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?

Follow: @BeTheMatch

This week I met a woman who is organizing a bone marrow drive to help her business partner's mother fight leukemia. I offered to help with the fundraising and donor recruitment... so this week's #FollowOfTheWeek is also a part of my research for that drive: @BeTheMatch

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Twitter: @BeTheMatch
Name: National Marrow Donor Program
Web: www.BeTheMatch.org
Bio: Be The Match helps save lives. Thousands with life-threatening diseases like leukemia or sickle cell depend on BeTheMatch Registry to find a bone marrow donor.
Followers: 3,022 + you!
Why Follow? Bone marrow donation is a life-saving activity. However, there are still many challenges to finding enough participants. Follow @BeTheMatch to see some great recruitment and engagement of constituents.

@BeTheMatch is also on: Web / Facebook / Blog / LinkedIn / Flickr

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Some screenshots and examples follow - enjoy!

Twitter page:

Great Facebook page for involvement:

Home page:

An outstanding page for taking action. The only problem? It's not prominent on the front page. For example, social media icons & links to BeTheMatch on Facebook and Twitter are not evident when you first visit the page.

A YouTube video via Shaq:

Fundraising Campaign Mixed Messages

I was in the grocery store a few weeks ago and saw a bag of potato chips with the seemingly omnipresent pink ribbon on it. It was a moment where I was almost pushed over the edge with regards to how many products are now associated with Komen For The Cure and other breast cancer organizations.

Let me be very clear: I would never argue against fighting breast cancer, cancer research or other such organizations.

That being said, seeing the chips led me to type a tweet along the lines of "How long until we see a pack of Marlboro's with a pink ribbon on it?"

...but my better judgement kept me from actually hitting "send." Why was I on edge? Because of this:

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Junk food diet linked to cancer in women
By Jenny Hope, The Daily Mail

Eating junk food raises women's risk of developing a range of cancers, researchers said yesterday. Two studies demonstrated the dangers of a diet that includes high levels of fat and processed foods.

A major European study shows that women with raised levels of blood sugar face significant extra risks of suffering cancers of the pancreas, skin, womb and urinary tract. And older women with the fattiest diets have a 15 per cent increase in their chances of developing breast cancer, according to a U.S. study.

(Read the rest of the article from The Daily Mail here)

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Of course, this topic was discussed often when Komen & KFC partnered - for reasons similar to what I mentioned above. As for why I'm finally posting about it... Today one of my Google Alerts led me to a press release for this event:

But then there's this information...

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Drinking as little as half a glass of wine a day may raise a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, a new study shows.
By Charlene Laino, WebMD Health News

Alcohol may be good for your heart in moderation, but drinking as little as half a glass of wine a day may raise a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, a new study shows.

And don't think that switching to beer or spirits is the answer: The more alcohol consumed on a regular basis, the greater the risk, says Wendy Y. Chen, MD, PhD, a cancer specialist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Chen notes that women thinking about having a few glasses of wine a day for their heart-healthy effects need to figure in the new findings when weighing the risks and benefits. She stresses that "its only regular, repeated use that increases the chance of breast cancer. For most women, having a glass of wine or beer on occasion is not a problem."

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Of course the Drink for Pink event is not suggesting women drink every day and in excess... my concern is that marrying activities (like drinking alcohol & eating junk food) to organizations fighting diseases which research indicate these activities can help cause, sends the wrong message in general. It also brings the sincerity of the organization up for debate. If you're really trying to prevent people from getting breast cancer... why encourage activities that may lead to greater risk? Can you imagine MADD having a happy hour fundraiser? A Humane Society outing at the dog track?

What are your thoughts on these type of campaigns and associations between causes and potentially inappropriate partnerships? Am I just being too cynical and critical? Or should an organization be so true to its cause that it lose the opportunity to raise funds that may have a more significant positive impact than negative? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

By the way... I've since discovered that NaturalNews.com did a satire piece on Komen-branded-cigarettes. On one hand, it's pretty funny. On the other, it's pretty telling that Komen has done enough to merit such a satire. The Komen Smokes For The Cure image above is from the Natural News piece.

Be Our Guest: Diana Keim

Diana Keim, Senior Director of Development with City of Hope for the previous five years is our latest Be Our Guest participant. Diana is a University of Southern California alum who also spent ten years working in development for her alma mater. She also happens to be a wonderful person, should you get the opportunity to get to know her!

I thank Diana for taking part in the Be Our Guest series. Enjoy her answers and provide your thoughts in the comments

What is the biggest challenge your fundraising efforts currently face?

Acquiring new donors. 2008 and 2009 were lower fundraising years for everyone, and 2010 has been incredibly good for us, revenue-wise. However, acquiring new donors for the health of our donor file has been increasingly difficult. It's the only area of our annual giving fundraising efforts that hasn't recovered to a level I'm comfortable with. Not being in higher ed fundraising anymore, this is an area that is more difficult to tackle. We don't get new graduates every year. :)

What are you doing to overcome these challenges?

Instead of solely relying on direct mail acquisition, we are going to be entering the "digital media" arena. We will begin these efforts, in test capacities, in Fall 2010.

Current Campaign:

What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role?

More mailings hitting our donors, believe it or not. My first full year in FY 2006, we went from 11 mailings per year to 17, including the creation of a donor-focused newsletter. We spent the same amount of money to run the direct mail program, but raised another $600,000+, all net revenue.

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

I truly don't know. I see it as as an advocacy media, instead of true fundraising. But I'd love to be proved wrong.

City of Hope on: Twitter / Facebook / YouTube / Flickr / MySpace

And check out the great social media landing page:

BlueSwarm highlighted by TechCrunch

BlueSwarm was recently highlighted by TechCrunch with the piece primarily focused on BlueSwarm's success with political fundraising and recent efforts to raise angel fund dollars. Let's take a look at BlueSwarm and TechCrunch's piece, Through Non-Profit Eyes. First, a snippet of the original piece:

Since its launch, BlueSwarm has raised more than $172 million for fundraising campaigns, with the vast majority of those funds directed towards political election campaigns.

The startup, which is a platform that leverages social media tools to attract and track donations, has wooed many politicians, including several gubernatorial candidates like Massachusetts’ Charlie Baker, Wisconsin’s Tom Barrett and California’s Meg Whitman. Whitman, who has already invested a decent portion of her personal fortune into her campaign, has also amassed more than $20 million through BlueSwarm.

The company says the platform is currently being used in 50% of US Senate races and 30% of gubernatorial races, in addition to many local races. However, despite the high volume of transactions, the amount of revenues is still fairly low because BlueSwarm only takes a 2.9% cut.

Some screenshots from the BlueSwarm website:

A look at the BlueSwarm Facebook app:

And mobile app for the iPhone:

A look at some of the dashboard tools within the software:

And a video from TechCrunch & BlueSwarm:

What are your thoughts on this software's implications for non-political fundraising? It appears to have great potential for use for annual giving efforts in the academia, environmental, health and cultural segments. My questions would include how well BlueSwarm can "talk" with the oft-antiquated databases of fundraising operations? What questions do you have?

Finding Leads (aka Donors) with Social Media

Blogs and other news sites regularly provide guidance and insight on how businesses can improve their social media efforts. As a corresponding resource for the non-profit world, More Donors finds the best and most timely topics to share through a pair of non-profit spectacles. This takes a look at how businesses are using social media to find leads, but reconsidering the practices for finding donors. Previous postings of: Through Non-Profit Eyes.

How to Use Social Media for Lead/Donor Generation:

...51% of Facebook fans and 67% of Twitter followers said they were more likely to buy the brands they like on Facebook or follow on Twitter, strengthening the argument that social media is one of the most important emerging channels for lead generation. - Mashable.com

1) Continuously Point Users to Your Content

Obviously, part of your role in engaging constituents is to provide useful content. Once the content is out there, you need to make sure your collective social media presence directs people to the information. Posting links to full articles illustrating your expertise take the engagement beyond your basic Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn post. Some good examples from Oxford below:

2) Promote Your Social Presence with Social Links

While this may be from the syllabus to Social Media Marketing 101, it is worth highlighting as part of this topic. You cannot find donors via social media if they can't find your social media landing pages. Good examples from Texas A&M (see lower right of image) and Music Rising:

3) Monitor Conversations about Your Brand and Competitors

You must listen to know how you are being viewed on the medium.

Social media is changing the ways brands approach marketing. Instead of broadcasting messages, brands are starting conversations and engaging individuals.

Tweetdeck, Hootsuite, and other aggregation tools are good for keeping track of various topics.

4) Respond to Customer Constituent Questions and Feedback

You can listen all day, but if you don’t act on your learnings, you will lose an opportunity to generate a meaningful conversation with a consumer that may be considering trying out your brand. Take action when you come across a useful comment, and make sure you clear up any customer questions when they arise. - Mashable.com

5) Use Your Offline Skills

How would you treat a donor who walked in your door with a gift, called or wrote to complain, or asked you to make a case for support? Take those skills and answers and use them as you see questions arise on social media. If you engage and quickly address issues or answer questions, more people will be inclined to take part in your conversation.

What are some of your tips and techniques for using social media for lead generation?

Giving USA Report Summary

In case you did not see the plethora of coverage given to the Giving Institute and the Giving USA Foundation's announcement on charitable giving in 2009, you can find the basic numbers by clicking on either of the images below. Some highlights:

• Total giving dropped 3.6%
• Third consecutive year of total USA giving over $300B
• Charitable bequests fell by almost 24%
• Individual giving and foundation grants also fell (4% & 9% respectively)
• Corporate giving increased by 5.5%
• Sectors seeing a growth in giving: International Aid (+6.2%), Health (+3.8%) and Human Services (2.3%)
• Sectors seeing a decline in giving: Grants to Foundations (-8%), Public-Society Benefit Organizations (ex: United Way) (-4.6%), Education (-3.6%), Arts (-2%) and Faith-Based/

And some takeaways:

• It's a great sign that giving only dropped slightly, given all the economic troubles the United States and its citizens experienced during 2009.
• The realization of bequests will continue to decline as the death rate follows a similar trend. That being said, planned giving operations should not be shutdown. Rather, they should be more focused and the metrics used to evaluate success should consider the trend in bequest realizations. Also, your planned giving officers should be developing methods for approaching donors/prospects earlier than the field has historically. People traditionally write a will for the first time when they have kids. Consider making an initial approach to prospects when they are in the late-20's or early 30's. A potential strategy is to offer a flyer via mail or web that helps guide your constituents through the basics of writing a will/trust. Include a brief bit on why they should include your organization.

