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50-Euro Discount for PdF Europe
Next month, Personal Democracy Forum will be hosting PdF Europe, a gathering of leaders in technology, government, and the social sector in Europe and around the world. The conference will happen October 4 and 5 in Barcelona. If you register with the code "TSG," you can get a €50 discount off the registration fee. In June, Becky attended PdF 2010 in New York and covered it here. It will be exciting to see the big ideas and themes that emerge at PdF Europe. From PdF: As Europe wrestles with the economic downturn and changes in ruling coalitions in several major countries, the time is ripe to ...
Changes In Progress at TechSoup.org
We're working on implementing some exciting changes and improvements to TechSoup.org. Though the blog is still working, the rest of the site will be unavailable starting at 7 p.m Pacific time tonight through September 12. On September 13, 2010, many pages you see when you browse for products, when you log in to your TechSoup account, and when you request product donations will have the updated look and feel of the TechSoup.org home page. But, we're making improvements beyond just outward appearances — we're taking steps to improve some key processes that will help you request donations more ...
Inbox to Donate: Learn how from the Idealware Experts!
Are you working on your year-end fundraising appeals? Are you looking at your organization's goals and wondering, "Will we be able to fundraise the projected amount?" Make a sound investment in Idealware's Email Fundraising Course and you might just reach your goals! This intensive course will take a deep dive into the ins and outs of Email Fundraising. Over the course of this five-part series, you will design and create a full-fledged email fundraising campaign, ready to go for your year-end appeal. Through expert-led sessions, worksheets, and review of your work by both peers ...
Latest Trends in Online Fundraising
Steve MacLaughlin, Blackbaud There is often a lot of speculation and guessing about what’s happening to fundraising in the nonprofit sector. With more than half of 2010 now over, it might be helpful to review some updated statistics. Online Giving Remains Positive The recession certainly had an impact across the entire nonprofit sector. But the latest online giving data shows continued growth. The Blackbaud Index of Online Giving was launched this year and measures online giving data from more than 1,700 organizations. The Index looks at trends on a rolling three-month basis to ...
Websites Don't Annoy People. Designers Do.
Proper Discord just nailed the problem with most nonprofit websites (via):
Video contains slightly off-color language.
How to Buy Greener Mobile Phones
This post is Part 3 in a GreenTech series on buying green office equipment. See Part 1 on new IT equipment and Part 2 on used and refurbished IT equipment. What's New in Green Mobile Phones If you're in the market for a new cell phone or smartphone, there are some green models that you've probably never heard of like the Sony Ericsson GreenHeart, Samsung Reclaim, Samsung Blue Earth, Nokia Evolve, and the Motorola Renew. Earth2Tech has a nice list of them. The Motorola MOTO W233 Renew and its newer version, the MOTO W388 Renew, are among the most eco-friendly mobile phones out there. The MOTO ...
Build Communities to Enhance Your Fundraising Campaigns
Adrienne D. Capps, U. C. Davis Much has changed with regard to fundraising and “friendraising” during the 12 years I have been a professional fundraiser, the most obvious being the use of technology. We are all online these days whereas in 1998 it was a much more mixed bag. One thing remains and will continue to, however: making sense of it all. How do you determine which technology, or set of technologies, will be best suited to your organization? How do you appropriately implement them? And how do you check results? In my recent chapter “Managing Fundraising and Building ...
Free Webinar September 14: Training Volunteers and Staff Members to Ask
Join Andrea Kihlstedt and GiftWorks on September 14 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time for a free webinar on how to train people to ask for gifts. Andrea's book Capital Campaigns: Strategies that Work is a standard resource on capital campaign fundraising. Her new book, How to Raise $1 Million (or More) in 10 Bite Sized Steps makes the complex ideas of fundraising simple and engaging. Andrea is a well-known teacher, trainer, and coach. Her lively and personable style makes even webinars friendly and engaging. She is co-founder of Asking Matters, a web-based resource that teaches board members ...
It's Already September? (Or: Two Thirds of a Year's Worth of Fundraising Resources)
Flickr: visit~ fingerlakesWhere I come from, there's a lake, and every year on the Saturday before Labor day when the sun goes down, everyone who lives on that lake turns off their house lights, lines their waterfront with lit red flares, and builds a bonfire. This is how we mark the end of summer (high tourist season) and the beginning of a new year. For the past few years, I've been in Portland, OR, far away from this tradition -- which may explain why it feels a bit like September has smacked us over the head, as it walked unannounced into our summer party. Regardless of how it got ...
Effective Uses of Social Media for Fundraising
Philip King, Artez Interactive There may come a day when your Facebook fan page has more traffic than your actual website. Hard to believe? Just talk to the people at Coca-Cola. A recent Advertising Age article notes that Coke has one of the largest brand pages on Facebook with 10.7 million fans (placing them in second, after Starbucks' 12.7 million fans). Consider this in comparison to their own website, where U.S. unique visitors in July fell to 242,000, down more than 40% compared to a year ago. With trends like these, it's important to consider your own approach to social ...
