Top 10 Change.org Best Practices for Nonprofit Admins

1. Send "Thank You Compliments" to all your donors and fundraisers on Change.org.

Changemakers love receiving compliments and they often result in repeat donations and continued fundraising support. It's especially important that you compliment your donors that have opted out of providing their contact information to your organization. It's the only way to further engage them! [See Changemaker Manuella's Compliments]

2. Pick one day a month to download "Donor Data" and "Newsletter Sign-Ups".

When individuals on Change.org make a donation or participate in an action created by a nonprofit organization, they are asked whether they would like to opt-in to receive further communications from your organization via email and/or snail mail. Login to your Admin Dashboard at least once a month, download the data, and add the data to your organization's email and/or snail mail databases. [Newsletter Sign Ups only available to premium service subscribers].

3. Ask your supporters to fundraise for your organization.

The number one reason people donate to nonprofit organizations is because they were asked to by either a friend or family member, or the nonprofit organization itself. The same is true of fundraisers. They need to be asked. There are hundreds of thousands of kind-hearted, generous individuals out there on the Web. Your role is to empower them to fundraise on behalf of your organization.

That said, promote your "Start A Fundraising Page" link [View Example] on your website, in your email newsletter, on your MySpace profile, your Facebook Page, and your blog. Imagine if you had 100 fundraisers out there on the Web asking their friends and family to donate to your organization! Fundraisers on Change.org usually raise between $50 and $2,500 for their favorite organization and numerous new donors. All you need to is ask them to fundraise for your organization and your core supporters will be more than happy to oblige.

4. Send "Supporter Requests" to our top fundraisers, recruiters, and activists.

Change.org is fortunate to have a very dedicated and active group of fundraisers, recruiters and activists. Our Top Changemakers spend hours on the site advocating for nonprofits on Change.org. Make sure they know about your organization by sending them a "Supporter Request" [like "Friend Requests" on MySpace], and if they do recruit, fundraise or take part in your actions, be sure to send them a compliment! [Sending Supporters Requests is only available to our premium service subscribers].

5. Introduce your organization to our Cause Community Bloggers!

Change.org has numerous Cause Communities and each one is guided by a blogger who is an expert in their field. Send each blogger a Supporter Request and let them know about your organization and the actions your organization is creating on Change.org. As you may have noticed, each Cause community has featured actions and nonprofits. Building relationships with our bloggers and participating in their Cause Communities is an way to possibly receive extra promotion on Change.org. And of course, bloggers love compliments and blog comments too!

6. Post fundraising projects that are $10,000 or less.

Individuals are very unlikely to donate to fundraising projects with large dollar amounts because they want to contribute to a project that they known has a good chance of being fully funded. In addition to your General Fund fundraising project, post at least one or two more projects, but keep them at $10,000 or less. [View Example]

7. Ask your supporters, staff and board members to write a testimonial.

Testimonials carry a lot of weight on Change.org and are promoted throughout the site, so make sure your organization has at least three well-written testimonials. Whether you send out a message to your supporters on Change.org [only available to premium service subscribers] or an email to your staff and board, ask that they take 5 minutes and sing the praises of your organization. Keep in mind that these testimnonials can also be used on your website and in print materials!

8. Use Change.org Actions to create an "Action Center" for your website.

Subscribers of our premium service can create email campaigns (View Example) and pledges (View Example). Most large national nonprofits have "Action Centers" on their websites (View Example), but small and medium sized organizations have mostly been unable to utilize e-mail campaigning/pledges because it has been too expensive. Change.org makes it possibe for every organization of any size. To date, I do not know of an organization that has used Change.org actions to create an Action Center for their website. If your organization does, please let me know!

Important: As long as you do not create e-mail campaigns during an election season that specifically advocate for or lobby against political candidates, you are not in violation of your 501(c)(3) status. You can create campaigns that are for or against specific legislation or actions taken by elected officials. See the Alliance For Justice website for more information.

9. Email your supporters on Change.org twice per month.

On the Adminstrator Dashboard under "Message Your Supporters" you can send an email to all your supporters on Change.org [premium service subscribers only]. Send at least two emails per month, but more than that and you run risk of emailing to much and reducing your open rate. Send out brief emails asking them to take action, visit your website, check out your new blog post, or make a donation. Always include a call to action and a link to your Web site, but don't ask for donations in every email. Build community first, and the donations will follow.

10. Link to Change.org and other social networking sites on your Web site.

Using Web 2.0 icons on your website to link to your social networking profiles is pretty common these days (See Example). Change.org has created Web 2.0 icons for Change.org, MySpace, Facebook, YouTube and Flickr (Twitter coming soon!). Grab them here.