#NONPROFIT: The 501(c)4 Conundrum & The IRS’s Challenges To Tea Party Groups
The scuttlebutt over the IRS’s double-standards concerning political nonprofits associated with the Tea Party and those associated with other center-right causes is likely well known to our readers. What underlies the conflict has less to do with politics, though, and much more to do with semantics. If the case forces the issue of tax reform upon our politicians, then perhaps that outcome is for the best (both parties agree to the need for reforms, though reformed in which directions remains terribly contentious). But as reforms are discussed − perhaps even implemented − nonprofits should stay aware of where new lines might be drawn.
| Category Advocacy, Civics, Community, Conference/Congress, Cross-Post, Development, Education: General, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Don Akchin Leads Workshop for Members of Maryland Nonprofits
Don Akchin, a charter member of Nonprofit Marketing 360, led a workshop for members of Maryland Nonprofits on Tuesday, May 14 on “Tell Your Story So People Care (and Give!)”
Everyone ought to know about the great work your organization does, but how do you get their attention – or better yet, their support? You begin by telling your story well. This interactive session will show participants how to convert the mission, vision and accomplishments of their organizations into compelling stories that spark the interest of media and prospective donors. In addition, this class will examine ways to frame stories effectively for different audiences.
For more information about Don, his work with nonprofits, and future workshops, please visit Don Akchin Strategic Communications.
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| Category Communications, Cross-Post, Education: General, Nonprofit, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#SOCIALMEDIA: Facebook Quietly Rolls Out ‘Gifts’ & Nonprofits Can Get Them Too
Over this past spring Facebook has been expanding its Gifts service as a way to offer presents to family and friends. The service can be activated by clicking on the bowed gift box that appears on your organization’s News Feed or on the page of the person or nonprofit you want to give the gift to. Though the service is being touted as a way to connect to individuals and help them celebrate birthdays, milestones, promotions, etc., Facebook Gifts also offers opportunities to make donations to a small but growing number of nonprofits. How far will the service expand?
| Category Cause Marketing, Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Donor Acquisition, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Outreach Tactics & Technologies Need To Adjust To Demographics
With the texts and tweets and the touchscreens and with those crazy(-cool) Google goggles and whatnot, a nonprofit would be daft to send those old-fashioned appeals by mail. The cost of printing and stamps, the hassle of upkeep of a database of address, the imposition of making potential donors find their checkbooks buried ever-farther into their desk drawers… who would bother?
But an extensive whitepaper from the folks at Convio makes it quite clear that not only is the traditional through-the-snail-mail appeal still a great way to solicit support for your charity, it is the hands-down winner over all media outreach. As the chart to the left reveals, outreach by mail achieves incredibly high response rates. That said − and unsurprisingly − the impact of mailers fades as one moves down the age groups, as Generations X and (especially) Y choose to respond to other media as well. What media will carry the donation message into the future?
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Aging, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Mobile, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Planned Giving, Public Relations, Publications, Resource, Social Marketing, Social Networks, Study, Technology, Technology for Aging, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ADVOCACY: Google Does Harm To Privacy & Suffers An Hour’s Income For Infractions
Google as a gateway spying agency?
What you think about Google’s (and Facebook’s. And Twitter’s…) efforts to collect personal information of its users probably says quite a bit about what you think about human nature: If you don’t mind a database of your online activities being used by social networks and search engines, then you are likely comfortable with the fact that Google might know quite a bit about you but will not use that information to do any one harm. If you wonder if that flatscreen TV is looking back at you, then you might see in Google’s inadvertent collection of personal data while collecting its street maps over the last few years as the foundation of our Orwellian fate.
Google was recent fined for its ‘accidental’ collection of information across open Wi-Fi networks while filming its Street Views for Google Maps (And by ‘accidental’, I do not mean to use the term ironically. Google executives, once called on it by the federal government, immediately apologized and said it would accept the fine.). The fine was for $7 million − about what Google Inc. collects per hour from its various advertising and business interests. How might we understand these latest infractions into our privacy?
| Category Advocacy, Case Study, Civics, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Education: General, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics, Public Media, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Video, Video Interview, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Crowdfunding Response To Boston Bombing Raises Hope & Caution
One of the wonderful qualities of Americans is the way we respond with our time and our money when a terrible shock or natural disaster hits our fellow countrypeople. The bombings in Boston on the 15th were certainly ‘terrible shocks’ and as homemade and smartphone videos make clear, volunteers and fellow marathon watchers ran in to help before the smoke cleared. And since then Americans all over the country have been raising money online and via a sprouting group of crowdfunding sites. But along with over $2 million being raised to help survivors recover, warnings are also being raised about cases of fraud. How do legitimate crowdfunding organizations separate themselves from the occasional fraudsters?
| Category Civics, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Events, Fundraising, Low-Income, Mobile, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Social Networks | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Mobile Platforms For Donations Have Pros & Cons
That mobile communications devices like smart phones and tablets are the platform-of-choice for most people around the globe is a truism. Ever more business is being conducted over such devices as well, especially over tablets − and by ‘business’ we mean logistics, orders, and purchases, not just business calls.
Nonprofits have appreciated the impact of mobile devices for their work as well. The Red Cross’s famed text-to-donate drive after the Haitian earthquake of 2010 stands as one of the best-known early examples of such fundraising. But as the platform grows in scope and matures in form, what are some of the options out there that fit best with your nonprofit’s needs?
| Category Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Marketing Budget, Measurement, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Technology for Nonprofits, Volunteerism | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Does Your Nonprofit Need Help Keeping Up With Its Growing Donor Base?
OpenPetra’s Client Screen
Just this past week Idealware published its 2013 Field Guide to Software for nonprofits and charities. The staff at Idealware demarcate a number of areas that nonprofits and software developers have been collaborating, such as social-networking management, and gives reviews and how-tos on some of the solutions in the market. The book can be had via Amazon ($25) or directly from Idealware’s site ($20).
As you know, though, MKCREATIVEmedia has been tracking software developments for our clients for a number of years now, and we want to share some recent developments in the field of Customer Relations Management software (CRM). In particular, we have found some open-source and free platforms well worth considering to manage your donors and volunteers.
| Category Campaigns, Client Roster, Communications, Cross-Post, Desktop Apps, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, How-to, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Major Gifts, Measurement, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Research, Reviews, Site Administration, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Volunteerism | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Trickle-Down Lives On at Nonprofits
Dan Pallotta’s viral video (Photo credit: jurvetson)
If you haven’t yet seen Dan Pallotta’s 18-minute TED talk, the viral video of the month with more than 1.2 million views, here’s your chance. Pallotta, who founded AIDS Ride and raised $581 million for AIDS and breast cancer research over nine years, argues that philanthropy is being undermined by our beliefs about it – in particular, the belief that low overhead is worthy of praise. He contends that overhead – including investments in fundraising and marketing capacity – is the only way to grow nonprofits large enough in scale to tackle society’s most intractable problems. What makes more sense, he asks: 94% of a small pie, or 60% of a pie 100 times larger?*
Palotta argues that in a capitalist economy, nonprofits are restricted from playing by the same rules as every other type of organization. While others feast, nonprofits compete against one another for the crumbs – for four decades, a consistent 2% of Gross National Product. Or, it seems to me, nonprofits may be the last Americans who act as though they still believe in the Trickle-Down Theory.
*For the math-impaired: 94% of $1 million = $940,000; 60% of $100 million=$60 million.
| Category Conference/Congress, Events, Fundraising, Nonprofit | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#HOWTO: Let Your iPhone Connect You To Volunteers & Deserving Projects
Apple has not always been a forthcoming corporation when it comes to providing outreach for nonprofits and charities. Many lamented the early iterations of the iPhone for not allowing fundraising applications due to iTunes Store’s stingy policies. Indeed, nonprofits were not even allowed to develop apps if any money were expected to change hands. Though policy has not changed (and Apple still demands a $99 fee to have access to the storefront), many nonprofits are finding ways to leverage the iOS platform of the phone without running afoul with Apple’s lawyers. MacLife‘s A.J. Dellinger offers a compendium of eight such apps that use the iPhone’s OS, and we wanted to highlight a few of those apps to give you a sense of the directions developers are marking as they write software for the nonprofit sector.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Advocacy, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Fundraising, How-to, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Media Review, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Reviews, Social Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DEVELOPMENT: How Much Cash Is Required To Land A Donation?
How often do nonprofits reach out to donors potential and actual online, yet have no real sense of how successful the outreach was? Did the time and money spent developing a program or launching a campaign prove to be worth the support? Dan Norris, founder of the online-analytics service Informly offers a tool to help you make that call. He also recently posted his somewhat-scientific results on using his ‘Cost Per Acquisition‘ (CPA) calculator to see what kinds of costs he was incurring to get people engaged with his for-profit business. Let’s see how the costs to acquire customers or donors can prove strikingly steep.
| Category Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Social Networks, Strategic Marketing, Technology for Nonprofits | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Causevox Improves Online Outreach & Fundraising To 2.0
Easy-to-customize donation pages
We have often sung the praises of the online charity-site platform Causevox. And we do so again as the good folks at Causevox have released a significant series of upgrades and integrations in version 2.0. It moved out of beta last week, allowing any charity or nonprofit to take advantage of the expanding toolbox. This is how the programmers put it last week on the company blog:
We found out that the key to success for online fundraising this decade is easy customization, community engagement, and content marketing. Our existing platform couldn’t accommodate that vision, so we scrapped it and developed, from the ground up, a new and improved CauseVox.
