Fundraising Coach
OCTOBER 20, 2015
Image courtesy of Peter Wood A couple weeks ago, I shared a story with nonprofit executive directors who get my Fundraising Kick coaching emails. It's important enough that I want to share it with you too. In September, I was privileged to keynote for the Utah Nonprofits Association. My talk was for a mixed audience of nonprofit leaders but I knew I was going to be talking about fundraising too.
Nonprofit Tech for Good
OCTOBER 12, 2015
To celebrate @NonprofitOrgs reaching 800,000 followers on Twitter, Nonprofit Tech for Good donated $800 to 32 nonprofits, specifically $25 each to the Africa Wildlife Foundation , Alley Cat Allies , Amazon CARES , Animal Defenders International , CARE , Conservation International , Doctors Without Borders , Dolphin Project , Elephant Sanctuary of Tennessee , Families Against Mandatory Minimums , Global Sanctuary for Elephants , Greenpeace , Human Rights Watch , International Anti-Poachi
The Agitator
OCTOBER 21, 2015
There are some questions that simply can’t be answered with words. Action is the only answer On so many levels a key — perhaps the key — question is how do we slow or stop the hemorrhaging of talented fundraisers — particularly women — at a time of desperate and growing need. Make no mistake. Fundraising has an immense retention problem not related to donors but to fundraisers themselves.
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 1, 2015
Photo Credit: https://flic.kr/p/79pL7r. Want to squeeze more mileage from a great fundraising or advocacy email? Send it again. Sending a fundraising or advocacy email again to non-responders — subscribers who did not open, click, donate or take action the first time — can sometimes raise as much, or produce as many actions, as the original send.
EveryAction
OCTOBER 30, 2015
For the second year running, we asked our team to forego the typical, boring Halloween costumes and dress up as some of their favorite nonprofit organizations. Here are some great examples you can still throw together in time for trick-or-treating.
Getting Attention
OCTOBER 14, 2015
Guest blogger Rob Wu is CEO of CauseVox, a crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising platform used by nonprofits to create fundraising websites. Today, fundraising extends far beyond motivating people to donate. We want engagement, we want other actions, and we want to build a relationship! We also want as many people as possible rallying for our cause.
Fundraising Coach
OCTOBER 29, 2015
At Blackbaud's Conference for the Philanthropic Community in Austin this week, I got to hear Austin Graff share tips from his experiences with IJM (International Justice Mission) and Honest Tea. He said two things that are super simple and super powerful for making sure your social media really connects with people. How to know what exactly to post about.
Nonprofit Leadership Zone brings together the best content for advertising professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
The Agitator
OCTOBER 13, 2015
Yesterday Roger hamstered hammered away at retention, drawing upon Mark Phillips’ (Bluefrog) wonderful warm and fuzzy hamster parable. In support of Roger’s and Mark’s messages, here’s something more prosaic regarding just one aspect of hanging on to donors … dealing with complaints. In fact, treasuring them. Take this advice from the ‘customer’ world, offered in Four Reasons to Love Customer Complaints : “When a customer spends effort to complain,
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 8, 2015
December is coming. DECEMBER IS COMING! For a lot of nonprofits, that means the biggest online fundraising campaign of the year is right around the corner. Are you ready? . Next week, on Oct. 13, I’ll be leading a Nonprofit Marketing Guide webinar called “The Beginner’s Guide to Planning a Successful Year-End Online Fundraising Campaign,” where I’ll take you step-by-step through a multi-channel, year-end online giving campaign, from thought to finish.
EveryAction
OCTOBER 14, 2015
End-of-year fundraising and #GivingTuesday are around the corner , so it’s time to pull up your donation page and make sure it’s up to scratch. Once someone has arrived on your donation page, it’s your job to make sure the experience is as painless and quick as possible. Here’s 6 things wrong with your donation page right now, and how to fix them.
Getting Attention
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Guest blogger Guy Arceneaux is Director of Marketing and Communications for Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland. . Here’s my top takeaway from my first three months on the job at Meals on Wheels of Central Maryland: Smaller, more nimble nonprofits like ours typically know their audiences better—so are far more connected with them—than large, complex organizations ever can be. .
Fundraising Coach
OCTOBER 16, 2015
This morning, I was inspired by reading "The Ball is Always in Your Court" on the ForImpact.org blog. So I'm declaring today Follow Up Friday. In the post, Tom Suddes says that of the three parts of any ask, the follow up is the most important. I agree. In fact, I start the follow up at the ask. I teach coaching clients to ask questions like, "May I follow up with you in a week if we haven't heard back?".
