I’m accepting applications for the July – December 2104 session of our Mentoring Program for Nonprofit Communications Directors. “What the heck is nonprofit marketing mentoring?” you might be wondering. I think of mentoring as a combination of training, advising and coaching. Through training, I tell you how to do it. With advising (or consulting), I…
We’ve been working with fundraising expert and all-around good guy Tom Ahern for a few years now. Tom is legendary as a guidebook author, donor-centered copywriter, and speaker on the conference circuit. If we introduced you to Tom, you probably know him from our direct mail or donor newsletter e-clinics or from our marketing bequests…
I’ve talked to more than a few communications directors who are stymied in their work by their “visionary” bosses. These communications directors are often in awe of the visionary’s big ideas, creativity, and insights. They really do admire them, and often wish they themselves could be so bold. But that’s where the love stops, and…
Looks familiar, doesn’t it? I think we in communications and marketing are even more prone to both having the “meeting after the meeting” ourselves, and being a victim of it, because so much of our work is creative and therefore up to subjective debate about what’s good and right. And we tinker a lot, so…
I’ve mentored a lot of younger-than-me nonprofit communications directors (I’m 45), and in between the marketing talks, we often chat about career development and how to be more focused, productive and happy in the job. When I look at my own job satisfaction working in this field — and what I think holds back a lot of…
We’ve opened the application process for the July to December 2014 session of our Nonprofit Marketing Guide Mentoring Program for Communications Directors. This will be the sixth “class” to go through the program. Helping you make good marketing decisions for your nonprofit is the primary goal of the Nonprofit Marketing Guide Mentoring Program. I want…
[UPDATED DECEMBER, 2018. PLEASE NOTE WE HAVE MORE FULLY DEVELOPED THE MARKETING MATURITY APPROACH. PLEASE REFER TO THIS POST FOR MORE!] In my work, I’ve found that nonprofits mature through three stages that reflect their attitudes and approaches to communications, marketing, and fundraising. I describe these three phases in Content Marketing for Nonprofits (Amazon). I created an…
I used backpacking as the organizing metaphor in my book, Content Marketing for Nonprofits, so when Bo offered to write this post relating nonprofit leaders to backcountry guides, I thought it was perfect fit. ~Kivi Guest Post by Bo Percival As someone who is passionate about the outdoors, I have long been engaged with backcountry…
We are bringing back our a Day in the Life of a Nonprofit Communicator Series this week, and as I was going through the days of our contributors, I noticed a common trend. See if you can spot it? “Lunch is usually brought from home, and eaten at my desk…” “Eat lunch at my desk…”…
So, I procrastinated on figuring out what I wanted to blog about today. Then Beth Kanter posted about methods of procrastination and how to stop. It’s a great post – check it out. On the “Field Guide to Procrastination,” I am definitely the List Maker, the Sidetracker, and the Snacker (well, the Another Cup of…
Do you write your direct mail appeal letters in-house? Do you wish you had access to a direct mail expert and a community of other nonprofits working on their appeals so you could learn best practices and bounce ideas off of them? If so, you need to join us for our Direct Mail for Small Nonprofits…
Over 1,000 nonprofits registered for our free webinar 7 Changes to Make in 2014 where we reviewed several steps you could take to keep your nonprofit’s marketing and fundraising moving in the right direction in 2014, no matter your experience on the topic. We got such a great response to our action steps, we decided…
