Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
The ‘Clairity Click-it’ is a curated bimonthly newsletter – my gift to you – to help you invest in R & D (“rip off and duplicate” – a phrase I learned a few weeks ago from Jay Wilkinson, CEO of Firespring). There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when so many folks have already invented it for you!
I hope you enjoy the resources below as much as I enjoyed finding them for you. I’ve tried to offer something for just about everyone.
To your fundraising success,
Boards & Leadership
Click-it: The ‘AAA’ Approach to Board Members and Your Capital Campaign. Andrea Kihlstedt offers a great summary on Nonprofit Pro of an approach developed by my friend and mentor, Kay Sprinkel Grace. If you’re having difficulty inspiring your board to become engaged with fundraising, you owe it to yourself to check this article. And check out Kay’s book too!
Annual Giving
Click-it: 12 Ideas for Powerful P2P Fundraising. One of my core “Seven is Heaven” strategies for 2017 is creating compelling annual giving offers by exploring ways to acquire new donors and upgrade existing ones. To accomplish this goal, I heartily endorse Peer-to-Peer fundraising. This article by Sean Norris on Nonprofit Pro gives you tips from the experts.
Content Marketing
Click-it: 6 Video Marketing Trends that will Shape 2017. For those of you who like to stay on the cutting edge, check out this article from Social Media Examiner. Share and discuss with your marketing team. While you’re at it, check out Key Tips for Creating Effective Visuals for Social Media.
Donor Retention & Gratitude
Click-it: 7 Strategies to Create Happier, More Generous Donors. In this guest post for Nonprofit Pro I talk about how to sustain donors over time by helping them to feel good about their philanthropy.
Events
Click-it: The Fundraising Event Strategies Carnival. Here you’ll find articles from nine fundraising experts (including yours truly); plus you’ll find a complete Event Planning Guide from the folks at Booster who are hosting this month’s Nonprofit Tech Blog Carnival.
Major Gifts and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Your #Charity is Losing Big Money If It Ignores This Giving Option. Michael Rosen weighs in on the importance of actively communicating the benefits of gifts of securities. There are 5 things you should do to secure more of these gifts. Excellent advice!
Management and Strategy
Click-it: 10 Things All Fundraisers Should Do In February. Tina Jepson offers 10 ‘to-do’s’ on the Cause Vox blog to help you set course for the coming year. I tried to pick a few favorites for you, but they’re honestly all important.
Click-it: Do you want to know why you can’t find a great development director? Mary Cahalane of Hands on Fundraising explains what you need to do to attract and retain staff who will help move your organization forward. And if you’re a staff person having trouble getting the responsibility and authority you need, slip this article under your boss’ door!
Click-it: Let’s stop calling them ‘soft skills’. The inimitable Seth Godin weighs in on the importance of hiring for things like passion, positivity, teamwork, strategic thinking and commitment. If you’re having trouble finding experienced fundraisers, consider finding people with skills you need; then training them for their vocation.
Online Fundraising
Click-it: What Bill Murray can teach you about email marketing. Will Valverde of M+R Marketing shares a simple, powerful tip to dramatically improve your results at virtually no cost. It’s amazing how many nonprofits neglect to do this. Or who fall into the traps Will suggests you avoid. Read this!
Sustainable Business Leadership
Click-it: Why Self-Interested Volunteers are the Best for Nonprofits. Part of sustaining your organization lies in the care and feeding of your volunteers. This article by Julie Szabo and Darren Barefoot on Beth’s Blog shows how the more you treat volunteers as staff, giving them responsibility and authority for doing the important jobs they do, the more successful you’ll be.
FREE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Corporate Relations
Click-it: Corporate Relations Programs that ROCK [Register for Free Webinar, 2-9-17]. Learn from Wendy Schwamb on Top Nonprofits about how to develop a year-round program of business sponsors.
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.
Online Social Fundraising
Click-it: How NGOs Worldwide Use Online Technology and Social Media [Register for Free Webinar 2-7-17]. Based upon data gleaned from the 2017 Global NGO Online Technology Report, learn from Nonprofit Tech for Good how NGOs worldwide use the internet to build awareness and raise funds to advance their mission and programs and elevate their online brand.
Planning
Click-it: How to Plan Your Fundraising Calendar [Register for Free Webinar 2-8-17]. Gail Perry of Fired Up Fundraising always offers great advice, and she’ll be suggesting 10 things you need to master in the coming year. Compare these with my “Seven is Heaven,” and build your fundraising plan!
Storytelling
Click-it: Storytelling: Science and Strategy [Register for Free webinar, 2-23-17]. Brady Josephson of Shift Charity is offering this session to help you “sell” your cause using stories. It’s suitable for fundraisers and marketers alike.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
Events
Click-it: The New Rules of Event Sponsorships [Free download]. Event sponsorships are harder than ever to secure and retain. Learn the new rules of engagement in this guide from Event Brite.
Metrics
Click-it: Benchmark Yourself for Peer Comparison [Free Calculator]. Benchmark yourself against industry averages using this free tool from M+R that helps with both the calculation and creation of an infographic.
Online Fundraising
Click-it: Free Nonprofit Guide: Turn Strangers Into Supporters with Effective Calls-to-Action. Making sure that a CTA (call-to-action) is enticing could be the difference between 50% more clicks – for a nonprofit this can mean 50% less (or more) volunteers or donations. Learn to convert strangers to donors with this free guide from Hubspot.
Click-it: The Ultimate Guide to Online Fundraising [Free download] from Abila contains articles, real-life examples, worksheets, and more to guide you through the six steps of online fundraising: targeting, appeals, websites, donation forms, thank yous, and follow-up communication.
Keep and Upgrade Your 2017 Donors!
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. You also have access to every single one of my 600+ articles. Subscriber benefits are yours for a full year.
One click puts you on the pathway to passionate philanthropy for the full year. SUBSCRIBE HERE.