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 14, 2015
If you’re working on a direct marketing effort for major and/or planned gifts, there are just two things you need to know: 1. What’s really important. 2. What’s really un important. I’m telling you this because I’ve seen way too many people focus way too much time and effort on things that simply don’t matter much at all.
The Agitator
OCTOBER 1, 2015
The AFP/Urban Institute’s 2015 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Report (FEP) is now out. The results are nothing short of depressing. Bottom-line results in terms of donors and dollars for 2014, the period covered by the Report: Every 100 donors gained in 2014 was offset by 103 in lost donors through attrition. A net loss in donors of minus 3%.
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 29, 2015
I’ve been talking to many of my nonprofit marketing friends over the last few months about what my next book should cover. The consensus is helping communications directors deal with the hard and often very unpleasant situations that they find themselves in on a regular basis, as well as the people who fuel those situations. There were some choice words used to describe both the people and the situations, which I have toned down to Delinquents and Fusterclucks (and yes, that is, in fact, t
EveryAction
OCTOBER 23, 2015
What does Tinder have to do with your nonprofit marketing strategy? Probably a lot more than you realize. Think about it: what is Tinder if not a massive, multi-million-user experiment in online marketing?
Getting Attention
OCTOBER 13, 2015
Shaping messages to be relevant to the people we want to to engage and spur to action is the most reliable path to productive marketing. Relevance rules! But there’s more you can do, once you get to relevance. Over the last few months, my passion to find, analyze and guide you to the most effective messaging possible has uncovered a few additional secret ingredients that are absolute magic.
Fundraising Coach
OCTOBER 19, 2015
This morning, I read a great post by Terry St. Marie called " The Critical First Step For Great Leadership: The Journey From 'I' to 'We'." His movement from ego-centricity to inclusiveness is something as critical in fundraising as it is in leadership. Normally "we" is a bad word in fundraising letters. I regularly help my executive coaching clients edit it out of their fundraising letters.
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 21, 2015
Fundraising focuses on an organization’s process for raising money by requesting donations. Facilitation focuses on helping others achieve their goals through philanthropy. Fundraising is what most of you are told to do. Facilitation is what most of your supporters want you to do. Fundraising is what some of your board members refuse to do. Facilitation is what all of your board members will be happy to do.
The Agitator
OCTOBER 27, 2015
Sometimes Professor Adrian Sargeant can be a real pain in the ass. We should all be grateful. This week the mild mannered, empirical-evidence-please scholar and the author of the classic Building Donor Loyalty shed his Clark Kent persona and came out swinging against proposed regulatory efforts by the UK government to gag charities. Regulatory efforts aimed at imposing an ‘opt in’ system requiring that nonprofits have the donor’s permission before contacting them.
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Yep, it’s that time of year already. Year-End Fundraising Season. But you aren’t going to wait til the last minute to plan your campaigns this year. This year, you will have all your ducks in a row before you flip the calendar to November. This year you will OWN year-end fundraising. Here are some resources to help… Live Webinar. The Beginner’s Guide to Planning a Successful Year-End Online Fundraising Campaign.
EveryAction
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Last week, I had the ear of a brilliant nonprofit guru and jumped on the chance to ask her for some advice. Me: I know our readers are up to their eyeballs in work from now until January. What can I write about to help them through this crazy time besides end-of-year fundraising? Brilliant Nonprofit Guru: End-of-year fundraising. Message received. This time of year, the only thing nonprofit pros need more than fundraising ideas is more time and money to implement them.
Mission Minded
OCTOBER 30, 2015
If the idea of changing your nonprofit’s name feels overwhelming and scary, you’re not alone. Changing your name is a huge undertaking that’s not without risk. But when necessary, and when done well, a new name can trigger powerful outcomes for an organization. But there’s more to naming success than finding the perfect new moniker. […].
Fundraising Coach
OCTOBER 28, 2015
I'm attending the last day of BBCON - Blackbaud's Conference for the Philanthropic Community and just got to here an amazing 15-minute session by Brady Josephson. He outlined the four questions you need to answer when setting up your monthly giving program. Here they are, with a short explanation. The 4 Questions to Answer for Monthly Giving Program.
Ann Green
OCTOBER 29, 2015
Even if you mail your appeal letter, many people will donate online. If you’re sending reminders by email and social media, you’ll also include a link to the donation page on your website. That means online giving on your website needs to be painless. It’s tricky because you want to capture vital information without overwhelming your donors. 7 things that might be killing your donation forms.
The Agitator
OCTOBER 25, 2015
Much of what we fundraisers practice and preach will eventually be shown to be wrong or out of date. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, disturbing trends and startling events arise to speed up the re-evaluation and change process. Events like the imposition of new regulatory rules in the U.K. requiring charities to get donors’ permission to make future solicitations.
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 21, 2015
At Nonprofit Marketing Guide, we love talking about marketing strategies and tactics (obviously). But as you try to implement the ideas you learn here, we often hear back about problems you encounter that have very little to do with marketing. Instead, what gets in the way of getting the work done are relationships with other people in your nonprofit, and difficulties collaborating with them.
iMarketSmart
OCTOBER 9, 2015
I’m proud to be a disruptor. I’ve been this way all my life. I can’t help it. Therefore, I simply won’t apologize for my disruptive nature. Fortunately for me, I’m in good company. Disruption is happening all around us and nowadays disruptive innovators are being celebrated more than ever. Here’s the definition of disruptive innovation (according to the Clayton Christensen Institute ): The phenomenon by which an innovation transforms an existing market or sect
Care2
OCTOBER 29, 2015
One of the greatest assets that nonprofits have at their disposal is stories. Stories about their movement, stories about the people they are serving, and stories about their volunteers and staff on the ground to support the organization’s mission. One of the best ways to support your stories is through photography and imagery, especially as social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and even Twitter to some extent prioritize visual content, including videos.
NonProfit Hub
OCTOBER 16, 2015
Beth Kanter is a guest contributor for Nonprofit Hub. She is the author of Beth’s Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media , one of the longest running and most popular blogs for nonprofits. Beth has over 30 years working in the nonprofit sector in technology, training, capacity building, evaluation, fundraising and marketing. Beth is an internationally recognized trainer who has developed and implemented effective sector capacity building programs that help organizations integrate social
Ann Green
OCTOBER 14, 2015
We have many ways to reach out to our donors – by mail, email, social media, and phone calls. But your fundraising campaign will be more effective if you use a combination of these. Some donors may respond to your direct mail piece but donate online. Others will see your email message but prefer to send a check. Some donors will respond to the first appeal while others need a few reminders.
The Agitator
OCTOBER 29, 2015
Because I’m an online video evangelist, I had high hopes when I saw this article headline in Campaigns & Elections: 5 Reasons Video Should Be Part Of Your Year-End Fundraising Campaign. As it turned out, after this broad teaser — fundraising with videos are 41% more likely to reach their fundraising goals — the article basically touted the ease of sharing videos via the Facebook platform, and promoted an app called Video Checkout for Facebook.
Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog
OCTOBER 9, 2015
It’s Friday so let’s celebrate with some Mixed Links… The Nonprofit Blog Carnival for September is up. This theme was how to say thanks. Don’t waste valuable resources on lapsed donors. Here’s Why You Need To Say Goodbye To Some Donors. And How You Can Do It. Want to know more about Instagram? Beth Kanter created The Ultimate Curated Collection of Best Practices, Examples, and Tips.
Getting Attention
OCTOBER 20, 2015
Adorbable! Who can resist the cuteness of puppy photos like this one? Don’t feel silly for responding. Most of us do the same, which is why you see so many organizations communicating cute. But if your organization doesn’t have piglet or puppy photos to share (and that’s most of us), what can you do? Start by considering what makes such photos SO magnetic, then share some of that.
Care2
OCTOBER 28, 2015
Today, crowdfunding is a viable fundraising method that can be successfully utilized by nonprofit organizations as well as individuals. Put simply, crowdfunding relies on an online software platform that allows individuals, organizations and companies to make donations with a simple click of the mouse. When crowdfunding campaigns are run correctly, nonprofits see their fundraising results catapult far beyond old-school techniques.
NonProfit Hub
OCTOBER 27, 2015
Jack Karako is a guest contributor for Nonprofit Hub. Jack has 30 years’ experience within the charitable and philanthropic industry that he brings to the forefront with IMPACTism. Jack has been a major gifts fundraiser and senior organizational executive working with or consulting to nonprofit and advocacy organizations. __. As a nonprofit professional, it is in your best interest to take advantage of all of the resources at your disposal.
Ann Green
OCTOBER 7, 2015
As the year-end giving season approaches, you may notice more activity from nonprofits in your mailbox and email inbox. Take notice. You can learn a lot about what do to and what not to do when you communicate with donors. Unfortunately, I see too many instances where organizations can do better. It seems like something’s missing. After I recently I opened a one-page communication from an organization, my reactions were: Why are you sending me this?
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