Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Today’s Click-it, generously sponsored by Bloomerang, is a HUGE spring bouquet filled with an eclectic array of free resources for you. It’s time to wake up and smell the roses! (And daisies, daffodils, freesia, tulips, sweet pea and more).
It’s my pleasure to curate content for you across the web – all with the goal of helping you in your quest to facilitate passionate philanthropy. I’ve got lots more wisdom to share, and hope you’ll take advantage this year. Clairification School gives you a full year of tips! If you’re on the fence about enrolling, see what others say about why they’ve joined.
Enjoy, and may I wish you a very happy spring,
P.S. I’m also available for hourly coaching. Just email me if you’d like to explore this, or set up a 15-minute time to chat here.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Annual Giving
Click-it: 4 Important Steps to Improving Monthly Donor Retention. If you don’t know by now you can improve donor retention from an average of 45% to an average of 90% (per the Fundraising Effectiveness Project research), it time for you to give this serious thought. Erica Waasdorp of A Direct Solution is a monthly fundraising guru, so… check this out!
Click-it: Giving Circles Are Helping Young Women Make ‘Change, Not Charity’ In Their Communities. After you read this article in Refinery 29, you’ll likely want to investigate where you might find Giving Circles in your own community. This is definitely an overlooked area of prospect potential [While other service groups who’ve traditionally make grants to charity, like Rotary, Lion’s Club, and Kiwanis, are on the decline, Giving Circles are on the rise.]
Boards
Click-it: How to Boost Nonprofit Board Performance. This article by Linda Henman in the Nonprofit Information blog outlines the role of the Board vis a vis the Executive.
Donor Retention
Click-it: How about a money-back guarantee for donors? Read this article from Jeff Brooks, Future Fundraising Now, to shift your thinking about how you treat donors and WHY it’s important to continually demonstrate impact if you want them to feel satisfied.
Click-it: The Ultimate Guide on Donor Experience by Tim Sarrantonio of Neon One on the Hands-On Fundraising blog discusses the direct correlation between the donor’s satisfaction with their giving and gratitude experience and whether they will give to your organization again.
Events
Click-it: Should Your Nonprofit Do an Event? They’re resource-intensive and often don’t serve your priorities. You owe it to yourself to ponder the trade-offs. Grab some food for thought in my recently published article on the Bloomerang blog.
Management and Strategy
Click-it: Time to Brainstorm a Revised Nonprofit Mission Statement? I always ask new clients what would happen were they to cease to exist. In this article for the Bloomerang blog, I describe how everything you do emanates from both the WHY and WHAT of your existence. If folks don’t understand why you exist it’s difficult to inspire them with what you are doing.
Click-it: Opinion-Bay Area Nonprofit Employees Deserve Fair Wages. You can’t pay decent salaries if you’re running on fumes. This article from the San Jose Mercury outlines the systemic challenges nonprofits face. Food for thought; fuel for advocacy.
Major and Legacy Gifts
Click-it: How to Cultivate Donor Loyalty: 5 Marketing Tips. The Stelter Company specializes in planned giving, and this article outlines how you can show donors legacy giving is within everyone’s reach – building donor engagement along the way.
Click-it: Why fundraisers should take some lessons from stockbrokers. Greg Warner of Market Smart describes a new way to think about your role as a philanthropy facilitator. Donors don’t give to you, but through you.
Online Social Marketing and Fundraising
Click-it: How to use direct mail to encourage online donations. Ron Pruitt at 4aGoodCause discusses how to think of your offline direct mail campaigns as extensions of your digital channels, offering concrete action tips to better merge your strategies.
Click-it: Breaking News: Changes Coming to the Facebook Donate Button. Full disclosure: I am not a fan of FB fundraising, largely because I find it encourages transactions and you can’t steward these donors because you don’t get their contact info. That being said, if your fundraising model is more about money today than tomorrow, read everything Julia C. Campbell, social media guru, has to say. She could be right, and she’s definitely trying to open me to a growth mindset! This article includes links to other articles on the subject.
FREE AUDIO-VISUAL LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
The more you learn, the more you grow.
Finding webinars you’d like to attend that overlap? Note that 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: Vibrant Giving Options [Download/listen to micro-video]. Did you know donors give more if you offer them giving options? Think about how you can package your priority initiatives so you’ve got a ‘menu’ of choices from which donors can choose. Watch this succinct presentation on the AFP website from March Heim, The Artful Asker.
- Who you help
- Facilities
- Staff
- Program
- Where most needed
Hone what they’re interested in most and funnel it down to what they want to select.
Content Marketing
Click-it: Donor Stewardship that Tells a Story [Register for free webinar, 4-25-2019]. Join Vanessa Chase Lockshin of The Storytelling Nonprofit on this Bloomerang-sponsored interactive session to help you infuse storytelling into your communications. You’ll get lots of examples too.
Click-it: Stories That Raise Money – 3 Strategies Your Nonprofit Should Be Using [Register for free Flash Class 5-23-2019]. Donor Search hosts principal of The Storytelling Nonprofit, Vanessa Chase Lockshin, for this action-centric session.
Donor Retention and Upgrades
Click-it: Delighting Donors [Download free, on-demand webinar]. Check out this presentation from Qgiv on one of my favorite topics. If you want to retain more donors you have to make more donors happy. Creative thank you’s make a big difference!
Management and Strategy
Click-it: Kickstarting your Strategic Planning Process [Register for free webinar, 4-23-19]. Join Bridgespan for a ‘Leadership Accelerator’ session on how to get your strategic planning process off to a good start. Learn about the critical elements of a strategic plan, hear about best practices other nonprofit leaders have put into place, and understand pitfalls to avoid.
Website
Click-it: How to Captivate and Engage Constituents with Your Website [Watch free on-demand video]. The good folks at Firespring are website experts, and here you’ll learn direct from CEO Jay Wilkinson the five elements of an engaging website. You’ll also hear what you should be thinking about, but aren’t. And there will be real-world example from which you can borrow!
FREE DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS
Board
Click-it: Board Engagement Checklist [Download your free tool]. Cindi Phallen at Create Possibility specializes in board engagement and she’s created this cool checklist to help you engage yours. She’s even included a video with instructions on how to use it!
Capital Campaign
Click-it: Rethinking Capital Campaigns [Read article; Download free report]. Check out this reimagining of capital campaigns for a digital age, put together by Amy Eisenstein and Andrea Kihlstedt. It’s a compilation of advice that may make a campaign more feasible and successful for you in the years ahead. Plus… don’t miss the great bequest challenge idea inside!
Data Benchmarks
Click-it: 2018 Nonprofit Donation Processing Benchmark Report [Download free white paper]. If you want to look smart to your boss, check out this just-released comprehensive state giving trends based on donation processing and payment transactions from the folks at Merkle RMG. Over 38.8 million transactions and $1.5 billion in donations were analyzed! Interestingly, 91% of donations processed were made by check, though credit card donations yielded the largest average gift.
Surveys
Click-it: 100 Donor Survey Questions for Your Nonprofit [Download free guide]. One of the best ways to create donor-centered communications is to find out more about your donors. Will Schmidt of Classy gives you the help you need to craft a winning survey.
Trends
Click-it: Rogare Critical Fundraising USA [Download free report]. This evidence-based report from the international fundraising think tank, Rogare, offers key insights on what’s working/not working (including a SWOT analysis of U.S. fundraising), plus 23 recommendations on how to meet and overcome some of the major challenges ahead.
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Here are links to my most recent articles.
- How to Choose the Most Effective Fundraising ‘Ask’ Words
- How to Calm ‘Busy’ Nonprofit Overwhelm Syndrome
- 6 Strategies to Stop Killing Nonprofit Innovation!
- ONE Amazingly Simple Smart Fundraising Strategy
- Are You Failing to Achieve Your Nonprofit Fundraising Potential?
- You Control Nonprofit Donor Retention
Hope to see you in Clairification School!
My motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it.”
