Steven Shattuck of Bloomerang wrote something for Nonprofit Hub called the Ultimate Nonprofit Social Media Scheduling Guide. And I kind of just , , it. Essentially, it suggests just one thing as your absolute key to a successful nonprofit social media strategy. It’s deceptively simple. I say deceptively, because at first blush it los…
Details
A recent article on Beth’s (Kanter) Blog by Miriam Brosseau and Stephanie Corleto was so well-written I was inspired to share some of it with you. I 100% agree with everything it says – and strongly believe you absolutely must do what the article suggests.
What’s that?
Bust down your siloes!
Specifically, turn those puppies on their sides so they form a pipeline, and let the free flow of ideas between programs, marketing and fundraising begin.
Can you picture this?
Imagine your program staff is hoarding all the inspiring stories of impact, and failing to share them with your development team. That’s a silo that needs to be toppled. Because…
Details
Greg Warner of Market Smart writes a lot about the difference between “work” and “progress.” I appreciate the distinction, both professionally and personally. I think you can use this notion, so I’m going to recommend some of his articles to you and also suggest a way to extend this idea to your nonprofit fundraising.
Warner notes in Why You Should Never Get a Job and Go to Work: “work” is tedious and negative; “progress” is inspiring and positive.
This is about being intentional about where you’re going.
It’s somewhat about perception and desitnation, but I’d argue it’s largely about the journey.
Your journey. Your donor’s journey.
Details
In Part 1 of this two-part series I reviewed the ways nonprofit marketing and fundraising have significantly changed in recent years, and what this means for your ability to succeed in raising awareness and money.
I talked about how easy it is for leaders to blame staff, and vice-versa. It’s also easy to get sidetracked, because we’re operating in something of a Wild West frontier. And no one really is clear on the rules of the game.
Within the current zeitgeist, the job of the development professional becomes critical. Your organization needs you to lead. They need you to be an expert strategist, even if they don’t always know this.
If you’re just put into a corner and told to “go forth and raise money” or “go forth and make our name known,” you’re in for a bumpy ride. But you have the power to smooth the way!
Details
Philanthropy should not just be about big checks.
Last week I shared some reasons not to eschew small gift fundraising. Today I’m following up with some tips for building and mobilizing your community to find, sustain and grow these gifts.
This is important, because a donor’s first gift is seldom their largest. It’s a starting point.
The majority of your gifts will be small, but the majority of your income will come from a small group of major donors.
You have to grow this cadre of loyal, passionate philanthropists by building relationships with supporters over time.
The lion’s share of major gifts come from previously small gift donors.
A client I’m working with told me 50% of their major donors began with very small gifts. How about tracking this for your organization? Sure, some major donors come in at the top. But I’ll bet you a majority start by dipping their toe in the water. How can you get folks more fully immersed?
Details
In Part 1 of this two-article series I walked you through some steps to create a rough draft of a marketing communications plan that will serve you in the current digitally-revolutionized and highly networked world. Not what you’ve been doing every year for the past decade, but something that will really serve you in today’s…
Details
I decided to write this post due to the number of times nonprofits ask me “How often should we mail to our donors?” The corollary question is “How often can we ask people to give?”
The answer?
Well… if there was one quick answer I wouldn’t have needed to write a whole article. I’d just have given you a headline with a definitive response!
I know you want a definite answer.
And I could give you one. But it wouldn’t be the truth. Because the truth is different for every nonprofit. And the truth will even be different for your nonprofit at different points in your life cycle.
There are two definitive things I can tell you:
Details
BOO!
Today is Halloween, so I’ve got some really scary stuff for you!
Don’t get too spooked. There are also a few treats.
Eight delicious goodies, in fact.
In the form of “to-do’s.”
But first… the bad news.
No bones about it, you’re scaring folks away if you’re committing any of these boo-boos!
Details
As year-end approaches, you want to consider leveraging your message across channels. You also want to tailor your message to meet the needs of different target constituencies.
One-size-fits-all messaging seldom works as well as segmented messaging. The former is all about you, your convenience and your needs. The latter is about your constituent’s needs.
Successful fundraising and marketing is customer- and donor-centered.
Is your year-end strategy setting you up for success? Are you truly putting your best foot forward?
If you’re not inside your constituents’ heads, you need to get in there! To be constituent-centered requires you to (1) talk to the right people, (2) with the right message, (3) at the right time and place. Recently, I enjoyed a post on precisely this subject. I share it with you here, and if you’re not yet hip to the Marketoonist, allow me to introduce you.
Details
Is your nonprofit using Instagram yet? Pinterest?
I’m going to suggest you give it some serious consideration.
Why?
We live in the age of information overload. A wealth of information creates a scarcity of attention and thus a need to efficiently allocate attention.
Visual to the rescue!
Visual is a huge trend in marketing, using the power of digital to communicate your message and stay within the diminishing attention span of today’s online readers –8 seconds (one second less than the attention span of a goldfish).
Glub, glub.
If human minds are adapting to information overload this way (to multitask, prioritize, and consume quickly and efficiently), it makes sense for your nonprofit to adapt as well.
Otherwise, you’ll work really hard to put messages out there – that no one will read.
Want to stop working just hard and start working smart?
Details