CauseVox 2.0 is our first step to revolutionize online fundraising.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Events, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Marketing, Measurement, Nonprofit, Press Release, Public Media, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#PHILANTHROPY: Zuckerberg’s Millions Suggest New Style Of Giving By Young
Mark gives big again
Mark Zuckerberg always makes headlines, and few were as stunning as the ones he made in the fall of 2010 when he donated $100 million to the Newark, NJ school system − a system with which he has no personal connections whatsoever. His generosity was intended to help right the ship of one of the statistically worst school districts in the nation. But the shock of such a huge gift was met with as much skepticism as thanks, and within a year parents groups and the ACLU sued the city of Newark to open up its correspondence with the founder of Facebook so they could trace what launched the donation and what the city had been doing with the money.
Mayor Cory Booker and state officials continue to state that no email trail exists (a dangerous defense to mount in this day-and-age if untrue), and the money is being plowed back into the schools. Zuckerberg, though, has felt no qualms about giving other big gifts. Last fall he gave a stunning $500 million to the Silicon Valley Foundation. Two such gifts suggests a pattern, but what kind?
| Category Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Health, Major Gifts, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Social Media, Social Networks | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Dittmar Design Creates and Launches Client Website
NPM360 associate, Dittmar Design recently developed and launched a website for a Northern Virginia mid-sized business, WJD Management.Their website http://wjdpm.com/ is a mobile responsive design built on the WordPress content management system and using the latest Genesis framework.
Dittmar Design is a Northern Virginia-based marketing and communications firm. Their mission is to help increase their clients’ business success with targeted marketing strategies and superior design.
Find out more at http://dittmardesignllc.com/
| Category Nonprofit | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#VIDEO: Ken Sterns’s Book Offers Tough Love To Nonprofit Economy
Ken Sterns has served as CEO of National Public Radio, arguably one of the best-known nonprofits in the country. He supports The American Red Cross, and has served on the boards of a number of charities. So when his book, And Charity for All argues that the nonprofit sector is a huge part of the American economy, yet the least productive sector as well, people listen. And they should.
Mr. Sterns was recently interviewed at The Huffington Post, as he joined a roundtable (‘multiscreen’) discussion that included Alexander Berger at GiveWell; Dr. John Brothers, founder of Quidoo Consulting; and Rigo Sabarino, President and CEO of St. Barnabas Senior Services. The interview begins with him throwing down the gauntlet, wondering if the nonprofit community is even worth preserving.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Book, Book Review, Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Reviews, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Video Interview | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: It’s OK To Say ‘No’ To Your Social Networks
You know you want to…
We are often extolling the virtues of particular social-networking platforms or encouraging specific strategies to reach out to your audience(s) across these platforms. When moving through the ‘tubes’ of our social networks, it is easy to think that each post we prepare is the most important one ever and that if we don’t get to each post on our nonprofit’s wall we’ll be upsetting a potential volunteer or donor.
The fact is, you won’t upset anyone: followers of social networks can feel just as overwhelmed as the producers of content on social media. What can you do to unwind, and what might happen when you do?
| Category Advice, Blogs, Communications, Cross-Post, Health, Marketing Skills, Public Media, Public Relations, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Web and Print, Wellness, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Pew Research Keeps Us Up With Changing Faces of Internet
The latest surveys carried out by the Pew Internet and American Life Project are tracking both the most popular online social-networking platforms and the kinds of people who are using them. We enjoy sharing such findings with our readers because the information the folks at the Pew Internet group can help nonprofits refine their online efforts for the many constituencies that these nonprofits want to reach. The latest study, The Demographics of Social Media Users — 2012, points to a few new developments we’d like to highlight this week.
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Marketing, Measurement, Nonprofit, Research, Resource, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Study, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Tweak Your Organization’s Facebook Site For Graph Search
Last week we talked about what Facebook’s latest feature, Graph Search, is (Namely, a way to combine keywords, categories, and what friends are saying about them within Facebook) and it is not (Namely, a challenger to Google’s search algorithms across the internet). This week we want to help you and your organization make the most of the new feature by prepping the content you post on Facebook.
First and foremost (and this tweak applies to any images you post on your blog or website, much less your Facebook Timeline), tag your images and identify them. Such terms will show up in people’s searches (both Graph & Google). What else?
| Category Advice, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Geo-Location, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, SEO, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORK: Are You Prepped For Rollout Of Facebook Graph Search?
Facebook’s latest tool, Graph Search, was announced a couple of weeks ago and it is being rolled out through the Facebook0sphere through February. Though many wondered if Facebook were challenging Google, the fact is Facebook is trying to rejigger how you can access information within Facebook, not how you wend your way through the tubes of the internet.
Facebook’s own introduction emphasizes the concept that the billions of connected bits of information within people’s Facebook accounts can now be viewed along a graph of variables that the user asks for:
The main way we make the world more open and connected is by giving people the tools to map out their relationships with the people and things they care about. We call this map the graph … There are already more than a billion people, more than 240 billion photos and more than a trillion connections. Today we’re announcing a new way to navigate these connections and make them more useful. We’re calling it Graph Search.
What does the Graph Search mean to the average user or nonprofit on Facebook?
| Category Advertising, Advice, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, SEO, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Register for Maryland Governor’s Grants Conference
As the calendar year unfolds and the fiscal year 2013-2014 appears over the horizon, so too does registration begin for the Maryland Governor’s Grants Conference. This year’s conference will be held at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus on Thursday, February 21st. The one-day conference − sponsored by such organizations as the National Grant Management Association, the Grant Professionals Association, and Deloitte − offers plenary talks by leaders in the grant-providing and grant-winning fields, as well as breakout sessions allowing networking and specific assistance for your organization’s needs.
| Category Advocacy, Civics, Conference/Congress, Cross-Post, Event, Events, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Local/Maryland, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Politics, Public Relations, Resource | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#URBANFARMING: 2013 NYC Youth Internship Applications Now Available
The folks at East New York Farms are now taking applications for the 2013 Youth Internship program. ENYF are looking for youth ages 13-15 who live or go to school in East New York and are interested in making a difference in their community.
| Category Community, Internships, Urban Farming | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#PHILANTHROPY: #Sundance & A3 Foundation Extend Cooperation for Asian-American Artists
Though the Initial Public Offering of Facebook devolved into comic fodder last May, the fact remains that it made many people quite wealthy − especially those who had been working with Zuckerberg’s company from the early days. A number of those who cashed out their stocks and jobs at the social-network giant have since turned toward philanthropic efforts, and we would like to highlight one of those concerns that also is having a big impact on this week’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
The A3 Foundation was founded in 2012 by Philip Fung, Julia Lam, and Franklyn Chien, who were early Facebook employees, and who wanted to encourage both Asian-American artists (thus the ‘A3′) and those working on projects pertinent to the larger Asian-American community. According to their own site, “The A3 Fellows Program is the inaugural program for the foundation placing emerging artists with seasoned artists to learn and grow. The fellowship consists of $10,000-$20,000 in funding, as well as mentorship from more established artists, and the opportunity to build your skillset and network.” A large presence at the Sundance Festival is only the beginning of what they hope to accomplish.
| Category Advocacy, Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Education: General, Events, Facebook, Film Festival, Grants, Grants and Funding, Planned Giving, Politics, Public Media, Social Networks | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Paul Jolly of Jump Start Growth Helps Us Plan for the 2013 ‘Ask’
Paul Jolly, President of Jump Start Growth, Inc.
This past December, Paul Jolly, President of Jump Start Growth, Inc., talked about the spiritual side of fundraising, and how he works with nonprofits to help them appreciate the motives and desires of big donors. Paul’s company has many years of experience to bring to organizations that are trying to improve their success rates with big donors.
Today we are excited to bring you part two of our interview with Paul. We shift directions just a bit in this conversation to talk about the near future of fundraising. What seems to be the lay-of-the-land for 2013? What technological/communications developments should we keep our eye on? What is developing on the Jump Start Growth website for the new year?
| Category Advocacy, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Cross-Post, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Planned Giving, Planned Giving, Public Relations, Storytelling, Video, Video Interview | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Postal Service Rates To Rise on 27 January
Forever stamps still good after the 27th.
We have managed to put off the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ for a couple of months, but we can’t avoid the changes in postal rates coming in a couple of weeks. Thanks to our fine business partners at Ecoprint in Silver Spring, Maryland, for the heads-up! The US Postal Service (USPS) has been on hard times over the last 5-7 years due to the overwhelming presence of email, social networks, and e-fax services. Moreover, the semi-private/ public service is carrying a striking burden of compensation packages for its executives that, frankly, seem to outweigh the performance of the venerable institution. Be that as it may, be prepared for upticks to many of the services. What’s coming at the end of the month?
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Cross-Post, Direct Mail, Education: General, Marketing, Marketing Budget, News and Current Affairs, Newsletter, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Politics, Publications, Resource, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: What’s So Great About Best Practices?
Adopting “Best Practices” sounds like one of those common-sense ideas nobody can argue with, right? Wrong. Roger Craver, old pro fundraiser and curmudgeon-in-residence at The Agitator, argues that best practices are a license to steal and an enemy of innovation.
Related articles
| Category Nonprofit | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin