Direct Mail Reality Check: Outakes from Fundraising Day in New York

Here are some very interesting tips from folks who do direct mail 24/7 and shared their expertise at a recent session at Fundraising Day in New York (remember, this work is 99% fundraising). But I gotta say, I was shocked by the bubble some of these experts are trapped in; read on for details:

• How much you say depends on who you're reaching
  • Prospects respond better to longer (4pp.) letters
  • While in-house lists (current donors) prefer a shorter letter (2pp.)
• People assume you're customizing the letter to them
  • So it's not always necessary to explicate that
  • Members who received mailings for an annual fund campaign responded at a higher rate to the test that didn't address them as members, or refer to their membership at all.
• Be as tangible as possible for higher impact
  • A fundraising mailing that featured a ribbon drew much better when a real cloth ribbon, rather than a ribbon sticker, was used.
• Too much nitty-gritty can depress response
  • When the Special Olympics(SO) integrated testimonials from the families of its atheletes, response rate fell
  • My guess: Perhaps SO's current direct mail donor base (60+) doesn't want to hear the truth. The rest of us crave it. And so will we when we get older. Look alive, direct mailers.
• Companion emails increase response to direct mail by 12%, especially when the ask in is the first two paragraphs of the email
  
  • This is no surprise to those of us immersed in integrated marketing, but most of the speakers (and listeners) at FRDNY are all mail, all the time.
• Authenticity rules -- handwritten cards (real, not printed handwriting) work

All useful to know. But here's what really startled me. When I asked the panel of three direct mail experts why they're focusing only on folks 60+, they stared at me like I was crazy. The universal response was that the other prospects were handled by other parts of the organization (online only), and that they don't give much. What about shepherding folks teens up into supporting nonprofits in all ways? What about people now 60 who've been using the Web for 15 years? What about all those confused audiences who are getting snail mail and email that are completely uncoordinated?

Wake up, direct mailers, and break out of your bubble.

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Don't Miss this Chance to Boost Your Fundraising Expertise

We're just one week out from Fundraising Day in New York(FRDNY), which is always one of the most valuable professional development immersions for me. I'll be there blogging next Friday, June 13th. Hope to see you.

There's no doubt that nonprofit marketing is twinned with fundraising. So it's critical that we marketers understand trends, successes, concerns and vision in fundraising. Without that understanding, we're driving blind.

Here are a couple of the sessions I'm really looking forward to:

• Losing a major donor: How to recover when they say goodbye
  • We all lose donors, email subscribers, volunteers. What's next?
• Access the new source of funding: Hedge funds and family foundations
  • Are there new audiences out there you should be reaching?
• The power of saying thank you
  • We don't say it enough; what else are we forgetting to say?

The exhibits are great too -- a useful way to stay up to date on new tools; and to see old friends and colleagues. Register now.

BTW, you'll find lots of useful guidance, tools and case studies in these free downloads of presentations from past FRDNYs.

P.S. If you want to chat at FRDNY (I'd love it), look for me. I'll be the one in the Getting Attention t-shirt.

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ACLU Urges Rebate Recipients to Stimulate Freedom in High-Impact Fundraising Video

I received an email from the ACLU online team last Friday, showcasing this masterful video from  Colorado blogger Kenevan McConnan urging stimulus rebate recipients to pass through their checks to the ACLU. It's simple, a bit surprising and direct. It really works.

Here's how the video triumphs in positioning supporting the ACLU as supporting Constitutional freedoms:

• McConnan is anything but the kneejerk liberal you may expect to be supporting the ACLU. He's a regular guy hunter (aka sportsman), which broadens viewers understanding of whom ACLU protects. He....
• Lists how he considered spending the rebate to stimulate the economy (on hiking boots or binoculars, neither of which were made in the United States)
• Shares his conclusion that shopping isn't the best way to stimulate the economy
• Articulates why he's donating his rebate to the ACLU:
  • Wouldn't have done so before Bush took office
  • But the current administration isn't respecting the Constitution
  • As a result, he's lost his confidence in many civil rights, including the right of an accused to go before a judge, understand what he is accused of and receive a speedy trial.
  • ACLU are the "only guys out there consistently fighting for the rights guaranteed in the constitution."

This pitch, so intimately connected to the source of the rebates, beats those I've seen from other nonprofits hands down. It's a real stimulus. Any out there to match it?

P.S. On the "could have done better" side, the ACLU didn't make it easy for me to forward its email to a friend via a link or button. It's so easy to expand reach that way.

But there's worse: When I called the media contact listed on the ACLU Web site to reach the online team, he told me the team members were busy (all seven of them who signed the email, really?), refused to provide direct phone or email contacts and tried to pacify me by promising to pass on my message.  From an organization that's all about freedom of information, that's bad communication.

