April, 2009

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Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits: Reaching Out to Prospects

Selfish Giving

Now that you have a some strategies for finding qualified prospects, let’s look at making some progress at getting some extended face time with new prospects that are neither current sponsors nor aware of your organization. Yep, I’m talking about prospects in that outer ring and making cold calls. Regardless of the channel of communication (e.g. phone, email, in person at say a networking event), the following rules apply: Your #1 goal is to stay prospect-centric.

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A case for Twitter, Facebook, & social media for healthcare fundraisers

Fundraising Coach

I was just on a call with fellow members of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy folks when someone asked, “Does anyone here use Twitter or Facebook ?”. It appeared I was the only one. Many wanted to be but their IT departments wouldn’t let them. Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube are sites that are in the broad category of “social media.

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Three Trends That Beg for Shorter Email Newsletters

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

I included a shorter version of the following article in my Nonprofit Marketing Tips email newsletter that went out earlier today. The newsletter goes out a few times per month. Subscribe by visiting the Nonprofit Marketing Guide home page , in the left sidebar, under the blue bar. I see three trends that mean your nonprofit’s email newsletters should be shorter than they probably are now. 1.

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Nonprofit Blog Carnival!

Get Fully Funded

Here’s the April edition of the Nonprofit Blog Carnival. This month’s theme was Raising Money Online. . So many nonprofits are looking to the internet as an inexpensive tool for raising money. While it can be a great technique, there are definitely things that work and things that don’t. Here are some nuggets of wisdom about raising money online.

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Successful Organizations On Twitter: Wellstone Action - Online Fundraising, Advocacy, and Social Media - frogloop

Care2

frogloop Home frogloop Home Receive monthly updates Subscribe to our RSS feed Follow frogloop on Twitter Most Popular Posts Social Network ROI Calculator Social Networking for Nonprofits: ROI, Tracking Tools and More "While Theyre Hot!" Download a Webinar on Converting Donor Leads The Art of Getting ReTweeted Top 8 Social Media Tracking Tools 10 Things Every Nonprofit Should Know About Social Media and Online Communications Nonprofit Benchmarks Studies MEMBER OF Frogloop Home (Hidden Modules) fr

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Guest post: telling stories with moving pictures

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Katya’s commentary: A while back I met Mark Horvath virtually (via this blog and my book, as I recall). Mark, it turns out, was once the person directly responsible for the worldwide distribution of Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Married with Children, 21 Jump Street, plus many other syndicated shows. He also had some rough times and was once homeless.

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Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits: Convincing Thinkers, Feelers & Deferers

Selfish Giving

I’ve written five other posts to get you to this point: you’re sitting across from a decision maker and finally have your shot of actually selling a sponsorship. Of course, you may not be talking to just one person. You may be pitching to a whole group. If so, you should check out an earlier post I wrote: Analyze, Organize, Energize: Keys to a Powerful Presentation.

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Branding Your Org in Social Media - Tips from #09NTC

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

Yesterday I attended a workshop organized by one of my favorite bloggers (and NTC roomie) Nancy Schwartz on how you deal with branding issues for your organization within social media. The panel featured Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation; Felicia Carr, National Parks Conservation Association; and Wendy Harman, American Red Cross. Nancy created a wonderful guide to the session (Word doc) that contains even more great stories and tips than came out in the live event, so download that.

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Hugh Jackman offers $100,000 on Twitter

Get Fully Funded

I saw this late last night on Twitter: Hugh Jackman is offering $100,000 to a nonprofit that can passionately explain their cause in 140 characters or less. . [link]. I think this is a great exercise in being laser-focused, concise and compelling. It sounds easy at first, but once you start working on it, you’ll see how difficult it is to work with only 140 characters (for those who don’t know, a character is a letter or a number or a space or a punctuation mark).

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Successful organizations on Twitter: Wellstone Action

Care2

As part of a workshop on social media that I gave with Susan Mernit at the 2009 Women, Action & the Media conference, I pointed out Wellstone Action as an example of an organization that's doing great work on Twitter. After the workshop, I wondered how @wellstoneaction planned their Twitter usage-- were they really some sort of non-profit advocacy Twitter mastermind, as I'd suspected?

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Are You Getting Ready?

The Agitator

In a recent blog post, marketing maven Seth Godin predicted that 90% of sales will come from word of mouth or digital promotion by 2011. He asked: "How do you change what you’re doing today to be ready for that?" Think about it … can you imagine that 90% of your "sales" — i.e. donations, or maybe just new acquisitions — might come via referrals and online promotion?

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Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits: Prospecting Circles, Part II

Selfish Giving

Part two of Prospecting Circles will focus on three areas: where to look for prospects, using social media for prospecting and better results with prospect management software. Top ways Joanna, Holt and Ashley find prospects. Back to the circle strategy I discussed in part one. Just as some prospects are better than others, some prospecting strategies are better than others and should be used first.

