Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Daylight savings time begins this week-end where I live, and I’m pretty excited. I’m a night owl, so tacking on those extra hours of daylight when I’m awake is definitely a shot of dopamine. Even if you feel differently, or don’t live someplace where we humans shift the hours back and forth at will, I hope I’ll save you some time by having collected the best resources from across the web and sharing them here.
The Clairity Click-it exists to bring you a range of voices from across the nonprofit world. Hopefully one or more of these will give you a shot of dopamine too — a boost of joyful energy that says, “Yes! I want to try this!” As always, a big thank you to my Clairity Click-it sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful as you.
And, just for fun, here’s some interesting art from a recent studio opening in San Francisco. Can you believe these were in the same show, and the theme was “SKY?” It just shows we all perceive and interpret things differently. This is a good thing to keep in mind as you create and share your constituent communications. Generally, one size doesn’t fit all.
Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,
Claire
P.S. Your support via enrollment in ‘Clairification School’ means a lot, and I am deeply appreciative. It is my honor to deliver original articles direct to your in-box every week, give you access to all my webinars, and offer up exclusive monthly tips, bonuses and more!
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: Understanding the Fundraising Cycle: Donor Acquisition and Retention. This article on the Qgiv blog offers the key to gaining, engaging, and retaining donors. Learn the 6 stages of the fundraising cycle, and where to focus your efforts every step of the way.
Content Marketing
Click-it: 2023 Annual Report Design for Nonprofits: The Ultimate Guide [with Examples!]. Annual reports aren’t required (unlike 990s, which are), yet they’re a great opportunity to keep people informed, create trust, and build important connections. This article from the annual report experts at Yearly discusses how to make yours stand out from the crowd.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Top 5 Ways Text Messaging Will Retain Donors in 2023. If you’re not yet using texting as a primary communications method, this article by Mike Snusz on NonProfitPRO may persuade you of the benefits. Compared with email, texts have an extraordinarily high open rate!
Events
Click-it: Six St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser Ideas. There’s still time to try out some of these ideas from Eventgroove. And, if not for your community at large this year, maybe for your close-in staff, volunteers, committee members or board. Tuck the rest of the ideas away for next year! And don’t miss the links on how to create a social media challenge to support your efforts.
Click-it: How to Plan a Fundraiser for Your Small Nonprofit. Here are six steps for event planning, no matter how large or small, from Sandy Rees, Get Fully Funded. You’ll learn how to no longer hold “heart-sink” fundraisers… and much more. This is a terrific road map!
Grants
Click-it: You Got the Grant! Now What? Grant development and management is a team effort, as is explained in this excellent piece from Blue Avocado. The time to put a plan in place is before you get the funding. Or else.
Click-it: I just did my first round of grant assessing – here’s what I learned. Here’s a terrific piece on the SOFII blog that will give you tips to stand out from the crowd when you put together your next grant application. All from the perspective of Vic Hancock Fell, who has spent years both writing and assessing grant proposals.
Major, Capital and Legacy Gifts
Click-it: What is a Major Gift and Why Does it Matter? Seasoned expert Gail Perry demystifies the subject, helping you define an amount that makes sense for your organization so you can focus your energies most effectively.
Click-it: The Elements of a Good Touch Point. Wondering what the most effective strategies are to cultivate and nurture major donors? The Veritus Group answers this question with 8 specific tips.
Click-it: 4 Surefire Strategies for Effective Major Donor Fundraising. This post from Top Nonprofits digs into four surefire strategies that will help make your major donor fundraising efforts more effective. A lot of nonprofits forget about #3!
Click-it: Are You Endowment Ready? [There’s also a link to a recorded conversation, if you prefer to listen]. Laurence A. Pagnoni, MPA thoroughly explains endowments, suggests how big yours should be, and outlines pros and cons.
Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: 5 Ways to Make Mobile a Strategy. Charity Engine and Rally Corp converse on how to use mobile as more than a transactional tool. If you want to make acquisition frictionless, and donor retention a natural outgrowth of conversational communications, read this.
Click-it: My All-Time Favorite Video Hacks: 11 Tips for More Conversions. These terrific tips, intended for businesses of all shapes and sizes, come courtesy of The Draw Shop. They are organized by (1) scripting; (2) production, and (3) distribution. I love the tips about attention-grabbing openings!
Click-it: How to Manage Your LinkedIn Community Effortlessly . If you’ve ever considered creating and managed a LinkedIn community, this article from Vartika Kashyap of ProofHub on the Neal Schaffer blog has everything you need to know.
Psychology of Giving
Click-it: The Danes Nailed Identity. Giving is tied to donor identity. Here the team at Agitator-DonorVoice shares a Danish ad that nails the heart of the matter and shows why the boxes into which we habitually group people probably don’t do the trick. Think about what you might do to uncover true, core identification with things that really matter to your donors.
YOU
Click-it: How We Misunderstand Anxiety and Miss Out on Its Benefits. There’s a lot of uncertainty right now, and this can magnify anxiety. Here’s a way to reframe it, and see it as productive. I love everything about the Greater Good Science Center, and this is article from their magazine is no exception.
