July, 2015

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Your Year-End Appeal Checklist

Ann Green

This summer is flying by and September will be here before you know it. Fall is a busy time, especially if you’re doing a year-end appeal. Many nonprofits rely on their year-end appeal for a good portion of their revenue. Even though your mind may be focused on going to the beach and eating ice cream, you want to start planning your year-end appeal now.

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Day in the Life of a Nonprofit Communicator – Em Hall

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Em Hall. Here’s the latest installment in our series on the “Day in the Life” of nonprofit communicators, where we ask you to describe your day in your own words. We’d love to hear from you too! Tell us what you do in a typical day as a nonprofit communications pro. ~Kristina. Em Hall is an award-winning marketer with a knack for digital strategy and social media.

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How your nonprofit got into its fundraising mess

Fundraising Coach

Photo by RachePhotos on Flickr. Used with permission. https://flic.kr/p/4bAUoA When people join a nonprofit or start one, they typically think they're going to get to do the "mission" - feeding kids, promoting art, conserving land, caring for the elderly, protecting animals. They rarely think about the funding. (Oddly, many fundraisers often don't seem to understand that their main job is "raising funds.").

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The Donor Is Not The Enemy

The Agitator

Of course we all know the donor is not the enemy. Don’t we? Maybe not. Given the language so much of the sector uses, I wonder. If we’re truly about the business of building committed and lasting relationships, why do we use language that is better suited for an Army field manual? As in, ‘target’ an audience … ‘acquire’ hostages donors … ‘recapture’ them.

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Less Stress, More Success: Accounting Best Practices & Processes for 2025

Speaker: Amanda Adams, Fractional CFO, CPA

Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Amanda Adams, a seasoned fractional CFO and CPA passionate about transforming back-office operations for finance teams. This session will cover critical best practices and process improvements tailored specifically for accounting professionals.

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Your Official Netroots Guide to Shopping Local (and Progressive) in Phoenix

EveryAction

In case you haven't heard, the progressive community is gathering next week in Phoenix for one of the most anticipated events of the year: the tenth annual Netroots Nation conference ! As a Phoenician and member of team EveryAction, I'm thrilled to share that EveryAction is hosting this year's closing party , and am excited to see this fantastic city and the incredible work being done by progressive organizers on display for the entire community to see.

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12 Nonprofit Call-to-Action Twitter Images to Study and Learn From

Nonprofit Tech for Good

It is true that tweets with images receive more engagement , but how much more engagement depends on the quality of the images and if they are properly sized for Twitter ( 1024 x 512 pixels or a 2:1 aspect ratio ). If your nonprofit is committed to maximizing engagement on Twitter, then you must create visually compelling call-to-action images for fundraising and advocacy campaigns.

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5 Super Solid Ways To Engage Your Supporters Online (PLUS 28 Affordable Tools to Help You Do It)

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Are you out of ideas for engaging supporters online? Try one of these tried and true digital engagement tactics to strengthen your relationship, move members to act, and build support for your program and mission. 1) Try a Petition or Pledge. This is a bread and butter tactic for advocacy organizations, but lots of orgs can use this. A pledge to vote, not buy from puppy mills, or to go vegetarian for a day.

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Thank you for connecting donors with mission

Fundraising Coach

Happy New (fiscal) Year! For many FundraisingCoach.com readers, today - July 1st - is the start of a brand new fiscal year. The amount raised starts at zero but the goals are set higher. As fundraisers, we rarely get thanked, and that's fine. The nature of our work puts the emphasis on the donors and the impact they create through our nonprofits. But today I wanted to pause and say: Thank you.

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Why Is Direct Mail Seeing A Resurgence?

The Agitator

Roger and I are direct mail … well, er, sluts. Whenever someone writes anything along the general lines of ‘direct mail punches on’, there we are, drooling and wagging our tails, like dalmatians responding to the fire alarm. Because we write in praise of direct mail so often, I’m always nervous about whether we’re covering old ground, old reports, old comparisons of direct mail to feeble sisters like email and social media.

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Your Fundraising Jargon Cheat Sheet

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

It’s 2015 and, yes, online fundraising is mainstream. However, many terms surrounding online marketing and fundraising can trip up nonprofits. When you’re making decisions about which software to use or campaign strategies to test, we want to make sure you and your colleagues aren’t confused when you come across a term you don’t use every day. That’s where our Online Fundraiser’s Glossary comes in!

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Recognition Powers High-Performance — If You Do it Right

Speaker: Radhika Samant and Todd Wuestenberg

Employee recognition has often been deemed a "feel-good" initiative, tied closely to rewards. While we understand its importance, we tend to associate recognition with intangible outcomes like engagement and sentiment, rather than direct impacts on retention and high performance. In today’s workplace, the true ROI of recognition lies in its ability to regenerate tangible, business-driven results.

