Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Choose from a bounty of free nonprofit resources — and just click-it!
The gratitude holidays – #GivingTuesday and Thanksgiving – are upon us! Are you ready?
Because I’m so grateful for the work you do in making our world a better one, I’ve collected a ton of great gifts for you this month! All to make your life a little easier. Articles, free webinars and free downloadable guides to help you succeed in this most generous of seasons.
Remember why you do this. Yes, it’s to further your mission. But remember donors are your mission too. They need you in order to become their best selves, and to find meaning that might otherwise elude them. Here’s the bottom line:
“Giving makes us happy. Check out the latest research from the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. As donor relations and stewardship professionals, it’s our job to build on that happiness and create lifelong relationships between donors and our organizations. We do that through our thank you letters and calls, reports, videos, events…every experience that becomes part of a donor’s journey with our organizations. Clap along if you know what happiness is to you…“
— Eliza McNulty, President, Association of Donor Relations Professionals (ADRP):
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P.S. Please email me at claire@clairification.com if you have any questions about Clairification School. Remember, my motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it!”
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Advocacy
Click-it: New tax “reform” bill could seriously screw nonprofits and the people we serve. This article from Vu Le of Nonprofit AF outlines what will happen if the current tax bill passes. If you don’t like what you read, consider letting your representatives know what you think.
Annual Individual (and Year-End) Giving
Click-it: How to Write Superior Nonprofit Fundraising Appeals: Avoid Jargon. Check out my guest post on Network for Good, and take the opportunity to review your year-end appeal before you send it out.
Click-it: Write to Invite: 5 Secrets to Inspire Action on Your Nonprofit Appeal. 5 secrets + 16 sweet tips to nonprofit year-end appeal success. All together in one article I wrote for Network for Good.
Click-it. The 11 Must-Know Matching Gift Best Practices for Nonprofits. You’ll find everything you wanted to know about matching gifts (but were afraid to ask) in this article by Adam Wenger of Double the Donation. Don’t miss out on this essentially free money!
Content Marketing
Click-it: Keeping Up with Nonprofit Content Marketing and Social Media Tools. I post monthly on Maximize Social Business about various aspects of nonprofit social media and online marketing. This time I write about how to address common excuses for avoiding best practices – the ones that will ultimately garner you increased awareness and investment. Want to move forward, or fall behind? Learn what skills and tools you really need to get to the next level.
Click-it: The Top 10 Nonprofit Blogging Tips. I’m a huge booster of blogs for nonprofits! Catch these tips from me over on the Nonprofit Fundraising Digest.
Click-it: What can the right communications staff really do for your nonprofit? If you’re an ongoing Clairification reader, you know I often urge you to create a philanthropy culture where folks understand “We’re all in fundraising now.” It’s a page I’ve taken from Daniel Pink’s bestseller, To Sell Is Human, where he notes we’re all in sales now. Well… here’s a take from Sarah Durham of Big Duck. She says “We’re all communicators now.” I agree!
Donor Acquisition
Click-it: Finding New Donors Requires Creating a New Market. See my article on the Bloomerang blog, where I offer a somewhat different take on how to identify new, would-be donors for your cause. Hint: the methodology is similar to getting someone to buy something for the first time.
Legacy Gifts
Click-it: 3 Secrets to Acquiring Nonprofit Legacy Gifts. Think legacy gifts are not for your nonprofit? Think again. Learn how to reframe the conversation from something folks don’t like to think about (death) to something they most decidedly do (immortality). Learn the simple process in my article on the Bloomerang blog.
Management and Strategy
Click-it: 3 Essential Ingredients to Recruit and Retain Top Nonprofit Talent. This article by Wayne Elsey in Nonprofit Pro references the 2016 Nonprofit Employment Practices Survey [published by Guidestar and Nonprofit HR; download it here] that made persuasive arguments for investing in top talent in order to survive and thrive. He suggests 3 “M”s that will give you a competitive advantage: Motivation; Money and Momentum.
Mission
Click-it: Mission Haiku: the Poetry of Mission Statements. This is a beautiful, thought-provoking piece by Christopher Finney in the Nonprofit Quarterly. See if you can make your mission statement more precise and powerful.
Online Marketing and Fundraising
Click-it: Five Tips On Improving Email Deliverability In Nonprofit Fundraising Efforts. Did you know a huge percentage of nonprofit emails go to spam? This results in $24,000 in lost revenue per year per nonprofit agency. Yipes! Get tips to reduce the problem from five members of the Forbes Nonprofit Council.
