#ClairityClick-it: Major Gifts, Donor Retention, Online Social Fundraising + Free Resources

Hope you enjoy these links, free resources and training opportunities. Usually I publish this on Friday, but it’s Spring Break and holiday week for many, so I’m on a wacky schedule. Again, I’ve organized according to three of the top 5 areas I’m hoping you’re working on improving this year.  This week it’s

1. Major Gifts
2. Donor Retention
3. Online Social Fundraising

There are also a few random “food for thought” in other areas, plus some free resources and upcoming training opportunities. And don’t forget to visit Clairification for more topic-specific articles written by yours truly. There are bunches on these topics, and bunches more coming!

Major Gifts

Click-it: Any Nonprofit Can Rock Major Gifts With These 9 Tips (Part 1). If you missed my major gifts post over on Nonprofit Pro, you can catch it here (Part 2 arrives shortly).  Learn about the elephant-sized piñata in the middle of the room. It’s filled with goodies you want and deserve! You’ve got to figure out how to get the goodies out of it or you’ll just be scrambling for spare change.

Donor Retention

Click-it: Build Trust With Your Donors: 5 Best Practices. Would you invest money someplace you didn’t trust? Your donors won’t either.  This article from Tina Jepson on the CauseVox blog shows you five ways to build and maintain your donors’ trust. Check it out to see which ones you’re doing well, and which ones you could improve.

Online Social

Click-it: Building a 4-stage Online Ambassador Program — Stage 2: Engagement. Giving is about relationships! Your ambassadors have them, and your job is to get them to use them on your behalf.  Justin Ware of The Social Side of Giving shows you how. Also check out Stage 1, about identifying potential ambassadors, by clicking here.

Click-it: 11 Facebook Tricks, Tips and Facts You Didn’t Know. This post from Entrepreneur will give you plenty of great stuff to help you get the most out of and better understand Facebook. From why you get shown certain ads and which types of posts get the most engagement, to how closely connected you are to everyone else on the planet and much more. I like #2 and #5.  You?

Click-it: Opt-In Pop-Ups: Are They Any Good? A robust online social fundraising strategy requires you to have a strong and growing email list. If you’re not using a lightbox pop-up to encourage folks to sign up to your email list, this article by George Matthew on the Daily Egg may get you to reconsider.  In some cases sign-ups increased as much as 1375%.

Click-it: Increase Online Donations In Four Steps. This article by Scott Paley on Joan Garry’s website is largely focused on building a more effective website. You might think, as a fundraiser, that this isn’t your territory.  But you can’t have an effective online social fundraising strategy without a website as your dynamic hub. So check it out and see if you’re doing these four things well.

More Food for Thought

Click-it: 3 Corporate Philanthropy Trends You Don’t Want to Miss. When seeking donations, you know the importance of stepping into your prospect’s shoes, right?  Well the same holds true if you’re seeking donations from businesses. This article from JKGroup provides some interesting perspectives.

Click-it: 39 Ideas From AFPFC That Will Make You A Smarter Fundraiser in 2016. I didn’t make it to the AFP international conference this year (but am so excited it will be in San Francisco next year!), but my friend Gail Perry did.  And she’s offering up this awesome list of tweets, filled with some really useful stuff.  See what fundraising professionals are talking about!

Click-it: Tilton’s 25 Principles of Leadership Success©. Looking for an ideal leader?  Looking to become one?  Check out this list from Stan Tilton.  And, btw, this might not be a bad checklist to use as you consider who to vote for. I’m just saying…

FREE RESOURCES + TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

Fundraising

Click-it: How to Keep Donors Happier Longer: Use Strategic Stewardship to Get More and Bigger Gifts [Free Webinar] I’m delighted to partner with Bloomerang to offer this free presentation to help you with your donor retention. Remember, this is one of the top 5 fundamentals you need to have in place to succeed with fundraising – so don’t miss this opportunity! Register now.

Marketing

Click-it: 17 Essential Content Marketing Templates and Checklists. I was super-excited when I found this, and I hope you will be too.  Folks are constantly asking me for persona templates, content calendar templates, content checklists and the like, and here they are in one fell swoop.  It even includes headline tips and tools (and I see so many poor headlines on nonprofit blogs it makes me weep). So check out these great free resources from Michelle Lin at Content Marketing Institute!

Career Development

Click-it: Virtual Fundraising Career Conference — April 6 – 8, 2016. Okay, this isn’t free, but it’s very low cost for the value you get in return ($5.58 per webinar). I am proud to contribute one of 12 expert-led sessions by such fundraising leading lights as Linda Lysakowski, Mazarine Treyz, Sheena Greer, Marc Pitman and more! All sessions will be recorded for you to peruse when it’s convenient for you.

The #ClairityClick-it is a bi-monthly publication linking to useful resources and insights I find across the web.  This year I’m also selecting articles that highlight the “Dive the Five” 2016 fundraising fundamentals we’re collectively digging into in depth over the course of this year. For more on this, read Want to Guarantee Fundraising Success? Dive These 5 Fundamentals on NonProfit Pro.

 For more on these subject areas, check out:

• Major Gifts Playbook (a 4-volume set; get them all at a discount or buy them individually to meet your specific needs)
• Major Gifts Actionable Checklists & Cheat Sheets (If all of these issues resonate with you, then you’ll want to get them all. If you’re struggling with a particular area, then you can just get the one or two you need most.)
• Donor Retention and Gratitude Playbook (you’ll learn about both donor retention and developing a culture that channels an attitude of gratitude in this 6-volume set)
• Nonprofit Blogging that Drives Engagement Playbook (you’ll learn about both content marketing and online social fundraising in this 4-volume set)

Make sure you’re subscribed to Clairification (you can do so below) so you don’t miss an article!