Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 5, 2014

'Working at a nonprofit often pays less than the for-profit sector, but the perks of extended vacation time, flex time, and the personal satisfaction of having a meaningful professional life can outweigh the financial downside of building a nonprofit career. And 2014 could be a great year to secure a new position. Preliminary results for the 2013 fundraising season are positive and many nonprofit professionals who have weathered year-after-year of pay freezes and minimal advancement are ready f

Philanthropy 111

Philanthropy Nonprofits Fundraising Fundraising 111

Fundraising Coach

JANUARY 29, 2014

'Mt. Rushmore close up courtesy of StuSeeger on Flickr. French fries & straw added by Marc A. Pitman. I''m honored to be hosting the February 2014 Nonprofit Blog Carnival ! In previous years, February has been dedicated to how to show yourself (the fundraiser) some love and how to show donors love so they''ll want to keep coming back. This year, we''re going to take a different approach.

Nonprofits 104

Nonprofits Fundraising Fundraising Communication 104

The Agitator

JANUARY 29, 2014

'Yesterday Tom outlined how to destroy your website. Today, in the best yin and yang tradition of The Agitator, here’s how to make your website the very best of breed. WAGER: I’m betting there’s no more than one out of every 10,000 nonprofits in the world with the guts or patience to follow the process I’m about to report. It’s donor-centric but also so very, very counter-intuitive to what most fundraisers would do if they were in charge of re-making a website.

Fundraising 103

Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofit Management Management 103

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 2, 2014

'Here at Network for Good we experienced a busy giving season right up to the final hours of 2013. This is good news for nonprofits, as we saw a 16% increase in dollars donated compared to the year-end fundraising season of 2012. After all of that activity, it can be tempting to take it easy for a few weeks now that January is here. Of course, the reality is that your work with donors is just beginning.

Retention 93

Retention Activism Fundraising Fundraising 93

Getting Attention

JANUARY 23, 2014

'Welcome to guest blogger, James Porter. James is Associate Director, Development & Communications for the END Fund , a nonprofit dedicated to controlling and eliminating neglected tropical diseases. . Your database tools have the potential to dramatically increase marketing and fundraising results if you use them right. That’s why I’ll be blogging lots of tips, tools and case studies on building out and using your database(s) to improve your supporter’s experience in 201

Values 86

Values Management Associations Marketing 86

Care2

JANUARY 20, 2014

'It''s the end of January and that means organizations social media and marketing plans for 2014 are off to a running start. As you begin to execute your campaigns, take a look at these social media stats from 2013. The stats are impressive. For example, did you know that there are 250 billion photos posted on Facebook daily? Or that 28% of RT''s on Twitter are due to the inclusion of "Please RT".

Marketing 76

Marketing Marketing 76

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 15, 2014

'To help nonprofits recruit qualified volunteers and to assist individuals eager to volunteer with nonprofits, LinkedIn has launched a Volunteer Marketplace where nonprofits can post volunteer opportunities and LinkedIn members can search for volunteer opportunities in their local communities. According to LinkedIn for Good , 82% of surveyed LinkedIn members have communicated that they want volunteer their time and skills and thus far more than 600,000 LinkedIn members have added their Voluntee

Volunteerism 111

Volunteerism Volunteerism Recruitment Nonprofits 111

The Agitator

JANUARY 27, 2014

'There’s no more important action a fundraiser can take than making sure the donor knows how important and wonderful he or she is. And quite frankly, there’s no communication vehicle as powerfully suited for this task than the simple, well-written, four-page paper newsletter. Not digital. Not slick. Not focused on the ego of the organization. Making Money with Donor Newsletters , written by fundraising communications master Tom Ahern, is all you need to transform your current newsletter into a m

Retention 95

Retention Communication Fundraising Fundraising 95

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 14, 2014

'Is one of your 2014 goals to get your social strategy in order? Here are 10 fun stats on social media that can help you decide how to spend your time. 73% of U.S. online adults now use social networking sites. Source: Pew Tweet this. Roughly one-third of the world’s population is now online. Source: We Are Social Tweet this. 68% of Instagram’s users are women.

