How Driving In A Blizzard Parallels Managing Social Media

A recent meeting took me to Richmond, Virginia for a couple of days. The journey back was a bit of an adventure... The snow started falling in Richmond around 9:30AM and I started my trek toward the Mason-Dixon line around 1:00PM - enough time for a couple of inches of snow to accumulate.

As basically anyone I talked to from the Richmond area can attest: 2 inches in central Virginia = Blizzard-like driving conditions. Not so much because the roads are more sensitive to snow in Richmond, Fredericksburg and the surrounding areas, but because the drivers are. Once home I sat pondering the trip and the number of accidents I passed (I stopped counting at 10). I found some parallels in how one tackles a social media plan:

1) Go Slow, But Not Too Slow: Proceed at a speed that makes you feel safe, but isn't so slow it will cause your fellow drivers (co-workers, marketing staff, etc.) to run into you.

2) Map Out Your Course: While many of us have become dependent on things like Google Maps and apps to give us turn-by-turn navigation, in a blizzard it is even less safe to be peaking at these while behind the wheel. The lesson? You don't have to memorize your strategy, but you need to know it well enough that you don't have to check it incessantly. This way you will view other campaigns, communications efforts, and opportunities with an eye towards improving your social media efforts. You will be more likely to recognize opportunities for synergy and success.

3) Be Open To Changing Course: It's not uncommon for you to find your planned path - no matter how much thought you dedicated to it - may not be possible halfway through your journey. Resources may disappear due to budget cuts, Facebook may change the way pages work, Twitter may redesign the way a standard profile appears, etc. Be ready to change on the fly. Two things you can plan in advance are: A) Your attitude when the inevitable road block arises - be positive and confident... it's contagious; and, B) Who you will gather to discuss the issues. If you already know you have a group of X people who will discuss such bumps in the path - and they know they are in the group - you will have an easier time organizing the group and finding a solution quickly.

4) Don't Stop Just Because You See Others Running Off The Road: Others are going to make mistakes and go slip-sliding-away. Rather than let it deter you from plowing ahead, learn from their mistakes and pay attention to your efforts. (*You have to love me using "plowing" in this analogy, don't you?!?)

5) Don't Speed Up Just Because You See Others Flying By: Just like others are going to make mistakes, some are going to get lucky and have greater early success than you will. Again, learn from what they have done well and apply it to your campaigns. However, do not skip critical parts of your plan just to "keep up."

6) Follow A Truck Or Plow: Someone likely has better equipment (technology and tools) or more experience with this kind of driving than you do - follow their leadership and embrace the appropriate tools. Let me know if you need help finding this kind of help or consulting. If I can't help you, I will gladly help pair you with the right person for your needs.

7) Be Thankful When You Arrive: Don't overlook the short-term success and show gratitude for all involved in your social media efforts.

8) Be Ready For The Next Blizzard: Keep track of what you did well in your last campaign, hold a debrief meeting afterwards to identify what went wrong, gather it all (wiki?) so that it can help you navigate the drive with more expertise the next time you face a blizzard.

Please note - If you follow these as actual driving suggestions when in a blizzard you are on your own and I'm not liable for any damage or injuries. ;)

Photo by PinkStock Photos, used via creative commons license.

Free Feedback on Your Nonprofit's Website

You may recall that the post 10 Pages Every Nonprofit Website Should Have generated a lot of feedback (and it still generates numerous visits to this blog). One result of the post was a LinkedIn group entitled "Nonprofit Website Best Practice." One part of the group is regular nonprofit website review. This provides the members of the group with an opportunity to visit various sites and identify tools, ideas and design elements they may want to implement or avoid on other sites.

That being said, I invite you to 1) join the group; and, 2) suggest your nonprofit organization's site for the group's review. Submit your site via the comment section below!

What Lies Ahead For Philanthropy?

I'm putting together a series of super-brief interviews with philanthropic leaders discussing what lies ahead for philanthropy - challenges, opportunities, technological advances, necessary research, social media's place in it all... as well as any other paths that arise from the answers to these questions.

I have a decent list of names to start with, but I would love your suggestions on who to include. Either email me or post your suggestions in the comments. Thanks!

New Book & Contest for Nonprofits

So the promotion team for a new book by Carol Cone, Jocelyne Daw, Kristian Darigan Merenda and Anne Erhard, Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding, were kind enough to send me a copy of the book to review. Well, I have not yet been able to tackle the book, but a quick skim has me excited. Of course, any book that gets Beth Kanter's (@kanter) endorsement is likely to be worth reading. So why am I posting about it before I can do a full review? Because of this (from the promotional materials):

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To celebrate the book launch, USA TODAY has donated two national ¼ page ads worth $100,000, which will be awarded to one North American nonprofit organization. In January, the public can vote on the top 10 finalists to decide which will be the lucky winner!

