Nonprofits turn to awareness campaigns to increase their visibility and ride the wave of relevancy, often as part of designated awareness weeks and months. While there’s some good advice out there for putting together a campaign that drives people to act, the traditional marketing funnel is failing us when it [...]
If you’re looking for creative ways to broaden the reach and appeal of your fundraising campaigns, cause marketing presents exciting possibilities. From charity events to buy-one-get-one campaigns, cause marketing can invigorate your fundraising efforts and bring in new donors and dollars for mission. A successful partnership leverages the best of [...]
Recently I spoke with a woman who wanted to increase awareness of her nonprofit. “Sara” spoke with passion about all the good work her organization does, but complained that no one knows about them. (Another one of those “best kept secret” organizations!) Sara mentioned several ideas she wants to implement [...]
Nonprofit leaders don’t usually like to talk about the Form 990. Every time I bring it up and my eyes light up, their smiles turn down and a sick look comes over their face. I completely understand. It’s a tedious form with dozens of confusing schedules, half of which aren’t [...]
There’s a good reason why videos are increasingly popular. They’re easy to consume and they can be inexpensive to make. You can do a lot armed with just a smartphone. You don’t need an expensive crew, equipment, and studio to produce a decent-quality video. Three Steps to Scripting a Memorable [...]
There’s no free lunch anymore, if there ever was. At least not when it comes to social media. In the early days it may have seemed like “free marketing” – no stamps, no paper, no printing – but it always took time. So even then you may have been kidding [...]
My first trip outside the United States probably ruined me for “normal” travel. I had an opportunity to work in Kuwait out of college and I took it. Little did I know that experience would whet my appetite for a lifetime of travel to, let’s say … different places. To [...]
It’s no secret that most online users have the attention span of a goldfish nowadays, and creating engaging content can be a difficult endeavor. In lieu of dedicating time to other media or doing a trial-and-error based approach to content creation, your organization needs to utilize video to stand out [...]
With all that it takes to run a successful nonprofit, it could seem easy to have someone already within your organization work to create copy for your website, emails, social media, etc. However, hiring a trained copywriter who has dedicated their time and energy into learning the nuances of language, [...]
Did you know that bequest marketing produces the most ROI (return on investment) of any fundraising activity? In fact, it's “kind of off the charts” according to Tom Ahern. He goes on to say that “While a good major gifts officer can bring in 10 to 20 times her salary, [...]
We've all heard the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words" right? And we have all seen a picture that truly tells a story. A picture that evokes emotion. A picture that compels us to do something. And yet if there is one thing that I see lacking on [...]
If you’re not actively engaging with folks online in today’s digitally-revolutionized zeitgeist, you’re missing a huge opportunity. One of the best ways to engage with folks online is through content marketing. In Part 1 of this three-part series we looked at how you can create a value-for-value exchange with [...]