Author Archives: Norman Reiss

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ePhilanthropy for Nonprofit Organizations

Talking Online Fundraising with the Center for Nonprofit Success

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Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion about Online Fundraising: Harnessing Technology to Build and Maintain Relationships sponsored by the Center for Nonprofit Success.  My co-presenters included Olivia Harris of the Bond Street Theatre, Brian Reich, author of Shift and Reset, and Stephen Streicher of the Princeton University Pace Center for Civic Engagement.

We began the 3 1/2 hour session with brief presentations.  Olivia suggested engaging supporters to help raise funds, and suggested utilizing free research available from site such as HubSpot.  I then followed with ideas on how to Kick Start your Online Fundraising, such as tweaking your donation form and developing a multichannel approach.  Then Steve reminded us that good communication starts within our own organizations (if we can’t communicate well internally, how can we do it well with constituents?).  He also encouraged our audience (mostly small nonprofits) how even the smallest organization can be a big communicator using currently available tools.  Also, make sure donors can see their role in stories you share.

After a break, Brian challenged us to ‘stop doing what’s not working’ and that we measure our nonprofits not only to each other, but to online vendors such as Amazon since this is the type of customer service and responsiveness our constituents are accustomed to.  He also explained how phones have changed everything since we can ‘get information when we want it – don’t have to wait.’  In response to a question, he suggested (and I agree) that instead of only providing an annual report, we provide ongoing feedback to our donors on how their contributions are helping others.  (Kivi Leroux Miller also has many resources covering this topic.)

As expected, our extended interactive discussion with the audience was the most stimulating – for us and hopefully for them.  Some key takeways:

  • if you’re on Facebook, you MUST be ready to have a conversation, not just post updates.  If you’re not getting likes / comments to your posts, you need to try something different to encourage interaction
  • want a novel way to thank donors?  Do a monthly conference call with the ED, invite constituents to participate and record so others can listen later.
  • don’t build a mobile app (too expensive and high barrier to entry) – focus on having a web presence that is optimized for phones and tablets
  • you must use a tripod when making videos – no one will watch a shaky video
  • repurpose content for different communication channels, but make sure you optimize them for each platform

Thanks to everyone for participating in our session!

 

Blackbaud Will Buy Convio – My Thoughts

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Having watched many nonprofit vendors combine over the years, I probably shouldn’t be surprised by this week’s news that Blackbaud intends to acquire Convio.  But since the companies have taken such different paths with contrasting cultures, it’s hard to imagine that a merger will go smoothly and provide significant benefits to nonprofit customers.

Blackbaud’s most popular product has long been Raiser’s Edge, which provides unmatched functionality but is also beyond the financial reach of many small to medium nonprofits.  Despite efforts recently to make it more web based, RE is still primarily locally installed.  Of course Blackbaud has bought many other companies over the years which provide web options, such as eTapestry, Kintera, and PIDI, so many that it’s often hard to know how the multiple products all fit together.

In addition to its foundation online marketing platform (now Luminate), Convio took a significant risk by developing Common Ground, a web application built on Salesforce.  While Common Ground offers much less functionality than software like Raiser’s Edge, it offers the strong advantage of being able to connect well with other products due to its Salesforce infrastructure.  (Integration between platforms has been a major issue at every nonprofit I’ve worked for.)

While Blackbaud has been most active in acquisitions, let’s not forget that Convio also bought GetActive – and the transition of GetActive customers to the Convio platform was long and painful.

As many of my colleagues have said this week, it’s hard to know how this acquisition will pan out, and which products will continue to be maintained.  I have friends at both Blackbaud and Convio, and I can only hope that the inevitable personnel shakeup will be handled respectfully.

In my view, this merger may have the effect of reducing competition and innovation, which is always a bad thing.  However, this may also be a wake up call for those organizations who have not discovered the benefits of using open source solutions which are not tied to the fate of a particular vendor.

If you’re on the Progressive Exchange and Nten email lists, I encourage you to read the comments of my colleagues Peter Campbell, Michelle Murrain, Robert Weiner , Allen Gunn on Aspiration Tech and Alyson Kapin’s on Frogloop.  Also see Nten’s take and then join the free Nten conference call this Wednesday to further sort out what is likely to come next.

More Highlights from 5 Years of Nonprofit Bridge

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More blasts from past posts from Nonprofit Bridge:

How a nonprofit is organized can greatly impact its online success.  From mid-2008, here’s Building a Successful Online Team.  In mid-2009, I followed up with a review of Convio‘s study on Why Organization Structure Matters.  Then in early 2011, I offered this Job Description for an Integrated Fundraising / Communications Position.