The deadline to apply is December 10th. UPDATED: Now extended to December 17th.

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For more information & to enter the contest, please visit this page. For more on the book, go here or to the Twitter account, @BNonprofitBrand. And good luck in the contest!

Planning Ahead: January Holidays Your Nonprofit Can Use

As many of you know, there is a page on this blog dedicated to holidays nonprofit organizations may be able to use for creative awareness or fundraising campaigns or internal management - such as getting your team behind Universal Letter Writing Week (January 8-14). I'm going to try and do this about a month in advance every month, to give you a little time to plan ahead. If you're interested in planning further ahead or reviewing some of the guidelines on making these holiday campaigns successful for your organization, make sure to visit the original page.

Here's a quick snapshot of some of January's holidays you may be able to use:

Bird Day
Birth Defects Month
Cervical Cancer Screening Month
Fun at Work Day - Please use this one, it's great for your team!
Healthy Weight Week
Humanitarian Day
Hunt For Happiness Week
I'm Not Going To Take It Anymore Day - Great for asking your constituents to take a stand for your cause.
Inspire Your Heart with Art Day - Not just for art-focused nonprofits. Use art to illustrate your efforts and impact. Remember, photography, children's art... there are many ways to use this one.
International Creativity Month - Is there a contest you can have in honor of this month? Asking for creative campaign or solicitation ideas? Campaign themes?
International Quality of Life Month
Martin Luther King Day
National Cut Your Energy Costs Day
National Glaucoma Awareness Month
National Lose Weight/Feel Great Week
National Mentoring Month - Another great one to use internally & externally!
National Poverty in America Awareness Month
National Volunteer Blood Donor Month - If you can, give blood. It's the easiest philanthropic gift you can make (again, if you can).
New Years Day
New Year's Resolutions Week
Thyroid Awareness Month
Trivia Day - Come up with 10 trivia questions about your organization and its efforts - some fun, some illustrating impact and some that are really trivial. Direct folks to the page in honor of Trivia Day (January 4).
Universal Letter Writing Week - Have everyone on your team write a letter to a handful of random donors to say thanks. Or... ask your donors, volunteers & beneficiaries to write a letter to local media outlets and online to highlight your organization.

Reason #4,282 Not to Use Twitter/Facebook as Your Only Source

Some of you know I'm a big soccer (a.k.a. "proper football") fan. Well, today brought disappointing news that the United States' bid to host the 2022 World Cup came in second place to Qatar's bid. Not a huge surprise, considering what a corrupt and political organization soccer's international governing body, FIFA, is, but I digress...

Given how popular the sport and the World Cup are, it shouldn't come as a surprise that the Twitter trends reflected the awarding of the 2018 games to Russia and 2022 event to Qatar. What might come as a surprise? Well... check out the worldwide trends following the announcement:

Qatar is nowhere to be seen... but "Quatar" and "Katar" both make the list. While spelling is not the most important thing in the world (I'm sure there are typos on this blog somewhere, so I'm just covering myself), the fact that these two misspellings made worldwide trends should tell you something about how much thought, research and expertise go into many-a-tweet. Or, more accurately, doesn't go into tweets or Facebook postings. Some will simply pass on information from others as fact, without stopping to consider how accurate the info may be.

Just another example and reason to be careful about using Twitter or Facebook as your sole source for any information.

Photo credit

The Best Nonprofit Fundraising App Ever...

...is no app at all. Fundraising apps are pointless - you need to engage and inform if you feel like you must have an app.

Sorry to pull a bit of a bait-and-switch on you, but I am surprised how many nonprofits are focused on the creation of a fundraising app for their organization.

This is one of the areas where I believe consumers have different expectations of for-profit and nonprofit organizations. Here are some data eMarketer compiled from mobile app users:

There are some compelling points for the for-profit organizations to create an engaging mobile app, but let's look at it Through Nonprofit Eyes:

What would a potential donor gain from your mobile app if it is only for fundraising?

1) A way to give? Sounds great... but do you have a lot of folks telling you "I was going to give, but there wasn't an app for that?" I may be wrong, but I don't think this is the primary reason folks would install an app, when they could make a gift online via the same phone without jumping through as many hoops;

2) A way for you to pester them about giving? Hmm...

3) Anything else?

I am not claiming there isn't a place for apps in the nonprofit world, but they should be based around the services and expertise provided by the organizations, not strictly making gifts. These type of apps will further inform and engage, which can build a foundation for gifts... but I bet they don't come through an app.

All of this being said, there are some nonprofits doing a nice job engaging folks with apps. Here you go:

Capital Area Food Bank (Austin, Texas) - iPheedaNeed:

Great, engaging app with games, events and impact news. Their president, Debbie Bresette, was kind enough to be a guest of the blog in July. This is easily the most-cited example of a good nonprofit app.

National Public Radio:

An easy way for NPR supporters and listeners to keep up with NPR programs and news. Just another way for folks to be engaged by NPR and - hopefully - be more likely to give when the ask comes.

The Recession: Is It Getting Better for Nonprofits?

While I still am cautious about what lies ahead for nonprofits (I am anxious this December won't bring the significant spike in giving that we have seen in years past) at least one report indicates the worst of the recession may be behind us.

The November 2010 Fundraising Survey is a collaboration between Guidestar, the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Blackbaud, and the Foundation Center.

Between October 19 & November 3, 2010, representatives of 2,356 public charities and 163 private foundations took the group's online survey. The following is a modified excerpt from Guidestar's release.

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The results are encouraging:

• The proportion of participants reporting decreased contributions dropped 14 percentage points, from 51 percent in October 2009 to 37 percent in October 2010.
• The percentage who said contributions had increased grew 13 percentage points, from 23 percent in October 2009 to 36 percent in October 2010.
• Larger organizations, those with annual expenses of $1 million or greater, were more likely to report increased contributions.
• For the eighth consecutive year, a majority (68 percent) of participants reported increased demand for their organizations' services.
• Half of the organizations represented in the survey receive the bulk of contributions during the last quarter of the year, the period known as the giving season. Of this number, 36 percent predict that contributions received during the fourth quarter of 2010 will exceed those from the last quarter of 2009, 43 percent expect end-of-year contributions to be about the same as last year, and 22 percent anticipate that end-of-year contributions will be lower.
• Nearly half (47 percent) of participants expect their organizations' budgets to increase next year.

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The last bullet is the one I find most encouraging. While giving will have its cycles, the fact half of the participants are healthy enough to predict increased budgets is great news.

What do you anticipate happening in the months and years ahead? Is the worst behind us?

Image courtesy of Guidestar.

Best Practice: Thanksgiving Email Illustrating Impact

As you might imagine, I get a number of Thanksgiving messages - email, social media, mail. I thought I would highlight one or two that best caught my attention, with a few insights. The first post was regarding an email I received from Earthjustice. The second post was about the EpicThanks campaign. This third post highlights a great email from Defenders of Wildlife that does an excellent job illustrating the impact the organization and, in turn, its donors had during the past year. Here is the email:

A few notes on the email:

• Great focus on impact, including links to five varied stories - at least one of which is likely to appeal to the recipient's passions.
• The three images at the top make it more likely that the reader will connect with one of those animals, if not all three.
• I appreciate the image of the organization's president, as it puts a personal face on the message and the organization.
• The P.S. is a nice 'gift' to the recipient, but also engages the reader on an on-going basis, if they download the free wallpaper. There are actually 33 different wallpapers to choose from. Since I've always been a fan of otters - here's a look at my favorite:

Kudos Defenders of Wildlife!

Best Practice: Thanksgiving Campaign @EpicChange

The @EpicChange campaign is well documented and often cited as an early example of putting Twitter to use for social change. If you've heard the term "Tweetsgiving" you have @EpicChange to thank.

Here is how they describe themselves online:

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Epic Thanks is a global celebration that seeks to change the world through the power of gratitude. Founded in 2008, the original TweetsGiving celebration was imagined and implemented by six volunteers in six days, and quickly became the #1 trending topic on Twitter as thousands of grateful tweets from across the globe filled the stream.

But the truth is TweetsGiving was never about twitter or social media. It's about the gratitude in our hearts, and the transformative power our thankfulness can have when we share it with one another. It's about cultivating a deep sense of for those remarkable souls who create hope in our world. That's why this year, TweetsGiving becomes Epic Thanks.

Over the past two years, from the gratitude of thousands, this global event has built two classrooms and a library in Arusha, Tanzania, where the twitterkids, led by local changemaker Mama Lucy Kamptoni, learn and grow at one of the best primary schools in their country.

This year, the celebration will spread to honor even more changemakers in other parts of the world. Stay tuned here to be the first to find out whose hopeful dreams we'll invest in this year.

