WARNING: Your Fundraising Communications are Too Pretty
Creative is great. I see lots of beautiful newsletters, web pages and email appeals. They have great design, colors, photos and even videos. But they have a problem.
Clairity Click-it: Mobile, Newsletters, Volunteer Recruiting, Writing, Engaging Board, Stories
I this week’s links because they’re both thought-proving and actionable. Pick one that speaks to you, and consider doing something different. Heck, the only way we grow is through experimenting. Take chances! Make mistakes! Mobile Click-it: Mobile for Good: A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits by Heather Mansfield at Nonprofit Tech for Good is…
Clairity Click-it: Sharing, Pinterest, G+, Databases, Content Marketing, Emotion
I love this week’s links because they’re both thought-provoking and actionable. Pick one that speaks to you, and consider doing something different. Heck, the only way we grow is through experimenting. Take chances! Make mistakes!
11 Steps to Turn Social Media into Fundraising Gold
Bet you thought social media sucks for fundraising. Au contraire.
It can help you raise money big time – but only if you engage with purpose. Just like anything else, social media won’t help you meet your goals unless you know where you’re going with it. Out of context, social media exchanges are just transactions.
Ask yourself this question: What am I going to do to make this exchange mean something, now and in the future?
ONE BIG THING Your Nonprofit Must Do TODAY to Succeed in 2014
Adopt an integrated inbound marketing and fundraising strategy.
If you don’t know what that means, you’re in trouble. Read on.
If you do know, are you really doing it?
It’s time to stop pussy footing around this.
Here’s why:
(1) Nonprofit marketing and fundraising have changed more in the past five years than the preceding 50. I’m not kidding! The digital revolution ended business as usual.
(2) Fundraising and marketing must be seamlessly integrated. They cannot be separate silos any longer.
Have you caught up with reality?
Clairity Click-it: Year-End Tweaks, Philanthropy, Nonprofit Marketing, Landing Pages
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!
Clairity Click-it: Compel, Kvell, Sell – Your 3 Keys to Year-End Fundraising Success
This week it’s about the three things that will boost your year-end giving: (1) social media done well will drive awareness of your cause and the current opportunity to make an impact; (2) creative, compelling content presented in the form of a story will trigger emotions that inspire philanthropy, and (3) your user-friendly, up-to-date website will make it easy for would-be donors to connect with you, donate and then continue to stay connected – and feel good about it – over time. This week’s links will give you food for thought – plus actionable tips.
Clairity Click-it: Tweak Your System to Improve Year-End Fundraising
As year-end fundraising approaches, just doing it the way you’ve always done it – or imitating the way others do it – may not be enough to set you apart from the crowd. So… our theme this week is to think outside the box – just a little. Teach yourself a few new tricks, and get outside — literally! — to invigorate your fundraising. So… let’s start with a post of almost the same name!
Halloween Nonprofit Blog Carnival – Major Gifts Tricks and Treats
Fear not! The Nonprofit Blog Carnival is back, offering tricks and treats galore from nonprofit experts all around the web to help you find, cultivate, solicit and steward your major donors.
Pick a goodie or two from this great baker’s dozen. After all… it’s the season!
Warning: If Your Nonprofit’s Not on Pinterest You’re Outdated
Wouldn’t you know I’d leave the trenches just when things got Pinteresting? I missed out, but I’m here to tell you… YOU don’t have to!
If we know anything about human beings, we know these two things: (1) they love a story, and (2) a picture is worth 1,000 words. A new guide to visual storytelling practices reveals that when information is presented orally, people tested 72 hours later remember only about 10%. That jumps to 65% when pictures are added! Pinterest is a dream come true for nonprofits wanting to engage constituents with their mission.
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Major Gifts Officers Will Lose Their Jobs in 2 Years
Unless… they reinvent themselves.
I know this sounds harsh. But check out Seth Godin’s Tried and false where he bluntly tells the truth about the tried and true: “In times of change… most of the tried is in fact, false. False because what used to work, doesn’t, at least not any longer.”
You may have been the best major gift officer on the planet five years ago. But that was then. This is now. The buying/giving market has fundamentally changed. And, yes, the culprit is the digital revolution. That’s how revolutions work. It’s truly the end of business as usual.
4 Crucial Steps to Develop a Donor Retention System
When you ask a fundraiser what the most difficult part of their job is, chances are you’ll get one of two answers – acquiring donors or retaining donors. Any fundraising organization is bound to come up against these problems at some point. But here’s the thing that is often overlooked – if you do a better job retaining donors, you can spend less time and money trying to acquire new donors.
Could this be the secret formula for fundraising success? Well, not entirely. But it’s a solid start.
Donor retention can seem elusive for many non-profits. It’s frustrating to pull up your annual reports to find out that you’ve only had 50% of last year’s donors make a gift again this year. Sometimes, it can even feel like a personal defeat.
If you’re working on the annual giving side of development, keep track of thousands of donors is nearly impossible. Your database can quickly become your archenemy. Having the highly personal relationships that major gift officers have with donors is a novel pipe dream.
But what if it was possible to scale this concept to create a system that retains donors?
Earth Day: What the World Needs Now – 7 Ways to Influence Change
“We want help solving our problems, both significant and commonplace. We want help improving our lives. We want help making sense out of world fraught with uncertainty.” — Jay Bear, Convince and Convert
It’s a day for thinking about the planet, and how to repair our world. There are many different ways. Sometimes it’s just hard to get started. The problems seem so insurmountable… it’s hard to envision making a difference.
Your job, as a nonprofit fundraiser and marketer, is to help folks see how they can influence the outcome. Then, you must help them to do it. Guide them towards being the change they want to see in the world. Persuade them that your cause is a fantastic way to achieve this change. Your cause may be one cause among many picked by your constituents; that’s fine. Your task is simply to (1) engage them to act, and (2) entice them to choose your organization to facilitate that action.
How do you turn thoughts into action that improves lives?
6 Ways to Get Others to Promote Your Nonprofit Blog for You: Happy Talk – S.S.T.S. Series, Part IIIb
Talking is what builds your reputation and develops relationships with those who share the values your organization enacts. Talking is central to your blog – and entire social media – strategy. So… let’s talk!
In the first part of this two-part post about how to get others to promote your blog we discussed how to find your natural “sharers” – those folks willing to be spokespersons on your behalf, whether they be influencers or advocates. Today we’re going to talk about how to get these boosters to spread your good word through digital word-of-mouth.
6 TIPS FOR GETTING YOUR TALKERS TALKING:
How to Create Nonprofit Blog Conversations That Engage. Let's Talk! – R.C.A. Series Part II
R.C.A.? Yup. When building a blog, you want to be Relatable, Conversational and Actionable. In Part I of this series I encouraged you to think like an RCA Victrola. You want your content to get people singing your song. And, heck, you can’t sing unless you know the words. So, today let’s put the “C”…
Do You Make These 5 Social Media Mistakes?
It’s time for a fresh look. A clairifying look, if you will.
Many of you have questions about social media, so let’s start by blowing out a few cobwebs and clearing our heads.
Ready?
Because if you think any of these things (below), you’re making a mistake in today’s zeitgeist.
There’s been a digital revolution, and the way people learn about you and communicate with you has changed. Dramatically.
If you don’t know it, they do.
You can either get inside their heads, or stay inside your own.
You’re inside your own head if you think:
The Easy Way to Solve Your Content Marketing Challenges
Embrace the centrality of content marketing to your success; then simply tell stories. Stories draw us in. They make us want to be transported. That’s all there is to it. Duh! I don’t see a lot of articles I wish I’d written, but Why content marketing will make your small business sexy is one of…
Farewell May Blog; Hello June Readers
Here’s what folks most enjoyed reading over the last month (plus one special “extra” tidbit): • S’WOT’s Up? The Future, That’s What: Your Crystal Ball for Business Success — How to identify trends, anticipate change and be open to opportunities that will encourage success. This post generated an unprecedented amount of very productive discussion on…
How To Create Reader-Centric Blog Content that Engages – Be Purposeful
First decide on the purpose(s) of your blog. Anyone can have one, but without engaging content and calls to action it’s not going to take you where you want to go. And your purposes should be reader-centric. Purposes that don’t count: Everyone else has one. My boss/board member told me to do it. I like…
ONE Incredibly Dramatic Way to Create Winning Content
The audience will not tune in to watch information. You wouldn’t, I wouldn’t. No one would or will. The audience will only tune in and stay tuned in to watch drama. ~ David Mamet It’s the drama stupid. Mamet has won a Pulitzer and been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony, so he should…
What Kind of Content King Are You? Benevolent or Autocratic? Something or Nothing?
We must begin to think of our brand as a platform from which all dialogue ensues. It is in this context that content creation and content marketing strategy becomes important. That is, unless you’re Seinfeld, and you think you can succeed in engaging your constituents in a conversation about nothing. It worked brilliantly for him;…
R.I.P: Top 3 Things Required for Content to be King – And 17 Questions We Should Ask Before Embarking on a Content Marketing Strategy
Is your content pushing up daisies? It should be. That’s the way to grow and blossom. I call it the R.I.P. Content Marketing Strategy: (1) Relevance; (2) Ideas; (3) Plan. [Coincidentally, adhering to these principles should bring peace of mind so that you can rest easy in the knowledge you’re doing the right things (relevance;…
R.I.P: Top 3 Things Required for Content to be King + 17 Questions You Should Ask Before Building a Content Marketing Strategy
Is your content pushing up daisies? It should be. That’s the way to grow and blossom. I call it the R.I.P. Content Marketing Strategy: (1) Relevance; (2) Ideas; (3) Plan. [Coincidentally, adhering to these principles should bring peace of mind so that you can rest easy in the knowledge you’re doing the right things (relevance; ideas) in the right ways (plan).] So, to mimic Do,Re,Mi from the Sound of Music: