Thanks all!

A lot of positive support for this blog, its polls and the corresponding Twitter account (@moredonors) over the last few weeks. Just wanted to share a big Thank You!

Reminder: You Don't Own Facebook Content

Just a friendly reminder that you should pay attention to the small print on Facebook and other social media platforms. Today, I received an email encouraging me to integrate AIM with Facebook. Never mind the fact I haven't used AIM in years, what struck me was the message's content. The subject mentioned one of my friends and the email body cited four of them as endorsing the product integration. Here's a screenshot of the email:

So, I emailed my friends that were in the message and asked if they knew such a message went out. Knowing that the odds were 99% that they didn't, I wasn't surprised to receive these messages:

Response 1: "(CENSORED)! I did install that a long time ago, but have since shut if off. No clue that they would blast an email w/my name all over it. How annoying."

Response 2: "I think my phone tied them together, but I don't recall agreeing to anything."

So, just remember... Facebook owns the content. And they may use things without your knowledge.

7 Tips for new or future nonprofit professionals

I was recently highlighted as a guest on the My Nonprofit Experience blog, by Madelyn Anetrella. Her blog is excellent and I encourage you to check it out (...not just because she highlighted yours truly!). Thanks Madelyn!

I won't share the entire post, but here's a list of seven tips for new/future nonprofit professionals

Advice for future nonprofit professionals:

1) Get involved in a nonprofit that you are passionate about and don’t work for… know what it is like to be a volunteer and/or donor to another NPO. This can often teach you more about how to (or how not to) treat your constituents.

2) If you’re not on Twitter & Facebook, get there.

3) Find someone to serve as a mentor within your organization. It will benefit you in many ways: a) learn from the mentorship; b) gain an advocate who has been with the organization longer – he/she will promote you and your ideas if they feel a sense of responsibility for your development; and, c) it can give you a better sense of what topics and decisions are critical to your NPO’s leadership.

4) Find someone to serve as a mentor at another organization. In addition to the benefits of #3, you will broaden your network and be able to bring valuable ideas to the table at your NPO.

5) Understand that red tape and bureaucracy is common at NPOs.

6) Don’t just accept that red tape and bureaucracy is common at NPOs. You may not be able to change it all at your NPO, but having a “can do” attitude will go a long way.

7) Get to meetings on time and do your homework before a meeting. I often hear from NPO professionals that meetings eat up too much time and rarely start on time. Prepare your information, know what you hope to accomplish in the meeting and be on time.

Follow: The Surfrider Foundation

I mentioned on Twitter that I'm reading Beth Katner (@kanter) and Allison Fine's (@afine) book, The Networked Nonprofit. I am occasionally posting good quotes and info from the book on Twitter. To continue that theme, I bring you one of the networked nonprofits highlighted in the book - The Surfrider Foundation - as the latest and greatest #FollowOfTheWeek:

Twitter: @Surfrider
Name: The Surfrider Foundation
Web: www.surfrider.org
Bio: The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit, grassroots environmental organization dedicated to protection and enjoyment of our world's oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of surfers in Malibu, California, the organization has grown to over 50,000 activists and 100 chapters across world.
Followers: 15,575 + you!
Why Follow? Surfrider is empowering its members and chapters to do incredible work to preserve the oceans and beaches many of us love to visit. Though "surf" is in the name, their efforts are not restricted to surfers and surfing interests.

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Twitter Page:

MySpace Page:

YouTube Page:

Website:

Video on Not The Answer project:

Poll: Do Gift Officers Need to Give to your Organization?

Do those asking for money on behalf of your organization need to support your organization financially as well? ...Or is the ask simply about having the skill to make the ask?

Poll:

How a Non-Profit Can Find More Twitter Followers

So last week I posed the question "Do you follow #FollowFriday suggestions on Twitter?" This question was asked because of some of my findings in this post and my discussions with others on Twitter. The findings were not surprising - #FF is becoming more noise in the system than a useful tool. But it is still resulting in some following.