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This year's campaign looks great and will hopefully celebrate similar success over the next few days. Here's a look at the campaign:

Campaign email:

It's engaging, acknowledges that I have participated in the past and immediately encourages me to get involved again. The only negative? For some reason, the one image doesn't load in any of the browsers I tried.

The website:

You can post to Twitter or Facebook and immediately show gratitude and promote the campaign. You can also personalize your own thank you card (see below).

Tweet:

Facebook:

Thank you note generator:

Best Practice: Thanksgiving Email

As you might imagine, I get a number of Thanksgiving messages - email, social media, mail. I thought I would highlight one or two that best caught my attention, with a few insights. This first post is regarding the email I received from Earthjustice. It was simple, to the point and linked to an impressive video. Here's the email:


My only complaint is that the unEARTHED component asking what I am thankful for is not more prominently featured. It looks like an afterthought at the end of the message... which could be interpreted as Earthjustice not caring what I think (NOTE: I don't think that's what they think).

How The Rules of Dating Apply to Your Donor Relationships, Part II

It's no secret that there are parallels between wooing a donor and a date. So how well do the rules of dating apply to your donor relationships? Here's a two-part #ThroughNonProfitEyes look at TopDatingTips.com's dating rules. Part I was about the Do's of dating and Part II dives into the Don'ts (a few of which did not have good fundraising parallels and were, therefore, excluded):

Part II: Dating Rules -- Don'ts

1. Don't call, text message or email someone you've just started seeing more than once a day unless they reply (or in the event of an emergency).

Just like a new love interest, a new donor should be treated as if they may disappear for someone better at any second. Smothering a new donor with too many appeals or emails can be a big turn-off, but so can no communication at all. Say thank you, illustrate impact, but don't ask too much too often.

2. Don't date the kind of people who've hurt you in the past.

Like in the "Do's" section, where I suggested using data models to find those most likely to support your organization, you can do the same to find those least likely to give. You can then remove them from your appeals, if you need a way to limit your costs.

3. Don't be late for a date.

A friend of mine once discussed having made gifts to her and her husband's three combined alma maters on the same day. One sent them a thank you note in less than a week, one in two weeks and one in six weeks. Don't be late with your stewardship efforts.

4. Don't lie to your date or about any aspect of your life, even if the truth isn't as sexy or you're worried they won't like it.

This should go without saying, but be honest and transparent in your communications. Imagine a donor giving to an annual fund and thinking that she is supporting student scholarships or food for a soup kitchen and later learning that the funds were actually going to fund a fancy board meeting - not the news your organization would be looking for.

5. Don't be rude or get drunk on a date.

If you do make a mistake in your constituent communications, own the error and be polite. Courtesy and manners will get you everywhere - on a date or with donors & prospects.

6. Don't give out personal information like your home phone number or address on the first date.

Okay, on this one I am actually going with the opposite - make sure your appeals, communication pieces... everything, has contact information for your organization available for the recipient.

7. Don't have sex on a first date.

I have worked with nonprofits that celebrate every gift. It is good & important to appreciate every gift. However, if you steward your $10 donors like they are $10M donors, you are going to create extremely high stewardship expectations or - worse - make the donor question your use of the charitable support. So... don't give everything you have in your stewardship toolbox away to donors right away.

How The Rules of Dating Apply to Your Donor Relationships, Part I

It's no secret that there are parallels between wooing a donor and a date. So how well do the rules of dating apply to your donor relationships? Here's a two-part #ThroughNonProfitEyes look at TopDatingTips.com's dating rules. Part I is about the Do's of dating and Part II dives into the Don'ts. Part II will be posted later this week.

Part I: Dating Rules -- Do's

1. Do try to always look your best and be punctual.

Don't be sloppy with your appeals and engagement efforts. Make sure you are double- and triple-checking your copy. If you are in a decentralized environment, swallow your pride and do everything you can to break down the silos and coordinate the timing of mailings, emails and other communications. Nothing can turn off a prospect like overlapping, clearly poorly coordinated or timed appeals and messages.

2. Do try to enjoy yourself on dates.

For a lot of nonprofit practitioners, the work of soliciting donors and prospects becomes, well... work. This is okay and understandable, but it can often blind us to the positive work our organizations do - and the joy we should feel in helping move our organizations forward.

3. Do compliment your date on how he or she looks.

Yep... complimenting your donors can go a long way to renewing them - tell them how great they are and how much it impacted your organization that they gave their time and resources to your organization, before asking for another gift.

4. Do be interested and interesting.

From the original Dating rules: "Ask questions, share insights and pay attention when your date is telling you what they like to do, read, watch, listen to, etc." This is virtually dead-on for your donor relationships. You need to ask questions (focus groups & surveys), share insights (keep your prospects & donors informed) and pay attention to what you're being told (respond to requests, apply research findings to your messaging, timing and strategies).

5. Do tell someone directly if you're not interested in seeing them again.

Okay... I'm not exactly sure how to parallel this one, to be honest. I would advise you not to tell your non-donors you want nothing to do with them.

6. Do date only people you're attracted to, no matter what your friends say.

Low on resources? Use data-modeling to find the prospects most likely to give, a.k.a. most attractive to you.

7. Do stay positive, even when dates don't end well.

If prospects ask you to be removed from your lists or appeals... or they simply reject your appeals, take the high road. Respect requests to be removed from lists, follow-up to disgruntled prospects with sincerity, and make sure you have data processes in place to ensure donor requests for communication will be honored.

8. Do plan ahead.

Almost any appeal - email, phone, mail, face-to-face, events - will be less successful if you do not plan ahead. And in most cases, your audience will be able to tell your planning was lacking.

9. Do be proactive about finding people to date.

Make sure you are putting aside time to reconsider your approach to acquiring new donors. Ask your non-donors why they don't support you. Better yet, ask your previous donors who didn't renew why they failed to do so. Look at various parts of your program and think about unique sources of prospects you haven't considered before. (Ex: University of Texas soliciting Gone With The Wind fans)

10. Do surround yourself with positive, like-minded people who are dating, too.

One of the best resources you have available to you are peers across the globe who face similar challenges. Benchmarking and peer-networks can be critical to helping you brainstorm new ideas, escape the creative vacuum of your office, and have a resource to call when faced with a challenge. Don't have any current peer connections? Conferences, community meetings and social networking can help you take the first step. If you aren't sure where to start, let me know and I will do my best to introduce you to a handful of resources.

Get Your Whole Team To Say Thanks This Week

There's going to be a lot of talk this week about saying and giving thanks this week. But rather than just talk about it... randomly assign 5, 10 or 15 donor names to all of your staff - all of your staff - and have them call these folks to say "thank you" or leave voicemail messages with a message of thanks.

A few thoughts:

• I mention that it should be all of your staff. It is easy for the "back room" staff that are a few degrees of separation away from face-to-face donor interaction forget that they are an important part of the fundraising team. If only your gift officers do the thanking, it will only entrench this mindset.
• Pick some random donors that are from lower gift levels and different demographics (ex: younger donors) to thank. It will go a long way with those donors you call and those doing the calling to remember that it isn't just about the major gifts.
• Resist the urge to turn this into an immediate ask - this should be about saying "thanks" and listening to anything else the donor cares to share.
• It should go without saying, but make sure you have the donors' information in front of you when making the calls - you should know where the donors' respective gifts went and what impact you can report.

Side note: If you're the boss of your organization or a team - make sure you take a minute to share a sincere thanks with your employees this week. Along those lines - thanks to all of you who work to make the nonprofit sector successful. You make the world a much better place.

Are you an Idealist? Are you on Idealist? Do you follow @idealist?

I imagine most of you are aware of Idealist.org, but I was fine-tuning some of my email alerts and was reminded just how many tools are available for anyone and everyone involved with philanthropy. Therefore, it's our #FollowOfTheWeek.

You may fit a few of these categories, but here are the cliff-notes on what you can do on the site:

Organizations: You need to make sure you are listed on the site and use it to recruit volunteers, find consultants, promote campaigns & events, and post job openings.

Job Seeker: Check out the job listings, Idealist's guide to nonprofit careers, - also worth considering volunteering to get a foot in the door at potential employers.

Gift Officer: Broaden your base by volunteering outside your circles, but in similar organizations to yours. Also, recruit volunteers and board members through the page.

Consultant: Did you know you can list yourself in a searchable database? This allows "one-stop-shopping" for orgs to find you as their perfect match.

Aspiring Student: Thinking about graduate school? Check out the Public Service Graduate Education Resource Center.

Teacher: On the other side of the educational equation? Visit the resources for teachers.

Everyone Else: Are you a practitioner who doesn't fall into any of these categories? You still can gain from the Idealist page - Visit the general resource page to learn more.

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Idealist on: Web / Twitter / Facebook / MySpace / LinkedIn

The Key Personality Traits of a Successful Fundraiser

Adam Grant, Ph.D. is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School... and he's an all-around great guy with unmatched energy and passion for his work. (Note: I have not seen Adam in person since he became a father, so it is possible sleep-deprivation has robbed him of some of this energy, but I doubt it!) He has conducted extensive research on the motivational factors and personality traits that influence a fundraiser's success.

