Here are a few items I’ve found particularly interesting lately:
Community Media Workshop has posted some Myths and Realities to Nonprofit Communications. Do you agree with the myths and realities? I may come up with a list of my own . . .
The Prospecting section of the Chronicle of Philanthropy printed a draft direct appeal letter from a first-time fundraiser and asked for comments on it. If you can skip over the whining about it raising money for a religious organization, you’ll find some great tips in the comments.
Common Knowledge is sharing the results on an online fundraising strategy it calls Rapid Donor Cultivation (free white paper download with registration). It explains how they increased conversion of newsletter subscribers to donors for one nonprofit by 83%. (Thanks to Prospecting for the tip.)
Here is yet another example from Beth Kanter about how you can use a large online social network to raise money quickly. Be sure to click through Beth’s slides at the bottom of this post for some of the secrets to her success. Here’s another one: she only asks for $10 per person, which is very doable if you care about the person asking, even if you don’t really care about their cause beyond “oh, that’s nice.”
For Impact shows you how to hone your message down to just six words.
Still don’t get Twitter? Look at how some associations are using Twitter at Association Marketing Springboard.
Katya Andresen at Nonprofit Marketing Blog shares some great tips on using photos online.
And here is my favorite of the bunch, from Donor Power Blog: Are Your Donors an “Uncontacted Tribe”? This analogy is so hilarious because it’s so true for too many nonprofits. Love it. Will probably steal it for a presentation (with due credit to the brilliant Mr. Brooks, of course).