That begs the question - What is the best way to gain followers for your non-profit?

Before I address that question, let me answer the basic question - "What's #FF?" This was the response of 14% of the poll's respondents. It started on January 16, 2009, when Micah Baldwin posted the following on Twitter:

It resulted in one of the most common hashtag campaigns on Twitter. The idea works because it is easy, has some good karma behind it (if I #FollowFriday you, maybe you'll do the same for me), and it is perfect for the Twitter medium. If you want to know more about the history of #FF (as it is commonly referred to), you can visit the Mashable article on the topic.

As for the results of the poll, the number one response was "I rarely follow #FF suggestions." Other responses below (click on the graph for a larger, more detailed version).

So how do you gain followers? First we have to examine that question... is the number of followers your most critical statistic on Twitter? No. It used to be a big deal to inflate your follower number... particularly if your name was Ashton Kutcher. Now - unless you're selling weight-loss products or energy drinks - it is more important to find quality followers rather than quantity. That being said, how do you find more followers and the right followers.

1. Be active.

Twitter isn't for checking into twice a month.

2. Have great content.

Great content gets users engaged, retweeting & clicking on links. Lousy content gets users to click "unfollow."

3. Have balanced sources.

If you constantly send people to your blog or website, people will start to ignore you... as you'll seem like you're only focused on self-promotion. On the other hand, if you only post other users' material, you'll lose any status as an authority.

4. Seek out the best in your field.

Follow them. Engage them (without seeming like an annoying "groupie").

5. Follow @moredonors

See how I just threw that in there for fun? In reality, you need to mention it on your website and in press releases or blog posts. Your Twitter button should be prominent on your website, as I mentioned in the post 8 Common Social Media Mistakes.

6. Plug your account at live events.

You can even provide a laptop for Twitter users to follow you or non-users to sign-up during events.

7. Ask questions.

Questions result in answers, which results in curiosity and broadcasting of your username... which results in more followers.

8. Be grateful.

Thank people for following and their input. Answer their questions. Avoid saying "Thanks for the RTs" every few posts, though.

9. Use bit.ly to shorten URLs... then use retwt.me to redirect.

Bit.ly provides easy tracking and searching of previously shortened URLs. Retwt.me provides a nudge and almost-subliminal suggestion to retweeting your links.

10. Follow other non-profits like your own.

This will help you see best practice examples and generate new ideas and partnerships for your organization.

11. To auto-respond or not to auto-respond, that is the question.

I'm not a big fan of auto-responding to followers, because it is so obviously an auto-response and is worse than no message at all. That being said, if you were to use language like "Thanks for following! This is a auto-response, but to start a real dialog, tell me what question you have for us / like about our organization / would do to improve our efforts / etc." That would avoid the appearance that you're trying to pass off an auto-response as genuine and personal.

Updated to include an example:

12. If appropriate, have multiple accounts (and only if you can manage them!)

Organization, CEO, material experts, etc. However, if you can't manage them, stick with one.

--------------------------------------------------

What other thoughts do you have on the topic?

7 Ways To Prove Your Non-Profit Rules

Jonathan Fields recently blogged about a marketing checklist entitled "7 Ways To Prove You Rule." Since proving you rule is cool and fundraising is more parts marketing than anything else, I bring you the post Through Non-Profit Eyes:

An edited version of Fields' opening:

The moment you want someone to buy something from you support your non-profit, you take on a Herculean burden…

The burden of proof. You need to prove to a potential customer, client, patient, reader or visitor donor that the solution you’re offering will solve their problem better, faster, easier, more-effectively or less-expensively than others have an impact on him/her and the values that matter to him/her.

You can answer every other question, grab attention, build rapport, establish thought leadership, disqualify others, differentiate your offering, share benefit after benefit, claim superiority, reverse risk, create scarcity, incentivize immediate buying and call people to act.
But if you stumble on the issue of proof…you still lose the sale potential donor.

Because folks need a rational hat upon which to justify an emotional buy investment.

So, here are the 7 ways you can offer up the proof needed to close the loop on nearly any sale solicitation:

1. Actual Proof / Track Record

Point to examples, case-studies, research or other data that demonstrates objectively that your non-profit has a history of fulfilling its mission. People want to know that the investment they make in your organization will be well used and make an impact. They also like to support winners (There's a reason the Yankees, Lakers and Cowboys have historically had more fans than the Indians, Clippers and Lions, respectively). The "woe is me" pitch just isn't appealing - show why you'll be a success with the donor's support.

2. Pedigree

Illustrate that the people on your team are worth supporting. Show the expertise of your team in a manner that demonstrates you know what you’re doing and your services or solutions rock.

3. Authority Endorsement

Find a leading authority in your industry, not in your organization, who is willing to publicly endorse you - or have an individual who has been a beneficiary of your organization's work give an "impact endorsement." This allows their authority to be your benefit.

4. Celebrity Endorsement

First, there can be pitfalls to a celebrity endorsement - if the celeb is caught in a scandal or says something ridiculous... it may unfortunately get attached to your organization. That being said, if potential donors believe that "Celebrity A loves your organization and they’re living the life I dream of, it must be an amazing NPO maybe I should support it too.” Is this logical? Not so much, but for many, it’s reality.

5. Social Proof

One of the first things people do when they are on the fence about investing in a cause is look to see what decisions other similar people have made in a similar circumstance. The decisions of those around you, whether good or bad, can hold huge sway over your decisions. So, as a marketer, if you can demonstrate that other people support your NPO regularly and are thrilled with that choice, you’ve just satisfied a serious chunk of your burden of proof.

6. Theoretical /Logical Proof – “It makes sense that…”

From Fields' original post: "When you’re lacking any of the above, but you’ve got a product, service or solution that, as lawyers say, 'res ipsa loquitor' or 'the thing speaks for itself,' sometimes all you need to do is make the case." That can be true with NPOs as well. If you have a compelling case, making that case may be enough. If you do not have a compelling case... we should talk.

7. Metaphorical Proof

From Fields: "This approach to providing proof is one of the most under the radar, yet potentially powerful approaches. Here, you create an anecdote in the style of a metaphor where a person in a story endures a struggle or experiences a need or pain very similar to what your typical prospective buyer would experience. You set-up the problem and demonstrate the pain, then show how that person resolved their pain and solved their problem using your product, service or solution.
If you get the first part right, the reader will subconsciously transfer themselves into the story, assuming the role of the protagonist, and like the subject of your story, come to view your product or service as the ultimate solution to their problem. Doing this artfully is not an easy task, but done well, it’s extraordinarily powerful. And, of course, the story you’re telling should be based on a genuine experience of an individual or a composite of people who’ve benefited from your solution."

For a non-profit organization, this is a powerful tool. You can follow Fields suggestion and illustrate how another investor benefited from supporting your efforts. Or... Rather than putting your potential donor into the shoes of another donor, you can put them in the shoes of your beneficiaries.

Any examples of how these tools have worked for you?

Be Our Guest: Maya Enista

Our latest guest in the Be Our Guest series is Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org. Mobilize.org is an amazing organization that makes democracy work better by investing in Millennial-driven solutions. She's been with Mobilize.org for 5 years, the first half of her tenure as Chief Operating Officer and as CEO for the past 2.5 years. Previously, Enista served as National Field Director for the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project and as East Coast Coordinator for Rock The Vote. She attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. On the personal side, Mays is almost 27 years of age and is marrying "a wonderful man named David Smith" in 2011. She lives in Washington, DC with Dave their two black labs, Hudson and Zinny.

Maya is another busy professional who has been kind enough to give some time to our readers and share her knowledge. Please use the comment section to offer your thoughts on her answers and to answer her question for the group. Many thanks, Maya!

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts (or those you consult) currently face?

My current challenge is working to ensure a balance between our funds raised for program-related and general operating support. Although there have been great developments in this area, general operating support or capacity-building are still terms that Foundations are hesitant to include in their grant agreements. However, these funds are essential to an organization’s ability to be sustainable, to thrive and to focus on developing our leaders, at all levels and both inside and outside of our organizations. I just spent several days with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, who I believe to be a leader in this field and will set a powerful example to the philanthropic community moving forward on how to support and develop the talent within our sector.

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

We’re working to cultivate our individual donor network and increase our online fundraising efforts in order to become less reliant on foundation grants; diversifying our donors. We’re proud to have over 500 individual donors who give between $10 and $10,000 to support our work to improve democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions. We offer our donors various methods to stay engaged in our organization, including our monthly newsletters, blogs on our website, reports from our Summits, regular e-mail communication, tweets, Facebook updates and Mobilize.org events in their local communities. In turn, we hope to increase their commitment to Mobilize.org.

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role (or as a consultant to others)

I’ve begun to be really intentional about the amount of time I spend working reactively (to funding requests, to media opportunities, to Board Members, etc.) and the amount of time I spent working proactively (measuring our work against the impact we hope to have on the Millennial Generation, engaging my staff in visioning exercises and re-visiting and refining our theory of change and logic model). It’s important that a CEO function in both arenas and I’ve struggled with that balance, so I’ve found it helpful to block “Big Think” times and then participate in detailed planning meeting with my talented and independent staff. There’s a huge difference between talking about the work that your organization is doing and actively participating in the work that improves the lives of the people you’re working for and I want to make sure I’m doing the latter to strengthen the former.

Where do you see social-media’s best application for fundraising?

Social-media is another way to build relationships with donors, potential donors or people who know people that know people. I strongly believe that social-media should be incorporated into all development plans and not viewed as something “extra,” that your already over-worked staff doesn’t have time for. Social-media is just the next form of communication (and not only for my generation) and it should be treated as such; I’m not sure we had email and fax experts 10 years ago the way we have social-media experts today. One of the most useful tools that I’ve found for cultivating our online network is the Causes application in Facebook. For more information on how to use it, check out this helpful fact sheet.

What book / blog / twitter feed would you suggest fundraisers pay attention to in order to further develop their skills?

I’m constantly on the Foundation Center’s website and reading the Chronicle of Philanthropy, both phenomenal research tools, but I do most of my prospecting and research courtesy of the social networks, particularly Twitter. There are so many great ones, here are some of my favorites:

Sean Stannard-Stockton (@tactphil): CEO of Tactical Philanthropy Advisors has some of the most thoughtful (and thought provoking) pieces about philanthropy’s role in social innovation.

Kari Dunn Saratovsky (@socialcitizen): From the Case Foundation shares her insight on social entrepreneurship and the role of Millennials in shaping the future of our democracy and her insights on new technologies are always right on.

Venture Philanthropy Partners (@vppartners): I've been learning a great deal about measuring impact and effectively scaling my efforts from their important work.

My favorite former fundraiser is Rosetta Thurman (@rosettathurman) who recently launched her own consulting firm and shares her provocative and inspiring thoughts on new technology, the Millennial Generation and the need to build a more diverse sector.

I’d be remisce if I didn’t mention the amazing organization that I have the honor of leading, Mobilize.org. You can stay tuned to @mob_org to learn more about our funding opportunities, work on Millennial innovation and best practices for engaging and empowering this generation. You can also follow our team individually:

@menista / @Ngongang / @emilyblaylock / @atillema / @ayofemi / @peterhhart

What question would you find most useful for the readers to answer?

The best part of my job is serving as a resource for our partner organizations, and change-makers who want to have an impact on the issues that they care most about. So, I welcome your thoughts on what’s worked, what hasn’t worked and any advice you have for the Mobilize.org team on engaging and empowering the Millennial Generation. Please connect with us on Twitter, on Facebook and join the Mobilize.org network here.

Sharing a post from @MadelynTeresa

I have never flat-out copied another blogger's post... but there's a time for everything and that time is now. (Wow, that read like a movie-trailer for this post, didn't it?)