For more advice on digital strategy, read Tips for Online Success and How to Succeed Online – Even When You Think You Can’t.  It’s always worthwhile to learn from those who are doing it well in Practical Examples of Cross-Channel Success.

Website redesign is often a challenging process.  Here’s some Reasons Why (and Why Not) to Do a Website Redesign, and some additional tips.

Creating great content is key to engaging constituents.  Learn How to Develop Content Your Constituents Will Want to Read, how to Develop a Content Strategy and then What Content to Put in Each Channel.

Most nonprofits need to partner with companies who provide hosted software.  Here’s how to get the most of the relationship in Tips in Selecting and Working With an Online Vendor.

Do you give and attend webinars?  Here’s tips on how to present and how to get the most from participating in online events.

Finally, the hottest topics now are social media and mobile / tablets.  Read Insights into Developing a Social Media Strategy and my take last year on the New World of Mobile.

Thank you again for following my thoughts on the intersection of technology, communications and development for nonprofit organizations.

Reviewing 5 Years at Nonprofit Bridge

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Next month will mark my fifth year since beginning my blog at Nonprofit Bridge.  Since my first post on Jan 23, 2007, I’ve expanded my focus well beyond technology and providing a place for ‘positive thoughts.’  Below is part 1 of my favorite posts (to be continued next week):

More highlights from past posts next week.  Meanwhile, thank you for reading my thoughts for the past five years.  I wish you a wonderful 2012!

Are You Working Between the Holidays?

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I’ll be in the office next week, as I suspect many of you will be (especially if you are wrapping up your year-end fundraising campaign).  Here’s some ideas to contemplate for for 2012:

  1. Ask some friends (who aren’t familiar with your organization) to critique your nonprofit’s website.  Are they able to quickly understand what you do?  Is it easy to donate or sign up for your email list?
  2. Analyze your website analytics, Facebook insights data so you know what’s working best with your constituents.  And don’t forget to segment your audience.  Debra Askanase explains more
  3. Go back to the basics – find new ways to build your email list (via Idealware)
  4. Encourage your staff’s professional development by supporting their participation in organizations such as Nten, which will have its annual conference in April and sponsors informational webinars and live 501 Tech meetings throughout the US throughout the year.
  5. Saying thank you to donors is always an good idea, but it’s also crucial to make sure your staff and volunteers feel appreciated for their hard work.  As my friend Shana Masterson recently tweeted, “You might not be in a position to reward someone (financially), but u can always acknowledge the work they’ve done.”
  6. To make your meetings your effective, make sure an agenda goes out to participants in advance and a summary is sent shortly afterwards – it’s a simple project management technique that can insure that everyone’s on the same page
  7. Help someone who is in transition.  While unemployment figures seem to be dropping a bit, there are still many people who are struggling.  Reach out to colleagues who need encouragement and support.

Have a healthy and peaceful holiday and a wonderful new year.

How To Make Your Nonprofit Multi-Channel

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Why is it so difficult for nonprofits to implement a multi-channel communications / fundraising strategy, even though integrated campaigns have been proven to outperform single channel approaches?  In the Agitator, Roger Craver says the main problem is silos, where departments operate separately from each other – even though this is directly opposite from how most constituents view an organization.

This point was driven home a few days later during a webinar by Convio and HJC on How Nonprofits Become Integrated Fundraising Organizations, which offered these tips on how a nonprofit learn to take advantage of the benefits of a multi-channel approach?

  1. Getting buy-in from senior management
  2. Planning / investing in systems and process to encourage departments to cooperate instead of compete
  3. Remove silos from teams and departments so they naturally collaborate towards mutually developed goals
When I asked why this going multi-channel is so difficult, HJC’s Mike Johnston replied ‘inertia – nonprofits are used to doing things the way they always have.’  Interestingly, smaller organizations may find it easier to create a culture where integration takes place.

My take: start by using an integrated editorial calendar which includes upcoming direct mail solicitations, email marketing campaigns, website updates, social media etc. Beth Kanter offers this way to get started (thanks to Lightbox Collaborative)  This will at least avoid the embarrassment of saying different things in different channels.  Then, make sure results are measured for an overall campaign instead of by department or by type of outreach.  Constituents use many ways to communicate;  it’s about time we did the same.

For a great primer on how to effectively use different communication channels together, view slides from Idealware’s recent webinar.

End of Year Fundraising Appeals – What Works

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It’s December, so it’s not surprising that my mailbox has been filled with nonprofit fundraising appeals recently.  I really don’t like direct mail (even if I eventually donate to these organizations, I will do it online), but receiving these solicitations does help me to stay current on what techniques work best in attracting my attention.  Below are three examples of what I found interesting enough to read in detail:

  • Americares sent a paper bag with an appeal written on the outside so I didn’t even have to open it to read.  The headline – ‘we filled this bag with words…so you might fill it with medicine.’
  • Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation used the more traditional four page letter, but it described the progress of someone who had benefited from the organization’s work and it was interesting enough so I read to the end
  • Doctors Without Borders sent a ‘Year in Review,’ describing their work in 5 countries including photos and personal narratives by medical staff
  • Mazon described ’8 Myths About Hunger in America,’ compelling me to read all eight to find out what was true and what wasn’t

In the end, I donate to these nonprofits because I believe in the work they do, not in how creative their direct mail materials are.  But with the many solicitations we’re all receiving this month, it definitely makes sense for an organization to find a way to stand out from the crowd.  At least for me, the above nonprofits did a good job in keeping my attention.

My recommendation – if your nonprofit sends direct mail, coordinate it with an online campaign that reinforces the message using website, email marketing and/or social media (and mention the website in the direct mail piece and vice versa). This will help get the attention of others like me who usually toss direct mail solicitations after a quick glance.

Recap of Nten Webinar – Project Managing New Drupal Website at NYPL

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When I first heard Michelle Misner describe her success implementing a new Drupal website at the NY Public Library at the September Not-for-Profit Webmaster Roundtable Meeting, I thought it would be great to share her experience with others in our nonprofit community.  So Michelle and I presented a webinar yesterday for Nten where she reviewed the project management process, and I asked questions on how things went.

In addition to the tips I provided in my earlier blog post, here’s some additional takeaways from yesterday’s session:

  • Do a content audit before starting a website redesign;  you probably have more content than you think; allow plenty of time for migration into the new CMS
  • Picking the product is easy compared to instilling a culture within your organization so everyone assumes responsibility for online content – if only the communications department has updated web pages in the past, this will be a major shift
  • Training is a continual process – not just when you roll out the new system;  Drupal has a steep learning curve, so make sure you allow the time for internal staff to learn the software, especially the person(s) who will be managing the site
  • Make sure you coordinate what’s on your website with other communication channels, e.g. social media, and use an editorial calendar to plan content updates on all platforms
  • Plan who will be responsible for content updates and then trust your staff to post them; not every piece of content needs to be reviewed before going live, but some parts of your website may need to be more closely monitored than others.  (Drupal does not have a built-in way to notify approvers that content is awaiting review.)
For more details, please listen to the recording from yesterday’s Nten event.  Michelle’s experience offers much wisdom about how to roll out a new website using a content management system, whether or not you choose to use Drupal.

How to Run a Successful Webinar

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As many of my friends know, I’m a big fan of online learning, especially by attending  webinars offered by organizations such as Nten. Next Tuesday, I’ll be on the other side of the computer, joining Michelle Misner of the NY Public Library to present How the NYPL Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  We had our final prep session today – here’s some tips if you’re planning an online event:

  1. Find out in advance who will be attending so you can prepare the most relevant content.  (You can also learn about participants during the event by asking questions with a few short polls.)
  2. Allow plenty of opportunity for audience interaction, preferably throughout the session – not just at the end.
  3. Keep your slides short.  While it’s good to summarize major points, don’t offer so much information that it overwhelms your viewers.
  4. If possible, ask someone to monitor the back channel – it’s a bit difficult to present and to also handle incoming chat questions.  Provide a hash tag so those who couldn’t attend live can easily follow the live tweets.
  5. Be prepared to switch to a web browser to show something that isn’t available in your slides (and practice how to do this before you actually are in the webinar)
  6. Offer to respond after the event to questions you didn’t get to, or for which you want to provide more information for later –  but don’t promise what you can’t deliver
  7. Offer online resources to others in our nonprofit community for attendees who want to go deeper
Please join us live Tue, Nov. 29 at 2 PM EST (it’s free if you’re an Nten member). If you’re planning to roll out a new content management system (whether or not it’s Drupal), you’ll find Michelle’s story very helpful.  If you can’t attend, read my summary of the event in next week’s blog posting.  Meanwhile, I wish you and your loved ones a safe and joyous Thanksgiving.