Marketing 90

Marketing Marketing Nonprofits Communication 90

Getting Attention

JANUARY 29, 2014

'When my friend and colleague, Joe Waters , told me he was writing a hands-on guide to fundraising with businesses (a.k.a. cause marketing), I was absolutely delighted. You’ve probably seen the same coverage I have on cause marketing, covering big orgs partnering with big corporations—like Miracle Treat Day (Children’s Miracle Network with Dairy Queen) and the Kraft Fight Hunger Facebook page for Feeding America.

Fundraising 77

Fundraising Fundraising Children Values 77

Care2

JANUARY 27, 2014

'Upworthy, a site that focuses on curating social cause related videos and content has been receiving a lot of media attention for changing how bloggers write headlines. In November of 2013 Upworthy traffic grew to about 87M unique visits, which was quite a drastic leap from less than 5 million a year ago, according to Quantcast. In December traffic dipped about 21% to 68M unique visits.

Fundraising 69

Fundraising Fundraising Marketing Marketing 69

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 12, 2014

'Without a doubt, 2013 was the year of visual content — particularly infographics. With tens of millions of brands now tweeting, posting, and sharing content online on a daily basis, to get your message to stand out from the clutter brands need to communicate more often their key messages in visual format. That said, below are 19 infographics useful to nonprofit communications and development staff.

Fundraising 111

Fundraising Fundraising Associations Nonprofits 111

Fundraising Coach

JANUARY 1, 2014

'Happy New Year! A record number of people came to FundraisingCoach.com for fundraising help in 2013. Here are the the top 2013 posts based on website traffic! They cover everything from social media tips, to strategies on year-end fundraising, to how board members can be effective askers. Top 13 Fundraising Posts Written in 2013. Content calendar templates for social media.

Fundraising 93

Fundraising Fundraising Retention Leadership 93

The Agitator

JANUARY 7, 2014

'One topic you can expect to see The Agitator dwell upon over the coming year is mobile. Firstly, all the media/digital monitoring services are now reporting that more than half of emails are opened with a mobile device. And mobile viewing of online video, as well as your ‘plain ole’ website, is also accelerating very rapidly. See The Agitator’s reporting here , here and here.

Communication 93

Communication Marketing Marketing Fundraising 93

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 30, 2014

'The good news is that giving continues to grow. The bad news is that donor retention rates aren’t what they should be. Think about the donors who came into your organization’s ecosystem during the past year. Will they give again? You can improve the odds of keeping more of your supporters by declaring 2014 the Year of the Donor. What this looks like for your organization may be different than for your nonprofit peers, but here are a few basics to get you started: 1.

Retention 89

Retention Recruitment Communication Activism 89

Getting Attention

JANUARY 9, 2014

'Donor retention is an absolute priority (again) for 2014. Yet the path to donor retention success remains elusive for so many organizations. How about yours? Please join me in thanking Frank Barry and the Blackbaud team for sharing donor retention guidance from some of the smartest fundraising experts out there. I’m thrilled to be included! Here’s my #1 donor retention recommendation—R-E-S-P-E-C-T your way to strong and long-lasting donor relationships: R espect donors ’ wants, even

Retention 76

Retention Fundraising Fundraising 76

iMarketSmart

JANUARY 31, 2014

'Video is powerful. -45.4% of the American population watches at least one online video a month. -Consumers watched over 48 billion online videos in July 2013 alone, 7.4 billion minutes of which were advertisements. -Using video results in higher amounts of traffic to your web pages. -Online Landing Pages with video have up to 800% more conversions than the same page without.

Advertising 63

Advertising Foundations Fundraising Fundraising 63

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 11, 2014

'2014 will be an exciting year for nonprofit technology. Numerous communications and fundraising trends are on the verge of going mainstream and nonprofits committed to early adoption have a number of new tools and strategies to pioneer this year. Social media will remain a top priority for nonprofits in 2014, but 2013 helped solidify social media as a mandatory set of communication tools.