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FREE “Ask Without Fear!” Teleclass

Fundraising Coach

Since this month marks the 1 year anniversary of the publication of “ Ask Without Fear! “, I’m deciding to have a party! On April 28 at 12 noon Eastern Time, I’ll be offering a free teleclass on fundraising in today’s economy. To join the call, you just need to go to the registration page. The call costs $37 but you can get in free if you know the “password&# : the fourth word of the second paragraph on page 50 of “Ask Without Fear!

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When Trying to Fundraise from Friends of Friends is a Complete Waste of Time

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

When we talk about fundraising through social media (and we had many of these conversations at 09NTC this week), the discussion always turns to how we should go about converting into long-term donors those friends of friends - people who gave to the cause because a friend of theirs and an existing supporter of ours (let’s call her the “Original Fan&# ) asked them to.

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Some Great Ideas & Inspiration from Marketers & Fundraisers at NTC -- Wish You Were Here!

Getting Attention

I had the pleasure of co-hosting a meet-up for nonprofit marketers & fundraisers here at NTC (NTEN's mind-blowing annual conference) yesterday afternoon, along with nonprofit marketing guide Kivi Leroux Miller. Running in the room 5 minutes before blastoff I was thrilled to see over 100 folks raring to go. We were a bit astonished but quickly got folks talking cocktail party style before we started the peer-to-peer Q&A.

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A Donor’s Unexpected Earth Day Point of View

Get Fully Funded

When I worked at the local food bank, I had a major donor who revealed an unexpected point of view that seems appropriate for Earth Day. Here’s the story. This lovely lady had been a regular donor to the food bank for many years. One day I invited her to lunch to get to know her better. I asked her why she liked the food bank, expecting to hear a story of personal connection or compassion, like the stories I heard from lots of other supporters.

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The New Connectedness

The Agitator

A couple of days ago I posted Social Net Fundraising - All Hype? triggered by a Washington Post article. The Post more or less said that Facebook was failing as a fundraising tool or venue. While I think the Post has it essentially right, today I read a powerful countervailing piece on Engage: Moms by Kristi Faulkner, a marketer focused on marketing to women.

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links for 2009-04-30

Selfish Giving

Church's Pays to Play on Twitter - Adages - Advertising Age. How one for-profit is using social media to help others–and itself. Tags: Cause Marketing Links.

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2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference

Fundraising Coach

This is the time of year when all the nonprofit geeks gather at NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference and when the rest of us who feel techincally savvy realize we’re probably just geek-wannabes. Even if you not in San Francisco, it’s very easy to keep up on what’s happening. To see the conference’s Twitter stream, simply search Twitter for the hashtag #09NTC.

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Fundraising Online: Radio Show Friday, Webinars Next Week

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

Not raising money online yet? Or not raising enough? (How’s that for a stupid question?). Next week we are hosting a two-webinar boot camp specifically on online fundraising. This is your chance to learn both the basics and the advanced techniques for turning your website and email list into a real, sustainable fundraising force for your cause.

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Five “Don’ts” of Nonprofit Website Design

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

I wanted to share this great set of tips from my colleague Rebecca Ruby Higman here at Network for Good (pictured). Enjoy! Your nonprofit’s website can be a powerful, strategic tool. Unlike the days of brochure-like static pages, home pages now have the potential to win over potential supporters and reaffirm the folks who already know you. When you boil it down, websites do not just sit on a server-they are action-oriented.

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Social Media Crash Course in 25 Minutes (Podcast)

Getting Attention

Click here to listen now or download for later listening (Right click on a PC or cntrl click on a Mac, and "save file as" to your Desktop) : I had the pleasure of interviewing Dave Evans, author of Social Media Marketing: An Hour a Day, for a social media intensive I taught recently at the Academy for Nonprofit Excellence. Dave is a social media maven and well-practiced at breaking down what often seems like a mass of confusion into clear, logical steps.

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Social Net Fundraising - All Hype?

The Agitator

Mercy me! Even while media researcher Niesen is reporting that social nets and online video have transformed the web, the Washington Post is telling us that online fundraising via social nets is over-rated. What’s a poor blogger to do? Say they’re both right! The usage trend data measured by Nielsen are as solid — and impressive — as it gets.

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links for 2009-04-26

Selfish Giving

How To Create A Powerful And Engaging Facebook Page. Great reference for nonprofits! Tags: Cause Marketing Links.

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Ostrich Mentality: Social Media and Storytelling

Fundraising Coach

The latest edition of FundRaising Success Magazine has a terrific article by Bryan Schoell called Get Your Head Out of the Sand. Here’s the begining: People are talking about you online. Ignoring that fact won’t make it go away, so you’d best join in the conversation. Yesterday, the mother of a sick child Googled the name of a devastating disease.

