Are Twitter and Facebook Important for Event Fundraising

Some time has passed since Twitter and Facebook integrations were released for Blackbaud Sphere Events.

In a previous post we asked “Is Twitter Important for Event Participants?” and found that it likely was a feasible channel to cultivate and solicit donors. Based on new data that is available I want to provide an update on data that we have captured so far (as of July 14th, 2009) about how successful Twitter and Facebook are as solicitation channels in peer to peer fundraising.

Let’s start with some statistics:

1. Over 370 events have already started using Facebook and Twitter integrations.

2. The number of participants actively* using Twitter (951) and Facebook (1607) to fundraise continues to grow. * Active users are any participant that has sent at least one message via the channels.

3. Although Facebook has been available for a shorter amount of time than Twitter, it has already surpassed Twitter in number of active users. This is not surprising since the Facebook active user pool is ~10x the Twitter pool.

Website	Number of Gifts	Total $ Raised	Average Gift Amount
Facebook	511	$22,662.48	$44.35
Twitter	180	$7,710.00	$42.83
Total	691	$30,372.48	$43.95

4. Event participants have raised nearly 3x as much with Facebook as Twitter. Average gift amounts are slightly higher with Facebook than with Twitter, although it is possible this may change as we continue to gather data.

Website	Potential Impressions**	Total Click Thru	Click Thru Rate	Gifts	Conversion Rate	Total Raised	$ Generated per impression
Facebook	192840	7941	0.041179216	511	0.0026499	$22,662.48	$0.12
Twitter	66570	13138	0.197356166	180	0.0027039	$7,710.00	$0.12
	259410	21079		691		$30,372.48

5. Facebook generates more potential impressions that Twitter. Potential impressions = Total messages sent X Average audience for each message (Average of 120 Friends for Facebook & 70 Followers for Twitter).

6. Twitter has a dramatically higher (~5x) Click Thru Rate for messages than Facebook.

7. Twitter and Facebook have extremely similar $ generated per impression.

Have you found similar statistics in utilizing these channels for marketing or fundraising? Please feel free to share any of your findings about how you are using social media or social networks by leaving a comment below.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Frank Barry

Frank Barry, director of new growth ventures at Blackbaud and blogger at npENGAGE, helps nonprofits use the Internet for digital communication, social media, and fundraising so they can focus changing the world. He’s worked with a diverse group of organizations including LIVESTRONG, United Methodist Church, American Heart Association, Big Brothers Big Sisters, ChildFund Int’l, InTouch Ministries, Heifer Int’l, University of Notre Dame and University of Richmond. Along with writing for industry publications like Mashable and Social Media Today, Frank facilitates discussions, presents solo sessions and organizes panels for industry conferences such as NTC, SXSW, BBCon and numerous others. When he’s out and about he enjoys talking to interesting people about how they are changing the world – check out his interviews. Say Hi on Twitter – @franswaa or Google+