This week’s Click-it is another eclectic mix of some really interesting stuff I’ve found for you across the web. I really like this week’s collection; I believe you’ll find it surprisingly thought-provoking. And at the end you’ll find some great learning opportunities you won’t want to miss!
I recently had the privilege of presenting at the ALDE Conference, during the course of which I had the good fortune to listen in on the Keynote Address presented by Kivi LeRoux Miller. It got me to thinking about becoming a nonprofit milliner.
Say what?
Well, here’s the deal. I’m sure I could do a brisk business selling all sorts of different hats based on what Kivi had to say about results from her 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report. After surveying more than 1500 nonprofits, guess what she found?
Giving Tuesday. What’s it all about? Read about the origins here. It’s one of those things that sounds good on paper, but in actual implementation it can be less than ideal. Why? Because it comes right smack dab in the middle of most folks annual campaigns. So there’s often little time to do it right. And it can cannibalize other fundraising efforts.
Fear not! The Halloween Nonprofit Blog Carnival is back, offering tricks and treats galore from nonprofit experts all around the web – a full Baker’s Dozen (or shall I say a Witches Coven)! — to help you find, cultivate, solicit and steward your major donors. When you trick and treat, you always like to go to the houses that give out the most candy, natch? Well… let’s find the donors giving out the most goodies so your mission is assured of success. But you’ve got to be prepared! No just showing up without a costume, a plan of attack or a strategy for success. You’ll get some lollipops and stuff, sure. But I know that’s not what you really want. Go for what you need. Go for what will make your time spent on this effort feel worth your while. And we’ve got 13 experts telling you exactly what to do.
In a recent post about building donor loyalty I promised to reveal my personal #1 SECRET – the one principle that makes the greatest difference to long-term, sustainable fundraising success.
I’m going to share that principle here; then I’m going to turn this principle into a word – actually three variations of the same word – that you can use to transform the way you’ve been doing business.
Are you ready?
Do you have a mature social media operation, or are you just a baby? Or a teen? Babies babble. Teens make it all about themselves. Are you simply using Twitter to babble? Facebook to say “look at me?” Or have you embraced a more full-grown strategy? The best place to start, and the fastest way to get there, is with a blog.
They’ve been around the longest, and they’re pretty tried-and-true.
In my last post of this two-part series, “You’re Not Alone: What to Do When You Start to Fail at Fundraising,” I discussed what can happen to organizations when leadership begins to lose its way. This can occur for any number of reasons. Why Leadership Loses it’s Way FOUNDER LEAVES with no succession plan in…
Where do you go to look for new donors to support your nonprofit in 2014?
If you’ve not yet tapped into the power of electronic communication to find new supporters – social, mobile, email, crowd funding, online donating — read my recent post on Maximize Social Business: The Answer to Finding Nonprofit Donors: Social Media.
While this is in no way a slam dunk, neither is any type of lead generation strategy a magic bullet to converting leads into donors. You still have to do the hard work of building relationships with these folks. Yet…
A mixed bag of great links from around the web. I leave them to you to enjoy!
Fundraising is Fun
Click-it: Why Fundraising is Fun. This opinion piece by Arthur C. Brooks in the New York Times echoes something I’ve taught for years. Fundraising is a way you facilitate philanthropy.
If you’re like most nonprofits, you’re still trying to figure out how social media can help you sustain and grow your mission. Most of you are getting it wrong.
Sorry to be so blunt.
Here’s how you’re going astray: (1) your posts are too promotional; (2) your content isn’t relevant to your readers, and (3) you’re too repetitive and boring, without adding value. If you’re simply counting up your numbers of “likes” and “follows” and patting yourself on the back for how you’re growing your lists, you’re totally missing the point.
You want to be the favorite child, don’t you?
Did you know that half of donors give 2/3rds of their annual giving to a single charity. That’s why you want to become the “favorite.” Wouldn’t it be terrific if your donors adopted you and thought of you as a member of their family?
Truly, that’s how important you want to become to your supporters. But it won’t happen just because you’re a “good cause.” There are oodles of great causes out there. Oodles. It will happen only when
What’s a blog, really? A blog is just a super-charged, dynamic website that will bring you many more visitors – and a lot more engagement — than your website does now. Doesn’t that sound like a tool that might help your fundraising?
Did you know that 70% of visitors to the average website never visit again? Done well, a blog drives traffic to you naturally… brings folks back for more… and even gets folks to share stuff you post on your blog with their own networks. It’s a hugely powerful tool for finding and engaging with people – your donors and potential supporters – and I’m not the only one who thinks so.
