Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
- Click it!
The end of the year continues to approach, and prime fundraising season is upon us! So today we have a couple of articles to remind you what your real job is as you prepare your year-end campaigns and strategies. Plus, some tips to help you amplify your fundraising team. And a bunch of social media tools, exercises and good advice; in 2015 social media should be an integral part of your end-of-year work plan. At the bottom you’ll find some new free resources and a last chance to prepare for your major gifts solicitations. Ready?
A Fundraiser’s Job
Click-it: 6 reasons that fundraising is the same as sales…or is it? In this article from the Fundraising Collective, Hannah Brodie asks and answers the question: How is fundraising like/not like sales? Personally, I think they’re the same thing; it’s time to get over your feeling that sales is anathema to the social benefit sector. We’re all in sales. Every day.
Click-it: How an over-active imagination about donors can make you a clumsy fundraiser. Do you worry about what your donor will think? That’s a really good thing when you’re considering embarking on new programs. Because you want to do things that resonate enough with your supporters that they’ll support you. It’s not such a good thing, however, when it comes to the minutiae of what type of mailing envelope you should use, or whether you should write a one or two-page letter. Because you know better than your donors what works and what doesn’t. Thanks to Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now for this important reminder that you were hired to be a professional fundraiser.
Year-End Tips
Click-It: Donors Don’t Always Give to Causes They Care About Most, Study Finds. This article from Rebecca Koenig in Chronicle of Philanthropy is interesting on multiple levels. Why I’m including it as a year-end fundraising tip is because it references a report by Chicago Community Trust that revealed the powerful influence peer-to-peer and workplace relationships can have on campaigns. Two-thirds of respondents participated in campaigns because of a personal invitation, and of those, 57% were invited by a colleague. Get your volunteers out there talking to their family, friends and co-workers!
Social Media
Click-It: How to Get Your Email and Social Media Posts Read. Amy Hall offers some good advice on the Maximize Social Business Blog. One tip: Concentrate more time on your headline. 80% of viewers will read a headline; 20% will read the body of your post. Amy also offers tips on the types of emotions that get the strongest response.
Click-It: 4 Tools to Manage Social Media. Khaled Allen notes that keeping on top of all your different channels, posts and schedules can be a full time job on its own. Here on the Cause Vox Blog he offers up four nifty tools to help you manage your social media. Plus there’s a link to an infographic that shows you how to set these tools up to work for you.
Click-it: 9 daily social media exercises to grow your nonprofit’s followers. Thanks to Taylor Maxwell and the folks at M+R you now have some calisthenics to do to strengthen your social media following. Done consistently, these will really help to build awareness for your cause.
Click-It: How to Create Eye-Catching Nonprofit Graphics Without Using Photoshop. Julia C. Campbell shares this 4GOOD webinar with the 6 things that make a good nonprofit visual, examples of who’s doing a great job with this medium and free to low-cost tools to help you get the job done. Did you know that 36% of all shared links on Twitter are photos? Check this out!
FREE RESOURCES
Marketing
Click-it: Maximizing LinkedIn for Business [Free Download]. Many of you know I write a monthly column about social media for nonprofits on the Maximize Social Business Blog. Neal Schaffer, CEO of Maximize Social Business, has written two critically acclaimed and best-selling books on using LinkedIn and is also author of the definitive book on social media strategy, “Maximize Your Social.” Now he is offering a free e-book to you to help you optimize your organization’s business profile on LinkedIn and learn all the best practices for building relationships using LinkedIn. It’s awesome stuff!
Click-it: M + R Toolshed [Free Testing Tools] The folks at M+R know you need to run tests to know if you’re getting the results you need. SAY HELLO TO THE FREE TESTING TOOLSHED! Tests to evaluate your response rate… gauge the difference in average gift… revenue per recipient… and more. Check it out!
Fundraising
- Learn to build a crowdfunding campaign!
Click-it: Crowdfunding for Nonprofits: How to Add This Essential Tool to Your Fundraising Mix[FREE WEBINAR]
You’ve probably heard the buzz around “crowdfunding”. But what is it, and how does it work? Join us for a free event to learn how you can incorporate crowdfunding to raise the bar on your fundraising initiatives. The timing is perfect as you prep for end-of-year appeals, #GivingTuesday and even spring benefits!
Our guest presenter is Dana Ostomel with DepositaGift.com. Dana is a marketing and branding expert with over a decade of experience developing integrated marketing solutions for brands in a wide range of industries, from Snapple and CENTURY 21 to The Home Depot, DIRECTV and MasterCard before she left to launch Deposit a Gift seven years ago.
Sign up here to reserve your spot! Please note, this is a live event — so mark your calendar as you won’t want to miss what promises to be a lively discussion!
Who Should Attend?
- Executive Directors
- Development Staff
- Marketing & Communication Staff
Take the Pain out of Asking for Major Gifts!
- Get comfortable with the process so you can inspire major donor prospects to say “Yes!”
Whether you’re new to major gifts or a seasoned pro, you’ll find useful tips in this 4-session Virtual Major Donor Master Class with donor-centered fundraising expert Jay Love and fundraising “wild woman” Mazarine Treyz. Everything will be recorded and is yours to keep. And there’s even a live practice session. Listen. Look. Learn.
Take-aways:
- Learn how donors feel about being asked.
- Prime your donor to make a passionate gift.
- Get confident that now is the time to ask.
- Overcome your fear of making the ask.
- Hands-on practice!
Get all the details here. I’m really thrilled to be offering this one-time opportunity to learn from 3 experts for the price of one! Reserve your space now! Don’t forget; after October 4th it will be too late. Hope to see you there!
Photo: Flickr, Isaac Torronterra
