Selfish Giving
MARCH 30, 2011
“Fate leads those who are willing. The unwilling it drags.&# – Seneca. I’ve been thinking and talking a lot about mobile and cause marketing lately. Mobile seemed to be a big buzz word at SXSW earlier this month and I know firsthand there was lots of talk about it at Nonprofit Technology Conference the following week. Over the two days I was there, the only sessions I attended were on mobile.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MARCH 29, 2011
I’ve run into more than the usual number of nonprofits who have crappy websites built by consultants lately. I’m not talking subjective design preferences here, but flat-out terrible decisionmaking and implementation. When I’ve questioned the nonprofit communications staff about these websites, the answer is always “The website consultant did it that way.&#.
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Nonprofit Tech for Good
MARCH 9, 2011
Ninety percent of your nonprofit’s success on Facebook is dependent upon the Admin who manages your Facebook Page. If she or he doesn’t have the personality or passion to elicit Comments and Thumbs Ups in response to their Status Updates, then the ROI from your Facebook Page will be minimal. Community building on Facebook and other social networking sites is an art and finding your Facebook voice takes time and experimentation.
Fundraising Coach
MARCH 8, 2011
This week, I’m pleased to introduce my friend Chris Forbes. Chris is a speaker, a comedian, and the author of Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits. You can find him at [link]. By Chris Forbes. People have a physiological ability to ignore your marketing, but there is something you can do about it, try a little guerrilla marketing [amazon affiliate link].
Speaker: David Worrell, CFO, Author & Speaker
Your financial statements hold powerful insights—but are you truly paying attention? Many finance professionals focus on the income statement while overlooking key signals hidden in the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Understanding these numbers can unlock smarter decision-making, uncover risks, and drive long-term success. Join David Worrell, accomplished CFO, finance expert, and author, for an engaging, nontraditional take on reading financial statements.
The Agitator
MARCH 17, 2011
Especially if you work in a small nonprofit, you’ll find this video presentation by Tim Bete – 19 ways nonprofits can use social media to connect with donors — quite helpful. Tim is the communications guy at St Mary Development Corporation (focused on housing for the disadvantaged) in Dayton, Ohio. He’s the classic one-armed paperhanger small nonprofits know well!
Care2
MARCH 12, 2011
Looking to help the victims of the Japan earthquake and Tusanmi, but don’t know where to start? Frogloop compiled a list of resources of nonprofits, companies, and do-gooders who are using their tech-savvy and organizing skills to raise money and help locate missing people. By Roberto Maxwell. American Red Cross Text to Donate. The American Red Cross , who made mobile fundraising history after the Haiti earthquake is doing a terrific job in getting the word out about their texting to donat
Nonprofit Leadership Zone brings together the best content for advertising professionals from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MARCH 9, 2011
On Thursday, March 10, I’m presenting the webinar, Three Stories Every Nonprofit Should Be Telling. During the webinar, I’ll walk you through the three plots described below and give you examples and tips for how to tell these stories and how to use them in your marketing and fundraising. (This is also my most popular in-person workshop — I’ll be presenting it in Maryland next week , and in San Francisco on April 19.).
Nonprofit Tech for Good
MARCH 24, 2011
Your nonprofit’s social media campaigns are only as good as the social media manager running them. Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare are not miracle-producers. They are simply tools that can result in high ROI for your nonprofit, but only if the person sharing Status Updates, Twittering, and Checking-in on behalf of your nonprofit has the right skills, experience and training to make social media produce results.
Fundraising Coach
MARCH 27, 2011
Today’s guest post is from Joe Garecht. Joe is the founder of The Fundraising Authority, a website that offers free articles and advice on raising money for small and medium-sized non-profits. He’s got some great tips on positioning your fundraising appeal to go viral! by Joe Garecht. Viral marketing is the holy grail of online salesmanship.
The Agitator
MARCH 15, 2011
Convio has provided an excellent ‘must read’ review of 2010 online fundraising stats and trends. Heaps of useful benchmarking data here for online fundraisers. The data is drawn from the nearly 600 nonprofits that used the Convio Online Marketing platform in 2009 and 2010. Collectively, these groups raised $1.15 billion online in 2010 and have over 171 million email addresses.
