An Environmental Group Crunches the Numbers, Finds Itself Adding More Gifts

The Nature Conservancy has been stepping up the amount it spends to raise money online: It’s been adding employees, revamping its Web site, trying to create more compelling appeals, and doing all it can to measure results.

“We’ve invested a lot in analytics,” says Amy Ganderson, director of digital marketing at the Arlington, Va., nonprofit. “This year, it’s really all about looking up the numbers.”

The data the environmental group gathered on its donors and their giving spurred it to redesign its Web site. Now it urges visitors to donate monthly rather than make a one-time gift. In the process, the new, simplified Web site shed a lot of text and unnecessary content; the “donate” and “renew” buttons are more prominent, making it easier for visitors to make gifts.

The efforts are beginning to pay off: The value of donations collected online grew 15 percent from April to September. The organization hopes the trend will continue for the rest of the year, perhaps above 20 percent over last year’s year-end fundraising total.

The charity is also testing whether posting nature images (with links back to the charity’s Web site) on social media can help it raise money; so far, it’s unclear whether that’s doing better than unadorned posts. “We’ve really been trying nature photography to tell our story, especially on Facebook,” says Ms. Ganderson. “We are using analytics to see if that’s successful. That’s one of our big tests this year.”

The organization is also experimenting with online video in its donor solicitations. Last month, the group began sending e-mails to its supporters that featured compelling footage, such as a clip about how a coral-derived cancer drug saved someone’s life.

“One of the things that we struggle with is trying to connect people to the environment,” Ms. Ganderson says.

The video campaign, called “Nature Matters,” has not only attracted viewers but appears to be prompting more donations from supporters after they’ve watched the videos, although the charity says it’s too early to quantify the full impact.

“They’re watching it and they’re just getting the message,” Ms. Ganderson says. “The quick snippets have been really successful. We’re gonna be using video very heavily with our year-end campaign.”