Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
This is a great month to do something you’re proud of. And to support others who are showing their spirit and pride. Actually, every month is good for these things!
Which, as it often does, brings me to share a bit of wisdom from the sage Seth Godin.
Simple five step plan for just about everyone and everything
The number of people you need to ask for permission keeps going down:
- Go, make something happen.
- Do work you’re proud of.
- Treat people with respect.
- Make big promises and keep them.
- Ship it out the door.
When in doubt, see #1.
— Seth Godin
What do you have to be proud of? Think about this both professionally and personally. Pick one thing your organization did last week or month that made you proud. Pick one thing you did personally that made you proud. I encourage you to think about the proud moments and bask, as much as possible, in the positives. While you’re at it, poke around this issue of the Clairity Click-it and find something that speaks to you. Then… go make something happen!
As always, a big thank you to my 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 to you.
It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.
Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,
Claire
P.S. Even if you don’t care about all the Clairification School benefits, and are happy just being on the Clairity Click-it newsletter list, if you enjoy reading it and want to send a little love my way by enrolling. I promise to send it back.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
SPECIAL FEATURE: Donor Advised Funds (DAFs)
WAKE UP CALL: Last week Schwab Charitable® announced they’d renamed the organization to DAFgiving360™. What does this mean for the social benefit sector as a whole? IMHO, it is largely a reflection of what donors want, and what makes giving easy for them. So, while you might wish DAFs didn’t exist, they do! In fact, giving to DAFs has increased roughly 20% a year, year-over-year, for the past five years. And it’s not just for the wealthy. Over 3 million people have one! So many folks are participating, that giving via DAFs has grown from approximately 5% to over 25% of individual giving in the U.S. over the past 10 years. That’s HUGE!
So, go ahead and advocate for reform so more of the money held in DAFs gets allocated more quickly. But also talk with donors to remind them they can give to you, maybe even more than they might have otherwise though possible, using this charitable vehicle. Some of your donors have unspent DAF funds that sit there merely as a matter of inertia – take this as your cue! Donors who allocate their DAF funds actually feel better, so you’re helping them experience a warm glow.
Do everything you can to maximize giving to your organization from these growing repositories of funds already set aside by donors specifically for philanthropy. If you don’t, you’re doing your cause – and your donors — a disservice. [You really, truly need to prioritize making it easy for people to give to you. Not just from DAFs, but whatever way works best for them (not you).]
Back to the importance of facilitating DAF giving: I’ve actually been shouting from the rooftops for some time now on this subject!
- Listen to this webinar if you’re an enrolled Clairification School
- See Do You Have a Written Strategy for Donor Advised Fund Philanthropy? on my Clairification blog
- See Strategies to Leverage Donor Advised Fund Philanthropy on my Clairification blog
- See Top 50 Donor-Advised Fund Strategies for Effective Philanthropy on the Bloomerang blog
- See [ASK AN EXPERT] How Can You Cultivate Donor Advised Fund (DAF) Donors? on the Bloomerang blog.
- See [ASK AN EXPERT] If Donors Giving From Donor-Advised Funds Want Anonymity, How Do You Cultivate Them? on the Bloomerang blog.
ARTICLES
Click-it: Will 2024 Be The Year Of The DAF? By Dave Hessekiel on Forbes. There are some game-changing ideas here.
Click-it: The 234 Billion Dollar Question – What Will Actually Get DAF Dollars to Nonprofits Faster? By Mitch Stein of Chariot, which is offering a new cloud-based solution to make it easier for donors to give from their DAF directly from your website in just three clicks. Looks incredibly promising!
Click-it: What’s The Best DAF Widget? By Janet Bargewell, GiveDirect.
Click-it: Who uses a DAF? By Drew Schneider on Chariot.
Click-it: Donor-Advised Funds Soar in Popularity as Nonprofits Successfully Engage New Donors. By Amanda Cole on NonProfitPRO.
Click-it: Donor Advised Funds: Are You Missing Out? By Roger Craver on the Agitator-DonorVoice blog.