Where to Go When You Need to Know (If Your Site Works): Web Analytics Extravaganza
Based on the response to a couple of how-to articles about Google Analytics I've posted to the NTEN blog recently, we know there's a hunger for more information about how to understand what's going on with your organization's web site. See, the average time on page for these articles is nearly 4:00, much higher than our blog's average of 2:35, so I know folks are (probably) actually reading them. And judging by the referring sites, they're coming from all over. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Web analytics can tell you a lot of things -- what your visitors are engaging ...
In the Social Media Kitchen with TechSoup Chefs at NSAC 2010
We kicked off our tech kitchen with a presentation Social Media: Listen First. As we mentioned on the blog, TechSoup's online community staffers along with expert consultants presented at the NSAC (National Sexual Assault Conference) hosted by CALCASA (California Coalition Against Sexual Assault). The five of us social media "chefs" set up our TechSoup social media kitchen at the conference lounge, where folks could drop-in during the conference and get one-on-one help with their social media questions. Janet Fouts, Susan Tenby, and I discussed the most important part of any social media ...
How to Use Causes for Your Year-End Fundraising Appeal
Susan Gordon, Causes Planning for the year-end giving season is in full swing throughout the nonprofit sector. In 2009, giving in December alone brought in about 1/3 of the fundraising dollars to nonprofits. And in 2010, online giving is expected to bring in more donations than ever, after having seen a 46% increase in online revenue between 2008 and 2009. At Causes, the application on Facebook, we’re releasing huge improvements to our fundraising and communications tools just in time for the year-end giving season. Nonprofits have already raised over $26 million using Causes -- ...
Changes Coming to TechSoup
At TechSoup Global we've been working hard on a new round of improvements to the TechSoup.org website. I'm excited to update you on our progress and hear your feedback. A little over a year ago, we unveiled the first phase in a series of improvements to the site, including a new home page design and enhanced search functionality. Those visible changes to the site also represented significant improvement to our back end systems — both hardware and software. On September 13, we will be unveiling more changes to our site — most notably, the donation request process has been updated. ...
Lunch Is on Me and My Cell Phone
Flickr photo: shareskiHow much cash do you have in your wallet right now? As I sat in the Grand Junction Colorado airport -- which is charming -- I had a conundrum: the contents of my wallet came to a grand total of 72 cents.* This is a common situation for me, a situation that means if I need a Diet Coke later (inevitable), I will likely also be forced to buy some chips or something so that I can put the charge on my ATM card. (Those chips clearly have nothing to do with my lack of will power.) But I digress. My point is that real currency, the silver and green stuff we lug around, is ...
Brandraising: Using Technology to Grow Nonprofit Peaches
Sarah Durham, Big Duck We're all nerds when it comes to new media. No matter how many studies tell us that that the gadgets we're hooked on aren't good for us, most of us technology nerds still can't get enough. In part, it's because the technology is now so fast, easy and cheap to use that simply investing our time to figure it out seems like a pleasure. After all, I was that kid who stayed up late playing video games. (Ah, Joust... how I miss thee.) Now I'm that grown up who stays up late building communities for my obscure personal interests on Ning, and aimlessly chatting with my ...
Connect with TechSoup at the National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC)
This week TechSoup staff members and expert consultants are speaking at the National Sexual Assault Conference hosted by CALCASA (California Coalition Against Sexual Assault) National Sexual Assault Conference (NSAC) in Hollywood, CA. Susan Tenby and Megan Keane presented on a panel with Janet Fouts today on LISTENING online, engaging through finding, hearing and connecting with your greater audience.
Changes to the NTEN Connect Newsletter
Until this month, we've used our monthly e-newsletter, NTEN Connect, to debut new content, typically publishing the 5-7 articles we've solicited all at once. While that gives us a nice traffic spike, it's a lot to drop on y'all in one day.So, in the spirit of Holly's call for innovation, we're going to try something new. Each weekday, for the first couple of weeks of each month, we're going to post a guest article related to our monthly theme. This month, it's fundraising; next month, Tech Trends. At the end of the month, the articles you, the NTEN community, like the most -- as determined ...
Fundraising When Money Is Tight
Mal Warwick, Mal Warwick Associates Our economy is still in bad shape, and a growing number of economists is telling us that it may well get worse. So what can we fundraisers do to minimize the impact of this difficult period on our organizations, and at the same time maximize our income? I suggest a cautious and balanced nine-step approach: 1. Reassess the whole ball of wax: fundraising, marketing, communications Now’s the time to take advantage of the opportunity to put in place an intensive evaluation process that will allow your fundraising, marketing, and ...
Donald Trump Thinks You're Boring (and Other Lessons on Innovation)
Flickr photo: Gilberto ViciedoIn her book "Zilch", Nancy Lublin recounts the time she was seated next to "The Donald" at a play. They had a little chit chat, which included Mr. Trump asking her, "Oh. So you're in the not-for-profit sector. You don't find that boring?" I can now say from experience that Nancy Lublin is neither bored nor boring. (Seriously. When I met her, she was wearing a necklace made of plastic hula girls, and she WORKED it.) From what I know about you, you aren't either. As Nancy points out in the book, it's hard to be bored when ...
