Fundraising Coach

JULY 7, 2016

Have you ever struggled with the active voice vs. passive voice in your fundraising letters ? It's so easy to slip into the passive voice, thinking it sounds more "objective" or "business-like." But active voice is easier to read and is better at accomplishing your goal: getting donors to take action! While it's best to have two or three others read the fundraising letter before you send it, sometimes those people miss things too.

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Fundraising Fundraising Activism Marketing 75

The Agitator

JULY 4, 2016

Marketers are great as using metaphors to conceptualize the process they think consumers go through as they approach making a purchase. Perhaps the most widely embraced paradigm has been the ‘consumer journey’ — the path the consumer follows from initially feeling or identifying a need to actually plunking down the dollars. I had some free time over the long weekend to read an interesting article from exalted consultancy, McKinsey , on the consumer journey subject, and it got m

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Marketing Marketing Retention Fundraising 68

Nonprofit Tech for Good

JULY 7, 2016

The following is an excerpt from Mobile for Good: A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits. Not all email lists are the same. You may have an e-newsletter list that includes all donors and supporters, another list specifically for repeat donors, and another list for supporters who have not yet donated. Your ability to segment your email lists will depend on your CRM and your email communications software, but having multiple lists can help your nonprofit better craft your messages and fundrais

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Communication Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofits 63

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

JULY 6, 2016

Looking for more CALM not BUSY in your work day, but not sure where to begin? It might help to think about it in terms of the more familiar Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How. . C is for Collaborative — It’s the WHO. Are your working relationships with people either internally or externally overwhelming you? Brainstorm some ways to be more collaborative, while also being more productive.

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iMarketSmart

JULY 8, 2016

# 10. Too much rapport building (not enough alignment of organizational needs with donor passions and interests). # 9. Talking too much; listening too little (“ show up and throw up fundraising “). # 8. Absence of a seriously effective, proven plan/process that gets results. # 7. Inability to unearth and connect deeply with donor wants, needs and desires. # 6.

Leadership 40

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The Agitator

JULY 7, 2016

When we first announced the Starting Over series, the very first comment we received came from Sarah Nutbrown who works for a small nonprofit in New Zealand. Sarah wrote, “We’re just starting to build up individual giving, with limited resources, all ideas on where we focus our energy are more than welcomed. Sean Triner said recently that if you don’t already have a good DM programme, don’t do DM acquisition because of the costs nowadays.

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Energy Recruitment Retention Nonprofits 61

BDO

JULY 6, 2016

For an inside perspective on current trends in the nonprofit industry and their financial ramifications: look no further than the latest issue of BDO’s Nonprofit Standard now available on BDO.com.

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Nonprofits 40

iMarketSmart

JULY 6, 2016

First, a short story. Recently I participated in a roundtable discussion led by a salesperson for one of those cookie-cutter planned giving website companies. She was showing off her firm’s marketing emails. As she presented her Powerpoint slides, she kept emphasizing how wonderful the open rates were. 17% open rate. 28% open rate. 34% open rate. “Oooh.

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The Agitator

JULY 6, 2016

Yesterday Roger argued that fundraisers need to know their donors’ identities. And he was talking about individual donors … and not just the $1,000, $5,000 or $10,000 (or whatever your ‘major gift’ threshold is) variety. He admitted this would be hard work: “This is an approach that most fundraisers will dismiss out of hand as ‘too difficult’, ‘too expensive’, ‘too time consuming’.” But did somebody tell you fundraising would be easy?

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Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofit Management Retention 60

NonProfit Hub

JULY 7, 2016

We’re excited to announce our brand new vehicle of Nonprofit Hub content this week – we call it the Hubcast. It’s nonprofit education like you’ve never heard it before, delivered to your ears in a game-changing podcast. In episode one, we sat down with digital marketing expert John Haydon to have a conversation about the changing landscapes of social media fundraising.

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Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

JULY 8, 2016

The message for today is “Be kind to each other.” Here’s this week’s Mixed Links… We are doing some research with Big Duck on the ingredients of nonprofit communications success. Share your nonprofit communications success story with us in this survey. Double the Donation has started a new blog carnival on Fundraising Strategies & Nonprofit Tech.

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Communication Nonprofits Leadership Activism 41

Selfish Giving

JULY 5, 2016

Today on CauseTalk Radio , Megan and I talk to Elicia Azali , Associate Vice President at insurance and financial services provider Nationwide. We discuss their cause initiative Make Safe Happen , which seeks to reduce accidental injury at home, the number one cause of death among children. On the show, Megan, Elicia and I discuss: Elicia Azali, Nationwide.

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The Agitator

JULY 5, 2016

In his post, Is There A ‘Donor Journey’? Tom raises a key question and some of our most thoughtful readers answered, in essence, course there is, BUT … in the case of many organizations that journey is mighty flawed. And the reason most donor journeys, donor experiences, ‘touches’ or whatever you want to call them are so flawed is because most fundraisers — no matter how great and good their intention to please the donor – have not the slightest idea why a donor chose to give t

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Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofit Management Retention 53

NonProfit Hub

JULY 7, 2016

We’re excited to announce our brand new vehicle of Nonprofit Hub content this week – we call it the Hubcast. It’s nonprofit education like you’ve never heard it before, delivered to your ears in a game-changing podcast. In episode one, we sat down with digital marketing expert John Haydon to have a conversation about the changing landscapes of social media fundraising.

Fundraising 36

Fundraising Fundraising Associations Education 36

Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

JULY 5, 2016

What’s the real difference between nonprofits with great communications successes and those who can’t get past the ho-hum, just-OK results? Nonprofit Marketing Guide and Big Duck are working together to find out! Might it be. Experimenting often and learning from failures? Expertise of individual staff members? Delegation of responsibilities from leadership?

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Leadership Communication Marketing Marketing 41

Lets Talk Nonprofit

JULY 6, 2016

"2015 Was America's Most-Generous Year Ever.". That's the headline from this year's. Giving USA Report. And that's good news for the nonprofit sector. If you're not familiar with the Giving USA Report, it's the longest-running annual report on charitable giving. The report was researched and written by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and it's published by.

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NonProfit Hub

JULY 5, 2016

Persuasion gets a bad rap, and it’s time to change that. Think about it – what sorts of imagery come to mind when you think of somebody who possesses a persuasive quality? Different people think of different things. For me, when somebody says persuasion I see a car salesperson doing anything they can to “get you in this car today.”. At its core, persuasion simply means getting somebody to understand where you’re coming from so well that they decide they want to believe it too.

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