Winter Wonderland Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Links, Free Resources
Get the Clairity Click-it Ticket to Success!
Happy long week-end in the U.S., and happy regular week-end every place else. TGIF!
Once again I’ve gathered plenty of reading and viewing materials for your edification. Great leaders are great learners.
Speaking of leaders in our field, I want to send a shout out to my 2019 Clairity Click-it sponsor, Bloomerang, for keeping this newsletter free. I’ve joined forces with them because we’re both dedicated to answering all your questions – even ones you haven’t yet thought of! Remember, my motto is: “If I know it, I want you to know it!”
I hope you’ll also enroll this year in ‘Clairification School’. You’ll get access to ALL my original content for a full 12 months, including exclusive weekly articles, bonus webinars and more, in the most cost-effective way I’ve found to deliver it. This is useful content that will help you raise much more than you invest by enrolling. Feel free to check out what others have to say about why they’ve enrolled.
Your support makes it possible for everyone and, truly, means a lot. Thank you sincerely for doing the significant work you do.
P.S. Questions? Just ask! Please email me at claire@clairification.com. I read and respond to every single email.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
Annual Giving
Click-it: The 2 Biggest ‘Do-nuts’ in Monthly Giving. More and more nonprofits are jumping on the monthly giving train, because donor retention is WAY better from these folks than one-time donors. There’s a right/wrong way to do it, and monthly giving guru Erica Waasdorp, A Direct Solution, tells you two big ‘no-no’s’ on the Nonprofit Pro blog.
Board Development
Click-it: Display Your Mission. Here’s a quick, easy and powerful idea from Jerry Panas via Panas Linzy & Partners.
Data Management
Click-it: Data is expensive. Seth Godin makes an important point. Don’t collect data you’re not going to use. Ask yourself “What changes might we make as a result of seeing this report?” Why monitor “open rates” if you’re never going to change your email strategy based on this data? You don’t want to fall into the time-sucking trap of producing reports merely for the sake of doing so. Think about it.
Click-it: 3 Simple Data Practices to Cleaner Data and More Effective Fundraising. I always tell folks 40% of the success of your annual appeal can be attributed to your mailing list. This article from Amy Bobrick of Merkle RMG describes why, and how, to clean up your database so you avoid the huge problem and expense of undeliverable, inaccurate and/or duplicate mail and email.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Lighting the Donor’s Journey: Utilizing the Persona Priority Matrix. If you want a formula for approaching your donors strategically, look no further than this meaty article from Tim Sarrantonio of NeonOne on the Grow blog. He shows you how to plan to craft messaging that speaks directly to your target supporters.
Click-it: Strategies to Ensure Nonprofit Donors Don’t Leave. Are you doing enough to make donors feel they matter? Do your communications make donors feel good? Check out how to do a more effective job in my new article on the Bloomerang blog.
Click-it: How to Rock Valentine’s Day to Build Donor Loyalty. It may be too late for this year, but you can apply the cultivation principles in this article I wrote for Bloomerang to other holidays too. Or… simply tuck it away for next year. [Plus, there’s a Donor Love & Loyalty Worksheet you can grab at the bottom of the article.]
Management and Strategy
Click-it: 6 New Year’s Resolutions for Nonprofits. You’ve completed year-end clean-up, acknowledgements and reporting, yes? What better time than now to plan ahead to do things even better next year! Jeff Gordy of Neon One suggests six great strategies. If you want an easy bang for your buck (and a leg up, as I find too few nonprofits get this right), I suggest #4.
Click-it: About Nonprofit Waste, Overhead, and Financial Subservience. Keenan Wellar writes in Nonprofit Quarterly about how low overhead does not equate with efficiency, nor does frugality equal effectiveness. It’s based on a study from 666 Habitat for Humanity affiliates.
Major and Legacy Giving
Click-it: Peer-to-Peer Asking: It’s Not About Dollars, It’s About Change. This article by Leslie Allen at Front Range Source makes one simple, yet critically important, point about what it takes to make an effective ask. Take it to heart, and you’ll be ahead of the game.
Click-it: What The Heck Is Progressive Profiling And Why You Need To Do It? Success at fundraising today comes less from moving folks along a linear path (i.e. ‘donor pyramid;’ ‘marketing funnel’) and more about engaging them wherever they are at this point in time. Greg Warner of Market Smart discusses how you can use technology to help you.
Video
Click-it: 5 great nonprofit videos and how to emulate them. Video is a growing trend because, let’s face it, if a picture is worth 1000 words a video is worth 10,000! With shortened attention spans, video is one of the best ways to grab eyes and ears. Learn how to use video effectively from Ronald Pruitt of 4aGoodCause
YOU
Click-it: Can AI & Bots Help Create A More Positive Nonprofit Workplace Culture? I really enjoyed this article from Beth Kanter about how to make a healthier, happier workplace using collaboration software and other technology. Some great ideas here!
Click-it: 5 Years From Now: Looking into Your Future and Your Donors’ Futures. This article from Amy Eisenstein is about you and about your donors. Take a bit of a step outside your current work role, and look towards the future. Then do the same for your donors. See how it shifts your thinking.
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: Donor Motivations: Using Academic Research to Understand Non-Profit Giving [Register for Flash Class, 2-19-2019]. If you think about what motivates folks to give you can craft your appeals accordingly. There is definitely some science involved, and the folks at Donor Search have invited Steven Grimes to review different studies and present ways to implement their findings to achieve greater fundraising success.
Culture
Click-it: Using Culture to Elevate Your Business’s Impact [Register for free webinar, 2-26-2019]. Don’t miss this opportunity to join consummate presenter Jay Wilkinson of Firespring as he outlines step-by-step components for a culture that attracts and keeps great talent, drives community engagement and, ultimately, does more good.
Donor Retention and Upgrades
Click-it: Be Smarter & More Engaging with Email [Watch on-demand webinar]. Now’s the time of year to cement and build relationships with your year-end donors. Learn how to maximize your online cultivation in this Qgiv webinar presented by Daniel Esrig.
Major Gifts
Click-it: What Donors Want – Fundraising Advice Straight from the Donor’s Mouth [Listen to free Podcast series]. Tune into a whole season of podcast interviews with major donors, put together by Rachel Stephenson Sheff, a London-based philanthropy advisor. Hat tip to Beth Kanter for highlighting this wonderful donor-centric resource on her blog
Management and Strategy
Click-it: Discover the Keys to BIG Fundraising at a Small Nonprofit [Register for free webinar, 2-25-2019]. Unlock the keys to efficient fundraising for new or small nonprofits with veteran fundraising pro, Linda Wastyn, hosted by Boardable. Learn how to spend your limited time and resources for maximum results.
Online Fundraising
Click-it: 5 Ways to #KonMari Your Digital Life [Download on-demand video]. Are you using all your saved apps, bookmarks, files and programs? Does the social media in which you’re engaging bring you joy? If so, great. Keep it up! If not, Julia C. Campbell of JCSM shows you how to thoughtfully develop a better methodology. I loved this!
Click-it: A/B Testing for Nonprofits [Register for free webinar, 2-26-19]. Jon Powell of NextAfter takes you through the critical steps to setting up and running an A/B test in your online fundraising. You’ll also learn some of the best things to test!
Click-it: How To Set Your Nonprofit Up for Social Media Fundraising Success [Register for free webinar, 3-19-2019]. Julia C. Campbell is my go-to nonprofit social media guru, and you’ll want to take advantage of this free 45-minute session she’s offering on Charity How-To.
YOU
Click-it: How to write your Fundraising Resume [Watch quick video]. Mazarine Treyz of Wild Woman Fundraising outlines how to put your best foot forward.
FREE DOWNLOADABLE MATERIALS
Events
Click-it: Great Fundraising Events: From Experience to Transformation [Download free research white paper]. Bloomerang, in partnership with Qgiv and Give Smart, funded a ground-breaking report from Adrian Sargeant, Professor of Fundraising and Director of the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at the University of Plymouth, which outlines for the first time what overarching factors may have a part to play in distinguishing genuinely outstanding fundraising events from merely ‘average’ ones.
Online Social Marketing and Fundraising
Click-it: Maximizing LinkedIn for Business [Download free e-book]. Last week I wrote two articles for Clairification about how to build donor relationships using LinkedIn. This book by LinkedIn expert Neal Schaffer outlines a bunch of cool strategies you can apply to strengthen your brand, build awareness and reach your goals.
Planned Giving
Click-it: (Re)Launching a Planned Giving Program [Download free planning calendar] It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Use this planning tool from Stelter as a guideline to help you plan to win your race to secure vital funding for your organization.
Did You Miss My Recent Articles?
Here are links to my most recent articles. Enroll in ‘Clairification School’ to get access to every single article I’ve ever written – with new ones delivered weekly straight to your in-box! You’ll also get free monthly tips from your own “My Clairification” dashboard, plus bonuses and more.
- 2 Smart Strategies to Build Donor Relationships on LinkedIn
- How to Use LinkedIn to Give Donors a Reason to Connect with You
- Boost Gift-Giving with These 5 Donation Page Improvements
- Staff Annual Fundraising Campaign? An Open Letter to Vu Le of Nonprofit AF Note, if you’re not enrolled in Clairification School and can’t read this on my website, you can read a reprint on Guidestar here as well as the article from Vu here.
- Which Nonprofit Fundraising or Marketing Problem is Yours?
If you find value in Clairification, your support via enrollment in Clairification School is a blessing. I promise to pay it back, and continue to offer lots of specific advice to help you raise greater awareness, more volunteerism and passionate philanthropy.
Hope to see you in Clairification School!