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Web 2.0 is Hot, but Email is Where It's At, Finds 2008 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study

A new study released recently measured 2007 internet fundraising and activism of nonprofits and highlights the continued importance of the Internet to the sector. The 2008 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, co-authored by M+R Strategic Services and Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN) adds new depth to 2006 benchmarks findings with additional data on the importance of major donors and 'super activists.'

Here's the essence: Email fatigue is here -- open and click-through rates are down -- but it remains far more effective than Web 2.0 strategies and annual gift size is increasing.
The report includes many benchmarks you can use to gauge the success of your nonprofit's e-marketing and e-fundraising. Other key findings (and related tips) include:

• Finding: The total amount raised online increased by 19 percent from 2006 to 2007
  • Tip: Keep focusing on your online presence and fundraising.
• Finding: The average nonprofit sent over 4 emails per subscriber per month in both 2006 and 2007.
  • Tip: Don't take a break from your email schedule. Keep the schedule you've promised to your readers. Weekly is great; more often if warranted; monthly ok; less than that not advised.
• Finding: Email open rates, click-through rates and response rates have fallen from 21.3 percent to 17.6 percent, and click-through rates have dropped from 4.9 percent to 3.8 percent.
  • Finding: The average advocacy email response rate in 2007 was 7.5%. The average fundraising email response rate was 0.13%.
  • Tip: But more emails are being sent out, for a net:net that's not bad.
• Finding: 'Super activists,' taking six or more online actions in a year, made up just 5 percent of the total email list size but accounted for 42 percent of the organizations' total actions.
  • Tip: Find these folks and make it easy for them to take frequent action. It's likely their great donors, or giving prospects, too.

Put these findings to work in crafting your marketing and fundraising plans.

P.S. The NTEN/M+R team has done a stellar job of marketing the report with its report-focused mini-site, webinar and coverage on both of the org's Web sites. True multi-channel marketing!

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Mercy Corps Gets My $ for Chinese Earthquake Relief Effort -- Here's Why

Once again, like in last week's lightning response to Myanmar's cyclone Nagris, Mercy Corps was out there first with a program in place to provide relief to survivors of the earthquake in China.

With more than 12,000 already reported dead, and the count climbing by the minute, it's clear that the scale of devastation is huge. Immeasurable relief aid needed for their survivors -- most without shelter, clothing, food and livelihood. Unfortunately, the challenge of raising relief dollars is going to be harder than ever, with last week's disaster in Myanmar leaving many prospective donors feeling tapped out.

Here's how Mercy Corps communicates its ability to help, and quickly convinced me that I should direct my donation to them and ask friends and family to do the same:

• Highlights the earthquake relief effort on its home page, with text and a photo, and a link to...
• Provides a full-page description of how Mercy Corps is already working with its longterm partner org in the region (China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA))
  
  • These partnerships, with orgs with established relationships in and understanding of regions, are a hallmark of how Mercy Corps does it work, and a real differentiator.
  • Even in the context of a crisis like this, Mercy Corps brand shines through.
• Offers a donate form that let me direct my gift to the China earthquake relief effort.
  • I couldn't find another org that gave me this option when I donated this morning at 10am est.

With this impressive, on-target communications approach, I wasn't surprised to receive a prompt thank you email "from" founder Dan O'Neill. Dan thanked me for my gift, and reiterated the way Mercy Corps works and how my donation will help (generally). Also, he tells me that via donating I've subscribed to their e-newsletter (good approach) and directs me how to unsubscribe should I so desire. Only addition I'd like to see is a relief-effort-specific paragraph, and a promise to keep me informed on Mercy Corps work in the China earthquake relief effort.

But most importantly, I urge you to give now to aid the hundreds of thousands of survivors, left without family, shelter, clothing, food and livelihood.

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Some Moms Hunger for More than Attention -- Another High-Impact Mother's Day Fundraising Campaign

I was struck by this high-impact Mother's day fundraising campaign from City Meals featured in a full-page ad in Sunday's New York Times. The woman at left could have been my grandmother.

City Meals educates readers that "70% of our meal recipients are women. Many no longer have spouses, siblings, friends or children in their lives. That can make for a lonely Mother's Day. Send meals in your mother's honor or memory to elderly New Yorkers who would otherwise be hungry and alone.

Mom taught you to care for others. Show her how much you learned."

Beautifully done, Citymeals-on-wheels. They get the empathy and the guilt pumped, and they motivate the desire to please with the encouragement to be your best, as mom taught you. Hokey but it works.

What makes this campaign truly effective are the supplementary components that make giving a real participatory experience including these e-cards for your mom (you "purchase" the card, that's your donation) and the campaign mini site.

C'mon and give. Show mom your true colors.

PS I love that Mother's Day has become a focal point for campaigns to help others, which is exactly what mothers do 24/7. Seems much more authentic than the Hallmark version of the day.

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Honor your mother. Send a net. Save a life. -- Mother's Day Campaigns Better than Ever

My husband received this highly-effective email from Nothing but Nets this week, just in time for Mother's Day.

There's probably no better holiday to leverage folks' humanity, love and guilt (yes, mothers are known for that, whether its articulated or not) than Mother's Day. And nonprofits are doing a great job of it this year, especially those who can capitalize on a natural link to motherhood (focused on children, seniors, etc.).

Here are just a couple of the powerful campaigns I've seen:

1) The Nothing but Nets email campaign, which opens with this hard-to-resist pitch:

In the first few years of our lives, our mothers held our hand, picked us up when we fell, and rocked us to sleep. They provided a healthy, happy environment and kept us safe from harm.

Nothing But Nets works to give mothers in Africa the chance to do those same things, by providing them with insecticide-treated bed nets so that they and their children have the opportunity to realize their full potential too. Pregnant mothers and children under five are the most susceptible to contracting malaria. Protective bed nets allow mothers to enjoy the simple pleasure of caring for their children, as our mothers cared for us

2) The Families of Children from China(FCC) Mother's Day appeal for assistance to Chinese orphanages is another winner. Most members are, like us, families who have adopted children from China, so the interest in the welfare of the orphans still in China is already very strong.

It's hard to resist when asked to "keep our promise to the children who call the orphanage home."  Tie that to a focused email campaign on how donations can help provide "grandmas" in the orphanages, or more foster care, and bingo. I forwarded this email twice to my husband, with a strong request that this be my Mother's Day gift.

Any other great Mother's Day campaigns out there? Let me know by clicking the Comments link below.

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Help Cyclone Survivors in Myanmar -- Donate Right Now

It's shocking to hear the current count (estimated at 50,000100,000) of those dead from last weekend's fierce cyclone (most from the low-lying delta region), and dismaying to learn that over 40,000 are still missing and almost 2-3 million more (that's the population of the region hardest hit) wounded and/or without food, water, shelter or fuel. Here's the latest from The Times (UK).

Worse yet, as you've heard, the military junta has been slow to allow aid agencies in to help, only yesterday giving the heads up to these agencies whose staff are still waiting for visas. This delay will only increase the severity of injuries, dehydration and starvation, and the need for help. Even when aid arrives in Myanmar, it will take time to get it distributed in this destroyed rural area.

The Federation of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is already on the ground in Myanmar, and UNICEF and World Vision are en route to provide emergency relief. Help them do as much as possible as quickly as possible to help cyclone survivors in this devastated country.

Donate today to:
UNICEF
World Vision 

Photo credit: Luisrene

New Research Unmasks the Wired Wealthy -- Connect Better with Middle and Major Donors

What makes people give online, and how can you motivate them to give to your organization?  Convio, Sea Change Strategies and Edge Research recently answered these questions via an in-depth study of some 3,400 wired donors who make four-figure or higher gifts to one or more causes. And get this -- "or the nonprofits who shared data, this segment of donors represents just 1% of their active donor file, but 32% of their annual revenue," says Convio founder and Chief Strategy Officer Vinay Bhagat.

The results, available here in full, offer some useful guidance on closing the gap between your org and your donors and here are just a few of the findings you can use to refine your strategies. The wired wealthy are:

• Very generous givers
  • Give an average of $10,896 eachyear to various causes, with a median gift of $4,500
• Notably wealthy
  • More than twenty-five percent (25%) have household incomes above $200,000 per year. More than half have annual household incomes above $100,000.
• Mostly boomers (born between 1946 and 1964)
  • With the center of gravity falling right in the middle of the baby boom cohort.
• Extremely wired
  • Have been using the Internet for an average of 12 years
  • Online an average of 18 hours per week
• Give online and via other channels
  
  • Like the speed, efficiency and instant gratification of online giving
  • Will be shifting more giving to online over next few years.

Clearly, you have to be online in a sophisticated way that engages boomers to succeed in this competitive arena.

Here's another vital finding: There are three main ways in which these donors want to relate to orgs they give to -- all business; relationship seekers; casual connectors.

"The three clusters offer some important clues about what kinds of communications your wired wealthy constituents...value, and might also help temper organizational expectations. Moreover, [the clustering indicates] that most organizations have a long way to go to fully satisfy even the most modest donor demands and expectations. And, it argues strongly for implementing some sort of psychographic segmentation so that you can cultivate relationships with the very different, yet equally valuable...clusters."

You'll find lots more data to guide your marketing and fundraising efforts in the full report.

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Play to Win. Send Nets. Stop Malaria. -- Org Uses Interactive Game to Build Awareness and Donations

Urging millions around the world to "play the game" and "deliver nets," the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets(NBN) campaign just launched an intriguing interactive game to build understanding (in an incredibly fun way) of how insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria get to users in Africa.

''Deliver the Net'' teaches users about bed net distribution and challenges individuals to deliver as many virtual nets as possible before the sun goes down and malaria-carrying mosquitoes come out to bite. Players are urged to "race the sun and hand out as many insecticide-treated bed nets as you can to African families. The more nets you deliver—before the mosquitoes come out—the more lives you save. Once you’re done playing the game, sign up for news about the campaign and a life-saving bed net will be sent on your behalf!"

