Clairity Click-it: Year-End Tweaks, Philanthropy, Nonprofit Marketing, Landing Pages

Click it for some curiously strong links!

This week I’ve got some provocative posts, practical posts and more actionable tips to help with your year-end fundraising (don’t miss the useful tips;  they’re at the bottom). To your success!

Philanthropy

Click it: Does Philanthropy Really Need Reinventing? If you think something may be broken in the nonprofit world, consider carefully what that may be.  This ‘must read’ from Simone Joyaux on the Bloomerang blog offers a thoughtful, provocative look at the nature of philanthropy and the role of government vs. that of the social sector. I wish I’d written it.

Nonprofit Marketing

Click-it: Younger Donors are a Waste of Time. Way to call a spade a spade. I can’t tell you the hours I wasted trying to cultivate younger donors just because they were, well, younger.  If your leadership (or you) has ever said: “Gosh, our donor file is getting so old. We have to bring in more new donors,” or “If we don’t start acquiring younger major donors we won’t be around in a few years,” read this great post from the Veritus Group.

Click-It: 5 Important Marketing Lessons Nonprofits Can Learn From The Hunger Games. Great title, and important content. Why storytelling, connecting, being purposeful about who and where, demonstrating change and inspiring branding are your keys to the kingdom. Thanks to npENGAGE and Madeline Turner for this post.

Landing Pages

Click-It: 5 Ways Lean Nonprofits Should Be Using Landing Pages. One size fits all generic landing pages simply don’t do the job.  You’re going to lose donations unless you tailor your donation landing page to your campaign. Check out this post from Leah Neaderthal on Hubspot to see how to use landing pages for campaigns, donations, and message and conversion testing.

Year-End Tweaks

Click-it: One Simple Tweak to Maximize Year-End Giving by Pamela Grow takes you to a podcast with Steven Screen of ÜberDirect that explains the beauty of superimposing a lightbox on your homepage. This entices folks to go directly to your Donate page, at a time of year when visitors to your website are inclined to do so. I did this when I worked at the San Francisco Food Bank, and it had an AMAZING effect. Even if you can’t get it together to do it this year, tuck it away for next year.

Click-it: Why Some Email Blasts Fail. E-blast doesn’t sound warm, fuzzy or particularly thoughtful, does it? Take some time, before it’s too late, to be sure your email list is clean and that the folks on it are likely to be receptive to your appeal. Otherwise, you’re pretty much fooling yourself about the success of your campaign. Eight times out of ten, failure is due to your list; not your appeal. Thanks to Third Sector Today and Seth Godin for this reminder.

AND THE END IS NEAR…

Most nonprofits raise up to 40% of their total annual campaign goal from mid November through December 31^st.  Time to kick it up a notch. And since I know you’re busy, it’s okay to cheat. A little. Get your ‘Cheat Sheet’: Year-End Fundraising To-Do’s and Checklists here. You’ll get actionable tips to assure you don’t miss a trick now, plus begin to get a leg up on what to do once the gifts roll in. I’ve also got a brand NEW guide to help you keep your donors in 2014: 48 Hours: Your Donor Acknowledgment Solution Kit. All my materials come with a 100% guarantee.

Photo: Flickr, Andrew Morton