A Small Change…
How to Get Your Donors More Engaged
Jason Dick says that every development professional he knows spends a lot of time thinking about how they can get their current donors more engaged with their fundraising efforts. He says the best way to engage donors is to develop a strong, organization-wide donor cultivation program that keeps your supporters informed and energized about your mission and current initiatives. Here are 5 components that Jason suggests including in your donor engagement plan:

• Motivation—Keep donors energized about your mission and remind them why the work you do is necessary.
• Information—Make donors feel like they are part of your team by communicating with them often through e-mail newsletters, the occasional snail mail letter, and social networks.
• Small asks—Ask your donors for their advice and insight, their time as volunteers, for their leadership on committees and boards, their help finding new supporters and for financial support. This will get people involved and will make them feel comfortable and appreciated.
• Recognition—Constantly recognize your supporters for their work on your behalf and let them know how much you rely on their support.
• Organization—As your non-profit engages more supporters, donors, and volunteers, it will become increasingly difficult to motivate and communicate with your network. Stay organized by writing out your donor engagement plan and specifying which team members will be responsible for the tactics it includes.

Beth’s Blog…
What Tools Are You Using for Listening, Engaging, and Social Media Management?
Based on the discussion threads on her Facebook page, Beth Kanter has updated the mega list of tools in her social media listening and engaging instructional wiki. She says the definition of listening tools has broadened beyond “monitoring” or “research” to include several categories: social media engagement management, analytics, influencer identification, and social network analysis. Some of the tools she has been exploring include Row Feeder, which searches Twitter and Facebook for phrases or hashtags and puts them into a google doc spreadsheet for you. This can save a lot of cut and paste time and is great for analysis. Another tool, Postling, aggregates your social networks into a single dashboard online. Are there any other helpful tools your organized has found for managing its social media networks?

Acronym…
3 Ways My Mind Was Changed at #ASAE10
Another ASAE Annual Meeting has come and gone and in this post, Joe Rominiecki shares the three major ways his personal outlook shifted as a direct result of the meeting. “Just the right amount of anxiety” was a key message during Bob Rosen’s Thought Leader session, where he explained that not enough anxiety makes employees complacent, and too much anxiety paralyzes them with fear, but just the right amount will motivate them to act. Rosen said a leader of any healthy organization must be comfortable with anxiety and that such a capacity enables him or her to lead in two ways: 1) the leader can set an example or show others how to live with anxiety 2) the leader can work to create just the right amount of anxiety within the organization to drive employees toward success. His second takeaway was hyper-focused content. In a session with Sterling Raphael from NFi Studios, he shared how the Virginia Association of Realtors is using news feeds and shared networks to fill out its web content, allowing it to focus its own content generation more efficiently and effectively. Finally, he learned that social media is just a fact of life now. In the 5 learning labs specifically about social media, he got a general impression that social media is just baked in to all the things associations do now. Not every association is at the same level of expertise, of course, but in several instances, he saw social media come up as just one part of a discussion of a bigger subject matter, rather than being its own topic.

By Garry Polmateer

The rate of change in computing technology is only increasing. With all this change, it begs the question, “Are we implementing our applications the right way?” We have lived through the heyday of client/server applications and can see the move to hosted solutions coming. What we are now seeing are changes in the way these applications are selected and delivered. Traditionally, an organization would engage with a number of vendors, demo each product, run through the classic selection process, make a selection, finish an exhaustive requirements review, and finally drop in the new application.

Looking at things now, is this still the way to go? When it is SO EASY to provision application instances for preview, should you consider a pilot program instead? Here are a few reasons why pilots and trials are well suited to hosted applications:

• No infrastructure concerns. The start-up time to get an application up and running is next to nothing compared to traditional client/server applications.
• Hosted applications are scalable. Start a simple pilot with a few users running a few tasks. If it’s a win, expand your user base as necessary to get more staff on the application.
• Low start-up cost. Many hosted applications have flexible pricing models or free trials.  Take advantage of these and run your experiment on someone else’s dime.
• Build a core of power users early. A small pilot program is more manageable, so admins can have more one-on-one time with the users. If the application is selected for full implementation, you already have some staff trained on the solution.
• Fail faster. Getting staff into the application sooner rather than later means failures can be discovered very early in the trial process.
• Fail cheaper. Since it’s early, your user base is small, and the investment is small, failures are less expensive. They occur early in the process giving more time for mitigation or recovery.
• Find out what your users are really doing with the application. It’s easy to write down your thoughts on how the application should be used, but a pilot program is a great way to figure out what the users truly need and use. This leads to better understanding of requirements and implementation strategy going forward.

A few other tips for a successful pilot program:

• Select your users wisely. You need to find some people who are willing to embrace the new technology and are able to have constructive conversations about its use. They must have enough skill to embrace the new application.
• Define the pilot program before it starts.  Set a start date, end date, and check-in meetings before it starts so everyone knows what they are getting involved with. Not only will this help with your users, but with management as well.
• Minimize scope.  Define a few things that the application should be used for during the pilot program.
• Define success metrics. Define some very specific metrics that define if the pilot is indeed “successful.” From there you can gauge the effectiveness of the product and decide if it’s an investment worth making long term. Also be on the lookout for other, unexpected successes to help the application’s value proposition.
• Provide immediate, intense support. Your pilot users are doing you and the company a favor by taking on extra work. Do whatever it takes to keep them happy and using the application. Remember, they are going to be your evangelists to the rest of the staff
• Look towards the future.  As the pilot progresses, keep thinking about the future growth of the product. Think about more staff using it (Horizontal Growth), and staff using more features (Vertical Growth). How can you setup the application be able to deliver in both dimensions?

I hope this gives you a few ideas on an alternative approach to software rollouts. Pilot programs can be a very cost effective way to “vet” an application and figure out its strengths and weaknesses before making a large investment. Hosting of applications as a technology is particularly conducive to allowing for pilot programs, so consider taking advantage of it.

Garry Polmateer has been working with associations since 1999.  He has served in numerous capacities including the membership department and IT management.  In 2008, he moved to NimbleUser and currently functions as a business analyst, providing consultative services to nonprofits and associations.  He also currently resides on the board of directors for an upstate NY nonprofit.

Social Media 4 Nonprofits…
Email Marketing: 7 Easy Ways to Decrease Your Newsletter Unsubscribe Rate
When promoting your organization, a newsletter is a key necessity—it’s a simple yet powerful medium for reaching out to your supporters on a regular basis. Emailing your newsletter means there is no printing or postage costs and you control its appearance, content and frequency. Yet, how do you make sure subscribers stay on the mailing list? People most often unsubscribe from email lists for 3 main reasons—1) irrelevancy of emails 2) too many emails from the sender 3) fear of having their email addresses shared or sold. In order to make sure your email lists grows, you can follow these guidelines:

• Provide relevant content and privacy reassurance
• Don’t ask for donations every single time you send an email
• Keep it brief
• Write good subject lines
• Test your newsletter on different email platforms—a good newsletter will have a consistent look and feel across all email platforms

NTEN…
Where to Start with Interactive E-Reports
When creating an annual report for your organization, it is helpful to identify interactive e-book resources you can use. When should you use an interactive e-book format, and when is the regular old PDF or paper copy fine to use? Before you spend time creating an electronic annual report, the important thing to remember is that you want to make sure you’re working with a tech-savvy audience that will be able to access your report in this format. Think of your audience and your message, and evaluate how your audience is likely to receive that information. And the end of the day, regardless of what tools you choose, the report needs to be designed for the user.  After all, you’re writing the report because you want your audience and community to read it.

Smart Blog on Social Media…
Understanding Social Media ROI in the Nonprofit Space
Despite having different goals, the non-profit and business worlds both approach social media in the same way. Both can use social media tools to improve their human resources and public relations operations. The one difference between non-profits and businesses is whether they view the people they’re trying to reach as customers or members. These industries need to worry about money, but for businesses, profits are the end point whereas the money a non-profit brings in has to support some other goal. Non-profits need to calculate the ROI of their social media presence and use the money they’re bringing in or saving to accomplish their goal. Organizations should start by thinking of their nonfinancial objective, asking how much money is needed to support that objective, and designing social media efforts to support those financial goals. It’s important for non-profits to identify how a social media presence will lead to accomplishing their goals and to set clear metrics for achievements at every step of the way.

With non-profits increasingly leveraging social media tools to enhance communication with their members and donors, many organizations have started to look at how they can utilize email marketing to support these initiatives. Finding the perfect combination of email and social media can help your organization get to know its community better and tailor future appeals based on their interests. By using both of these strategies in your marketing program, your non-profit will also be able to extend the reach of its message to a wider audience.

While organizations are realizing the importance of incorporating both email and social media marketing, many struggle with how to get started. ASI recently spoke with our partner, Informz, on how organizations can get their marketing program off the ground.

• Survey your organization’s top influencers for feedback to find out what networks would they like to see your non-profit on. Select 1 or 2 social channels to focus on and make sure to be active and consistently publish fresh content to these pages.
• Have your power users access the site first to help you set the tone and provide content for the community as well as to supply feedback for improvement. Make sure to clearly explain the value everyone will get out of participating in your social sites.
• Use email to promote them on an ongoing basis—this can be done by including a logo and link to your social sites in the sidebar of your email templates. Try posting a question or discussion topic with a link to chat about the topic further on the social media pages. This makes emails more interactive and helps to develop relationships with members of the community.
• Be sure to highlight and thank those that are most active in the communities. Acknowledging these contributors can also help motivate others to become active on the site.
• Non-profits can use social media channels to promote their organizations’ newsletters and grow its subscriber bases by providing opt-ins on social media channels and using incentives to encourage people to sign up.

Integrating email and social media into your organization’s marketing program can produce great results. By following these tips, non-profits can create a successful marketing plan that will help them spread their message to a larger audience.

New Philanthropy Capital’s Blog…
Mappiness: How Happy Are You?
Mappiness is a free app available for your iPhone. It asks you questions about how you are feeling, who you are with, where you are and what you are doing. The data is sent anonymously to the London School of Economics for their new research project on how people’s feelings are affected by their environment. Why is mapping happiness important for non-profits? It can help organizations understand the difference they make in people’s lives. Measuring well-being offers a vital opportunity to help charities demonstrate and improve their impact, and help the government and private funders support the most effective services. If you’re wondering what’s the key to happiness—try mapping your well-being.

Philantopic…
15 Ways to Improve Grantee Communication at Your Foundation
Clear communication with grantees matters. Grantees are typically a foundation’s chosen agents of change selected for their ability to create impact. Below are some recommendations for improving grantee communication:

• Consistently communicate your foundation’s goals and strategies through written and verbal communication with applications and grantees. Consistent communication leads to a trusting relationship.
• Regularly discuss grantee communication challenges, best practices and grant-seeker feedback survey results at program team and staff meetings.
• Ensure program staff has adequate time and resources for consistent grantee communication.

Has your foundation made efforts to improve its communications with grantees? What communications strategies work best for you?

Marion Conway – Consultant to Nonprofits…
A Creative Way to Nurture a Blog
Non-profit consultant Marion Conway offers tips to bloggers on how to write at least seven posts a month. Marion says that non-profit directors sometimes roll their eyes when she recommends starting a blog and say they “don’t have time.” Yet, maintaining a blog can be simple. She suggests three post topics. For the first post, the executive director should write on industry news, trends and advocacy issues related to your mission. Use a graphic to compliment the article. Next, the program director should write about a program event that has either already happened or is about to happen. A third post idea— Wordless Wednesday. Every Wednesday, post a picture with a caption—no article necessary. Having a predictable pattern will cause people to come back to your blog on a regular basis. Once you make an effort to begin your blog, you’ll see that it is a simple but an effective way to increase your non-profit’s exposure.

Socialize Your Cause…
6 Ways to Stay in Touch With Your Supporters
In the crowded non-profit world, an organization’s job is to establish its niche, maintain communication and make sure its message is heard. The truth is that people will not automatically support a non-profit just because it’s doing great things for the community. The following tips will help organizations stay out of obscurity and engage community members:

• Know your audience.
• Be consistent with the way you communicate.
• Have a visual identity that your audience can relate to.
• Use more than one tactic in your communications.
• Use the right media for your message.
• Tell the story of the organization’s mission.

Utilizing these tips will help your non-profit develop a strong, valued image. Through consistent communication, an organization will have the ability to raise awareness and support its goals.

Get Fully Funded Blog…
7 Simple Steps to Online Fundraising
Sandy Rees says she is often asked how to raise money online because many people think it will be difficult, but it’s actually very simple. Her seven tips include collecting email addresses at every opportunity—ask both online and off, and make sure you have a sign-up box on your website for people to enter their names and email addresses. Make sure to send regular, consistent newsletters and updates. The key is to send information that interests your audience. As for your website, include a big “donate” button, tell a story to make the site interesting, and make sure it clearly states who your organization is and the need it is working to fill. Lastly, be concise by keeping text short and to the point. What other tips can help make an online fundraising campaign successful?

Acronym…
Association Chapter Permaculture: Value Edges
Associations are familiar with the maxim that innovation comes from the edges. Chapters are places where an association’s industry and its practitioners interact with the community, and where new ideas emerge. Unfortunately, innovations created by chapters are often ignored by the national organization. A permaculture approach pays attention to these edges. The energy giving rise to diverse ideas at an association’s edges can be protected by recognizing and celebrating the innovations through something as simple as the association’s newsletter. You can support a chapter with administrative services that enable chapter leaders to focus on programming. In addition to being recognized, an association’s edges can be actively cultivated and developed to increase the association’s productivity. Actively cultivating a chapter means encouraging it to share or sell its innovations across the network. While every chapter has to have levels of productivity according to local conditions, every chapter should also be valued.

FORUM’S Forum
Closing Keynote Questions Relevance of Regionals
At the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers conference, speaker Byron Harrell discussed the changes that regional associations need to make. “How will regional associations remain relevant if their underlying member foundations do not?” Byron asked. He suggested some ways in which regional associations can help member foundations stay relevant:

• Regional associations can provide a space to help foundations discuss failures and lessons learned.
• They can encourage foundations to discuss and determine their appropriate role in a new environment.
• Regional associations can help get the ear of government in a way that individual foundations cannot.

In closing, Byron said, “The future is bright for membership organizations that add value and that help find a new balance between government, public, business and wealth.”

By Nathan Slovin, Executive Director of ASI’s iMIS Business Excellence Forum (iBEF)

I am still buzzing from a recent iBEF Conference in Toronto.

In our pregame briefing earlier in the week we learned that we would have an interesting mix of executives and organization types attending this Conference; representatives from regulatory agencies, professional societies, accountant, architect, church, management, municipalities, trucking groups as well as a business school. A wide range of attendees means different perspectives, different needs, different wants, but they all had one thing in common, “they use iMIS software and they want it work well.”

My expectations of the discussions at this conference were exceeded by the engaged and energetic dialogue that took place. Remember the agenda is set by those who “show up.” Thank you to all of you who attended and participated in this Conference. Thank you for showing up.

I think Woody Allen said that, “80% of success is just showing up.” That must be like the 4 out of 5 dentists who recommend sugarless gum! Anyway, I have always felt that there are three levels of showing up. Sometimes, after all, the stars align in the worst way to prevent you from being at your best or even from being on time.

So, first and foremost, just showing up is good. Showing up on time is great. And of course, the best habit to acquire is showing up on time and ready to contribute, which makes you valuable at every meeting. It is amazing to me how many people show up at meetings not ready to participate. If you are not going to add your voice or your experience to the discussion, why bother showing up? Isn’t that a waste of your time?

When you show up prepared and ready to contribute, your input becomes important. It makes the final decision stronger when every corner of the organization (including yours) participates in this way. Imagine how valuable you become when you show up with important information and ideas. Isn’t that the reputation you want to earn?

As I tell anyone who will listen, “the iBEF Conference is the beginning of an executive level conversation about strategy, planning and continuous improvement, discovering what others are doing, what ASI is doing and what iMIS can do that you did not know.”

And the Conference easily met this standard. In the coming weeks we will continue on-line (through our blog) some of the conversations we started in Toronto on iMIS Analytics, Task Centre, Data Management, Performance Management and iMobile. If you have thoughts on any of these topics send me your comments and I will include them here on the blog.

Please consider joining us at one of the upcoming iBEF Conferences in 2010 (note: If you travel by air to attend a Conference and stay overnight dinner is on me!):

Socialize Your Cause…
6 Changes to Boost Your Website’s Performance
A non-profit’s website is its most valuable marketing tool since it is the first place people go to learn more about the organization. Your site may look good, but if it doesn’t perform (meaning it doesn’t inspire visitors to sign-up, donate or take action because it’s boring or difficult to navigate), then your website is failing you. This post offers six changes to help you improve your site’s performance.

• Install Google Analytics and use it. After monitoring analytics for a few months, you will be able to see how various elements of your site perform, determine what keywords people are using to find you and track the conversion process.
• Make sure everything is easy for your site’s visitors. The navigation menu’s job is to help people find what they’re looking for, so keep it simple. Include your e-news sign up at the top of every single page, so visitors can stay informed.  Make sure your donate button stands out and that the donation form is no more than one or two clicks away.
• Improve your website’s copy by keeping it short, snappy and sweetened with visuals. Think of it as a conversation—talk with people through your copy and use the simplest language possible. It’s also helpful to have regularly updated content, optimized URLs and header tags to increase SEO.

Frogloop…
There’s More to Marketing than Social Media
Nancy Schwartz says that while social media tools can benefit a non-profit’s marketing plan, they should never lead your agenda. She says the intense focus on social media often comes at the expense of non-profit marketing basics. The basics are your route to breakthrough marketing—begin with a thorough, realistic (but ambitious) marketing plan to define your organization’s steps and make the most of what your non-profit has to offer in a way that connects with the supporters you need to engage. Nancy thinks that social media tools won’t do that. Marketing basics—from getting to know your audience, planning your path, crafting meaningful, memorable messaging that connects their wants and yours, defining the best ways (likely to include social media plus “traditional” online channels such as email and your website, and offline outreach as well) to engage those folks in productive conversation and action, and measuring the impact of your work—will.

A Small Change…
Tips on Building Good Proposals
Jason Dick shares a few tips he has found useful for building good proposals. First, try to put yourself in the mind of the donor and think through the proposal from his or her perspective. He also suggests keeping it short and including a picture or story—pictures can say a lot more than words, and stories can reveal an attitude or philosophy often better than facts and figures. Next, include measurable outcomes because, if donors’ funding will do something specific, it’s important to illustrate what that specific something is. If you have a special plan to recognize a donor’s gift, explain what you are going to do. Finally, include some statistics about your organization and the people you serve to support your vision for the donor’s gift. Do you have any other tips to share that you have found beneficial when creating a proposal?

Fundraisers, you know the importance of donors’ first gifts. You know that these contributions mark the beginning of a long journey of support for your cause; however, in order to make sure your donors’ first gifts aren’t their last, you will need to use your donor database.

In a recent FundRaising Success article, ASI’s Robin Fisk explains how you can guide donors’ journeys with your database. According to Robin, donor management software can help you understand supporters’ donation patterns and their next steps when it comes to giving.

Does the donor database you have support successful fundraising? Before relying on a database to guide donors’ journeys, make sure you select the database that will provide you with the best results. Your donor database shouldn’t cause stress—it should be a simple tool to help you plan and track a fundraising strategy’s effectiveness. Use your system to research what actions supporters have historically taken with your organization. It is important to remember that donors are not always predictable. While some may follow a particular pattern of donations, others may skip steps. Fortunately, your donor database can help you understand each donor’s individual actions.

Record the milestones a supporter has reached, such as passing a lifetime donation value, in your database. It should also include a complete giving history over at least the last five years or so for each donor. By coding the donors on your database according to their milestones and giving history, you are able to plan activities for your donors based on their progress so far. The planned activities present them with opportunities to extend and deepen their support.

You might also notice some undesirable journeys, such as a single cash gift followed by a pattern of attrition. This may point to improvements your organization can make in communication or supporter care policies, and can help prevent similar situations from happening in the future.

In the end, your database can provide tremendously useful information that will take the guesswork out of donor development planning and successfully guide your donor through the journey of supporting your cause.

NTEN…
Creating Website Content: What Do Your Visitors Really Want?
How can non-profits create website content that all kinds of potential visitors will find interesting and engaging? Kivi Leroux Miller groups your website visitors into three categories: strangers, friends and fans. If someone knows nothing about your organization and lands on your website, the first thing you want them to see is the answer to their question. Kivi suggests devoting space on your home page and/or within your navigation to answering the three big questions most likely to bring strangers to your site. In doing this, they are more likely to become friends, which are people who have a favorable impression of you. For this group, help them learn more about what you do by telling stories about people like them so they can see that they belong. Fans are people who know you well and love you. They are ready and willing to help—as long as you make it easy for them. Give your fans clear calls to action so they know exactly what they can do to help or support you. Encourage them to connect with you in lots of different ways—when they mention you on Twitter, comment on a Facebook update or reply to your email newsletter, respond and thank them.

Socialize Your Cause…
Relationships 101 – Let the Games Begin
In the second installment of Liz Kazeck’s relationships 101 series, she continues to examine social media through the lens of dating—the next step is introducing your organization to the world. First, she recommends not  being intimidated; start reaching out to individuals and other organizations you already know online and introduce yourself to some of their friends and followers to see where it leads. While you are looking (and hoping) for quality supporters, recognize that there is also strength in numbers—having more people in your network increases the number of opportunities you’ll have to develop champions for your cause. Start building relationships by letting your followers, friends and fans know you are interested in them. Respond to requests in a timely manner, and thank individuals and organizations for following your cause. Finally, remember that each connection you make online reflects your organization and simultaneously extends its reach. Protect your image by making sure this growth is headed in a positive direction.

Future Fundraising Now…
How Many People are Likely to Give – Now and in the Future
Jeff Brooks looks at a new Fundraising Growth Now! Chart by TrueSense Marketing. It shows the number of people in the U.S. between the ages of 55 and 85—the age range of the overwhelming majority of donors that give to charitable causes. By drawing a vertical line along any year on the chart, you can see which generations are (or will be) in that prime donor demographic at that time. Here are some highlights:

• We have just entered the era of Boomer dominance—one that will last until 2033. Jeff says if you haven’t figured out Boomer fundraising, you’d better start.
• Generation X is coming, but they’re ten years away and won’t dominate until 2033. It’s probably too early to be concerned about what this group’s presence will mean, but sooner or later, fundraisers will need to start thinking about it.
• Generation Y doesn’t show up until 2035 and won’t dominate giving for quite some time.