Maureen Carruthers

Unfortunately, I am not your fairy godmother, or even an “As Seen on TV” spokesperson so  I can offer no magical means to turn strangers into donors.  Does that mean small nonprofits are out-of-luck?  No.  Relationship-building takes time; but it is too important to cut corners during the process, much less skip it altogether.  Instead, you can implement a tool that helps you create a strong foundation upon which to build desirable relationships.  With some time and a little bit of money invested upfront, an e-mail auto-responder can help you reach more people every day.

What is an auto-responder?
An auto-responder is a special type of automated e-mail tool designed to send prospective donors a series of messages over a period of several months.  Because the messages are written by you and targeted toward a very specific audience, they read like personal e-mail sent directly from you to a single recipient; and because the messages are sent by an e-mail marketing service, you don’t have to remember who is supposed to get which message when.  While there are some similarities between an auto-responder series and your electronic newsletter, there is one big difference: Instead of sending the same message to your whole list at the same time, the auto-responder delivers a sequence of messages to prospective donors over time.  Each person gets the first message immediately after she signs up and then gets the rest of the messages sequentially, usually one or two messages a week.

Not sure how that will help you reach more people?  Here are two of the most effective ways to use auto-responders  in the development office.

Orientation material
One way to keep new donors engaged is to make sure they know about the many inspiring things your organization does, how you do them, and what kind of support you need to continue to thrive.  Most of that information probably already exists on your website, in annual reports, in grant applications, and marketing materials; but new donors usually don’t take it upon themselves to find and digest all of that information on their own.  If, however, that same information is delivered to their inbox in bite-sized chunks in a way that rewards them for reading, the chance of your messages getting through is much higher.  With a new donor orientation series in place, contact through phone calls, e-mails, and donation requests will be received by engaged, informed donors who are accustomed to hearing from you on a regular basis.

E-classes
Orientation material is great for people, especially new donors, who have already decided that they believe in your organization and want to know more.  But what about people who aren’t quite ready to write a check?  Offering an e-class via auto-responder is an efficient way to gently pull those people in, give them something of value, and, at the same time, help you earn the right to talk to them about how they can help your organization grow.

For a great example of how an e-class idea works, sign up for Sonia Simone’s e-mail and content marketing class.   The course makes great use of the auto-responder concept, while the class itself gives great advice on how to make your own e-mail marketing too valuable to delete.  Sonia’s work is specifically targeted at marketing for small businesses, but the concepts are 100% applicable to nonprofit development work.  For a more nonprofit-specific idea of how a course like this works, check out my course on using volunteers to amplify your message.

A word of caution
The auto-responder is a great tool for building stronger relationships with supporters, but it’s still just a tool.  Using an auto-responder series doesn’t change the fact that people give to people, and that development is all about building relationships.  Just like putting a “donate now” button on your website won’t automatically lead to regular online giving, an auto-responder series won’t pull in prospects on its own.  It simply gives you the opportunity to deliver the core pieces of your organization’s message in a consistent and efficient way, providing you with more time to focus on the relationship-building tasks only a person can do.

How do I get started?
If you are already using an e-mail marketing service, you may be able to use the same service to deliver your auto-responder courses.  If not, setting up an account with a new company is simple and most offer discounted pricing for nonprofits.

You have several options.  iContact, Mail Chimp and Aweber all offer fully-featured autoresponders.  Each company’s pricing structure is different,  focusing on slightly different features; therefore, it’s worth exploring several before you decide which one to use.  Constant Contact also offers an autoresponder but it has limited features, so unless you are a die-hard fan, I suggest you try one of the other providers.  (Vertical Response does not offer the autoresponder feature at this time).

Need more help?  Leave your questions in the comments, or contact Pamela or me for more personalized assistance.
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Maureen Carruthers uses her love of communication and the Internet along with 10 years nonprofit sector experience to help leaders determine which communication tools and techniques can best help them fulfill their missions.

For more simple ideas to help your nonprofit be heard, visit Maureen’s blog, Low Hanging Fruit.

Let me get one thing out of the way right from the start – I own a Mac, I never leave home without my ipod,  the new ipad is the next thing on my wishlist, and the only reason I do not have an iphone is my conscious decision to steer clear of smartphones (I’m already way too connected)….I am a big Apple fan (not to be confused with the “Big Apple” which I am also a fan of and enjoy visiting for shopping!)

So, what gives?

Well, I am always preaching to clients about creating and managing wow experiences where I’d often site Apple as an example but lately I’ve been noticing a very disturbing trend.

Let’s start with the most recent iPhone 4 antenna mess. I won’t rehash the whole thing but apparently there is a design flaw with the internal antenna that causes calls to get dropped when the phone is held a certain way. After the monster launch, reports of the problem started popping up all over the web. My initial response was “okay, people…nobody’s perfect, things happen so just get over it.”

That was until I saw Apple’s PR machine kick into high gear first disputing the problem existed, then claiming it was a software problem, then claiming it was a minor issue with the antenna that you can easily ‘buy’ a rubber bumper fix for. That didn’t stop the chatter or the media so Apple held a special event where Steve Jobs himself admitted the problem and offered to give away free rubber bumper fixes. THIS from a company whose very reputation is staked on creating a new standard for mp3 players (the ipod), an intuitive operating system that just works (OSX), a computer anyone can use in minutes (Macs).

Here’s what gets me – he spent a good portion of his time talking about how other companies have worse problems!  The company that is head and shoulders above the rest when things are good is willing to hide in the crowd when things hit the fan!

He cheapened Apple’s apology to its customers by leaning on a “we suck less than the other guys” PR spin.

I may be an Apple fan-girl but I’m sorry, I expect more from this company and I really think they blew an opportunity to really set themselves apart from other companies.

Imagine for a moment if when reports came in the responded with “I’m sorry you are having this problem, we’ll look into it right away”.  Then when they confirmed the problem they came out and said “Oh man, this antenna thing is a problem…we are so sorry and we’ll take immediate steps to make it right! We’ll do this and this and that!”

Do you really thing their followers would hold that against them?  What about folks thinking about making the switch to Apple?

Of course not, they would be heroes!

That it?

Nope. I wish the iPhone fiasco were the only example, but Apple has demonstrated this behavior over and over from not admitting their Macs had heating issues, screen problems, etc. to deleting negative comments from their forums (seems like a maneuver more fitting of Microsoft, no?).

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again – for better or worse, the internet is forcing transparency upon us. It redefines “managing your reputation”

Plausible deniability may be useful in court but it wont wash with your customers where it smacks of deceit or being oblivious. So, either you are a liar or you’re incompetent. By the way, I’m not really too sure that deniability really helps in a legal sense after seeing all the class action suits that are popping up.

What is a company to do?

My answer is be responsible. Take ownership of your successes AND your failures. Do the right thing when you mess up (isn’t that what you’d want from a company?). The public is extremely forgiving when you demonstrate a willingness to make things right. My favorite printer isn’t my favorite because he has never screwed up but because he has always taken care of things when they did go wrong.

If you have claim to perfection, people will search for the blemishes. If you admit being human, they’ll say you are being to hard on yourself. Know what I mean?

I’ll say it again – I am still an Apple fan but lately the company’s policies with regards to problems has left me a bit sour!

Do you think I am being too harsh on Apple and Steve Jobs? I’d like to know what you think.

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. You were excited and your board was excited.

But now, getting the results you originally hoped for isn’t quite as easy. Fan growth has flattened, your post quality has dropped and board members are asking, “What’s going on with Facebook?”.

The good news is that you’re not alone – the Facebook honeymoon ends at some point for everyone. Now is the perfect time to review the critical steps for success on Facebook.

