#INTERVIEW: Derrick Feldmann, CEO of Achieve, Discusses The Millennial Impact Report Coming June 11
Derrick Feldmann is CEO of Achieve, a creative fundraising agency that produces The Millennial Impact Report, an annual research study of Millennial Generation donors. (The 2012 report will be released on Monday.) The agency also hosts the only national virtual summit, MCON, on Millennials annually. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: You have made Millennial donors a specialty. Isn’t it a little early to be worrying about the Millennial donors?
DERRICK: Absolutely not! If we have an expectation that this generation of 20- to-30-year-olds will be future significant supporters of our causes, we have an expectation now to involve them. If you are an educational institution, if you are a nonprofit, if you are planning a capital campaign in the next ten years, and you want more donor support, you had better start working with them now. There is an imperative to work with this generation.
Organizations might not have them as a focus because they may not have the largest capacity to give right now. It’s been a bit tricky for some organizations to figure out parallel tracks of involvement for constituents who don’t necessarily have large capacity but in volumes could give a lot.
(more…)
| Category Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Report, Resource, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Special Series, Strategic Marketing, Study, Twitter, Twitter | | 1 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#COMMUNICATIONS: The Number One Way To Gain Site Or Blog Readership Is…
If your nonprofit or your charity has any online presence at all, you want readers to engage your content, click through the link(s), visit the site, and get involved with money and/or time. If you are a blog writer, you want pretty much the same, though gifts might also/instead mean advertising dollars because so many people come to your site. And, of course, no reason a nonprofit can’t have a blog that carries those ambitions for the blog and the site that hosts it.
The million-dollar question is: “How do I get people to move from scanning the headline to clicking on it and getting engaged?”
| Category Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Development, E-Mail, eNewsletter, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Newspaper Article, Permission Marketing, Public Relations, Publications, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Visualizing The Impact Of Social Media, Especially Email
Click To Enlarge
Human beings are wired to pick up visual cues before we pick up textual ones. Social media and the internet love visuals too, because visual communication can travel quickly through networks and beyond the original linguistic group. We did a story on the MKCREATIVEmedia Blog last week about the eBenchmark study of 2012 by NTen and M+R Strategic Services that highlighted the ongoing importance of email outreach. What better way to follow that up than with their infographic showing the power of email.
We call your attention to such metrics as the fact that 35% of all online giving in 2011 came through email, whereas all other platforms together made up the other 65%. Therefore, email remains the single biggest tool in a nonprofit’s outreach toolbox, but it should not be considered the only tool. But how to be successful with email?
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eBook, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Relations, Publications, Resource, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Video | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Sean Triner, Co-Founder and Chief Evangelist of Pareto Fundraising
Sean Triner is co-founder and “chief evangelist” of Pareto Fundraising, a direct marketing firm working in Australia, Hong Kong and New Zealand exclusively with nonprofit organizations. Sean is a frequent speaker and consultant at international fundraising events. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a regular contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: How is your direct marketing model different from the U.S. model?
SEAN: The key difference is volumes. The whole population of Australia is about 20 million. Also, the costs of things are extraordinary. Cars are 40%, 50%, even 60% more here. Petrol is 50% more than in the U.S. With such small populations and such extraordinary costs, to get a direct-mail package out costs literally three times as much. The printing is three times as much. The postal stamp is three times as much. The mailing-list purchase prices are up to three times as much.
| Category Communications, Community, Copyrighting, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Interview, Major Gifts, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Publications, Special Series, Storytelling, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
#TECH: RSS Readers To Help Save Time & Sort Out News & Emails
We continued our series on Tumblr yesterday with some guidance to get your nonprofit’s blog out via an RSS feed that allows people to subscribe to your site. When they subscribe, they get automatic updates and summaries of whatever is going on in your blog. The great aspect of setting an RSS feed for your organization’s blog is that you encourage people to subscribe to your feed, then outreach to your supporters is automatic. Moreover, readers can forward a single link to their colleagues and friends to encourage them to subscribe.
But what about the advantages of using Really Simple Syndication as a reader and follower of news in the nonprofit world? With just a bit of setup organization, you will find RSS a fabulous way to get to the information you want coming to you, rather than hunting out for it.
| Category Blogs, Communications, Dashboards, Design, Desktop Apps, E-Mail, eNewsletter, How-to, iDevice, Internal Marketing, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Newspaper Article, Publications, Report, Resource, Reviews, SEO, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Jeff Brooks, Nonprofit Blogger, Author, and Creative Director
Jeff Brooks has been working on behalf of nonprofits for more than 20 years and passionately blogging about fundraising since 2005. He writes the Future Fundraising Now blog and is creative director at TrueSense Marketing. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: What do you consider to be the greatest challenge of being a good copywriter?
