Tag Archives: Kivi Leroux Miller

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!

 

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

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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?

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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If you missed this week’s Social Media for Nonprofits NYC event, you can get a great summary from Big Duck’s Farra Trompeter, who presented a great step by step tutorial on implementing Multi-Channel Campaigns.  (More session slides from this and past events are available here.)  See also Kivi Leroux Miller’s post highlighting Convio’s recently released Multi-Channel Marketing Report.

Coming up with strong content is the key behind any online strategy.  As I and many of my nonprofit colleagues around the country do, I try to find the most worthwhile posts to share with my followers.  Beth Kanter explains that Content Creation is Listening and Engaging, then followed up with this look at Scoop.It as a way to organize your content.

How can you make your website more ‘social’?  Debra Askanase explains how and gives several examples of nonprofits that are doing this well, and will follow up with a Nten webinar next month.

Usability guru Jakob Nielsen says you must focus on essential content when writing for mobile platforms.  If you’re new to email marketing, learn about Email Marketing 2.0, then learn how segmentation can help you to get better results.

Finally, if you’re trying to find a format to send to your management to summarize social media and results of other online activity, Beth offers this guest post highlighting the Smithsonian Institution’s in-house dashboard, then suggests using a small pilot project to demonstrate the effectiveness of social media.

 

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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For best results in ephilanthropy initiatives, I’ve always advocated for an active partnership between Communications and Development.   Here’s more reasons why from Kivi Leroux Miller,  If you’re not getting the type of response you want from your nonprofit e-newsletters, Kivi also offers a free 15 day e-newsletter course at her Nonprofit Marketing Guide website. which offers many simple tips you can easily implement.

The debate continues on the new Google Plus.  Beth Kanter offers her take, as does Frogloop and TNW Social Media.  I believe there may be a benefit to adding your contacts manually, as it forces us to give some thought of who should be in each ‘circle.’  According to the Huffington Post, nonprofits are wasting no time in kicking the tires of Google’s answer to Facebook.

If your organization is undergoing a major change (as most of us do sooner or later), Peter De Jager provides many great resources on change management at Technobility.  See also Chaos is the New Normal.

Learn about fundraising and emarketing in Blackbaud’s Summer School webinar series which starts this week and, if you’re in NYC, attend next week’s 501 Tech Club meeting featuring how to get started with WordPress (which this blog uses).

As a follow-up to last week’s post on How to Make Your Projects Successful, Ben Lichtenwalner offers his Inverted Pyramid of Project Success.

Developing a Content Strategy

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Do you use an editorial calendar to plan what content you will post on your website and other online platforms, or do you mostly create content on the fly?   In Deciding What the American Red Cross Tweets, social media guru Wendy Harman says that it’s a combination of both, and that her organization encourages staff to learn by using social media but also provides training.  At certain times of year or when disaster strikes, the Red Cross uses much more planned content.

At a recent webinar on Content Strategy on a Shoestring Budget, Balance Interactive suggested these books: the Web Content Strategist’s Bible, and Content Strategy for the Web.  Here’s my additional tips:

  • Encourage staff to participate in the content creation process by writing up feedback received from the constituents you’re helping – proactively ask for feedback by phone, email or through surveys.
  • Spend some time organizing your network directories so content is stored in a logical way – and make sure staff know where to find and post data
  • Don’t forget to add photos, videos or podcasts – this is especially effective to quickly post content from organization events
  • Categorize your Facebook and Twitter posts to make sure you’re not overly highlighting one aspect of your work while neglecting other programs
  • Look for ways to tie in current events with your work
  • Decide how many platforms you can realistically post on – better to do a few well than to try to be everywhere
  • When tweeting, make your post worthwhile for someone to read even if they don’t have the time to click through on the link

For more ideas on content creation, view Managing Content on the National Wildlife Federation’s Website.  If you’re in NYC, learn from social media expert Danielle Brigida at this week’s NYC 501 Tech Club meeting.  Finally, sign up for Kivi Leroux Miller’s upcoming webinar, Taming Your Editorial Calendar and Content Creation Process on May 18.

Wishing everyone a healthy and joyous Passover and Easter holiday.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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Most of us are still figuring out what works and what doesn’t in social media.  For help in developing conversations instead of one-way communications, review John Haydon’s 16 Ways to Get Comments on Your Facebook Page and Robin Stephenson’s Twitter Community Organizing Rules for Non Profits.  Especially on Facebook, you’ll need to try different approaches before you find out what works best with your constituents.