This is one of the most ingenious nonprofit marketing campaigns I've seen, ever. Here's why:

• Launched at the beginning of the month, the game is a build up to World Malaria Day on April 25th. I can't imagine a better attention-getter; and this generates donations too.
• NBN sent an engaging, colorful email invite to get participation going with this clear subject line: Play to win. Send Nets. Stop Malaria.
• The game is truly fun and engaging; learning is organic rather than pushed and so has greater staying power.
• Providing your email address at the end of the game -- when players "get it," and enabling follow-ups from the campaign -- generates a $10 gift to NBN from its partners. $10 covers the cost of purchasing a long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net, distributing it to a family in need and educating the recipients on its proper use. And, players are invited to donate additional nets, at the affordable price of @$10.
• After providing your email address, you're brought to an online video of a UN worker in
  the field talking about the project and challenges of the  difficult security situation. It's on YouTube, so easy to pass on.
• It's a fun game that delivers a powerful impression at the end when you see the guy inside his tent, filming the video, with the generator running in the 110 degree heat. The video creates a real sense of what it's like for African's fighting malaria.

Just a few days post-launch, 2,673 players to date have generated a gift of a net to Africans, and understand how nets can combat malaria -- all while having fun. Fun while learning; nothing's better than that.

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Don't Throw $ Away on the Wrong Message to the Right Audience

Yesterday's mail brought this glossy, 64 pp. magazine from the Alzheimer's Association. It went right into the recycling bin.

Wrong strategy to the right audience, nonprofit marketing people. The Association got my name when I sponsored my friend Stuart in the NY Chapter's fundraising walk for two years running. Stuart's story -- of caring for his close friend struck with Alzheimer's at a young age -- drew me (and my donation) in.

But, instead of following up with me post-walk, and subsequently, with stories like Stuart's (and those are how most walk donors are pulled in), the Association blasts this expensive but useless promotion out to its entire list.

Two takeaways here, marketers:

1. Match the message and channel to the audience. Otherwise, you alienate them, and waste valuable resource (this magazine was printed on heavy, high-gloss stock, yikes).
2. Keep in touch with event audiences following the event and then periodically till the next one -- to keep them engaged -- but do it in a way that reinforces their initial way in.

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Big Give's Small Impact on Upping Volunteers & Giving

There continues to be a rabid debate swirling around Oprah's The Big Give. My take? I just don't see evidence that it's motivating a groundswell of giving and volunteering at the local level. Wish I did.

The show is just too fake. People aren't biting, even though the mainstream attention the show has brought to causes and the nonprofit sector is all good. The potential was there; here are some of the ways I imagined nonprofits could leverage Big Give attention. But not that much is happening.

Here are a few reasons why the show remains small potatoes:

• The show is typical reality, giving is just the rubric. Nothing more. No modeling of true civic action here.No implicit training of citizens on they can work with/via orgs with issue, policy and program expertise to advance what's important to them. The creators should have woven nonprofits into the show.
• The show site's link to VolunteerMatch force a prospective volunteer to click four times to get to the action page. Same with the links to Network for Good for giving.Every click is one more deterrent to action.
• Oprah's company, Harpo Productions, is holding tight to the copyrighted Big Give brand. Despite repeated requests for discussion with the legal team, I never got the reasoning behind this dictum. Too bad they won't share the goods to replicate more locally-based, sustainable attention and action for nonprofits throughout the US.

On the up side, ABC (Oprah's network) offered $10,000 seed money up to a total of $1 million to any affiliate eager to leverage it into a greater sum. Not that 10k is huge; but these efforts are engaging folks in a more real, more personal, and possibly more sustained way.

Many of the affiliates are simply choosing one great organization, and broadcasting a request for donations. But here's a much more creative strategy: Sarasota, Florida's affiliate asked viewers to make an online donation to one of three local charities. The group that raises the most money wins an additional $10,000 bonus(the network's gift); the other two keep whatever they raise. Best yet, the Community Foundation of Sarasota County is handling all the contributions at no cost, so 100% of donated dollars get to selected charities. That's a smart use of community expertise.

I'm hoping to see more awareness of, and action for, key social issues coming from the Big Give. Right now, the impact seems very small. Let's move on. There are bigger fish to fry.

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Talk to me....About the New Nonprofit Marketing Tool/Approach/Model/Idea That's Intriguing You

...or are intrigued by.

I'm here at the Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC) and absorbing ideas, models, tools like a sponge. So realize how much power there is in drawing out the same from other bloggers for next week's Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants.

So, nonprofit bloggers, tell me what's intriguing you? What nonprofit marketing model, tool, tip approach or idea is compelling you to find out more or put it into action for your organization?