JEFF: What most people who are not professional copywriters get wrong is they don’t differentiate themselves from their audience. That’s why most fundraising is just bad. It doesn’t succeed the way it ought to because they say, I’m going to make this please me, and then it’ll please the others and then it’ll work. Well, that’s just wrong. That’s not how you create quality fundraising. You have to know your audience, and reach out to them, and 99 percent of the time, you’re going to hate it. You may say, I wouldn’t respond to this! And you’re absolutely correct, and it absolutely doesn’t matter.
| Category Blogs, Campaigns, Communications, Copyrighting, Cross-Post, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Publications Design, Research, Special Series, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
#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 has laid off thousands of works, closed numerous branches, and still needs to raise postal rates in an effort just to stay open. So what he did to the postal service he did to the country.
This past Monday many postal rates changed. For example, first-class mail went up by a penny and its guaranteed one-day delivery (depending on distance) was removed. Or perhaps you didn’t notice?
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Community, Direct Mail, E-Mail, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newsletter, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Politics, Publications, Strategic Marketing, Web and Print | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Gail Perry, Fundraising Consultant, Trainer & Author of Fired-Up Fundraising
Gail Perry is a fundraising consultant and trainer and the author of Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Your Board’s Passion into Action. She is a highly sought speaker and writes a popular blog. Her most recent venture is an online coaching group. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: What are the issues that are keeping your clients awake at night?
GAIL: I think the economy is just a huge issue. People are worried about whether they can raise the money they need or not. But I’m also seeing a really interesting problem. My consulting clients are struggling to learn how to take donors who are identified as potential major prospects and bring them into the major prospect arena by closing a gift. It’s a very delicate, step-by-step, intuitive process to bring a major donor along. That’s a lot of what I’m teaching my clients, all these little subtleties of developing that type of relationship.
| Category Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Research, SEO, Social Media, Special Series, Sponsorship, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Twitter, Web Design, Writing | | 1 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#Interview: Howard Adam Levy, Principal of Red Rooster Group
Howard Adam Levy is Principal of Red Rooster Group, a New York City-based branding, marketing and design agency for nonprofits. Howard, who began working with nonprofits as a graphic designer in 1991, founded the agency 10 years ago. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVEnonprofit blog.
MKC: What is most challenging about branding nonprofits?
HOWARD: Nonprofits face a wide variety of constituents, from clients, referral sources, donors, partner organizations, board members and others. So a lot more is involved in reaching out and developing messages and strategies for each of those audiences.
Businesses, especially small businesses, can make unilateral decisions on their marketing. Nonprofits are typically more consensus oriented. And particularly when it comes to the brand, you really want to get everyone’s input and have a feeling that everyone is contributing to the process of what we’re all about. So you need a process that can build consensus in a politically neutral environment and get everyone feeling really good about the brand and their role as brand ambassadors.
| Category Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Design, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Graphic Design, Interview, Major Gifts, Marketing, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Publications Design, Slide Presentations, Social Media, Special Series, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Web Design, Writing | | 1 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#HowTo: Online Anonymity & Security Pivotal For Holiday Season
We don’t intend to be scare-mongers on this blog with so many stories on internet/cloud security. A minority of us will ever have our organization’s site hacked or email breached. The thing is, preventing such invasions is not especially difficult but prevention is a dynamic endeavor. As technology changes, and hackers’ tools changes with it, your organization must adjust accordingly. And once your information is compromised, you’ll desperately wish you had taken a few steps of prevention earlier.
Last week we discussed the need to secure passwords and to vary them across sites because our information is not so much ‘anonymous’ as ‘pseudononymous.’ Aggregates can be used to build up a coherent image of online you by pulling bits from a few frequented sites. We also noted that we would continue the story by looking at the need for security and anonymity for the networked machine – which is what we turn to today.
| Category Advice, Campaigns, Case Study, Communications, Desktop Apps, E-Mail, How-to, Marketing, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Research, Resource, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Michael Stein, Author, Blogger, & Veteran Nonprofit Technology Strategist
Michael Stein, Senior Account Executive for Donordigital, is a veteran nonprofit technology strategist whose areas of expertise include online fundraising, email messaging, email list growth, blogging, website content, mobile messaging, and social media. With Nick Allen and Mal Warwick, Michael wrote the groundbreaking 1997 book Fundraising on the Internet: Recruiting and Renewing Donors Online.
