The “Un-magical” Guide to Turning Prospects into Donors

The “Un-magical” Guide to Turning Prospects into Donors

Do you ever wish you had a magic wand?  In the development office of a small nonprofit, it sometimes seems magic is the only way you’ll ever get everything done.  You know your success depends on building relationships and touching prospects multiple times in multiple ways–“dripping”...
Ten steps to Facebook success for your nonprofit

Ten steps to Facebook success for your nonprofit

If you’re like most non-profit marketers, you’re trying to use Facebook to raise awareness and donations. You’ve set up an account, tried to grow your number of connections, and have posted some content for people to comment on. In the first month or two, your fan base grew steadily....
How to Tell Your Nonprofit’s Story With Video

How to Tell Your Nonprofit’s Story With Video

Have you ever thought about how you tell your organization’s story? I’m a big believer in constant story collection – from your clients, your donors, your founder, your staff (see my article 6 Tips for Collecting Great Nonprofit Stories for more information) – but just as importantly...
A Nifty Tool to Help You Build Relationships With Foundation Funders

A Nifty Tool to Help You Build Relationships With Foundation Funders

What if one simple tool could ensure that you never let a prospective foundation grant slip through your fingers again? In the six years I worked in programming and communications for a grantmaking family foundation I learned a lot about nonprofit management just from observing the grant proposals that...
10 Blogs I Always Read

10 Blogs I Always Read

If you’re like me, you don’t have a lot of time to spare.  Every day my workload grows.  Finding the time to get to my own projects is presenting more and more of a challenge.  And every day a new blog pops up in the Internet stratosphere – new opinions, new cutsie names and logos and people...
Nonprofit Resources – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Nonprofit Resources – Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

Last week I published my listing of online resources culled from readers of The Grow Report. Nonprofit news, writing and editing, marketing, blogs, social media – the resources poured in. It’s a fairly extensive lineup of websites nonprofit professionals use on a regular basis.  You can...
To Engage With Younger Donors … Connect With Them Where They Live

To Engage With Younger Donors … Connect With Them Where They Live

A recent joint study by Convio, Edge Research and Sea Change Strategies, “Early Signals on Mobile Philanthropy:  Is Haiti the Tipping Point?”pointed to some striking statistics on text giving.  Prior to January 12, 2010, “little more than $1 million had been raised via mobile text.” ...
Let’s Get Engaged, Honey

Let’s Get Engaged, Honey

Let’s just say it: engagement is a buzzword. I spent a few years in the educational publishing business, and it was a word I saw trotted out again and again, to describe every latest and every greatest. Engaging resources. Engage your students with this product. It’s all about engagement. After...
KISS – Keep it Simple Sweetheart … with Swipe Files!

KISS – Keep it Simple Sweetheart … with Swipe Files!

“Imitation is the highest form of flattery.” -Coco Chanel Regular readers of my newsletter, The Grow Report, know that I am a huge fan of the online fundraising resource SOFII. SOFII showcases exhibits from the best fundraisers in the businesses – people like Mal Warwick, Ken Burnett, Tom...
15 Nonprofit Social Media Stocking Stuffers and Resolutions

15 Nonprofit Social Media Stocking Stuffers and Resolutions

Today’s post is from guest author Aerin Guy. If you’re like me, you’ve spent the better part of 2009 exploring the explosion of emerging social media tools.  This year has brought a lot of “wow”, a little “whoa!”, and a whole lot of “what next”? The jury is out on Google Wave,...
6 Degrees of Separation and Fundraising

6 Degrees of Separation and Fundraising

A week or so ago a discussion came up on the AFP Group that I belong to on LinkedIn. A member’s organization was debating whether or not to participate in the Benevon method, a rather pricy series of workshops and coaching. Benevon, formerly known as the Raising More Money model, uses the method...
Raising Money Online with Social Media

Raising Money Online with Social Media

This is a guest post from nonprofit fundraising coach, author, speaker, and trainer Sandy Rees, CFRE, author of the blog Get Fully Funded. Raising money online isn’t so different from raising money in person.  You have to find potential donors, tell your story, and ask for a gift.  Still, it’s...
Metasoft’s Foundation Search Vs The Foundation Center’s Foundation Finder

Metasoft’s Foundation Search Vs The Foundation Center’s Foundation Finder

… and what to do if your budget doesn’t allow for either. Awhile back the “Grants” listserv of CharityChannel, the Internet’s premier resource for nonprofit information, featured a lively debate about the merits of Metasoft’s Foundation Search subscription database versus The Foundation...