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3 Ways Influencers Drive Engagement for Nonprofits

EveryAction

In honor of our upcoming webinar on the Power of Influencer Engagement , we asked Jeanette Russell from Attentive.ly about ways influencers can raise the visibility of your nonprofit campaign, help to grow your list, and also retain your best people. Here are her insights!

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How to Get Everyone in your Organization on the Same Page

Ann Green

What would happen if you got your staff or board together and asked them to give a short description of what your organization does? Would you get 20 different answers? Now take a look at some of your communication materials – fundraising letters, thank you letters, website etc. Are your messages consistent in all your materials? Inconsistent messages are fairly common among nonprofits, but don’t worry, it’s something you can fix.

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Telling Your Nonprofit’s Financial Story

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Peter Panepento. As much as we wish our nonprofits would be looked at for impact as opposed to overhead, how much nonprofits spend (or lose) is a story the media love to tell. In this month’s post Peter Panepento tells you how to be prepared when your nonprofit’s salaries make the news. ~Kristina. Guest Post by Peter Panepento of Panepento Strategies.

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[Guest Post] 9 Shocking Stats that Should Convince Your Church to Start Using Mobile Giving Today

Fundraising Coach

Today I am pleased to introduce you to Tithe.ly and Dean Sweetman. Many of you know, I've pastored a church for years. We were early adopters of online giving because I knew people should be able to give when they were doing bills at home if they wanted. I wish there had been an app like Tithe.ly! In this post, Dean shares why your church should move into mobile giving.

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Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide

Managing HR tasks like payroll, compliance, and employee data can overwhelm small businesses. That’s where a Human Capital Management (HCM) solution comes in. Our eBook, Why Every Small Business Needs an HCM Solution: A Comprehensive Guide , shows how an HCM system automates tedious processes, ensuring your business stays compliant and efficient. You’ll learn how to simplify payroll, eliminate costly errors, and empower your employees with self-service tools.

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The Fundraising Power of Now

The Agitator

A lot of what I’ve learned about the importance of timing in fundraising I learned from selling funeral flowers. Let me explain. My father was a florist– a business that heavily depends on emotion-driven buying impulses — funerals, weddings, Mother’s Day, birthdays and anniversaries – with most transactions completed over the telephone and by credit card.

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3 Musts for Better Stories

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Everyone knows that storytelling is a win for nonprofits, but not all stories are created equal. To truly resonate with your readers, your story needs to have three essential ingredients: A strong emotional pull. Stories should make us feel something. Happy. Sad. Outraged. Inspired. All of these emotions can make an impact, but above all else, an amazingly effective message needs to make your reader feel , then act.

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Why you should use nostalgia to promote more giving

iMarketSmart

I recently stumbled on a neat paper titled Nostalgia: The Gift That Keeps Giving. Here’s a summary: Overview. 1. Nostalgia is a very personal, social emotion that involves momentous life events and social bonds. 2. Charitable giving is a very personal, social behavior. 3. Nonprofits regard donation encouragement as their single most important challenge.

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Connection Not Interruption

Ann Green

I’m a big fan of marketing guru Seth Godin. His blog is filled with pearls of wisdom. I highly recommend subscribing to it for his daily gems. One that caught my attention recently is “ connection not interruption.” When you’re communicating with donors here’s how to ensure you’re connecting and not interrupting. Be donor-centered.

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Best Practices to Streamline Compensation Management: A Foundation for Growth

Speaker: Joe Sharpe and James Carlson

Payroll optimization can be one of the most time-consuming and complex factors of small business management. Yet, organizations that crack the code on streamlining employee compensation often discover innovative avenues for growth. With the right strategies in place, outsourcing and streamlining payroll processes can result in substantial time and resource savings.

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Forget the Media Kit, Create a Toolkit

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Peter Panepento. Our public relations expert Peter Penepento is back this month to share some ideas on getting the word out about your good cause without using the media. ~Kristina. Guest Post by Peter Panepento of Panepento Strategies. Who do you think of first when you’re about to launch a new campaign or release a piece of important new research?

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Sharpen your saw this July

Fundraising Coach

July can be an odd month in fundraising. Many nonprofits finish their fiscal year, so this is the first month with a new goal. Starting from zero. Even those that don't have fiscal years starting, July is often a challenging month. Donors tend to be less responsive. Even when donors are in your seaside, summer vacation location, they aren't necessarily interested in talking about philanthropy.

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Our Donors Are Dying

The Agitator

It’s mid-year for many organizations and fundraising projections are being adjusted for the second half. For other organizations, it’s the start of a new fiscal year and fundraisers have just finished rationalizing and justifying the numbers in the new budget. Regardless of which stage of the year you’re in, I’m absolutely certain there’s a board meeting looming in your future, where either the projections or the performance will have to be explained to directors, many of whom have not the sligh

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Watch this Brilliant Second-by-Second Storytelling Masterpiece

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

After Caryn’s webinar on Tuesday, Storytelling with the Emotional Brain , I came across this video in my Facebook feed. It was posted last year, so you may have already seen it. Watch it now: Wow. I mean… WOW. Doesn’t it hit you hard? This is storytelling to the max, revealed in one-second intervals. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what’s happening in every shot.

