Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
The right to free assembly is a core democratic value. It’s a value Americans in particular, on both sides of the political divide, honor today with the inauguration of a new president. When you believe in something, you stand up for it.
That’s what nonprofit organizations do too, every single day. My goal is to help you do it in the best way possible. So you make our world a better, more empathic place.
As Roger Craver writes in today’s Agitator: “There’s hope to spread.” He also says “Among the most fortunate folks on this Inauguration Day are fundraisers.”
Honestly, I think we’re fortunate to do this work every day. We get to dream the impossible dream. The words of this song from The Man of La Mancha keep running through my head as a source of inspiration:
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
And to run where
The brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
And to love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march,
March into hell
For that heavenly cause
And I know
If I’ll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart
Will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest
I hope you enjoy the resources below as much as I enjoyed finding them for you.
To your fundraising success,
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Culture and Values
Click-it: Need a culture of philanthropy? 8 ideas to cultivate one. Great tips from Mary Cahalane at Hands On Fundraising. She says “philanthropy is mission.” Couldn’t have said it better myself!
Click-it: Economics is messy. I always appreciate Seth Godin, and this one really made me think about the value nonprofits and nonprofiteers bring to society and the world. Read it, and feel good about what you do. You create value. You are valuable.
Donor Retention & Gratitude
Click-it: Seven Thank Yous That Delight Donors. I’m a big believer in borrowing good ideas from others. Here Liz Ragland of Network for Good shares some creative charity thank you’s. Pick your favorite(s). Personally, I like the one from Here2There Ministries.
Content Marketing
Click-it: Master Storytelling to Boost Nonprofit Content Marketing. This is my latest guest post for Maximize Social Business. We’re in a content marketing and storytelling zeitgeist. Combine the two to draw potential donors closer.
Grant Writing
Click-it: Grantseekers, how irritating are you to funders? Use this checklist to find out. This title says it all. Make sure you aren’t doing any of these things highlighted by the inimitable Vu Le of Nonprofit With Balls.
Major Gifts and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Start Putting These Fundraising Words Everywhere Right Now. Spot-on advice from Greg Warner of Market Smart. And easy to accomplish.
Management and Strategy
Click-it: 3 Surprisingly Inefficient Daily Business Practices. I’ll bet these suggestions from Bart Mroz on Entrepreneur are ones you’ve thought about in passing. Why not make this the year you do something about it?
Planning
Click-it: Nonprofit Fundraising Plan: 6 Must-Do Steps For Success. Tina Jepson offers up a primer on developing a fundraising plan on the Cause Vox blog. It’s excellent, and includes some samples to get you started.
Sustainable Business Leadership
Click-it: Beginners Introduction to Data-Driven Fundraising. Zach Shefska is running a 6-part tutorial over on The Fundraising Report Card, and it’s awesome content. Make this the year you do what works (by test), not what feels like it might work.
FREE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Donor Retention and Gratitude
Click-it: Flash Class: 12 Thank-you Mistakes to Avoid [Register for free webinar + Q&A 2-23-17]. Register for this webinar sponsored by the good folks at Donor Search (offered by yours truly). You’ll learn about how, when and why to thank your donors, so you can build relationships that pave the way for future gifts.
Events
Click-it: How to Report Live from Nonprofit Conferences and Events [Register for free webinar 2-14-17]. This presentation by Heather Mansfield of Nonprofit Tech for Good is tailored for social media managers. It will highlight which skills are necessary for live reporting, which online tools work the best, and outline a 6-week plan that includes pre-event planning and post-event follow-up.
Major Gifts
Click-it: 3 Secrets to Raising Major Gifts You Can’t Survive Without [Register for free webinar 1-26-17]. Major gift specialist Amy Eisenstein, CFRE, uncovers the secrets of finding major donor prospects hiding in your database – and more — in this webinar for Bloomerang.
Trends
Click-it: Field Guide for 2017 Fundraising [Register for free webinar, 1-25-17]. Listen in as Curt Swindoll, Executive V.P. for Pursuant, talks about the trends that will make the biggest impact on fundraising in the coming year.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Online Social Fundraising
Click-it: Social Sells – The Mini-Guide to Social Selling. This is a downright fascinating piece from Salesforce that’s intended for commercial businesses but, in my opinion, applies in spades to “selling” your mission to prospective donors in a digital worlds. I’ll probably write more about this in an upcoming article, but I wanted to share now for those who are interested in reading the entire mini-guide.
Marketing Planning
Click-it: Right-Things, Right-Now Nonprofit Marketing Plan Template [Free download]. Get this practical, doable nonprofit marketing plan template from Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention.
Social Media
Click-it: 2017 Social Planning Template and Checklist. This comes from the folks at Simply Measured. While not specific to nonprofits, it’s got useful templates for content planning, budgeting, promotion and tracking.
Quick final reminder:
TODAY IS THE LAST DAY to register for my upcoming 8-week Winning Major Gift Strategies for small and medium-size shops e-course.
- Your best value is to register HERE. You’ll simultaneously be enrolled and become a Clairification subscriber – which will knock $200 off the curriculum price. Subscriber benefits are yours for a full year. One click puts you on the pathway to passionate philanthropy – MAJORLY – for the full year.
Not interested in this course? If you just want to join Clairification as a subscriber you get generous discounts on all products. And you have access to every single one of my 600+ articles.
Okay, that’s it for reminders. Have a wonderful week-end and week.
Go out there and make the world, or just one person’s life, a bit better!
2 Comments
Thanks for sharing!!
Great post to share. Keep up with the good work.