Nonprofit Bridge

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I reached out to some friends and colleagues to ask about plans for the holiday and to wish them well.   A few conversations were especially memorable.  One friend who moved away from New York last year for a job opportunity and to be closer to family mentioned that he had a heavy work load and was struggling to keep up.  But he quickly added that his wife was enjoying her job and that his son, who has had some health issues in the past year, was doing very well.   (When we first met, he was also dealing with a difficult work situation, yet he was still upbeat and was very interested in hearing about my job and personal life.)  Another former co-worker told me that her husband’s job was now more secure after many months of uncertainty and that another family member had recently found a good position.

Many of us have been affected by the recession, either by losing a position that we thought was secure or by staying in a bad work situation for fear of not being able to find something else.  For most of us, work will be challenging at times as our organizations deal with limited resources and competing priorities.  Sometimes self-employment is a viable option, but that also can be stressful, especially during the early stages of building a business.  Thankfully, the recession seems to be easing, so the worst may be behind us.

As we pause for Thanksgiving, let’s follow the example of my friends who have chosen to focus on what’s good in their lives.  Appreciate being in good health;  be thankful for having people in your life who love you.  If you’re working, be grateful;  if you’re in transition, stay positive and look forward to your next opportunity, even if it’s not the ideal position you’ve hoped for (it may be a stepping stone to getting there).  It’s not what happens in your life, it’s your attitude that makes the difference.

While spending time with family and friends over the holiday weekend, don’t complain, criticize or gossip about others.  Instead, help make it a Complaint-Free World by focusing on what is good.

This post was created as part of a global groundswell of gratitude called TweetsGiving. The celebration, created by US nonprofit Epic Change, is an experiment in social innovation that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. I hope you’ll visit TweetsGiving to learn more, and to bring your grateful heart to the party by sharing your gratitude, and giving in honor of that for which you’re most thankful.

The NYC 501 Tech Club returned this week with a new format – presentation + networking.  Big Duck’s Farra Trompeter moderated a discussion on multi-channel fundraising – a topic I often discuss, joined by Simon Moloney of Npower NY and Rebecca Willett of Planned Parenthood.   Also this week, Convio held its annual Summit in Austin, TX.

For those in the NYC audience who don’t yet integrate multiple channels in fundraising efforts, Farra asked that we strive to break down silos within our organizations because “donors see us as one nonprofit.’  So there shouldn’t be a competition between money raised by direct mail versus email marketing or other online fundraising tools.  Multichannel appeals are most effective, especially this time of year (make sure you plan to email your donors on Dec. 30 / 31).  Farra also asked the attendees who we blend personal and organizational priorities in social networking content;  this may be addressed further in a future meeting.  (My take – a personal touch breathes life into a blog posting or tweet, as long as the focus isn’t removed from the nonprofit’s mission.)

Rebecca reviewed Planned Parenthood’s multi-channel strategy which she described as a ‘collaborative effort of the national office and affiliates.’  In response to my question on what content to put on each channel, Rebecca suggested first finding out which audience(s) are on each channel, then asking ‘what are they looking for’?  Planned Parenthood has some interesting enhancements planned, such as a 24×7 chat / text hotline, as well as a mobile phone application.

Slides from the NYC 501 Tech Club gathering on Multi-Channel Fundraising are available on SlideShare.  (Thanks Farra)

While I missed seeing other Convio users at the Summit, I was pleased to see Convio’s Nonprofit Live TV – an attempt to bring the event to me.  Congratulations to those nonprofits that were honored for innovation in in Online Marketing, Fundraising, Advocacy and Email Marketing.

Online tools make it easy for us to keep in touch with colleagues and friends, but it’s still nice to connect in person.  At the 501 Tech Club gathering, I met someone from Catholic Medical Mission Board, an organization I worked at while I was in college – long before I joined the nonprofit community full time.  Although many people I worked with have moved on, it was still nice to make a new connection.  Thanks to Nten and to organizers Charles Charles Lenchner and Thomas Negron for getting our group back in gear.

Addendum 11/24/09 – Here is Farra’s write-up of the 501 Tech Club event.

Many articles lately on how supporters can be your strongest fundraisers: In Understanding the New Breed of Digital Donor,  Fundraising Success demonstrates how social media is enpowering supporters to fundraise on their own, with minimal involvement from the nonprofit they support.  In Enlisting Your Supporters to Fundraise For You, Idealware describes how friend-to-friend fundraising can be used.   In Donors Give Most When Friends Ask, AFP reviews a recent study on large gifts and reaches the same conclusion.  (Thanks to Kivi Leroux Miller for highlighting nonprofit communication recently.)

Congratulations to winners of America’s Giving Challenge, proving that even the smallest nonprofits can compete with the larger organizations by taking advantage of social media tools such as Facebook’s Causes application.  Social media guru Beth Kanter agrees.  Nten also offers ideas on how to Raise Money on Facebook.  See also Clicking for a Cause for more thoughts on how social media can help engage constituents and encourage  involvement with your cause.

David Roodman’s recent blog post and this week’s follow up NY Times article, questions are raised about the model of newer nonprofits such as Kiva and Global Giving which have supposedly allowed donors to decide specifically how their money will be used.   This has resulted in a recent change in Kiva now describing its mission as “connecting people through lending to alleviate proverty.’  My take – this shouldn’t stop the trend towards nonprofits giving donors more of a say in how their contributions will be used.  However, it does provide a wake up call on the importance of transparency in explaining how the process works.

Today’s Nten webinar led by Blackbaud Internet evangelist Steve MacLaughlin offered a comprehensive review of online fundraising.  See Steve’s Connections blog for links to reports referenced in today’s session.  Some of my takeaways:

• While online revenue represented only 5% of total fundraising in 2008, online receipts jumped 44% over 2007
• Event fundraising emails (e.g. friends asking friends)  have an incredibly high click through rate – 57% in period covered by study
• Only 16% of event fundraisers send emails – imagine how much more successful these events could be if more participants were encouraged to fundraise!
• Donor retention is much worse for online donors than for offline acquisition.  More analysis is under way, but this may be partially due to donors having the ability to make ’spur of the moment’ contributions without having a real commitment to the organization
• How to increase donor retention? It is critical to quickly respond to donors / event participants / those who take an action to solidify the relationship.  (How often have you not received an email confirmation, or have received a boilerplate document with no customization?)
• Senior management must drive integration of fundraising across channels – “We don’t live in a single channel world.”
• Facebook and other social networking platforms are still more useful as engagement tools than as primary fundraising techniques.
• Small organizations may be able to do as well or better than larger nonprofits since they don’t have the traditional infrastructure and can act more quickly

While most of these points weren’t a surprise, Steve’s summary provides a great overview for nonprofits that still need help in creating online fundraising strategies.

Addendum 11/5/09 – Hear me interviewed on Zonta Women’s Community Radio about how nonprofits should approach ephilanthropy and social media.  Thanks Roxanne Neilson, President, Zonta Club of New Rochelle for arranging.