WEBINARS, PODCASTS, COURSES & ON-DEMAND AUDIO RESOURCES
If you can’t attend live, or are interested in sessions happening at overlapping times, note many are available via recording – but ONLY if you REGISTER!
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: On-demand Direct Mail Bootcamp [Register for free webinar, 3-14-2023]. We’re used to calling this “snail mail,” but the folks at Evertrue claim there’s another way. If months and months of pre-campaign planning has been causing you to send less mail than you should, you’ll want to join this session. I’m intrigued!
Click-it: Engaged in Education: Community Engagement Strategies for Schools [Register for free panel discussion, 3-16- 2023]. Join NXUnite for this freewheeling conversation for schools about engaging community beyond your four walls.
Board
Click-it: Philanthropic Leadership: Engaging Board Members as Fundraising Ambassadors [Register for free webinar, 3-16-2023]. Bloomerang hosts Elizabeth Abel, CCS Fundraising, for this session about better engaging, educating, and empowering board members to elevate your fundraising.
Digital and Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: Where Should You Be On Social Media? [Listen to podcast or Read transcript]. Julia C. Campbell is my “go-to” nonprofit social media guru, and this podcast/article is gold. It helps you decide where to be/not be; what type of content to share, and how to reach both short- and long-term marketing goals.
Donor Retention
Click-it: The power of thanking – a masterclass in gratitude [Register for free session, 3-21-2023]. About Loyalty will share some key principles as shared by SOFII and showcase excellent examples of gratitude in practice from charities including Diabetes UK, and The Leprosy Mission and Shelter.
Major and Legacy Giving
Click-it: The Legacy Showcase – where fundraisers share inspiring campaigns [New, free video resource]. Don’t you love successful examples of what other charities are doing? The folks at SOFII are putting a bunch together to inform and inspire your work. They’re diverse in their content – from funny to emotional and breath-taking. They demonstrate the breadth of ingenuity and originality, creativity and the range of media used in legacy fundraising.
Marketing Communications and Trends
Click-it: What are the latest nonprofit communications trends? [Listen to free podcast]. Farra Trumpeter of Big Duck hosts Kivi LeRoux Miller, founder of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, for this freewheeling conversation about the latest trends and how to reframe what you’re doing to be as successful as possible in the current environment.
Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: 5 Secrets of Email Marketing Geniuses [Register for free webinar, 3-14-2023]. This is a jam-packed webinar from Jay Wilkinson, presenter extraordinaire, at Firespring. I promise you’ll come away with a lot of actionable tips!
Trends
Click-it: Are Crypto Donations the Future of Charitable Giving? [Listen to free podcast]. Pat Duffy, Giving Block founder, joins Joan Garry for this discussion about the money you may be leaving on the table. Yes, even if you can’t imagine any of your donors own cryptocurrency. This session bursts a few crypto fundraising myths.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, WHITE PAPERS & OTHER RESOURCES
Click-it: The Complete Nonprofit Guide to Microsoft Ads for Social Impact Grant [Download free resource]. You know about Google ad grants, but you may not know there’s a new Bing game in town. Here, Chris Barlow of Beeline explains how to get set up and begin to reach Microsoft’s demographic. It’s an older, wealthier, and more desktop-oriented audience that’s often more willing to financially support nonprofits.
Did You Miss My Newest Articles?
Here are links to the most recent articles on the Clairification blog. You can see I really don’t want you to squander the good feelings you’re triggering during this season of giving! The goal is not simply to squeeze money out of people. It’s to give donors a squeeze and a hug for being caring and generous. This will make them feel good, which will move them to continue sticking with you.
- It’s Fundraising Malpractice Not to Build Future Reserves
- Why Do People Make Philanthropic Legacy Gifts?
- Don’t Leave a Voicemail if…
- Top Strategies for Making Friends with Nonprofit Donors
- Before Sending a Fundraising Appeal Do This, Not That
- What Fishing Can Teach Us About Fundraising
Finally… if you have a question, any question… Check out my free fundraising advice column on the Bloomerang blog! Ask your question here. And bookmark the Ask an Expert page for any time you have a question! Here’s one: Where do you find new donors, and what do you say to them?
REMINDER for Clairification School students: Don’t forget to log in to your “My Clairification/Subscriber Dashboard/Monthly Tips” to grab your exclusive, timely tips for each month. MARCH tips are live! If you’re not yet an enrolled student, and don’t have access to ALL my blog articles, webinars, podcasts and much more, you can get in on the fun here!
Claire, this is the second time I am reading this article and I have to say: there is no other fundraising coach who is a great storyteller and writes better than you. Every day, I read many articles on fundraising and marketing, and you are by far one of my favorites. I always recommend your blog to people who ask me for advice on development.
— Daniel Trust, President and CEO, Daniel Trust Foundation
I read your article on ‘how not to ask for a major gift’ yesterday. It totally changed my approach to donor communications, and has already made a difference – thank you!
–Mike Craig, Director of Development, Study Liberty
The best article we have ever read about inspiring individuals to give. It brought such clarity!
— Thelma Rowens, United Community Center
My motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it.” Don’t miss out.
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Photos: (1) Site-specific installation of luminous vessels and (2) Chaos @ SKY Exhibit, The Drawing Room Gallery, San Francisco
