5 Tips for Designing Your Year-End Email Appeals

Here’s some great advice from Caryn Stein on the team here at Network for Good.

It’s tempting to pull out every design stop in an attempt to make your year-end e-appeal stand out. Resist the urge to resort to visual overload as you design your year-end campaign. Keep these five pointers in mind for best results:


1. Be consistent:  Your email appeals should reflect your nonprofit’s branding and style. Use the same logo, colors and fonts that you use on your website, donation page and other fundraising materials.


2. Keep it light:  Don’t overdesign your email appeals. Keep the graphic load light and use simple uncluttered design. This helps your appeal shine and look more professional – plus it will be more likely that your message will be read.


3. Use images wisely:  Many email programs won’t display images automatically, so ensure that your images are a complement to your message, and are not your entire appeal. Use images that help illustrate the story you’re telling and create an emotional connection with the reader. 


4. Link images:  More readers expect images to be interactive, so if you include photos or other graphics (like DonateNow buttons!), be sure to link them to your donation page.


5. Include text links:  Don’t forget to embed text links within your appeal – preferably throughout your message. Remember that the first link you offer will usually be the most-clicked item in your appeal.

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Who is volunteering in America?

The Corporation for National and Community Service shares this great data on volunteering.  (Can’t see it in this post? Go here.)

Parents clearly invest a lot of time in their children’s schools, which is a gratifying thing to remember.

CNCS graphic

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How to be resilient in hardship

  • Tue, December 18 2012
  • Filed under: Personal

My friend and colleague Amanda alerted me to this article on the five traits of resilient people.  Since that quality is needed by so many of us now, I thought I’d pass on the insights from Jessie Sholl.  What occurred to me as I was reading this list is that you probably have every one of these qualities.  Working for a good cause is a daily exercise in resilience.  Please share that quality with those who need it now.

1. Be Positive.  “Resilient people are characterized by an ability to experience both negative and positive emotions even in difficult or painful situation. They mourn losses and endure frustrations, but they also find redeeming potential or value in most challenges.”  If you work for a good cause, you have this quality. You find hope amid terrible tragedies in the course of advancing a mission.

2. Live to Learn. When resilient people encounter pain, they look for solutions. That would be you.

3. Open Your Heart.  Counting your blessings and committing acts of kindness and service boost resilience. That’s your day job!

4. Take Care of Yourself.  Good physical and mental health boosts resilience. 

5. Hang on to Humor.  This is so true.  A laugh goes a long way.  Do you bring levity to the job?

For more on these qualities as well as the amazing tale of Turkey Lady, read the whole article.

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Grappling with tragedy

  • Mon, December 17 2012
  • Filed under: Personal

There are days when it’s hard to post, and this is one of them.  Like you, I’m heartbroken over the tragedy in Newtown, CT, a place I once spent some time. As a parent, I can’t fathom any of it. Events like the one that occurred Friday recalibrate everything in my life.

So today, I wanted to say just two things.  First, I wanted to thank every one of you who works on a mission that in some way seeks to address this kind of horror—especially those of you who support people with mental illness and their families and those of you who comfort the grieving.

Second, I wanted to share these words from a minister I don’t know at all.  Whatever your beliefs, I think they might resonate.  They did for me.  I don’t share this in a religious vein.  Only in a human and heartfelt one.

...The very brokenness, the lump, the silent inexpressible grief arising in our collective soul reminds us that we human beings long for something purer than the isolated selfish ways we normally live.  When pushed by calamity we want to live with our better selves… Let us hold each other up even as we weep.  Let us step out into the darkness, light a candle, say a prayer, forgive, reach out, put our children on the bus, and risk love.  We have no alternative.  There is no grand scheme; only small actions that light the path, dispel the darkness, and offer renewal.

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What will happen in philanthropy in 2013?

I was recently asked to post on LinkedIn what I thought would be a big trend in our sector in 2013.

My response is that there is a huge power shift brewing in philanthropy, and in 2013 it will turn old school charity on its head. And you shall see it, if you are paying attention. The consumer, not the nonprofit, will be the source of innovation and growth.

Meet the growing base of mobile device-wielding, “asset-light” consumers who have already revolutionized everything from education to finance to publishing to photography. Philanthropy is next, folks.

Read the full post at LinkedIn here.

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Data extravaganza! Check out the newest online giving indices

I’m very excited to announce that Network for Good has three new sources of data on the state of online giving!

Here’s the headline from all three of these reports: Online giving is significantly up this year.   That applies to all organizations, but especially small- to medium-sized ones.

Check out the results in depth for all three indices:

1. THE BIG PICTURE: We at Network for Good have partnered with the Chronicle of Philanthropy, PayPal and Blackbaud to create the first-ever national online giving index.  Check out the results for Q3 of this year here.  Special thanks to Emily Gipple and Peter Panepento of the Chronicle for their work to pull together and analyze this groundbreaking data.  By bringing together Network for Good, PayPal and Blackbaud, they have created a comprehensive view of fundraising in the nonprofit world, spanning organizations of all sizes.

2. DECEMBER GIVING: Network for Good is sharing our holiday giving data with the Chronicle to create a near real-time index of December donations.  You can check out day by day and hour by hour trends.

3. GIVING ACROSS ONLINE PLATFORMS: Network for Good just released our own regular Q3 index on giving through our platform.  Here are the highlights; get the whole report here.  What’s special about our own reporting is that we compare giving on social networks, websites and portals.

Use this data to benchmark, plan and project your own fundraising efforts.

NFG Q3 giving index

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Infographic: How donors gave to Sandy Relief

Network for Good today released an infographic describing what we’ve learned from the response to Sandy Relief campaigns.  Tonight is a benefit concert for those still struggling to recover (the 12/12/12 event).  You can find charities supporting the recovery here.

Trouble viewing it?  Go here.

infographic from network for good

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A plain English, level-headed guide to Facebook updates, reach and promoted posts

There’s been a huge amount of chatter online about Facebook changes that nonprofits and companies say have harmed their engagement efforts on the social network - and an equal amount of information refuting that claim.  I have been wanting to write a post clarifying matters, but after spending a month reading countless articles on both sides of the argument, I wasn’t sure what to believe.  So I reached out to a Facebook expert, John Haydon, who provided these excellent, understandable and level-headed responses to my questions.  I hope his responses prove as helpful to you as they did to me.

Learn more about John here.

Katya: Could you explain in plain English how Facebook updates work and what supporters see?

John: When a page publishes an update (photos, videos, text only updates, links), some of the people who have liked that page will see that update in their newsfeed. Whether a specific person sees that update or not is determined by an algorithm Facebook calls “Edgerank”.

In other words, liking a page does not guarantee that a user will see updates from that Page in their newsfeed. This is actually a good thing, because if you and I saw every update from everyone we ever friended (including people who were jerks to us in high school), no one would ever use Facebook.

Katya: What is organic reach and what is the Edgerank algorithm?

John: Organic reach is simply seeing content in your newsfeed directly from a page that you’ve liked. This is different from viral reach which is seeing content from a page because a friend has liked, commented on, or shared that piece of content.

Edgerank is Facebook’s algorithm that determines what is published is each user’s newsfeed. The goal of this algorithm is to publish only the most interesting and relevant content for each specific user.

To determine if any given Page post shows up in the news feed, Facebook looks at four main factors:

1. If you interacted with a Page’s posts before: If you Like every post by a Page that Facebook shows you, it will show you more from that Page.
2. Other people’s reactions: If everyone else on Facebook who is shown a post ignores it or complains, it’s less likely to show you that post.
3. Your interaction with previous posts of the same type: If you always Like photos, there’s a better chance you’ll see a photo posted by a Page.
4. If that specific post has received complaints by other users who have seen it, or the Page who posted it has received lots of complaints in the past, you’ll be less likely to see that post.

Katya:  Many nonprofits are reporting that the reach of their content is down after recent updates to Facebook’s Edgerank.  Could you explain the changes and if you’re seeing nonprofits seeing drops in engagement?

John: Facebook does periodically adjust their algorithm to account for various different phenomenon in the newsfeed. For example in September, Facebook adjusted it to include complaints on posts.

I’ve seen pages that have a drop in reach, and I’ve also seen pages have no change at all in their reach. So it’s really case-by-case, and not a global phenomenon.

The pages that have seen the most dramatic loss in reach were pages who weren’t publishing content that was interesting or relevant to begin with.

Katya: So do you have to pay to play to have success on Facebook these days?  Should you do promoted posts and if so, how?

John: No, you do not have to pay to play to have success on Facebook these days. But you do have to publish awesome content. Again, Edgerank is nothing new for Facebook Pages. Updates from Pages have never reached all of their fans. But Pages with awesome content reach more of their fans, and some even go further than that, George Tekai’s Page.

