Yesterday in “10 Donations. 3 Thank-Yous. 7 Failures to Communicate,” I shared the results of my recent giving experiment, where only 3 out of 10 national nonprofits acknowledged my gift with a thank-you. These results mimic last year’s, and in the comments on last year’s post, a few people suggested that the fact that the…
It’s time to share the results of my 2009-2010 “What I Got When I Gave” Experiment. The point of this experiment is to see what kind of communications response I get in return for unsolicited donations to national charities. This does not include the automated email receipt that I get from the payment processor; I’m…
I’ve been working as a volunteer board member with Positive Wellness Alliance (PWA), a small nonprofit that serves low-income people with HIV/AIDS, to incorporate more storytelling and more gratitude into their donor communications. If you’ve been reading this blog for long, you know how strongly I believe in both storytelling and thank-yous as powerful nonprofit…
I’m so excited that Nancy Schwartz is our guest expert for our monthly coaching call next week! As you may know, Nancy recently completed a huge survey on nonprofit messaging and she has some interesting data to share about the nonprofit community feels about its messaging to supporters. Even better, she has some great advice…
I just wrapped up an hour-long teleconference for Network for Good’s Nonprofit 911 series titled “Ensuring Your E-Newsletters are Read – Not Dead – On Arrival This Year.” The focus of the call was on creating a newsletter strategy that really provides value for your readers. I created two new pages at Nonprofit Marketing Guide…
With freezing rain falling and snow on the ground here in North Carolina, it’s time for some hot mixed links! Online Outreach on a Budget – Nonprofit Blog Carnival The first 2010 edition of the Nonprofit Blog Carnival is now online at Issue Lab’s Footnotes and it’s all about doing online outreach on a budget.…
Tomorrow I’m presenting a brand new webinar on How to Integrate Your Website, Email Newsletter, and Social Media Sites. It was the #1 requested topic in last fall’s survey of what you wanted to see on the weekly webinar series schedule. I have to admit, it’s a rather ambitious topic for one hour. I’m in…
This blog is all about helping small nonprofits and one-person marketing departments communicate as effectively as possible with their supporters. Sometimes the best way to do that is to outsource your content creation to a professional freelance writer. The problem is that there really aren’t all that many writers who specialize in producing the kind…
A good nonprofit annual report answers the questions that donors are most likely to have about last year’s work: What did you do? Whom did you help? On what did you spend money? Where did that money come from? But the single most important question that your annual report must answer is “So what?” You…
I’ve been asked to contribute a chapter to an upcoming book called “Nonprofit Management 101: A Field Guide for Social Sector Professionals” that Jossey-Bass will be publishing in early 2011. My chapter will be on crafting an effective newsletter strategy. I want to include lots of real-world anecdotes and lessons learned in the chapter. Do…
I’ll share my three predictions for nonprofit marketing in 2010 with you in just a second, but here’s one prediction that I know for a fact will come true: I’ll keep referring you to Beth Kanter for all questions social media that are too difficult for me to answer. You all have a lot of…
On Tuesday, January 12, I’m hosting an interactive conference call on “Nonprofit Marketing: Doing It Yourself Without Doing Yourself In.” It’s a new training based on a section in my upcoming book that’s written especially for all of you who are one-person communications departments or executive directors do it all on your own. I’ll share…
