Resource Thursday: A Persuasive Infographic

Having trouble persuading your board or leadership team that online giving is important? Check out this infographic that Network for Good released around their 10th anniversary last week. Yes, that's right, online giving has been around for more than a decade - I'm pretty sure that means it's mainstream for the majority of the population, so if that isn't enough to persuade your board, hopefully these other tidbits will help:

Schedule Your December Appeals

Happy Monday! Hopefully by today, you've overcome the food coma that Thanksgiving induced and are ready for the biggest giving month of the year. 

Now is the time to start thinking about when you're going to email your supporters to encourage them to include your organization in their holiday/end of year giving plans. If you've been reading this blog, you've already laid the foundation for your giving case by sending around a compelling story about one of your constituents - and giving your supporters credit for the life they changed.

It's a good idea to email your supporters at least a few times throughout the month of December - including at least twice during the last week of the year. This chart of online giving through  Network for Good in 2008 makes a powerful case for reaching out to donors on the 30th and 31st - when 22% of the year's online giving happens.

 

That's right - 33% of all online giving happens in the last month of the year, and 22% in the last 2 days!  So it's not too late to set up a powerful plan for year-end giving, and the first step is deciding when you're going to reach out to your donors. 

Here's my plan for an organization that I'm working with:

• December 14 (1 month after my thank you story email) - another constituent story, this time with an ask for support to change even more lives in 2012
• December 21 - another story of a life that's been changed, another ask
• December 29 - a short, sweet story and reminder to make a donation by the end of the year
• December 31, 8 am (to make sure it's at the top of their inbox) - don't drop the ball - make a donation before the ball drops!

After each email, I'm going to check my list carefully and exclude anyone who has already made a gift in December - you don't want to treat your donors like ATMs - if they've already given, concentrate on thanking them, not asking again!

Resource Thursday (a day early): Idealist.org

I'm posting this resource a day early since I'm going to take tomorrow off for Thanksgiving!

If you have open career or volunteer opportunities, Idealist is an excellent place to start your search. Here's their mission statement:

Idealist connects people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives.

Idealist is independent of any government, political ideology, or religious creed. Our work is guided by the common desire of our members and supporters to find practical solutions to social and environmental problems, in a spirit of generosity and mutual respect.

That doesn't tell you a whole lot about how your organization can use Idealist, so here are a few things to get you started:

• Add your organization (this is necessary to post jobs and internships)
• Find candidates for internships,  jobs and volunteer opportunities
• Publicize events and programs

From my experience, the best use of Idealist is finding candidates for open positions, but I'd love to hear success stories of how others have used it to publicize events and programs.

Happy hunting!

Don't Panic!

One of my favorite books is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the movie doesn't do it justice), and one of the key principles of inter-galactic hitchhiking is "Don't panic."

That principle also applies to nonprofit management and writing appeals. It's easy to get caught up in your left - or logical - brain when you're in the thick of things, especially if your organization is struggling. But it's not logic that creates a vital connection with your supporters, it's emotion.

When you find yourself getting caught up in all the practical things that your organization needs money to fix - the heater, the computers that have viruses, the staff that need paychecks - don't panic!

Take a step back and look at the big picture. Your supporters don't want to buy you a new HVAC unit. But they do want to make sure that the constituents you're serving aren't so distracted by the cold that they can't get the help that they need from you.

So think about one of your constituents and how they're affected by not having heat or a working computer or a case manager, then write to your supporters about that person. 

Stir your donors emotions, and they'll be more likely to open their wallets to help your organization do the work you're so passionate about.

Donors are people too! Give one a call!

A couple weeks ago, you spoke to one or more of your constituents, then sent that great story to your supporters. Now, in the spirit of Thanksgiving, take a few minutes to call one of your most loyal donors and ask them what they thought.

Remember: Donors are people, too! The key to fundraising is engagement - creating a relationship with a donor, rather than treating them like ATMs. 

Before you call, take a moment to look at their giving history to see how much they've given to your organization over time, whether there are any noticeable trends in their giving patterns, and how much they've given this year. Be prepared to tell them how their specific gifts have helped constituents of your organization.

When you get them on the phone, thank them for their support and the impact it has had. Then ask them how they first got connected to your organization, how satisfied they are with the information that you send them, what else they might like to know about what's going on, what their plans are for the holidays (both personal and in giving) and about any patterns that you've noticed in their giving history. Then, if they seem amenable, ask them to consider stepping up their giving level this year.

There are lots of ways to recognize their giving leadership, whether it's a "President's Circle" of top givers or "Founding Partners" of people who have supported the organization from the beginning or a special "Impact Fund" in their name.

Resource Thursday: Foundation Center

If you're new to institutional fundraising or could just use some refresher training, the Foundation Center is the place for you. They offer everything from how to get started identifying potential funders to a searchable online database of grantmakers, grants and 990s to classes in proposal writing and nonprofit management. You can use their resources online or in one of their five libraries.

Ask Your Supporters to DO Something

Donate now!
Forward to a friend
Sign here -->

Give us feedback 
Write your Councilmember

All of the above are actions. Look at the last appeal you sent to your supporters. Unless it's simply an update on your work (which is a critical part of your engagement strategy), it should end (and even begin) with a clear call to action.

Don't just tell readers who you are and what you do - engage them by inviting them to take action.

You can also apply this principle to your website. Does your homepage have 2-3 clear calls to action (including Donate Now) that direct visitors where to go next?

Take the guesswork out of writing great appeals

Right now, you should be in full-on writing mode, since you'll be sending several emails to your supporters this season, including 2-3 appeals during the last week of December.

While some people approach this as a dreaded task that takes them away from the "real" work of their organization, here are some tips to turn appeal-writing into something you might actually enjoy!

• Reconnect. This is a great time to take a step back and think about why you get up every morning and do the work you do. Close your eyes and picture the people, animals, habitats, art, whatever it is that you're helping, then write about that.
• Answer the right questions. Every donor wants to know the answers to these four questions: Why me? Why now? What for? and Who says?
• Give it time. Write a draft, then sleep on it and come back to it fresh. If you try to perfect it in one sitting, you're likely to burn yourself out. 
• Use a conversational tone. Very few people like reading reports, so don't write one as an email! Read your appeal aloud. If it sounds stilted or uses words you wouldn't use when telling a story verbally, take another stab at it. 
• Get help from a friend. Ask someone to read and edit a draft and give you honest feedback, then thank them for it.

Check out what it's like to be an online donor to your organization

With year-end fundraising season already under way (33% of online donations are made in December), now is a good time to make sure it's easy for people to make an online donation to your cause.

Today, make an online donation to your organization to how simple (or not) it is for your supporters to do so.

Here are some questions to consider as you go through this process:

• How do you get to the donation page from the homepage of your site? Is it easy to find? 
• Tip: Make it a clear part of the navigation on every page, preferably in the top right corner
• How many clicks does it take to get to your donate page from your homepage? 
• Once you're on the donation page, are there suggested amounts to set expectations for your donors? Do they illustrate the impact various donations could have (i.e. $15 feeds 2 cats for a week)
• Tip: Set one of these amounts 2-3x higher than your average online donation - behavioral economists have found that a higher anchor point makes the other amounts look smaller/more palatable - think about that next time you go shopping!
• How many clicks does it take to complete your donation? 
• What happens after the donation is complete? 
• Tip: Thank your donors immediately via email (along with sending them a tax receipt)

For more on nonprofit website best practices, check out TheNetworkforGood.org.

Resource Thursday: Sparked (Online Microvolunteering)

Happy Thursday! Every Thursday, I feature a cool resource that's just for nonprofits. This week, that resource is Sparked. Here's what they say about themselves:

A New Approach to: Engaging Volunteers

Sparked is the world's first entirely-online volunteer network. Find out what more than 3500 nonprofits already know: Sparked is your place to get help with graphic design, copywriting, research and any other task that can be done entirely online. Sparked will distribute your tasks to your fans, friends, followers - and to Sparked's tens of thousands of online volunteers. Best of all, it's entirely free for nonprofits!