Of all the killer social engagement tools out there, none beats the blog. Still… some of you are dubious. Or your leaders are dubious. So if one of these 10 excuses is stopping you, read on to see how to overcome them.
Keep telling yourself you need a better website to build greater awareness for your cause?
You can certainly do this. But are you asking the more important question?
Why the heck do you want greater awareness? And why would anyone want to be aware of you? Those are the questions too many nonprofits fail to ask. So ask. Seriously. Take a moment. I’ll wait.
“Because we want more people to know about us.”
WHY?
“Because we want to educate them about what we do.”
WHY?
“Because we want more people to support us.”
AHA! Now you’re getting somewhere.
Now ask yourself how getting a better website is going to get you more support. Chances are it won’t. Not really. Because folks are on a journey towards you that builds – from awareness… to interest… to engagement… to investment. And the kicker is that the latter two are where all the action happens. Awareness and interest alone are passive. They won’t get you the active investment you need to sustain your mission.
Engagement precedes investment!
Sadly, most nonprofit websites are lousy engagement vehicles. They’re especially lousy when compared with a blog.
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?
Imagine what it would mean to your mission if you doubled the lifetime value of all of your current supporters.
I recently listened in on an interview between Gail Perry and Jay Love of Bloomerang. It’s a great listen, and the two of them fired me up to write another post on the importance of focusing your efforts on donor retention.
Do you know even know what percentage of donors you’re retaining? According to Jay, less than 5% of fundraising offices know this answer! So, you’re not alone. But you can do better.
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.
Today I went to research something online and ended up viewing the first entry Google gave me – which was on Wikipedia. To my delight, I ran into an awesome fundraising campaign (this is an occupational hazard with fundraisers – we actually like and admire things like pledge breaks when they’re done well)!
Here’s what I found superimposed at the top of the screen:
| Are you focused on the gift or the giver? |
They’re the same thing.
Let me repeat, to make sure you heard this correctly: they’re the SAME thing.
No, this isn’t some trick. They really serve the same function. Which is why they shouldn’t exist in separate silos within your organization. Do you want to know why?
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!
No, not a washer/dryer. A real, honest-to-goodness vortex.
Last week I wrote about what nonprofits can learn about why we stopped building pyramids. The digital revolution has crumbled that baby – today’s ‘donor pyramid’ is nothing but an empty frame. Our donors no longer fit inside of it. So… what’s a nonprofit to do?
My guest post yesterday on Maximize Social Business detailed precisely How Social Media Toppled the Donor Pyramid – and what that means for nonprofits. Nothing is neat, orderly and linear anymore. Supporters are here, there and everywhere – all at once!
Today, electronic communications – social, mobile, email, crowd funding, online donating — have permanently disrupted the traditional donor-engagement process.
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!
I unlocked Pandora’s box with my last post, 5 Things Your Board and CEO Don’t Get About Fundraising and Donors. Especially when it comes to board members, many of you say their behavior has you scratching your heads much of the time. So, here are 5 more things that too many boards simply don’t seem to understand:
1. It costs money to make money. This one is odd, since many of these folks seem to understand the concept of ‘investment’ when it comes to their day jobs.
That’s the question that has fundraisers everywhere scratching their heads and crying in their beers.
Hmmn…
Donor retention has continued to plummet every year for the past seven years. It’s really, truly an awful problem. For some unknown reason, all that hard work you put into acquiring new donors is, seemingly, being wasted. Why?
I love my Agitators, I really do. I’m hoping they meant to provoke, and were really being tongue-in-cheek with their recent article. Forget About Donor-Centric is very provocative, and certainly there’s truth here. Nonprofits do seriously ramp up their fundraising activities at this time of year, and it may appear they’re thinking more about money than their donor. It’s solicitation time, not stewardship time. And “Donor Tom” (Tom Belford) tells us he understands. He reasons that at this time of year he’s going to be so bombarded by appeals that he’s not going to be thinking about building a relationship with you. He just wants to give to those he’s already given to and “escape with some spending money for Christmas presents.”
That’s exactly the perspective you don’t want your donor to have.
This week’s Clairity Click-it – your eclectic array of easy to-“click-it” links to posts I’ve found thought provoking. With, of course, a few comments of my own.
