Is podcasting making a big comeback? It seems like every year, I read an article saying Yes. Despite all the interest in more visual content, there’s something very compelling about rich audio content that doesn’t require you to stare directly at it or to hold it in your hands. Pop in some earbuds or use…
I’ve encouraged an open conversation about the long-term impact of this year’s Give Local America Day fiasco, including inviting guest commentary. Jay Love, CEO of Bloomerang, took me up on the offer with today’s post. ~Kivi Online days of giving like Giving Tuesday, Brackets for Good, and Give Local America have become wonderful fundraising tools for…
I’m thinking about hiring interns or apprentices here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide to help with some evolving ideas. But I’m not sure which, or what it would look like exactly, so I would love some feedback. For a variety of reasons, I don’t want another regular employee, at least right now. Nor do I want…
Many nonprofit communications directors feel like they work in a constant state of chaos. You likely feel overwhelmed and understaffed. Odds are you don’t have enough time to think or plan, so you just do, do, do. And the to-dos don’t stop coming. Your desk is the dumping ground for every good idea in the…
Our team is working on the creation of a new guide on nonprofit storybanking and photobanking. You get great stories and photos, but how do you organize them? How do you find what you need months later? How do you give the right people access? When does the content “expire” and should it be deleted? What…
We talk a lot about storytelling in the nonprofit sector: how stories build through their first, second, and third acts and how all story arcs need beginnings, middles, and ends. When I do storytelling training, I compare the stories that nonprofits tell to a TV series. You have the short-lived, episodic stories that start and…
Yesterday, May 3, was Give Local America Day. In many of the 50+ communities that participated, today — May 4 — is now also Give Local America Day. That’s because Kimbia’s giving platform crashed for most of yesterday, so they had to extend the campaign into today. Kimbia is going to have hell to pay…
Here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide, we survey communications and fundraising staff all the time. So it’s interesting for me to hear what staff who aren’t directly responsible for those functions have to say about nonprofit marketing. Marc Pitman of the Concord Leadership Group recently surveyed over 1,000 nonprofit leaders, 60% of whom are executive directors…
There’s a great conversation happening about whether one person can be both the communications and the development director in the Nonprofit Communications Professionals Facebook Group. Here’s the original question: I’m seeing so many job ads lately for communications AND development managers/directors. I thought orgs were finally wising up and realizing that they’re generally not…
If your nonprofit is still doing an e-newsletter over here and doing social media over there, as if they were two people who only occasionally glance at each other from across the room, you have some matchmaking to do. It’s time to marry your e-newsletter and social media strategies. Think about it: for most nonprofits,…
You know that an editorial calendar is a great tool, in theory. But for some organizations — especially those involved in advocacy and disasters — planning out content seems nearly impossible. How can you plan when you are waiting on the unpredictable behaviors of a legislative or judicial body, on breaking news in a particular…
Last week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy published an op-ed I wrote called Why Your Communications Directors is Unhappy and What to Do About It (Subscription required, unfortunately.) In the piece, I talk about the frustrations communications directors share with us every day via our training and mentoring programs, as well as data from the 2016 Nonprofit…
