Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Here’s a collection of seasonal reading – free nonprofit tips and tools galore!
Once again I thank my generous sponsor, Bloomerang, for their continued support of my curation of useful content for you – all so you can facilitate passionate philanthropy to make our world a better place.
If you find one or more articles, webinars or free downloadable guides useful I’ll be happy. And 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!
My motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it.”
Let’s get right to this issue’s links!
Thank you for doing the important work you do.
P.S. I try to make most of my content as close to free as humanly possible (without it costing me money). If you’re on the fence about enrolling, see what others say about why they’ve joined. And if you’re not happy, I’ll refund you. How’s that?
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Annual Giving
Click-it: Monthly Giving: 7 Reasons It’s a Must for Every Nonprofit. This is a wonderful, succinct piece by John Haydon describing why monthly giving is no longer optional in a zeitgeist of decreasing donor retention. It should be one of your core strategies.
Click-it: Should My Monthly Giving Program Have a Name? You should have a monthly giving program. Should you name it? Fiona McPhee weighs in on the Moceanic blog?
Board
Click-it: 3 Reasons to Diversify Your Nonprofit Board. These are simple, to-the-point reasons to be proactive in creating a diverse board. With term limits. All from Network for Good.
Click-it: 5 Questions to Ask Before You Join a Board. Joan Garry always tells it straight. Whether you’re thinking of board service yourself, or working with your board to recruit new members, this offers valuable advice.
Brand
Click-it: How to Improve Nonprofit Fundraising Copy: Branding!. How do you incorporate your donor’s perspective into your nonprofit brand? Can doing so help you raise more money? Check out my post on the Bloomerang blog.
Donor Retention
Click-it: What to Listen for in Donor Onboarding. Are you paying attention to donor identities and preferences? If not, you won’t retain and/or upgrade as many as you could. When you learn to satisfy new donors, that’s when they’ll start to become committed to you. Check out this well-written oldie-but-goodie from Nick Ellinger of the Agitator-DonorVoice.
Click-it: New Donors: You Need Them More Than They Need You. Speaking of donor onboarding… there’s much you can do to create a positive new donor experience that results in a repeat gift. Amy Bobrick of Merkle RMG offers several practical suggestions.
Events
Click-it: Auction Checkout Strategies: Make It Easy So Guests Can Get Their Swag and Get Going. You certainly don’t want to close the evening on a grumpy note! But that’s what happens when checkout is delayed or difficult. This article by Shay Lesman for the Qgiv blog offers concrete, helpful suggestions.
Major and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Why major and legacy donors think your fundraising stinks. This is an insightful piece from Greg Warner of Market Smart. There’s lots of useful info here, plus a link to download a free report on ‘Fundraising Climate Change.’
Click-it: Use the 5/5/3 Rule to Guarantee Great Donor Relationships at Your Non-Profit. Simple. To-the-point. And it works! From Joe Garecht, The Fundraising Authority. Truly, based on my three decades of in-the-trenches experience, nothing works better. You must assign people to talk and meet with donors.
Click-it: You Can Change a Donor’s Life. Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels of The Veritus Group explains the importance of talking personally with donors in order to best meet their needs, not just yours. This, to me, is the essence of philanthropy facilitation. Transformational, not transactional.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: What If We’re Wrong? A thought-provoking article questioning fundamental fundraising and nonprofit marketing assumptions from Nick Ellinger of the Agitator-Donor Voice.
Click-it: Your Burning Questions about Nonprofit SWOT Analyses Answered. Here I answer frequently asked questions about what makes a SWOT analysis work/not work. All on the Bloomerang blog.
Website
Click-it: Anatomy of a great nonprofit website. Your website is an “always on” resource that provides your donors with a sense of whether or not they will trust in you enough to make a donation. It can build trust and credibility just as easily as it can deter donors from acting. This article from 4aGoodCause will help you do the former with specific tips and examples from which to borrow.
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 Giving
Click-it: Monthly Giving Made Easy: The 7 Fundamentals [Register for free webinar, 9-18-2019]. Join monthly giving guru Erica Waasdorp and Firespring for this interactive session geared toward creating your nonprofit’s road map for monthly giving success.
Donor Retention
Click-it: How donor intelligence can retain your sustaining donors [Register for free webinar, 9-26-2019]. In this session with the folks from Donor Search you’ll learn to create a customized donor journey other nonprofits can’t match, and how to focus your acquisition efforts on bringing in the types of donors who will stick with you.
Major and Legacy Gifts
Click-it: Donor Motivations for Estate Planning: How Large Legacies Are Formed [Register for free webinar, 7-24-2019]. The good folks at The Stelter Company specialize in planned giving, and are hosting this complimentary presentation from Thomas W. Cullinan, J.D., FCEP to help you understand why a legacy gift to your organization might also benefit your donor.
Online Social Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: Tools Every Nonprofit Needs to Simplify Their Life [Register for free webinar, 6-25-2019]. Don’t even think about trying to resist this title! Firespring offers some of the best webinars around, and this will help you sort the wheat from the chaff.
Click-it: How to streamline your nonprofit online marketing & communications workflow [Register for free webinar, 6-27-2019]. John Haydon, a top nonprofit digital marketing guru, joins Charity How To to show you ways to save time and be more effective with free and low-cost apps. This will be practical!
Strategy and Management
Click-it: Turf wars to love connection: Get your teams to stop fighting like cats and dogs [Register for free webinar, 7-10-2019]. Farra Trompeter and Chris of Big Duck will tackle the questions commonly challenging nonprofit development and communications teams. You’ll get tips, tactics and fresh ideas.
Trends
Click-it: Must-know stats from the Fundraising Effectiveness Report [Download free video + slides]. The FEP data from Q1 was recently released and the good folks from Donor Trends summarize the news for you here. Spoiler alert: news for both acquisition and retention is not cheerful. Benchmark your own results to see how you’re doing; then develop strategies for improvement.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS
Annual Giving
Click-it: A.P.P.E.A.L.S. Fundraising Writing Framework [Download free workbook]. Julie Cooper has developed a step-by-step writing system to give you a running head start with your next appeal.
Online Social Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: Digital Marketing Plan for Nonprofits [Download free Template]. Grab this helpful tool from Nonprofit Source to grow your nonprofit’s online presence.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: Dashboards for Nonprofits [Download free white paper]. Whether a new or skilled dashboard user, this Dashboards for Nonprofits White Paper offers tips, tools, worksheets and guidelines to improve your dashboard’s effectiveness. From the folks at Accufund.
Click-it: Healthcare Philanthropy Leadership Essentials: Keys to Strong Working Relationships in the Executive Suite [Download free white paper].Wondering what you can do as a development professional to steer your E.D. and organization towards a culture of philanthropy? This paper from the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy is all about improving the CDO/CEO relationship. It offers concrete suggestions, such as treating your CEO as a donor (and they don’t just apply to healthcare organizations).
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Want a ticket to become a futurist leader? ENROLL TODAY!
Here are links to my most recent articles.
- 4 Ways to Consciously Keep Donors Connected
- Enough is enough…
- 4 Keys to Raise Money in Today’s Social Nonprofit Fundraising Environment
- Leverage Millennial Marketing Strategies to Woo ALL Nonprofit Donors
- Are You Rocking Donor Retention 101?
- How to Use Donor Personas to Identify New Prospects
Please support my extraordinary sponsors (see below). The Clairity Click-it content is free, and enrollment in ‘Clairification School’ is ridiculously affordable because of their generosity.
Hope to see you in school, and thank you for doing your important work!
