Content Creation Strategies for Nonprofits: Free Webinar on 7/23

Nearly 400 people voted on the topic for our next Nonprofit Marketing Guide free webinar, and 61% of you picked “Content Creation Strategies: Making the Most of Your Writing, Photos, and More.” So that’s what we are offering on July 23 at 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT).

Register now - 249 people already have! It’s free, but you must pre-register.

Even if you can’t join us live, go ahead and register and you’ll get the links to the recordings 48 hours after the live event.

Here’s what we will cover:

• Why an editorial calendar is the lithium for your content creation mania (you’ll get sample templates for several different kinds of editorial calendars)
• Where to get ideas for new content (you’ll be surprised how much you have once you know where to look)
• Setting realistic goals for yourself and prioritizing which content to create first
• Using technology to speed up your content creation and distribution (and watching for tech pitfalls that can slow you down)
• How to recycle what you create into different formats - and for different audiences
• Ways to organize everything so you can find it and reuse it later
• How to recruit other people to generate content for you (and how to be a kind but decisive editor when they do)

Register now to reserve your space (at the pace we are going, I’ll have to close registration before the 23rd).

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

In the Red Last FY? What to Put in Your Annual Report

One our All-Access Pass holders, Lane Phalen, a board member and PR committee chair for a local humane society called TAILS, recently submitted this question about what you say in an annual report when you are running a deficit:

“TAILS was founded ten years ago and we haven’t done an annual report at all yet. Because we were in the red last year, I had a huge argument with other board members when I said I wanted to do an annual report. They said to do an annual report now would make us look like a sinking ship and people wouldn’t donate.  I felt by letting people know that we needed money, it would raise contributions.  We have had incredible accomplishments during the past ten years, which is what I wanted to highlight.  Can I do an annual report without putting finances in it or down-play them? ”

Here’s what I told Lane:

You have to be honest, but just because you are in the red doesn’t mean you are a sinking ship. There are PLENTY of ways to put a positive spin on it and highlight all of your good work to motivate more donations. It’s all about the attitude in your messaging. Explain why you were in the red (helped more animals than you really could afford to given that donations are down because of the recession, but need is up for the same reasons — or whatever the case may be). Then explain what you are doing to rectify the situation (What changes in decisionmaking have you made? What concrete plans have you made to raise more money or reduce costs?). If you remain upbeat and focused on the results of the organization, and deal honestly with any problems, including red ink, your supporters will respect that and understand.

In my opinion, you are much more likely to be viewed as a sinking ship if you DON’T communicate with your supporters about your work. Hmmm . . . what are those people hiding?

Writing an annual report for the first time? Check out our How to Write a Nonprofit Annual Report on-demand course. It includes our e-book and workbook that will help you write a full-length report, as well as a recording of the one-hour webinar where I explain how to create a great annual report in just four pages. Get the details.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

Mixed Links: Can’t Miss Goodies for Nonprofit Communicators

Here’s a tasty mix of links that I think you’ll find interesting or helpful as you build support for your good cause . . . Happy Friday!

The next edition of the Nonprofit Blog Carnival (founded by yours truly) is coming up and the theme is nonprofit technology. Here’s how to submit your blog post (deadline today!). I’ll send you the link when the Carnival is posted next week.

Have you voted on the topic for the free webinar I’m hosting on July 23? If not, please vote now. Registration will open on July 1. (Just opened registration for five new webinars yesterday with some great guest speakers - check them out!)

Nancy Schwartz has opened up nominations for the 2009 Tagline Awards. A strong tagline does double-duty, extending your organization’s name and mission, while delivering a focused, memorable and repeatable message to your base. Enter your tagline and Nancy will send you a free copy of the fully updated 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Report later this year. It’s the only complete guide to building your org’s brand in 8 words or less — filled with how-tos, don’t-dos and models. You can now follow Nancy’s tagline award news on Twitter at @orgtaglines.

Katya Andresen provides a nice summary of the report written by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine on the lessons learned about fundraising through social media from the Giving Challenge that the Case Foundation sponsored with Parade Magazine last year. I’m adding the full report to my reading pile.

Katya has also had some great posts lately on how nonprofits can tell better stories. Check out this and this.

The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100 is the first public ranking in the United States to value nonprofit organizations by more than financial standing alone. Which nonprofit brands top the list? YMCA, Salvation Army, and United Way are the top three.

New to the nonprofit tech world? Heather Carpenter has created a great all-in-one-place intro to the field (and challenged me to do the same for nonprofit marketing! I’m working on it.)

NTEN offers some tips for nonprofits on online communications that don’t suck.

