Selfish Giving

OCTOBER 27, 2011

I love zombie films. I can’t get enough of them, especially around Halloween when the shadows from the leafless trees take on ominous shapes. Yikes! While you may not share my love for the semi-dead, you might agree with this: most of us are surrounded by these mute, will-less, dumb, sometimes evil and dangerous brutes everyday. The zombies stalking nonprofits are the people and situations they face daily that threaten their success and risk plunging them into a zombie apocalypse.

Retail 278

Retail Nonprofits Marketing Marketing 278

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

OCTOBER 7, 2011

I’m a nonprofit marketing geek, so I get really, super excited about things like awesome nonprofit thank you emails. That’s why you are here, right? This week I received a thank you email from Stacey Monk of Epic Change. You may know Stacey and her organization as one of the shining examples of using Twitter for fundraising via campaigns like Tweetsgiving/Epic Thanks and To Mama with Love.

Nonprofits 208

Nonprofits Marketing Marketing Fundraising 208

Get Fully Funded

OCTOBER 29, 2011

Many people are being wildly successful in fundraising these days. After working with several, I’ve noticed that share a few things in common. 1. The are passionate about their cause. They believe deeply in the work their nonprofit does and they love seeing loves changed. 2. They are willing to do whatever it takes to see their nonprofit organization succeed.

Fundraising 99

Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofit Organizations Nonprofit Organizations 99

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 31, 2011

The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the newly released book Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits. These best practices serve as a foundation for upgrading your website to be compatible with the Social Web and are then elaborated upon in the upcoming webinar How Nonprofits Can Successfully Utilize Online Fundraising and e-Newsletters.

Nonprofits 98

Nonprofits Technology Values Culture 98

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.

Finance

The Agitator

OCTOBER 16, 2011

Two of the biggest technological curses infecting fundraising are Word and Excel. Microsoft might be the archenemy of intelligent fundraising. Word, with its copy and paste function has demeaned and degraded copy to the point where we’ve convinced ourselves that the homogenized gruel we serve our donors is truly good copy. Heaven help us. [I've warned about 'copy & paste' in a broader context before!].

Fundraising 97

Fundraising Fundraising Retention Technology 97

Fundraising Coach

OCTOBER 11, 2011

As the economy continues to falter (or barely grow), we need people’s donations more than ever. But if we operate from a place of “need,” we can start sounding like we think we’re entitled to people’s money. We never are. So it’s more important than ever that you have your donor relations system in hand. Here are some things to be thinking about as you review your plan.

Fundraising 95

Fundraising Fundraising Nonprofits 95

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

OCTOBER 20, 2011

That’s the question that the MetroWest Health Foundation asked today on Twitter. Turns out that the current name of the e-newsletter is . ”E-Newsletter.” Here’s what it looks like. I do have a ton of nonprofit e-newsletters in my inbox called “E-Newsletter” so it’s not like that’s a horrible thing.

Health 194

Health Foundations Values Associations 194

Get Fully Funded

OCTOBER 17, 2011

Are you fundraising on purpose? That may seem like a silly question. But it’s one that needs to be answered. So I’ll ask it again. Are you fundraising on prpose? Or are you just taking whatever comes along? There’s a big difference. When you’re fundraising on purpose, you have a plan. You’ve put some thought into what you want to do to raies money and which groups of donors and prospects you want to approach, and how you’ll do it.

Fundraising 95

Fundraising Fundraising Activism Nonprofits 95

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 10, 2011

How nonprofits choose to follow on Twitter varies widely. Some nonprofits only follow a small of amount of Twitterers, others follow hundreds or thousands, and a few follow more (sometimes a lot more) than they are being followed themselves. However, from browsing more than 80,000 nonprofits on Twitter over the last three years, the vast majority of nonprofits follow a lot less than they are being followed.

Nonprofits 94

Nonprofits Foundations Management 94

The Agitator

OCTOBER 4, 2011

Yesterday I pointed readers toward the powerful infographics used by Charity:Water and asked for some additional nominees. Here’s an infographic from Blackbaud that tells it all with respect to the revenue benefits of multi-channel fundraising. You can view the original in larger size here. One thing infographics force you to do is focus on the absolute essentials of your message.

Fundraising 96

Fundraising Fundraising Communication 96

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.

Retention

Fundraiser Ideas

OCTOBER 23, 2011

Jill Murphy , founder of Good by Design , works with people starting and running socially beneficial businesses and entrepreneurial nonprofits. She helps people do good work well by connecting systems with vision and values. Luke: Are you involved with fundraising right now? If so, what do you do? If not, what is your background with fundraising and what do you do now?

Fundraising 91

Fundraising Fundraising Energy Culture 91

Selfish Giving

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Singing statues at Halloween Town! Click to watch. At nearly $7 billion in sales, Halloween is a frighteningly successful holiday - second only to Christmas in consumer spending. But for fundraisers Jack Skellington ‘s Halloween is #1. Halloween is social. Halloween isn’t the family holiday that Thanksgiving and Christmas are. Parents parade their kids out in neighborhoods, and costume parties for all ages are everywhere.

Fundraising 248

Fundraising Fundraising Homelessness Recruitment 248

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Melinda McKee. Does your audience understand what you’re telling them? Melinda McKee shares her tips for making sure your message is understood by the people you are trying to reach in today’s guest post. ~Kivi. Guest Post by Melinda McKee, Public Relations and Communications Director for NCGives. Ever feel like your nonprofit’s communications are playing out like a game of telephone?

Public and Nonprofit Management 187

Public and Nonprofit Management Communication Culture Management 187

Nonprofit Marketing Blog

OCTOBER 18, 2011

Cartoon courtesy of Tom Fishburne, Marketoonist. This is just too brilliant not to share. Tom Fishburne is so smart. So what are the 7 deadly sins of fundraising? What would you say? Sloth: Whatever we put in last year’s appeal. Envy: Silicone wristbands! Because it worked for Lance! Greed: Forget the thank-you note - just send another appeal!

Fundraising 87

Fundraising Fundraising Marketing Marketing 87

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Management

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 24, 2011

Defying its name, Tumblr user growth has accelerated dramatically in 2011 ( up 218% over last year ) and the eleven nonprofits listed below are paving the way for early adoption in the nonprofit sector. Part-blogging, part-social networking community, Tumblr makes an interesting choice for blogs that are specific to a campaign or cause – especially if you have a lot photos and videos to share.

Nonprofits 94

Nonprofits Technology 94

The Agitator

OCTOBER 4, 2011

Yesterday I pointed readers toward the powerful infographics used by Charity:Water and asked for some additional nominees. Here’s an infographic from Blackbaud that tells it all with respect to the revenue benefits of multi-channel fundraising. You can view the original in larger size here. One thing infographics force you to do is focus on the absolute essentials of your message.

Fundraising 96

Fundraising Fundraising Communication 96

Fundraiser Ideas

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Opening your heart to a child who needs a family to love him or her is a blessing for both you and the child. However, many adoptive-parents-to-be struggle with affording the costs associated with the adoption process. Following are 10 excellent adoption fundraising ideas that can help you bring that new family member home. Host a themed dinner event.

Fundraising 89

Fundraising Fundraising Associations Production 89

Selfish Giving

OCTOBER 3, 2011

October is here and millions will be raised this month with cause marketing for breast cancer organizations. Two of the best known are Komen for the Cure and Breast Cancer Research Foundation. These large organizations with their national partnerships will raise the lion’s share with their “pink” products and promotions, but they won’t be the only ones raise money with cause marketing.

Marketing 244

Marketing Marketing Retail Production 244

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.

Foundations

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

OCTOBER 4, 2011

A question I hear a lot from my readers is “How much time do I need to devote to marketing when it’s just me?” Many nonprofit communicators are simply over-tasked and wearing too many different hats. What I usually tell people who are freaking out because they have too much to do is to first take a deep breath. Then find a quiet place away from your to-do list and try to see the big picture.

Marketing 185

Marketing Marketing Education Education 185

Getting Attention

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Mindmap: Jane Genovese. Thanks to my friend and colleague Beth Kanter for sharing her insights in this guest post. Beth is a persistent innovator in guiding nonprofits to power greater change as networked users of social media tools. She recently partnered with Alison Fine to author The Networked Nonprofit , a superb guide to doing so. This morning I learned a new word for information overload – “content fried” from a colleague at the Packard Foundation.

Management 80

Management Foundations Activism Marketing 80

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 30, 2011

This holiday season your friends, family, clients, work colleagues, and major donors will likely be deluged with hundreds of tweets, status updates, and emails wishing them “Happy Holidays!” That’s the Web we all now live and work by, but this year a good old-fashioned holiday greeting with a hand-written note sent via snail mail would likely make a very strong impression – especially if the proceeds benefit a nonprofit.

Children 93

Children Associations Education Education 93

The Agitator

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Of all the tributes I’ve read to Steve Jobs, this observation from Seth Godin most struck me … “Steve devoted his professional life to giving us (you, me and a billion other people) the most powerful device ever available to an ordinary person. Everything in our world is different because of the device you’re reading this on.

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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!

Nonprofits

Fundraiser Ideas

OCTOBER 18, 2011

When people talk about fundraising, we often think of a group of people getting together and raising money for an organization. However, what about the times when it’s just you trying to raise money for a worthy cause that is dear to your heart? Following are 10 simple fundraising ideas that you can implement: Door-to-door. It may sound old fashioned, but there is a reason why big organizations still use door-to-door fundraising as their primary method.

Fundraising 88

Fundraising Fundraising Advertising Non-Profits 88

Selfish Giving

OCTOBER 25, 2011

It’s something that comes up again and again. Will consumers buy a product or use a service just because it supports a cause? I don’t buy it, and fizzled experiments from Causeon to Edun to CauseWorld to GoodSearch show that while consumers do indeed want a world with causes, a cause world is a different matter. Brand and margin lead (e. g.

Production 243

Production Food Ethics Marketing 243

Nonprofit Marketing Guide

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Julia Reich. This is Part 1 in a series of posts that Julia Reich will share with us about how to hire a graphic designer or design firm. ~Kivi. Guest Post by Julia Reich, Julia Reich Design. If you’ve never worked with a designer before, the task can seem daunting. I’ll try to demystify the process. Intro. You may have just completed a strategic planning process, and are ready to hire a designer to overhaul your entire communication system with a newly refined vision and mission.

Food 184

Food Collaborations Communication Associations 184

Fundraising Coach

OCTOBER 4, 2011

My friend Joe Waters got me to seriously think about cause marketing. Thanks to him, I’ve now been seeing cause marketing everywhere…sort of like when you buy a car and then start seeing them all over the place. Enough already. Today was a bit over the top. I was on a Delta flight back from conducting a board orientation in Chattanooga. As the beverage service was about to start, the stewardess told us that Delta’s annual tradition in October was to sell pink martinis and pink

Marketing 80

Marketing Marketing Food Fundraising 80

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.

Activism

Nonprofit Tech for Good

OCTOBER 30, 2011

Last week I did a 30-minute interview with Rey Ybarra at the New Media Radio Hour – my first radio interview ever! The topics of discussion ranged from how the Web and its tools have evolved over the 15 years to the importance of early adoption to why your social media campaigns are only as good as the human behind them. You can listen to a podcast of the interview about Social Media for Social Good: A How-To Guide for Nonprofits.

Nonprofits 89

Nonprofits 89

The Agitator

OCTOBER 5, 2011

Of all the tributes I’ve read to Steve Jobs, this observation from Seth Godin most struck me … “Steve devoted his professional life to giving us (you, me and a billion other people) the most powerful device ever available to an ordinary person. Everything in our world is different because of the device you’re reading this on.

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Fundraiser Ideas

OCTOBER 3, 2011

Raising money for a great cause isn’t necessarily hard; raising large amounts of money is, however. One way to raise substantial funds is to offer your stakeholders something unique. The following nine unique fundraising ideas aren’t all huge moneymakers. Instead, I’ve presented a wide array of unique fundraising ideas in order to whet your appetite for atypical fundraising events.

Fundraising 83

Fundraising Fundraising Values Non-Profits 83

Selfish Giving

OCTOBER 11, 2011

Last week I was meeting with a friend and talking cause marketing, of course. He explained he had recently seen a cause marketing promotion between the Arthritis Foundation and Massage Envy and thought it was a great partnership. Massage Envy customers, Arthritis sufferers and their supporters would benefit from the therapeutic touch of massage and the Arthritis Foundation would reap a donation.

Marketing 237

Marketing Marketing Children Retail 237

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

Finance