Speaker: Dave Sackett
Traditional budgeting and forecasting methods can no longer keep pace with today’s rapidly evolving business environment. Static budgets, rigid annual forecasts, and outdated financial models limit an organization’s ability to adapt to market shifts and economic uncertainty. To stay ahead, finance leaders must leverage a future-forward approach—one that leverages real-time data, predictive analytics, and continuous planning to drive smarter financial decisions.
Care2
MARCH 6, 2011
Will the Millennials be a generation of social activists or slacktivists? That’s a big question on nonprofits’ minds, which are trying to engage with them early in hopes of developing long-term relationships with these future donors. Unfortunately, Millennials have been portrayed as the “me generation&#. They are viewed as techies and quite fickle when it comes to activism.
Selfish Giving
MARCH 14, 2011
No sooner had the ground stopped shaking in Japan last week and people were already shaking their fists calling for a moratorium on cause marketing. It happens after every disaster (the last being after the earthquake in Haiti). I’m not saying that these calls for pause weren’t uncalled for. I’m just wondering whether cause marketing is really a disaster after disasters, or are people being overly sensitive or maybe even hurting they want to help.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MARCH 10, 2011
We all know how valuable photos are to telling our nonprofit stories. And decent point-and-shoot cameras are so affordable that we can do much of this photography ourselves. But then what? How do you organize your photos so you can actually find what you need? I asked one of my favorite nonprofit photography and storytelling teams, Throwing Light , to share their ideas with you.
Nonprofit Tech for Good
MARCH 14, 2011
A quick browse of nonprofits on YouTube reveals that the vast majority of nonprofits are not taking advantage of YouTube’s Nonprofit Program. Available to most nonprofits in United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, the program is free and only takes a few to minutes to apply. Once approved, which can take weeks and sometimes months (be forewarned), nonprofits are offered: Premium branding capabilities and increased uploading capacity.
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Corporate Brand
Do you really know your donors? Not just what they give, but who they are? 👥 In this interactive session, we’ll break down how nonprofits can use behavioral indicators (affinity, recency, frequency, and monetary value) to build prospecting segments that go beyond wealth screening and actually align with donor identity. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to move beyond basic demographics and cultivate supporters based on how they already engage with you!
Fundraising Coach
MARCH 4, 2011
I love going to Disney World in Florida. Disney has celebrations worked out to a science. Looking at this t-shirt today, I realized three things Disney’s taught me about celebrations and special events: Find excuses to celebrate. Disney seems to celebrate everything. Even a 1 year anniversary merits parades and fanfare. Think about your nonprofit.
The Agitator
MARCH 20, 2011
I’ve been fiddling around with a list of favorite fundraising metrics … the fewest numbers I would most like to know about my/your donors to judge my/your direct marketing fundraising performance. Or the performance of our consultants, for that matter. How about this list … 1. Current net cost per new donor, by acquisition media (Most nonprofits must subsidize prospecting, so it’s OK for this number to be a negative one … but how negative?!).
Getting Attention
MARCH 17, 2011
Welcome back to guest blogger, Susie Bowie, Communications Manager at the Community Foundation of Sarasota County … There’s an unexpected stranger standing at the intersection between nonprofit organizations and creative agencies offering “free” website, advertising or marketing services. He has many names, but is most commonly known as “Why did we say yes?
Selfish Giving
MARCH 24, 2011
Here’s a list of ten tech tools companies and causes can use for cause marketing to raise money and awareness. 1. Mobile. It’s hard to overstate the impact mobile will have on our lives and on cause marketing in the years ahead. To truly appreciate the explosion of mobile check out The Mobile Revolution. For cause marketing, mobile will require you to resize your thinking about how consumers use and process information.
Speaker: Jennifer Hill
Payroll compliance is a cornerstone of business success, yet for small and midsize businesses, it’s becoming increasingly challenging to navigate the ever-evolving landscape of federal, state, and local regulations. Mistakes can lead to costly penalties and operational disruptions, making it essential to adopt advanced solutions that ensure accuracy and efficiency.
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MARCH 22, 2011
Dan Heath, co-author of Switch: How to Change When Change Is Hard ( Amazon ) delivered a rousing keynote at the Nonprofit Technology Conference in DC last week. I read the book when it first came out, and was still completely enthralled by the presentation. I’m giving away a free copy of Switch — read on for details on how to enter the drawing.
