Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
- Click it!
This week I’ve another potpourri of links on a variety of fundraising, nonprofit management and nonprofit marketing topics. Some practical stuff, some food for thought, some free resources and a last chance opportunity to improve your year-end fundraising (scroll to the bottom). I hope you’re enjoying the last days of the season!
Fundraising Pride
Click-It: ‘This is a fundraising office’ – put up our manifesto and be proud. I absolutely love this article from the Rogare fundraising think tank at Plymouth University, in the UK, and its director, Ian MacQuillin. Never forget your job: to be a bridge that connects people who want to change the world with organizations that can.You can post a copy of this Manifesto outside your office by downloading a hi-res PDF copy of the manifesto here.
Messaging and Branding
Click-It: People Remember What You Say When You Paint a Picture. Your nonprofit might want to adapt the lessons conveyed in this Harvard Business Review article to your messaging. Rather than using a lot of data, try taking this advice to heart when writing your next fundraising appeal or newsletter article: “Life involves sights, sounds, and smells, and image-based words provide the best way to approximate this reality through language.” You want folks to take your message out of their heads and into their hearts, which they can if they can visualize it.
Click-it: 5 ways to ensure your organisation lives its values from Martin Roach at Brands with Values is a great reminder that if your messaging and actions are not in sync with your constituents’ perception and values, you’re sunk. Don’t just guess! Take some time to go through some exercises to clairify your values. ACTION TIP FROM ME: I used to include a box on my year-end response device that asked folks to simply write one word in the box that best described our organization to them. This proved enormously helpful in putting together our marketing communications.
Major Gifts
Click-It: How to Add Digital to Your Major Gift Strategy by Justin Ware is really a must read for any charity that wants to keep pace with the changing face of fundraising and marketing post digital revolution. If you don’t, you’re going to leave money on the table.
Social Media
Click-It: A Strategic Guide to Social Media for Nonprofits is a helpful post from the folks at Sprout Social featuring tips from five experts, including Beth Kanter and Charity Water. Lots of great basics, plus some interesting innovations. Even some advice as to how to allocate your time on social media. They even include a link to an example of a nonprofit using Snapchat!
Writing
Click-It: Five easy online tools that help me write better. This comes from Jeff Brooks, who is one of the pithiest fundraising writers around. Here, he tells us some of the ways he does it – with the help of some online tools. Thanks for the practical tips Jeff! (BTW: I’ve used Co-Schedule, and it shows you what your headline will look like both via Google search and as an email subject line – pretty nifty).
PERSONAL NOTE: If you really want to have some fun, check out Portent’s Content Idea Generator. When I put Jeff’s title into this it came up with “Why the World Will End Without 5 Easy Online Tools that Help Me Write” and “How 5 Easy Online Tools That Help Me Write Could Make Betty Draper a Better Mother,” among others. You may not use them, but they’re certainly good for a chuckle.
FREE RESOURCES
Click-it: Free List of Grants Available for Your Nonprofit. The Nonprofit Times has put together this free resource for you! It’s arranged by category for ease of use, and you can get updates on new opportunities by following them on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Click-it: Clarify Your Complicated Communications with Metaphors [Free E-Book] offered on Kivi Leroux Miller’s Nonprofit Communications Blog.
LAST DAY for $40 off Our Year-End Appeals E-Course.
- Learn From 2 Experts for the Price of One!
This is a quick reminder that the EARLY BIRD discount for Your Ultimate Guide to Successful Year-End Appeals turns into a pumpkin today at midnight PST. Don’t miss out! Click here to register now.
During this 5 week online class you’ll learn:
- How to build and segment your list for the best return
- How to get your appeal opened
- Key elements of successful appeals
- Where to begin – and end – your writing
- Best ways to ask
- How to boost results with social media and website tweaks
- How to ensure you keep your donors beyond a single gift
- and much more…!
See the entire class syllabus and bonus items here. You get workbooks, checklists, sample letters and tons of tools, tips, tricks and treats. Take this course to seal the deal for 2015– and get ready for the best New Year ever!
Questions? Feel free to contact me and just ask.
Photo: Flickr, Isaac Torronterra
