Have you heard this word? Even if you haven’t heard the word you most certainly have participated in gamification. Gamification is defined as “the use of game-elements and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to increase engagement and loyalty.” My eyes were recently opened to its many uses by Monica Cornetti at the Banner Conference in Las Vegas. All you need to do is Google the term and you will find that it is the source of much discussion online.
You may wonder what this has to do with nonprofits. For-profit companies know the value of gaming – consider the Monopoly game that has been hugely profitable for McDonalds – however, nonprofits have also been using gamification for fundraising for a long time. Picture the giant thermometer or tote board. Think about the gift for donation. I myself just made a donation because I wanted the gift. Gamification works, but you may need to up your game to keep up with your donors.
Consider the following statistics:
• A dedicated gamer will spend 10,000 hours playing by the time they turn 21
• USA has 40 million active social gamers
• 30% are over 45
• 50% of gamers are female
• There are 200 million gamers on Facebook
Clearly there are plenty of gamers and many are gaming on social media. Using social media is not the only way to use gamification but it does have some advantages. Many rewards can be provided without cost by simply acknowledging participants, sometimes privately and sometimes quite publicly. Sometimes the reward is simply completing the task and getting a big TA DA! on the computer screen or earning virtual badges.
What are some elements that make gamification work for nonprofits? First, it can reward participation. Participation such as donating, posting on Facebook or attending an event can be rewarded through earning a badge, points, a prize, special recognition, etc. Second, it can reward follow through. Follow through such as signing up for a newsletter, completing a profile or participating in the online community can be rewarded by visually showing progress towards completing tasks online (people generally don’t leaving tasks incomplete). Third, it can engage volunteers through competition. Examples of a competition would be to work towards most volunteer hours, most events attended as volunteer and highest fundraiser. These are just a few of the reasons why gamification works.
If you have used gamification in your organization, how about sharing your story? I would love to hear about it and I’m sure your nonprofit colleagues would as well.