#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
#GRANTS: Nominations Open For Awards of $5000 From WLR Automotive
Click here to nominate a nonprofit
Have you made a nomination for the “Giveaway For Good”? The giveaway is an initiative of the WLR Automotive Group, who is celebrating twenty-five years of service in the central Maryland/York County PA region. As a part of that celebration, and to give thanks back to the community who have supported the company, its owners have opened up nominations for charitable organizations and nonprofits to win grants of $5000 next January. The nomination process was opened up in mid-November, and anyone can continue to nominate groups through 14 December. Once the nomination process closes (14 December at midnight), the public will vote on the five organizations that they would like to see get a $5000 award from WLR. As of this post, about 25 organizations are up, and your organization certainly can nominate itself.
| Category Advocacy, Cause Marketing, Civics, Community, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Nonprofit, Press Release, Public Relations, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#GRANTS: WLR Automotive Group Looking To Give $25K Away In January
Click to nominate an organization
“Giveaway For Good” is an initiative of the WLR Automotive Group, who is celebrating twenty-five years of service in the central Maryland/York County PA region. As a part of that celebration, and to give thanks back to the community who have supported the company, its owners have opened up nominations for charitable organizations and nonprofits to win grants of $5000 next January. The nomination process was opened up in mid-November, and anyone can continue to nominate groups through 14 December (NB: The site balks when opened in Chrome browsers, but you can use it). (more…)
| Category Advocacy, Civics, Community, Fundraising, Grants, Nonprofit, Press Release, Public Relations, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ENVIRO: CBS/EcoMedia Partnership Expands To Bring Revenues To Green Nonprofits
The alliance between CBS/EcoMedia began just last year in an effort to bring advertising dollars directly to nonprofits, and the success of the program is beyond doubt as five more nationally recognized environmental nonprofits have recently joined the ranks. The effort of the partnership is allow corporate sponsors who buy advertising through the CBS conglomerate to direct some of that money toward the nonprofits themselves. According to the EcoMedia mission statement, “We’ve developed partnerships with cities across America, all of which have environmental projects in need of funding. When companies advertise with us, dollars go directly into these projects, thereby turning traditional television commercials, radio spots, online advertising, and outdoor billboards into EcoAds.” − as this advertisement demonstrates:
| Category Advertising, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Environment, Grants and Funding, Greening, Marketing, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Press Release, Public Media, Public Relations | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Advocacy: ‘This American Life’ Retracts Story Of Abuses At Foxconn
It has been a rough week for social-consciousness movements whose leaders have produced stories a bit too slick to be true. We wrote last week about the doubts surrounding the viral video ‘Kony 2012′ meant to inspire a public campaign against Joseph Kony’s child army in Uganda − if that army still exists and Kony is indeed in Uganda. Over the weekend, the producer Jason Russell was arrested for public drunkenness and self-satisfaction, casting still further doubt on the veracity of the campaign and on the nonprofit ‘Invisible Children’.
To add to the unnerving series of good stories gone bad, Mike Daisey’s story/one-man-show “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” has been discredited for his taking numerous liberties with what he claimed were personal encounters at Apple’s suppliers Foxconn in China. His story – somewhat truncated – was broadcast on the popular ‘This American Life‘ public-radio program this past January, causing quite a stir. And it now has been retracted by producer Ira Glass and Daisey has been reconfiguring his story in light of probing questions into its authenticity.
What might be behind the rise and fall of these stories?
| Category Apple, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Civics, Communications, Interview, Marketing, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Press Release, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Social Media, Storytelling, Technology | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#TECH: Latest iPad Shifts Mobile Toward Creative Productivity
Apple unveiled the latest iPad this past Wednesday, and though the third generation, Apple will not call it the ‘iPad 3′. Indeed, one of the interesting sideshows of the product’s history has been the sturm und drang over its name.
But for its form factor, the changes are both incremental and market-shifting – typical Apple, really. In one of our earliest tech reviews, we discussed how the iPad will pretty much create a mobile computing market – and it has. The device has opened up consumption of digital materials in ways more convenient and lucrative for publishers, game-makers, and app developers.
Whether the new iPad is worthy of a purchase or upgrade for you personally, we defer comment. But what you need to think seriously about is how the iPad is going to move your nonprofit’s workflow and communications strategies – whether you use one or not – because the latest iPad puts the stress on your productivity, not just consumption.
| Category Apple, Communications, Events, Hardware Review, iDevice, iPad Apps, Marketing, Newspaper Article, Press Release, Reviews, Software Review, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Near-Field Communication Now Allows Two-Way Exchanges Of Information
The NFC Forum announced last week a technology protocol that allows NFC to be able to work in two directions synchronously. The press release touted the flexibility of two-way communication and the standards established at the outset to ensure universal access:
The extension of the NFC Data Exchange Format (NDEF) to peer-to-peer use in SNEP is a significant advance. Previously, NDEF was applicable only to NFC tags in reader/writer mode. Now, SNEP enables the use of the openly standardized NDEF in peer-to-peer mode, making seamless interchange of data a reality. Application developers no longer need to concern themselves with how their NDEF data gets transferred between NFC-enabled devices. By providing this capability, the SNEP specification makes the difference between reader-writer and peer-to-peer operation modes disappear – a major step towards global interoperability of NFC applications.
What does all that mean for the technology and for the ways nonprofits can utilize the technology?
| Category Communications, Fundraising, Geo-Location, iDevice, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Media Review, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Press Release, Publications, Technology | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Aging: GE & Intel Combine Forces To Improve Independent Living For Seniors
Thought GE & Intel announced in 2009 a partnership to develop technologies for retiring Baby Boomers to enhance their independence, they announced the finalized plans for the organization this week. According to a GE press release, the final legal steps are being taken to create the joint venture by the end of this year. The symbiotic opportunities of these two high-tech companies is stressed by the announcement: “GE and Intel share a common vision to use technology to bring more effective healthcare into millions of homes and to improve the lives of seniors and people with chronic conditions. With the dramatic increase of people living with chronic conditions, and a global aging population, there is a need to find new models of healthcare delivery and extend care to the home and other residential settings.”
What are some of the technological avenues that the new “Care Innovations” company will be developing?
| Category Automobiles, Communications, Health, Healthcare, Independent Living, Press Release, Retirement Living, Seniors Life, Technology, Wellness | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Communications: Can We Trust AT&T – T-Mobile Merger Promises?
Or is the merger only promising to be a trust? AT&T has been working through the logistics, regulatory maze, and public-relations (snow?)job for a year or so in its efforts to purchase T-Mobile for $39 million dollars. The merger would make AT&T and Verizon the only major carriers of mobile/4G/LTE networking services in the country. They would carry over 80% of the market and could thus pretty much dictate technology rollouts and regulatory expectations for the industry.
We could trust them to innovate and do the right thing by their customers, of course; seeing as how corporations are people too. Unfortunately for AT&T, the proverbial cat has escaped the bag: documents unintended for public viewing from within AT&T’s legal team pretty much counter the very case AT&T has been making to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the American people.
| Category Case Study, Communications, eNewsletter, iDevice, Marketing, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Opinion, Politics, Press Release, Public Relations, Technology | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Public Policy: Charities’ Off-Shore/Tax-Free Holdings Brought Under Congressional Scrutiny
All the talk about US domestic politics and economics at the moment focuses on the federal budget and the possible default that will result if the US debt limit is not raised by 2 August. As our readers are surely aware, Republicans keep floating grand proposals of “Cut, Cap, and Balance“, while Democrats deride the proposals as “Duck, Dodge, and Dismantle” – proving yet again that whatever your politics, you gotta admit the left tends to have a better grasp on how to play with language without breaking it (as, for example, Fox News has done).
What all sides generally agree to is that the tax code has developed a myriad of loopholes that need to be addressed. But what loopholes may be enjoyed by which groups remains a sticking point. Case in point: Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants to end federal support of charities that have overseas – thus tax-free – holdings and assets. What does he hope to achieve?
| Category Communications, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Opinion, Press Release | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Aging: Ford Motor Co. Features Fonts For Baby Boomers – How Lame Is That?!
Click to enlarge
As Margo Channing famously said, “You better buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”
The issue that has fired all cylinders is that the Ford Motor Company is designing a series of cars over the next few years with larger fonts and gauges in order, in part, to appeal to Baby Boomers. Out of the gate, the 2011 Ford Explorer has signage and text some 30% larger than previous generations, and Ford promises to expand the use of larger fonts over the next few years.
Catey Hill of SmartMoney.com noted Ford’s studies of dashboard legibility that argued for safety in larger fonts: “The move is an effort to make it “easier for people of all ages, particularly aging baby boomers, to read display fonts,” the company said in a statement. (Ford conducted a “legibility study,” which found that people’s eyesight begins to decline in their 40s and worsens from there; these results mimic the results of previous studies as well). Of course, it’s also likely an effort to sell more cars to the lucrative boomer demographic.”
