Ok, it’s the 6th post of this series and I’m exhausted trying to keep up.  You can download the slides and most of these speakers have their own websites, blogs, etc.  So, new tactic. I’m going to try and list facts, points, ah-ha moments, etc. in order to share the magic of what happens in person.  Here it goes…they set the stage with snippets of this great video…

Opening tips

• 20-35 year-old (Millenials) will STOP GIVING when you send them a printed Annual Report because turns them off, disengages, too much info, too ‘old school’, not immediate
• Universities want 2 ‘bring alumni back 2 campus’ – no alumni ever do – define engagement diferently
• Great web content isn’t ‘creating as story” – it’s telling a true story well
• Golden Rule: help donors experience your cause online. Use effective story, great imagery, social sharing

Always be questioning your content

• Why are you creating the content (goals, does it serve your mission?)
• Who is the audience and who are you?
• What do you want the content to achieve?
• Where are you going to publish it?

Content tips

• Don’t be a jargon robot – (build capacity, empowerment, marginalize, underserved population, blah, blah, blah) – millennials don’t know what you mean and won’t care
• What’s jargon? http://comnetwork.org/resources/jargon.html
• Jargon is ‘elevated speech’. For your content, ask, can an 8th grader read it? (www.read-able.com to calculate the ‘readability score’
• Less is more – 300-500 words is PLENTY. Millenials scan anyways, they don’t read. Break up text with bullets, numbers, etc.

Video

• Must be 2 minutes or less
• Allows viewers to hear, feel and see the cause
• Post to site and YouTube
• Use a FlipCam

This is a bigger budget piece – but here’s the goal…

My laptop battery is dying – so that’s all folks. For more great ways to build a better site (and other fundraising goodness) check out Achieve‘s website and @achieve_consult on Twitter.