Robert L. Weiner: Nonprofit Fundraising Technology Consulting » Fundraising

Resources from the Compasspoint Panel

Robert — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 22:46:47 +0000

Yesterday I spoke on a fundraising panel at Compasspoint's Silicon Valley/Peninsula Nonprofit Forum and mentioned a variety of resources. Here they are, with links:

Donor Retention
AFP's Fundraising Effectiveness Project: http://www.afpnet.org/Audiences/ReportsResearchDetail.cfm?itemnumber=3113
The Agitator’s post “No New Donors!” http://www.theagitator.net/dont-miss-these-posts/no-new-donors/

Attracting New Donors
“Homer Simpson for Nonprofits: The Truth about How People Really Think and What It Means for Promoting Your Cause”
Ebook: http://web.networkforgood.org/201002ebook/
Archive of their workshop at the NTEN conference: http://bit.ly/cTvvSq

Donor Databases
Idealware's "Consumers Guide to Low Cost Donor Management Systems"
http://www.idealware.org/reports/consumers-guide-low-cost-donor-management-systems

Social Media
My own resources page: http://www.rlweiner.com/resources#social%20media It includes links to articles like:
Should Your Organization Use Social Networking Sites?
Before You Jump in with Two Feet in Social Media - Important Boring Basic Stuff First
Tips for Entering Your Nonprofit into the Social Media Environment
Using Social Media to Meet Nonprofit Goals: The Results of a Survey
The ROI of Social Media
The Six Signs That Twitter Isn't For Your Nonprofit
Ten Things a Nonprofit Should Do Before Setting Up Social Media

Cities Acting Like Nonprofits

Robert — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:12:46 +0000

I just spoke on a fundraising panel at Compasspoint's Silicon Valley/Peninsula Nonprofit Forum. One takeaway: some California cities are finding that they need to raise private funds to make up for cuts in State and local funding. This means thinking and acting like nonprofits. The city department in question has no board and no staff who know how to solicit donations. The panel responded that the department head needs to devote at least 25% of her scarce time to fundraising and convene a board that's willing to help. Of course, this means they'll be competing with local nonprofits for donations.

Prizes for Paperless Fundraising

Robert — Sat, 29 May 2010 08:59:03 +0000

Have you successfully moved from paper-based direct mail fundraising to digital tools (email, websites, video, social media, widgets, and/or mobile)? Want to gloat about your successes and possibly make some (more) money as well?

The Paperless Choice Challenge is rewarding successful, creative, replicable campaigns that use electronic fundraising tools by giving away eight prizes totalling over $20,000. Entries can be submitted between June 15 and September 15, 2010.

For more information go to http://www.paperlesschoice.org/. And while you're at it, check out more resources on going paperless from the GreenTech Initiative's paper reduction campaign.

Texting for $$: The Definitive Guide

Robert — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 09:59:03 +0000

In the wake of the huge number of donations given to Haiti earthquake relief via text mesage, MobileActive has published Texting for Charitable Dollars: The Definitive Guide.

It describes the process of raising funds via SMS from the donors' and the nonprofits' perspectives, including costs and tips for getting started. The guide is available for free at http://mobileactive.org/mobile-fundraising.

SF Fundraising Day 2010

Robert — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:39:09 +0000

San Francisco's Fundraising Day will be happening June 16 at the downtown Marriott. Once again I have the honor of co-chairing the Technology Track with Michael Stein. We've programmed sessions on online fundraising with Madeline Stanionis, social media with Jeff Patrick, database selection with Eric Leland, and an open discussion session with me and Michael on whatever tech topics the attendees bring. Early bird rates end on April 15, so sign up at www.afp-ggc.org/frd2010

The Idealware Research Fund

Robert — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:59:03 +0000

My friends at Idealware have created a new fund to support their research. Many of Idealware's reports have been funded by foundations and some have had corporate sponsorship. As you probably know, neither foundation nor corporate support is a reliable funding source these days. In addition, since Idealware must maintain its independence in order to produce their high-quality, unbiased reports and product comparisons, some potential funding sources are simply off limits.

Their goal is to raise $15,000. The fund will allow Idealware "to build on (their) base of more than four years and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of software research to provide the new resources that nonprofits need most, like information about social media tools, mobile text messaging, constituent databases, and more." If you want to support them as well, you can do so on the Research Fund's fundraising page.

(Full disclosure: I have contributed to some of Idealware's reports, and they have even paid me for advice.)

Schools using social media but not for fundraising

Robert — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:11:15 +0000

I spent the last 3 days at the CASE District VII conference, for schools in AZ, CA, Guam, HI, NV, and UT. Social Media was a big topic this year, with workshop titles like "Maximizing Social Networks and Online Resources in Alumni Relations", "Now That Facebook and Twitter Aren't Enough: Integrating Social Media into Your Advancement Toolkit ", and "Making Community Real in a Virtual World". Speakers and attendees reported heavy use of Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter, and YouTube (the few times I heard mentions of MySpace were negative).

Very few speakers or attendees reported using these tools for fundraising, though. UC Berkeley talked about a badge that donors can post to their Facebook pages after making a gift ("I Feed The Bears"). This is the online equivalent of a window decal or bumper sticker, with the added benefit that one's friends can click the badge to make a gift. It's not an explicit fundraising appeal, but they might start using fundraising badges for class campaigns in the future. Peer-to-peer class campaigns (at least for recent classes) seem like a natural for social media, and I expect we'll start seeing them.

Clueless Charity PR

Robert — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:35:04 +0000

I got a press release today from a PR firm promoting its client's plans to raise $1,000 for Thanksgiving meals and $5,000 for families in need at Christmas.

While these are certainly laudable goals, I had a strong negative reaction. First, the message is spam. I have no connection to, and have never heard of, the charity or its PR firm. Second, is this news? What's special about a charity raising money for families in need at the holidays? Why would any media outlet pick this up? Finally, the goals seem pathetically low.

I hope the PR firm is doing this pro bono -- otherwise, all the donations could wind up paying them. Then again, if my reaction is typical, this campaign could wind up costing them.

Win $5K for Charity Through Creative Pitching

Robert — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:59:03 +0000

The Chronicle of Philanthropy isn't known for giving away money, but for talking about how to get it. They've come up with a contest to benefit a few lucky nonprofits. Here's the deal:

Converting Fresh Leads into Donors

Robert — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 08:59:02 +0000

CARE2 is holding a webinar on strategies for successfully welcoming, cultivating, and converting new leads into donors. Holly Ross of NTEN will moderate a panel with Heidi Hess of Children's Defense Fund and Greg Zelder of the California State Parks Foundation. They will review data about nonprofits' speed and type of responses to newly acquired email subscribers, then focus on specific online engagement and conversion strategies that have worked for them — as well as approaches that have failed (and why).

What: While They're Hot! Converting Fresh Leads into Donors

When: Thursday, October 1, 2009 at 2 p.m. Eastern