As Boomers move toward retirement age, they will soon be a larger American demographic than children under five. So why would it be lame for Ford to adjust the fonts on the dashboards of its cars? Of course it would not be lame: not many five-year-olds in the car-buying market. But try talking sense to Tristan Hankins over at Carscoop.com.
| Category Advertising, Aging, Automobiles, Blogs, Communications, Dashboards, Design, Independent Living, Marketing, Opinion, Press Release, Public Relations, Research, Retirement Living, Reviews, Seniors Life, Technology | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Aging: Getting Older and Still Consuming
Image via CrunchBase
The New York Times reports that a new marketing effort by AARP will promote the baby boom generation, as it ages, as a viable consumer target for advertisers. The campaign, which includes print and digital ads, will run in trade publications like Advertising Age starting Monday.
“Our sense is that we’ve reached a tipping point,” said Patricia Lippe Davis, the vice president for marketing at AARP media sales. “People are really recognizing the value of the audience that we speak to.”
The campaign is intended to reach what Ms. Davis calls “thought leaders,” senior marketing executives who tend to be middle-aged, and “media mavericks,” media planners and buyers who tend to be younger. She said she hoped it would debunk myths about older Americans.Joseph Perello, a managing partner of the marketing and advertising agency Catch New York, which created the campaign, said its tone was intended to show that baby boomers, the generation born from 1946 to 1964, were “still very energetic, still active, still working.” Many media buyers “are probably under 35, and they have a very outdated notion of what AARP is and certainly an outdated notion of what it means to be over 50,” Mr. Perello said.
In addition to print advertisements in AdAge, ads will run in two of the trade magazine’s e-mail newsletters and on the Adweek‘s AdFreak blog. Digital ads will be featured on Mediabistro.com, e-mail newsletters from MediaPost.com, and other industry trade communications.
Ads will also run on the Web site LinkedIn. The ability to reach users by job title, location, company and through groups on LinkedIn made it ideal for the ads, Mr. Perello said.
| Category Adult Kids, Advertising, Aging, Campaigns, Independent Living, Marketing, Press Release, Retirement Living, Seniors Life, Social Media | | Comments Off
Written by: Marco Kathuria
Communications: Words That Doom Press Releases to Oblivion
Take it from veteran reporters. Your press release goes directly to the trashcan if the headline includes the words “anniversary,” “award”, “fundraiser,” “benefit,” or “annual,” among others. If you think these types of events are newsworthy, you’re not thinking like a reporter.
Guest blogger Don Akchin writes frequently about marketing and philanthropy at donakchin.com.
| Category Advice, Communications, Cross-Post, Marketing, Press Release, Public Relations, Writing | | Comments Off
Written by: Don Akchin
Social Media Series: How SM Savvy Is Your City?
This week we want to present a brief series catching up with the world of communications and social media, a world that we have often explored though not recently. We begin with a look at a report put out by NetProspex concerning the use of social media among America’s urban centers. The report focuses on the uses of social media among the larger businesses and corporations. Not surprisingly, businesses are well-embedded in the social network. But what patterns lie beneath the surface?
| Category Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Press Release, Technology, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Microsoft Will Join The Cloud With Office 365
Microsoft recently released Office 2011 for the Mac, built on the materials added to Office 2010 for the PC. Two notable changes were that the old Entourage program that acted as the calendar/email/address book feature has been replaced by a more robust and truer-to-the-original Outlook, and the opportunity to record macros has been returned. Mac users might be pleased if they want Microsoft products, but the real news from Redmond is the release of the beta version of the Office 365 service, which melds the office suite with Microsoft Enterprise server technologies, allowing Mac, PC, and smartphone users access not only to their company’s Office software but to shared documents and secure collaborative communications tools. Leaving aside the threatened expectation of working on Christmas, Eid, Rosh Hashana, what might the service mean for the work place?
| Category Marketing, Press Release, Technology, Web and Print | | Comments Off
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
Press Release: MKCREATIVE Awarded Gold Status by the Green Business League – Use 100% Windpower to Power Their Business
Baltimore-based creative agency, MKCREATIVE, was recently certified as a “Gold Certified Green Business” by the Green Business League and joins the growing sustainable business community, choosing emission-free wind-energy and is a next step towards achieving certification as a Platinum Certified Green Business. (more…)
| Category Press Release | | Comments Off
Written by: Marco Kathuria