoping another SLM person or two could help her coordinate things from the clinic on Sunday. Cheryl? Sabrina? Anyone else? My understanding is that Nikki would rather be out canvassing but we can't really not have somebody "anchored" for folks who are out.

Also: Can I please be added as an admin on the fb page? It is hard to update stuff as the main coordinator when I can't actually make any changes!

Another thing we mentioned was that we should probably change the amount from $500,000 to $200,000, since that is more accurate at the moment.

It seems as though the FirstGiving idea has been blocked by the bureaurocracy of needing to get it first approved by Eric, and then by the board, aka it's never going to happen, at least not in time to do any good. However, Manish is going to look into starting an Indie GoGo campaign for us, so maybe that is a better idea after all. Apparently FirstGiving takes a big cut (7.5%) of donations on top of the $300 setup fee.

On Saturday, I will be gathering clipboards, flyers/ posters, signs and buckets to bring out to the canvass. If anyone on this list is driving and could give me a ride from the 24th & Folsom to the clinic it would be awesome, otherwise I can take a cab.

I would also like for us each to make a commitment of some kind about turning folks out... is something we feel we can do?

Thank you all!

xox

Pike

--
Do you believe that access to health care is a right, not a privilege? Support our local women's and transgender clinic, Lyon-Martin, to ensure that they will be able to provide health care to our community for many years to come. Please visit www.savelyonmartin.org for more info!

[Manish Vaidya]

Thanks Sabrina, and my bad... can you change the 3/19 FB event back to 12-3 for 3/19, and make a new FB event for 3/20 1-4pm? That way there's (hopefully) no confusion when people read the different times for the different days.

Melyssa/Roni, here's web site copy I edited based on the last few emails (i think i got it right this time..). can one of you put it up?

thanks,
manish


web site events calendar:
- for 3/20: add an event: "Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin" with the same content as the 3/19 canvass, except change the date to "Sun, March 20, 1pm - 4pm"
- for 3/20: change the time of the phone bank from "2pm - 5pm" to "4pm - 8pm"

web site post:

Hit the Streets for Lyon Martin on 3/19 and 3/20

Time to hit the streets to Save Lyon Martin. We're going to hit all
the neighborhoods and shake our cans for the clinic. We need to

raise $200,000 by the end of the month to provide the financial cushion it needs to stabilize. Last time we raised thousands just in one day. We can do it again. Spread the word because we need lots of hands and cans to help.

In a very short period of time, this amazing community has rallied to raise over $338,000 to help the clinic stay open. Queer, Lesbian, Trans, Straight, Gay, Clients, Friends, Family, Former Clients, Supporters, and Activists make up the Save Lyon-Martin Community Group. Please get involved and spread the word.


***Please let us know you're coming!***
RSVP for Saturday at:
http://www.facebook/com/event.php?eid=152616528130935&ref=mf

RSVP for Sunday at:
**[insert link here after Sabrina creates a new event for it, unless we want to keep them both on the same FB event]**

Other ways to help:
# Donate online at www.lyon-martin.org.
# Send a check to: 1748 Market Street, Suite 201, SF, CA 94102.
# Donate by calling 415-901-7131.
# Check our events calendar for other ways to get involved: http://www.savelyonmartin.org/?page_id=10
 

---

From: sabri...@hotmail.com
To: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook
Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 21:53:40 -0700

[Melyssa Mendoza]

i can put this up today. thanks for sifting through the info!

--melyssa

[Manish Vaidya]

hey y'all,

sad news about using firstgiving and indiegogo to do personal fundraising web pages:

firstgiving.com:

pros:
- free to set up pages
- $300/year to use their admin tool (one of the cheapest rates for the number of important features it offers for donation tracking; i'm willing to pay for it out-of-pocket)

cons:
- they take a total cut of 7.5% of each donation (5% goes to firstgiving, 2.5% goes to the credit card processor)


indiegogo.com:
pros:
- seems to be better integrated than firstgiving for social networking sites
- a little cheaper than firstgiving (and no $300 fee)

cons:
- they take 7% of each donation (4% goes to indiegogo, 3% goes to the credit card processor)


i have to head out for the day, but i'll try to research other options when i get a chance. if someone else has time to research today, check out http://idealware.org/
there should be a free article if you search for "distributed fundraising tools" or "peer fundraising tools" or "team fundraising tools" that should break down the pros and cons of all the major tools.

xo
manish

---

Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2011 23:54:53 -0700
Subject: Re: canvassing & phone bank info- for web site/facebook
From: vega...@gmail.com
To: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com
CC: chv...@yahoo.com; socialju...@hotmail.com

[Melyssa Mendoza]

i've done blackbaum now to raise funeral funds for my best friend's brother that passed away recently.

 

it is linked to a paypal account, and they take less than 5%.

 

don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for, but it's something.

 

http://www.blackbaudnow.com/

[pike on a bike]

Blackbaud looks good... though it seems more geared toward organizations rather than individual giving... am I seeing that correctly?

Also, I think that even though the others are kinda pricey, the fact that they will bring in more than we spend makes them inherently worth it. Especially the IndieGoGo one, since there is no setup fee. I for one think it's better to bring in $9 on a $10 donation than no money at all! Know what I mean?

Thanks!

Pike

[Melyssa Mendoza]

re: blackbaud: yes, that is correct. it's more geared towards organizations rather than a individual pledge sort of thing.

 

indiegogo does sound good to me too. rates a little high, but not anything more than probably is going on w/ paypal right now.

 

i don't have time to look at that link yet, but i can later. rain lends to research weather!

 

--melyssa

[Melyssa Mendoza]

hey all,

i just got a request from someone doing an individual pledge thing that we've been talking about. this is for another organization.

https://cj.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/contribute/pcp/info?reset=1&id=27

running for causa justa (this is an idea for us to do for save lyon-martin too now that i think about it...pledge to run or bike or whatever)

maybe we can use causa justa's database providers: ourpowerbase

http://ourpowerbase.net/

thoughts?

[Manish Vaidya]

*sorry in advance for my long email


hey y'all,

i got confused after reading some of the past emails about us using 'pledge software', or what some fundraising nerds like me call 'friend-to-friend', 'team-based' or 'distributed' fundraising software. so i want to make sure we're on the same page about why we might use it and what we hope to get out of it.

based on my past experience, friend-to-friend fundraising campaigns are very effective when:
- we have enough people (i'm calling these folks 'solicitors') pledging to raise a realistic stretch goal;  that goal is usually $1000 but depends on the solicitor. i've seen people set and meet goals of  $500 at the low end and $5000 at the high end. (and then there's gabriel on a whole other level.)
- it's fast and easy for solicitors to set up personal fundraising pages, and they have clearly written instructions and a video tutorial on how to do that
- a point person is available to talk through with them (by phone) how to set up a fundraising page
- it's fast and easy for them to send emails asking their friends to give, and thanking friends who gave
- their page includes a fundraising thermometer and a list of folks who gave toward their pledge (ideally with space for those donors to write encouraging comments)
- it's fast and easy for them to share it on facebook, their blogs, and other social media
- a point person knows at all times: everyone who has set up a fundraising page, how much they pledged to raise, how much they raised so far, and who they raised it from
- the campaign fundraising goal and timeline are manageable (a typical timeline is 8-10 weeks...oops, i wish we did this sooner)
- the point person has all the solicitors' phone numbers and email addresses and they contact every solicitor at least 1x/week by phone for quick coaching/troubleshooting and email the whole group of solicitors 1x/week with updates on how everyone is doing, lessons learned from individual solicitors, and tips for improving fundraising results for the following week
- the solicitors get tips, tools and resources on effective fundraising strategy before they start fundraising
- there is some level of competition, through an ongoing 'top solicitors' list based on who is raising the most $ at any given point in the campaign
- the donation process is quick and easy for donors
- the donation process includes an automatic thank you emailed to the donor, from the solicitor, sent out right away; plus an email or print thank you letter from the nonprofit, sent out within a week (at the latest)
- the organization receives donors' contact info, date and amount of gift, and gift solicitor in a format that's easy to transfer into the donor database

based on that and some other assumptions i'm making, here are my recommendations (a.k.a. more long-winded thoughts):

- BlackbaudNow: no cuz this isn't really a friend-to-friend fundraising program

- Facebook Causes: once LM registers as a 'nonprofit partner', it's easy for solicitors to use, easy to track, relatively cheap (i think it's just the 3% credit card fee) and anyone can donate to a cause. but only people who use facebook can actually set up their own cause. so that might leave out some people. also, a bunch of people are getting 'Caused out' and just ignore an email if they see it's a Cause. (i'm one of those people..)

- Firstgiving: If we have capacity to run a full-on campaign and send cheerleading emails out to solicitors 2x/week, I'd recommend this. I'm biased cuz it's the program i'm most familiar with. even though it's kinda pricey ($300 up-front plus 7.5% of each donation) and as of last year it didn't have the smoothest integration with facebook, they rebuilt their program since then and should have worked out the kinks. also it's really easy to use and has the best features for the price (as of last year, the only programs that had features as good, cost way more $). i've worked with a bunch of groups who've used Firstgiving and say it was worth the investment.

- Indiegogo: CUAV used to use Firstgiving and they switched to Indiegogo this year. i don't know why but i can ask. It's a little cheaper than Firstgiving (no $ upfront; 7% of each donation), but only if we actually meet our goal. if we don't, they take 9%. ouch.

- Powerbase: this isn't a friend-to-friend fundraising program; it's a monster of a 'constituent relationship management' software program (remember that 80s cartoon Voltron? it's like that, but with the features of things like Raiser's Edge, Salesforce, Access/Filemaker Pro, Vertical Response/Emma/EmailNow, DonateNow, DemocracyInAction/CapWiz, Get Out The Vote software, and other things that haunt my dreams.) it does have some friend-to-friend features built in, but it takes too long to learn how to use the whole system. and it costs thousands of dollars :(

- Pledgie: This works if we just want people to set up their own pages and we don't want to automatically track how they're doing. If we don't have the infrastructure to coach solicitors to meet their fundraising goals, this might be a good way to go. It's much cheaper (3% + whatever LM is already paying Paypal for transaction fees...typically around 2.5%). we'd also prolly have to ask them to contact us and let us know they set up a page, so we can at least send out emails cheerleading them.

- some other tools are listed at http://idealware.org/FGTOnlineDistributedFundraising.php

what are y'alls thoughts?

xo

manish

---

From: mgme...@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2011 18:14:28 -0700
Subject: Re: firstgiving vs. indiegogo
To: vega...@gmail.com
CC: save-lyon-martin-fund...@googlegroups.com