Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Here comes your bi-monthly collection of curated goodies I’ve found for you across the web — articles, free webinars, podcasts, downloadable guides, templates and all sorts of actionable tips. I dare you not to find one great take-away that will help you do your job more effectively!
My motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it.” Life’s too short, and our problems are too big, to keep information all to oneself. Which is why I want to send a big shout out to my awesome sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to continue to offer this to you for free.
Thank you for doing the important work you do.
Now… let’s get right to this issue’s links!
P.S. If you find Clairification helpful, I hope you’ll consider enrolling in Clairification School to get a full year’s worth of ALL the wisdom I have to share!
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Branding
Click-it: BRANDING: Who Polices the Brand Police? Does branding drive fundraising, or vice a versa? This article on the Agitator – DonorVoice blog holds the purpose of branding is “To vouchsafe and communicate the central values of the organization.” In other words, brands can make an organization ‘fundraisable.’ Super important concept! Read this; then read Jeff Brooks useful commentary for a full understanding of how branding can help, or hurt, your bottom-line results
Content Marketing
Click-it: Get Started with Nonprofit Blogging: Top 10 Reasons. Does your nonprofit have a blog? If not, why not? Check out my recent article on the Bloomerang blog and learn why I’m such a fan and how to make blogging an integral part of your organization’s content marketing and overall fundraising strategy.
Click-it: Why content marketing is a small nonprofit’s secret weapon. The good folks at 4aGoodCause suggest you think of content marketing as a way to have a conversation with your constituents. Think about some of the marketing tools you’re already using to share your story; consider how you can encourage more conversation throughout (e.g., email, blog posts, video, social media, donation landing pages and more).
Donor Retention
Click-it: 5 ways to improve your donor communication. Love all these great tips from Mary Cahalane of Hands On Fundraising. #5 may be my favorite,
Click-it: Secret to Upgrading Nonprofit Donors? Emotional Connection. Imagine what it would be like if you knew all your supporters, and they knew you. You’d likely communicate with them differently. And less would fall by the wayside. For suggestions of ways to create an emotional connection to your donors, check out my article for the Bloomerang blog.
BTW: This is the second article of a two-part series about upgrading donors. Read Part 1 here.
Click-it: The Most Important Question You Aren’t Asking Your Donors. Joe Garecht, the Fundraising Authority, hones in on a key strategy to engage supporters in a way that’s meaningful to them and helpful for you. The more you make donor communication a two-way street, the better your odds for renewing and upgrading your donors.
Major Gifts
Click-it: 3 simple steps to break your transactional, spray-and-pray fundraising addiction learn from Greg Warner of MarketSmart why major gift fundraising is different, and why you should be doing a lot more of it. You see, building major donor relationships requires giving; not just asking and taking.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: What’s The Single Best Sign of a Healthy Nonprofit? It’s probably not what you think. Joan Garry is an expert on this topic (wonder what it is?), so you’ll benefit from reading what she has to say. You can also reserve a free spot in an upcoming online miniseries: The 3 Keys to a Thriving Nonprofit [without burning out].
Writing
Click-it: Statistics and Damn Lies (and Your Case Statement). I thought of writing my own article on this topic, because it’s very important that you get this right. However, I found this article by Jerry Panas on the Linzy & Partners blog. It is so beautifully written there is no way I could do a more effective job. It holds true for all nonprofit fundraising and marketing writing, not just for case statements. This is a must read.
FREE AUDIO-VISUAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
The more you learn, the more you grow.
Finding webinars you’d like to attend that overlap? Note that for many of these webinars you can obtain a copy of the recording if you’re unable to join live – as long as you register!
Annual Campaign
Click-it: Monthly Giving Made Easy: The 7 Fundamentals [Register for free webinar, 9-18-2019]. Monthly donors give 2–4 times more than non-monthly recurring donors. Firespring hosts this interactive webinar with monthly giving guru Erica Waasdorp, all geared toward creating your nonprofit’s road map for monthly giving success.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat [Download quick, free, on-demand video]. These are simple, to the point strategies from Jim Shapiro and Steven screen of The Better Fundraising Company. This stuff really works.