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New Resource: Nonprofit Marketing Zone

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

Keeping up with all the great nonprofit marketing and fundraising blogs is tough. So here’s one more tool to help you find the information you need: Nonprofit Marketing Zone. I’m working with Katya Andresen and Nancy Schwartz (bloggers I hope you are already reading) and Tony Karrer (the guy behind the technology that makes the site work) to organize the best content from blogs, news sources and other web sites all around nonprofit marketing and fundraising.

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Why the Washington Post shouldn’t view Facebook as an ATM machine

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

The Washington Post had an article yesterday (registration may be required to read it) that made the same mistake nonprofit marketing folks often make when judging the relative value of Facebook: it simply looked at Facebook as a place you post a cause and expect the dollars to roll in. If it doesn’t do that, the Post concludes, it doesn’t work.

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Where's Your Org's Social Media Policy?

Getting Attention

Social media is a free-flowing, wide-open phenomenon that needs to be handled and handled well. So frame its use for your staff, volunteers and base. The clearer you are, the more likely it is that your org will make an impact with these tools -- whether you're just monitoring conversation about your org via Google Alerts, have a two-pronged approach with Facebook fan and cause pages or are experimenting on several fronts.

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More Re Online Loyalty Building

The Agitator

Last week, The Agitator posted on online loyalty building and asked readers what they are trying along these lines. Here are two helpful replies we’d like to share. First, from Lisa Sargent at Sargent Communications: Tom, I covered this to a lesser extent when I wrote about trigger emails in my April e-newsletter. Two of the ideas I mentioned are here, plus four others: 1.

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Do Facebook Causes work?

Get Fully Funded

There was an article in the Washington Post this week that talked about Facebook Causes and basically said they aren’t any good. I finally got to read the article today and it made me mad! Here’s my response: I think the results we’re seeing with Facebook Causes can be attributed to two things: first, supporters are gathered by dangerously easy-to-accept invitations from friends and second a serious lack of communication.

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Head in the sand? Or finger on the pulse?

Sea Change Strategies

One of my favorite cartoons shows a lady stretched out on the couch at her shrink’s office. The caption reads, “Maybe I’m depressed because I have to pay someone to listen to me.”. The cartoon says it clearly. People want to be heard. We want to think our feelings, thoughts, and opinions matter to the people in our lives – and very importantly to the people behind the causes we choose to support.

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Here Comes Everybody - Lessons from Clay Shirky at #09NTC

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

I planned to live blog from the Nonprofit Technology Conference today, but the Hilton was obviously not prepared to host a tech conference, because the wireless was down most of the day. No wireless, no live blogging. So, instead, I’m going to post a few summaries here. This morning, Clay Shirky, author of “Here Comes Everybody&# presented a great session that he summed up in five words: “Group action just got easier.&# Of course, he’s talking about social media.

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Most nonprofits are now at least dabbling in social networking

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Most nonprofits are now dabbling in social networks, according to a new survey on the nonprofit industry’s use of social networking for marketing and fundraising from NTEN, Common Knowledge and ThePort Network. You can find the full study here. I use the word dabble because I think most of us are still grappling with how we should be going about using social networks and tools.

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3 Experts Share Secrets of Effective Branding in a Social Media World -- 09NTC

Getting Attention

Talk about a branding brain trust! I had the pleasure of designing, and participating in, today's NTC session starring nonprofit communicators Danielle Brigida, National Wildlife Federation; Felicia Carr, National Parks Conservation Association; and Wendy Harman, American Red Cross. Common denominator here, beyond marketing expertise, is that all three women are all boldly plunging forward into the wild west of social media.

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Lilliam Sanchez Gets A Raise!

The Agitator

Yesterday I whined about mainstream nonprofits seeming to ignore Hispanics, at least as prospective donors. "Am I beating a dead horse," I asked, or can some Agitator readers who are doing anything to enlist this audience step forward? Lilliam Sanchez of the March of Dimes did so (here’s their Spanish-language site ). Hi Tom: The horse is not dead!!!

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Believe in Abundance

Get Fully Funded

Yesterday I led a great teleseminar to help fundraisers deal with the economy and its impact on our work. One of the points I emphasized was to believe in abundance. Believe in abundance. What does that mean? It means that you buy into the belief that there is enough money out there for every nonprofit to be fully funded. When you believe that, it changes your attitude and your approach.

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My Dog is 7 Years Old Today. Please Donate.

Sea Change Strategies

The recent barrage of birthday-related requests for donations is an inadvertent reflection of the weakness of social networks as a philanthropy tool. “Hi I am turning 42 today, please donate to my favorite charity.”. I get a lot of those. Let’s put aside, for the moment, the breathless claims that social networks are changing EVERYTHING. Here’s what’s happening….