Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Click-it! No, not me. Your mouse!. Then, enjoy your read.
Free Webinar alert below… Now, on to this week’s great links…
Giving Trends
Click-it: ‘Strategic Philanthropy’ Shifts Too Much Power to Donors. This is a provocative Chronicle of Philanthropy article about the way foundations give today. Did you know that 60% of them don’t accept unsolicited proposals? The trend is towards a Madisonian approach where foundations determine which issues are meritorious vs. a more Jeffersonian approach in which nonprofits, community groups and their constituents determine where resources are most needed. On which side of the debate do you fall?
Click-it: How America Gives. This is a super-awesome interactive guide from the Chronicle of Philanthropy website that enables you to see how people give from every single state, town and even zip code. Fascinating stuff!
Cause Marketing + Pinterest
Click-it: Joe Waters Pinterest Boards. I fell in love when I found these. I adore Pinterest for nonprofits (so much fun, and such a great visual medium to show folks what you do!). Joe is a cause marketing expert and has 75 different boards with all sorts of ideas for partnering with businesses. If you want to tap into the marketing budgets of companies, take a look at some of these ideas before you make your next approach. Brilliant stuff – thank you Joe!
Click-it: Net Impact’s Army for Good and the Rise of the Enlightened Merchant. Just found this article published in Forbes last Spring by John Kluge who covers social innovation and collaborative philanthropy. How’s this for a provocative prediction? “Soon, 1/5th of the S&P 500 will be driven by purpose, not profit. Think that’s unlikely? Today, 72% of consumers would prefer to support a brand that contributes a part of their profits to a good cause.” More fuel for your next approach to a potential business partner.
Email Marketing
Click-it: How to Get People to Open Your Nonprofit Email. First, you’ve got to get folks to open them. Here are 7 practical tips for better subject lines from Katya Andresen of Network for Good. Tip #1 – Test. Before you send out an email to a large portion of your audience, test two different subject lines with a smaller subset of your list. Make this part of your normal process, so you get smarter every time.
Click-it: 7 Design Mistakes That Make Readers Trash Your Emails. Next, you’ve got to get folks to read and engage with them. From the folks at Constant Contact comes these tips to avoid wasting all your hard work and assure folks read your emails. A great email is a terrible thing to waste! Here’s one tip I like: Great walls of text. To make your messages easy to scan, use plenty of subheads. Write in short paragraphs, breaking up your text into easily-digestible chunks. There’s also some advice on color which, amazingly, a lot of folks still get amazingly wrong. Color has a big psychological impact on us, so give some thought to it.
Click-it: How many fundraising emails should you send a year? Most comprehensive article I’ve seen on the topic in awhile, by Justin Perkins from the folks at Frogloop. Includes a ROI calculator to help you figure out how many emails get you to break even. If you only send a handful of emails right now, you may want to check this out.
Data Conversion
Click-it: Top Things to Consider Before Converting Your Nonprofit’s Data into a New System If you’re considering changing databases, read this article from NTEN first! It’s easy to get caught up in bells and whistles. But don’t forget to map out how the new system is going to meet your current and future needs, not just replicate processes from the old system.
Super-charged Donor Retention Can be Yours!
Register for Free Webinar: Don’t waste all your hard work spent acquiring and upgrading donors this fall. Put in place a plan – NOW – to thank these folks meaningfully so they’ll stick around. If you want to stop leaky donors, this webinar is for you.
Photo: Flickr, Isaac Torronterra
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