A blog you should follow, @MadelynTeresa's My Nonprofit Experience, recently responded to Rush Limbaugh's claim that:

“(Nonprofit employees are a)... bunch of lazy idiots. Many of them don’t want to really work. Non-profits siphon contributions, as their salaries and so forth, and think of themselves as good people, charitable people. I mean, these people are rapists, in terms of finance and economy.”

Here is her response:

According to Rush Limbaugh, as a nonprofit employee, I’m a lazy idiot and a rapist of the economy… and I don’t want to really work.

Is he serious? Unfortunately, yes.

Am I taking his comments personally? Yes, I am.

The nonprofit field is driven by dedicated, mission-driven individuals who work to help, advocate, educate, and advance those who cannot do it for themselves. It is a personal field. I put my whole being (heart, mind, and body) into my work each and every day.

By making those statements, Rush Limbaugh is making a personal attack on everyone involved in the nonprofit field, including professionals, volunteers, donors, supporters, and clients. We should ALL take his comments personally.

Watch the You Tube video where Robert Egger, Founder and President of the DC Central Kitchen, author, speaker, blogger, and one of the “50 Most Important and Influential Nonprofit Leaders”, responds to Rush’s unfounded and outrageous attack on the nonprofit community.

Kudos Madelyn - well said. Sign my name to that post/letter any day!

Devin

#FollowFriday: Do you do it?

So I recently was promoted as worthy of following on Twitter by @nonprofitorgs as a "#FollowFriday" designee:

At first, I thought... "Wow... I'm going to get tons of followers because of this promo!" Reality set in shortly thereafter. Of @nonprofitorgs ~377K followers, three followed the suggestion. For those of you doing the math, that's about 0.00000796%. First, let me say I appreciate being designated as a #FF and won't look a gift horse in the mouth, so-to-speak. But it led me to question whether or not #FF had gone from being a positive Twitter hashtag to simply being noise in the system. That leads to two things:

1) My two cents on listing others as worthy of #FF: Give a reason to follow. See the example below re: @rosettathurman (follow her!). It makes the user seem more worthy.

2) This week's poll question:

Typographical Sins

There's something about publishing a post on typographical sins that is a bit intimidating, particularly when doing so at three in the morning, halfway through a fifteen hour roadtrip. And being composed (HTML and all) on an iPhone. But I love y'all so much, so here goes...

I'm 99% sure I'll find errors when I revisit this post later today ;-)

I bring you this list of considerations for your appeals & case-building materials. All I ask you to do? Read this and write appeals as if Jim Godfrey were one of your most promising donor prospects.

The following is an excerpt from the For Print Only blog. Poster by designer Jim Godfrey

Jim Godfrey is a typography teacher. Jim Godfrey is often irritated by the typographic sins of students who join his class semester after semester. Jim Godfrey decided to do something about it and, after consulting with his colleague Patrick Wilkey, a list of 34 unprofessional ways to set type was drafted. It took three years from beginning to the final letterpressed poster run of 38--not enough paper to account for print ready made this first impression a short one. A second one will likely happen when all existing copies are sold.

The poster:

Facebook & Twitter Symbols

Important note: If you do not have the necessary fonts installed, the symbols may appear as unicode rather than the intended symbol. See the site below for more information.

There are a number of symbols available for use in Facebook status updates & Twitter posts, which can help draw attention to your update or a specific item. I have listed a number of those available below that I thought might be most useful for various non-profits. If you are interested in using them, it is probably easiest to just copy-and-paste the symbol you would like to use.

Word of Caution: My two cents would be not to overuse these. If you use them in every post or tweet, people will start to overlook them. Only use them when you really need to draw attention to the item.

