Resource Library: The Power of Links
It’s been a busy month – professional conferences and gatherings in Amsterdam, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Toronto and Washington, D.C. And that includes just the ‘larger’ events. In between, we’ve been busy searching out and adding new articles to our Resource Library. While many deal with best use of social media tools, we also touch on both damage control and online/offline intergration. All and all, there are some particularly interesting links below.
And if you haven’t visited this section previously, have a look. We developed our Resource Library as a way to assist you in connecting with others, reaching a greater audience and keeping current on the newest tends. We also encourage you to return often as new links are added on a regular basis.
Bringing the Business of IT to the Nonprofit World
In the world of nonprofits, as in most organizations, decisions can be made fast. Opportunities arise and actions must be taken, sometimes without informing the entire staff of what’s to come. Information Technology, or IT, is too often the last department to find out about the plan – a plan that frequently requires our involvement to implement. IT departments often feel like they’re trying to catch up, versus being an integral part of the planning process, which I believe can make a major difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of a nonprofit organization.
Are Nonprofits Flunking Email Marketing 101?
A new survey of 38 top nonprofits by Care2 reveals that many of these well known organizations are essentially flunking “Email Marketing 101.” Perhaps the most damning statistic is that, on average, nonprofits are taking eight whole days to email a response to someone who signs up for their email list.
How to Leverage Your Newsletter Subscriber List to Solicit Online Donations
Are you afraid to ask your newsletter subscribers for money? If your answer is “yes”, you may be missing out on an opportunity to turn casual subscribers into loyal supporters.
Is your Nonprofit too Social Media Dependent?
What would happen to your nonprofit’s outreach work if Facebook or Twitter shut down? Since you don’t own the data, you wouldn’t be able to salvage it.
Measuring Organizational Influence In Social Media
Social media can be the handiest new gadget in an organization’s tactical toolbox – but how can you be sure that the time and dollars you are investing in it are really paying off?
Some goals can be pretty easily quantified – such as dollars raised, actions taken, or members recruited. But what about equally important intangibles, such as increasing your organization’s influence or shifting the public debate on your key issues?
Mission, Message, and Damage Control
An adaption from Kim Klein’s new book, Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times, published by Jossey-Bass.
Nonprofit Blogging for Beginners
Blogs are a good way for nonprofits to expand their reach and communicate more directly with supporters and their community. But where do you start?
Now Nonprofits Outside the U.S. and Canada Can Fundraise on Facebook Too
Since the popular Facebook fundraising App Causes was built using GuideStar’s database of nonprofits in the United States and Canada, only nonprofits in the U.S. and Canada can utilize Causes’ fundraising tools. There are some amazing nonprofits at the grassroots working miracles daily with relatively small amounts of cash, but unfortunately, since no international database of verified nonprofits exists, these nonprofits are consistently unable to utilize most online fundraising tools. Not any anymore…
Social Networking and Mid-Size Nonprofits: What’s the Use?
The use of social networking and social media in the nonprofit sector has exploded in the past few years, spurred by successful, widely profiled social media initiatives by organizations like Save Darfur and charity:water. The Obama campaign’s effective use of social technologies for both fundraising and organizing was the icing on the cake. Can there be any doubt given these examples that social networking and social media are must have tools for nonprofits?
Actually, yes.
Tips for Creating a Donor-Centric Web Site
Though still a small percentage of total individual giving, online giving has been steadily on the rise for the past nine years and has even begun to outpace online retail sales.
In the Sage webinar “Web Wise: Creating a Donor-centric Web site,” Daniel Gonzalez, Web manager for Sage Nonprofit Solutions, went over tips to help nonprofits understand donor needs, set objectives for their Web sites, create donor-centric content, eliminate obstacles and distractions from the main objective of their sites, and set and track key performance indicators.
Winning Campaigns: Integrating Offline and Online Strategies is Key
Leveraging the strengths of online campaigning – efficient, affordable, trackable, flexible – with those of offline campaigning – targeted, long-lasting, high-impact – can make all the difference…