Good Practice Online Fundraising: action medeor e.V. on betterplace.org
Sometimes even larger organisations have to start from scratch. The German medical aid organisation action medeor has cared for the people in the poorest regions of the world for 45 years. Over 10,000 health clinics in 140 countries have been set up by the organisation. In 2008 alone, they distributed 360 tons of medication and medical devices worth over 10 million Euros. Anke Engelke, a well-known German actress and comedian, stands at the helm of action medeor.
Join us at betterplace.org – invest in the future
Why do large organisations like action medeor set up their projects on betterplace? Does every little penny really count for such a large organisation? The answer to such questions might sound silly but here it is: action medeor is investing in the future. “Through betterplace.org, our support base has grown to include new, younger donors,” says Steffi Sczucka, a fundraiser for action medeor. action medeor has the same problem as many other traditional aid organisations: the core foundation of donors is getting up in years. Whether their children or children’s children will contribute as eagerly as they have is questionable, increasing the pressure for organisations to seek out new core supporters.
Relevancy is persuasive
Steffi Sczuka made her way to betterplace.org through a friend’s tip. She liked the site’s appearance among other things, and decided to stay and setup a project online. In contrast to other small organisations like Twende Pamoja, Steffi didn’t send emails to friends, acquaintances or donors, since the latter are mostly offline anyway and continue their support in ways that are familiar to them. Steffi says:
A large organisation often conveys the feeling of anonymity – people identify themselves differently with us than they do with the smaller, more personal grassroots organisations.
Nonetheless, action medeor fared successfully on betterplace.org. Steffi’s reason: “We stay current.” One of the first betterplace.org projects from action medeor concerned the Cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe. Shortly after the catastrophe was broadcasted through the media, 2,000 Euros for 200 medical treatments were donated on betterplace.org. Due to the relevancy of the situation, the betterplace.org team highlighted the project—the project was mentioned in the betterplace teamblog and was included in the featured projects list. The competition for support between organisations boils down to this: “We were the only ones on betterplace.org who offered aid for the Cholera epidemic.”
It was a similar case in September with the earthquake in Sumatra. At 2:00 p.m. it was in the news, and by 6:00 p.m. it had become a project on betterplace.org, remembers Steffi.
The important acquisition of new, additional donors is very efficient.
Posting the projects online doesn’t take much time,” says Steffi, “nor does the maintenance. The blog is kept up as needed.
Extremely cost-efficient earnings from new donors
Acquiring a new donor conventionally costs action medeor between 70 and 90 Euros. That’s about the cost of 20 mosquito nets. Many large organisations even spend a third of a donor’s “lifetime value” on this acquisition. Steffi came to betterplace.org from the start also because of the people who work for the internet platform, real people she can call who take her questions or dialogue with her to develop ideas. In this way, the organisation remained forefront in the awareness of the betterplace project team, who took an interest in promoting the cause to betterplace corporate clients on the lookout for nonprofit partners.
The result: in one year, action medeor has received 12,250 Euros from 212 donors. Obtaining these donations by traditional methods would have cost around 17,000 Euros. This group of donors gave on average 57 Euros to action medeor. Conventionally, this would never have been enough to cover acquisition costs, whereas betterplace.org ensures the most bang for each buck, helping more people and directing support to where it should go. Since donor trust is a worthwhile value, and transparency should never be ignored, Steffi will soon apply to fill a need that seems less exciting: administrative costs. Although betterplace.org forwards 100 percent of donations received to the organisations, one shouldn’t forget that large organisations must always use a portion for general administrative costs.
Anke Engelke: an ace up the sleeve
Besides the relevancy of their quickly-posted aid projects, action medeor has another ace up their sleeve: Anke Engelke. The well-known German actress is an inimitable advocate and uses her notoriety to draw visitors from betterplace.org into action medeor’s project pages. But Steffi won’t let this be the only distinction from other competitor projects: “You have to do something unique with your projects,” she says, and has plans to post more videos to betterplace.org.
Though the conventional methods of fundraising are still dominant, Steffi believes that online fundraising, as on betterplace.org, will continue to grow.