ツ ☠ ☮ ♥ ♡ ☹ ☺ ☻ ☼ ☀ ☁

♪ ♫ ♩ ♬ ✽ ✾ ✿ ❀ ❁ ❃

☚ ☛ ☜ ☝ ☞ ☟

➀➁➂➃➄➅➆➇➈➉

➊➋➌➍➎➏➐➑➒➓

ⒶⒷⒸⒹⒺⒻⒼⒽⒾⒿⓀⓁⓂ

ⓃⓄⓅⓆⓇⓈⓉⓊⓋⓌⓍⓎⓏ

ⓐⓑⓒⓓⓔⓕⓖⓗⓘⓙⓚⓛⓜ

ⓝⓞⓟⓠⓡⓢⓣⓤⓥⓦⓧⓨⓩ

✆ ☎ ☏

← ↑ → ↓ ↔ ↕ ↖ ↗ ↘ ↙ ↚ ↛ ↜ ↝ ↞ ↟ ↠ ↡ ↢ ↣ ↤ ↥ ↦ ↧ ↨ ↩ ↪ ↫ ↬ ↭ ↮ ↯ ↰ ↱ ↲ ↳ ↴ ↵ ↶ ↷ ↸ ↹ ↺ ↻ ↼ ↽ ↾ ↿ ⇀ ⇁ ⇂ ⇃ ⇄ ⇅ ⇆ ⇇ ⇈ ⇉ ⇊ ⇋ ⇌ ⇍ ⇎ ⇏ ⇐ ⇑ ⇒ ⇓ ⇔ ⇕ ⇖ ⇗ ⇘ ⇙ ⇚ ⇛ ⇜ ⇝ ⇞ ⇟ ⇠ ⇡ ⇢ ⇣ ⇤ ⇥ ⇦ ⇧ ⇨ ⇩ ⇪

More can be found at www.fsymbols.com

Poll: Is Your Non-Profit on foursquare?

Select as many answers as applicable:

How to: Make an iPhone-esque Widget

This is for anyone to use, but I think would work well for non-profits to illustrate that they are "with it" when it comes to social media. This post also explores a few tools that can make you feel like you're better at web design, etc. than your training may indicate.

Therefore, I present a few design tools & shortcuts. After which, I'll show you how I used a couple of them to create this iPhone widget (which is active in the sidebar to the right):

Color Scheme - This page will help you pick colors for your design efforts (it is intended for web design, but you could get ideas for mail, etc.). You can choose from mono, complement, triad, tetrad, analogic & accented analogic and go from there. Important to note - if you have a specific color you want to use, you don't have to click through the wheel until you find it. Just select the RGB code and you can enter your color's code.

Photo Pencil Sketch - This tool let's you take a regular image and turn it into a pencil sketch, like the image below and the image on my bio page.

Image Map - I love this tool! You upload an image or identify its location on the web. From there, the tool makes it easy to map various parts of the image (rectangle or custom shapes) to links. If you visit the #31bnb page, you'll notice that the page is actually just one image with the links embedded throughout.

iPhone Icon- Great tool for transforming a regular image file into an iPhone-esque icon. It creates .ico & .png files in a .zip file.

Poladroid - For those missing the Polaroid cameras, this free software makes it easy to change a regular image file into a Polaroid print. I used it on my personal Twitter page. You can download the program here:

From my personal Twitter page:

So... How I made the iPhone-esque Widget using these tools:

1) Download this photo (right-click, save as...)

This is my photo, but it should save you some time.

2) Consider which links you want to include. The photo includes:

• Homepage
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Bio
• Foursquare
• YouTube
• Delicious
• Flickr
• Technorati
• Map
• Presentations
• LinkedIn
• Buzz
• Blog
• Forrst
• RSS
• Phone (I used as a link to contact info)
• Email

So... the odds are you won't use some of those, namely my picture in the Bio, the Map function I used as a link, & maybe some others. That's okay. You likely have things you would like to replace them with. While you're at it, you may want to think about what you'll replace Google Buzz with when they pull the plug ;)

3) Now you can go to the iPhone icon tool above and create others to replace within the photo. The site is self-explanatory. Once you download and extract the files, the 64x64 file in the "png" folder can be copied-and-pasted over any of the icons in the base image. Do this until you have the image as you like.