Images for the basic stats:

Thoughts on the 20 "Worst" Charities

It's hard for me to dub charities the "worst" at their craft, considering that I believe all charities are at least started with wonderful intentions. That being said, the folks at MainStreet.com used Charity Navigator's statistics and some additional research to list the following as the worst in the country based on the percentage of funds/gifts that go to administrative costs.

Administrative costs should not be too high (see figures below), but remember they also should not be too low... If your admin costs are in the single digits or even the low teens, you may not be investing enough in fundraising, particularly the long-term fundraising often dubbed "annual giving."

When I reviewed the websites of the twenty labeled organizations, only 4 promoted a social media presence on their home page, including none of the bottom six (Those ranked #1-6... Couldn't really bring myself to call them the "top six"). A correlation? Only that it is another example of bad management.

All of that being said... here is the dreaded list.

20. Tucson Audubon Society - Tucson, AZ (Administrative expenses: 42.8%)
19. New Hampshire Audubon (Administrative expenses: 42.8%)
18. Gospel to the Unreached Millions (GUM) - Houston, TX (Administrative expenses: 43.1%)
17. American Psychiatric Foundation - Arlington, VA (Administrative expenses: 43.7%)
16. Marshall Heights Community Development Organization (MHCDO) - Washington, DC (Administrative expenses: 44.1%)
15. Please Touch Museum - Philadelphia, PA (Administrative expenses: 44.9%)
14. American Friends of the Open University of Israel (AFOUI) - New York, NY (Administrative expenses: 45.2%)
13. Peter G. Peterson Institute for International Economics - Washington, DC (Administrative expenses: 45.4%)
12. Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens - Akron, OH (Administrative expenses: 45.8%)
11. Victorious Christian Living International - Phoenix, AZ (Administrative expenses: 46.0%)
10. Center for Individual Rights - Washington, DC (Administrative expenses: 46.1%)
9. Changed Lives - Chattanooga, TN (Administrative expenses: 47.4%)
8. Vision New England - Danvers, MA (Administrative expenses: 48.7%)
7. Charleston Area Medical Center Foundation (CAMCF) - Charleston, WV (Administrative expenses: 48.8%)
6. National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Saratoga Springs, NY (Administrative expenses: 55.1%)
5. Cherokee National Historical Society - Tahlequah, OK (Administrative expenses: 58.2%)
4. Union Rescue Mission, Little Rock (Administrative expenses: 62.1%)
3. National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) - Washington, DC (Administrative expenses: 64%)
2. Boys Choir of Harlem - Harlem, NY (Administrative expenses: 66.3%)
1. American Tract Society - Garland, TX (Administrative expenses: 68.0%)

World Cup Fever... with Non-Profits

First... Go USA! (I happen to be a huge soccer/"proper football" fan)

Now that I have that out of the way, there are some interesting ways to capitalize on the momentum and coverage associated with the FIFA World Cup. For example, check out the (RED) campaign's current effort highlighted in the screenshots below. (RED) is encouraging soccer fans to play against each other in an online penalty shootout. For each goal scored, one US Dollar goes to the (RED) efforts to fight AIDS in Africa. What are your ideas for using the World Cup to help your campaigns?

The game's landing page:

Promoted on Twitter feed (second status down):

Promoted on their Facebook page:

And on (RED)'s main website:

And a look at the actual gameplay (note the personalized jersey as a nice touch):

Celebrating National Cancer Survivors Day w/Social Media

You have likely seen the buzz all over Twitter and Facebook today - it is National Cancer Survivors Day. The odds are unfortunately also likely that you or someone close to you has been faced with cancer. To that end, American Cancer Society has been (along with the USA Today Kindness section) asking survivors via their More Birthdays campaign website, Facebook page and Twitter feed to share stories of how they overcame cancer. Great use of social media. If you aren't interested in viewing it as a great example of social media use, you should at least check it out for the inspirational stories.

#AmericaWants Ad Runs for To Write Love On Her Arms

Network issues prevented me from posting this earlier, but I do want to share that the To Write Love On Her Arms ad ran last week. Kudos to TWLOHA and USA Today for this:

Twitter Follow of the Week 4/28

Twitter: @THON
Name: Penn State Dance Marathon
Web: www.thon.org
Bio: THON is the largest student-run philanthropy in the world! It’s a year-long effort that raises funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer.
Followers: 4,529+ you!
Why Follow? THON is more than what the average person thinks of upon hearing the phrase "dance marathon." Great organization with a Twitter feed that is managed by current Penn State student. Provides good insight into how current students - and their generation - is using social media for campaign awareness. A big gain for @THON was when Klohe Kardashian put her support behind THON.

She helped propel #THON into the top ten worldwide trending topics: