Clairity Click-it: Year End Edition w/Tips, Resolutions, Predictions + More Gifts!

Year-End  Clairity Click-it Gifts — wrapped up in my blog. Open them!

Today I’ve got my year-end edition with some final tips for the end of the year, some ideas as you’re making your new year’s resolutions and a list of predictions to get you off on the right foot in 2015.

Don’t miss the practical, last-minute stuff, and tape these resolutions and predictions next to your computer so you can give them some serious thought when you return from you holiday break. Oh, and did I mention there are a few more gifts at the end?

Tips

Click-It: Subject Lines for Your Last-Minute Email Appeals (knock them off). My friend and colleague Gail Perry has collected a bunch of super examples for you to swipe, and reminds us that 10% of annual giving occurs on the last 3 days of the year. Don’t miss out!

Click-It: How Many Year-End Fundraising Emails Should You Send. Another friend and colleague, John Haydon, reminds us that year-end email success is about both quantity and quality. Read it all, but here are a few tips: (1) Asks buried in newsletters aren’t the same; (2) Segment your list.

Click-It: Getting Ready for Year-End Giving? 6 Ways to Make Your Donation Pages Better.    It’s not too late to steal these ideas from Randy Hawthorne at Nonprofit Hub. Keep it simple, focused and user-friendly. No matter how great your subject line… how wonderful your copy… how compelling your deadline… how inspiring your video… how often you mail… it’s all for nought if it’s just too darn difficult to make a donation to your cause.

Resolutions

Click-It: Scrap the New Year resolutions, theme your year ahead. The folks at Good Eggs suggest you select a theme for your year ahead. It could be for just your development and marketing efforts or your entire organization. If it were me, I’d make it the Year of Quality Content.

Click-It: New Year’s Resolutions For Your Social Customer Service. This article by Sophie De Beule on the Maximize Social Business blog may have been written with for profit businesses in mind, but it holds true for nonprofits as well. One of my favorite take-aways – and something to really think about as you make your resolutions for next year, is “Social media is not a department.” This may be the year to rid yourself of silos between marketing and development.

Click-It: 40 Fundraising Blogs You Should Be Reading in 2015.   My pal Steven Shattuck of Bloomerang has put together this great list of must-follow blogs for next year. I’m proud to be included on this list, and I promise to continue reading all of them on your behalf and sending you the best of the best in my weekly Clairity Click-its next year.  But I encourage you to read them for yourself as well.  Lots of wisdom in dem der blogs, yes sirree!

2015 Predictions

Click-It: 3 Cause Marketing Predictions for 2015. This post from Joe Waters of Selfish Giving really made me sit up and take notice. The first one I saw coming. The second one, not at all. And the third one makes total sense, but I wouldn’t have thought of it. They’re all great food for thought as you begin your planning for next year.

Click-It: Facebook in 2015 – What Nonprofits Need to Know. Another great post from my pal Julia Campbell covering some trends you need to know about if you want your FB posts to get attention in the coming year. My overall take-away: It’s going to become more and more work (like just about everything else in our digital age, sigh…). As Julia states: “If you are not willing and able to monitor Facebook and get responses to people within 24 hours (less than 12 hours is more ideal), then do not bother.” Is your nonprofit up for the challenge? P.S. You may want to consider using Facebook Groups if you don’t do so already.

Click-It: News by the Spoonful: TechSoup’s 2015 Tech Predictions. Even if you’re not a tekkie, you can appreciate some of what the folks at TechSoup say we have in store for us. Ever hear of the “crowdspeaking” platform “Thunderclap?” You soon may. And what about Ello, Snapchat and ask.FM?  The days of Facebook may be numbered. You may also be thinking about making your web pages more secure. And maybe doing some creative partnering (e.g., Uber and Goodwill?). When it comes to getting creative, one of my favorite concepts is thinking about how far you can go with crowd funding. For my money, I’d do some creative brainstorming on this topic in early 2015.

Click-It: 5 Social Media Trends That Could Impact Nonprofits In 2015.  Hmmn… read this guest post by Alex Balan on Wild Apricot Blog right after the preceding article and you may begin to notice some trends. Ello again. And Yik Yak.  You won’t want to use them all, of course. But you should take a look at them and see what they have to offer.  Niche-based platforms might work well for certain types of causes (e.g. Foodie for hunger and nutrition groups and Fitocracy for health organizations). You’re going to have to get creative, but there’s real potential to spread your message places where there may be less competition for the particulars of your brand.  So give it some thought!

MORE FREE HOLIDAY GIFTS!!!

To continue to fulfill on my promise to go shopping and offer you one or more gifts every week from now until the end of the year, here are some last-minute presents wrapped up in my blog.

Open-It: I’m offering a free webinar with 4GOOD on January 7th, noon PST: Grow Your Major Gifts; Then Don’t Let Them Wither on the Vine — Learn to Make Dynamic ‘Moves’ and Passionate ‘Asks’. There’ll be time for Q & A as well — hope to see you there! Register here.

Open-It 4GOOD Nonprofit Webinars offers freebies all year long. There’s lots of great stuff; if you don’t know about them, you should.

Open-It 40 Times: New this year: The Fundraising Summit will be offering 40+ different webinars, and IT’S ALL FREE if you register now! Over a five day period early next month you’ll get access to instruction and inspiration from the world’s best speakers. I’m especially pleased to be offering my free “Anatomy of a Successful Fundraising Offer” webinar. It’s one among many gems; a gift that keeps on giving, and giving, and giving! Sessions are free, but only for 24 hours. So check out your favorites, register today and get these sessions on your calendar!

Only 12 days left until the end of the year.

Thank you for all you do to make our world a better place — and please make sure you thank your donors for their part too!

I’m going to assume you’re ready. You’ve got your end-of-year appeals planned. You’re calling your lapsed donors. And so forth. But just in case all your ducks aren’t quite in a row, go back up to the top of this article and take a closer look at some of the excellent tips provided. It’s not too late to maximize your chances for fundraising success! And while you’re at it, why not get a head start on getting more gifts next year? The best way to retain more donors is to develop a gratitude culture.  It’s easy as pie with my Attitude of Gratitude Guide.    All Clairification products are guaranteed, or your money back.  Get your Guide here — and have a joyful and peaceful holiday filled with many blessings!

Image courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net