Fundraisers Suffer Losses Due to Network Outage – A Lesson Learned for All

In a recent stroke of bad luck for a wide array of US non-profits and the firm responsible for online marketing and donations, Zimbia, a great deal of revenue was lost as the network went down. Not only were online donations literally halted but the outage was long enough in duration that some local events were cancelled as well.

This leads to a very important lesson for those actively involved in seeking wide scale donations for their charities and other non-profit organizations. Never rely solely on one form of media or collections because Murphy’s Law is sure to strike at the least expected times. Relying on one source of promoting events or collecting funds can be a disaster as was evidenced by the recent network outage experienced by Zimbia and its clients.

photo by photoSteve101 via Flickr

Donations Were Not the Only Losses for Live Events

When seeking donations for your non-profit or charity at a local live event, there is a certain amount of time and expense that goes into planning the event. Many of the most successful fundraisers utilize visual means of attracting event participants to their booth, among which would be the use of pop up displays that capture attention immediately.

These can be quite attractive when a graphic element is customized for your pop up trade show displays like those you can see on http://h3graphics.com. A truly amazing display can do more to draw in the funds than a simple table with no visuals. It’s a proven fact that visual appeal captivates a crowd. However, if you relied on internet advertising to bring the crowd in, you could have lost donations as well as any expenses incurred in planning the event.

Online Fundraising vs Local Fundraising Events

While many non-profits rely solely on the Internet for collecting donations, others choose to organize local fundraising events. It has been evidenced that the most effective way to ensure that the word gets out there and that there is a pipeline for collecting the funds is to approach your donations drive from various directions.

Unfortunately for a lot of charities, Zimbia was responsible for both collection of online donations and marketing their local events. However, this is a lesson learned going forward. As the old saying goes, never put all your eggs in one basket.

Should You Keep Marketing and Collections Separate?

This is a question the powers that be at Zimbia may very well be asking themselves. Due to a network outage they are losing a great deal of revenue because they are offering their clients a huge break in fees for the remainder of the year and in some cases are offering free services when the network is up and running to capacity. If your organization relies heavily on both online and local donations from live events, perhaps you should consider using one marketing company and one firm that solely oversees the collection of donations.

The other alternative is to advertise your local event locally via more conventional marketing media like newspapers and television while leaving online collections in the hands of firms like Zimbia. Many suggest this is the best way to cover all bases so that you don’t lose time and money due to network outages. Zimbia and its clients learned the hard way.

Author: Carol Trehearn