I used Sparked to get input and feedback when I was designing TheNetworkforGood.org (another great resource, which I featured last week). Since I'd never designed an online community, this seemed like the right time to tap into the collective wisdom of the Internet - and Sparked gave me a way to do it.

Here's what we posted:

Hi - we developed a new online community for nonprofits using Lithium with no experience in web design, usability or community building. We've started seeding content and are in the process of rolling it out to our customers, but we'd also love to have some "expert user testers" (especially if anyone knows about the Lithium platform) take a look at it and let us know what we did well and where we could improve. There's a lot of room for flexibility in the structure, so we're open to any and all suggestions. You can find our site at http://thenetworkforgood.org. Please let us know how we can improve its usability!

And here are some highlights from the 6 responses we received (we've improved the site a lot since we received these):

• Some of the graphics aren't the right resolution, which puts people off.  You want to make sure that you save your images in the size that they will be displayed by default, otherwise, the browser either has to blow them up (making them fuzzy) or shrink them, making the site slower to load. Good luck.
• Usual protocol for developing a web site is to first make a list of "Conversion Events." What do you want the user to DO on your site? Hope this helps!
•  My first and honest reaction to the site is "aaargh!" Had I been a user arriving here for real, I would immediately have left. - Remember that you only have about 3 seconds to leave a first impression!

My reaction at the time was mixed. While I appreciated the time that people had taken to provide feedback, I found it very difficult to digest the stream of consciousness brain dump that some people gave. I was also frustrated by the cold and/or condescending tone of some of the comments, which really made it clear how difficult it can be to work with volunteers that are not engaged with your organization.


As a result, my thank you turned into an attempt to educate the corporate types who are doing to work (okay, yes, it was a bit of a rant):

Hi all, Thank you so much for the feedback - we appreciate you taking the time to take a look at our site. We've made some of the quick fixes already and are working on how to implement some of the larger suggestions. One last request: as you continue to work with Sparked, consider your audience. Please keep in mind that the majority of the people who will be posting on this site represent small, resource-constrained nonprofit organizations that are trying to make a difference in the world. Many of them wear multiple hats (they may be the only employee or a volunteer) and don't get paid much (if at all) to do it. Whatever they're posting here probably isn't in their primary - or even a tangential - skill set. So please, give them a break. Take a moment to find something that you DO like about where their project is already or learn something about their organization and lead with a positive (remember: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down). Then give constructive, actionable feedback, rather than just, "this sucks." And don't bury your valuable recommendations in a lot of commentary unless an explanation is absolutely necessary - bullets are great. You're here because you have great experience to offer, don't let it fall of deaf ears because of the way you frame it. Thanks again, Julie

Final analysis: It's free, easy to sign up and definitely worth checking out for discreet projects that have a clear end product and can be done online in a short amount of time with very little feedback from or interaction with you. I've heard great things about logos that have been designed by Sparked volunteers, and they provide a variety of templates for projects ranging from copy-writing and translation to design and promotion.

And yes, you can set up your account - and your first challenge - in under 20 minutes.

Remember that story you wrote last week?

Last week, you talked to one of your constituents about their story. This week, you gathered all your email addresses.

Today, share that story with your supporters.

Drop your favorite constiutuent story - along with a photograph (or before and after photographs) or video - into your favorite email marketing tool, and send it to your supporters with a subject line along the lines of "Thank you for changing Monica's life."

Don't ask for a donation. Just say thank you - and link to more feel-good stories if you have them!

Make Every Day Appreciation Day

Nonprofit workers are some of the most unsung heroes I know. They work long hours for little monetary benefit, and if and when a nonprofit gets recognized for the amazing work they do, the credit usually goes to the Executive Director. But we all know that we couldn't get the great work done without a wide range of contributors, including our staff, our board and our volunteers.

Appreciation doesn't have to be formal, such as an award or a bonus. It can be as simple as ordering lunch in when you know people are really busy or hosting an impromptu happy hour or buying someone coffee.

And don't underestimate the power of positive feedback, which doesn't cost you anything! The Center for Creative Leadership suggests that you give feedback in a ratio of 4:1 positive to developmental - and the more specific, the better. Mention the situation, the behavior you observed and the impact the behavior had on you. For more information on giving feedback, check out CCL's Guidebook on Feedback that Works.

