Aug222016

How Leaning Into Fear Can Change the World

A very accomplished friend of mine recently wrote a beautiful and provocative article I want to share. It resonated with me on many levels, not the least of which spoke to me wearing my hat as a philanthropy facilitator and nonprofit coach.

Thank you Tara Mohr for having the courage to share On Political Fear. Tara writes:

 I don’t do othering. I don’t think one party or place on the political spectrum has a monopoly on truth. I think we all need to be speaking up right now.

Tara, in speaking up, describes herself as “proudly afraid.”

Are you “proudly afraid?”

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Leave a commentCulture & Values
Aug42016

How to Humanize Your Nonprofit Work by Building Empathy

empathy word cloudI am so inspired!

I recently learned about Van Jones’ virtual reality experiment, Day of Empathy via this video (thank you, thank you, thank you to Nancy Schwartz for writing about this on her Getting Attention nonprofit marketing blog: OMG Experiment to Connect & Activate (Dream Corps Case Study). The idea is to use virtual reality to build empathy (i.e., to help people walk in the shoes of others) in order to motivate action.

The idea of using virtual reality to build empathy on a communal scale is brilliant!

And it ties back to Darwin’s theory of survival.

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9 CommentsAnnual Giving
Aug12016

How to Use the Multiplier Effect to Inspire Annual Giving

People love to S-T-R-E-T-C-H their dollars.

This is the basic psychology underlying “BOGO” (Buy One; Get One free) and “2 for the price of 1” sales.  For a variety of reasons, we’re crazy about getting a good deal!

If I get more for my money, that’s smart.

It’s frugal to find ways to leverage our family’s spending.

I like to use my money in the most effective way I can.

It’s easy to apply these desires – to be smart, frugal and effective — to the creation of compelling fundraising offers.

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2 CommentsAnnual Giving
Jul182016

9 Simple Ways to Reach Different Generations of Donors Successfully

9 Simple Ways to Reach Different Generations of Nonprofit Donors SuccessfullyWe’re in the midst of a generational shift: Millennials have recently surpassed Boomers as the largest generation in America, and have surpassed Generation X as the largest part of the American workforce.

As these changes happen, nonprofits should take a look at their marketing channels and make sure they are using the right methods to reach each generation.

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5 CommentsStrategy & Management
Jul82016

Clairity Click-it Summer Reading: Extravaganza of Free Nonprofit Resources

Mixed #nonprofit links and free resourcesI’ve got a cornucopia of useful practical tools to help you here – enough to last the entire rest of the summer – and then some! If you don’t have time to click through to all these great resources now, this is a “Click-it” edition you’ll seriously want to tuck away for when you’re ready. If you use these tools, you’ll be a lot more effective. Why just work hard when you can work smart?

NOTE: As I’ve done throughout the year, I’ve organized these articles into categories aligned with my top “Dive the Five” fundraising fundamentals for 2016, and beyond. Plus I’ve added a few articles with some great basics and specific tips. And plenty of free resources too.  And now… let’s dig in!

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Leave a commentClairity Click-it
Jul42016

10 Ways to Build Donor Trust and Overcome Negative Views about Charities

trustWhat prompted me to write this article was a recent post by Matthew Sherrington on the 101 Fundraising Blog about the dangers to the public benefit sector posed by erosion of trust.  We’ve known for some time that whenever there’s a charity scandal, the bad behavior of one player can become detrimental to all.  But over the past year in the U.K. the problem has become even more challenging. Could it happen here?  Matthew says “yes.”  And I concur.  Trust is a fragile thing.

In the U.K what happened was a perfect storm of perceived over-solicitation and insufficient outcomes, exacerbated by a barrage of media that sounded an alarm about nefarious practices.  Trust plummeted. A wake-up call, for sure.

But what does it mean?

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2 CommentsDonor Retention
Jun292016

Nonprofit Overhead Worth: When is More not Less?

In A dollar more (vs. a dollar less) Seth Godin provocatively suggests you consider a race to the top.

This made me immediately think of the nonprofit overhead conundrum.  Too many nonprofits feel stuck with trying to justify the amount of money they spend on staff and infrastructure in a race to lure more donors to their cause.

The common wisdom (really nonsense) is that “a dollar less” is good. That the less you spend, the more effective you are.  “Lean and mean” is supposed to be a good thing.

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6 CommentsStrategy & Management