The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVEnonprofit blog.
MKC: How did you get into this field?
Michael: About 20 years ago, I was working for an environmental group just as the Internet started to emerge. I got in on the ground floor, building bulletin board systems for Greenpeace activists and others tracking toxic chemical emissions around the U.S. I helped build the pioneering Internet provider called IGC.org that trained nonprofits to use the Internet, which then morphed into the first experiments in online fundraising on the Web for Rainforest Action Network. In the mid-1990s, I hooked up with legendary direct mail fundraisers Mal Warwick and Nick Allen, and we started to think about what the future of fundraising might look like with the evolving Internet. Together we wrote the first book about fundraising online.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Communications, Community, Copyrighting, Cross-Post, Database, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, iPad/Tablet, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Special Series, Storytelling, Technology, Tools, Twitter, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
#SocialNetworks: What Should You Expect From Your Online Outreach?
ROI can offer profits in income, in personel and skills, and in reputation
Whether we invest time, money, other capital, or any combination of them, we want to see some results come from the investment. For nonprofits in particular, time – often given by volunteers or interns – is especially valuable, as these organizations want to leverage the good-will effort into new donors, rising contributions, and good work in the community.
Writing a tweet might seem like hardly any investment at all, what with its 140-characters delimiting your typing time. Yet nonprofits are sending tweets regularly, and are likely keeping up blogs, and certainly should be sending email blasts. Now we’re talking some real time and money. How do you know you are getting a return on that investment (ROI)? Mark Paddock at SocialMediaToday.com outlines some measurements.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Communications, Community, Development, E-Mail, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Media, Twitter | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Fundraising: To Bring Donations In, Keep Sending Emails Out
With all the buzz about social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, we can lose track of tried-and-true outreach tools. Though these other platforms might be great ways to advertise events or spread late-breaking news about your organization’s work, they are not proving to be efficient fundraising instruments (yet?). John Haydon at Inbound Zombie and Razoo Fundraising has been crunching numbers to demonstrate the fact that email remains the best way not only to bring in donations, but to bring in bigger donations.
What makes email, the communications platform that seems oh-so-90s, so successful as a fundraising platform?
| Category Advertising, Advice, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ProAging: Touchscreen Ease Available For Those Who Don’t Want An iPad
Click to enlarge
The iPad has inspired many older Americans to expand not only their computing skills, but also their short-term memories and their social(-media) circles. Nevertheless, the iPad was not created with our oldest citizens in mind. The screen is not especially large, for example.
The computer company Telikin in Chalfont, PA is developing a desktop machine for the GI and Silent Generations. Humans interact via the large touchscreen, and the software interface includes large clear buttons that give users easy access to email, Facebook, calendars, and other applications, like local weather, that seniors might find handy. But apparently the computer is even finding adherents from among younger generations who simply want an easy way to interact with some of the staples of the online universe.
| Category Aging, Apple, Boomers, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Community, E-Mail, GI Generation, Grandparents, Hardware Review, iDevice, Internet, iPad/Tablet, Marketing, Reviews, Seniors Life, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Aging | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Tiffany Applegate, Co-Founder of X Factor Consulting – Enhancing the Sustainability of Nonprofit Organizations
Tiffany Applegate is co-founder of X Factor Consulting, which works to enhance the sustainability of nonprofit organizations. With her marketing degree and MBA, she left the corporate world for the nonprofit sphere, and has been consulting since 2005. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVEmedia blog.
MKC: On your website, you focus a lot on sustainability. I thought that sustainability was just a fancier word for fundraising, but clearly you mean something broader than that. Can you tell me about that?
TIFFANY: A lot of people do think that in order to be sustainable they just need money. But we’ve worked with and talked to a lot of organizations that may have an endowment or what they think is a large amount in cash reserves, but things happen and the funds runs out, and since they haven’t focused on sustainability they’re no longer able to survive. We’ve also seen many organizations that have a large government grant, and then when the administration changes, the focus of the grant program changes, so they lose their money and the organization is gone, because they haven’t focused on sustainability.
(more…)
| Category Blogs, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Interview, Marketing, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Special Series, Sustainability | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
#Fundraising: Online/Mobile Donations Still Need The Personal Touch
Apple's online memorial
First and foremost, we must mark the death of Steve Jobs, former CEO at Apple, who died of pancreatic cancer yesterday at the age of 56. He helped build a great computing tool. He reconfigured the way movies are made. He revitalized a music industry about to die on the reef of file-sharing, and he inspired a phenomenally innovative company to strive always to outdo itself. Our thoughts are with his family and close friends who have helped each other through these final months.
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. Stanford University commencement address in 2005.
One of the worlds his products opened up to us was mobile communication. The iPhone for sure, but even the accessibility of the laptop in the early 1990s and the tablet today. And mobile communications have offered a new realm of possibility for spreading information and encouraging donations for nonprofits.
Nevertheless, a few old-school skills can go a long way, even in the realm of instant digital communication.
| Category Campaigns, Communications, Crowdfunding, Development, Direct Mail, E-Mail, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Site Administration, Social Media, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Steve Frillmann, Executive Director, Green Guerillas
A community garden created by local residents with the help and support of Green Guerillas
This is a repost of an article that originally appeared on the MKCREATIVE blog in March, 2010.
Each month we look at a marketing challenge faced by many of our clients. This month the issue is when, or if, to switch from print to web-based and social media, and we chose to present it through the eyes of one of our clients. We recently spoke with Steve Frillmann, executive director of Green Guerillas, a nonprofit organization that supports hundreds of community gardens (and gardeners) in New York City.
We’ve been working with the Green Guerillas for nearly 15 years, a relationship that began when Marco Kathuria (MKCREATIVE’s Creative Director & Social Media Strategist) volunteered as photographer/videographer for a project working with children to create colorful murals within community gardens in New York City. Out of that relationship came a realization of a “shared DNA” – a commitment to enrich the lives of city residents, one neighborhood at time. The collaboration with the Green Guerillas evolved into the creation of the organization’s graphic identity and communications toolkit. The marketing mix and the strategic direction it has taken has evolved over the years as a result of the close collaboration between MKCREATIVE and Steve Frillmann.
We began our conversation by asking Steve to give us his perspective on how he sees the Social Media:Direct Mail mix for his own organization, considering that converting one’s communications from print to social media channels is all the rage in business and nonprofit circles. But how useful is a great website if the bulk of your constituents visit the Web infrequently, or never? (more…)
| Category Advice, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Environment, Greening, How-to, Interview, Marketing, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Revitalization, Social Media, Special Series, Sustainability, Urban Farming | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Communications: Tips On Engaging & Retaining Your Social Media Constituents
If you have been following our blog for a little while, then you are likely engaged in social networks for your nonprofit, charity, or business. We have sought to provide advice and guidance both by drawing on our experience and by putting our readers in touch with other experts in the field.
Today we happily return to some foundational issues to bring readers to your social-media outreach program, and to keep them connected to your organization. Never hurts to be reminded of some of the basic tenets of social-networking communications.
Ellisa Nauful of Ballywho Interactive reminds us of the need to be brief, bright, and playful. “Our social networks are a marketing tool, but they’re not the place to regurgitate marketing collateral. Save the brochure-speak for…brochures.”
| Category Advice, Blogs, Communications, E-Mail, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Permission Marketing, Social Media | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Social Media: Are We Engaged or Distracted? Both?
Sorry to interrupt, but...
Social media can take a great deal of our time and attention. But is that time and attention being taken away from being productive at work or being engaged with our surroundings? A recent survey from Harmon.ie, as reported at FastCompany.com, demonstrates how digital interactions often are digital distractions. And the distractions add up to over $10,000 in productivity losses per employee over the year.
How do the numbers break out and how have people responded to the not-so-surprising news? Can we have some cake and eat it too?
| Category Communications, E-Mail, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Report, Research, Resource, Social Media, Technology | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Communications: Telling Stories To Touch Lives & Raise Money
Telling and listening to stories is what we humans do. The story could be about our morning commute or about three Russian brothers wrestling with their rocky relationships after the murder of their cantankerous father. But what makes either of those stories compelling is the opportunity for story teller to touch the experiences, expectations, and aspirations of the audience.
Nonprofits tell stories as a means to call people to action. Though story-telling might be as natural as our desire for food, telling a compelling story requires planning and practice. The Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is popularly attributed with the statement, “The death of one is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” The fact is, though, nonprofits and charities have to find ways to turn the statistics of their causes into meaningful human stories. (more…)
| Category Campaigns, Communications, Community, Development, E-Mail, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Resource, Storytelling, Study, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: The Apple Mac Mini Server – Part 1
Scott Caldarelli shares some of his insights about setting up a Mac Mini Server, a stable and inexpensive way to allow your organization’s computers to share files, schedules, and projects, even when some colleagues are not in the office.
