#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.
Related articles
| Category Communications, Cross-Post, Education: General, Nonprofit, Storytelling | | 0 Comments
Written by: Marco Kathuria
#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
#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
#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
#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
#HOWTO: Have A Film Screening As A Fundraising Opportunity
We at MKCREATIVEmedia wish you a joyous, healthy, and prosperous New Year!
As the year’s projects and fundraisers and festivals start rolling onto your computer’s calendar, you might be looking for an opportunity to host a one-off event that can bring much-wanted PR, good karma, and even some financial support. How about sponsoring a film screening? The chance for your nonprofit or charity to be a movie mogul, at least for a day, has been made possible by the social/cinema site Tugg. Though currently considered ‘beta,’ Tugg could make hosting a screening of a big-name movie, documentary, or short film so easy that you could host a few each season.
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Crowdfunding, Development, Education: General, Event, Events, Facebook, Film Festival, How-to, Marketing, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: Questions & Answers Can Be Shared On Quora
The Latin term ‘quorum’ (pl.pronoun: ‘of whom’) has almost no connection to what the term means in Anglo-American law, namely: “the minimum number of members of an assembly that must be present to make the proceedings of that meeting valid.” Without digging too deeply into the Oxford English Dictionary, the term evolved from Norman circuit courts in late-medieval England as the scribes noted the names ‘of whom’ appeared as witnesses of and jurors at trials. The term has been appropriated by the social-networking/question-posing site Quora. The site has been around since 2010, but it has really taken off in the last few months, and we wanted to introduce you to it before whenever the next apocalypse is due.
| Category Advice, Civics, Community, Cross-Post, Education: General, How-to, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Mobile, Public Media, Resource, Reviews, Social Media, Social Networks, Software Review, Technology | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Keep Your Facebook Page Updated While Mobile This Holiday Season
Mobile Facebook for the new year.
As the Christmas Season approaches, most of us will be taking a bit of much-needed downtime from our nonprofits and charities. Many will also be traveling to see family as well. Unfortunately, the concerns of nonprofits and charities do not take holidays, and you might want to keep people updated via Facebook on what your organization is doing in the holiday season. Facebook has been striving to make inroads into the mobile market over the last number of months, and so we wanted to give you a few tips for getting access to your charity’s page via your mobile device. And even if you are stepping away from Facebook to spend more time with the egg nog, having mobile access to your account should be a resolution (and one of the easier ones to achieve) in the new year.
| Category Campaigns, Communications, Crowdfunding, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Geo-Location, How-to, iPad Apps, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Measurement, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Public Media, Public Relations, Resource, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Setup New Facebook Pages & The Types Available For You
With the adjustments and reworkings on Facebook over the last 6-odd months, it’s time to update our periodic series on Facebook pages − Next week we will continue with more information about the scuttlebutt around Promoted Posts.
Facebook updates its interface and algorithms periodically. Usually the public response splits fairly evenly into the “love it” and “this is the death of Facebook” camps. We’re not about to predict the death of Facebook, so we want to stay up with developments and help you and your nonprofit do the same. So let’s see what it takes to make a page.
| Category Advice, Branding, Communications, Design, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Use Crowdbooster To Marshall Your Social Media Conversations
Let this platform tame your Tweetstream and Timeline
Numerous social-networking monitoring sites are out there by now: Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Klout, Tinker… As programmers develop new tools, and social platforms like Facebook or (even!) MySpace evolve, the staff at a nonprofit can feel overwhelmed with the changes. What is important to remember in this fast-changing communications environment is that you are looking for tools that are beneficial to you and your organization − not (necessarily) the latest platform that is getting some buzz. One of the newer sites meant to aggregate metrics from your social networks is Crowdbooster, and we do believe it is worth a look because it helps your busy staff consider the near future of its social-media outreach as well as lay out the past trends.
| Category Advice, Communications, Dashboards, Education: General, How-to, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Project Management Tools, Resource, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Software Review, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: How To Promote Facebook Posts & Why You Might Not Want To
CecilyK on ‘MomCrunch’ blog says ‘No’
This past summer Facebook launched the opportunity to purchase ‘Promoted Posts’ that − for at least a $5 fee − would be promoted across the Facebookiverse. The more you paid, the more broadly the algorithms (aka ‘magic’) circulated the post. It was hailed by many for- and non-profit organizations as an opportunity to push through the background noise endemic in most people’s timelines to get your words and images out to a larger but (broadly) targeted audience.
We want to show you how to promote a post if you are unfamiliar with the easy process, but we also want to call attention to the fact that many power users are not finding the return on investment that Facebook claims. Is it a case of false advertising, or is Facebook still working out the kinks?
| Category Advertising, Advice, Advocacy, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Measurement, Nonprofit, Public Media, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Study, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print | | 4 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#GRANTS: Verizon Foundation Offers Support For Environmental & Educational Nonprofits
Countless members of nonprofit and charity staffs use Verizon as their cellular and/or internet (and/or cable) provider. But did you know the Verizon Foundation also supports such nonprofits and charities with grants in money, kind, and service? The Foundation focuses on issues pertaining to K-through-12 education, health care, and sustainability/environmentalism, so if your organization is involved in any of these fields, you should reach out and touch them (Er, wrong service. And century.). Here’s how.