Talk to me by midnight, Saturday, March 22nd. Just go to BlogCarnival.com to submit your post using the form there or send an email to npc.carnival AT yahoo DOT com with your name, your blog’s name and the URL of the post (not your blog homepage).

I'll report out next Monday with what should be a powerful "to explore" list for us all.

Signing off from New Orleans,
Nancy

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Capitalize on The Big Give -- 4 Ways to Work it Via Nonprofit Marketing

Oprah's Big Give premiered Sunday evening March 2nd to record audiences (15.6 million, according to Nielsen ratings). Now that's a huge number of folks paying attention to giving; many of whom are likely to have little experience with nonprofits, donating or volunteering.

The show works like this: Ten contestants, ordinary people who auditioned in different cities like “American Idol” aspirants, are paired into teams and assigned a person who needs help. The team that raises most money — and presents the most moving case — wins. Each week the lowest-scoring contestant gets sent home.

Despite the fact that critics have panned the show as a venue for product placement, not good will; as a fraud and so far worse than a show that doesn't claim to do good, The Big Give is clearly a dream for ABC and its advertisers. I see it as a dream come true for nonprofit marketers.

Here are four low-cost/effort, high-return ways to put those 31 million eyeballs (and millions more who are reading about the show) to work for your nonprofit:

1. Harvest volunteers, while interest is hot. Register today with VolunteerMatch. Oprah has wisely partnered with experts on this front -- VolunteerMatch is sheparding folks into volunteering, a service featured on the show home page. Make sure you're volunteer ops are listed in the VolunteerMatch database. Here's how.


2. Make it easy for folks to give via Network for Good, even if you're already using another online giving strategy. Oprah has partnered with online giving service Network for Good on the donation side. Sign up today so you don't lose these viewers.


3. Invite supporters to throw Big Give parties for your org, and simplify the process by providing a downloadable party kit with e-invite text, stories of other giving parties, a party hotline, etc. Oprah offers tips for format and food here.


4. Sponsor or launch a local "Big Give" knock off in your community. I just heard today from Alicia Williams in Houston who has 20 locals ready to set one up. I'll follow up with my how-tos within the next few days.

Is your nonprofit capitalizing on The Big Give in other ways? Let me know in the Comments field below please.

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Is Direct Mail Dead or Alive? Share Your Take Tomorrow Noon EST

Is direct mail dead, or still a vital element in your nonprofit's fundraising and marketing agenda? I'm a strong believer in the latter -- direct mail has a lesser, but still vital, role in your marketing mix.

But ask your questions of two fundraising experts Roger Craver and Madeline Staniosis, hosts of tomorrow's online discussion hosted at noon EST by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Ask before the discussion goes live, and you have a far better chance of getting your question answered.

Craver and Staniosis will respond to your questions and mine, in the context of a recent study of major nonprofits that found direct mail appeals are not raising as much money as they used to. No surprise, since donor/audience information habits continue to migrate online, while increases in postal rates make a good ROI on a mail campaign less certain than it used to be.

I'll be there. You should too.

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Disconnect with Donors and Other Audiences Sets Stage for Dissapointment and Loss of Confidence, According to SSIR/Google.Org Survey

Good news for your 2008 nonprofit marketing agenda-- the writing is on the wall, the just-released findings of this new survey of over 8,000 donors who gave in 2006.

Here are the facts (as reported by the survey), why you should care, and what you should do about it (fix):

• Fact: Most donors overestimate the percentage of their gifts groups that will go directly to help the needy.
  
  • There is a wide gulf between donors’ intended and actual giving.
  • The largest segment of respondents (47 percent) said that their primary reason for giving to charities was to assist the needy.
  • Yet in 2006, these donors dedicated only 6 percent of their giving to organizations that aim to meet people’s basic needs in the United States, and sent just 2 percent of their donations to organizations that aid people in other countries.
  • At the same time, they gave the bulk of their charitable contributions (60 percent) to religious causes.

• Impact:
  • Wide
  • Donor disappointment, disengagement and anger. Lack of confidence cuts future gifting potential.

• Fix:
  
  • Clearly articulate -- through text, graphs and case studies -- what your organization does, and how contributions are used.
  • When you do, you'll avoid disappointing donors, volunteers and program participants and other key audiences.
  • As a result, you'll strengthen existing relationships, and do better at building new ones.

Note: Survey implemented by the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and sponsored by Google.org.

More tips on clearly and accurately telling your nonprofit's story:

• The Most Powerful Marketing Copy in the World – Testimonials
• Put Persuasive Storytelling to Work for Your Nonprofit

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Give Today -- $10 Will Help Cambodian Youngster Mon Channy Get An Education and Live a Better Life

My friend and colleague Beth Kanter is a real doer (as my grandmother would say). Right now, she's jumpstarted an online giving campaign to send 10-year-old Cambodian Mon Channy to school (in center in photo at left).

Mon Channy's Story
Frequently, children in very poor families work in order to bolster the family’s income, but this keeps them out of school.  For Mon Channy,10, The Sharing Foundation’s(TSF) Khmer Literacy School has provided huge opportunities. Mon Channy is the only child of his  widowed mom, who supports herself and her child through her work on the TSF farm.  Channy is proud to be the first in his family to attend school. His teacher, Ying So Ry, says Channy is a very attentive, hard working student, and she sees a bright future for him.

Give Just $10 to Make a Huge Difference in Mon Channy's Life
Give $10 today to keep Mon Channy in school, and help win him and his schoolmates $50,000 from America's Giving Challenge. The Sharing Foundation has the opportunity to get $50,000, if Beth and friends inspire the largest number of unique donors to contribute to the Sharing Foundation through Global Giving between now and January 31, 2008.

Don't wait. GIVE NOW--while Mon Channey is on your mind

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Five Stars for New Users' Guide to Great Nonprofits

Perla Ni, former publisher of the Stanford Social Innovation Review, and friends have just launched GreatNonprofits, a new site that aims to be the Zagat guide to nonprofits.

Frankly, I couldn't be happier about this latest resource in the "get a better idea of whom you're giving to" universe. Yes, it's great to see 990s and charts on how budget is allocated. But I'm hooked on insights from peers (I'm addicted to Amazon's user reviews, and never buy a book without reading a few), and GreatNonprofits gives me what I never had before.

At Greatnonprofits.org, donors can read personal stories, see photos, and videos showing how people have volunteered with, worked with, donated to, or benefited from the work of nonprofits.

GreatNonprofits is piloting in Pittsburgh in partnership with the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership, over 300 nonprofits are participating.  Reviews of nonprofits have been written by people who have volunteered, who have donated or who have benefited from a nonprofit's services. 

Says Vivien Luk of Pittsburgh's Forbes Funds, "We see GreatNonprofits as a way to connect the public with services provided by our local nonprofits and to better connect nonprofits with each other.  This is also a great way to increase donations and volunteerism for our local nonprofits.

Great work, Great Nonprofits.

P.S. I've found that giving participants (and here that means donors, volunteers, board members, program participants, service users) a venue to spread the word like this gets them even more fired up. Nice byproduct of a very useful service, Perla.

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Get Ready, Get Set, Go -- Help Your Supporters Make You an America's Giving Challenge Winner of $50,000

Hot off the press is this exciting news about the latest Case Foundation innovation to engage individuals in what I call "distributed giving."  It used to be that you had to be a billionaire to change the world. Case and friends think otherwise and have launched America's Giving Challenge to prove it. Sort of a social networking model of philanthropy.

The Foundation and Parade Magazine are joining together here to motivate citizens to act to spread the word (and $) on causes they're passionate about, and challenge them to advocate for their causes to inspire others to give. Eight winning orgs (those with the greatest number of unique donations) will each receive $50,000.

So your challenge -- as a prospective recipient of this haul -- is to ensure your audiences are aware of the Challenge, and know how to make your org a winner. Make it easy for them to make your organization a winner.

Here's how it works:

Who can participate:
Anyone with access to the Internet, a willingness to try something new, and the passion and commitment to advocate on behalf of a cause they care about. The entire Challenge is designed to take place online, involving the use of such everyday activities as e-mailing, blogging, and social networking.

To “champion a cause” you must be a legal U.S. resident aged 13 years or older. Anyone can donate to a cause using a valid credit card or other form of payment accepted by our donation processing partners Network for Good and GlobalGiving.

How it works:
There are two ways to get involved:

• Champion a Cause and have the chance to get $50,000 for the charity of your choice. The eight individuals whose charity badges attract the most unique donors through the America’s Giving Challenge will get $50,000 for their cause.
• Give to a Cause and help the charity you care about get $1,000. The 100 nonprofits with the greatest number of unique donations made to them through America’s Giving Challenge will each get $1,000.

The Challenge begins December 13 at 3pm EST and will close January 31 at 3pm EST. Get ready, get set, go!

P.S. I adore and respect The Case Foundation for its ongoing focus on imaginative strategies to engage citizens to go beyond individual giving to raise money for the causes they care about. Another great example is the Foundation's Make it  Your Own Awards program.

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Follow Care2's Guidance for Better-Than-Ever Year-End Fundraising

Waiting until the last minute to shop for holiday presents is one thing, but your organization can't afford to wait any longer for donations! Especially since as many as 98 percent of visitors to organizations' "donate pages" leave before making a donation.

If you still haven't read The Procrastinator's Guide to Year-End Fundraising from Care2's Eric Rardin and Heather Holdridge, now's the time to stop delaying and snag some of those last-minute donations.

The Guide is based on best available wisdom on how to design your Web presence to maximize giving and broadly how to connect with new supporters, and continue communications year-round to cement the strongest relationships with donors. Follow these clear and concrete action steps to increase the percentage of visitors to your donate page who actually complete a gift.