4) For the titles of the "apps" I used Arial Rounded MT Bold, size 8 w/Bold turned off. Unless you want to replace all of the text, you can use that and the color of the other text. If you have Helvetica installed, that font is the actual iPhone font.

5) Save this image to wherever you host your files online.

6) Now, visit the image map page above. Load the file and follow the easy instructions. I would uncheck the following: "Show Text Links" & "Base URL." When you're finished, copy the code.

7) Load the code wherever you plan to place the image and you'll be good to go.

Let me know if you have any questions and I'll be happy to help however I can.

When Personalized Data Go Bad... And Go Right.

Marketing and fundraising can use data to personalize the donor/customer experience, which can have a positive impact on the relationships of an organization's efforts. However, the quality of this impact is only as strong as your data and the systems you have in place to manage them. Two examples follow...

Data personalization gone wrong occurred Friday when AT&T emailed my wife a happy birthday message and coupon. AT&T doesn't know that I manage both of our phone bills online w/ my email... so I don't fault them for emailing me the birthday message. I'll make sure she knows they cared enough to send their very best ;) However, take a look at the message, for context:

The issues:

• It came the day after my wife's birthday. Huge deal? No. But it makes AT&T look like they don't pay attention to the details. If AT&T has a system in place to send these out on Fridays (Maybe in hopes of weekend shopping use), they could simply change it to say "As our gift to you for your recent birthday..." or something similar. This error is one I probably would have overlooked, if not compounded by...
• The "Participating stores near you" lists two stores in Ann Arbor which were near us... When we lived in Ann Arbor. I updated my address with AT&T a couple of months ago. Hmm... I think someone's data systems are not talking to each other as well as they could.

These issues could just as well happened at a non-profit. In fact, I'm quite certain it happens more often at non-profits than places like AT&T. Why? Because the right and left hand are often failing to communicate at non-profits. Consider taking these actions:

• Have a clear data management policy. When updates come in, where do they go? Does everyone understand this?
• Make it easy for gift officers to email/share information. Can gift officers or volunteers send an email to updates@yourorg.org?
• Review marketing and solicitation communications for language like the birthday message above to make sure your automated systems are worded accurately.

On the flip side... My wife ordered some makeup from Sephora a couple days before her birthday via the website. Because she has an account with them via the website (that included her birthday information at sign-up), they prompted her as to whether or not she would like to include her birthday gift - which you normally receive when shopping at one of the brick & mortar stores - with the online order. And the receipt that came with the order even said "Happy birthday beautiful!" (Which honestly made me wonder if I had ordered it for her in her sleep or if she had actually sent herself a birthday message!).

All great use of personal data. So I dug on Sephora's website and found this policy. Kudos Sephora!

All Beauty Insiders are eligible to receive a get-gorgeous birthday gift from Sephora. Your gift will be automatically included with any merchandise order placed at Sephora.com within 14 days of your birthday. To include the gift with your order, simply place a check in the box on the Beauty Insider page of the checkout process.

If you are within the correct timeframe, but you do not see the birthday gift as you are checking out, please call customer service at 877-SEPHORA before placing your order so that we can assist you further. If your birthday timeframe has passed for this year, rest assured, we will have another exciting gift next year. We regret that we are unable to send the birthday gift from Sephora.com without a merchandise order, and we thank you for your understanding.

If you prefer, you can also pick up your birthday gift at a Sephora retail store during the same timeframe. When picking up your birthday gift at one of our retail locations, please make sure to let our Cast Members know that you are a Beauty Insider by presenting your Beauty Insider Card or referencing your registered email address. No purchase is necessary to receive your gift at a Sephora store.

I never thought I would be bringing you my wife's birthday, AT&T or Sephora Through Non-Profit Eyes, but that's one of the reasons I blog ...to share best practice for non-profits from other media and industries!

For more on data management and its importance, see Supporting Advancement's Prospect & Donor Records page.