Mixed Links: Good Stuff for Nonprofit Communicators

Happy Friday! Here are some “Mixed Links” – my version of a Friday cocktail hour of refreshing stuff for nonprofit communicators.

Using Social Media (and Looking Good While Doing It)

First and foremost, I ask you to contribute to the Nonprofit Technology Network’s Scholarship Fund to get underfunded nonprofits to the Nonprofit Technology Conference in April.  Executive Director Holly Ross is putting it all on the line by letting contributors decide which of three somewhat humiliating tasks she will perform, including a remake of Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on It” video. That Holly is a much braver woman than I am! Go girl! Check out her video request below (which itself is a great example of a fundraising plea to your constituents!) and her update practicing her moves. The deadline for the matching gift from Convio is next week, so please give a little something today and you’ll get to vote on what Holly does.

Speaking of videos, Idealware has a new article on how nonprofits can use video on the web.

Improve your presentations by understanding the right mix of words and graphics on your PowerPoint slides.

Looking for a consultant to help you with your online presence? Check out Beth Harte’s 25 Signs You Have a Strong Social Media Consultant.

John Haydon has a nice interview with Danielle Brigida of the National Wildlife Federation on how they are using social media, especially Twitter.

Know Thy Audience

Here’s a great example of how to segment an audience, “Global Warming’s Six America’s” by the Yale Project on Climate Change (via the Social Marketing listserv).

Josh Koster explains Al Franken’s online ad buys, and in the process, shows how you can use keywords to reach particular types of audience groups (also via the Social Marketing listserv). For example, if want to reach farmers, buy ads  related not to your issue, but to what they are already searching on like “farm supply” and “feed store.”

Getting Your Act Together – Especially in This Economy

Nancy Schwartz has a must-read article out on 90-day nonprofit marketing plans. This is definitely the way to go for you do-it-yourself marketers. And don’t forget the First 100 Days of Your New Nonprofit Marketing Job – the free e-book I released a month ago.

I highly recommend two articles in recent editions of Fundraising Success, by Jeff Brooks and Katya Andresen. They both offer insightful ways to get through the recession. Also check out Fundraising in Tough Times by Mal Warwick.

Fundraising Events

The Chronicle of Philanthropy held an online discussion on changes you should make to your fundraising events based on the economy. We’ll be talking about that a bit too during next week’s webinar, Turning Your Fundraising Event into the Best Party in Town (more than 100 nonprofits are already registered).

Earlier today, Claire Meyerhoff and I hosted Magic Keys Radio on fundraising auctions, featuring Matt Holiday, an expert benefit auctioneer. I learned so much, I see a webinar in our future! For now, you can listen to the podcast below or here. (Sidebar to those of you who aren’t exactly sure what a podcast is: It’s just an audio recording that you can subscribe to if you want, like a blog, so you can get future editions too automatically. But you can also just listen to a single edition if that’s all you want).

Generosity as a Marketing Strategy

Check out  this post by Beth Kanter – be sure to click through the embedded slideshow. It’s easy to see how this can work in the for-profit world, especially for those of us who are social entreprenuers. I’m still thinking about the implications for the nonprofit world (other than cause marketing partnerships with businesses), since most nonprofits already give so much away as part of their basic missions. I’ll post more on this concept of generosity as a nonprofit marketing strategy soon . . .

Have a great weekend! I’ll be busy trying to keep my family from eating all the Girl Scout Cookies we are supposed to be delivering in the next week. (I’m toying with writing a post about my problems with Girl Scout cookie marketing . . .)