A few years ago, I had the good fortune of working with Adam on such research as related to student callers employed by the University of Michigan's fundraising programs. Here were the two key questions of the research:


1) Are there key personality traits we could seek when hiring student callers that would make their success more likely?


2) Would hearing the story of scholarship recipients motivate student callers to make more calls or raise more funds?


This post explores the findings behind question #1. So what traits initially come to mind for you when asked the question:




Here's one common answer:





Other common answers, when Adam and I have presented these findings, have included:

- Agreeableness
- Altruism
- Conscientiousness
- Emotional stability
- Extraversion
- Open-mindedness
- Self-confidence
- Self-esteem

And you know what? None of these matter when examined individually. However, two of them matter when simultaneously present in a fundraiser:

Conscientiousness + Extraversion = Improved Results


In the first week on the job, look at the difference between the conscientious extraverts and the other callers:





That's a significant difference, obviously. So have you considered applying personality trait tests to your hiring practices? It is a common practice in the for-profit world. For more on this research and its findings, see a full presentation on the topic here.

UPDATE: Please note - I am not necessarily suggesting that these two traits are the best for all development positions, but rather that the science of personalities could be a successful tool for using in your organization's hiring practices.

Nonprofits: Using a Web Toolbar?

The use of web toolbars like Wibiya's have become more popular lately (If viewing this page on a computer, you can see an example at the bottom of your screen). I have seen them on many blogs and various other pages. However, I have not yet seen many nonprofits using the idea to engage visitors. Have you? If so... share in the comments section.

How could your nonprofit use a web toolbar to further your cause? Let's take a look at this toolbar from GoPSUSports.com:

Note the following items (Click on the image if you need a larger version of the picture):

1) Logo

2) Schedule of events

3) Buy Tickets

4) Get Gear

5) Social Media links

Now let's consider what those applications could be for your nonprofit?:

1) Logo: You could use your current logo, a campaign-specific logo, or - for the more daring organizations - the likeness of your leadership, beneficiaries or a prominent supporter. Example ideas:

• Robert Redford or Bono at the bottom of the NRDC.org and One.org pages, respectively;
• A local Habitat For Humanity's president, in her construction gear, on the home page;
• A scholarship recipient on a university annual fund page; and,
• Campaign lead-donor or honorary chair at the bottom of a capital campaign page.

2) Schedule: What a great way to engage visitors and keep them involved with your organization - a scrolling schedule of events, which you can click upon for more information.

3) Buy Tickets - Translation: "Make a Gift": What a great way to have a giving button on every page, prominently located in a you web toolbar.

4) Get Gear - Translation: "Volunteer / Get Involved": You may sell shirts, DVDs and other items, in which case a store link may work. That being said, a "get involved" link would be a great way to get visitors who aren't making a gift engaged with your organization.

5) Social Media Links: This is a given. At least I hope it is. This is a great way to keep people engaged with your organization on media where they already spend a lot of time.

So what are your thoughts? Have you put anything like this to work? Or do you now plan to do so?

Best Practice: Creating & Revealing An Event's Logo

Those that follow this blog know that I have a special place in my heart for Penn State's Dance Marathon - a.k.a. THON. My second semester of undergraduate studies I was introduced to THON and it changed my life, literally. It introduced me to philanthropy which has been my career focus since finishing my degree at Penn State.

What is THON? Well... it's not your everyday dance marathon. I know the phrase 'dance marathon' conjures up visions of 30 kids in a high school gymnasium. At it's core, that is what THON is, but on a much larger scale.

It is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world and raises significant funding for The Four Diamonds Fund, which helps children with cancer and their families.

Summary of last year's event from thon.org: THON 2010 saw record participation in the 5k, record traffic to THON.org, and all-time high interest being a THON volunteer. With the theme of "Love Belongs Here," more than 300 Captains, 700 dancers, 3300 Committee Members, and 15,000 student volunteers made it THON's most successful year yet. THON 2010 raised $7,838,054.36 For The Kids!

One of the exciting parts of the THON year is when the new logo is revealed. This is a great example of engaging volunteers for talent (the logo is designed by graphic design students), using the logo itself to engage participants, supporters and beneficiaries, & promoting the event through work that the organization would be doing anyway. As you know by now, I have incorporated some of my favorite logos from over the years throughout this post.

Check out this video to learn more about this year's logo:

Best Practice: Engaging Volunteers to Illustrate Impact

As some of you know, I like the work the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation do to fight for a cure for spinal cord injuries. @ReeveFoundation tweeted Saturday:

Which led to a great example of using a volunteer's point-of-view to illustrate your organization's impact. Here is the story from the link:

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Suzan Schumacher (pictured here with her family) sent this to us. She can't wait to run 26.2 miles on Sunday. Go figure!