Having engaging content to share in our multiple communication channels is a continuing challenge.  Per Kivi Leroux Miller, here’s how ASPCAPro Manages Content Creation, which reinforces why regular editorial meetings / calendars are so helpful in developing ideas and planning your outreach.

If you think you’ve heard it all about storytelling, consider M&R’s Storytelling and the Art of Email Writing.  Hint – you need to understand what motivates someone to give before you can write effective fundraising copy.  Veteran storyteller Andy Goodman provides more tips in Storytelling: The First Best Thing.

If you’re always wondering what day/time is best for emailing your constituents or posting on social media, view HubSpot’s recent presentation The Science of Timing, as well as Blue Sky Factory’s When is the Best Time to Send Email.  And don’t forget to integrate social media into your website so you use one channel to support the other in building your audience.

Finally, Jeff Brooks offers 20 Ways to Be Donor Centric which includes some familiar but useful reminders such as paying attention to the content and promptness of your gift acknowledgements.

Email Marketing & Websites Still Most Important in Nonprofit Communications

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According to Kivi Leroux Miller‘s new 2011 Nonprofit Communications Trend Report, email marketing and websites are still the most important tools in a nonprofit’s communications strategy, followed by print (newsletters or direct mail), in-person events, Facebook and media relations/PR.   So until you have the basics in place, social media probably shouldn’t be a top priority.  Kivi recommends three strategies for nonprofit communicators in 2011:

  1. Be responsible for generating great content about your cause – don’t rely on others to do it for you.
  2. Help your supporters to clearly understand what your organization is about and what you are accomplishing.  Sometimes the abundance of information makes it more difficult for constituents to ‘connect the dots.’
  3. Show passion for how your organization helps others and always be aware of what ‘brand’ you want to represent.

Yesterday I spoke about Selecting and Implementing a Donor or Membership Database at  Congregations 2.0, a technology training workshop for churches, synagogues and mosques.  For a small organization that is just getting started, in addition to collecting email addresses and having a website, I would add having the ability to collect donations online and having a good donor database, preferably using an online platform.  Social media and blogging can come later.

For some additional ideas on how to create great content, look at this Report on Content Management Systems Powering Foundation Websites, Using a Content Strategy to Promote Your Organization, and this book Content Strategy for the Web, discussed at yesterday’s event.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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Attended this week’s NYC chapter meeting of the Internet Strategy Forum, where we discussed the latest changes on Facebook.  View the presentation;  plan to attend our future meetings (remote access is available even if you’re not in NY).

Kivi Leroux Miller, in addition to having released her new book Nonprofit Marketing Guide, also wrote an excellent post on Beth Kanter’s blog about the importance of knitting together your website, email and social media content.  Since each constituent may choose to connect with your organization in different channels, why not offer a consistent message throughout?  Also consider taking Idealware‘s webinar next week on Choosing the Right Communications Mix.

Beth also offered a simple process to use actionable listening to learn from other nonprofits when planning your social media outreach strategy.

Gail Fredricks spoke to ABC News about How to Ask for Money – great summary for those of us who are still learning about fundraising.

Many of us are now managing or working with colleagues across the country or even in other countries.  Nten has just kicked off a webinar series, Virtual Team Leader: Training for Managers of Remote Teams (a recording is available of yesterday’s first of four sessions).  Tip: Don’t rely only on email as your main communications device.

For some email marketing tips, read about the importance of personalized messages and 3 things that will actually improve your email campaigns.

Report from Nonprofit Technology Conference

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Last week I had the pleasure of attending the 10th annual Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta, GA.

Social media was a popular topic throughout the three day event.  Jeff Patrick hosted a lively discussion on the just released Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report (which I helped to prepare), co-sponsored by Common Knowledge, Nten and ThePort.  While nonprofits’ increased use of Facebook and Twitter were not a surprise, some of the data showed interesting trends about issues such as the use of commercial vs. house (private) networks.  You can download the report free here.

Similar to how Twitter forces messages to be limited to 140 characters, the Ignite presentations featured a series of talks which were each limited to 5 minutes and 20 slides.  Scott Bechter-Levin encouraged us to share more information with our network;  Steve Heye provided a wonderful comparison of how techies and business users interpret the same information very differently.

Friday’s plenary speaker Andrew Sullivan offered a look into what happens when your blog becomes too popular, as is his The Daily Dish.  Blog readers expect steady feedback but “expect you to say things they agree with.”  But he added that his blog has enabled him to cover international events very quickly and has encouraged a “free flow of data.”

Saturday’s plenary speaker Asi Burak described how games can be used to stimulate thought about difficult world issues, demonstrating PeaceMaker, a simulation of the Middle East conflict.   Games allow us to play roles that we’re usually not comfortable with and help us to understand the ‘other side’ of the argument.  I’ve often ignored games, but this is a very different focus than the games you see on Facebook.