| Category Civics, Community, Education: General, Environment, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Healthcare, How-to, Mobile, Nonprofit, Technology for Aging, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#HOWTO: Setup A Pheed Account & Why It Could Prove Valuable For Nonprofits
Alright, I admit that when I first heard about one of the newest social networks out there, Pheed, I was underwhelmed. Are we not overwhelmed with social networks as it is? But both professional engagement and personal curiosity got the better of me, and I signed up. The interface looks rather like Tumblr, whose praises we have often sung on this blog. The screenshot to the left is Pheed’s signup page: clearly it is pitched toward an artistic, and likely younger, audience. Nevertheless, it has a couple of features that nonprofits and charities could find especially useful as they present their own content via their social networks. Here’s how to sign up and see if it could be of use to your organization.
| Category Advice, Blogs, Branding, Cause Marketing, Communications, Copyrighting, Education: General, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Tools, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#FUNDRAISING: Resources To Find Grants For Your Nonprofit’s 2013 Budget
Maybe the federal government won’t ever work up or agree to a budget to cover an entire fiscal year, but your nonprofit has to. The 2012-2013 fiscal year is already on many organizations’ calendars, and certainly the final sprint to the holiday donation-giving season is upon us. But along with the money, time, and goodwill of your donors online and otherwise, you should be looking for grants. We’ve culled a few resources and pooled a few clearing houses that will help your nonprofit or charity tailor its search for support from specific organizations passionate to support your kind of work.
| Category Cause Marketing, Community, Development, Education: General, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, How-to, Major Gifts, Mobile, Nonprofit, Research, Resource | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#VIDEO: Rob Wu of Causevox Tells Us About Developments In Online Fundraising (Part II)
Earlier this month we posted our first interview with Rob Wu, co-founder of the online fundraising and social-media platform Causevox. We wanted to talk with him because Causevox was rolling out the latest version of its platform in late September. Our conversation proved so interesting that we couldn’t contain it in one post, so today we bring you part two of our conversation with Rob.
In particular, he stresses how nonprofits like OneGirl.org in Australia participated in the development and refinements that brought about version 2.o. And why the rollout of 2.0 has proven to be a surer success than having a single big launch. Let’s take a look.
| Category Advertising, Advice, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Education: General, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Mobile, Mobile, Nonprofit, Project Management Tools, Public Media, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Video Interview, Web Design, Webinar | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALNETWORKS: 4th-Annual Social Media Week Will Educate & Inspire Worldwide
Attendance is just a few clicks away.
The first Social Media Week went live in 2008, as Twitter was just hitting the mainstream and Lehman Brothers announced it was going bankrupt and would take down the economy with it. For better and worse, much has change. And Social Media Week continues to expand. It started to stress connectivity across continents last year, and this year the list of host cities already includes Barcelona, Bogotá, Doha, Hong Kong, Jeddah, LA, Shanghai, and Turin (among others). Individuals can register at any point for this year’s program, and organizations can prepare submissions to offer sessions for next year. What will the 2012 week bring?
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Education: General, Event, Events, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Resource, Seminar, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Webinar | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#TECH: Title Tags Can Make Or Break Your Site’s SEO
SEO success starts here
Oh, the last official weekend of summer, and it’s three-day long one to boot! You might be itching to get out of the office a bit early today and make it a three and a half day weekend. Before you do, please read some salient advice we took from online marketing specialist John Haydon as soon as it hit our Inboxes. The issue is the placement of Title Tags, the snippets of text − usually the title of the blog post or of a website − that is the first thing search engines scour for the keywords that make your site visible on those engines. With an afternoon of work, you could dramatically improve the ranking of your nonprofit’s site. Here’s what he suggests:
| Category Advice, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Education: General, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Publications, SEO, Site Administration, Social Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Web and Print, Web Design, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DESIGN: How To Follow The Branding Guidelines Of Twitter
No. No. And no.
Birds of a feather? Not for that poor Twitter bird: perhaps no other icon in modern business is both better known and abused well beyond the company’s style guide. Even more than the Facebook logo that we discussed a couple of weeks ago, the icon for the social-media site Twitter comes in all shapes, sizes, and numbers − almost none of which are official or legal. If you want to have a good relationship between your organization and the folks at Twitter who have done so much to get news of your organization out to their millions of users, you best check out their corporate style guide.
| Category Advice, Branding, Communications, Design, Education: General, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Resource, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Twitter, Twitter, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#TECH: Sometimes A Security Breach Is Just A Phonecall Away
First of all, and oft repeated, use secure and unique passwords for all your accounts, be they banking, social networking, email, or to log on to your computer. Far too many people still use such insanely simple passwords like ‘password’ or ‘qwerty’. And if you think using your anniversary date or your cat’s name with the number 1 is a big leap forward, think again. The first rule of password creation: “Make it utterly unrelated to you personally. No names of spouses, pets or old high schools. No birthdays or social security numbers.”
| Category Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Civics, Education: General, How-to, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Publications, Resource, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#DESIGN: How To Follow The Branding Guidelines Of Facebook
Interesting, but incorrect, logo
Corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, and even some individuals brand themselves with a specific set of colors and a type font or two and a logo. Usually those entities want the general public to use their logo, etc, as such use can mean free publicity. And certainly in the world of blogs and social networks we see the use – and abuse – of organizational branding all over the web. But the fact is, almost any organization that took the time to develop a color scheme, logo, or other materials also worked with their design consultants to develop a style guide. Such style guides usually include a cease-and-desist claim on any one who improperly uses their materials.
Facebook has such a style guide, and many of us stay pretty close to it, probably without realizing it. But what can we do, and not do, with Facebook’s materials when we download or cut-and-paste from the wealth of materials that are online?
| Category Blogs, Branding, Case Study, Communications, Copyrighting, Design, Education: General, Facebook, Facebook, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Nonprofit, Public Media, Publications, Resource, Social Marketing, Social Media, Social Networks, Web and Print, Web Design | | 2 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD