What’s your fundraising style?  Learn here.

GuideStar has an interesting article about fundraising styles this week.  Andrea Kihlstedt has identified four “Asking Styles.”  All of them can be effective - the importance is knowing which you are and being yourself. 

Says Kihlstedt: “The more we can be ourselves, the more we will be able to follow our donors’ cues—adapting our presentations to match what they need.”

Which style are you?

There's no right answer, according to Kihlstedt: "Whether you are an introvert or extrovert, analytic or intuitive, you can ask in a powerful and effective way. Some people are better listeners; others light up a conversation. Some are masters of facts and data; others prefer simple big ideas. Some quiet people are powerfully compelling when they share why they care. Others are more talkative and goal oriented. Having a simple system of asking styles so that people can see the power in their own styles helps each person—whether staff or board—find the courage to ask in the way that suits him or her best."

You can learn more by reading the whole article here.

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Are you taking care of your donors?  Take this quiz.

Are you taking care of your donors?  What kind of experience do they have after they give?

Here’s a quick checklist to answer that question.  If you can’t check all the boxes, work on doing better.  The single most powerful thing you can do as a fundraiser is to take great care of the donors you have.

Timeliness:

_ All donors thanked promptly
_ All donors thanked throughout the year

Personalization and Accuracy:

_Thank-yous are directed at the donor – not “Dear Friend”
_The gift amount is included and correct
_ Thank-yous reference the appeal or campaign that prompted the gift
_ Thank-yous are signed by a real person or include a real person’s name
_ I properly acknowledge gift designations and dedications

Gratitude:

_ I express heartfelt thanks for the gift twice in each note
_ I also express gratitude for past support (when relevant)
_ I give credit to the donor for what will be achieved
_ The thank-you is a thank-you, not an appeal!  (It doesn’t ask for money again)

Useful Resources:

_Thank-yous include full contact information of my organization
_ Thank-yous include appropriate tax language
_I make clear how the gift will be used

Ongoing Communication:

_ I tell a good story or use a vivid example in every piece of outreach
_ I report to donors on their impact at least twice a year
_ I recognize donors after thanking them
_ I include the voices of donors in my outreach
_ I ask my donors for feedback

The more you care about your donors, the more they will care about your cause!

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Giving is up, and it’s still about relationships

My organization, Network for Good, sits at the intersection of many forms of digital giving—via nonprofit websites like yours, portal sites like Charity Navigator, and social networks like Causes.com.  Today, we release the Q1 2012 update to The Network for Good Digital Giving Index, which analyzes giving across these channels, and we have interpreted the results so you know what the data means for your organization.

The headline is that online giving is up across all channels. The healthy growth of digital philanthropy continues apace.

We continue to find the winning formula online to be a great donation experience on your website.  Specifically, we recommend branded donation pages that look just like your website (as opposed to a generic donation page that links off to a third-party donation form that looks nothing like your website).  When nonprofits feature a branded donation page on their websites, they can see a five or six-fold(!) increase in donation dollars over the more generic experience. In Q1 2012, the average gift through a branded donation page was $104, 20% larger than the average gift of $87 on generic donation pages.

Why is that? A branded donation page looks like a natural extension of your website - with the same look, inspiring messaging and warm language.  (Here’s an example.) That keeps donors in a generous state of mind.  You are able to reinforce your nonprofit’s mission and identity throughout the donation process and follow-up.  It builds a relationship with supporters—and shows your organization cares enough to pay attention to the donation experience and donor stewardship.  These small acts matter and increase the likelihood of repeat donations.

While the majority of donations will come via your website (so you better be ready!), social giving continues to increase, so it’s important that you engage your audience where they are online, too.  Make sure you offer donors the chance to share your content through easy Facebook and Twitter links,and encourage your most ardent supporters to recruit friends and family to donate to your events and campaigns on social fundraising platforms like Crowdrise and via their social networks.

Want to see the data in full? You can download this quarterly update here.

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Social lipstick on a network pig: 4 ways your online efforts can go awry

This post on social media for nonprofits is adapted from The Nimble Nonprofit: An Unconventional Guide to Sustaining and Growing Your Nonprofit by Jacob Smith and Trey Beck. Jacob blogs at brightplus3.com.

Should your nonprofit dive headlong into the world of Web 2.0? The simple answer is to first know your audience, how it communicates, and how its members interact with each other and with organizations they support. You may be able to mine some of this information from your personal knowledge of supporters and prospects, from your member database, or from analytics on your web site.  But if you don’t know who they are, ask them. If you want to engage with young adults, the odds are good that you’ll want a strategy that uses Facebook or SMS. Do you want to communicate with 40-somethings? That might involve crafting an effective email campaign. You want to talk to Bedouin camel drivers? Buy a ticket to Morocco. Wherever your audience is, get into the habit of going to them.

If you decide that it’s finally time to take the social networking plunge (and if your audience includes people younger than 50 that’s probably the right answer), there a few caveats you’ll want to keep in mind.  Mind these four points - otherwise, you’re doing little more than putting social lipstick on a network pig.  In other words, your efforts will be cosmetic rather than transformative!

1. The wrong culture.  One is that effectively using social media, as Beth Kanter and Allison Fine argue in The Networked Nonprofit, requires an organizational culture based on transparency, empowering staff and members, and risk-taking. You can’t simply layer a social media strategy on top of a traditionally hierarchical organization and expect it to work.  Requiring three approvals for a single tweet will sink you social efforts.

2. Aimlessness.  If you aren’t clear about your goals and how you’ll measure progress you are unlikely to use your social media strategies very effectively. Kanter and Fine make this point, as do most effective social strategists.  If you don’t know why you’re doing something or what you hope to accomplish, it’s hard to tell when you’re winning or losing.

3. Obsolescence. People change. The use of social networking next month will probably look different than it does today, and by next year it may not even be recognizable. You’ll always need to pay attention to who uses what tools in what ways and adjust accordingly.

4. The echo effect.  As blogger and social change researcher Ethan Zuckerman argues, social media often replicates and amplifies existing social segregation and networks. If your goal is to engage people like yourself, adding social media to your engagement strategy might work well. But if your goal is to engage with different communities, you may need to do more to make sure you reach the right people.

Social media really is changing the world, and in profound ways, but whether and how you participate has to start with an understanding of who you want to engage with, clear goals, and an organization open enough to use social media effectively.

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A good formula: Email plus social media

If there’s anything that’s become clear in fundraising, it’s that no single channel is a silver bullet.  Email alone - or direct mail alone or social alone - aren’t enough.  What works best is using them in combination.  Donors are channel agnostic, so you can’t give them only one way to give.

Here’s a nifty infographic from GetResponse on the merits of using email and social media in combination.  Enjoy!

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How to Make Your Big Idea Really Happen

The title of this post comes from a new article at the Harvard Business Review blog which provides some solid pointers for people like us.  According to John Hagel and John Brown, turning a grand idea into reality requires five critical concepts.

Here is my paraphrase of those factors, along with my thoughts.

1. Create a Compelling Shaping View

To mobilize supporters,say Hagel and Brown, you have to create a compelling view of what the future-state could look like. Think “I have a dream” or Kennedy’s man on the moon speech.  Don’t just pitch your cause - evangelize your vision of the world we could make possible if we all put our minds to it.

2. Make Sure the Benefit is Mutual

It won’t surprise you that I’m a fan of this second point.  You can’t get people to do anything unless you get them to care, and the easiest way to do that is to prove your relevance and benefit to them.  They tell the following story:  “One executive was able to gain the support of grizzled old maintenance guys who were deeply skeptical of social software when he showed them how this new technology could eliminate a major headache in their day-to-day jobs. Rather than talking in generalities, he painted a compelling picture for a specific set of workers to show them how this would help them deal with a very troublesome pain point.”

3. Prove You Mean It!

Do something to demonstrate your conviction in moving toward that grand vision you’ve described.  Make a personal sacrifice, take a first step or show you’ve got people behind you.  Or show your vulnerability in the face of the challenge.  You don’t have all the answers, which is why you need the wisdom of those who can join as fellow believers.