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Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Pushes for Investment in Strategic Communications

Update: November 2nd -- You must register at GEO before downloading this guide.

Nonprofit organizations, rejoice! Grantmakers for Effective Organizations(GEO) has just published an action guide for grantmakers providing operating support -- including strategic communications -- for nonprofit organizations.

Yes, strategic communications should be fully integrated into every single program funding proposal you craft and submit. No program can succeed without it. But there's an enormous need for unrestricted funding: For funding for more program-based communications; for experimentation in new communications channels; and for the communications beyond the program specific that are necessary to integrate program work throughout the organization, and build awareness and engagement at the org level.

Grantmakers, I urge you to download GEO's General Operating Support Action Guide today. It's worth a read for you nonprofits as well, to see how the funding landscape is changing. Finally!

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Put Your Wired Fundraisers to Work: New Report Shows How to Raise More than You Ever Imagined

Katya Andresen just tipped me off on this new report from Network to Good detailing what happens when people with a cause take it to cyberspace; why marketers and fundraisers should care; and what they should do about the phenomenon.

Thanks for the heads up, Katya. This is stuff we all need to care about. So jump in with these key findings:

1. When Wired Fundraisers(WF) Talk, People Who Care about Them Listen, Hard: I'm not surprised that the messenger matters more than the message.  We tend to trust messengers we know, who communicate personally, in a conversational tone and with a powerful story or two that they know will matter to us.  A promotion from a charity can’t compete with this intimacy, authority or authenticity.

Remember my friend Stuart who e-recruited sponsors for his participation in the NYC Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk. Read this post to see how powerfully he told his partner Ken's story. You won't be surprised that he and Ken raised $27,000 and counting.

2. Not Every WF Is a Champion: Remember that the leading WFs bring a rare combination of true passion and a means to lend a sense of urgency to their cause.  Not every Six Degrees fundraiser or Facebook Cause is a winner, but a proud few – the superactivists - are very effective, raising $9,000 on average and reaching 150 people.  But don't discount the power of many non-super, but excellent, WFs.

3. Technology Gives the WF Special Power:  My daughter Charlotte would think of WF's as the Cinderellas of fundraising. Widgets and social networks make personal fundraisers even more effective for four reasons. Widgets – bits of code that can be placed anywhere, including on Facebook pages or blogs – make it possible for personal fundraisers to take their message everywhere they communicate online, including social networks where messages spread very efficiently.  They make it possible for the fundraiser to evangelize in his own way, in his own words.  Because they make fundraising so easy, widgets attract a new group of fundraisers.  At the same time, widgets enable friends and family to give instantly, when they feel an impulse to give. That means more donations to more causes.

4. Smart Nonprofits Love WFs:  These orgs get that they have to give control over the message to their WFs.  Wise charities see this as a transfer to embrace, not to be feared. 

WFs are powerful players in the nonprofit marketing and fundraising arena. Find more on how to put Wired Fundraisers to work for your nonprofit in the full report.

P.S. Become a WF yourself to support victims of the wildfires sweeping California with this widget.  Link to it in emails or click on the Share tab within the widget for code to display it online.

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Submit Your Best Donor Recognition Idea, Win an iPod

The folks at Planned Legacy are experts in donor recognition. As a matter of fact, they're expert enough to know that there are plenty of great donor recognition ideas out there that they haven't tapped yet.

So they're running a contest to get the donor recognition conversation going. Submit your best  practice in any of the following areas -- first prize is an iPod touch:

• Donor Recognition and Donor Relations
• Capital Campaign Promotion
• Stewardship
• Saying Thank You
• Donor Walls and Special Events

Submit your best donor recognition practices today while it's on your mind. Deadline is December 10th; winners to be announced shortly thereafter.

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Alzheimer's Association NYC Knows How to Treat its Donors Right

When I received an email yesterday morning from my friend Stuart, requesting our support for his participation in the Alzheimer's Association's Memory Walk, blogging about it couldn't have been further from my mind.

Stuart crafted a warm, personal email updating his friends and family on the progression of his partner Ken's Alzheimer's. He went on to share his thanks for the Association's NYC Chapter's services and asked for our contribution to keep them going:

Now this is the part where I hit you up.  The Memory Walk hopes to raise $1 million – up from $750,000 last year – for the NYC Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.  The funds support the Chapter’s many services to people with Alzheimer’s and their families – people like Ken and me.   In all honesty, I am able to sleep at night because I know that Paulette Michaud and her colleagues will be there for us when it hits the fan.  Despite my best efforts..., it’s gonna happen, and when it does, the Alzheimer’s Association will provide us with the tools we’ll need to take care of Ken in the best possible way.

Who could refuse to support just a heartfelt request (not that I was going to anyway)? If the Association doesn't provide email templates for its Memory Walkers, Stuart's email could do the job. He's a natural fundraiser (and has done so professionally in the past).