In terms of using promoted posts, they are certainly an option to reach more fans. But promoting posts alone will not create success. As you know, you have to do many things right to be truly effective.

As Alison points out in her experiment on using Promoted Posts, you have to have a goal, and you have to measure what works for your organization. They also learned that Promoted Posts did increase engagement and net revenue on posts they promoted.

Here’s a super-simple way to think about promoted posts:

With promoted posts, all you’re paying for is an increase in reach. There is no guarantee that you’ll get more comments, likes and shares, even though that’s what you want for long-term success (the more comments, likes and shares you get on a post, the more you’re leveraging true word of mouth).

So the key to investing your ad dollars wisely, is to ONLY promote posts that are already getting a lot of likes, comments and shares. You do this by ranking your most recent posts by virality within Facebook Insights (the analytics tool every Facebook Page has)

There are two benefits to promoting high virality posts:

1. You will get more likes, comments and shares from the promotion.
2. You’ll increase organic reach for your Page updates.

Let me explain this with an example:

Let’s say you have a post that 20 people have talked about (liked, commented on, shared) among 200 people total who saw that update (reach). If you pay for this update to reach an additional 2000 people, it’s reasonable to expect that the update will receive approximately 200 likes, comments and shares, when adjusted for affinity.

What do I mean by “adjusted for affinity”? Many people who see this promoted post have a lower affinity for your Page than people who are see this post organically. This is why they’re not seeing your posts in the first place. When you promote a post, you have to remember that you’re promoting it to fans who haven’t talked about your posts much before (low affinity), and that they’re not as likely to talk about your post as someone who sees it organically (high affinity). In the few pages I’ve analyzed (10 pages), this adjustment seems to be about 20%. So using this adjustment with our example, the total number of likes, comments and shares would be around 160.

People who hate math should just know one thing: If you promote posts that are already getting a higher number of likes, comments and shares, your promotion will yield much more value than if you promoted posts that have a low number of likes, comments and shares. Another way to say this is this: If you promote posts that are not interesting, you are throwing money out the window.

Katya: Thanks, John.  This is very helpful advice!

John: For more, here’s a video on getting the most out of promoted posts and a blog post on extending your Facebook reach.

 

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What Honey Boo Boo Taught Me about Fundraising

My Network for Good colleague Caryn Stein recently wrote this post.  It has my all-time favorite headline.  For that reason alone, it merits sharing.  Enjoy.  And thanks, Caryn.

Caryn Stein photo

In a recent episode of TLC’s “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” (oh yes, we went there), Honey Boo Boo* (real name: Alana) decides the family should create a lemonade stand to raise money for an upcoming beauty pageant. You might be surprised, but this popular pageant princess can actually teach nonprofits a few things about fundraising – no lemons required.

Have Personality. Whatever else you might say about Honey Boo Boo, the girl has personality. Let your nonprofit’s unique quality shine through on your website, in your social media outreach and in your fundraising appeals. (Need ideas? Try these 7 Ways to Show Your Nonprofit’s Personality)

Be Bold and Colorful. What color did Honey Boo Boo choose for her lemonade stand poster? Neon pink, of course! Follow suit and make your DonateNow buttons big, bold and colorful to stand out and make it easy for your supporters to donate. (Make your DonateNow button more effective with these tips.)

Put Good Stuff in It. Honey Boo Boo’s lemonade recipe calls for at least five pounds (!) of sugar in each batch. Yikes. While we’re not advocating a sugar overdose, don’t forget to pay attention to your special recipe when communicating with your donors. (Make your outreach stand out with these 6 Foolproof Tips for Great Nonprofit Content.) 

Don’t Be Afraid to Make the Ask. Honey Boo Boo’s not shy about asking for what she wants (understatement), and you shouldn’t be either! As we head toward year-end fundraising season, practice making clear and direct calls for your supporters to make a donation. (Learn the Art of the Online Ask.)

Be Grateful. At fifty cents a glass, it may take a while for Honey Boo Boo to save up for her next pageant dress, but she knows that giving an enthusiastic thank you to each patron is good business sense. It’s a simple thing, but it matters to your supporters. (Read why thanking donors is so critical – and learn how to do it properly.)

*Don’t know Honey Boo Boo? Wikipedia can help.