4. Create a Platform.

If you’ve done a great job inspiring and evangelizing, people will start to climb on board.  Give them a way to do so with a central platform that enables connections, invites conversation and encourages participation.  It might be a virtual rallying point (liked a LinkedIn group) or a real world platform.  Hagel and Brown say, “The key is to find ways for people to connect with each other, work with each other and draw strength from each other. For Martin Luther King, the churches spread across the South became key organizing platforms. In the office, it may be as simple as a shared table in the cafeteria at lunch time.”

5. Gain Critical Mass.

Invite a broader group of people to join your fledgling movement, leveraging social media to amplify word of mouth.  Don’t knock slacktivism - movements need a committed core, but they also need critical mass.

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How to get unstuck when you lack inspiration

Very young kids’ drawings usually don’t feature a person’s neck.

Why is that?

My theory is that if you’re two or three years old and your perspective is pretty low to the ground, you don’t see people’s necks when you look up.  You see a head sitting on arms. 

Perspective is everything, isn’t it? 

If you’re feeling stuck, you may not have writer’s block or marketing problems or any other creative limitation.  More likely, you’ve lost the perspective you need to do your best work—that is, the perspective of your audience.

The good news is, you can get it back.  Go ask your audience questions and listen.  And ask other people questions and listen.  Ask your child (or a family friend’s child) what your organization does.  You will get a refreshing perspective, and you may find it inspiring. 

There’s no better way to get unstuck than to ask advice of someone who is only a few feet high - and who may consider necks entirely optional.  Or ask anyone you want to reach.  A few questions can yield many answers - and priceless perspective.

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On the occasion of my 1,182nd post

Sometimes people ask me about my blogging, and how I manage to do it each day.  So I thought I’d tell you how it works.  Around 10 or 11 pm the night before I schedule a post to be published, I sit down and reflect on what meaningful thing I heard, read or thought during the day, and I write about it.  It’s that simple and that hard. 

This time, I was tired (as I often am after being at my job all day).  And I got to wondering just how many times I have gone through this exercise.  The answer was 1,182. Then I started wondering what I said in my first post, years ago.  It wasn’t half bad, so on the occasion of post # 1,182, here it is.

(And in case you’re wondering, yes, I suppose this is recycled content.  But since no one read the first post other than my mother, I think that’s okay!)

Dancing corpses and the art of impatience

When I lived in Madagascar, people would open the tombs of their dead relatives each winter, pull out the cloth-wrapped corpses of their loved ones and dance with them held aloft.  Truly.  They would party all night with their withered dead, catching the spirits up on family gossip and then wrapping the remains in new cloth before placing them back in the tomb.

The death-dancing season, which was in August (winter in the Southern Hemisphere), meant sleepless nights.  My house had many tombs nearby, and the raucous all-night parties featured the binge drinking and blaring music that you’d expect from any serious throw-down.  One night, lying in bed and listening to the festivities, I contemplated my own mortality.  (Actually, I tend to do this a lot, even when I’m not around tombs.)  I thought of how life is so very short, especially when you don’t believe your spirit will be partying with the living at your tomb after you’re laid to rest. 

I tell this story in my first post because even if you don’t live in Madagascar, I believe we should keep reminding ourselves of our own mortality and that we as do-gooders should become profoundly impatient.  Impatient to accomplish something good.  Impatient with petty things that get in the way of what is important.  Impatient to move people and make a difference. 

This blog will be about inspired impatience.  It’s about making things happen quickly by stealing corporate savvy, swapping inspired ideas and sharing the kind of thinking that gets the attention of our audience and advances our mission today.  Tomorrow we may be one more dancing corpse. 

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What are millennials really like? This research provides a good glimpse.

The Boston Consulting Group has some interesting new research on millennials, including who they are, what they want and how to talk to them.

The highlights?  Among the most interesting findings is that millennials - who were taught to recycle in kindergarten - are more likely to take certain socially conscious actions during their daily life.  They are apt to buy products that support their principles and more likely than other generations to spread the word about a cause campaign or participate in fundraising events.  They are highly social creatures online (and off) are more likely than others to speak up online, whether it’s to rate a product or upload content.  Millennials expect companies to care about social issues and reward those who partner with the right causes, says the report.