AUDIO VISUAL
Click-it: Engaging Donor Advised Funds In Fundraising! Listen in to this eye-opening episode of The Nonprofit Show with Mitch Stein, head of strategy at Chariot. This is the future of facilitating DAF giving!
GUIDES & RESOURCES
Click-it: The 2024 National Study on Donor Advised Funds from the Johnson Center for Philanthropy.
Click-it: 2024 FreeWill Donor-Advised Fund Report from FreeWill.
Click-it: The 2023 DAF Report from National Philanthropic Trust.
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: 3 Shocking Metrics That May Be Impacting Your Donor Retention Rates. Two of these have to do with not doing an effective job making recurring giving easy. And one has to do with your thank you process. All from the folks at NextAfter, who have access to thousands of experiments and nonprofit data. Read and heed.
Boards
Click-it: The 5 Step Strategy for Getting Your Board Members Engaged in Fundraising. This is excellent, fundamental advice from seasoned consultant Joe Garecht. If you’re unsatisfied with your board’s participation in fundraising, give this a read.
Culture of Philanthropy
Click-it: Why Our Definition Of Nonprofits Restricts Problem Solving. Here I take the opportunity on the Bloomerang blot to outline six underlying reasons for the social benefit (aka nonprofit) sector’s inability to build sustainable capacity to solve the world’s pressing problems.
Click-it: My Biggest Professional Mistake. Joan Garry and her former development director trade articles about toxic cultures, mistakes made, and ways to be better. This one resonated with me as, to be honest, I’ve made some of these same mistakes (I deeply apologize to all my staff). If you read this article, you’ll have an advantage. Take the time to stop. And think. And nip staff burnout in the bud.
Donor Retention
Click-it: A ‘Not This Year’ Isn’t The End Of The Relationship. There are years, like 2008 and potentially 2024 too, when some of your donors may be feeling a financial pinch. What do you do when they can’t give as much as last year? That’s what Ephraim Gopin, 1832 Communications, addresses here.
Click-it: Nonprofit Donor Engagement Strategies: Breaking Through the Noise. Your donor engagement strategy should outline exactly how you’ll reach out to donors and the KPIs you’ll track to measure their engagement with your organization. How are you doing with this? For lots of good ideas, check out this piece from Abby Jarvis of Neon One
Events
Click-it: Fundraiser Marketing: How to Promote a Fundraiser on Social Media. Whatever type of event you’re planning, whether in-person or online, you’re going to want to drive awareness and engagement. Here, the experts at Eventgroove lay out a 10-point plan to help you reach your fundraising goals.
Click-it: Live Auction Fundraising Frenzy: 10 Innovative Ideas for Big Bids. Want some help brainstorming high-dollar items? You’ve come to the right place! This article from Auctria suggests awesome ideas to make great donations (e.g., a suite at a sports arena) into once-in-a-lifetime donations (e.g., a backyard pick-up game with Steph Curry with a catered barbecue for 50 guests).
Major Gifts
Click-it: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Major Gift Fundraising. Feel overburdened? Fortunately, as this article from the experts at Momentum points out, some of the tasks burdening fundraisers can be solved with technology. Learn how AI is much more than ChatGPT, and can actually be a game changer for your mid-level and major gift fundraising.
NOTE: If you want to become a master of major gift fundraising – a highly valued skill — you might consider exploring certification. I highly recommend this fully revamped course from the Veritus Group: Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers. If you’re the executive or manager, there’s a companion course for you! The next cohort begins August 26th, and will be the last course of this calendar year. If you have any questions, just reply to this email and I’ll be happy to discuss whether this course may be right for you. I promise to be honest. USE MY CODE, CA5, FOR A DISCOUNT.
Online Social Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: How to Optimize Your Online Donation Form for Text to Give. An accessible text-to-donate process, from initial pitch to thank you text message, should be simple. A mobile-responsive design is non-negotiable. You want quick form fields and straightforward navigation to guide would-be donors through the process. The folks at Rally Corp are experts at this, and here they offer up 8 ways to streamline your donation form.
Click-it: 17 Different Ways to Increase Your Blog Traffic in 2024. You have to work consistently at building awareness and trust, and a blog is a great way to do this. Here are all the tips you need from one of my go-to experts, Neal Schaffer.
