Just Donated $400 Without Spending a Dime - Here’s How

Photo by TPHolland on Flickr

I went online this afternoon thinking I would cash in some points on my Capital One credit card for gift certificates. Then I noticed the Capital One No Hassle Giving Site - a partnership with one my favorite services, Network for Good. Instead of gift certificates for the nieces and nephews, I ended up cashing in 40,000 points to make $25 donations to 16 nonprofits.

Capital One covers the transaction fees, so 100% of your donation, paid for with a charge to your card or by redeeming points, goes to your charity.

This is a beautiful thing for me because

(1) It’s “free” to me. Yes, I did spend a whole lot of dimes over the last year or two to rack up those points, but I have no out-of-pocket costs now to make these donations.

(2) The donations are fully tax-deductible as cash equivalents.

(3) While I had intended to make a few more charitable gifts before year’s end, I didn’t intend to give to 16 groups. But spending the points was like free money. I couldn’t stop myself. It was really fun.

(4) Always looking for a blogging angle, I’m going to add this to my ongoing “What I Got When I Gave” experiment, where I keep track of the communications I receive from various nonprofits after making a first-time donation. I’ll let you know what happens with this batch of donations.

Now, how can you use this information?

Capital One has about 50 million customer accounts. Odds are many of your supporters have one of their cards in their wallets. Why not include a link to the No Hassle Giving site in your next email newsletter asking the Capital One card holders to redeem some points for you?

Now what the heck am I getting the nieces and nephews?

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A Donation Thank You Letter Impresses Claire

By Guest Blogger and Media Maven Claire “Voyant” Meyerhoff

Here at Non Profit Marketing Guide.com, we love to talk about — and show you — examples of things that work well. And we love stories.

Your communications materials are an extension of your organization, your services, and your clients, and in some cases, they are the only connection you’ll ever have with a donor. They take all shapes and forms. It could be a letter, a phone call, a website, an e-mail, a newsletter, an e-mail newsletter or the big-enchilada of all . . .

. . . the Thank You Letter.

So here’s my story:

The other day, I was thinking about an old friend who died fourteen years ago. Gino DeMarco was a truly wonderful guy, who at age 34, lost his life in a commercial airline crash. In his honor, his mother Doris DeMarco and his brother Chris DeMarco set up a scholarship at Gino’s alma mater, Holy Cross High School in Flushing, New York.

I was thinking about Gino, recalled the fund, but couldn’t remember if I’d ever donated. Feeling guilty, I went online, found the website, and in moments had made a donation of $100. Their website made it so easy and I had no problem donating to the specific fund, the Gino DeMarco Memorial Scholarship.

Two or three days later, I got a manila envelope in the mail from Holy Cross, with a thank-you letter inside.

And there was something else. A nice certificate that said; “Holy Cross High School presents this certificate to Claire Meyerhoff in recognition of outstanding support to the 2009-2009 Annual Fund; The Gino Demarco ‘78 Scholarship Fund.”

I couldn’t remember EVER getting a certificate for a donation, so I called the school to find out more. I spoke with Susan Fields, the Advancement Director, and she told me they send certificates for donations of $100 or higher.

“People love to have something with their name on it,” said Susan. “We’ve been doing it for years and our annual fund continues to grow every year. You could send donors a pen or another gift, but I think people just seem to like something that’s personalized.”

Also, on the letter, was a cc to Gino’s brother, Chris DeMarco, and Chris’s address. From a donor’s perspective, that made me realize two things: the school is closely tied to their people and they were including me in their circle.

Since I’m in the business of nonprofit communication, I look at these things differently than most donors. I think, “why does this work?”

It works because donors want to feel like their gift is greatly appreciated and to feel personally connected to the organization’s good work. It seems a personalized certificate manages to do both.

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Did These 75 Nonprofits Get It Right? Or Not?

This week I’m asking for your help in crafting the schedule for the Nonprofit Marketing Guide Weekly Webinar Series in 2009. The results of this survey will determine what goes on the schedule, who I recruit as  guest speakers, etc. Take the survey now.

Seventy-five nonprofits have completed the survey this week and here are the top three vote getters (most interested in attending a webinar on this topic) so far:

– Creating Evangelists: How to Excite and Motivate Your Supporters

– How to Position Your Nonprofit as an Expert Source

– Building an Online Community of Supporters

And here are the bottom three (least interesting webinar topics):

– Marketing Strategies for Membership Organizations

– Marketing Strategies for Policy and Research Organizations

– Creating a New Logo: How to Get It Right

What do you think belongs on the schedule? Another 35 topics are in the middle of the pack right now.  Please let me know by this weekend as I’m spending Thanksgiving Week pulling the 2009 calendar together. Fill out the survey now and you’ll be entered into a drawing for free webinar passes.

Thanks!

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Being Thankful @ the Carnival This Week

The current edition of the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants is now up at Social Butterfly where the theme is Giving Thanks.

The next two editions will be hosted by The Hatcher Group (theme is “best practices for nonprofits using social media” - deadline for submissions is December 1) and by Nonprofits at About.com around December 15.  To submit a blog post for consideration by these hosts, send your post permalink to npc.carnival@yahoo.com or use the BlogCarnival submission form.

P.S. Claire Meyerhoff and I will be doing a “Give Thanks” edition of Magic Keys Radio & Podcast this Friday at 1:00 p.m. Eastern. We’ll be talking about what we and other nonprofit communicators should be thankful for.  Come call in what you are thankful for, whatever that may be . . .  certain people, resources, situations, trends, you name it. Listen to the Show

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“What’s the Buzz” - Listening Webinar Recording Now Online

Last week, Lindy Dreyer (SocialFish.org) and I hosted a free half-hour webinar called “What’s the Buzz? Find Out Who’s Talking About Your Organization and Issues Online”  - or what’s called “social media listening” by the Web 2.0 cool kids.

We talked about why you should be listening to online conversations and how you can use what you hear to improve your nonprofit’s programs and marketing. We also walked through how to set up several easy, free listening tools.

If you missed it, you can watch the recording: What’s the Buzz? (Windows Media Video .wmv)

You’ll also find some good follow-up links here.

Tags: listening
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25 Interview Questions to Help You Write Newsletter Profiles

Photo by aymlis on Flickr

Profiles of donors, volunteers, clients, and other supporters are a staple of nonprofit newsletters. You can also use them in your annual reports and other marketing materials.

Today I posted 25 different questions you can ask when interviewing the people you’d like to profile. These questions will help find that special something about the person that makes them really worth profiling and that will be of keen interest to your newsletter readers (remember, you still need to write for your reader, even when you are profiling someone special in your organization!).

I’ll be sharing lots of tips on how to write personal profiles and how your nonprofit can use them during the webinar on Thursday, November 20, 2008 called How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors, Clients, and Other Supporters.

P.S. Still looking for your thoughts on the 2009 Weekly Webinar Series . . . Here’s the Quick Survey.

Tags: profiles
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Writing Supporter Profiles: Some Interviewing Tips

How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors, Clients, and Other Supporters It’s This Week’s Webinar Thursday, November 20, 2008 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT) Registration is $35.

Nonprofits use personal profiles (aka personality profiles) all the time. You’ll often find them under headings like Volunteer Spotlight, Friends of (Your Issue), and Meet the Board.  Nonprofits also use profiles as one form of storytelling to put a specific human face on their programs, accomplishments, needs, and advocacy positions.

Every good profile starts with an interview. Here are some tips I’ve learned after writing many a profile over the years.

Don’t ask for information you can easily get elsewhere. Do your homework. Don’t ask your board chair where she works or what her title is. Don’t ask a donor how much he has given your organization. You should already have that information. It’s OK to ask people to confirm the spelling of their names or if the total amount donated over several years sounds right to them, but this should be presented as quick fact-checking, not as part of the interview.

Be flexible about the format. You can get the information you need whether you conduct the interview in person, over the phone, or via email. I find it’s actually easier to take good notes while interviewing over the phone, rather than in person, because you don’t have to worry about maintaining eye contact, and I can type much faster than I can write. People who are a bit nervous about being interviewed often prefer email, because it gives them time to mull over their answers.

Prepare a list of questions, but be willing to stray from it. Come up with some good questions to get the conversation going, but don’t be afraid to ask new questions or take the interview in a different direction, as long as you are getting good details and quotes. Listen for intriguing details or good sound bites and follow them.

Ask open-ended questions that contain “emotional” words. Fact-filled profiles simply aren’t as interesting as those full of feeling and emotion. To get your subject to provide you with good anecdotes and quotes, ask questions that are variations on “How did that make you feel?” Try questions like “What has surprised you most about . . . ?,” “What upsets you most about . . . ?,” and “What do you remember most about . . .”

If you are writing the story with a specific purpose in mind, ask some leading questions. For example, if you are profiling Mrs. Smith because she put your nonprofit in her will, and you want to encourage others to do the same, you need to ask Mrs. Smith some leading questions to elicit the right kind of quotes. For example, you might ask, “Why did you select our nonprofit specifically when you could have left your gift to any group?” and “How did you feel after you made the decision?” Asking donors about the kind of legacy they want to leave behind can also work well.

Give the interviewee control over the content. This is not hard news or “gotcha” journalism. You are profiling people because you care about them and because they care about your cause. Ask if your profile subject would like to see the story you write before it is published (most will say yes). Give them a few days to get back to you with any changes they feel are important. This ensures not only that you have your facts straight, but that your supporters are pleased with the way they are portrayed in your communications.

Want More? Writing great personal profiles that you can use in marketing your nonprofit is the topic of this Thursday’s Nonprofit Marketing Guide webinar, “How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors, Clients, and Other Supporters.”

P.S. Tell me what webinars you want to see on the 2009 schedule. It’s a quick survey, and there are free webinar passes up for grabs!

Tags: profiles
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What Should Go on the 2009 Webinar Schedule? You Tell Me!

. . . me decide what should go on the 2009 Weekly Webinar Series schedule. Complete the quick survey now. Photo by FutureShape on Flickr

I’m working on the weekly webinar series schedule for next year and need to know what’s most important to you!

Please take this quick survey and let me know which topics you are most interested in and which ones you aren’t.

As with past surveys, I’ll guarantee that the top five vote-getters are on the schedule no later than April 2009.

And I’m also giving away free webinar passes to five randomly selected respondents!

Take the survey now.

Thanks!

Tags: nonprofit training, online training, webinar
More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)