On the other hand, their affinity for causes doesn’t necessarily translate into higher levels of volunteerism.  Millennials are slightly less likely to volunteer their time than non-millennials (31 to 26 percent).  But that’s still one in four who will give their time.  Don’t write them off!  They certainly view themselves as more active than others think they are:

The report notes another important universal quality of millennials: they are distrustful of corporate messengers and more inclined to believe their friends and peers.  Of course, not all millennials are created the same.  The report profiles several typical “types.”

The bottom line?  Make it easy for this generation to spread the word about you and reach them through messengers they trust - their peers.  If you’re looking for a corporate partner, share this research as a case for working with your cause - it’s good business for them!  And as the report says, millennial attitudes are early indicators of more widespread future trends.  These folks will someday be your supporters - or not - depending on how well you understand them and how well you engage.

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5 Ways to handle consumer revolt in an angry era

We’re in an era when consumers are quick to revolt, and they get rewarded for rebelling.  Think of Bank of America customers angry over fees, Verizon customers upset about being charged to pay bills online and Netflix customers apoplectic over price and policy changes.  All three companies had to make amends after a tsunami of (mainly online) fury.

A new article from The Conference Board Review chronicles these examples in a story by John Buchanan and lays out some recommendation for what to do when you’re facing a decision likely to be unpopular.  I think it holds good lessons for nonprofit marketing and fundraising folks.

1. Talk to your constituency.  If you’re making a big decision, it’s a good idea to find out people feel about it.  It may be more controversial than you think.  And before making a controversial call, it’s good to know just how controversial it will be.  Ask your most important audiences how they feel about your organization and the issue at hand.  A little research is better than a lot of assumptions.

2. Listen to your chief contrarian.  If someone is raising the red flag on something you are about to do, listen.  Groupthink can overwhelm a lone voice of reason if you’re not careful.  Before you dismiss a devil’s advocate, make sure you aren’t missing a valid concern.

3. Make sure your decisions are simple, transparent and fair.  People often get angry because they feel a decision was disingenuous or secretive.  Be open about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.

4. Try not to spring it on people.  If you’re doing something controversial, do some outreach first.  People hate unpleasant surprises.

5. If you infuriate people, empathize.  If people are upset with your organization, you should be responsive.  Don’t ignore their feelings and don’t get defensive.  Make them feel heard and show you listened - and be quick about it.  Radio silence on your part will only makes the noise of protest all the louder.

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5 ways to spark social contagion for social good

PopTech has a nifty new edition on the science of unleashing social good in networks, and Fast Company has a great overview of James Fowler’s specific ideas for spreading the word.  Here are the ideas I think are most important to us, with my thoughts on how to apply them to our work.

1. Remember generosity is contagious.  Studies show witnessing acts of kindness or giving inspires others to do the same.  Use social proof to your advantage by highlighting people taking action for your cause.  That includes the amount of donation they give - if it’s one that will inspire more generosity.

2. Think of the network as a matching grant.  The effect described above actually continues through up to three layers of networks (from person to person to person to person).  Be sure you are giving your supporters ways to publicize their acts of support through social media so you get the benefit of all of those ripple effects.

3. Know that messages get amplified as they spread.  Says Fowler, “The indirect effect of a message on a person’s friends is about three times larger than the direct effect on the person who received the message in the first place. The more you can get people to deliver the message naturally, the greater this multiplier effect will be.”  Make it very easy for people to forward your emails, share information on social media and otherwise spread the word.

4. If you’re in the business of behavior change, focus on your target audience’s innermost circle.  Says Fowler, “When we studied behaviors like obesity, smoking, and drinking, we found that spouses, siblings, and friends had an effect on each other’s behavior, but next door neighbors did not.”

5. Keep in mind that “connected” doesn’t necessarily mean connections.  People with more friends and friends of friends aren’t necessarily the best champions.  Says Fowler, look for people “1) interested in spreading social good, 2) influential, and can persuade others, and 3) influence-able by their friends (they are persuadable). Without these other characteristics, even the most connected person won’t be of any help.”

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Spend half your digital time on your good old website

Your website is still your most important digital presence, according to a fantastic Wikibrands post.  This certainly applies not only to consumer brands but also to nonprofit marketing and fundraising.  Most donors visit a nonprofit website before deciding to give online OR offline, and it’s where most people searching for your cause will first encounter your brand.

So spend at least half your digital time on your good old website.

What makes a great website?  Wikibrands has a nifty rating system that assigns weight to different attributes of a solid site:

  Overall Impact   25pts
  Content 15 pts.
  Navigation 15 pts.
  User Experience 15 pts.
  Findability 15 pts.
  Socialability 15 pts.

Check out how to improve your site in this presentation. 

Top 50 Websites
View more presentations from Wikibrands
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The moment that matters most for your cause

If you are marketing on a shoestring, you need to focus your resources on one point in time: your audiences’ open-minded moments.

What’s an open-minded moment?  It’s a time, place or state of mind when people are most likely to hear your message, find it relevant and act upon it.  For example, last month was an open-minded month for TurboTax marketers.  Miller cleverly realized 5 pm is an open-minded moment for potential beer drinkers, so they branded happy hour as Miller Time. 

Think of the brain as a camera.  Open-minded moments are the ones where our mental shutter opens, lets in light and focuses on something specific.  If we can predict when our audience’s mental shutters will open, then we can show up for the photo shoot, thrust our offering into the picture and succeed in being seen.  This is a better strategy than trying to force off someone’s lens cap and demand they zoom in on our beautiful cause. 

No matter how nicely we dress up, if our audience isn’t looking for our message or finding it easy to take action, we stand a poor chance of getting noticed.

A great example is the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which encourages volunteers to spray paint the message, “Don’t Dump - Chesapeake Bay Drainage” on storm drains.  That’s placement of the right message, at the right time, at the right place.  At the moment when someone is contemplating dumping a can of antifreeze into a storm drain, the warning is there to deter the dumper.

What are your open-minded moments?

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The 4-step guide to turning one-time event participants into lasting donors

  • Tue, May 01 2012
  • Filed under: Events

Did you know that the average participant in your fundraising races or walks recruits three to four donors for your cause?  Unfortunately, most organizations do little to cultivate these new supporters, writing them off as tangential. Are you doing all you could to embrace these friends of friends?

Think about doing more, says a new eBook from Event360.  Their guide outlines a four-step process for identifying, engaging, qualifying, cultivating and converting event donors.

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“While an event donor’s motivation to support an organization is often secondary to that of supporting the event participant, these donor motivations can be changed—from having an affinity to participant to having an affinity to cause and organization,” says the guide.

So how do you do that?  Treat event donors the same say you would treat a friend of a friend. The burden is on you to pursue a deeper relationship and engage them outside of their relationship with the event participant. If you do not take the first step, chance are the relationship will never move beyond their support of the event participant, according to Event360.

Be sure to:

1. Learn as much as you can about these friends of friends.  Collect contact information.

2. Engage them. Show the donor that you want to get to know them with plenty of communication. You’re not yet making an ask, you’re setting the stage for the ask.

3. Qualify and cultivate.  Single out interested potential supports and offer them a variety of ways to help.

4. Convert. Make the ask!  Check out the guide for great tips on how to do this and each of these steps.  It’s free!

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What you need to remember about your brand on Facebook

Facebook’s new timeline format means you have to focus even harder on what’s always been important: making your brand human.  Social networks are about people, and your brand should be too!

Why does the new format make this so critical?

1. It’s a timeline.  That means it’s about milestones.  Your page is going to be more compelling if you focus on the story of your cause over time.  Which should be a human one.  I like the way this article puts it:  Your timeline is a virtual growth chart—like a family tracking the annual height of their children.

2. It’s more visual than it was before.  The new format works best with plenty of images, which in turn means you need to focus more on living things (people or animals) that are at the heart of your brand.  Photos of buildings or objects aren’t the same.

3. It needs a pulse.  You have to look alive on Facebook.  A timeline that lacks updates suggests an organization that’s not doing much of anything.  Post once per day and pin a top story once a week.

Not sure how to start?  This blog post will help. So will this checklist from Beth Kanter.

Need inspiration?  Here are some organizations that do it well.

LiveStrong

BigCat Rescue

My organization Network for Good

Discovery Channel

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