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How to Scale Recurring Giving for Sustainable Growth

Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand

Is your organization ready to build a recurring giving program that not only sustains but also propels your mission forward? 🚀 In this new webinar with industry visionary Tim Sarrantonio, we’ll guide you through the critical steps to establishing and scaling a successful recurring giving program. Whether you’re starting fresh or enhancing an existing program, this session will provide the strategies you need to deepen donor relationships and secure long-term support!

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Get to Stronger Supporter Relationships (Peer Guidance: Part 1)

Getting Attention

Got 2 minutes? Please tell us what you’re doing to strengthen supporter relationships, and what’s in your way. Thanks! Thanks to these fabulous folks in the field for sharing their right-now paths to stronger relationships with supporters, and what’s getting in their way! What Lorna Riddle is doing differently to build stronger relationships.

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7 Reasons Why Mobile Is Critical To Your Nonprofit

Care2

…for starters, it’s in everyone else’s pockets. 91% of adults have their phone within arm’s reach 24/7. I know that it’s tough for nonprofits to find the budget and the time to make sure your website is responsive, but your donors, volunteers, activists and even your board members expect it. You don't want these audiences visiting your site from their phones and tablets and then be forced to look at a different site because your site looked funky, and was hard to read and search for info.

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Marketing Time Savers: Tools to Improve Your Writing

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Even if you like to write like I do, it can still feel like it takes forever to produce something good. And let’s face it, time is not something you have a whole lot of. Below are five online writing tools we like and that were also recommended by friends. They’ll help you create great marketing copy, faster. I’ll be sharing more time-saving tips for nonprofit marketers during Smart Nonprofit Marketing: Advice and Hacks for Working Faster, But Not Harder!

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Who’s Responsible for Your Organization’s Brand?

Mission Minded

For years we have told our clients that brand is just another word for reputation. And your organization has one, whether or not you know it or work on it. What makes up a reputation? It’s comprised of how you look, how you sound, what you do, and how you act. Put bluntly: Everyone at […].

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Engage, Empower, Excel: Transforming Performance in the New Era of Work

Speaker: Radhika Samant and Adri Glover

The world of work has fundamentally changed. The series of waves that the pandemic began have rippled through the Great Resignation, quiet quitting, the Great Regret, and other eloquent phrases that boil down to the same thing: people aren’t engaged at work or enabled to perform at their best. The truth is that engagement and enablement is more important than ever, but how we do it is the critical differentiator for many organizations.

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Please Pass The Cake

The Agitator

Here’s your assignment. Write 2,600 articles on fundraising. Make ‘em sharp. Give good advice. Do it for free. Any takers? We doubt it. Frankly, no sane person would do what we’re about to describe. While most of the sector’s fundraisers have been planning their vacations or busily polishing their resumes, preening and positioning to get the next big job with the next big thought, one of our comrades has actually taken the time to read, think and stick his neck out.

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What Your Social Fundraising Campaign Is Missing

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

Social fundraising can help even the smallest organizations spread their message and attract new donors. These peer-driven campaigns tap into the networks of your supporters allowing you to expand your reach beyond your list. But the real power of turning your donors into fundraisers is not just about the multiplier effect. It's about harnessing the personal stories and passion of those who care about your work.

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3 Steps to Comms that Connect (Frank Talk: Part 2)

Getting Attention

Read Part One Here. Guest blogger Mark Dessauer is Director of Communications at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation. Frank : A gathering of communicators who work for the common good (or public interest). Here’s the final challenge we discussed, with core takeaways: How do we shape our communications to engage audiences TO ACT for change?

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Why Millennials Are One of Your Best Audiences

Care2

Millennials have been pigeonholed as being lazy, but when it comes to social justice issues, Millennials are quite passionate about causes and donate money to the issues they support. With all these mixed messages, how can your nonprofit really dig in and learn what Millennials need, and how to reach them? Or maybe you’re reading this as a Millennial who’s working at or running a nonprofit, and want to know how to reach your own generation most effectively?

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Pricing for Profit: How to Set, Negotiate, and Succeed

Speaker: Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader

In today’s competitive market, pricing is more than just a number — it’s the cornerstone of profitability. The right pricing strategy ensures that you capture the true value of your offering, paving the way for sustainable growth and long-term success. Join Igli Laci, Strategic Finance Leader, in this exclusive session where he will explore how a well-crafted pricing approach balances customer perception with business objectives, creating a powerful tool for securing both competitive advantage a