January, 2013

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Best Cause Marketing Campaigns of 2012

Selfish Giving

I searched through all my posts and Pinterest boards from last year and came up with my 2012 picks for best cause marketing campaigns. Below are my top picks (although I have an expanded list here on Pinterest ). Each link will take you to either a post I wrote on the program or to a pin on Pinterest. Remember, when you click on the image on Pinterest you can get the backstory behind the program.

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Fundraising Desperation And Chaos In 2013

The Agitator

In my first post of the New Year I want to give advance notice on some topics deserving of greater attention. The nonprofit sector is in big trouble. And although Tom and I realize that a lot of readers want to know whether green envelopes work better than orange envelopes, there are more serious issues that demand exploration and discussion. Of course we’ll occasionally deal with orange envelopes.

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Trending Sources

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It’s #FundraisingFriday :: Please Donate $10 to Your Favorite Nonprofit!

Nonprofit Tech for Good

#FundraisingFriday is a campaign meant to inspire individuals to commit to donating $10 to one of their favorite nonprofits every Friday. First tweeted in May 2012 from @ NonprofitOrgs , the #FundraisingFriday hashtag has since then been tweeted and retweeted thousands of times. If you are a nonprofit, using the #FundraisingFriday hashtag is a simple way to ask for your supporters to donate and hopefully you’ll be able to convert a few fans, followers, and friends into donors.

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How to get donors to enable images in email

Fundraising Coach

As a rule, I don’t enable images in emails. And I’ve blogged about how annoying it is to get blank emails from businesses and nonprofits I’m interested in. The solution obviously is to send emails in both text and HTML. But that doesn’t look as pretty and it makes it hard for tracking open rates in email analytics. An alternative to plain text.

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The 4 kinds of people who care about causes - and what they do online

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

The wonderful people at the Georgetown Center for Social Impact Communication have drawn on their recent research to profile who is most likely spread the word about your cause - and how. To me, the headline is that while most people are active online, that doesn’t mean that they focus all their advocacy efforts on the Internet. People spread the word both online and off, just as they donate online and off, just as they shop online and off.

Activism 101
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How Often to Email in 2013

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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Nonprofits Should Take a Page from This Survival Guide

Selfish Giving

There’s isn’t a more endangered business than independent bookstores. Margins are low and competition from Amazon – never mind everyone else – is fierce. Still, some bookstores are doing more than just surviving. They’re thriving, thanks to marketing smarts and a lot of hard work. Take Green Apple Books , which has been a fixture of San Francisco’s Richmond neighborhood for over forty years.

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11 Obvious Signs Your Nonprofit Needs Social Media Training

Nonprofit Tech for Good

Many nonprofits need social media training - they just don’t know it. There’s always room for improvement and unfortunately overconfidence in social media skills prevent many nonprofit staff from getting training that could significantly increase their social media ROI (Return on Investment). Social media best practices are constantly in flux as tool sets change and algorithms are modified.

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The Art of Fundraising – as a 140 second Icarus Presentation

Fundraising Coach

Wednesday, I had the opportunity to join over 375 people to hear Seth Godin speak at MIT. He was sharing ideas from his new books The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? and V Is for Vulnerable: Life Outside the Comfort Zone. After he spoke, he invited six of us to give an “ Icarus Presentation.” This was a 140 second talk on our art.

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The great donor exodus – and what to do about it

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

This is a really important guest post. If you are in the business of fundraising in any way, it’s recommended reading. Please also share it, because our sector needs to see this data and act accordingly. Thanks to the author, Jay Love, for putting this together in such a compelling way. Jay is the former CEO of eTapestry. He is currently CEO of Bloomerang and SVP of Avectra while serving on numerous local and national nonprofit boards.

Retention 100
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Making the Ask: How Asheville Habitat Increased Gifts with Emotional, Integrated Fundraising

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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CauseTalk Radio Ep40: Project 7?s Tyler Merrick Talks About the Business of Running a Cause Business

Selfish Giving

We’re seeing more cause-branded products flood the market each year. Many of them will never celebrate a birthday because they lack a solid business strategy. In 2011, I wrote critically about cause products, and focused my ire on one brand in particular: Project 7. I may need to rethink my position. [GASP!]. On this episode of Cause Talk Radio , Megan and I talk to Project 7′s Tyler Merrick about how this plucky cause entrepreneur has scratched and clawed his way onto the shelves of

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Ode To Boomers

The Agitator

The 28th is my birthday. And proud to be a Boomer, I thought I’d indulge in another stab — hopefully not all that necessary — at why fundraisers should focus on, well, me (and my ilk, of course). Versus those other demographic groups! Fortunately, the case is well made in these comments that were sent by Kn Moy, the ‘innovation strategy’ guy at Masterworks.

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29 Nonprofit Resources to Follow on Twitter

Nonprofit Tech for Good

A long overdue follow up to my post on 29 Nonprofit Bloggers to Follow on Twitter , below are 29 nonprofit resources that tweet regularly on subjects ranging from fundraising to social media to mobile communications. Of course, there are many other resources deserving of being listed – if you would like to add one, please do so in a comment below: 1.

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3 ways CEOs can slow the revolving door

Fundraising Coach

A new report by CompassPoint called UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising is getting lots of press. Two of the most sensational headlines are that: more than half of all fundraisers want to leave their job, some even the entire field of fundraising, and that. about 25% of CEOs want to fire their fundraiser. You can read about the report on the Chronicle of Philanthropy and download the report on <a href=" CompassPoint website.

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The next generation of donors are serious about change

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

A report on wealthy Next Gen donors from 21/64 and the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy finds that surveying 310 major donors including in-depth interviews with 30 high-net-worth Generation X and Millennial individuals care about impact and want to feel personally tied to the causes they support. Family heavily influences their choices of causes.

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Time Saving Tips for Email Newsletters and Facebook

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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Where I Get My Cause News (and Everything Else for That Matter)

Selfish Giving

Today, on Razoo I posted 3 Steps to Using Twitter to Gather Nonprofit News. The post has a good list of cause marketing resources if you’re upping your commitment to following cause marketing news and trends in 2013. But man does not live by cause alone. I learn a lot from reading the tweets of people in different fields and industries. Here are the people I follow on Twitter that cross-pollinate my writing and ideas.

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How To Get More Donations

The Agitator

We’ve been talking ‘basics’ in the past couple of posts. Given that, I hope you found today’s headline/subject line as irresistible as I did, when I first read it in my feed from Future Fundraising Now. How straighforward, I thought. What fundraiser wouldn’t want to at least peek at THE ANSWER? FFN’s Jeff Brooks was citing another blogger, John Haydon , who recommended: Say Thanks.

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Must-Read Online Fundraising, Social Media and Mobile Technology Reports for Nonprofits

Nonprofit Tech for Good

The reports listed below are just a small sampling of the research available to nonprofits about online communications and fundraising, social media, and mobile technology. These reports are, however, some of the most valuable in terms of insight, useful and practical data, and how-to advice. If you would like to suggest a report be added to the list, please post the name and a link to the report in a comment below.

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How you can add an extra month of fundraising in 2013

Fundraising Coach

As we start 2013, I thought I’d share with you an idea from the beginning of my latest book, Fundraising Kick : how you can create an additional month of fundraising this year. Sounds over the top, doesn’t it? But if you devote 1 hour a day for each work day to fundraising, you would be devoting up to around 250 hours a year. That’s more than 31 work days!

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The incredibly simple, science-driven way to connect and compel

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Our brains are actually hard wired to relate to other people’s experiences. When we witness or imagine someone acting, our own neurons fire in the same way they would if we were undertaking the same action. That’s why your heart races when your favorite athlete soars toward the football or you feel fear and sorrow watching a mother struggling to save her child from flood waters.

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When Fundraising is Your Marketing Goal – And Not

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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Nonprofits, Gun Makers are Aiming at the Same Target

Selfish Giving

Nonprofits and gun makers are polar opposites in many ways, but not in marketing. That’s what I learned from this Wall Street Journal article on the new CEO of Smith & Wesson , a gun manufacturer since 1852. Like the nonprofit industry, the gun industry is in the midst of a revolution – and an upheaval because of the deadly shootings in Newtown last month.

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Nielsen’s “Social Media Report – 2012?

The Agitator

Market research firm Nielsen has just released what should be one of the more authoritative reviews of consumer use of social media – The-Social-Media-Report-2012. Very comprehensive information that you’ll find helpful as you plan the level of effort your organization should be making with media like mobile and social nets. Some factoids: 17% of US consumer PC time is spent on Facebook.

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Free Webinar on March 14! Google+ and Google+ Hangouts for Nonprofits

Nonprofit Tech for Good

Date: Thursday, March 14, 2013. Time: 1pm-2:30 EDT. Cost: Free (One Time Only – Usually $50). How to Register: Sign up ! Presented By: Heather Mansfield. View: All Webinars for Nonprofits. View: Winter Webinar Special. This webinar begins with a general introduction to Google+ and then quickly moves on to a brief demonstration on how to create a Google+ Page for your nonprofit.

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How To Tell Your Founding Story: Nonprofit Storytelling, Part 3

Getting Attention

Part 1: This is Getting in Your Way, Stories Will Help. Part 2: Six Story Types to Tell. Today I’m going to show you how to shape and share one of the six types of stories your organization has to tell , the founding story. The Typical Nonprofit Founding Story —. Is yours as deadly as this one? Because you have all the ingredients to make it far more effective.

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Three things that makes a great video (get out the hanky)

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Copyblogger posted this lovely video from Hope for Paws , an animal rescue organization. (Can’t see it? Go here.). The Copyblogger post points to why this is great storytelling: 1. It’s remarkable: We get to go on a first-hand journey to save this dog - and the puppies. The iPhone trick is pretty nifty too. It’s the kind of thing you want to share because it’s different and surprising. 2.

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Turning Lame Letters into Donor Delight

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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CauseTalk Radio Ep43: Nonprofit Tech Honcho Talks Big Data for Causes

Selfish Giving

This week on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to George Weiner , founder of Whole Whale and former CTO of DoSomething.org , about technology and data for nonprofits. George was part of a WICKED SMAHT team of people at DoSomething.org that developed some of the most innovative marketing and fundraising programs in the industry. Now he’s the leading the charge in a new business that is sure to bring further disruption to the industry – in a very good way.

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Do You Really Want To Alienate Me?

The Agitator

Hey nonprofit that I’ve supported in the past … Do you really want to alienate me? Then send me one more year-end email appeal! One more … I dare you! Nothing turns me off about fundraising more than the year-end online hustle that makes most diet marketing look measured and sophisticated. Daily, then hourly appeals … “Only hours left!

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10 New Year’s Resolutions for Nonprofit Social Media Managers

Nonprofit Tech for Good

In the next few weeks I’ll be making recommendations of which tools and trends in technology nonprofits should prioritize in 2013, but for this year’s post on New Year’s resolutions I wanted to get back to basics. It’s so easy to get consumed with and exhausted by the intense volume of content and social media advice posted on the Social Web every day (every hour, every minute, every second) that we often neglect some of our basic needs that keep us mentally fresh and up

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Your Big Dream for 2013? Nonprofit Blog Carnival Wants to Know

Getting Attention

I’m honored to host the first Nonprofit Blog Carnival of 2013, covering your big dream for your organization, cause or the nonprofit community this year, and how you’ll get there. Your dream may be: Seeing critical progress on the issue closest to your heart. Getting the funding it takes for your organization to contribute to its full potential.

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The dinner party we really should be having

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

(This is a post I wrote for LinkedIn and wanted to share!). A couple of years ago, I was invited to an unusual dinner party. Philanthropist Jeffrey Walker , the host, assembled the dozen or so guests - who mostly did not know each other - and outlined the rules of the intimate gathering. Everyone would explain who they were and what cause they stood for, and then we would take turns discussing as a table a series of challenging questions about philanthropy, a topic close to the hearts of everyon

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Logo Design Predictions for 2013

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

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CauseTalk Radio Ep39: Cone’s Craig Bida Sees Future of Cause Marketiing in 2013 Crystal Ball

Selfish Giving

In today’s episode of CauseTalk Radio , Megan and I talk to Craig Bida , Executive Vice President of Cause Branding at Cone , on lessons learned in 2012, and how cause marketers should adjust their course in 2013. We share some of our favorite programs from last year and Craig looks ahead with his 5 Anti-Trends for 2013. If you want to hear from a razor sharp leader in the field who wisely avoided the spiked egg nog over the holidays and instead focused on peering into the future of caus

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Marketers from Mars

The Agitator

I just read this report from ExactTarget — Marketers from Mars — which underscored for me how marketers, including fundraisers, can get too far out in front of their audiences. The report makes many comparisons about marketers’ use of social media versus consumers. For example … 90% of marketers own smartphones; only 51% of consumers do. 86% of marketers have ‘liked’ at least one brand or company; 58% of consumers have. 61% of marketers ‘follow’ a