I continued to be impressed as I gave online. The site (powered by Kintera) is intuitive and fast and it didn't take me more than a minute. Even better, when I submitted my contribution, the site generated a receipt page that right there. I didn't have to go anywhere else or take an extra minute to learn where the money goes or the percentage of donations spent on program versus operating expenses.

At the Alzheimer’s Association, 75 percent of revenues go to programs, such as research, while the remaining monies pay for management, general expenses, program improvement, and fund-raising. The Alzheimer's Association, New York City Chapter is proud to report that 82 cents of every dollar raised goes directly to programs and services.

And the NY Chapter went even one step further, including the name, email and and phone number of a staff member to contact should I have more questions about how my contribution will be put to work. Talk about making it easy for your audiences. The Alzheimer's Association NY Chapter knows how to treat its donors right!

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Personal Touch Casts Its Spell in Magical Email from My High School's New Fundraiser

There's no tool like the personal touch, in nonprofit marketing or marketing at large. Let me tell you what I mean.

I recently received an email from Anne Burns, the new fundraiser at my high school. Nothing new at first glance, since I'm constantly receiving giving appeals from  Baldwin. But when I took a second glance at the subject line--A New Face in the Advancement Department--I decided to open the email.

What I found was a warm introductory note from Anne. Here's how she earned my interest and wins my heart (a first for Baldwin, where I usually leave the giving to others):

• She tells me her career story -- "In the last 11 years since I have left Baldwin, I have had three jobs..."
• She makes me feel that my alma mater (and hers) is special, in a way that reminds me of my own experience there -- "Walking through school on my first morning, I actually had that back to school feeling that I haven't felt in ages."
• She offers to help me out in any way that she can -- answering a question, responding to a suggestion -- so it's not the usual one-way request conversation.
• She encourages me to act now, while I'm thinking about Baldwin, and makes it easy for me to do so via email or phone -- "Now we need your help nominating outstanding alumnae for three honors."
• She closes with an extremely personal story, generating even more investment on my part and ensuring I'll remember this email for longer than the norm.-- "My husband and I are expecting our first child in about two weeks, but I'll have access to email throughout if you want to be in touch." Talk about accessibility.

Well done, Anne. Take a cue from Anne and communicate with the kind of personal touch that casts a spell (in the most authentic, positive way, of course) on your organization's target audiences.

Learn more ways to connect with your audiences in:
5 Tips for Writing Nonprofit Marketing Copy that Works

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The Future of Fundraising -- 10 Years Down the Line

I'm looking into my crystal ball at the invitation of Gayle Roberts, ringleader of this month's Giving Carnival, who's rounding up takes on the future of fundraising. Great idea, Gayle.

Here's what I see happening fundraising-wise in 2017:

• Issue-focused giving. With so many nonprofits addressing every issue, it'll be a must to simplify offerings for the giver. I see issue-oriented giving, with donors having the option to specify organizational recipients by percentage of the total gift.
• Giving to smaller orgs or those less well-funded by endowment or major gifts (when you do pick an org). I don't give as much to Brown (my alma mater) as I do to other orgs where I know my gift will really make an impact. I hear the same from friends and family. And for those giving on a large-scale, it's far easier to get your name on a building at Maplewood's Memorial park, than at Harvard.
• Most giving will be on automatic renewal plans, executed through credit cards or direct deposit, or the 2017 equivalent. This "membership" approach will become increasingly attractive efficiency wise, and one of the only ways to maintain ongoing relationships with donors as info/communications overload continues to grow.
• Customized giving. Donors frequently want to earmark their gifts to specific programs or events. That desire will only increase as customization options appear in every venue from blue jeans to mini vans.
• Personalized reporting on impact. I see a RSS-type feed where donors can see graphical feedback on how their gifts (to all charities) have been used, and their impact.
• A shift from corporate giving to cause marketing. It's already beginning to happen, as giving lives more and more frequently in the marketing department. Result for nonprofits -- partners not gifts.
• Giving as a core part of estate and financial planning work, for folks beyond the very rich to take maximum advantage of increasingly complex and frequently changing tax laws. So the nonprofit sector better start doing a better job of educating these planners on guiding their clients to the right decisions.

Gayle, thanks again for the invite. I can't wait to see what else will be happening in fundraising in 2017.

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Flattery Gets You Everywhere

That's how Lincoln Center Theater got my attention for its latest fundraising campaign.

My husband and I attended one of the three plays comprising the Tony-award-winning Coast of Utopia by Tom Stoppard. We loved the play and yes, felt a bit like insiders when the play won the coveted Tony for best play this season.

Well the folks at Lincoln Center show a lot of emotional intelligence in picking up on that connection in their latest fundraising campaign. They thank us for making possible the ambitious production of The Coast of Utopia. And they invite us to be their new "best friends," asking that we continue to support the theater with our donations to ensure more great plays are produced.

How  flattering, and how very smart.

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Invite Your Supporters to Fundraise for Your Organization

Such viral fundraising  or micro philanthropy is just one of the