Volunteers
Click-it: It’s Time to Change Your View of Volunteers. Have you ever considered what it might take to engage volunteers as unpaid major and mid-level gift officers? It’s being done! Read all about how this works in this article from Richard Perry at the Veritus Group.
Writing
Click-it: Write like you talk. Lisa Sargent, fundraising writer extraordinaire, posted this recently on LinkedIn. It’s wonderful advice. Next time you write an appeal, or marketing email, check it against these tips so you connect more authentically with your readers.
WEBINARS, PODCASTS, ROUNDTABLES & 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!
Events
Click-it: Harness the Power of Events and Digital Storytelling To Nurture Relationships [Download on-demand webinar]. Learn how to keep attendees connected to your organization long after the event has concluded. That’s what you’ll learn in this session from Greater Giving and Joey Goone, President at Utopia Experience: The psychology of events; Before, during and after; The 3 C Model (content/connection/community), and building a meaningful, immersive experience..
Major Gifts
Click-it: How to Encourage Major Donors to Give Using Psychology and AI [Register for exclusive free webinar, 7-16-2024]. I’ve invited Griff Bohm, co-founder of Momentum, for a sure-to-be lively and cutting-edge session exploring the integration of psychology, AI and major gifts. If you want to improve your major gift fundraising by leaps and bounds – making it easier, more effective and a lot more fun – please join us.
Website
Click-it: Accessibility: How to Make Your Website Usable For Everyone [Register for free webinar, 7-2-2024]. Join Jennie Martin, Front-End Development Manager and Accessibility Specialist at Firespring, for this dive into the core principles of accessibility. You’ll explore real-world examples of disabilities and situational challenges users face. From understanding WCAG standards to addressing specific populations, you’ll emerge with actionable insights to create truly accessible websites.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, PAPERS, TEMPLATES & OTHER RESOURCES
Data
Click-it: 10 Digital Marketing & Fundraising Research Reports for Nonprofits. The folks at Nonprofit Tech for Good have pulled together all the data you need to put your plans together for the coming year (and perhaps convince your boss why it’s time for a change in the status quo). These reports reaffirm the growing power of monthly giving, the waning influence of organic social media, and that email marketing remains a tried-and-true method for online fundraising success.
Online and Social Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: The Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Nonprofits [Read for free]. You’ve been doing this for a while now, so it’s time to take a fresh look at both why and how. And the folks at Qgiv have your back! Best platforms? Metrics? Practices? Should you pay for ads? Read about all this, and more. Plus, it’s packed with examples.
Storytelling
Click-it: 2024 benchmark report on storytelling and fundraising [Read high-level overview]. Storyraise interviewed donors to assess the impact of storytelling on their giving. Based on survey responses, they distilled five learnings. Check them out; they’re all important. Especially note some of the quotes they share about why storytelling matters so much to givers.
Did You Miss My Newest Articles?
Here are links to recent articles on the Clairification blog. Remember, your 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.
Donor’s Lament: You Didn’t Thank Me Properly
Does Your Nonprofit Think Too Small?
Why Smart Nonprofits Focus on Growing Monthly Giving
5 Cardinal Sins for Nonprofit Fundraising Renewal Appeals
Top Nonprofit Strategy Rule: Clarify Your Why, What, Who, Where and How
You and Your Donors Are Dating: First Impressions Mean Everything
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 a recent one: Is A Gift Chart Appropriate If Not In A Capital Campaign?
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. JULY tips are live! If you’re not yet an enrolled student, and don’t have access to ALL my blog articles, monthly tips, webinars, podcasts and much more, you can get in on the fun here — and grab your time-limited special ANNIVERSARY BONUS!
And now, just for fun, some cool things I found on walks during my recent vacation in New York City.
Yes, it’s a real-life Banksy “found in the wilds” of Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Someone (the City?) put it behind glass to preserve it.
Banksy vs. Hectad. A muralist having their own “dialogue” with Banksy on NYC streets.
This outdoor art on a wall made me smile.
I didn’t even know Einstein rode a bike! Found this in Midtown Manhattan.
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