Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Here’s some end-of-summer reading to get you ready for the busy fall season. My newest collection of articles, webinars, templates. reports and guides – all free – that I’ve encountered in my readings across the web. They’re my gift to you, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy finding them for you.
I also author offer plenty of original content all year round. I’ve got a LOT to share with you based on my 35 years’ experience – 30 of them in the trenches – plus all the new things I learn every day in my practice.
My motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it!”
If you find value in Clairification, please sign up now for all the benefits ‘Clairification School’ has to offer.
Your support makes it possible and, truly, means a lot.
P.S. I’m also available for one-on-one coaching, and offer up to four deeply discounted hours to members of the Clairification community. Please email me at claire@clairification.com if you have any questions.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Annual Individual Giving
Click-it: Top 10 Ways to Upgrade Nonprofit Donors. It’s more cost-effective to retain and upgrade an existing donor than to acquire a new one. See my article on the Bloomerang blog to learn how to do it!
Click-it: 7 Tips to Make Your Donors an Irresistible Fundraising Offer. See my article on the Network for Good Nonprofit Marketing Blog. Learn what the 40/40/20 rule is, and how to make your appeal super compelling this year.
Events
Click-it: The Essential Guide to Planning a Fundraising Event. This is a step-by-step guide from Sunshine Events in the U.K. Great for beginners, and a good review for everyone.
Major Gifts
Click-it: Unless You Do These 7 Things, Your Major Gifts Program Won’t Succeed. Catch my guest post for The Fundraising Digest this month, and get your program on track so you’re working smart!
Online Fundraising & Marketing
Click-it: You Can’t Help Our World if People Can’t Hear You [Click to listen – 17 minutes] I just got interviewed by The Wild Woman of Fundraising about why your marketing and fundraising should always have been integrated, but in 2017 and beyond they MUST be together! Intrigued?
Click-it: Use Social Selling to Drive Increased Nonprofit Fundraising. My most recent article for Maximize Social Business (I’m there every month, along with a whole bunch of other great social media bloggers). This month it’s all about finding, developing and nurturing leads/prospects so you can convert as many as possible into sales/gifts.
Click-it: The 5 Types of Social Media Content You Need to Create. Learn from social marketing guru Rebekah Radice and apply these lessons learned from business to your social sector business. In a nutshell: visual; video; infographic; how-to, and listicle.
Click-it: How to Find out What Keywords Are Relevant to Your Business. If you want to drive more people to your website, it’s wise to take some proactive steps to get them there. Get tips from market outreach expert Dave Schneider on the Maximize Social Business blog.
Click-it: Our issue is on the news. Now what? If you work in an area that relates to what folks are “googling” these days, you should be spending free Google grant ad dollars to assure folks find you. They want to do something; your job is to make it easy. Learn how with this article by Nick Ellinger of Donor Drive.
Social Engagement
Click-it: Is Blogging Dead? I agree in spades with this post from Kristina LeRoux on the Nonprofit Communications blog. If your nonprofit isn’t rocking a blog, I’d recommend it!
Click-it: Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Instagram. If you want to engage current supporters and attract new ones, look no further than this hot visual platform for sharing compelling visuals that tell your stories – without having to write 1000 words. Great tips from Kristen Hay on the Bloomerang blog.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: Using Performance Measurement to Improve Nonprofit Decision-Making. Learn why and what to do to assure you get towards meaningful goals. Article + infographic courtesy of Rutgers University.
YOU
Click-it: 7 Steps for Finding Work/Life Balance While You’re Trying to Save the World. If workaholic and overachiever tendencies are getting in the way of a fulfilling personal life, this article is for you. From Meico Marquette Whitlock, Founder and CEO of Mindful Techie on the Social Fish blog.
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 Individual Giving
Click-it: Kick Butt & Take Names on #GivingTuesday [Register for 5 free webinars Sept/Oct]. The folks at Firespring really have your back this fall! They’ve put together a 6- webinar series to get you prepared to execute and follow through on this big giving day (alas, the first already happened). Everything you need, all in one place, and… all free!
Click-it: Creative Donor Stewardship That Tells A Story [Register for free webinar, 9-12-17]. My friend Vanessa Chase Lockshin, of The Storytelling Nonprofit will teach you the best way to put your most compelling story forward, just in time for prime fundraising season.
Donor Retention
Click-it: 12 Nonprofit Thank You Mistakes to Avoid [Register for free webinar, 9-13-17] Join me and sponsor Firespring to learn the art of thank you’s that are more than a generic transactional receipt. You want WOW thank you’s that set you up for your next gift.
Online Social Fundraising and Marketing
Click-it: 10 Signs Your NGO Excels at Social Media [Register for free webinar 9-19-17] This is the last year Nonprofit Tech for Good is presenting free webinars. Sign up, and you’ll receive the notes.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Annual Individual Giving
Click-it: A Nonprofit’s Guide to Recurring Giving [Free download]. If you don’t have a monthly giving program in place, make this the year you do so! The good folks at Classy tell you how.
Board Meetings
Click-it: The Best Board Meeting I Ever Attended [Free download]. This is a free agenda template, with explanatory narrative, from Board Source.
Events
Click-it: Charity Auctions: The Ultimate Guide. Everything from live, to silent to online. From what, and why and when. From before, and during and after. It’s all here, put together for you by the folks at Double the Donation.
Click-it: 70+ Proven Fundraising Event Ideas. Another comprehensive resource, with a compendium of ideas for events. Put together for you by Mobile Cause.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: Live Benchmarks. Brand new TODAY, the folk at the Fundraising Report Card are rolling out benchmarks that will update DAILY. For free! Measure your donor retention rates, average donation size and other fundraising metrics against other nonprofits. Aggregate benchmarks will be measured from all $15 billion in donations they have, but in the near future you’ll be able to segment your benchmarks based off of organization sector and size. This is super useful when you get questions from your board or boss as to how well you’re measuring up!
NOT FREE, BUT WELL WORTH A LOOK
Get yourself inspired for the year-end push!
Click-it: Nonprofit Leadership Summit [Register Before 9-18-17] hosted by Mazarine Treyz of Wildwoman Fundraising. Hear from the experts — over three days in September — on navigating change, elevating board fundraising, inspiring your staff, eliminating siloes, integrating marketing and fundraising, getting on board with monthly giving and lots more, without even leaving your office or home! It’s at least a $2,000 value, but you’ll pay much, much less because it’s got sponsors. So there are discounts! Big ones. This is a huge bargain. Just like a three-day conference, but it costs much less and you don’t have to travel. And guess what else? I’m presenting, so I get to offer you a coupon for a whopping $300 off the already discounted price! Make sure to use it: clairity clickit
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Enroll in Clairification School to get access to every single article I’ve ever written! I cover everything, most notably: Annual Giving; Donor Retention; Major Gifts; Social Engagement; Online Fundraising; Boards & Leadership; Culture & Values; Strategy & Management, and Content Marketing. I also take requests!
Most recently:
- An APPealing Strategy to Raise More Money for Your Nonprofit
- Using Visuals to Enhance Nonprofit Marketing & Fundraising
- Nonprofit Marketing & Fundraising Are Like Peanut Butter & Jelly
- Philanthropy; Not Fundraising: How Inbound Marketing Enhances Opportunity for Human Connection
- How to Persuade New Donors to Join Your Nonprofit Mission
Hope to see you in Clairification School!
