Have You Seen These Recent ‘Top 10′ Lists for Nonprofits?

Posted on January 14, 2012 by nhr2000

Apparently, like many of us start off a new year by making resolutions, so should nonprofits. Recently I’ve noticed many top ten lists, focusing on online fundraising, communications and technology. Kivi Leroux Miller’s offered 10 Changes to Make in 2012, Network for Good published 10 Resolutions to Make (and Keep) for Online Fundraising and Marketing Success in 2012, and Convio provided 10 Ways to Kick Start 2012 Fundraising.

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?

Are You Working Between the Holidays?

Posted on December 22, 2011 by Norman Reiss

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:

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?
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
Go back to the basics – find new ways to build your email list (via Idealware)
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.
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.”
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
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

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Norman Reiss

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?

Getting buy-in from senior management
Planning / investing in systems and process to encourage departments to cooperate instead of compete
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.

Updated Social Media Decision Guide Now Available from Idealware

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Norman Reiss

While many of my colleagues in the nonprofit community often share their knowledge and expertise, I’ve found Laura Quinn’s Idealware site especially helpful over the years in providing impartial and comprehensive evaluations of nonprofit software. The just released Nonprofit Social Media Decision Guide provides a systematic approach to determine how to best use social media at your organization.

Probably the most important takeaway is the recommendation to first decide what you want to accomplish and who you want to reach. Without taking the time to establish your goals, it’s impossible later to evaluate whether social media is a worthwhile use of your staff’s time. Idealware’s report offers several examples of how social media can help to achieve a nonprofit’s typical objectives: fundraising (although social media should NOT be primarily be used for this purpose), advocacy, recruiting / engaging volunteers, supporting events (both before and during) and outreach.

As I’ve said in the past when discussing multi-channel campaigns, social media works best when integrated with other channels. But messaging content and frequency need to be appropriate for each channel; don’t just post the same information everywhere.

If you take the time to apply the ideas from this wonderful resource, you will be able to measure the effectiveness of your social media campaign. Thanks to Idealware, and Balance Interactive, Trellon and New Signature for their support in helping make this report available to our community at no charge.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Posted on September 12, 2011 by Norman Reiss

Among the many tips offered at Friday’s session on Facebook Tactics That Get Results offered by M&R Strategic Services and Nten was the reminder that very few Facebook fans will visit your page – they will mostly see your posts in their newsfeed. (So why invest in expensive custom Facebook tabs?) Surprisingly, you are penalized for posting from third party services such as Tweetdeck and HootSuite (read more on why these posts are less likely to appear in your newsfeed then if you post directly on Facebook).

How do you get more engagement – i.e. likes and comments, which will give your posts more visibility? Use different types of content, including photos and videos, and ask constituents to take a specific action – especially those that will result in providing their email address so you can build your list. (Did you know that you lose 18% of your list each year through unsubscribes and email addresses that no longer work?).

Idealware offers help on measuring your results on social media and Frogloop advises on how well as how you can manage data across multiple channels. Jocelyn Harmon offers some simple advice on why constituents don’t donate.

Many nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers, yet their importance has often been overshadowed by those of lucky to have ‘paid’ work. LinkedIn now offers a section to highlight volunteer experience and causes, which will help nonprofits to find its most loyal supporters.

Sept. 11 was a sad day, marking a decade since we lost almost three thousand people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. What can nonprofits learn when the unthinkable happens? Here are some lessons and another view of the effect on nonprofits as we recover from a very emotional day yesterday. Ten years ago, I worked for Cross-Cultural Solutions, which was able to help to coordinate recovery efforts in NYC after the horrible event.

7 Tips to Implement a Successful Fall ePhilanthropy Campaign

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Norman Reiss

Sadly, Labor Day is followed by fall with shorter days and cooler weather. But it also provides an opportunity to reconnect with your constituents, climaxed by the important year-end fundraising campaign. Here are some ways to hit the ground running when you return to the office tomorrow:

Prepare an integrated communications / fundraising calendar describing how you will engage with your supporters across channels. Balance appeals with messages showing how your organization has helped your target audience and be specific about you’ve utilized past donations.
Start planning content for email campaigns well in advance, using these 7 tips for better fundraising emails and applying these best practices for enewsletters - they apply just as much for nonprofits as for small businesses (More ideas here)
Take the time to analyze data on email subscribers, website traffic, Facebook ‘likers,’ Twitter followers etc. so you better understand what platforms your constituents are engaging with you
Is your website consistently providing fresh content that is in synch with your other communication media? If not, have you provided ongoing training to staff on how to utilize your content management software? (What? You don’t have a CMS. Read Idealware’s Five Tips for A Successful Open Source CMS Project on a Budget)
Find a few simple ways to start thinking multi-channel, even if it means changing the way your nonprofit usually works. Get ideas from Frogloop’s Multichannel Magic, then read about others’ successes in this month’s upcoming nonprofit blog carnival hosted by Big Duck featuring this topic
Get out of your office. If you’re in NYC, for example, you can learn how to innovate and thrive in the digital age at this month’s 501 Tech NYC event and discuss what makes successful websites at the Not-for-Profit Webmaster Round Table. (You can also learn from your desk by taking a webinar during you lunch hour.)
Optimize your online giving forms, paying particular attention to whether they work as well on mobile and tablet platforms, where more of your constituents are seeing them.

Congratulations once again to Charity:Water, which has kicked off its September campaign as another example of how to do ephilanthropy right with stirring video and constantly providing feedback on how it uses donations towards its mission of providing clean water worldwide .

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Norman Reiss

Social media expert Beth Kanter summarizes recent studies on how to increase Facebook engagement – it’s also a great way to find out what issues your constituents are most interested in. Beth also outlines how to set SMART social media objectives.

To better understand how multichannel marketing works, read the recent DonorCentrics report and these write-ups from Frogloop, NonprofitTimes, The Agitator and Katya Andresen. One step in the right direction – make sure your marketing/communications and fundraising are planning campaigns together.

How much resources should your nonprofit devote to a Twitter strategy? Here’s Pew Internet‘s latest update on who’s using Twitter. And in addition to having a Facebook like button on your website, you can add a Twitter follow button also. Here’s also advice on the best days/times to tweet.

If you’re using integrated software like Convio, what stops you from using the tool most effectively? Recent options like @ConvioHelp and live chat can be helpful, but my experience shows that issues with product usability often get in the way also. My suggestion – make sure you take the time to train your staff on an ongoing basis.

Idealware also offers its own guideline on how to allocate your time between website, email and online outreach.

Attending Fundraising Day in New York this week? If so, please look for me there.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Norman Reiss

If you’re convinced that integrated fundraising / marketing would help your organization but are finding it a challenge to implement, read these tips from Convio on how to break down your silos. Also listen to this week’s free webinar from Fundraising Success on Strategies for Seamless Integration Across Fundraising Channels. If multiple departments maintain their own calendars of constituent outreach activities, this is a good place to start by using an integrated calendar (and keeping it current).

Email isn’t dead yet, and many of us are still asking questions about what’s too much and how can we increase open / action rates. For help, see 14 tips for making your nonprofit email more effective, Make sure you think carefully about the subject line (which will affect whether or not readers decide to open your message) and test for stronger email performance. Here’s more ideas on how much communication is too much. Struggling with content ideas for your next enewsletter or direct mail piece? Try these three stories every nonprofit should know how to write.

After this week’s announcement of the upgraded iPad, is it time to retire the PC in favor of laptops and tablets? Seems to me that having a real keyboard is still helpful, especially on mobile phones which continue to boom.

If you’re planning to re-do your website, consider first what platform will serve you best, such as WordPress or Drupal. The newly updated Idealware Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits is also a great reference.

Coming next week – a preview of Nten‘s Nonprofit Technology Conference, which I’ll be attending later this month.

Many Great Reports Out This Week

Posted on December 11, 2010 by Norman Reiss

The Online Giving Study from Network for Good and True Sense Marketing offers a comprehensive look of ephilanthropy, covering a 7 year time span and a wide range of nonprofits. Many others have already discussed its results – see Frogloop, The Agitator and Wild Apricot. What I particularly liked:

online fundraising is about relationship building, just as has it was for traditional development. This is a great reminder for nonprofits that focus only on the technology, or who treat online as a very ‘different’ channel than offline.
most online givers still go through the nonprofit’s own website to donate, less frequently to giving portals and social giving sites. More importantly, those who give through the charity’s site tend to donate more over the long term than other givers.
recurring giving should always be offered as an option. Perhaps eventually it will be used as often in the US as it is elsewhere in the world.
those who give in December have a higher long term value than donors in other months. Do you need any more of a reason to make sure your year-end appeals go out this month?
‘disaster’ givers have lower long term value and lower retention. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t use stewardship strategies to build a relationship with these contributors.

Idealware’s updated Open Source Content Management Systems Report takes another look at Drupal, Joomla, WordPress and Plone. Drupal still offers the most flexibility and has the support of a large international community. But all of these tools are potent; Wordpress is especially noteworthy for its ease of use and has developed into much more than a blogging tool.

Pew Internet’s first survey to focus on Twitter concludes that 8% of Online Americans Use Twitter which may seem like a low number, but nevertheless offers some interesting insights into the groups that are most active. For example, while it may be no surprise that young people (18-29) are heavy users, the report also concludes that African Americans and Latinos are more than twice as likely to use Twitter as white users. And even if you know if your constituents are on Twitter, their usage may differ greatly; the report contrasts those who check multiple times / day for updates (25%) with those who never check for new content (20%). My take: while it may have started out as a social service, that’s not the case now and your nonprofit should be using Twitter to connect with your audience.

Finally, in response to Apple’s reluctance to facilitate nonprofit fundraising on the iPhone, Beth Kanter has pledged to switch to an Android phone. (I’m getting one too, but decided to do so before the recent controversy featured in the NY Times erupted.) I believe the Androids will eventually overtake the iPhones, even with Verizon getting the iPhone (finally) soon.

Nonprofit Bridge

Bridging Technology, Communications & Development to Implement ePhilanthropy for Nonprofit Organizations

Tag Archives: idealware

Have You Seen These Recent ‘Top 10′ Lists for Nonprofits?

7 Tips to Implement a Successful Fall ePhilanthropy Campaign

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

Many Great Reports Out This Week