1. Have A Plan

   Be very clear about goals, expectations and roles. The clearer you can paint your “picture of success” on Facebook, the more likely it will¬†manifest.

2. What’s Your Thing?

   Rebecca Leaman wrote a post about a one page social media plan created by Jay Baer. The plan requires marketing to ask “What’s your thing?”. What is the single THING ABOUT your nonprofit that is truly defining and interesting.¬†When you ask your supporters why they support your organization – the reason in their hearts – what’s their answer?

3. Create A Page

   Not a profile. Profiles are for people, Pages are for orgs. Not a Community Page – those are for experiences, like eating Nutella with a tablespoon. Not a Group. Groups are for your constituents to organize around an idea.

4. Create A Custom Landing Tab

   Once you’ve created a Page, make it stand out with a custom welcome tab. Pages that have custom welcome tabs have a higher new fan¬†conversion¬†rate than Pages that don’t.

5. Less Is More

   Not using the discussions tab? Remove it from the tabs by editing the application settings. Same goes for the Events tab and the Reviews tab. You can always turn them back on.

6. Leverage Your Avatar

   Facebook provides up to 600×200 pixels of space for your main image. Use that real estate to your advantage! Try including a call to action, like the Brain Aneurysm Foundation did. Or outline action steps in your current campaign, like Oceana did.

7. Get The Word Out

   Leverage your assets. For example, if you have a large email list, send them a well-written email with reasons for joining your Page. Or if you have an active NING community, create an event in NING that promotes a discussion on the new Page wall.

8. Use Your Page As A Platform For Dialogue

   Not just a place to put useless stuff.

9. Measure Rinse Repeat

   You will only get better at Facebook if you know what works and what doesn’t. Facebook Pages include a few reports that will show you how good your content is, if you’re posting too frequently, and how much they’re sharing. Also use Google Analytics to measure traffic from Facebook to your website.

10. Create A Facebook Skunkworks

    Put together a small task force in your organization to reflect on Facebook results, discuss how to improve, and brainstorm novell uses of Facebook. Include a few Page connections in this group as well. Talk to each other face to face Рnot by email.

Finally, feel free to download a free copy of The Complete Facebook Guide For Small Nonprofits.

His company, Inbound Zombie in Cambridge MA, helps nonprofits leverage new media to increase awareness and fundraising.

Why?

Start collecting the nonprofit annual appeal letters that arrive in your mailbox.  Read through a few nonprofit websites.  Check out some of the brochures, press releases and even grant proposals offered up by most nonprofit organizations.

Are you still awake?

Chances are you read through a lot of “The mission of the blah blah blah organization is to blah blah blah.”  Chances are you didn’t run across a single headline in the mix.  Chances are if you tallied up the number of “I, me, mine, ours” they would outnumber the “you’s” two to one.

Good copy-writing is persuasive.  Good copy-writing engages the reader and draws them in to the possibilities.  Good copy-writers are constantly honing and refining their craft.

When it comes to your nonprofit’s copy – be it web, email or direct mail – bland and boring doesn’t cut it in today’s economy.

That’s why I am delighted to feature a guest post from Niels Teunis.  Niels is a freelance writer and researcher for non-profits and small business and the author of the Future is Now Online Fundraising E-Course. You can visit his website at: http://nielsteunis.com.  You won’t find the typical nonprofit marketers in this bunch of recommendations from Niels.  But you will find the copy-writing geniuses that top nonprofit marketers studied on their way to becoming great.

To ask someone to take their wallet out of their pocket, open it and give you money. In particular if you are not meeting somebody face to face, but have to rely on the written word to persuade on your behalf. Some people make a living, often a very good living, specializing in that kind of writing. These are known as Direct Response Copywriters. The term Direct Response refers to that fact that they ask their readers to act the moment they are communicating with them. They are not asking someone to “think about it.” They want them to take action and they make them.

That’s exactly what you’re looking for when you write a fundraising appeal. Take a look at some of the key advice from some of the best known Direct Response Copywriters and you’ll see how you can easily apply it to email fundraising.  If you are ever asking someone for money, you should study these copywriters very carefully.

John Carlton

He markets himself as the most ripped off copywriter in the world. Of course, he gave his stuff away for people to use. Carlton’s writing is so good that people gladly took him up on his offer and ripped him off. Carlton has a blog and several resources for aspiring copywriters. I took his Simple Writing System and it is damn good.

What Do You Want Them to Do?

Lesson number 1, for me: Before you put a pen to paper, you decide what it is that you need your prospect to do.

•    Call this number,
•    Sign this petition,
•    Give your credit card number at this website,
•    Make a donation,
•    Write your congress person.

What is it? What is the action you need someone to take. Never write, and certainly never send an email, without knowing exactly what it is that you are going to ask your recipient person to do.

Guy in a Bar

John Carlton writes and talks about a specific scene of a guy in the bar. Imagine that you are sitting in a bar, and a guy (or gal) walks in. He talks to the bartender and tells him a story of something that is just not right in the world. This guy is visibly upset about this injustice and wants to put the earth back on its axis. It so happens that this wrong is the exact thing that your organization is trying to fix, the very raison d’être of your nonprofit.

What do you say to him? How do you now tell him that you are working on this problem and that he has the opportunity to help by giving you a donation?

Write that in your email.

But remember, this guy is completely skeptical and doesn’t believe that a solution is possible. Furthermore, he does not trust that nonprofits will use his money well. He suspects that somebody is wasting his money with stupid bureaucracy and ineptitude. He has no time, and frankly little inclination to listen to you. After all, he was talking to the bartender. Who are you?

What do you say?

Gary Halbert

Gary Halbert is widely revered as one of the best marketers ever. He passed away a few years ago, but for some, his advice is the most powerful that any marketer can give you. You can read many of his famous Gary Halbert Letters here.

A Hungry Crowd

The very first thing you need if you are peddling a product, is figure out if there is a demand for it. If the demand is strong, your marketing and writing efforts can even be minimal and amateurish. If somebody is hungry and you have hotdogs, all you need to do is hang out a sign. No persuasion necessary.
When an earthquake hits Haiti, all you have to do is give people a phone number or website, and donations role in.

When the attention is not that hot though, you still need to figure out, who is hungry for the solution that you offer. Who are the people, and where are the people who want to make the same difference that you do. Can you describe them, their aspirations and frustrations, their pains and pleasures? Do you have a real idea who it is that you are asking to hand you over some money?

A Great Product

All marketing is easier if you have a great product.

You probably don’t need this advice. Ahem.

I am curious. Can you easily explain how your programs, your actions, are going to solve the problem that I care about? How many words do you need? More than a sentence? You don’t have a good product yet.

Gary Bencivenga

This is one of those heroes that all the insiders know about, but those outside of the field of copywriting haven’t. If you don’t know his name, I suggest you start getting familiar with his writing at Gary Bencivenga’s Bullets. Short and extremely valuable pieces of advice for anybody in business and nonprofit marketing.

The Two Most Important Words

What are the two most important words you can use?

1.    You. Think about this seriously. How often does your organization send out an email detailing all the latest about your organization. “We hired a new CFO, welcome Jane.” Nobody cares. I want to right a wrong in the world and your organization is allowing me to do that. Read that line again. You are not doing it for me, but you are allowing me to right this wrong. In all of your email, you should always remind me that I am improving the world.

2.    Because. Bencivenga is the king of “reason-why” copy. You need to explain to me why I should support your organization, by telling me how that support translates into improving the world in the area that I am interested in. Furthermore, I need to trust you. Will you use my money in the way that I intended it, and will you make sure that it doesn’t get eaten up by some bureaucracy somewhere.

