I’ll be teaching several different e-clinics in 2011. These are small group sessions (usually limited to 12-15 people) that include several webinars, a private wiki and discussion board where you can share and network with other participants, and personal coaching with me to improve your skills. They are a great way to get some hands-on…
If you’ve been reading my blog for awhile, you’ll remember the “thank you” note experiment I did in 2008 and 2009. More recently, Marta Lindsey’s experiment on keeping all of the nonprofit direct mail she received for a year was also a big hit. So, I started thinking, what if a bunch of us picked…
Here’s a little holiday surprise for you, courtesy of my friend, movie buff, and fundraiser extraordinaire, Rob Blizard. I suspect many of us will be watching some old movies on the holiday break, and Rob gives you his take on a few of them with fundraising at the core of their plots. Given the active…
I’ve just re-released my popular e-book on how to write a nonprofit annual report. If you are struggling with how to produce one, this guide will answer your questions. This new edition covers the five essentials of a good annual report, as well as what I consider to be the best “new and improved” formats.…
The end of one year and the start of another is always a good time to reflect on what’s important, and what’s not. Sam Davidson has a new book out that will help you do this, while also making you laugh. It’s called 50 Things Your Life Doesn’t Need (Amazon). I especially loved the sections…
I just took a look at the results to date from our survey of nonprofit communicators, as I prepare for our webinar tomorrow (Wednesday) on Trends for 2011 and Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan for 2011. The “How much email is too much (or too little)” question is one I get all the time, so I…
Network for Good just released a new online giving study that provides all kinds of good ideas for increasing the amount of money you can raise online. It’s not about coming up with gimmicks; it’s about creating connections and building relationships with your donors. Here’s one of the central lessons from this study of over…
I’m putting together a Nonprofit Communications Trends Report that I’ll release in January, and I need your input and predictions. Please take just a minute to complete the survey. Here’s what I’m asking: Which communications tools will be very / somewhat / least important to your nonprofit in 2011? How often will you email the…
When Marta Lindsey, the communications and development director at TransForm, told me about her experiment to see what she could learn about fundraising from all the charity solicitations that arrived in her mailbox over one year, I immediately asked if she would share the story with you. Here’s Marta’s account of what she learned. A…
In the e-newsletter I sent out last week to our Learning Center members and others, I said that printed annual reports that are more than four pages long are a waste of time and money. I also said that you might not need to print one at all. I could hear the cries of Hallelujah! and…
Sorry I stood you up the last few weeks for our Mixed Links. If you haven’t heard, we are in the middle of a huge systems upgrade. In the end, it will be a lot easier for our Free Learning Center members and All-Access Pass holders, as well as anyone attending a webinar, to get their…
From today until December 31, we are putting our Annual All-Access Pass to the Nonprofit Marketing Guide Webinar Series on sale for $365 — a dollar a day for training that makes your job easier and makes your nonprofit more effective. Over the course of a year, we present about 45 webinars in the series,…