When it comes to social media, small organizations often get better results than larger nonprofits.  In the session Beyond Traditional Fundraising: Utilizing the Web and Social Networks to Secure Donors, speakers from Alix’s Lemonade Stand, Architecture for Humanity and Spirit Jump described how they’ve been able to stimulate interest to their causes.   The goal “isn’t always to raise money” but that you “no longer have to have money to raise money.”  An interesting observation was that constituents who are most engaged online aren’t always the best donors.   Clearly these smaller nonprofits are not only using social media heavily, some are bypassing the more traditional channels such as direct mail completely.

Will Kiva kill your nonprofit? This session focused on the trend of allowing donors to pick specifically the people and causes they will support as well as receive regular feedback on how their contributions have been used.  Many nonprofits I’ve worked for in the past have discouraged restricted gifts, preferring to receive funds that can be used for any purpose.  While not all types of nonprofits can support this type of giving (e.g. direct service organizations work well but large affiliate based organizations will find it more difficult), clearly this is a trend worth paying attention to.  One suggestion was to not stop asking for unrestricted gifts, but to start additional programs that are more targeted.

While not as well attended as the social media talks, the session Diversifying Your Tech and Online Communications Teams provided an interesting overview into why diversity in nonprofit staff can result in better service to diverse groups of constituents – and better fundraising results.   One interesting perspective (of a typical nonprofit) was “We’ll help your community but we really don’t want your input.”  Another observation: “We’re all a majority in some ways but a minority in others.”  A recommendation: “Learn about the communities (you serve) instead of trying to represent people you don’t know.”

Online communications gurus Beth Kanter and Kivi Leroux Miller – offered How to Design and Present Online Training People Will Love.  Many of us need to train colleagues in remote locations, so it’s important to understand the differences between live and online instruction.   Since many of our attendees will be multitasking, it’s even more important to hold their attention;  one suggestion was to use a more visual slide design, using principles from Garr Reynolds’ Presentation Zen.  Idealware’s Laura Quinn also offered a look at popular web conferencing tools such as Readytalk and GoToMeeting/GoToWebinar – make sure you take advantage of discounts available to nonprofits through TechSoup.  (For a concise summary of nonprofit software options, check out Idealware’s Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits.)

Just for fun, we enjoyed an after-event party at the World of Coca-Cola, which offered a novel ‘tasting room’ allowing us to taste brands from all over the world.  (My favorite was Bibo Candy, but I’ll probably have to travel to Africa to find a store that sells it.)

I’ve been a Nten member for many years, and this event gets better every year.  Thanks to Holly Ross and her staff for a wonderful three days.  If you missed the event, you can enjoy some of the sessions here.

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

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When you present, do you get frustrated with attendees who seem to be paying more attention to their phones / computers than to your presentation?  In her presentation this week on the Trainer’s Social Media Tool Box, Beth Kanter explained how to use social media to enhance your sessions by encouraging sharing of information.   A new book, the Back Channel, details this phenomenon in more detail.  (If you’re still waiting until the end of your talk to take questions, you definitely need to see Beth’s notes.)

Jeff Brooks also spoke on a Network for Good call on what not to do in online fundraising – slides are available here.  (Hint – if your figures are not growing, you’re missing something.)

Do you maintain a database for advocacy that’s separate from your main donor database?  Care2′s webinar on Connecting Advocacy to Fundraising showed how activists can also be top fundraisers, if you take the time to cultivate them.   Activists also consistently open emails more frequently than other supporters.

If you need help in selecting tools for your organization (who doesn’t?), take a look at Idealware’s just released Field Guide to Software for Nonprofits.  Laura Quinn’s organization has always provided great information through her web site, blog and enewsletter.  I helped with some edits for this book – it is definitely worth getting.

Now that there’s so many ways to communicate with constituents, are you taking the time to make sure your messaging is consistent and on brand across channels?  See notes from Kivi Leroux Miller’s talk this week on Integrating Your Website, Email Newsletter and Social Media Sites.  Also see Blackbaud’s tips on Multi-Channel Engagement.

Like most nonprofits, Idealist has having some challenging times and has asked for our help.  Ami Dar’s work has long benefited the nonprofit community.  Please help.

Finally, are you helping your constituents to run their own fundraising events, or do you only help with events run by your organization?  If so, you’re missing a huge opportunity. Read Independent Fundraising Events Bring Big Returns, which links to a recent white paper by Blackbaud and Event 360; you can also register for a webinar on Feb. 3 to learn more.