Technology 111

Technology Nonprofits Communication Fundraising 111

Fundraising Coach

JANUARY 28, 2014

'Photo courtesy of readerwalker on Flickr A couple weeks ago, I was working with my son on a school project. We are having him study 10 great speeches from USA history. In looking at top 10 and top 100 lists, I was thrilled to come across Russell Conwell''s Acres of Diamonds. I''d read this dozens of times growing up. The gist of the story is that a man dreamed of finding diamonds.

Retention 87

Retention Fundraising Fundraising Communication 87

The Agitator

JANUARY 12, 2014

'The holiday shopping season, coupled with the current wave of renewed interest in raising the minimum wage and the plight of workers at places like Walmart, got me thinking about — what else? — donor retention. Seems to me there is significant similarity between the management mindset of some of the Big Box stores and burger chains and many nonprofits.

Public and Nonprofit Management 92

Public and Nonprofit Management Retail Retention Nonprofit Management 92

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 21, 2014

'The new Online Fundraising Scorecard report from Dunham+Company and Next After points to some key areas where nonprofits may be falling short in their online campaigns. The study looked at 151 charities and rated the online giving experience in four main categories: email registration, email communication, donation experience, and gift acknowledgement.

Nonprofits 84

Nonprofits Communication Fundraising Fundraising 84

Getting Attention

JANUARY 8, 2014

'As I combed the infinite number of 2014 marketing recommendations shared in recent weeks, I was surprised to see this one— review, revise and recommit to your privacy policy. Didn’t we all do already, during the advent of our websites and email programs? But on further reflection, I realized how central a thorough, fully-implemented privacy policy is in our age of data-driven marketing.

Participation and motivation 76

Participation and motivation Marketing Marketing Activism 76

iMarketSmart

JANUARY 27, 2014

'Most planned giving marketing strategies are not effective. They miss the mark. They waste money. And they leave tons of opportunities on the table. Planned gifts can (and do) come from just about anyone. That includes non-donors and people that are not on your organization’s radar at all. In fact, many of my clients tell me that anywhere from 30% to more than 80% of their planned gifts come from people not currently in their database.

Marketing 63

Marketing Marketing Fundraising Fundraising 63

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 28, 2014

'Nonprofits that do not create a lot of their own video content can still have an engaging YouTube Channel by curating videos relevant to your nonprofit’s mission and programs. Just because your nonprofit didn’t create a video doesn’t mean you can’t feature it on your channel. By adding videos to “Playlists” and then displaying those playlists as “Sections” on your channel, your nonprofit can have an engaging YouTube channel that makes a strong fir

Nonprofits 99

Nonprofits 99

Fundraising Coach

JANUARY 22, 2014

'Chris Davenport over at 501Videos surveyed nonprofit professionals and board members last week. The top two things they said they wanted help with were: finding new donors, and. keeping the donors they already have. So over at NonprofitBestPracticesStore.com , he''s offering incredible savings on a bundle of 100 Donors in 90 Days and The Donor Retention Project.

Fundraising 77

Fundraising Fundraising Retention Nonprofits 77

The Agitator

JANUARY 26, 2014

'Want to double your persuasion power? The Neuromarketing blog has the answer. In their post, Four Words That Double Persuasion , they report: “Want to double your success in persuading people to do as you ask? Four simple words, and even other phrases with the same meaning, have been shown to double the success rate in dozens of studies worldwide.” Try your hand at guessing the words.

Communication 89

Communication Fundraising Fundraising 89

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 16, 2014

'[Editor’s note: If you ever wanted to know how to position your organization for major gift success, look no further. In this guest post, nonprofit expert and Bloomerang CEO Jay Love has distilled critical tips for creating a solid transformational gifts strategy. Check out the recommendations and let us know how you plan to put them into practice for your nonprofit.].