So take some time each day to thank someone that you might otherwise take for granted for the work they're doing (this also works well with your significant other!). If you do it right, you'll also make it easier - on you and the recipient - when you need to give developmental feedback down the road.

Are your email addresses here, there and everywhere?

If you're like most small nonprofits, you probably have a sign-in sheet from one event filed somewhere, a list of board members' information in the latest version of your board materials filed somewhere else, a bunch of emails from clients and constituents in your inbox, an Excel file with some email addresses of former volunteers that someone started sometime when you were trying to get organized, and maybe even a download from the email marketing tool you used to use.

Today, take 20 minutes to gather all your email addresses into a single Excel file. Put column headings in that include first name, last name, email address, relationship to organization (donor, volunteer, constituent, board member, etc - and if you have it, the date you got that address or the last time you received a message from it. You'll be amazed what you find!

Resource Thursday: TheNetworkforGood.org

Happy Thursday! Every Thursday, I feature a cool resource that's just for nonprofits. This week, that resource is TheNetworkforGood.org (aka TNFG). Here's what they say about themselves:

The Network for Good is a community for nonprofit fundraisers and communicators to collaborate on new ideas, solve issues, share experiences and build on Network for Good's accumulated expertise in online fundraising and outreach. 

Now, I have to admit that I'm biased about TNFG, since I built the original version for Network for Good in 2010. But thanks to Community Strategist Extraordinarre Caryn Stein, TNFG has grown leaps and bounds since then.

The user interface is still a little clunky, but it's still the best place to go to get expert advice on online engagement. Post a question, and you'll get a response from Caryn or one of the other brilliant minds at NFG (or one of their many consultant friends). Or search or browse hundreds of posts covering all things nonprofit marketing and fundraising, including questions and answers from their many webinars.

And don't miss the latest examples from their very popular Speed Consulting: Nonprofit Websites webinar. While the webinars tend to last about an hour, you can review the digest of the high points - and the Q&A - in 20 minutes.

You can also subscribe to the premium Virtual Fundraising Partner training for a fee. Right now, it's all about Year-End Fundraising, with videos featuring darling Allison to walk you through your strategy step by step. If you don't have a solid plan in place for tapping into the 33% of donations that will come in during the month of December, you should definitely check it out. Each step will take you under 20 minutes!

Giving credit where it's due

I don't just dream up these ideas, they come from things I've learned from working with real - and really great - nonprofits over the last 10+ years, including WildAid, Wildlife Alliance, Environmental Defense Fund, Delta Gamma Foundation, Foundry UMC, YNPNdc, Smithsonian Young Benefactors, Network for Good, Strive DC, LLS Team in Training and NIH Blood Bank. And I look forward to growing this list!

Your supporters don't want to hear from *you*

Don't get me wrong - keeping in touch with your supporters regularly is a critical part of any cultivation strategy. What I'm trying to say is that you probably talk about yourself too much. Supporters don't want to hear about what programs you've put in place or how many people you've served or what events you've put on or even what your organization needs right now.

They want to hear about the lives you've changed thanks to their support.

So today, go talk to one of your constituents* - and take a video camera if you have one. Ask them how they found out about your organization, what brought them to you, how their life has changed since coming through your doors.

*If you're saying to yourself, I can't do this because I work for an animal rights group/environmental organization/other organization that doesn't have someone to talk to, don't think you can't do this. You just have to be a little more creative. Put yourself in their metaphorical shoes and answer the same questions from their point of view. Tell the story of the wildlife in the habitat you preserved or the story of the dog that has a roof over his head instead of being chained up exposed to the elements.

Nonprofit days - or is it daze?

Sometimes, those of us who want to change the world get so overwhelmed by all the tasks before us, it seems impossible to know what our next step should be. Here, I'll try to break down some of the most daunting nonprofit challenges I've been through - from fundraising and marketing to recruiting and change management - into simple steps that can be done on any given day, often in 20 minutes or less, in the spirit of "the one thing you should do today."