Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Happy New Year!
Here comes your first 2017 “Clairity Click-it” — an eclectic kick-off to the year.
I am happy to bring you this bimonthly newsletter for free. I find many great resources that I just can’t help but share. I truly want you to make our world a better place!
I feel the same way about the in-depth articles I write, and hope you will support me so I can continue to bring them to you regularly. They are now available by subscription.
Quick final reminder: TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY to catch the Early Bird discount to register for my upcoming 8-module Winning Major Gift Strategies for small and medium-size shops e-course. It’s offered just once a year. Now’s the time!
* Register TODAY to save $300 on the full course curriculum. You’ll also get all annual subscriber benefits at 30% off. One click puts you on the pathway to passionate philanthropy – MAJORLY – for the full year.
*Just want to subscribe? Tomorrow is also the last day to get the 30% off ‘Early Admit’ Subscriber discount to get access to all Clairification content this year, including articles.
Okay, that’s it for reminders.
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…
Donor Retention & Gratitude
Click-it: Being grateful makes you and your donors happier. I missed this at Thanksgiving, but this article from Mary Cahalane of Hands On Fundraising is terrific year-round. So… enter into the new year with an attitude of gratitude!
Click-it: How to Retain First-Time Donors With Your Email Welcome Series. You’re going to have to do something proactive to retain all the new donors you acquired at year’s end. Do you have an email welcome series planned? If not, learn what to do in this article from John Haydon.
Click-it: Questions to Answer & Metrics to Measure for a Strong 2017. This is spot on. Wish I’d written it! Take Zach Shefska’s ideas from Fundraising Report Card and run with them.
Content Marketing
Click-it: Winning Arguments Using Nonprofit Content Marketing. This is my latest guest post for Maximize Social Business. It’s got lessons I learned about making your persuasive, compelling case for support – back in the days when I was a lawyer. You don’t put stuff into evidence if it’s unrelated to helping you win your argument.
Major Gifts and Legacy Giving
Click-it: It was bound to happen sooner or later, here’s why and what to do. Greg Warner of Market Smart discusses the fact that, due to the growth of Donor Advised Funds, this year Fidelity Charitable now sits at the top of the Philanthropy 400 list that ranks nonprofits according to the amount of money they raise from private sources. Your nonprofit should be finding out which of your donors has a DAF, because it’s an indication of their ability and willingness to be philanthropic.
Management and Strategy
Click-it: 5 Tips and Tricks to Make Your Fundraising (and Life) Better from Andrea Kihlstedt of Capital Campaign Masters is so on the money. I can’t pick a favorite!
Click-it: 7 Productivity Tips That Will Transform Your Fundraising comes from Chad Barger of Productive Fundraising. As you begin your year, consider whether you’re putting your efforts where you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck [Hint: It doesn’t come from checking email every 15 minutes].
Online Fundraising
Click-it: 9 Online Giving Lessons for 2016 from the Nonprofit Tech Blog Carnival. Online giving is taking an increasingly prominent role within the philanthropic community. This is a super-useful compendium of lessons learned last year, plus advice for 2017 strategy, from nine experts. There’s great technical guidance plus information about evolving best practices and trends.
Click-it: Future of Nonprofit Marketing & Fundraising: Technology + Social Tools + People. I write for Maximize Social Business each month on the best ways for nonprofits to maximize their social business. If you’re wondering where social sector content marketing and fundraising is heading in our post-digital revolution world, take a read.
Click-it: How to Use Instagram Live. This article from Social Media Examiner explains how to add live video to Instagram. It also explains a number of options for using Instagram stories to connect with your constituents.
Sponsorships
Click-it: Sponsorship Follow-Up: The Art of Overcoming Objections. Is one of your new year’s resolutions to get more sponsorship money from businesses? If so, check out this advice from Chris Baylis of The Sponsorship Collective. Here’s another good one too: The One Thing Every Sponsor Wants (And Nobody is Doing).
Storytelling
Click-it: How to Plan Your Non-Profit’s Stories for 2017. Storytelling has been an ongoing meme in recent years, and for good reason. Human beings are wired to enter into stories. It’s just about the best way you can convey your case for support so that folks will listen. Here Vanessa Chase Lockshin of The Storytelling Nonprofit offers a two-part article to help you excel in the year ahead.
FREE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Major Gifts
Click-it: Anatomy of a Major Gift Ask — Step by Step — with Art and Heart [REGISTER for My Free Webinar January 10, 2017]. I’ll be offering this one myself, on behalf of the great folks at Qgiv. I rarely offer this for free — so take advantage of this New Year’s gift. I really want you to get serious about major gift fundraising this year!
Online Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: 5 Secrets of Email Marketing Geniuses [REGISTER for Free Webinar for Clairification Readers January 12, 2017]. Join me and Jay Wilkinson of Firespring for this special presentation for Clairification readers.
Click-it: 10 Signs Your NGO Excels At Social Media [REGISTER for Free Webinar January 17; 18]. Join Heather Mansfield of Nonprofit Tech for Good for examples of nonprofits doing an effective job adapting to social media changes.
Click-it: Roadmap for 2017 Digital Fundraising Success [Download webinar on demand]. Did you know 57% of donors make a donation online after watching a video? Crazy cool, no? Thanks to MobileCause you can learn about all sorts of online tips you can use, even if you don’t have a big (or any!) budget.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Boards
Click-it: Create a Fundraising-Friendly Nonprofit Board [Free E-Book]. Want to get your board better engaged this year? The folks at Network for Good created this free tool – including a sample board member job description and board member expectations worksheet — so take advantage!
Management and Budget
Click-it: Building a Better Budget: The Nonprofit Budget Roadmap [Free Download]. The beginning of the year is a good time to rethink how you build your budget. The folks at Abila are here to help with this free road map.
Click-it: GuideStar’s Six Tips for Busting the Overhead Myth [Free Resource Guide]. Make this the year you stop living with a scarcity mindset. It only short-changes your mission’s beneficiaries.
Philanthropy Culture
Click-it: The TEST Your Boss MUST Take! [Free Download]. Getting everyone on one page and invested in an organization-wide philanthropy culture begins at the top. If your CEO or board chair don’t understand certain fundraising basics, you’re sunk. Tom Ahern offers a 20-question quiz to help you out. It’s fun!
Planning
Click-it: Make Your Fundraising Plan for 2017 [Free worksheets]. Mazarine Treyz of Wildwoman Fundraising wants to help you get your year off to the best start possible. She notes that when you create a fundraising plan, according to the Individual Donor Benchmark Report by Third Space Studio, you get more fundraising success than if you do just about anything else.
Social Media Planning
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, budget, promotion and tracking.
Get Ready to Keep your 2017 Donors!
Your 6-volume Donor Retention and Gratitude ‘Bible’ – a comprehensive resource to keep more donors and raise more dollars.
You truly cannot thank folks enough if you want to retain more donors in 2017. Ready to exceed the average retention rates of just 19% of new donors and 63% of ongoing donors – 46% retention overall? Then get my Donor Retention and Gratitude Playbook. I promise you’ll find dozens of actionable tips to help you retain and upgrade more donors. The Playbook comes with a 30-day, no-questions-asked, money-back guarantee. [BTW: if you join Clairification as a subscriber you get generous discounts on all products. In this case, you get 54% off].
Please let me know in the comments below which types of resources you find most helpful. I aim to please!