Body Language
Click-it: 4 Body Language Cues You Need to Know When Networking. It’s important to remember that first impressions count. A lot. You may be unconsciously giving the wrong one. This article by Ivan Misner in Entrepreneur describes how to avoid this. I myself have to constantly remind myself not to keep my arms folded (signifying boredom or being closed off). If you’re up for the challenge, try this suggestion from Misner:
You’ve no doubt heard folks bandying about the latest buzzword: “content marketing.” There’s a reason it’s buzz-worthy. Without content, you’ve got nothing. You’re just a box with nothing inside. Kids like to play with boxes; most folks — when they grow up — are looking for something of value inside the box. At the same time…
It’s perplexing to still hear folks ask “Do we really need social media?” Do you need to text and respond to your kid’s texts? Well… only if you want to be in touch! That question is so 2008. In 2013 it’s more like “my way or the highway.”
Here’s the problem if you’re a small nonprofit:
You’re resource challenged. You don’t have enough staff to do everything that needs to be done as it is. Now you’re supposed to add social media?! Well, which channels? You can’t do it all, for goodness sakes. There must be one best channel. Maybe you can just squeeze that in.
In case you don’t know, troglodytes are hermits who live in caves. There are 3 ways I’ve found that folks in the development profession fit this description. Are you a cave dweller? If so, here’s how to get out more.
In my last post I channeled Bob Dylan, calling for a change in the way we do fundraising. Because the times truly are a changin’…
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, your old road is rapidly agin’…
When I grew up in fundraising I had a shoe box as my database. I wrote grant proposals on yellow legal pads. When we got our first FAX machine I complained that now folks expected us to mail and FAX them (so double the work). When email came on the scene I complained that now folks wanted us to mail and FAX and email (so triple the work). But it was still the same old road of outbound marketing. At least I understood what it was all about.
Now we’re on a new road entirely. Because folks are coming to us. They’re telling us what they want. They’re defining our brand. And they’re doing so in real time via a multitude of online channels and using a multitude of Web-connected devices. Opportunity is knocking.
Once upon a time I knew what I was doing. I attended The Fundraising School, discovered a host of tried-and-true techniques, mastered the art and science of fundraising transactions and went forth to apply the tools at my disposal. Money was raised.
Fast forward several decades, to sometime about five years ago. I had a dawning realization. I no longer knew what I was doing. I had somehow entered “wing and a prayer” territory. The culprit? Revolutionary and disruptive technology that, simply put, has ended “business as usual.”
What can you think of that has been done the same way for 50 years? For too many nonprofits the answer is fundraising and marketing (aka “development”). And it’s beyond time for a change. In fact, a sea change. It turns out Bob Dylan got it right.
Just building it isn’t enough. Whatever it may be. A blog. A Facebook page. A Twitter profile. You name it.
Sorry.
They won’t call. They won’t write. They won’t wax on rhapsodically about your finer qualities. The most they might do is notice you out of the corner of their eye; then move on.
It’s on you.
To get real value from social media you must build it, get folks to come, get folks to talk and get folks to recommend you to others.
Here’s the kicker: You’re not 100% in control. Yeah, I know it kind of sucks. Us control freaks just have to get over it. Folks are going to be learning about you through others, and you won’t know about it. They’ll talk about you, and you won’t know what they’re saying.
Let me tell you a tale of two siblings, Outbound and Inbound.
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:
To make your blog worth the effort, it’s got to be shared. And that’s what we discussed in Part I: Share and Part II: Shareable of this S.S.T.S. Series. Great! But how do you get folks to really TALK about you, rather than just shooting out one-shot shares?
You begin with content, of course. No one is going to share crap, no matter how easy you make it for them to do so. In the C.P.A. Series we talked about getting folks to open and read your post. Done! In the R.C.A. Series we discussed giving folks something engaging to talk about – relevant, constituent-centered and actionable content. Done and done.
Now that you’ve got the good stuff, you need to get folks walking your talk!
You want more than short-term share transactions. You want shares that drive desired action responses; you want transformation!
R.C.A. is about getting folks walking; not just talking. It’s about good content and conversation that leads to your desired action. It refers to Relatable, Part I, Conversational, Part II, and Actionable. You remember this acronym by thinking about an RCA Victrola – that old-fashioned phonograph contraption that helped transport your grandparents and great-grandparents — and fire their imaginations — through the music that inspired them.
You want to transport your constituents with inspiring values and stories in the same way. The reason you want to transport them? So their inspiration will lead to engagement — action that helps to further your mission. So, today that’s what we’re going to talk about! Ready for action?
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”…
Here comes this month’s *SMIT (Single Most Important Thing I have to tell you):
I’m still using the word fundraising. In fact, my most recent post was To Sell is Human; To Give, Divine – Why We’re All in Fundraising Now. I received a lot of feedback (mostly embracing) on the first post in my 2013 Series: Philanthropy; Not Fundraising. But there’s evidently some confusion. So, let’s clairify.
If you want to move from a culture of transactions to one of transformation don’t get bogged down worrying about semantics! You say potato; I say potahto… a rose by any other name… It’s the concept I’m hoping you’ll grasp. The point is to come from a place of love; not need. A place that centers on our donor; not us. A place that is deeply relational; not one-sided.
Let me share a few comments I received and contribute my thoughts:
They want you to show them that you know them. And we do this best by listening.
I’m compelled to add this coda to the C.P.A. series because there’s some breaking news that pertains to what was one of my favorite listening tools. In Part I we covered the fact that key to writing a post folks will want to read is first finding out what folks want to hear! One of those tools, sadly, just kicked the proverbial bucket. Yet I’ve also discovered a host of new tools that may be extremely useful to you in your research. Yup, the universe taketh away; the universe giveth.
Who am I? What am I doing here? Who am I and what am I doing here? Ever feel that way about social media? You’re not alone. For many of us in the nonprofit sector it’s still a frontier. It’s tempting for us non-pioneer types to just want to call the whole thing off. Waagh!…
What if we said “Give Where Most Moved” instead? Too many folks still worship at the altar of unrestricted giving. I recently came across an article on NPR’s site, Disaster Donations Surge, But What About Tomorrow?, in which Eileen Heisman, the CEO of National Philanthropic Trust, admonishes potential donors to be loyal in…
Are you focused on the gift or the giver? Thanking donors is the one thing most nonprofits do not spend enough time thinking about. Too often I find that staff spend 95% of their time crafting the fundraising appeal and getting embroiled in project management – design; layout; ing, postage, etc. Finally, the letter (or…
This month I’m writing about how to be donor centered. Today I’m taking us in a perhaps unexpected direction – the path of social media. What does that have to do with being donor centered? Everything. There are two principle reasons why: 1. Social media is about relationships, not technology. Your constituents want a relationship.…
Here comes this month’s *SMIT (Single Most Important Thing I have to tell you). The alternative to fundraising is a lot scarier than fundraising. There are a lot of scary problems in the world. Cancer… global warming… natural disasters… homelessness… domestic violence… human trafficking… malaria… undrinkable water… injustice… poverty… Is fundraising scarier than doing what…
In the past series of posts I’ve talked about the reasons many board members loathe fundraising. It boils down to: (1) fear (see here, here and here; (2) lack of clarity about their role (see here, hereand here, and (3) insufficient framing, training, coaching and cheer leading by staff. As much as we staff …
In Jewish tradition the “Gabbai Tzedekah,” the money collector, held a very special and esteemed role as the collector and disburser of funds to help the poor. The root of “tzedekah” means justice; it was simply the right thing to do to help. The Gabbai risked him/herself, in some ways, for the sake of the…
I confess I don’t know a lot about Buddhism. But I do know it emphasizes compassion. And, in my mind, compassion inevitably leads to social engagement. Engagement is exactly the point of my post earlier this week: Why Nonprofit Social Media is a Waste of Time. If we’re not engaging, then we may as well…
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there” – Lewis Carroll When we simply engage in incidental cultivation and stewardship – a meeting here, a party there – the only place we get to is the meeting or the party. Is that our goal? If at the end of the…
Philanthropy should not just be about big checks. We live in times of scarcity. How are you mobilizing your community in fresh and different ways? How are you building long-term capacity to sustain your organization? How are you creating stronger, deeper relationships with constituents? 1. Identify where your communities hang out.How? Lo for what groups…
It can’t all be about ‘push’. We’ve also got to ‘pull.’ Recently I’ve been writing a lot about social media. It’s an important tool for engaging with our supporters. But let’s not forget that what makes technology sing is not the technology; it’s the people behind the technology. Successful technology is about bonds, not bells…
Are you leading engagement with your tribes? Lots of interesting Q & A during last week’s webinar about blogging our way to increased constituent engagement. Particularly around the relative merits of blogging vs. engaging on and other social media. Our constituents’ agenda is often a quest for meaningful social interaction; a tribal connection. At…