Happy (Tech.) Friday. In my last story, I briefly mentioned the Mac Mini Server as a good option for the small business or for any not-for-profit that wants to keep costs as low as possible while still utilizing the many capabilities of a server.
The Mac Mini Server is priced at $999 and comes standard with Apple’s own Snow Leopard Server operating system and software. There is only one version of Snow Leopard Server – the unlimited client version. This convenience alone is a great cost savings over a Windows server and client licenses. What that means is, once you have your server set, you don’t have to worry about buying a new user license if you’re adding someone to your organization. You simply add the new user to the server’s list of names and passwords.
| Category Apple, Communications, E-Mail, Hardware Review, Resource, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | Comments Off
Written by: Scott Caldarelli
Tech: The Value of an IT Partner for Nonprofit Organizations
My Apple Technology consulting company, scott caldarelli consulting limited, has been supporting MKCREATIVE and its clients for some time now, so it’s a thrill to be able to share some of the lessons I’ve learned and the insights I’ve developed over the last few years, especially when it comes to supporting consultants and community-based organizations.
Specifically, I’m going to be exploring technology — hardware, software, troubleshooting tips, how-tos – over the next months. My focus will be what you can do to maximize your organization’s infrastructure reliability and minimize procurement and maintenance costs.
A bit about myself first. I became interested in computers and in Apple’s Macintosh computers as an audio engineer. At that time, the best recordings were made on analog tape that held 24 tracks, each reel could record about 15 minutes and each reel cost $150-$200. Then I saw someone edit a stereo master track on a computer. He just highlighted what he wanted to go away, hit delete and it was done. I was a convert.
| Category Advice, Apple, Communications, Cross-Post, Database, E-Mail, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | Comments Off
Written by: Scott Caldarelli
It’s Not Too Late to Master Message Targeting
You can stop kicking yourself about missing my wonderful workshop last week on “Making Your Messages Matter to Multiple Audiences.” In response to icy conditions, the workshop is opening two weeks late. So yes! you have a second chance! The rescheduled workshop is now happening (weather permitting) Tuesday, February 15, 9 a.m. to noon, at the Baltimore office of Maryland Nonprofits, 190 West Ostend Street, Suite 201. Registration fee is $50 for Maryland Nonprofit members, $100 for non-members. Do sign up on the Maryland Nonprofits website, or call them at 410-727-6367.
Guest blogger Don Akchin writes frequently about marketing and philanthropy at donakchin.com.
| Category Communications, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Newsletter, Seminar, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
Charities Must Increase SM Outreach As Email Becomes Obsolete
Most of our readers (and certainly this writer) can probably well remember our first forays into email. Mine began on the blue-and-grey screen and terminal command line of my university’s PINE email system. The development of graphical interfaces via AOL, then Yahoo! and the like meant (pretty) free and (fairly) instant communication across the street or around the world. But that wondrous technology is already sliding toward extinction. It is too slow for the under 30s who could tolerate texting from a phone keyboard, but not waiting a few hours for a response.
If email is your organization’s way of reaching out to your constituents, the technology is probably suiting you fine – for now. If you are thinking of moving your charity or mission-based business toward the next human generation, though, you should consider the next communications generation.
| Category Campaigns, Communications, Direct Mail, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, Twitter | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Email Remains An Evolving Technology, Not A Dead-End One
Before I had to start paying the bills, I used to love all the stuff that came through the mail slot at this time of year: announcements, coupons, cards, and catalogs – glossy, full-color, hundreds-of-pages thick catalogs. My brother and I spent weeks poring over them picking out each and every thing we needed for Christmas.
Now I am paying those bills and no one sends out such catalogs any more. Instead, many of us wade through the spam of our email inboxes sifting out the stuff that would have been recycled if anyone was savvy about recycling in 1975. Different medium, same problem? Neil Davey at MyCustomer.com pulls in some resources that suggest ‘no.’ People are not only still engaged with their email, but they are enticed by further integration of email and social-media networks. Even the ‘junk mail’ draws pretty positive responses. How come?
| Category Advertising, Communications, Direct Mail, E-Mail, Facebook, Interview, Marketing, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD