The year’s fundraising drives are laid out before you and your colleagues. The sting of the Great Recession still hurst most Americans, even if the stinger is gone. The prospects can look intimidating. Even though your charity or nonprofit does good work and has the track record to prove it, this moment might be a […]
#SM4NP: Beware Not Of SM But Of SM Snake Oil & Silver Bullets
If we aren’t careful, we might be entranced to believe social-media networking platforms have been around for quite a while. I mean, if Facebook is valued at $5 billion in its Initial Public Auction, then surely it’s a tried-and-true company that still has room to grow. Right? Before you jump over to your E*Trade account, you might […]
#COMMUNICATIONS: Hashtags Haunt McDonalds’ Foray Into Social Media
If anyone suggests to you that social media lay the yellow-brick road to huge fundraising or provide the silver bullet to finish off negative responses to your company, just smile sweetly and back away. Like any power tool, social-media platforms offer opportunities to do fine work to reach out to new customers, and they offer […]
#Communications: Postal Rates Raised Last Week – Not For Nonprofits
The United States Postal Service has been struggling financially for the last few years. The Bush Administration saddled the service with pre-paying its future retiree benefits for a decade (2006-2016), a demand uniquely imposed on the USPS. Bush’s policy meant the service went from profits in the $1.4 billion range in 2005 to one that […]
#Development: Listening To Social Networks An Important Investment Too
Yesterday we talked about creating content on your business’s or nonprofit’s website that will bring new readers to your site, deepen the loyalty of those already in contact with it, and turn more of them into customers, volunteers, and donors. The creation of such content requires some investment. Staff – at least some staff hours […]
#Communication: Six Tips To Expand Readership On Your Nonprofit’s Blog
We thank you for reading our blog, and we hope to provide relevant, timely, and interesting material for you for 2012. Producing a timely and engaging blog (at least we hope so!) requires some effort. But the opportunities and results they can produce are well worth the investment. If your nonprofit organization has a blog, […]
#SocialNetworks: Videos Demonstrate The Power Of Storytelling For Nonprofits
Perhaps making a series of videos for your organization seems a bit too daunting. Making them certainly will require a bit of planning about the stories to tell, the shooting and editing of the material, and the advertising of the great results. But the return on investment can be huge. And what better way to […]
#Tech: Don’t Confuse Innovation For Implementation This Year
Who doesn’t like to toss out some predictions about the upcoming game/meeting/primary/year? The thing is: predictions about nonprofits and technology tend to push the envelope of the latter while ignoring the needs and practices of the former. Sure, the iPhone 5 might include Near Field Communication (NFC) technology allowing its owners to round up purchases […]