Copywriters always tell you to sell on emotion and justify with reason. If you prospect correctly, you have probably hooked me on emotion already. The next critical step is to make sure that I can justify a donation when I am sitting at the proverbial kitchen table with my significant other. Can I explain why this donation should be on our budget, particularly if you are asking for a recurring donation—which I hope you are doing.

John Caples

Again, someone who copywriters all know about, but you might not. He is long gone from the earth, but his book Tested Advertising Methods remains a must read for all copywriters. The good ones read this book over and over again.

Headlines

The first four of 18 chapters of this book are devoted to headlines. They are that important. If you do nothing else, you should study the art of writing good headlines. He says that headlines are 50-75% of your copy. In email this percentage may be higher. Does the subject line entice your readers to open the email, trash the email, or, oh horror, mark the email as spam? Every good email vendor will allow you to do A/B testing so you can find out what subject lines work.

Good copywriters write many dozens of headlines before they settle on one. Usually they get input from others in the process. Some write headlines before they write anything else, others strongly advise against that. I have no specific advise to give you on that point, except to say that you should write many, many headlines or subject lines.

Caples gives four qualities that make good headlines. They
1.    Appeal to the reader’s self interest,
2.    Provide news,
3.    Evoke curiosity,
4.    Give a quick and easy way.

Dan Kennedy

I don’t even remember in which book he wrote it. But this is one of the most important sentence for a business person to understand, and I suggest it is just as important for you:

You don’t get a client to make a sale, you make a sale to get a client.

For fundraisers:

You don’t get a donor to get a donation, you get a donation to get a donor.

It is the long term relationship and recurrent donations that count. You know that. Do you act on it? Thank you, because when you do, you will also end up treating me like a human being with a real interest in the world instead of an ATM machine.

Resources

Finally, let me leave you with a list of books that I learned from John Carlton. These are classics in the field that he return to, and I believe you can learn a lot from them.

•    Tested Advertising Methods by John Caples
•    Scientific Advertising/MyLife in Advertising by Claude Hopkins
•    How to Write A Great Advertisement by Victor Schwab
•    Maximum Money in Minimum Time by Gary Halbert
•    The Lazy Men’s Way to Riches by Joe Karbo
•    Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.
And then there are these websites. There is so much free content on these sites, they will keep you learning for a long time:
•    http://www.marketingbullets.com/
•    http://www.thegaryhalbertletter.com/
•    http://www.john-carlton.com/

Now it’s up to you. Go ask for the money!

A little background …

For slightly over a year now I’ve been publishing a free weekly e-newsletter geared to providing the one-person nonprofit development shop with the techniques they need to do all of their fundraising and marketing “faster, smarter, better.” The newsletter goes out every Thursday to a growing list of loyal subscribers and, rather than including recent blog articles, features fresh content outside of what’s included on my blog.

And, believing that truly persuasive copy is key to the “fundraising” part, I’m also a perpetual copy-writing student and a big proponent of “swipe files,” those tools of the trade necessary for every writer’s toolkit.

Ooops!

That said, after last Thursday’s Grow Report went out to my subscribers I received a heartfelt email from a colleague and a friend of mine.  It seems that I had directly “borrowed” a phrase of hers and she very graciously informed me that it made her uncomfortable.

I was mortified.

While not intending to (I had put the phrase into one of my files and forgotten where it originated), I had indeed cribbed her sentence verbatim.

And it wasn’t like I shouldn’t have known better.  The instance brought to mind a similar occurrence over a year ago when I had spent several days drafting an original blog posting … only to see another marketer adapt it and turn it into a free report weeks later.

Or noticing how, within days after publishing my own newsletter, another colleague’s emails were carrying my identical phrases, word for word.

In both of these instances I found myself feeling … shall we say slightly miffed, so I could certainly understand my friend’s concern.  Yet I told myself at the time that I was being overly sensitive, that, after all isn’t “imitation the sincerest form of flattery?” … and never addressed the issue.

But the fact is, like many bloggers and marketers, I endeavor to create special relationships with my readers – to “bond” with them over shared challenges and triumphs.  When one of my subscribers wrote to say:  “First I have to say, I love your emails, they’re so personal I feel like you are talking to me over coffee,”  I was downright tickled.  After all that’s exactly what I set out to do, using my own talents to share knowledge gained from eperiences in sales, marketing, foundation communications and nonprofit development.

Isn’t that what you’re setting out to do too?

So does this mean that I don’t borrow from other marketers and nonprofit professionals?

Not at all.  Regular readers know that I’m high on an amazing and eclectic collection of different marketing and nonprofit resources – and quick to point them in the direction of these folk for their expertise.

So what’s the lesson to be found in my story? (aside from the fact that I’ll never do that again!)

Just that.  It’s my story.  And you have yours.  We all have our own stories.  When you’re working hard to establish a genuine bond with another you want to be as transparent and true to yourself as possible — not latching onto others thoughts and incorporating them as your own.

A huge part of expressing yourself online lies in your own authenticity and originality – as my beloved Grandmother always said “being your own sweet self.”

And, in the words of Nelson Mandela:  “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

According to Convio’s latest Nonprofit Benchmark Study, online giving grew in 2009 by 14 percent – despite the economy.   Even better news?  Small organizations grew the fastest.  Convio reports that smaller organizations “grew their online revenue by 26 percent, and gifts by 32 percent.”

Along with establishing daily and weekly processes for grants, public relations, and individual giving, Simple Development Systems will include a systematized process for email marketing for the small nonprofit organization.

Like social media, I feel strongly that email marketing’s low cost and ease of use makes it another tool that levels the playing field for the one-person nonprofit development office.

That means that you can play with the big boys.

But you have to know how.

I’m still in the process of learning and have read a number of excellent reports including Convio’s Study for 2010 and Lisa Sargent’s 99 Nonprofits.  I also subscribe to a number of nonprofit – and internet marketing gurus newsletters.  Why?  With the exception of the mega-million-dollar nonprofit organizations out there, few organizations are doing it right and oftentimes in my career I’ve gotten much more usable knowledge from marketers than from nonprofit gurus.

Why Monthly Giving?

I’ve also made no secret that I believe monthly giving is a God-send, particularly for the small nonprofit.  Monthly giving simply makes good sense.  I’ve implemented a few direct mail monthly giving campaigns but when a client recently asked me to create a monthly giving email launch, I found myself a bit stymied.  Typically you begin a monthly giving launch with an appeal to your organization’s most loyal donors — those individuals who are already enthusiastic supporters.  We were launching to an unknown group of prospects.

And then, as if by divine providence, Best Friends Animal Society’s invitation to join their monthly giving campaign landed in my in-box.

Best Friends has an amazing mission.  They’re one of those organizations that seems to do everything right, from their well-designed, totally engaging emails to their easily navigated website to the plethora of stories they regularly feature on the Sanctuary’s animals.

Their monthly giving email launch was no exception.  Their persuasive pitch was one of the best pieces of nonprofit email marketing I had seen, so  I shot off an email requesting an interview with the individual responsible for Best Friends’ monthly giving email campaign.  Last week I connected with Natania LeClerc, Web/Direct Mail Coordinator for Best Friends Animal Society on the phone to talk about BFAS’s monthly giving email launch.

“Monthly giving has always been an option at Best Friends but it was never clearly defined.  We had another program, Guardian Angel already place and we transitioned our monthly giving option into an entire program with a name and feel to it that would make our donors understand what their gift meant.”

How did the Guardian Angel email launch occur?  How did you segment your email lists?

“We first launched Guardian Angel to our email list in October of 2009 only to our members who were not currently enrolled in monthly giving.  We followed up in March with a string of email messages targeted to any new members we had gained since October.  And then we followed that up in June to a mailing to everyone on our email list that was not a monthly donor.”

Does Best Friends include a gift string on their online donation page?  Why or why not?

Currently, we do not offer a gift ask string with radio buttons, etc. but it is in the plan to do so. We had some programming restrictions with the coding we had in place, but this will soon change as we are updating systems.

What’s been the response to BF’s Monthly Giving program?  What kind of increases have you seen to your individual giving?

Since the close of our last fiscal year, we’ve seen a 20% increase in our monthly revenue.

How are the wonderful stories used by BF selected?  Is there a certain type of story that you feel works better for monthly giving?

We get updates constantly from our Animal Help department, and this creates a wonderful current set of resources for stories to report back to donors with. Monthly donors are the backbone of fundraising. They help an organization budget for unplanned emergencies – so, oftentimes the best stories to illustrate how monthly giving is instrumental, is to talk about an animal that needed emergency surgery or special care.

What advice would you give to the small nonprofit organization looking to launch a monthly giving program?

“It’s important to stress the benefits for both the donor and the organization.  ‘If you sign up for monthly giving, you’ll get fewer communications, it saves us (the organization) money, you’ll be making a greater impact in the lives of animals.

It’s also important to target new donors during the ‘honeymoon phase’ when they’ve first made a gift to your organization using a series of welcome emails built around telling your new donor how their gift is making a difference. ”

Are there specific reports, books or courses that you would recommend for a nonprofit looking to begin email marketing?

Sign up for all the email newsletters you can – these often advertise online seminars (many of them free). Convio always puts out whitepapers for online activity as well as general fundraising; as well as NPT (NonProfit Times), the DMA (Direct Marketing Association), Frogloop is a great blog for online marketing, FundRaising Success Magazine, Network for Good, NTEN (nonprofit technology network)…there are many out there. Also sign up to receive e-updates from other nonprofits – try orgs in your same category, as well as orgs that are successful in general. You never know how you’ll be able to apply a concept to your own nonprofit.   Test different things and see what works for your audience.

Foundations are required by law to spend 5% of their investment assets each year (although not necessarily solely via grant payouts).  Foundation Source, a company that works with family foundations, found that “among 700 of its clients, the number and size of grants less than $1-million increased by 15 percent last year.”  Typically these were foundations with less than $100-million in assets.

According to Foundation Source’s president, Andy Bansger, “small to midsize family foundations stepped up dramatically in this tough economy to assist a wide variety of people, organizations and causes.”

Exciting news!

So, what, exactly does this mean to your small nonprofit organization?

I hate to say “I told you so” – truly I do, but what this says to me is that every small to mid-sized nonprofit out there needs to establish a sound grants system in place within their organization, one that includes:

1.  Regular foundation prospect research (weekly at the bare minimum; preferably daily). Don’t have a subscription to Foundation Directory Online?  I’m offering a limited time personalized webinar teaching you my secrets to learning how to find foundations to support your mission.  Attendees are guaranteed a minimum of 10 prospective new foundation funding sources – and will receive a free copy of my book “Five Days to Foundation Grants” along with my grants toolkit – filled with samples of funded grant proposals (a $79 value!).  Sign up now.

2.  A compelling case for general operating support.  One recent Foundation Center report noted that, not only has foundation giving increased by 14.6% in 2006, but foundation grants for overhead costs grew by 6.7%. Likewise, the Center for Effective Philanthropy, after surveying 20,00 grantees and 79 foundation executives, noted that foundations “should make larger, longer-term operating grants” of unrestricted funds that can be used to support the organization and its overall mission, not just specific projects or programs.”

Your time may be more effectively spent if, instead of spending weeks developing a program-based grant proposal to that $300-million dollar foundation for $75,000, you seek out 10-15 smaller foundations for general operating support grants from $1,000-15,000.

I personally guarantee less headaches when reporting time rolls around.

3.  Lastly, don’t forget your follow-up.  Read Behind the Scenes at a Grant-Making Foundation to learn the importance of good follow-up and the three questions you need to ask following a proposal declination.

Today’s guest posting, from Gail Perry, shares strategies to lead your board in the right direction.

Why are our boards such a huge pain point and what can we do about it?

I say we have to face reality about some sensitive topics: people, motivation, volunteers and commitment rather than chasing after some myth of the ideal board.

Let’s be realistic and see what we really can expect from our board – particularly in the area of fundraising.

Let’s remember that most board members are afraid of fundraising because they are embarrassed and fear rejection. And they generally are not sure what your expectations are of them.

Get your expectations in the right order and you’ll have a happy relationship – and a productive one – with your board.

Here’s what you can count on – and what you can’t  – with your board members.

WHAT YOU CAN COUNT ON

1. Most board members really do want to help. They just don’t know how. It’s really up to you to motivate, guide and support them.   If you do make this investment of your time and energy, then you’ll have a gold mine of great board members on your hands.
2. Most board members are open to and even enjoy education. They don’t like “training” but they do like “education.” June Bradham, author of “What Nonprofit Boards Want” says that the word “training” makes them feel like seals.  Most board members are eager to do a good job and want to know what their job is. The clearer your job expectations are for board members, the more you’ll get out of your board.
3. Most board members are capable of being terrific friendmakers if they know the right thing to say and they are pumped up. But you need to teach them what friendmaking is all about or they may go in the wrong direction.
4. Most board members are happy to help thank donors. In fact, they love it!  And you can increase donors’ future gifts if your board members make thank you calls quickly to donors.
5. Most board members can be terrific “sneezers” spreading the viral message around your community. Just make sure they can practice what do say in a comfortable, natural fashion.

HERE’S WHAT YOU CAN’T COUNT ON

1. You can’t expect them to be good at soliciting. That’s a special skill and personality type. Frankly I don’t even want all my board members out there soliciting because some of them would not be very good at it.  Treasure the board members who are good at soliciting and find other productive jobs for those who are better at other things.
2. You can’t expect them to show up at every event. You need to tell them what your priorities are – what’s essential and what’s optional.  Then, when they have a clear idea of what you need from them, they can give it to you
3. You can’t expect them to know exactly what to say. You might think they know the mission, vision and case for support, but they need practice, practice, practice putting it into their own words.
4. You can’t expect them to maintain their passion on their own. It’s your job to keep them pumped up and excited about the cause. If you do, you’ll have an enthusiastic, fired-up team helping you spread the word and make connections!
5. You can’t expect them to keep coming to boring meetings. Busy people will flee if they feel their time is not well used. If you liven up your meetings, then you’ll also liven up your board!

So set your own expectations correctly, provide the leadership and support your board needs, and you’ll be rewarded with a high-performing team!

What, exactly, should you be looking for?

Let’s take a walk through a typical grantmaking foundation’s 990-FP:

1. Do take a look at the foundation’s Fiscal Year. Why? Well, here’s a take-away from seven years working at a foundation.  If the foundation in question happens to be closing in on the end of their fiscal year, they may have already spent the required 5 percent payout. On the other hand, if they’re fairly new to grant-making, the foundation may have yet to hone their grant-making policies – and you may get lucky if they’re looking to send some last minute grant checks out the door.
2. Assets: Note, of course, the total fair market value of all assets recorded in Part One for the last year reported. Now take a look back – has the XYZ Foundation’s assets declined or grown over the past few years? Are they a fairly new operating foundation?
3. Part I, Revenue and Expenses summarizes other sections of the report.  If major contributions have been made during the year in question a founder or trustee may have recently deceased – and an increase in giving could be in the future.
4. Part VIII – Take note – here’s one of your most important resources. Information about officers, directors, trustees, foundation managers, highly paid employees and contractors.  You will certainly want to note the names and locations of the trustees. Could members of your board possibly know any of the trustees of XYZ Foundation? Does the XYZ Foundation have staff members or is it entirely family-run? Are the trustees paid?
5. Part IX-A – Summary of Direct Charitable Activities: Here’s where you find out the exact dollar amount given in grants. If the foundation you’re researching tends to give many grants in the $2,500 to $10,000 range (as opposed to a few grants in the $25,000-$100,000 range) and you are a first time applicant, you’ll want to frame your first ask accordingly.  (See How Much Should You Request in Your Grant Proposal?)
6. Part XV: This section will tell you how grant applications should be prepared, if there are any deadlines, etc. along with a listing of grantees. Although it’s still a good idea to phone and get grant application guidelines directly from the foundation in question, this section will get you started (and don’t write a foundation off if they specifically note that they only grant to pre-selected organizations – I’ve had success with smaller grants of $250-1,000 with these foundations when there was an otherwise good match in giving!)  Are there organizations similar to yours on that listing of grants given in 2003? What is the dollar range in their grantmaking and where would your organization fall?

Have your basic funding research form ready and do a little detective work to really “get to know” the foundation you’re seeking funding from. You’ll dramatically increase your chances of successful funding!

To maintain the quality and consistency of your direct mail campaigns, it may make sense to outsource all or part of your work.

When does it make sense to outsource?  If you can answer “yes” to any of the following questions then it may be time to outsource your direct mail:

• Have you missed a critical deadline, or worse yet have you had to skip an entire campaign due to unanticipated delays?
• Have you lost a staff member or key volunteer that is primarily responsible for managing your direct mail campaigns?
• Are you concerned that many of the addresses on your list are bad addresses or out-of-date?
• Are you trying to grow your charitable database?

What are some potential benefits of outsourcing?

• Reduced postage expenses: Without getting too technical, there are two tiers of discounts that can be applied to nonprofit mail and standard bulk mail.  Most people are familiar with the presorting discounts, but few are familiar with automation discounts.  Bulk mail professionals should be able to get you BOTH discounts.
• Deadline Confidence: Delays for things like equipment failure, sick staff members or volunteers who are MIA will be a thing of the past.
  Avoidance of long-term disruptions:  A sick staff member is one thing , but when a key staff member quits, gets fired or has their position eliminated from the budget major problems can develop quickly.
• Alleviate concerns about the increasingly complex regulations for bulk mailers imposed by the USPS .
• Save money each year by no longer paying for your own bulk mail permit.  Note: you do still need to maintain your nonprofit status with the USPS-yes, it’s FREE!

What steps should I take before outsourcing?

Ask other nonprofit organizations for feedback on vendors that they are working with or have worked with in the past.

Before you make a long-term commitment with a vendor run a single test-campaign that’s NOT your major annual appeal, and evaluate the vendor’s performance before committing to more.

Be suspicious of any vendors that pressure you to make a long-term commitment without an established relationship.

If you can replace a full-time or part-time staff member by outsourcing, perform a cost-benefit analysis to see what the bottom line costs are for your organization.  Be sure to factor in staffing costs like insurance benefits, vacation, recruitment & training expenses etc.

Do your homework so you can present your findings to your board and make a strong case one way or the other.

Treat your existing donors like gold!  Before setting out to attract more donors, make sure that you’re doing a good job of taking care of your existing supporters.   If your organization is failing to keep your supporters engaged, then you may want to get more information about outsourcing.  Consistent donor communication and fundraising are too important to sacrifice!

Like what you’ve read?  Sign up for Blase’s weekly e-newsletter or follow his blog’s rss feed.

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 as the stories you tell, is the method you use to tell them.

Just as you wouldn’t limit your organization’s story to one story, neither should you limit the channels of expressing those stories.

By the time my daughter, Samantha, was six years old I had already had her hearing tested twice by auditory specialists.

While she had been an early reader, I often found her daydreaming and various teachers had found her unresponsive in class.  Yet her hearing tested fine.

When I brought my concerns about Sam’s hearing to my daughter’s second grade teacher, Sister Barbara, Sister responded “Mrs. B, Samantha hears exactly what she wants to hear.”

After I stopped laughing I realized the truth in her words.  Samantha was a strong visual learner.  Knowing that made me approach my relationship with my daughter differently.  I often wrote her notes rather than telling her something.  Believe me when I tell you that it cut down on a lot of frustration on both sides.

Later on, with my second child, I recognized early on that Abigail was an auditory learner.  Never a reader, Abbey could sit listening intently for hours to books on tape.

I believe a strong tool in your organization’s marketing arsenal is visual storytelling.  That’s why I asked documentary filmmaker Chris Davenport to pen a guest post on how – and why – the small nonprofit should use video to transport their donors to the heart of their cause.

What’s the best way to do this?

The best way is for them to experience your mission first hand.  Most of the time, it’s too expensive or time consuming to give your donors that experience. So how can you give your donors that necessary experience without the expense and time commitment?

A video transports your donor to the heart of your cause.

Through visual storytelling, you can connect with your donor’s values and touch their heart.  How much money do you think would have been raised for Haiti had the news NOT shown the devastation and how the earthquake had affected lives?

Because of visual storytelling, over $150 Million dollars in donations was raised within the first four days of the earthquake! All this money was donated in a time when our economy was in the tank and unemployment was at 10%.  Providing a way to immerse your donors in your cause and have them feel connected is priceless.

Equipped with a powerful video, your board members and volunteers will have an easier time connecting on a deeper level with donors…in a way that’s quick and consistent every time.

There are powerful videos and weak videos. So, how can you make sure your video is powerful and truly engages your donors?

Here are three rules you can’t afford to violate when crafting your own video.

Rule #1
Don’t point your camera inward.  What I mean by that is to focus and place the emphasis on your cause not your organization.
Many times I’ll watch a “fundraising” video that falls short of the fundraising goals. This is because the organization has decided to make a video about their organization and all the services they offer.  I call this type of video a “video brochure”, not a fundraising video.  Save the descriptions of all your services for your website or brochure. Concentrate on the effect you’re having in the community instead of your organization.

Rule #2
Avoid filming your Executive Director and Staff. Does this mean never film them? No, but what you want to avoid is having them say something that could be more powerfully said by one of your clients or an industry expert outside your organization.

It’s always best to have a voice from outside your organization glorifying the effect you’re having in the community.  This builds credibility and makes for a much more authentic and powerful video.

Rule #3
Have a clear purpose for your video.  It seems obvious, but this rule is overlooked so many times. Not having a clear purpose can be the difference between not raising a single dollar and raising more than you had hoped for.

When you’re thinking about your purpose, here are a couple of things to consider:

1-    Who will be watching the video? Knowing who you’re audience will be is crucial and can completely change how you tell the story.
2-    What do you want your audience to think, feel, or do once they’ve finished watching the video? Knowing this will help steer your story so that you elicit the desire response. E.g. Do you want them to write a check? …Volunteer? …Join your board?

Whether you’re making your video yourself, with a volunteer, or an outside company, keep these three rules in mind.  If you do, you’ll end up with a video that will help you and your board members fundraise more effectively and with greater ease.

If you’d like to see how an Executive Director, an Event Planner, and a Chief Development Officer used video to engage more donors, inspire board members, build a fundraising army, and raise more money, check out Chris’ work.

Drawing on over 20 years of experience producing documentaries, commercials and films for private investors and corporations, Christopher uses his storytelling skills to help non-profits find and tell their most compelling stories for maximum donations.  He is the owner of 501 Videos, LLC and produces a free weekly video series titled “Movie Mondays for Fundraising Professionals”. The free video series is for anyone in the nonprofit community who’d like to watch how other nonprofit professionals handle and overcome the many challenges to fundraising. For more information on Movie Mondays and to see a sample movie, go here.