Why I Run the NYC Marathon with Team Reeve 2010:

The mission is close to my heart. I am the Mama Bear of a wonderful pack--son, Eric (left), daughter Tina (right), and son-in-law Josh (center).

Here are my top 10 reasons:

10. I love running

9. I love my husband, Gary

8. I love running with my husband Gary

7. New York City is cool

6. Running with my husband in New York City is cool

5. I love my kids, & my son-in-law who is paralyzed

4. I love to do things that make a difference in my kids' world

3. Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is making a difference through their research for 6 million people who are paralyzed

2. I want to increase awareness about spinal cord injuries and raise money for research, treatment, & technological advances to assist the paralysis community

1. If it weren't for technological advances, we would be running with boom boxes on our shoulders instead of ipods

Thanks Suzan! Good luck.

If you want to show your support, make a contribution to Suzan's Team Reeve page now.

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It's simple, direct and powerful. It let's you know why this person is willing to run 26.2 miles for the organization. Have you done anything similar? Any other examples to share?

Planning Ahead: Dec. Holidays Your Nonprofit Can Use

As many of you know, there is a page on this blog dedicated to holidays nonprofit organizations may be able to use for creative awareness or fundraising campaigns or internal management - such as getting your team behind National Write A Business Plan Month (December). I'm going to try and do this about a month in advance every month, to give you a little time to plan ahead. If you're interested in planning further ahead or reviewing some of the guidelines on making these holiday campaigns successful for your organization, make sure to visit the original page.

Here's a quick snapshot of some of December's holidays you may be able to use:

Coats & Toys for Kids Day
Day With(out) Art Day
Human Rights Day
International Day for the Abolition of Slavery
International Human Solidarity Day
International Volunteer Day for Economic & Social Development
National Write A Business Plan Month
Special Kids Day
Tolerance Week
Universal Hour of Peace Day
Universal Human Rights Month
World Aids Month
World Peace Day/Winter Solstice

Adopt a Nocturnal Creature. No really.

Yep, it's a week late... but I had made note of this email when I was on the run and didn't want to not give it kudos simply because my busy schedule and travel got in the way.

As you might imagine, I am on a number of nonprofit email lists. That being said, it takes something for me to really dig an email. This was one of them - I like the idea of adopting a bat for Halloween (as much as a kid might not like getting that at your doorstep!). Enjoy - Kudos Defenders of Wildlife (@Defenders)!

How Active Is Your Nonprofit's Leader on Social Media?

A couple of weeks ago, a Weber Shandwick study concluded that 64% of the CEOs at the world's largest companies were not social online. How about your nonprofit? Is your CEO/Executive Director/President/etc. active on social media? Well... let's start with the basics... Does he/she have an account with any of the big boys (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube)?

If he/she does have one or more of these accounts, what is he/she doing with it? Is he/she using it or is there a random intern who "gets" social media that manages the accounts? Is the CEO blogging anywhere? The level of social media use among nonprofit leaders is this week's poll question. I will follow-up with results, thoughts and best practices once the poll closes.

Poll:

In the meantime, here are some of the findings from the Weber Shandwick study:

• Over nine out of 10 CEOs in the world’s top 50 companies (93 percent) communicated externally in traditional fashion: 93 percent were quoted in the major global news and business publications and 40 percent participated in speaking engagements to an external, non-investor, audience.
• Online communications did not fare as well among this executive set. Most CEO online visibility is limited to what is said about them on Wikipedia, the web-based collaborative encyclopedia which CEOs and their communications teams are not responsible for. Removing Wikipedia leaves the online CEO space rather barren—only 36 percent are engaged through their company websites or in social media channels in any way (e.g., CEO messages on company websites, video/podcasts on company websites or company YouTube channels, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, company-affiliated blogs).

Who Is a Social CEO?
A sample of the characteristics of Social CEOs as identified by the research:

• Social CEOs are multi-users. When they engage online, social CEOs employ more than one channel, with 72 percent using more than one channel (on average, social CEOs use 1.8 channels).
• Social CEOs are more tenured. Newer CEOs (3 years or less) are less likely than those in their middle (3 to 5 years) or later period of their tenures (more than 5 years) to engage online—30 percent vs. 38 percent vs. 43 percent, respectively.

Original version of title photo (without icons) from Heliotrop3's Flickr photostream.

CEO graph from Weber Shandwick press release.

The Nonprofit Ferris Bueller Experience

So about six months ago there was a buzz created on Twitter & Foursquare when someone setup fake accounts for Ferris Bueller and some of the other characters from the classic Ferris Bueller's Day Off. The exciting part about this "event" was that the person behind the accounts paid special attention to live out the day on Twitter as if Ferris & Co. were tweeting the day away during the movie. Tech Crunch (@TechCrunch) provides a good summary of the event.

Ever since, I've had an email from my sister with the TechCrunch link in my inbox, trying to think about how this fun form of engagement could be used to benefit a nonprofit. I finally have a few ideas to share:

• If you're in the arts sector, have key members of your performance (conductor, musicians, actors & actresses, lighting director, etc.) tweet throughout the performance. On top of this, encourage attendees to - GASP! - tweet during the show! At the end of the performance, post some of your favorites from the audience on a screen and giveaway a few prizes for fun.
• In education? Have characters tweet throughout the first day of classes, the start of finals week, spring break, graduation, etc. - In a similar fashion to the art example, you can post favorites at various events. You can also promote these feeds to parents & families to engage them in what their sons & daughters may be experiencing.
• And then there's my idea for any nonprofit, provided the resources are in place to support this communications effort - Have your CEO/President "take the day off" and parallel Ferris Bueller's adventures... just enough of a parallel to be recognizable as a play on the movie, but working in tidbits about what is great about the organization. A food bank CEO might get Abe Froman (sausage king of Chicago) to donate food to the food bank. A youth group executive may be excited about heading to a Cubs game, only to lament not being able to take some of the kids from the group.

What are your ideas?

Bueller?

Bueller?

Post your ideas in the comments section below.

Buy How To Become a Nonprofit Rockstar Now!

As I previously reviewed, Rosetta Thurman & Trista Harris have a new book and it is out today! You can purchase How To Become a Nonprofit Rockstar here.

Random Donor & Prospect Thoughts

Eric Hoover, a senior writer with the Chronicle of Higher Education, shared a post yesterday on the Chronicle's Head Count blog titled Random Student Thoughts on Admissions. It had some interesting tidbits and made me think of the parallels between college admissions and non-profit fundraising efforts... So here's a look at the topic, Through Nonprofit Eyes.

If your nonprofit has more than one person involved in its operations, you are almost certain to have multiple opinions on what your prospects and donors would like. This can be in terms of appeals, newsletters, events, investments, leadership and a wide variety of other topics. If you have heard phrases like these, you understand what I am referencing:

• "We need to email our donors more. I hear from XYZ nonprofit all the time and I don't mind."
• "Our constituents do not like to be asked for money."
• "Our constituents won't like that mail appeal - I can't stand the way it looks."
• "I got this [appeal/mailing/email/etc] from ABC nonprofit and loved it - We have to do it too!"
• "We should only send email and those Twitterer things to our young prospects."

While people are naturally drawn to designs, appeals, etc. that they like, you are only one person - an "n of 1" in experiment terms - and your opinion may not reflect that of your prospects. No matter how well you think you know them and how much you think they are all like you!

But in the absence of other information and data, nonprofit administrators will often fill the void with their own opinions. That being said... it is good to remember to listen to your donors and prospects.

Hoover's post about college admissions included quotes from various students. Here is a sampling - Can you see the potential parallel to nonprofit stakeholders?

• Dakota Kornicker, a senior at Hunterdon Central Regional High School, in New Jersey, on recruitment emails: “I love getting emails from your college, but I don’t like getting three emails in one day.”
• Christine Johnson, a senior at Cypress Lakes High School, in Houston, on recruitment mailings: “I find a lot of the stuff I get in the mail from colleges to just get in the way and kind of make me mad … even the short letters from deans saying ‘I’m interested in you’ didn’t really mean anything to me.”
• Alexander Moskowitz, a senior at Cherry Creek High School, in Colorado, on the value of admissions interviews: “A personal interview shows students that you’re interested in them and that you’re giving them a chance.”
• Anne Kaplan, a senior at the New York City Lab School for Collaborative Studies, on colleges’ using social-networking sites: “Facebook is the last place I want to see a school.”

Obviously there are likely to be similar opinions within your constituency. But how do you know? You ask and you listen. I think you'll find many are happy to be engaged. Even those who are unhappy about some aspect of your organization will be happy that the opinion or complaint is actually being heard.

Do you think Starbucks, Coca-Cola and Toyota are conducting marketing campaigns based simply on what the CEO or Director of Marketing likes?

Then why should your nonprofit?

image from ilisten(dot)com