Nonprofit Tech for Good
MARCH 22, 2011
The rise of QR Codes has helped many nonprofits understand the need for mobile websites, or at the very least mobile-optimized web pages. A QR code that launches a desktop-designed web page in a mobile browser just doesn’t make a whole of sense. Neither does linking to desktop sites inside smartphone apps, in group text alerts, or on location-based communities like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook Places.
Fundraising Coach
MARCH 30, 2011
Today, I’m super excited to introduce, Sandy Wilder. Sandy is a database whiz and the BEST Raisers’ Edge trainer I’ve ever learned from. I’ve been bugging her for her thoughts on the ED’s role with a fundraising database. A version of this series inside 501MissionPlace.com. I’m honored to be able to share this three part series with you here!
The Agitator
MARCH 2, 2011
Strange are the thoughts that come to mind at fundraising gatherings. Last night I was blessed with the company of a lot of very smart women (and yes, smart men too) at a fundraising forum in southwest Florida. As I watched and listened, it occurred to me that the secret weapon that helps women excel at fundraising is, well, the purse. Let me explain.
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.
Care2
MARCH 22, 2011
Do you know the average click-through and open rates on action alerts and fundraising appeals across the nonprofit sector? Are enewsletters still worth your organization’s time? Are nonprofits experimenting with mobile more? Check out the 2010 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study from M+R Strategic Services and NTEN which surveyed 40 nonprofit organizations and analyzed all of this data and more.
Selfish Giving
MARCH 7, 2011
A couple weeks ago I wrote about the lack of online cause marketing solutions. Since then, a number of people have contacted me saying, “Yes, Joe, there are online cause marketing solutions! Please blog about them.&#. One of these people was David Neff , COO at Help Attack! As David explained, the premise behind Help Attack! is simple. Just as cause marketing was created to allow consumers to donate to good causes via their favorite businesses, Help Attack!
Nonprofit Marketing Guide
MARCH 15, 2011
Online fundraising will be a huge part of the conferences I’m attending this week. Just in time, Convio has released the latest update from its Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark Index Study. The report analyzes a variety of data (from fundraising to email files to web visits) from approximately 600 Convio clients who have collectively raised more than $1.15 billion in 2010.
Nonprofit Tech for Good
MARCH 30, 2011
Gowalla may not get the online buzz that Foursquare does, but where I live it’s more popular than Foursquare. Similar to Myspace and Facebook in 2007 and 2008, there’s seemingly a geographic difference between Foursquare and Gowalla users. In large urban areas Fousquare dominates, but in smaller towns across America (and the globe) there’s a growing number of Gowalla users.
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Fundraising Coach
MARCH 1, 2011
I grew up with a mother working on her Masters in family counseling. So as kids, my sister and I got to read a lot of her homework. Seriously. She’d photocopy articles or chapters in books and have all of us read it. I know. I grew up in a weird house. But it was the 1970s and the 1980s and my parents were intellectuals! One of the systems I remember is “Transactional Analysis.&# We always had books like T.A. for Tots lying around the house.
The Agitator
MARCH 30, 2011
Jerry Huntsinger is one of the best copywriters ever. So I tremble at the thought of disagreeing with him. But in this recent addition to his growing creative tutorial on SOFII, he applauds the emotional content and impact of a fundraising letter he shows us regarding mentally handicapped children. And indeed, the letter packs a wallop. Then he compares this to another fundraising appeal, this one from an organization that places special needs children for adoption.
Care2
MARCH 14, 2011
One of the key questions I get from nonprofits is, “How much money should we be raising online?&# It’s a good question and hard to answer, especially if your online fundraising program is new and you have little data. Here is a resource that can help. Today, Convio released the Convio Online Marketing Benchmark Index Study. This annual report analyzes the online fundraising performance of approximately 600 nonprofits that used the Convio platform in 2010.
Selfish Giving
MARCH 9, 2011
For 33 years Papa Gino’s and its sister company D’angelo have been raising money a buck at a time for Easter Seals and The Genesis Fund. What always distinguished this point-of-sale program from any other is that Papa Gino’s and D’Angelo didn’t use a traditional pinup. They chose a coupon book. I’ve been buying the coupon book for years!
Speaker: Duke Heninger, Partner and Fractional CFO at Ampleo & Creator of CFO System
Are you ready to elevate your accounting processes for 2025? 🚀 Join us for an exclusive webinar led by Duke Heninger, 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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