Click-it: 14 Donation Pages That Know What they’re Doing. Check this out on the EveryAction blog for some great inspiration to perfect your donation landing pages before giving season hits in full force.
Storytelling
Click-it: The Power of Stories in Building Empathy. One of today’s hot management trends is design thinking. In this article from Interaction Design Foundation, you learn to mesh design thinking with storytelling. It’s a way to get inside the hearts and minds of your constituents so you can deliver relevant, inspiring stories that engage their support. Also, if you’re new to the design thinking process, it’s explained here. And you can download a free e-book on user experience design too!
FREE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
The more you learn, the more you grow.
Note:. 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: Your 2018 Fundraising Plan is Gonna Rock [Register for free webinar, 11-21-17]. Mazarine Treyz of Wildwoman Fundraising will be your presenter.
Content Marketing
Click-it: Master Class: Mapping Out Your Nonprofit Marketing Calendar for 2018! [Register for free Master Class, 12-8-17]. If you’ve never had the benefit of learning from Julia C. Campbell of JCSM, don’t miss this opportunity! She’ll offer a step-by-step guide to mapping out your nonprofit marketing calendar for 2018.
Major Gifts
Click-it: Asking Styles: A Revolutionary Concept in the Field [Register for free webinar, 11-28-17]. If you aren’t familiar with Donor Search ‘Flash Classes,’ you’re in for a treat. Asking Matters President Brian Saber will help you learn about your Asking Style, its specific strengths and challenges, and how to apply your Style to be a more comfortable and effective fundraiser.
Mission, Vision & Values
Click-it: How a simple index card can surface your organization’s purpose [Listen to 90 second video]. I love, love, love Daniel Pink. Here he describes a simple exercise to help you understand why you come to work every day. It’s great as a board mission exercise too!
Storytelling
Click-it: Storytelling is Not for Sissies [Register for free webinar, 11-21-17]. Master storyteller, Lori L. Jacobwith of Ignited Fundraising, takes a quick dive into sharing powerful stories for successful, goal-busting, fundraising.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Content Marketing
Click-it: Brand architecture: Strategies to strengthen your nonprofit’s family of programs, events, and initiatives [Download free e-book]. The folks at Big Duck offer four approaches to brand architecture, examples of when they work best for nonprofits, plus questions and tips to help you get all of your programs to support each other—and your organization’s mission.
Leadership
Click-it: Leadership Inventory [Download free worksheet]. This is a terrific instrument developed by fundraising guru Jerrold Panas. It measures 14 different spectra of a leader’s characteristics and attributes. Use it to build your team and create a culture of philanthropy.
Management and Strategy
Click-it:2017 Millennial Impact Report Phase 2 [Download free Report]. If your leadership is constantly telling you to make a priority of engaging more Millennials, you’ll want to read this eye-opening report from the Case Foundation. Spoiler alert: “actions they’re taking don’t necessarily start with (or sometimes even include) giving or volunteering.”
Online Fundraising
Click-it: The Anatomy of a Successful Fundraiser [Download free e-Guide] breaks down the strategies of 10 successful fundraising campaigns hosted on Classy. Whether or not you use this particular platform, there are some replicable techniques you can borrow to maximize the results of your end-of-year campaign.
Click-it: Essential Nonprofit Guide to Recruiting and Coordinating Social Media Ambassadors [Download free e-Guide]. You need a critical mass of passionate people spreading the word about your campaign and raising money from their networks. Learn how to find, recruit, coordinate and energize ambassadors from nonprofit social media guru, Julia C. Campbell.
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Enroll in ‘Clairification School’ to get access to every single article I’ve ever written – with new ones like these delivered straight to your in-box for a full 12 months!
We’ll cover the full landscape of nonprofit marketing, fundraising, management and leadership. There’s something for everyone on your team — and we’ll even talk about working more effectively as a team.
Because facilitating philanthropy is most definitely a team sport.
Most recently:
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Are You Aligned with Your Soul?
3-Word Recipe Guaranteed to Raise Money
How Important is Email to Nonprofit Fundraising? Very!
Boo! Are You Scaring Nonprofit Donors Away?
Key Issues in Effective Nonprofit Board Decision-Making
Hope to see you in Clairification School Let’s get happy together!
