Friday, February 26, 2010

Personalization of donations

One of things that I have noticed recently in fundraising is that donations have become more and more personalized, and donors are able to have more control over where the funds are going. Heifer International was one of the first organizations that did this. Donors are able to choose which animal they are going to donate and learn about how that particular animal helps its recipients.

Now, more and more organizations are doing this--including Habitat for Humanity and others. I think that this is really an amazing idea, and more nonprofits should get on board with it. it seems like every product that we purchase can be personalized or made to order, and as society moves towards this, nonprofits need to be able to follow suit with donations.

The other day, I was in the grocery store where they were having another fundraiser for a local food pantry. The greatest part about this was that they had brown bags of food all over the store with the contents stapled to it. A customer could choose the amount of the donation and the contents of the bag for the food pantry. I thought that this was particularly great as some people remember how great macaroni and cheese tasted when they were hungry, or only wanted to donate $6 worth of great food.

On a personal note, my siblings and I made a donation in honor of our aunt and her family to Heifer International. We had decided the amount of the donation, and then looked at the animals that we could get for that amount. After studying the catalog, my sister decided that she REALLY wanted to give a bee hive. This was a bit more than the amount that we had decided on, so we each pitched in a little more because the bee hive was the donation that we wanted to get.
Although we are probably the exception and not the rule in this case, we did donate more because we knew what we were getting for the donation. Nonprofits may be able to capitalize on this and get even more donations!

Monday, February 22, 2010

The most useful one of these I have seen yet!

In my research on ways your nonprofit can use social media, I have come across a bunch of "10 ways your nonprofit can best use social media". However, this one is the best one that I have found yet. I think that the tips mentioned are incredibly useful and relevant for nonprofits. One of the tips that resonated the most with me is the one about making social media social. Most people enjoy seeing pictures of themselves and their friends online. Add in the fact that they are doing something good, and they get some bonus points!

However, nonprofits do need to get permissions before tagging people in pictures. Some people don't want to be tagged (even if they are doing something positive), so make sure that the registration form/sign in sheet has an opt-in for this.

This can also get a nonprofit more followers to your Facebook, Twitter, etc. because people will want to see when the pics are posted, details of the event, etc.

8 Steps to Designing a Reactivation Campaign - ClickZ

8 Steps to Designing a Reactivation Campaign - ClickZ

I thought that this article was really interesting. It's geared towards for-profit companies, but I think that there are some great things that can be taken from this. One thing that is overlooked all the time is the 2nd tip--make sure that you identify a goal. This is so important! Is the organization just looking to get people volunteering again?, to reactivate a donor? or to get them to become advocates? Identifying these goals BEFORE you start designing and implementing an email campaign is crucial to its success.

Another thing that I thought was a really great point was figuring out why these people have left/stopped donating/etc. Were they receiving too many emails? Were the emails that they were receiving not interesting to them? This could be a reason to implement a "communications preferences" portion to the website so that you can hear from the constituent how often and on what topics they want to hear from the nonprofit. This information is important for designing future email campaigns!!!




Saturday, February 20, 2010

A cool new iPhone app

When I met with James yesterday, we geeked out a little bit over our matching iPhones. We talked about different iPhone apps and potential ways that nonprofits could utilize the iPhone to increase donations, awareness and advocacy. One of the best apps that he mentioned is called "CauseWorld".
It's free to download, and it uses geotagging to tell where you are. The app finds businesses around you, and you select where you are and receive "karma points" for it. When you get enough karma points, you can choose where to donate the funds---to preventing child abuse, help fight cancer, to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti, or a few other causes. The sponsors of this free app, Kraft and Citi, donate the equivalent to these causes.
How cool is this?! Kraft and Citi have some sort of relationship with the businesses listed (not every local business is listed), and it may drive business or at least awareness of these local businesses utilizing the sponsors' services as well as an interesting and fun way to donate to nonprofits.
I haven't used it too much yet, but you do get merit badges for things like staying up late and there's a feed to see who has donated to which cause.
Definitely worth checking out!

I donated to diabetes foundation and all I got was a...WHAT??!!?!?

I love going to the grocery store. There's something about the order of the aisles, the way that everything has its place and is in an order. It's one of my happy places. I love it. I also am really interested in the ways that nonprofits can work with grocery stores because the grocery stores are so willing to support local causes and because everyone in the community has to go to the store.
Last year, I was in the store, and at the check out, the cashier asked me if I would like to donate $1, $5 or $10 to a diabetes foundation (I'm not sure of which one). She then told me that if I donated I could choose a bottle of water or a...wait for it....




wait for it....





a cupcake. A beautifully decorated cupcake. Frosting 1/2 inch high, yellow CUPCAKE. For donating to a diabetes foundation. WHAT?!!?!

Granted, the colors of everything all matched well. The cupcakes looked delicious, but who made this decision? I am sure that the diabetes foundation is grateful for having such a prominence in the grocery store and for all of the donations from the customers, but someone is probably banging their heads against their keyboard for giving such an incongruous gift for the donations.

Somewhere, someone wasn't communicating. Perhaps the diabetes foundation didn't have support for this type of donation, or the grocery store just assumed that the cupcakes had worked before, for other causes, so it would assuredly work for this one.

I know that this was an oversight, and this type of thing can happen to any of us, but it's something that we should all be aware of. Asking a co-worker to check over our work, treating each situation individually, and looking at it from an outsider's perspective may help to avoid something like this.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Nonprofits and why they need email campaigns NOW

I had a really interesting conversation this morning with James, who works at a local (and great!) CRM company. We were discussing how some nonprofits are resistant to investing time and money into email campaigns and social media campaigns when they still receive a major portion of their donations via direct mail campaigns. These direct mail campaigns are targeted towards the demographics with the most money, those who are older (about 50+). In the next few years, people who are more familiar with email and online transactions (donating, shopping, etc.) will become this coveted age group. There will be a drastic shift from receiving direct mail donations to receiving email donations. Ensuring that nonprofits have established effective email campaigns will ensure that the infrastructure is in place for this shift. Nonprofits will be able to tell what works and what doesn't work for email campaigns and will be able to process donations online.

So many nonprofits have a short-term view. They have to--they can't be sure of where their funding will be coming from or if it will continue for the long term. Convincing these nonprofits that they need to invest in these email campaigns NOW because it will have such an impact on the future is a challenge that the companies (like James') face daily.

The shift from direct mail donations to online donations may be drastic, so those nonprofits that aren't on the ball may miss out on a lot of this money!

I would love to do more research to really crunch the numbers on this (sorry, it's a lot of ball park-ish), because I think that many executives would have to see the evidence in black and white to really jump on board with the email campaigns.




Thursday, February 18, 2010

Boy am I on a roll today: The Albert Einstein Guide to Social Media

Albert Einstein is amazing! When I came across this article, I thought that it put social media into a really unique perspective. One aspect of this article that really struck me was the line "Information is not knowledge. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking."
There are so many different blogs, articles, books, webinars, etc. on social media. Everyday I can hardly keep up with the amount of resources that are updated daily. Sure, someone can spend the day reading all these articles, but to actually put them into place and to figure out what role social media has within their organization. Putting all of this information into practice is imperative to the health of the organization's social media strategy.

The Albert Einstein Guide to Social Media

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***My thoughts and prayers are with the people who have been affected by the plane crash just a few miles down the road here in Austin***

Two posts in one day!!!

Ok, so I just came across this article from SocialFish. How amazing is this to be able to see exactly where your constituents are and how to reach them. I'm all about efficiency, and being able to see where a nonprofit can use its energies for the maximum benefit is amazing. Thank you for sharing this amazing resource SocialFish gals!


WoW for WOW!!

My boyfriend is an avid World of Warcraft player. I don't get it, it annoys me and it takes up A LOT of his time. He has made up a character, earned weapons and "gear" and has also made a "pet". I don't think that there is a real purpose for these pets, I think that they just act as a silent sidekick. These items can be purchased with gold that is earned through completing different challenges in the game. Last fall he let me know that for $10, he could purchase a "pet" for WoW. The fee for the pets would go to the Make A Wish Foundation, and would just be added on to the monthly charges for the game.
It turns out that this promotion has made over $1.1 million for the Make A Wish Foundation. That's a whole lotta wishes! There's the stereotype of the WoW gamer that they are lazy Mountain Dew addicted nerds. This huge donation from the players of WoW disproves this theory, and I hope that the makers of WoW (and other similar games) can continue this momentum.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

PND - News - Small Fundraisers Add Up to Help for Haiti

This story is really interesting, and has a lot of merit! Just like my conversation with Jordan a few weeks ago, these smaller fundraisers may not raise a lot on their own, but together they add up to something much bigger than anyone had expected! The earthquake in Haiti touched so many that people really wanted to get out and do something. Some people feel that just donating isn't enough, they need to motivate others, to collect items, etc. By having their own small fundraisers, these advocates can feel like they have more of an impact and motivate their friends and family to give more.

PND - News -


Small Fundraisers Add Up to Help for Haiti


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Monday, February 15, 2010

Today, I met with Renee', who I met last week at the class. It was great! She is in a pretty similar situation, which makes me feel so much better! We got together and discussed what we have been doing, who we have been talking to and what we could do to help one another out. It felt great to speak with one another and to see what we have been doing. We came up with a couple of different people that each of us could speak with to hopefully get things moving a little bit better. Renee' also recommended that I get connected with the "Young Nonprofits Professional Network". I had no idea that this even existed, and I'm so glad that there are other people out there who are just like me and Renee'! Renee' and I have agreed to meet next week--this will be great. I have someone to be accountable to, and she has someone to be accountable to as well. super! She and I exchanged a couple of names of people to contact, and I think that this will be very helpful!


Thursday, February 11, 2010

The Community Building Class

I went to a class today on "Process of Community Problem Solving". I thought that this would be about building community between nonprofits with similar missions to work toward resolving issues or sharing resources. I was slightly mistaken, as most of the attendees were from public organizations or working with neighborhood organizations. Whoops. Despite my confusion, the class was actually pretty great. I learned a lot about the process in building these community groups and heard some success stories about how organizations (mostly government) have made change. The biggest lesson that I got from it was that a lot of change is about having the right people and the right resources at the right time (sounds a lot like Jim Collins!).
According to my friend Jordan, there is a new trend in nonprofits where smaller nonprofits are teaming their resources together and then voting on how to use the funds. I think that this is an amazing idea, and there are so many tiny nonprofit organizations that could make a big impact if they worked with others!
The information that I learned today was great, and I learned some very valuable skills that I will hopefully be able to use either to consult for some nonprofits or to help nonprofits become even more successful.
I also made a couple of contacts today--one girl who is in a similar situation that I am in! She moved here a few months ago and is looking for a job in nonprofits. We are going to get together at some point next week to work today.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Quick thoughts on "Good to Great"

Jim Collins has such great insight on how and why some businesses succeed and others don't. I read the full version, not the version that is geared specifically towards nonprofits, but there were still a ton of pointers that can be used for nonprofits. Especially because I have been reading so much on nonprofits and how they can use social media, I liked this quote "When used right, technology becomes an accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it" (p. 152). Some nonprofits think that starting a Facebook page or a Twitter account will translate into a spike in donations and a huge increase in cause awareness. Just as Collins said, an investment in social media may increase awareness and donations, but only as much as the NPO is willing to work on their supporting programs.

I have tons of other thoughts on this book, and I am working on a longer article incorporating some of this.

PS-if Malcolm Gladwell and Jim Collins ever got together to write, I think reading their book would make my head explode. In a good way.
Yesterday I met with another employee (Anthony) of a foundation who is in charge of managing prospects. I love going on these informational interviews since it gives me a more well rounded view of the nonprofit world and the different employee opportunities available. On the flip side though, every time I talk to someone new, I want to do their job. Perhaps it is because they are so passionate about what they do day to day or because I want/need a job so badly. I'm not sure, but after speaking with Anthony, I had a moment where I wanted to make a career of prospect management and analyze data and follow up with employees about how their contacts with potential major donors is going.

Anthony also gave me some really sound advice on what I can do with my resume to make it more nonprofit friendly. He suggested that I keep it to one page and that I remove the "Objective" portion of the resume. I agree with him about this, but I think there are two very different schools of though about this--some people insist that the objective should be on every resume, others think that it is just a waste of precious space.

what are your thoughts on the resume geared towards nonprofits? Does having an objective matter? How about the fact that I am "changing careers"? Does that warrant an objective?

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Yesterday

Yesterday, I went on an informational interview with a friend of a friend, Jordan, who works at a foundation. I have met with a few different people in development, but this informational interview was with someone in programs. It was interesting to get a different perspective on how the money is dispersed from a foundation and how grants are evaluated.
I am currently writing a grant proposal, and this was a great opportunity for me to get some solid advice on how to best write a grant that is most appealing to the grantor. I found out that the key to getting a grant is creating a program that is sustainable over time. Grantors want to make sure that they aren't giving a grant for a flash in the pan program. Foundations want to give funding to kickstart a program, but is up to the grantee to ensure that the program continues.
Jordan also mentioned that something that his particular foundation advocates is for smaller (community) NPOs to join forces with the others that have a similar mission. By doing this, these smaller NPOs can have a stronger impact. This is a trend that is happening throughout the nonprofit world. Nonprofits not only need to build community with their constituents, they need to build a strong network with others in their area and those with similar missions.
This was a super meeting and I am looking forward to the few that I have going on this week!

Friday, February 5, 2010

PepsiCo gets more Super Bowl buzz than Coke, even without ads  | ajc.com

This is pretty amazing! A company (not just any company, PEPSI) has chosen to forego Super Bowl ads in favor of promoting the way that they are giving back to the community. Pepsi has asked consumers to vote on the nonprofits that will receive grants from Pepsi, and they have already seen their website traffic increase as a result of this initiative. So, rather than paying $3 million for 30 seconds of advertising, Pepsi will be helping out nonprofits in communities all over the country.


Will have an impact on advertising for the future? More and more companies may choose to go this route, rather than spending the money on traditional marketing and advertising. Pepsi seems to be the first major corporation to really jump on board with this "crowdsourcing" as a viable publicity alternative to television advertising.

This is great for nonprofits since more organizations may jump on board with this trend and give more grants to organizations. The nonprofits will have to increase their marketing efforts to make sure that they are gaining "fans" in cyberspace who are willing to vote for them. This is even more of a reason for the organizations to have a strong presence in social media and with their constituents online. Nonprofits may also want to ask the nominating foundation to collect information about the voters to determine key demographics to market to and possibly individuals to solicit for donations.

It will be interesting to see how Pepsi's decision will affect advertising for years to come!



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Thursday, February 4, 2010

50 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

This is a great presentation, and has some really solid ideas for how social media can be utilized by nonprofits to help promote their missions and reach out to constituents.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Take a couple of minutes and watch this clip--hilarious! It really speaks to how some foundations work and the slightly less than super way that some funds are distributed.

http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/better-off-ted/SH010856110000/176550/248427

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

..and so it begins....
My quest to move to DC, break into the nonprofit world, get a job that utilizes my MBA and makes me enough money to cover the loans for said MBA (and the undergrad degree). Not so hard, right? All I need to do is to gain some more experience in the nonprofit, create and maintain my own personal brand, and distinguish myself from all the local candidates in the worst economic recession in recent history.

I don't mean to sound negative at all, I want to break in to the nonprofit world. I am passionate about nonprofit organizations and their missions. I want to break into development so that I can help them achieve their missions and become very successful.

...and away we go!!!