Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Click-it!
Here’s my return-from-vacation Clairity Click-it – and I’ve got some stuff that’s a little outside the box of your basic fundraising and marketing advice. Why? It’s good to take a little trip away from the usual every now and then! So… here come some easy-to-“click-it” links to posts I’ve found thought provoking. With, of course, a few comments of my own.
Let’s begin:
Productivity
Click-it: How Clutter Affects Your Brain (and What You Can Do About It. Just happened on this interesting piece on the Oomf Blog channeling neuroscience research at Yale, Princeton, UCLA and elsewhere about the impact that loading up on “stuff” – physical and virtual – has on us. Our health. Our emotions. Our productivity. A noteworthy quote: “When you have to-do items constantly floating around in your head or you hear a ping or vibrate every few minutes from your phone, your brain doesn’t get a chance to fully enter creative flow or process experiences. When your brain has too much on its plate, it splits its power up. The result? You become awful at (1)filtering information; (2)switching quickly between tasks, and (3)keeping a strong working memory. The overconsumption of digital stuff has the same effect on your brain as physical clutter.” Click this if you want to bring your life a bit more into balance, while gaining productivity. A no-brainer, if you ask me. Tweet this!
The Psychology of Virality
Click-it: Why Things Catch On: The Science of Why People Share. Here’s an interesting piece by Michael Stelzner of Social Media Examiner about an impressive decade-long research project undertaken to better understand why things get to Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point. It’s super fascinating to me, and something all nonprofits should pay attention to. Why? As Stelzner notes: Word of mouth can be over 10 times as effective as traditional advertising. You can listen here to the podcast with Jonah Berger, author of The New York Times bestseller, Contagious: Why Things Catch On and discover the 6 motivational drivers that cause folks to pass things on. Tweet this!
Major Gifts
Click-it: The Dropping in on Donors Dilemma. This is a good one from Veritus Group writers, Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels. It suggests a creative strategy for getting more visits with your supporters – and this is ALWAYS the goal. Getting the visit is a little bit like possession – you know they say “possession is 9/10ths of the law.” Tweet this!
Leadership and Organizational Growth
Click-it: 6 Ways Structure Will Help Your Team Grow. From Michael Nichols “Grow on Purpose” comes this admonition to consider how structure contributes to teamwork. Even if you’re the maverick type who doesn’t like rules, structure serves a useful function within an organization: (1) provides motivation; (2) offers direction; (3) defines responsibilities; (4) enables tracking of process; (5) builds community, and (6) develops future leaders. When I read this I thought about how important it is to structure your nonprofit in such a way that a culture of philanthropy permeates throughout your organization. The more everyone understands you’re all on the same team, working towards the same goals, the better prepared they are to work together. Also, check out his post on how to Get Better Results – Today to see the importance of incorporating very specific commitments into your work plans. Tweet this!
Get Your Email Opened
Click-it: 4 Tips for Subject Lines That Work This is back inside the box, but… I love this super practical post by Iris Sutcliffe via Network for Good because it’s so simple. Yet I see nonprofits make the mistake of overcomplicating their subject lines all the time. Of course you don’t want to bore folks to death. But if they don’t understand what the email is about (in other words, if it doesn’t scream the answer to WIIFM) they are highly unlikely to open it. And then, all your hard work comes to naught. Print this out and check your next email subject lines against it. I promise it will improve your click-through results! Tweet this!
The Clairity Click-it is a weekly publication linking to insights inspired by the 7 Clairification Principles that help you “clairify” your values, stories, branding opportunities, social marketing channels, support constituencies, engagement objectives and resources. Your comments are welcomed!
If you’re interested in worksheets and exercises to help reinvigorate your approach to your work check out my 23-page Special Guide to Unlock Your Nonprofit’s Fundraising Potential which builds on these 7 Clairification Principles. It’s practical, easy and useful. If you don’t agree, just let me know and I’ll do whatever I can to make you happy. I’m generally pretty nice.
I also have two new special guides for you: (1) How to Use Pinterest Sucessfully to Raise Money and Drive Engagement, and (2) Creative Ways to Use Thank You’s to Retain Donors for Life. Check them out here. To your success!
Photo: Flickr, Isaac Torronterra
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