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a foundation site visit on behalf of a client.  I had written a grant proposal and, as a result, two trustees from the foundation had scheduled a meeting to tour the facilities.  The executive director and the assistant executive director led the tour while the two trustees, sisters, posed numerous questions.

During introductions, though, one of the trustees remarked, in a joking manner, that “we hate development people.  We like to talk to the program people to learn what’s really going on.”

Not at all offended, I responded “so do I.  That’s how I learn how to write about the agency.”

Her remark, though, led me recall an earlier phone conversation with my Twitter friend, Heidi Massey.  Heidi had made mention of “the great divide” and we rather skimmed the surface because, I confess, in my own 13 years in nonprofit work I hadn’t personally experienced  that divide amongst program staff and development staff.  So I invited Heidi to explore the topic in a guest blog posting.

Heidi’s resulting article, Fundraisers and Program Professionals: Can’t Everyone Just Get Along? struck a real nerve.  Apparently there is indeed a divide between program staff and fundraisers.

So, how can fundraisers and program staff get along?

One commenter wrote “Could it be that those who are successful fundraisers possess different personal characteristics than those who are successful program directors/coordinators?” which brought to mind an old LinkedIn discussion about why people got involved in nonprofit work.  I was amazed at the diversity in backgrounds of the respondents – and yet there was one strong commonality.

We all want to make a difference.

The social worker in the trenches is striving to make a difference just as the development director is.

Yes, development staff are, the “sales-force” of a nonprofit organization.  And isn’t sales one of the most misunderstood and maligned professions, with salespeople often viewed as charmers devoid of any real depth?

It serves us well to recognize that we’re all here to effect positive change.

Period.

Several comments made note that this great divide does not usually occur in smaller organizations.  Having spent the majority of my time in the smaller, community agency, I concur.

My first position in nonprofit development was as a 15 hour a week development director for a community ambulance agency.  And one of the first things I did to acquaint myself with their work was to schedule several hours to run with the EMT’s and paramedics on their rounds.  Eventually I learned CPR and observed some of the training classes.  I was working there when 9/11 occurred and many of our emergency rescue workers made the trek into NYC to assist.

I developed a profound respect and deeper knowledge of exactly what these amazing, and oftentimes little appreciated, men and women do on a daily basis.

And no, it’s not the job of the development staffer to convince program staff of the importance of  fund-raising.  It is our job to appreciate the work of program staff, communicate regularly with them, observe them “in the trenches,” and share that knowledge with funders.  By sharing drafts of development writing with program staff and soliciting their feedback, I’ve gained valuable insights – and opened their eyes to the work of a fundraiser.

Respect isn’t a given.  It’s earned – and it begins by showing it to others.

Recently I attended a branding workshop where I met a young woman working in policy for a local organization serving women and children.  She couldn’t wait to get back to her offices and share what she’d learned with their development department!

So, we can piss and moan about the lack of respect allotted fundraisers.  Or we can do something positive to change it.

We’re all in this kind of work to make a real difference and it might clarify matters to recall the old automobile analogy:

• Is it the engine since it makes the car go?
• Or the steering wheel so you can avoid the tree and go the direction you want?
• Or perhaps the gasoline since nothing works without it?
• Or the tires since that is where the rubber meets the road?
• Brakes?

They’re all important, as is every member of a team – everyone represents the mission.

After over 13 years working in the nonprofit development arena, I’ve learned that to be genuinely effective – to truly make a difference – organizations need to be just as committed to funding their missions as they are to their mission.

After all, the cars aren’t built without any funding.

Like intellectual snobs from an Ivy League school, we know that the work we do for any organization is what is important and meaningful in the nonprofit world.  Fundraisers don’t really get it.  They are all about the money and we program people…well, we generally aren’t.

However, maybe it is time for some meaningful dialogue on this area of conflict for many nonprofit organizations.  Although I am not a fundraiser, I suspect that there are many who have also shared knowing glances with other fundraisers while in conversation with a nonprofit program professional.  They too, are convinced that what they are doing is the most important work of the organization because without them, the organization cannot survive.  Realistically though, organizations only thrive when both the program and fundraising professionals are skillfully executing their responsibilities.  So what is it then, that causes conflicts between these two groups?

Perhaps the conflict arises from the types of people who are attracted to the different positions.  Are there skills that are important for a program professional or a fundraising professional that put the two groups at odds with each other?  Or are the goals of their departments at odds with what each wants to accomplish?  Is there any connection between this division and what many have observed between small/medium sized organizations and large organizations?  Perhaps it is a combination of all of the above…

While researching conflict between program and fundraising professionals, I came across an audio webinar by two fundraisers.  Although the webinar was aimed at fundraising professionals, I was taken aback by how defensive I felt while listening.  It seemed to me that the blame for conflict was placed squarely at the doorsteps of the program professionals, in spite of the speakers’ repeated statements that this was not the case.  The explanation sounded to me like fundraisers know best, but need to be patient while the programming staff learns what the fundraisers already know.  I am certain that it wouldn’t be atypical for program professionals to create a webinar that would cause the same reaction in fundraising professionals.

There is an alarming lack of transparency about this issue.  There hasn’t been much discussion about the conflict between fundraisers and program professionals.  Talk about the elephant in the room!  Even google was just about empty of relevant links.

However, I have had enough conversation with other program professionals to know this is an issue, at least for some people.  Professionals from both groups revel in their superiority and neither seems to have any motivation to create a more collaborative environment.  Is there something to be gained by this?  Sounds a bit like the cliques we all survived in high school.  It is much easier to stereotype those who are different and to cling to our own kind.  But the elephant is a symbol of a dysfunctional organization.  Unfortunately, that dysfunctional elephant keeps growing until you deal with it directly.  Perhaps now, with difficult financial times and some maturing of the nonprofit sector, we are ready for a real conversation about the value of truly working collaboratively within organizations.  As we begin to understand and respect the roles of others inside our organizations, we may also be able to minimize turf issues related to our own roles.  And in my perfect world, as we begin to eliminate turf issues within our organizations, perhaps we will become more open to collaboration with those outside of our organization.  Ultimately, the turf issues that arise from conflicts between fundraising and program professionals do not merely undermine our ability to function as thriving organizations.  They undermine our ability to function as a thriving community.

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 crossed my desk. Of course there are all the proposals that arrive missing important documentation, like the 501(c)3 letter or the program budget or the annual report. You know, the things requested in the grant application guidelines.

But what was the number one reason a lot of organizations failed to get funding?

Would you believe the answer is simple follow-up?

Many foundations will tell you. It’s rare that the first-time grant proposal gets funded – no matter how well written it is.

Yet you’d be amazed at the many organizations who fail to follow through with a foundation when their grant proposal is declined. I’m guessing that these individuals let loose with a world weary sigh and file the letter with the grant proposal … never to reapply.

That’s why I created this simple Grant Proposal Checklist.

I introduced the Checklist to my email subscribers last week and my in-box was flooded with responses – from authors, other consultants and nonprofit development directors.

“This follow-up sheet for foundation submissions is FABULOUS!  I’m going to recommend that all my clients start using it.   Thank you so much for sharing this great resource.  I really appreciate it, and so do many nonprofits who don’t even know it yet!” Tina C.

It’s just one of the many tools created for the one-person nonprofit development office who needs to do it all – faster, smarter, better.

Download it yourself today. You’ll find that it makes creating a system of follow-through a whole lot easier!

Email Marketing You Can Trust

Yet, ever the stalwart, I remain committed to the simple mission of teaching the small, one-person nonprofit development shop how to do everything “better, faster, smarter” in ways that are understandable and fun.

Along with pursuing Alltop’s Nonprofit and Fundraising on a regular basis, these are the blogs I’ve bookmarked – and why.

