My wish list for the combined organization:

1. Blackbaud CEO Marc Chardon’s message mentions that integration between products such as the Raiser’s Edge and Luminate Online is high on the priority list.  But let’s not stop there – most nonprofits use products from multiple vendors, and need help in integrating data between them.  This requires a commitment to open APIs and in freely connecting to other platforms.
2. Blackbaud now has a dizzying array of software options, some which seem to duplicate each other.  Help us understand what’s best for our organizations’ needs and then recommend the appropriate solution – even if it’s not a Blackbaud product.
3. Be respectful of the talented Convio staff and help them integrate into Blackbaud with a minimum of pain.  Mergers are rarely easy.

Convio founder Vinay Bhagat chose not to move on to Blackbaud and left us with this inspiring message.  Fortunately, most of Convio’s management has already been integrated into the new organization.  Marc, as you have promised, show us how the combined company will help our nonprofits raise more money, engage our constituents and implement successful multi-channel campaigns.

(To kick start fundraising results, it will be interesting to see if development departments start to play a larger part in managing social networks – currently it’s usually marketing / communication that’s in charge.)

If you decide to go outside your organization for social media help, ask these 7 questions to anyone you’re considering hiring.  (My take – it’s always preferable to assign this work to a staff person who is more familiar with your nonprofit.)  And here are 10 things you may be doing wrong with social media.

Have you noticed the larger photos on Facebook’s mobile application?  Wonder where they got this idea (see new kid on the block Pinterest).

Blackbaud’s webinar series today included an important reminder that work on your website doesn’t stop after the redesign.  Websites must continue to evolve and most importantly,.must always have fresh content to keep your constituents coming back.  Need ideas?  Here are 58 ways to create great content.

In addition to checking out how your website looks on phones, how about tablets?  See 11 Nonprofit Websites That Look Great on iPads.  And what about your email messages?  Here’s how to optimize mail for mobile phones.

Finally, if you don’t have a specific campaign to recruit monthly donors, read this.

• The average email open rate has ‘steadied’ at 14% (is this supposed to be good?) but some nonprofits get better results by segmentation, localization & personalization.
• While mobile devices accounted for 15-20% of email opens, those who read email on phones are less likely to click thru and take action.  But it can also help if the email is formatted to look good on a small screen.  Here’s tips on how to do it.
• The Red Cross demonstrated why segmentation doesn’t have to be difficult, identifying donors by monthly, institutional, emergency, lapsed and non-donors.
• Monthly donors constantly outperformed other segments.  (For a great example of a nonprofit that realizes this, take a look at City Harvest Rescue Partners campaign that specifically asks for monthly gifts.)
• While segmentation can improve email results, it will make even more of a difference if you prepare great content – as well as an engaging subject line.

Tonight I attended the monthly 501 Tech NYC get-together, which featured a capacity crowd at the NYC Foundation Center to hear takeaways from the recent Nonprofit Technology Conference.  Would you believe 10 presenters offered mini-versions of their event sessions?  Some highlights:

• US Fund for Unicef‘s Porter Mason stressed the neglected art of AB testing – emails, web pages, social media posts and added that ‘coding links must become normal practice.’  Take a look at WhichTestWon to test your instincts on what works best.
• Big Duck‘s Farra Trompeter (recently honored with a Community Award at the Nonprofit Tech Conference) offered an interesting flow chart approach to Is It Time to Rethink Your Website.  Important reminder – the work doesn’t end when your new website is rolled out, it’s an ongoing task.
• Causevox‘s Rob Wu finished the evening with tips on how to tell compelling stories, e.g. don’t talk about your organization, talk about your cause and your supporters.  Also, get everyone involved – not only the marketing / communications folks.

If you weren’t able to attend today’s events, make sure you download the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study and follow our 501 Tech NYC group on Facebook to stay informed.

Don’t have a mobile friendly website yet?  Here’s why you should (and more) and here’s a resource to help you get started.  Here’s a free webinar Feb. 22 on 6 Best Practices to Follow While Developing Your Mobile Strategy.  I’ll also be speaking on this topic Feb. 23 at the Foundation Center in NYC.

Have you jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon yet?  Here’s what nonprofits should know – and be careful about possible copyright issues.  If you do jump in, read some ways to make your nonprofit pinteresting?

It’s back to the basics with 4 Ways to Get More Clicks on Your Online Donation Button (e.g. make sure site visitors can find it), Tips on How to Write Headlines (for web pages, email content etc.) and How You Can Drastically Improve Your Call to Action.

Do you manage website(s) for a nonprofit in NYC?  Join the Not- for-Profit Webmaster Round Table – it’s always a lively discussion and you’ll get great ideas to bring back to your organization.  Our next quarterly meeting will be in June.

So Facebook is going public.  How will this affect its relationship with its many devotees, which is expected to increase to 1 BILLION later this year?  It’s a bit sad that Convio, not long after going public, agreed to be acquired by its long term competitor, Blackbaud, apparently to take advantage of a financial windfall.  (Also see my recent blog post.)  It will be interesting to watch the path Facebook follows once its loyalties move mostly to its shareholders.

Pinterest seems to be very popular lately.  Have you used it yet?  With all the social media tools available, Small Act (via my friend Shana Masterson) suggests you choose carefully how many you can manage.  (I’m posting regularly on Twitter and Facebook, but less so on LinkedIn and Google Plus so far, trying to find content which is appropriate to each platform.)

After they donate or take the actions you request, do you make sure to thank your donors? Here are some tips from Guidestar and a quiz from Network for Good.

Are you getting good response from your email marketing efforts?  Use these 7 tips for appeals and also 5 Best Practices for Increasing Email Subscribers Engagement.  (And go here if you need help in getting them to sign up to receive your emails.)

Thinking about getting a tablet, such as the iPad or Kindle Fire?  Here’s a good article to read first.

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.

My favorite takeaways (mentioned in many of these lists):

• Examine how your website and email communications read on mobile phones and tablets.  This is how more of your constituents are accessing your content now
• You don’t have to recreate the wheel.  Our nonprofit colleagues are incredibly generous with their knowledge.  Learn from other people (like Beth Kanter or Nancy Schwartz) and organizations (like Nten and Idealware) that offer multiple resources to help your nonprofit succeed online (and off)
• Learn more about your supporters by analyzing information you probably already have: website statistics, email analytics, registration forms, polls / surveys – then use this data to better segment your communications

But as Kivi said during her webinar that described her recommendations in detail, it’s not enough to just read or listen to these suggestions.  What will you do this month to apply these ideas at your organization?

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.

• A Few Words About Gratitude, on how we can carry the spirit of Thanksgiving throughout the year.  Also see, Thoughts at Thanksgiving on Gratitude
• I’ve often discussed the importance of groups working together within a nonprofit, including facilitation of a panel on Collaboration and Management in Cross-Departmental Web Projects
• I presented an Nten webinar on Project Management for Nonprofits, suggesting that nonprofits use techniques already in use by many for profit organizations
• I asked Who Handles ePhilanthropy in Your Organization, mentioning the trend towards a separate department to develop and implement online strategy  It’s also important to know how what NOT to do online, such as interviewing vendors before you’ve firmed up your requirements.  And here’s why organization structure matters.
• At successful nonprofits, staff are all involved in fundraising and communications, no matter what ‘department’ they are in.  See Why Everyone Is In Communications
• To succeed online, sooner or later we need the help of vendors providing hosted software.  Read my tips on working with an online vendor.
• This year after hearing about Michelle Misner’s wonderful experience at a webmaster group I participate in, I co-presented another Nten webinar on How to NY Public Library Successfully Project Managed a New Drupal Website.  If you’re planning a CMS rollout, whether or not you’re using Drupal, listening to Michelle tips on the recording is a must.

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!

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