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When the dreaded stairs become the fun stairs

As my favorite economist says, it’s all about incentives.  If you want people to change their behavior, you have to give them a good reason to make the painful switch from the status quo.

You do that by providing a benefit exchange - a reward for taking action.  A strong benefit exchange delivers immediately and reflects people’s values.

My colleague Tanya sent me this great example of getting people to take the stairs for their health. Instead of putting a health message next to the stairs (which wouldn’t work that well because people already know it’s healthier to take the stairs and it’s not changing their choices!), they made it totally fun.

It is tempting to assume that if people have information, they will act on it. But sadly, information alone does not prompt action. People know they are supposed to do all kinds of things - read to their children, change their diets, help others. And take the stairs.  The problem is, it is usually more difficult to change behaviors than to stick to the status quo. Good causes are forever in conflict with the status quo.

That means we have to do two things, always:

1. Create a reason for action (not just offer information) that is personally more compelling to our audience than the rewards of sticking to the status quo.

2. Make it easier to take action than to do nothing.  People will do something if it looks easier than what they’re doing now.

Musical stairs are a great example of beating the status quo.

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What you absolutely must know about where tech is headed

Last night, I sent around to my colleagues Mary Meeker’s latest PowerPoint.  And it occurred to me that you may not know Mary Meeker of KPCB or the fact that she is considered the Queen of the Internet.  Her analysis of where technology is headed is considered the best, and she recently delivered her latest view at Stanford. 

I want to share it here, because it’s a must-read.  As far as what it means to our sector, I have written a piece on that for LinkedIn which I will share here in a few days.  (If you can’t view the embedded presentation below, go here.)  Enjoy this wonderful combination of data, storytelling and vision.

2012 KPCB Internet Trends Year-End Update from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
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10 hot consumer trends to watch in 2013

Changing course from yesterday’s post, today I’m going to talk trendy.  Trendwatching is out with its 10 hot consumer trends to watch in 2013, and they are worth sharing.  I’ve listed each trend along with what I think it means for nonprofits.  But don’t forget the basics as you consider these shiny new developments!

1. Presumers and Custowners:  Consumers are interested in participating in the funding, launch and growth of (new) products and brands that they love.  So try testing crowdfunding, friends to friends fundraising and a spirit of partnership with your supporters in the new year.

2. Emerging Squared:  We’re seeing a reversal of the old trends of developed markets catering to emerging ones, and emerging markets increasingly provide products and services to developed markets.  How is this international trend affecting your work?  Is there an opportunity to weave this economic force into your programs overseas to speed up the pace of change?

3. Mobile Moments:  Consumers will be doing everything on their mobile devices.  2013 is the year you must make it easy for your supporters (and those you serve) to engage with you on their smartphones.

4. New Life Inside: Eco-products will go from being something you can recycle to something that you can plant.  Apparently it’s the year to put seeds in everything from chopsticks to pencil stubs.  And even Molson Canada beer coasters are made of seed paper.  They grow into a tree when you plant them.  I smell corporate cause marketing partnerships for green organizations!  But move fast, I expect this is a trend that will come and go quickly.

5. App-scriptions: Doctors and hospitals will certify and curate health apps as part of care.  Why not you, too?  If you help people with health conditions, maybe there should be an app for what you do - certified by professionals.

6. Celebration Nation: Emerging market products will celebrate and spotlight national and cultural heritage.  How can you partner with companies to highlight the international cultures you champion?

7. Data My-ning:  Says Trendwatching, “To date, the ‘big data’ discussion has focused on the value of customer data to businesses. In 2013 expect savvy shoppers to start reversing the flow, as consumers seek to own and make the most of their lifestyle data, and turn to brands that use this data to proactively offer customers help and advice on how to improve their behavior and/ or save money.”  I think there is an opening for charities to use this to promote behavioral changes - and giving.

8. Again Made Here: Trendwatching predicts more local manufacturing in established markets like the US, driven by niche marketers, the green movement and on-demand ordering.  New local partners and cause marketing possibilities, perhaps?

9. Full Frontal: Brands can’t just be transparent, they have to aggressive about it.  As they are increasingly held accountable, there is a real opening for do-gooders to pressure companies to be responsible corporate citizens and ethical cause marketers.

10. Demanding Brands:  Brands will also turn the tables and encourage consumers to step up and do good.  Another great opportunity for partnerships in 2013!

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When it pays to be an un-hip marketer

Are you uncool and old school?  I am, apparently - at least my teenage daughter tells me so.

The good news is, sometimes it pays to be un-hip.  Especially if you work in marketing. 

I was reminded of this by Dorie Clark’s recent piece in the Harvard Business Review Blog.  As she notes, sometimes the pursuit of shiny new things leads us away from basic marketing principles that work best.

She says, ask yourself:

1. What is everyone else doing — and how can I do the opposite?  Being trendy makes you less of a standout.  If every other charity is sending out calendars to thank supporters, buck the trend and give donors personal calls, for example.  If everyone is zigging, zag.

2. What worked in the past that’s been abandoned — and why?  Some old ideas should not come back.  Like the below fashion statement which I first saw via Jeffrey Forster.  But we often stop effective marketing programs because staff change, people find it dull or someone drops the ball. 

Take a tour of your past and brush the dust off what worked before.  It might work well again.

3. What circumstances have changed that might allow for new opportunities?  Are there old ideas whose time has come?

I’m with Dorie Clark.  It’s not a bad thing to eschew the shiny and embrace the dusty.  Especially if it’s marketing gold. But not if it’s double denim.

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6 fascinating lessons for us from the campaign trail

I recently read a very interesting article from The New York Times about how social science and behavioral economics was used to get out the vote. 

The article, “Academic Dream Team Helped Obama’s Effort,” details how experts like Robert Cialdini (whom I covered just this past week), formed a consortium that provided research-based ideas on motivating people to take certain actions (especially voting). Whether you are a Democrat or a Republican or of any party, the advice the academics provided is very useful to all of us involved in the work of social change.  We’re all in the business of compelling people to do things. So I wanted to pass on the most interesting tips.

1. People favor candidates - and organizations! - that exhibit a combination of competence and warmth.  You want to seem smart but also likable.

2. When countering rumors (or myths), it’s a bad idea to repeat them.  People may register a denial in the short term, but they only tend to remember the rumor or myth in the long term.  Don’t deny or counter something - simply assert your competing notion.

3. Use people’s sense of identity to influence behavior.  In the election, volunteer canvassers said, “Mr. Jones, we know you’ve voted in the past,” to prompt future voting.  We can do the same with volunteers or donors: “Mr. Jones, we know you’ve supported us in the past.”  People want to stick to their past behaviors, so this can work well.

4. Informal commitments help.  Getting people to sign a card promising to vote increases likelihood to vote, for example.  Pledging is also useful in fundraising!

5. Tell people to make a plan. People are more likely to follow through on a promise if they have a plan, however simple.  Ask people to specify when they’ll help you.

6. Use social norms.  When people were told others in their neighborhood planned to vote, it influenced them.  Never forget the power of peer pressure - call out your supporters to inspire others to jump on board.

For more fascinating tips on how this worked during the campaign, check out the article here.

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5 tips for better orchestrating your messages this holiday

If you want the best response to your outreach this holiday, focus on creating surround sound around your supporters.  You want to project the same messages via multiple channels in a well-orchestrated marketing symphony.

How do you do that?  Roger Craver had some good tips in Fundraising Success that focused on retention. Here are five ways to better orchestrate your messages this holiday, inspired by his thinking.

1. Create one message or theme and build on it. You want your outreach via email, direct mail, telephone, social media, mobile, etc. to sound like variations on a theme - not unrelated music.  Pick a key idea and reinforce it through each medium through which you contact supporters.

2. Contact supporters in multiple ways. The best way to build a relationship with donors is to acknowledge the fact that people like to give in a variety of venues: email, direct mail, Facebook,etc.  There are not just pure “online donors” and “mobile donors"and “direct mail” donors - there are donors who choose to mix it up.  Research shows donors give the most - and stay the longest - when you take this approach.

3. In each form of outreach, reference other ways to connect.  Put web addresses for online giving in your direct mail.  Put postal addresses on your website.  And so on.

4. Experiment.  Roger notes that some organizations have success when they send text messages to donors the day direct mail hits.  Others find better responses by sending emails a little while after a direct mail piece lands.  Test different combinations and timing to see what works best for you.

5. Plan around the donor.  Get all of these pieces playing together by creating a comprehensive plan around the donor (rather than having each department at your organization doing their own thing).  You want harmonic sense for your supporters—a lovely set of surround sound rather than a cacophony of ad hoc outreach!  So make a calendar from the donor perspective and confirm your supporters are getting the right messages, through the right channels at the right times.

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