Kivi's Nonprofit Communications Blog

The Nonprofit Marketing Guide weekly webinar series is continuing this fall, with some great new topics and a few encores of popular topics from earlier this year. As always, registration for each webinar is $35, which includes everyone in your office who can fit around one speakerphone and computer monitor. 

Even better — get the All-Access Pass for just $97 and you can attend all of these sessions at no additional charge. It’s the recession-proof way to get the training you need so you can build support and raise money for your good cause!

Ten Captivating Ways to Start Fundraising Letters, Newsletter Articles & More

You’ll learn 10 different ways to start your fundraising letters and other marketing communications — all of which will engage your supporters and keep them reading. Leave writer’s block and boring letters behind forever! This Thursday, October 2, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). 

Nonprofit Publicity 101: Great PR Ideas that Get Attention

Light a fire and watch the good news about your nonprofit’s work spread with the creative publicity ideas you’ll get during this webinar. Thursday, October 9, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). 

Nonprofit Writing Stinks! Bring Your Writing Back to Life

During this webinar, you’ll learn how to write like the smart, passionate human being you are — instead of the dead-inside, jargon-loving droid you just might sound like now. Tuesday, October 14, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). 

Forget the General Public! How to Define and Reach Your Target Audience

Stop wasting time and money trying to reach the general public. They don’t care (and they don’t really exist!). Instead, learn how to identify your target audience and to speak directly to them. Thursday, October 23, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific).

Blogging for Nonprofits: Tips, Traps, and Tales

Everybody’s doing it - should you? Learn how other nonprofits are using blogs and how your organization could use a blog to build an online community. Wednesday, October 29, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). 

How to Write a 4-Page Nonprofit Annual Report - A Crash Course Webinar

Learn how to write an annual report that highlights your accomplishments, explains your financials, and appeals to both hearts and minds — all in four pages. Thursday, November 6, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific) 

Online Writing: Dos and Don’ts of Writing for the Web and Email

Learn the key differences between writing for print and for pixels, including the top three characteristics of good online writing. Make your online writing more appealing and improve your website or email’s performance. Wednesday, November 12, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). 

How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors, Clients, and Other Supporters

Inspire others by telling great stories about the people you meet and work with everyday, including donors, volunteers, and clients. Escape the boring bio syndrome and write engaging, dramatic profiles. Thursday, November 20, 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific).

Like what you see? Get all of this training (and much more) for only $97, with the All-Access Pass.

Here’s a quick update on what I’ve been working on the last week or so . . . 

Online Marketing Workshops

I’m being asked to speak a lot lately on various elements of online marketing for nonprofits. Last week, I presented two workshops to museums, historical sites, and other arts organizations in Charlotte, NC. The first workshop addressed nonprofit websites and email marketing in general. The second dealt more specifically with how to raise money through email, with an introduction to social media at the end.

Here is the first slideshow:

Here is the second slideshow:

If your association or foundation is interested in having me present some version of these workshops to your members or grantees, email me or give me a call at 336-499-5816 and we can talk about it.

How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report - E-Course Now Online

I spent much of today putting the new on-demand annual reports e-course online. It’s ready for you! When you enroll, you’ll get a copy of my 50+ page e-book, “How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report,” a workbook with exercises to help you write your report sections, and access to a recorded webinar and handouts that explain how to create a slimmed-down four-page annual report. This course is $60 a la carte, or free with your All-Access Pass.

If you missed my online chat at the Chronicle of Philanthropy on annual reports, check it out now for lots of free advice. I also recently completed an interview with one of the leading companies producing video annual reports and will share those tips with you soon.

I’ll be speaking on annual reports at two conferences in October: the American Health Care Association Convention in Nashville and the NC Center for Nonprofits Annual Conference in Raleigh.

Got Writer’s Block? How Do You Start Fundraising Letters, Newsletter Articles, Etc.?

Now I’m working on my slides for Thursday’s webinar called Ten Captivating Ways to Start Fundraising Letters, Newsletter Articles and More. I don’t know about you, but when I write, getting that first paragraph just right is really important. Once that’s in place, the rest of flows naturally. 

Whether that’s your writing style or not, if you have trouble getting started or knowing what’s effective, check out the webinar description and join us on Thursday if it sounds interesting to you. I’ll not only talk about those pesky lead paragraphs, but what should follow them too. And yes, this webinar is also included in the All-Access Pass.

”Email Newsletter Basics for Nonprofits” Tuesday, Sept. 23 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern     At your desk and on your phone Registration and Details

I’m teaching a new webinar on Tuesday, September 23 called Email Newsletter Basics for Nonprofits: From Start to Finish.

This webinar is for you if:

– You are thinking about starting an email newsletter, or

– You have an email newsletter, but you’ve been winging it and have some knowledge gaps, or

– You are debating whether an email newsletter is right for your organization or not.

The webinar will be an expansion on the article I wrote a few months ago called 10 Surprisingly Easy and Startling Effective Ways to Improve Your Email Newsletter.

As usual, it’s $35 for one connection: as many people can attend as you can fit around one computer monitor and speaker phone. Or if you have the  All-Access Pass, this webinar is included free of charge.

P.S. If you didn’t listen to Magic Keys Radio today, you missed a great show with Nancy Schwartz talking all about nonprofit taglines. No worries, we recorded it! You can listen on your computer or download/subscribe to our weekly podcast.

How is your nonprofit evolving? That’s the topic of the latest edition of the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants, posted earlier this week at the blog of FIO Partners. You’ll find some interesting posts on how nonprofits are changing and growing. 

The next edition of the Carnival will be hosted on October 1 by Ready, Aim, Inspire and the theme will be “what it takes to be a great leader.” 

The Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants is a twice-monthly blog carnival that rounds up and summarizes some of the best advice, forward thinking, and resources for nonprofits in the blogosphere. I launched the Carnival in June 2006 and it has become one of the longest continuously running blog carnivals around! Thanks to all of our contributors and readers for your support! Learn how to contribute your posts and subscribe to the Carnival feed.

“Karma Goes Both Ways” Photo by LexnGer on Flickr

If you like this blog and all of its mostly wholesome goodness, please do me a favor by taking five minutes to do these four things below. If you whip right through them, I really do think you can pull it all off in five minutes, earn some good karma, and make me very grateful and happy to be in such a fabulous community of nonprofit leaders! Well, I already am, but I’ll be super-duper grateful and happy, OK?

1) Vote for The Nature Conservancy in TripAdvisor’s “More Than Footprints” Campaign. Jonathan Coleman shares a ton of information about his experiences in using social media to promote TNC’s work so please thank him for his generosity with your vote. All five charities will get some $$, but the voting determines how much.

2) Give $10 to Stop HIV in the South. Did you know that HIV infections are rising dramatically in the South, while falling elsewhere in the U.S.?

I’m raising $500 so our local nonprofit working on HIV/AIDS prevention can keep the free condom basket by their front door full, so teenagers, poor people and anyone else who stops by can protect themselves, no questions asked. Please give $10 now.

3) Vote for My Sessions for NTEN’s Conference. I submitted two sessions for the Communications Track for NTEN’s 2009 Conference in San Francisco. Voting will help determine the agenda, so please vote for my sessions. Just follow the links, then click on all five stars at the bottom of the description. There are tons of great sessions, so after you finish this list, go back and vote for some more.

Rapid-Fire Website Reviews: What’s Working and What’s Not on Nonprofit Websites

Out of Print: Using Technology and Social Media to Move Your Print Publications Online

4) Take the Twitter Survey. Take John Haydon’s quick 8-question survey on how nonprofits are using Twitter and social media.

That’s it — THANK YOU — and enjoy the good karma!

Claire Meyerhoff and I are thrilled to have Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention as our guest for the Magic Keys Radio Show and Podcast this Friday because she has just released her new Nonprofit Tagline Report. We air live from 1:00 - 1:30 p.m. Eastern (10:00 - 10:30 a.m. Pacific) on Fridays on Blog Talk Radio.

You listen via the ‘net and you can call in your questions live by dialing (347) 996-3142. The recording will be available as a podcast immediately after the live show ends.

Nancy’s report is a definite must-read. During her stop by Magic Keys Radio, Nancy will share her how-tos for successful nonprofit taglines as well as her deadly sins. In this rapid-fire world where you only have seconds to grab someone’s attention, we all need to know how to boil down our messages into just a few words, which is what taglines do.

Don’t miss our interview with Nancy! When you visit our BTR page, you can even set a reminder for yourself so you don’t miss the show. Do it now while you are thinking about it.

The response to the “Parties with a Purpose” webinar scheduled for this Wednesday has been phenomenal. I know nonprofit folk like to party, but this is crazy!

We sold out over the weekend, but I’ve added more lines, so we now have about 30 spaces left, but that’s it. Register now if you want to attend. As always, by registering, you’ll also get a link to the recording, so you can still get the training, even if you can’t make the live event on Wednesday.

During Magic Keys Radio last Friday, our two webinar guest speakers, Gail Perry and Claire Meyerhoff, previewed some of the Parties with a Purpose tips, especially on making your fundraising auctions successful. Here are some of the highlights:

– The more festive the atmosphere, the higher the bidding will go. Gail recalled one party where guests were handed free Cosmopolitans as they walked in the door and the auction ended up being a huge success. We aren’t suggesting you get your guests wasted, but the party mood does help!

– Group smaller items together into baskets. Gail recommends starting all auction items, including baskets, at no less than $100. If you have too many small, lower-priced items, you end up with too much stuff to look at and the attention to the bigger items gets diluted.

– Men prefer live auctions more than women. Gails says studies show that women aren’t as keen on live auctions as men, so keep that in mind. For example, a “guy’s vacation” fishing or hunting trip would probably do better in a live auction format than a “gal’s vacation” spa trip.

– Private dinner parties do well. Ask some of your well-known supporters (or great cooks in your crowd) to offer to host an intimate dinner party at their home for four or six people. They’ll donate the catering or price of the food if they are cooking themselves, as well as their time to host the dinner party.

These are just the auction tips . . .  Gail and Claire will have loads more to share about party planning, where to have your event, who to invite, and more during Wednesday’s webinar. Register now if you want to learn how to host the Best Party in Town for your nonprofit!

Photo by Annie Mole on Flickr I didn’t let a cat or my kid pick the webinar pass winners this time. I used a legit random number generator!

Thanks to everyone who completed my recent survey on which webinar topics you want to see most and least.

I’ll be adding these four topics to the webinar schedule before the end of 2008:

– Short & Sweet: Boiling Down Your Message So Everyone Gets It

– How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors and Other Supporters

– Forget the General Public: Defining and Researching Your Target Audience

– Blogging for Nonprofits: Tips, Traps, and Tales

Stay tuned for the actual schedule.

And the five randomly selected free webinar passes go to

Cindy Olnick, Los Angeles Conservancy
Tracy Oster, Communities In Schools of Federal Way
Kristi Bailey, Ronald McDonald House Charities
Ann Balaban, New Beginnings Cat Rescue
Kristen Deitrick, Tennessee Environmental Council

Watch your email for a message from me on how to redeem your freebie!

P.S. Don’t forget Magic Keys Radio, live on Friday at 1:00 p.m. ET - We’ll be interviewing “Parties with a Purpose” expert Gail Perry. Come ask questions!