Here’s how to add an email sign-up form to a Facebook page. Haven’t tried it yet, but sounds like a really good way to offer Facebook fans a more direct way to connect with you. Thanks to John Haydon for the tip. Speaking of Facebook, here are 4 reasons why Facebook might not be right for your organization from Jocelyn Harmon. Jocelyn is going to do a webinar for us in August on how to add personality to your marketing mix.

Enjoy your weekend!

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

This Week: Quickie Annual Reports & Making Nonprofit Writing Better

More than half of the 75 Special Summer Passes to our webinar series have been sold. Only 35 15 left! Attend live or watch the recording of every webinar we host from now until August 31, 2009 and get access to our archive of webinar recordings from the last year, all for $75. Use this special link (you won’t find it elsewhere on the website).

What’s Happening This Week . . .

On Tuesday, I’m teaching a webinar called Quickie Annual Reports: Simple Ways to Share Results with Supporters. I’ll go over my suggested 4-page annual report templates and also provide some ideas for online reports that will be more entertaining and engaging than the standard paper in the mail.

On Thursday, I’m teaching Nonprofit Writing Stinks! How to Bring Your Writing Back to Life. If you find yourself writing in jargon and 501(c)(3)-ese or foundation-ese, this webinar is for you! I’ll show you how to hunt down your trouble spots and fix them, so you write like the passionate human being you really are.

After both webinars, I’ll share some of the Q&A on the blog. You can join us for webinars a la carte ($35 each) or get an All-Access Pass (here’s that summer special link again) and attend everything we do this summer.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

New to the Nonprofit World: Success Stories from All-Access Pass Holders

I hear great stories all the time from nonprofit staff who are using their All-Access Passes to Nonprofit Marketing Guide’s webinar series to get more support for their good causes and to develop their own careers.  Here are stories from three people who are relatively new to the nonprofit sector . . .

“A group of fellow cancer patients and myself recently formed PMP Research Foundation to promote awareness and fund research for our rare form of cancer. Having only a for-profit business background, this whole nonprofit world has been a learning curve. Finding your site has been great. I’ve watched a couple of archived seminars and have attended two live webinars so far.

I like the format of the webinars — the slides are always excellent, the timing is perfect to glean the important details, and the briefing fits into my busy day. I’ve taken advantage of many suggestions which have been implemented via our new email and newsletter campaigns. I’m glad we purchased an All-Access Pass and feel the investment is well worth the money and time spent.”

Lisa Luciano
President, Board of Directors
PMP Research Foundation

*********************************

“I just wanted to let you know how much I’m enjoying your webinars! I started in my very first non-profit in mid-January. I had so much to learn! So I’ve signed up for as many webinars and teleconferences as I can manage. Of the different ones I’m taking in, yours are hands-down the best. The information is right up to date, you lay everything out clearly and you’re so positive and encouraging. Thanks for all the help!

P.S. I was asked to put together a PowerPoint presentation for an upcoming board meeting. Even with compressed photos, it took forever to send in an email. But then I remembered that you recommend SlideShare. So I opened an account and uploaded it there.  The Board members (scattered across the country) were told where they could view it - and we’ve had other traffic besides (free publicity!). So huge thank yous to you!”

Barb McMahon
Director of Communications
Pediatric AIDS Canada

*********************************

“The webinars have been great for me, especially as I just started in this position last December (with no real direct experience in the non-profit world). I really appreciate what I consider my guaranteed weekly learning time!

The “4 page annual report” webinar was terrific, and I am using it as my template to put our report together. The organization of the information and detail included means that it’s pretty much a step-by-step guide I can use to piece it all together. The fact that the webinar included example layouts really helped me envision what I wanted our report to look like as well.

I feel that way with all the webinars I’ve attended - at the very least, it’s a great chance to sit and focus on one important topic, and I always get a minimum of one or two really great ideas that make it an hour very well spent.”

Jude Walton
Community Relations Coordinator
Avalon Housing, Inc.

*********************************

All-Access Pass Summer Special!
Only 39 Passes Left

We are offering 75 Summer Passes to the Nonprofit Marketing Guide webinar series for just $75. The pass will give you access to all of our live and recorded webinars from now through August 31, 2009. New pass holders only - no renewals, please!

Only 39 passes are left. Get yours now! You must use this special link for the Summer Pass.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

Four Common Problems with Donor, Client, and Volunteer Profiles

I’m always talking about the power of storytelling in nonprofit marketing, and a lot of those stories end up taking the form of personal profiles of donors, clients, volunteers and other supporters and partners.

Problem is that many of them are just plain awful.  I see bad profiles falling into four categories:

1. Tedious Bio Syndrome. It’s the narrative equivalent of a resume. Or worse, it starts when they were born. Total snoozer.

2. Too Shallow and Wide. The profile brushes over so many different aspects of the person’s life that we don’t get enough interesting detail about any of them. The cardboard cutout equivalent of a human being.

3. Gushing Flackery. The worst kind of profile that is so obviously written just to kiss up (OK, we know you are just trying to say Thank You, but really, it’s too much). Be nice to your VIPs, but don’t overdo it.

4. Mildly Entertaining, But Pointless. It might be a nice story, but why are you telling it? If your reader doesn’t understand why you are telling her about this person and how it is supposed to make her feel or what it is supposed to motivate her to do herself, then what’s the point?

That’s the bad news. The good news is that I have identified seven different formats for personal profiles that are actually interesting and will therefore do what profiles are intended to do: inspire others!

I’m offering two free ways for you to get some tips on how to write better profiles.

• Magic Keys Radio & Podcast This Friday

On Friday, May 22 at Noon Eastern (9:00 a.m. Pacific), Claire Meyerhoff and I will be hosting another live edition of Magic Keys Radio and we’ll be talking about how to write good donor profiles. You can listen live and call/chat in your questions or you can download the podcast (an MP3 recording) right after the show ends.

• Free Webinar on Tuesday, June 9

On Tuesday, June 9 at 1:00 op.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT), I’m teaching How to Write Moving Personal Profiles about Donors, Clients, and Other Supporters. It’s free, but you do need to register in advance. We’ll talk about seven different ways to write engaging, dramatic profiles about the real people around you.  We’ll also explore some interviewing techniques that will help you uncover the most interesting elements of a person’s story. Get the details and reserve your spot.

Tags: donor profiles, personal profiles
More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

75 Summer All-Access Passes for $75 - Get Yours While You Can!

Update (6/2/09, 1:15 p.m. ET) — Only 15 Summer Passes left!

From right now until they are gone, I’m offering a special Summer All-Access Pass to Nonprofit Marketing Guide. You’ll get all the same stuff that you’d get with the regular All-Access Pass for less money (23% less to be exact).

You can attend live or watch the recording of every webinar we host between now and August 31, 2009 (here’s the schedule). You’ll also get unlimited access to our webinar archive, which houses recordings of nearly all of our webinars from the last year. Our on-demand e-courses on storytelling and annual report writing are included too.

I’m only making 75 of these special Summer Passes* available and I’m only advertising them to friends of Nonprofit Marketing Guide — our blog and email newsletter readers and followers/fans on Twitter and Facebook — You won’t find the special link on the Nonprofit Marketing Guide homepage. Here it is: Get Your Summer All-Access Pass for $75.

I hope you’ll join us this summer for some great training!

*Summer Passes are for new All-Access Passes only (no renewals, please). Pass expires August 31, 2009 regardless of date of purchase.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

How to Share Your Results with Donors

Penelope Burk of Donor-Centered Fundraising fame spoke at the Planned Giving Days conference in DC that I also spoke at yesterday, and one of her main themes was that donors really, really want to hear about what you did with their money in specific, measurable, and meaningful ways before they will give you another gift. (I tweeted highlights from her talk - she’s full of great info, if you aren’t familiar with her research.)

The problem, of course, is that providing solid results is a lot easier said than done. Many of the issues that we work on in the nonprofit world will never be “solved” and those baby steps we are taking toward those big solutions sometimes don’t feel all that significant. Much of what nonprofits do simply can’t be measured effectively in numbers. Much of our success also comes from partnerships or helping other people who are really doing the hard work in their own lives. Taking credit for those results can be tricky too.

One of the better solutions to this results dilemma is to use storytelling to give donors examples of the good work you are doing — examples that are really emblematic of your larger accomplishments, especially when those larger results are hard to quantify or explain.

I’m teaching a webinar on Tuesday, May 19 called Boasting without Bravado: How to Share Your Success Stories.  During the one-hour webinar, you’ll learn how to

• separate your real accomplishments out from all of your activities
• emphasize the parts of your success stories that excite your supporters the most
• take credit by giving credit to others
• build a choir that sings your praises
• use stories to make complicated or esoteric accomplishments easier to grasp
• capitalize on your current successes to build support for future work

We’ll review not only how you write up success stories, but also where and how you can use them to encourage your existing supporters to stay with you and to connect with new supporters too. I hope you’ll join us on Tuesday!

P.S. Get the All-Access Pass now and you can attend the Success Stories webinar, Mal Warwick’s webinar on writing successful fundraising letters (Thursday, May 21) and everything else we host for the next 12 weeks, all for $97.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)