Leadership 80

Leadership Education Education Nonprofits 80

Getting Attention

JANUARY 28, 2014

'Despite the emphasis on content marketing for nonprofits—crafting the right content to motivate each specific group to take the action you desire— to be distributed where they are (the right place) when they are there and likely to act (the right time)—there’s one important ingredient left out of the discussion time and time again. Copy editing —checking for spelling, grammar, consistency and accuracy.

Production 76

Production Nonprofit Organizations Nonprofit Organizations Marketing 76

Care2

JANUARY 8, 2014

'Direct mail acquisition costs continue to rise and while most organizations have a social media presence, most aren’t using it to fundraise. The good old-fashioned email address is the secret to activating and cultivating these channels more effectively. Join Justin Perkins of Care2 and Roz Lemieux of Attentive.ly and Salsa Labs for this insightful webinar to learn why Social Loves Email and how a simple, effective strategy for getting the most out of integrated email, social media, and m

Recruitment 67

Recruitment Activism Marketing Marketing 67

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JANUARY 1, 2014

'Nonprofit Tech for Good offers a series of social and mobile media webinars ideal for training social and mobile media managers, communications and fundraising staff, and volunteers and interns. Each webinar has an individual price of $50, but through March 21, 2014 they will be offered at the following discounted rates: Buy 2 Webinars, Get 1 Free :: $100.

Nonprofits 77

Nonprofits Management Fundraising Fundraising 77

BDO

JANUARY 28, 2014

The past year shook up the nonprofit sector—often in surprising ways. Notable policy changes, a government shutdown and a transforming donor landscape all made headlines in 2013.

Governance 52

Governance Nonprofits 52

The Agitator

JANUARY 19, 2014

'Here’s some bad Monday morning news from our friends at Analytical Ones. These are folks you might not want to bring along to cheer up your next Board meeting! Last week The Agitator mentioned their article, Unsustainable Trends. There they were talking about the sad day when growth in your average gift size can no longer outpace your declining file size, with the result that your net income begins to trend down.

Retention 89

Retention Marketing Marketing Fundraising 89

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

JANUARY 27, 2014

'Beyond the usual celebrity antics and costume changes, the acts that stood out at last night’s Grammys were ones that delivered favorite songs in unexpected ways. But what does a musical awards show have to do with marketing your cause? When you have the opportunity to grab your audience’s attention, it’s important to rise above the background noise and deliver your message in a way that will stand out.

Construction 79

Construction Recruitment Values Communication 79

Getting Attention

JANUARY 16, 2014

'Here’s what my dear friend and colleague, Kivi Leroux Miller, said when I asked her to share the most important takeaway from her just-released 2014 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report : In far too many organizations, communications/marketing staff and development/fundraising staff aren’t talking or cooperating, and in the worst cases, are working at cross-purposes.

Marketing 73

Marketing Marketing Fundraising Fundraising 73

NonProfit Hub

JANUARY 20, 2014

'Take a look around you. If you’re like the majority of people today, there’s a smartphone within reach or nearby. So the logical question for fundraisers is, how do we use something so accessible to raise money for our organizations? That’s exactly what Hiraa Khan wondered, and she wanted to make a change. She’d been working with domestic and international nonprofits for over a decade, and wasn’t impressed with the options for text-donating.

Charitable Contribution 64

Charitable Contribution Technology Activism Fundraising 64

iMarketSmart

JANUARY 1, 2014

'Donors deserve the “Disney Experience” That means we should give them awesome service including: Making it easy for them to donate, volunteer or advocate for you. Providing speedy acknowledgements (thank you’s and receipts). Delivering honest, clear and transparent impact reporting that help them understand how their money was spent.

Technology 56

Technology Production Communication Marketing 56

Care2

JANUARY 30, 2014

'Many nonprofits who are going through a website redesign on a tight budget want to know the best ways to find and hire a web vendor, especially ones that will understand their goals and challenges. As the founder of a web agency and former nonprofit campaigner I have sat on both sides of the table. I recently found this great checklist ( via Darren Barefoot ) that I think will be very helpful in talking with web vendors and helping your organization find the perfect match.

Technology 59

Technology Non-Profits Associations Communication 59