1.  Seth Godin’s Blog – Initially I resisted reading Seth’s blog.  I’m like that.  If “everyone else” is doing it, doggone it, my stubborn Taurean soul resists.  Then I succumbed — and quickly learned why Seth Godin’s blog is one many nonprofit pros retweet on a regular basis.  Savvy, succinct and brimming with well-placed observations, no one does it better.

2.  Copyblogger:  Read through the last nonprofit appeal letters to arrive in your mailbox.  The charity sector typically has the driest, most didactic prose on the planet … if you’re not tossing the letter in the trash after the first paragraph, your eyes are glazing over and you’re thinking about dinner tonight.  Rarely does our profession address the underrated skill of copy-writing – yet what is the one skill that will send your donations soaring?  Check out 10 Secrets to More Magnetic Copy.  Not just for bloggers.

3.  Dan Kennedy’s Blog:  Ever the curmudgeon and proud of it (don’t even get me started on this guy’s politics), nonetheless no one can touch Dan when it comes to direct marketing.  And why should your nonprofit care about direct marketing?  Uh, is it not one and the same as donor-centered fundraising?  Take this from a recent post entitled Four Simple Small Business Marketing Ideas:  “It costs less to motivate a known customer to purchase again than to acquire a new customer.”  Substitute the word “customer” with “donor.”  I rest my case.

4.  Wild Apricot:  Simply put:  “The” blog for volunteers, webmasters and administrators of associations and nonprofits.  Filled with pithy, “I didn’t know that!” usable tips like the recent Keep Your Nonprofit Safe from Spam Complaints.

5.  John Haydon:  John is everywhere.  I think there must be three of him.  Haydon is my “go to” resource for learning everything social media, developing a strategy and  systematizing the process.  Best of all?  He makes what seems complex to a tech novice like myself both fun and easily do-able.

6.  Dan Pallotta’s Blog:  When will nonprofits wake up and recognize the fact that they need to be every bit as committed to funding their mission as they are to the mission itself?  The author of Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine Their Potential, and a proponent of spending money to make money, Dan’s blog is consistently thought-provoking.  While I don’t always agree with his methods (Advertising for nonprofits?  C’mon!  I’m concerned with the 83% of the community organizations with annual operating budgets of less than $1 million a year.  Spend money?  Oh yeah. On advertising???  You gotta be kidding me.), Dan’s blog is a must-read.

7.  The Agitator:  The team of Roger Craver and Tom Belford does what they do do best – agitate.  Always a good source of the latest research in direct response.  When Roger notes that he “switched from being a major gifts and capital campaign fundraiser in favor of the path of direct response,” I knew I was in the right place.  One of the many posts I’ve referred back to often?  Lisa Sargent’s guest post on the sorry state of nonprofit email marketing.

8.  Beth Kanter:  Beth is always at the forefront with the latest in solid data, tools and insights to help nonprofits navigate the social media landscape.

9.  Getting Attention – Nancy Schwartz:  Ditto what I said about Beth.  Nancy picks up on some timely topics like her recent series on the disastrous KFC/Susan G. Komen unholy alliance – and offers solid marketing and communication tools for all nonprofits, small, medium and large.

10.  Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog:  Katya’s the CEO of Network for Good … and blessed with a killer pair of legs.  Her blog offers a straightforward mix of the latest in research, tips you can put to use today and articles like It’s Not What Your Donors Give You – It’s What You Give Them.

You knew I couldn’t keep it to ten …

11.  Main Street Marketing for Foundations and Nonprofits in Small Communities:  Steve Cebalt isn’t “out there” in social media circles, but I’ve found a special kinship with his Midwestern homespun DIY approach to fundraising.  He aims to teach nonprofit organizations the secrets of “do it yourself” marketing – and does, in a friendly, easy-to-grasp manner.

12.  Kimberly’s comments/from the trenches:  Kimberley really IS in the trenches (she’s the current Director of Development for Ontario Nature) and she has an impressive track record with some high profile organizations (including one of my personal favorites, the LaLeche League) – not to mention the fact that she is the head of fundraising for my all-time favorite - bar none - resource, SOFII.  Love her style and insight … I just wish she were more prolific!

13.  Oneicity Blog:  From the husband and wife team of Kris Hoots & Steve Thomas, specialists in true relationship fundraising, comes this graphically stunning delightful collection of the latest social media tools, mild rants and thought-provoking articles like What Your Donors Want – Authenticity.

14.  Agents of Good:  The blog of a Toronto design team specializing in nonprofit communications, and active Twitter “must follows”, Agents of Good is where you’ll find inspiration such as The Gratitude Report and slap-upside the head advice to stick-in-the-mud ED’s on crafting an annual appeal.  Good stuff.

15.  Hildy Gottlieb:  I’ve been an unabashed fan of Hildy’s since first becoming acquainted with her on Charity Channel many years back.  Her blog is not necessarily about fundraising, but rather a joyous, “all things are possible” stream of consciousness for anyone in the nonprofit, er community benefit sector.  I adore her transparency and soul.

…but he needs your help picking the top 10 videos.

In order to pick the top 10, please follow the link below the movie to a quick survey. It’s multiple choice and it has you choose which episodes you’d like to see on the DVD. It’s very quick!

Pass this along to your friends and have them choose as well. Everyone is entitled to a free DVD so let your friends know about it.

Enjoy this week’s nonprofit video, Employee Giving and the Culture of Philanthropy.

And, if you’re not a current subscriber to Movie Mondays, make sure you don’t miss any of the upcoming movies by clicking here for Your FREE subscription.

You remember those days.

Each student was given a long needle and we were told to stick it in a certain area of the frog’s head and “scramble the brains.”  According to my science teacher, this was a relatively painless way to go.

Of course I was rather squeamish about the “scrambling” part and my frog hopped off across the room with a 2” needle sticking out of his head.

With multiple projects facing me, lately I’ve been feeling like my own brain was rather scrambled.  While women are, by nature, multi-taskers and that can be an absolutely wonderful thing – and it can also be a disadvantage when you really need to focus.

Anyone who’s worked in nonprofit development in a one-person shop knows it’s a tough job.

You’ve got:

• grant proposal deadlines
• that board report to finish
• your database upgrade
• a website that hasn’t been updated in two years
• thank you letters to write
• an event in three months that you haven’t even begun to tackle

… not to mention an utter lack of institutional memory, the “free” mindset prevalent of nonprofit organizations and blah blah blah …

With so much to do, and usually little by way of time or resources, one way to get back to basics is by focusing on those core things that will bring your organization the most value.

Remember the Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule)?  It states that 20% of your activities are responsible for 80% of your results.  The question is which 20%.

Simple.

Your highest value “20%” boils down to telling your organization’s story.

Think about it.

Your story is the glue holding every grant proposal together.

Your story provides the basis for your individual giving.

Your story is what writes your website copy.

Your story isn’t your mission statement.  It’s not the 937 high school students you serve.

Your story isn’t even “The Story,” for you’ll never have just one.

So, before you try to make sense of all that’s on your plate, think about how you can better communicate your message.  This isn’t something that needs to be made more complex than it really is.  You don’t need to take a “storytelling” seminar or learn a lot of jargon.

You really only need to do one thing.

Listen.

Every day.

As marketing legend Dan Kennedy always said:  “Let them say it for you!”

For more on this topic read 6 Tips for Collecting Great Nonprofit Stories.

Try telling that to nonprofit organizations.

Several years back I worked with a small nonprofit agency with an annual budget of approximately half a million dollars.  Early on in my role as development director – and throughout my two year tenure – I was admonished by the executive director to “weed out” the donor database.

You see we were using eTapestry, a web-based fundraising and donor management system.  At that time eTapestry was free for users – as long as your database contained less than 500 names.

True story.

Web hosting costs all of, what? – $9 to $15 a month?

Yet nonprofit organizations will do everything in their power, including spending considerable time and effort, to locate free web hosting.

Same with email marketing providers, graphic designers, writers … the mindset is “we’re a nonprofit – what kind of deal can you give us?”

Sigh.

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 access a pdf of the list here.

Many of the sites were familiar to me and had been bookmarked on my own trusty mac for years.  One however, Movie Mondays, was a new and exciting find.  The site features short movies with tons of information coming straight from the horse’s mouth.  Development directors talk about all the challenges facing nonprofits in today’s economy.  Succinct and engaging and definitely worth checking out.

Another resource, NOZA, the “world’s largest database of charitable donations,” is a site that I have used for years for their free charitable foundation research.  Followers of Simple Development Systems know that a minimum of an hour’s research into foundation prospect research is critical to establishing a successful grants program.  Thanks to NOZA nonprofits can easily locate foundations without subscribing to a service.

Now NOZA has just revealed their new Announced Gifts Alert a weekly compilation from the company’s daily scan of millions of web pages. As NOZA notes:  Most of  contributions are of the seven-figure variety, but the editors also include smaller gifts if they deem them as “transformational” or newsworthy.

Sign up for NOZA alerts here.

If you’re not familiar with Cesar, star of the National Geographic show, The Dog Whisperer, you should be.

With a story every bit as compelling as Paula’s, Cesar has crafted an entirely new career, not as a dog trainer, but rather as the world’s leading “dog psychologist.”  His show teaches the viewer as much – if not more – about people than about dog behavior.

According to legend, Millan illegally crossed the border into the US at 18, with $100 in his pocket, speaking no English and not knowing a single soul in his new country.  After stints as a dog groomer and limo driver, he began working with some of the most aggressive dogs in Los Angeles and gained a following, eventually attracting the sponsorship of Jada Pickett Smith, going on to star in the Dog Whisperer and founding the Dog Psychology Center.

Every Sunday morning when I’m checking my email, Cesar’s weekly newsletter arrives in my inbox.  (I would be curious to know how his marketing team selected Sunday as it is not one of the days known as “best” for email newsletter scheduling, yet the day fits well with Cesar’s mellow, spiritual personality.)  Since I first subscribed, I’ve never failed to read his letter which is an engaging blend of personal stories, product advertisements, a guest post and a contest or reader involvement of some kind.

When Cesar’s beloved dog, Daddy, an apparent reincarnation of Ghandi in the form of a pit bull, passed away recently at the age of sixteen, Cesar’s newsletter featured an announcement and a beautiful tribute.   To honor his legacy, Cesar and his wife, Illusion, created The DEAR Fund for dogs who “are victims of abuse or violence, man-made disasters(hoarder and puppy mill rescues), and large-scale natural disasters (hurricanes, fires, and other natural catastrophes).”

Upon learning of Daddy’s passing and the Fund, I headed on over to make a contribution.

Considering that the announcement of The DEAR Fund knocked out the servers, I think it’s safe to say I wasn’t the only one with that thought.

In short, Cesar uses his weekly newsletter to build upon his relationship with you, the viewer.

Wouldn’t you like to establish that kind of relationship with your potential donors and donors?

One nonprofit doing just that is an organization called Best Friends.  Take a look at their welcome email:

Welcome to Best Friends Animal Society!

We’re sending you this email because you’ve registered for updates on the Best Friends website. If this is incorrect, please send an email to info@bestfriends.org with “Unsubscribe” in the subject line.

What can you expect from us? These e-mails will bring you the most up-to-date information on all the programs at Best Friends as well as general updates and features on the more than 1,700 animals at the sanctuary as well as our animal rescue efforts across the country.

The work we do is vital to the quality of life of the animals we care for… and we couldn’t do it without knowing we had you behind us every step of the way. We’re so thankful you’ve chosen to support Best Friends. Please take a moment to explore our website and all it has to offer. Whether you want to learn more about animal adoptions or pet safety, there’s something there for everyone who loves animals.

While you’re there, please also consider making a gift; or even becoming a part of our Guardian Angel program. Guardian Angels are a very special group of members who provide a constant source of security for the animals, and you could too with your monthly commitment today! For more information please be sure and visit our Guardian Angel site.

Thank you for joining our efforts to make No More Homeless Pets a reality.

Sincerely,
The Best Friends staff

Let’s dissect this email, paragraph by paragraph:

First paragraph:  lets you know why you’re receiving the email and how you can unsubscribe.

Second paragraph:  let’s you know exactly what to expect from Best Friends (would be even stronger if they informed you when you would be hearing from them)

Third paragraph:  brief info about the society along with an invitation to visit website (better yet to include an animal photo and a personal story)

Fourth paragraph:  gentle ask, mention of monthly giving program (normally I am not a fan of having an ask in the first email, however this one is gracious and understated – I love the fact that not only does Best Friends have a monthly giving program, they are actively promoting it as well).

Fifth paragraph: nicely reiterates the agency’s tagline and again thanks the subscriber.

I counted up nine “you’s” in this email.  It’s succinct, it’s engaging, it’s donor-centered.

In short, this is an effective, relationship-building nonprofit email.

So how can your organization do email marketing right?  Well it ain’t by slapping a newsletter opt-in box on your website and sending out erratically scheduled emails only asking for money.  On the other hand, developing an online following isn’t rocket science either.

Try my Five Step Action Guide to lead you through the process:

1. Locate an email marketing provider.  There are many companies providing this service, from ConstantContact to Benchmarkemail.com to ExactTarget.com, but I highly recommend icontact for their superb customer service.  In fact, in a recent survey of email marketing providers, icontact came in #1.  Aside from the obvious factors of pricing and ease of use, icontact has phenomenal delivery rates.  Beware of free email marketing providers.  In fact, lose the free mindset.  Now.  Please.
2. The provider you select will assist you in building the code to place an opt-in box on the home page of your website.  I recommend to the right, above the “fold.”  Decide, in advance, what information you’ll be collecting (I also recommend keeping it to the minimum – first and last name, email, and address).  Make it easy to subscribe.  Test the process out yourself a few times.  I repeat:  Make it easy to subscribe.
3. Rather than “Subscribe to our e-news,” give your potential subscribers a reason to subscribe, even if it’s something very basic.  Think through your own motivations (and your own cluttered email boxes).  Why should your potential reader/donor subscribe?
4. Begin including a tagline in your own email and regular signature lines, such as “Keep in touch!  Subscribe to our monthly newsletter: link.”  Automatically subscribe all of your staff and board members – and ask them to include the link and tagline within their own email communications.
5. Decide upon a regular schedule for delivery (I recommend a bare minimum of once a month, either at the beginning of the month or the end, for consistency’s sake), design a template which utilizes your organization’s logo (all of the email marketing providers include scads of design templates to choose from), and decide upon the type of content you will provide.

Sure, animals are often more compelling than humans, but that shouldn’t stop you from developing an engaging, donor-centered email campaign for your own organization. A systematized approach based upon relationship building is part of a sound strategy for online giving.

I shouldn’t need to tell you that if your organization is going to put out an email newsletter today – only to let it fall through the cracks and reappear ten months from now – you’re better off steering clear.   However I firmly believe that every organization, large and small, should make the time to learn effective email marketing.  I urge you, too, to read Lisa Sargent’s report on nonprofit websites, email newsletter marketing and internet fundraising and think about how you could apply her conclusions to your organization.  An email newsletter needn’t consist of 3-5 articles and tons of graphics – in fact a short, simple story-telling newsletter, with one or two photographs will be as effective.

The key is to start – now.