It’s always been critical for fundraising professionals and nonprofit executives to know how to work a room, to chat with potential donors and make them feel heard and valued. Once the pandemic set in, however, many events moved online, and some folks who mingled seamlessly in person struggled on teleconference screens.
While vaccines and testing have helped many events return to in-person, there are donors who still love online get-togethers. That means understanding how to work a room on Zoom — or other online platforms — is a key skill for nonprofit staff who interact with donors at fundraising events. Fundraisers, executives, and consultants with expertise working the online room share some key points to help nonprofit professionals make donors and supporters feel engaged, heard, and seen at online events, big or small.
Lean Into the Differences
Fundraisers need many of the same skills to greet a room full of donors and supporters online as in person, but there are some distinct differences, says Erik Daubert, a management consultant who works with nonprofits.
“When you work a room — in terms of a special event — you can see the whole room,” Daubert says. “You can walk freely between conversations, and you can mingle throughout an event. In a Zoom room, typically you have to be much more intentional. Mingling doesn’t just happen. You have to facilitate it much more.”
Paul J. Clifford, CEO of the Penn State Alumni Association, agrees, noting that it’s key for nonprofit professionals to understand their role in the online room.
“It might be a little difficult when the number of attendees gets above how many can fit on your screen to be aware of everybody in the room,” Clifford says. “But it’s important to understand your role is someone who’s trying to bring everybody into the conversation.”
Another difference is that you can get people in a room online who — for reasons of geography or personal preference — you might not get in person.
“There are donors over the last couple of years that I think we’ve been able to get meetings with because somebody that might not be willing to let us come to their house or office is willing to give us the 30 minutes on Zoom because they know they can hang up on us and be done,” Daubert says. “So, Zoom has become a really powerful tool in fundraising work. Once you have them in the room, you want them to feel like this was a good use of their time.”
Go Small; You’re at Home
While the expression “Go big or go home” is popular in some circles, the opposite is true when it comes to online events. Many people are already at home, so it pays to go small. If an event has lots of attendees, it helps to chunk them into smaller groups in breakout rooms of six to 12 people.
Consider dividing attendees at an online event into smaller groups in breakout rooms.
“In each breakout room, I would put donors that I thought would like to meet or get to know each other better, and a staff-member facilitator,” Daubert says. He recommends that staff let participants get to know each other and then ask a question along the lines of, How did you get involved with the nonprofit? “That would be a real simple one to get them talking about the organization and why they love it.”
An organization could generate random breakout rooms, but if there are big donors coming, Daubert argues that it’s important to think through breakout-room assignments carefully.
Daubert says the goal in devising the small groups is to make sure donors have a good experience at the same time the organization learns as much as it can from participants. “By getting people to share in the right groups of people, really magical things happen.”
Robert Bank, president of American Jewish World Service, agrees that people getting to know each other is key to any event — online or in person — because it provides connectivity.
“Connection is what fundraising is about,” Bank says. To make his point, Bank references the author Glennon Doyle, who says, “The most revolutionary thing you can do is to introduce people to each other.” Bank says he believes that wholeheartedly. “I have benefited so much in my life and my career from people who have taken the risk of introducing me to another person. I think we can do that for those who are passionate about our cause, those who may donate their time or money.”
While it’s possible people in breakout rooms will make connections themselves, a good facilitator can smooth that process. “You want someone who’s able to move the conversation along,” Clifford, of Penn State, says. “Someone who asks thoughtful, prompting questions without giving answers or opinions. Someone who’s aware of what they’re not hearing in the room: Maybe it’s the contrary opinion that someone holds, but they’re afraid to share it.”
Delegate Distractions
To be successful online, it’s important to be “incredibly present,” Bank says. That means ignoring the things that pull us away during online meetings — like email notifications or even the chat area.
Lots of staff members should help with online events. For example, it may make sense to have a second employee in the online room to take notes so the host can focus on bringing everyone into the conversation. Another person might be responsible for monitoring the chat.
To Bank, participating in the chat while you host feels like “whispering in front of people,” so he’s generally not a fan. However, if some attendees dislike public speaking, having an alternate method to communicate is helpful.
“Not everybody wants to raise their hand,” Clifford says. “But if you give them an anonymous way to participate — whether it’s through a virtual whiteboard or [your] platform — it gives people a really safe way to express what they’re thinking without the fear of judgment in the room.”
Daubert points out that chat can be helpful in larger online groups. “If you have 25 people in a room, it can be challenging to get everybody’s input,” he says. “Maybe some people are more introverted than others. You can use chat very strategically to get a whole bunch of people’s input at one time.”
No one ever listened themselves out of a gift.
Another key to being present, Daubert says, is for the person running the meeting to be completely comfortable with the platform being used for the event. He recommends practicing with internal audiences — like other staff or even family members.
It’s also important to help attendees avoid falling prey to distraction.
“In a Zoom room, people can zone out on you, and you may not even know; they may be looking at the screen but not engaging,” Daubert says. He recommends checking in regularly to ensure folks are actively participating. “That can be as simple as asking a question of the group where people get jerked out of their daze.”
And while it’s important to be engaging, Daubert and Bank caution fundraisers not to talk too much. To make donors feel heard, you have to listen to them.
“No one ever listened themselves out of a gift,” Daubert says. “I think what happens with nonprofit events, especially on Zoom, is we tend to talk more than we listen or engage. So I try to never talk for too long.”
Bank agrees, adding that it’s important to take this time you have with donors to discover more. “You really want to be learning about the person that you’re speaking to,” he says. “You want to understand why they are interested in your organization and your mission.”
Finally, stewardship should continue after online events. Email participants after the event to thank them for participating, and include a note that describes next steps or singles out specific, insightful comments they contributed. Yes, put those notes employees took to work. “We follow up with every one of our virtual sessions,” Clifford says. His notes highlight ways attendees can continue to support the organization.