Major and Legacy Gifts
Click-it: Online Will Writing Platforms [Register for free webinar, 9-18-2019]. Recently there’s been discussion in the planned giving industry regarding free will-writing platforms. That’s why MarketSmart teamed up with Tracy Malloy-Curtis, JD, Legacy Giving Director at Mal Warwick Donordigital to take a look at what they are and discuss how you might integrate them into your strategic fundraising plan.
Online Social Fundraising
Click-it: How to Use Social Media to Raise Money Online [Register for free webinar, 10-4-2019]. Join Julia Campbell and Nonprofit Tech for Good for this webinar packed with practical, how-to advice and examples for small nonprofits on a limited budget, this free webinar will show you how to leverage your social media accounts to raise money and strengthen relationships with donors so they give again.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: What’s Holding You Back? [Register for free webinar, 9-24-2019]. Join Asking Matters and Larry Johnson to learn 8 sustainable principles to create a scalable and permanently successful fundraising program.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS
Annual Campaign
Click-it: The Nonprofit Recurring Giving Benchmark [Download free report]. Recurring donors can be up to 4x more valuable than a one-time donor. That’s why the team at NextAfter endeavored to evaluate 115 organizations across 9 different verticals, analyzing: donation pages; emails; direct mail, and phone solicitations. From their results they offer tips to acquire recurring donors, mistakes to avoid in your communications, ideas to increase the value of recurring donations, and strategies to grow cultivation practices.
Boards
Click-it: Board Meeting Bingo. Do you often find yourself stymied by your board? You aren’t the only one. Read this from Nick Ellinger on the Agitator-Donor Voice blog and get suggestions for how to cope with some common board misconceptions.
Click-it: How to Engage and Activate Your Nonprofit Board {Download free guide]. A board can make or break your fundraising program. That’s why it is invaluable for you to develop clarity around what you want your board to do—and give them tools to meet those expectations. Use the methodology in this Network for Good guide to activate board members to become successful advocates, donors, stewards, and ambassadors for your organization.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Mid-Level Donor Engagement [Download free white paper]. Nonprofits are missing out on millions by ignoring their mid-level donors. Learn why in this white paper from Merkle RMG. You’ll also get five tips to build a successful mid-level giving program.
Events
Click-it: Event Collateral Swap [Download nearly 1,200 pages of samples]. Need a boost of inspiration? Lynn Wester, Donor Relations Guru, collected these from nonprofits from the U.S., Canada and Australia.
Major and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Get personal: Make your Planned Giving Marketing More Creative and Impactful. Personalized marketing uses data analyses to segment prospect and donor information (e.g., by ages, giving patterns, etc.) to then hone targeted marketing initiatives and messaging that hits the high points of where people are on their planned giving journey. The experts at Stelter share some ideas to get you started.
Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: Nonprofit Email Marketing Benchmarks and Takeaways for 2019 [Download Research + Tips for Improvement]. Want to improve your email marketing campaigns? Campaign Monitor shares their latest research, including the facts average open rate is 20.39%, average click-to-open rate is 12.99% and average bounce rate is 1.09%.
Click-it: Get Your Giving Tuesday Email Templates. Giving Tuesday will be here before you know it. Save yourself some time by borrowing from these materials created by the team at Qgiv. You can also get a Social Media Image Size Cheat Sheet.
Psychology of Giving
Click-it: Meet the Donors Who Are Passionate About Your Cause [Download free donor research reports]. Hundreds of donors shared what motivates them to give, and why. Grab exclusive insights from True Sense Marketing to foster more targeted communication, build stronger relationships, and enhance donor loyalty. Especially useful if you work in these areas: food banks; animal welfare; salvation army; rescue missions; Ronald McDonald house; cancer centers; children’s hospitals.
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Here are links to my most recent articles.
- How Do You Creatively Reward Your Nonprofit Donors?
- How to Apply Job Interview Skills to Fundraising
- How Jargon Destroys Nonprofit Fundraising & Marketing
- 3 Ways to Get More of Your Donors to Match Their Gifts
- Improve Major Donor Fundraising to Grab a Larger Piece of Philanthropy Pie
If you find value in Clairification, your support via enrollment in ‘Clairification School’ is a blessing. You’ll be able to read every single article I’ve ever written, plus you’ll get access to all my webinars, monthly tips, bonuses and more. I promise to pay it back, and continue to offer lots of specific advice to help you raise greater awareness, more volunteerism and passionate philanthropy.
Hope to see you in school, and thank you for doing your important work!
