YouTube and you

By now as a successful nonprofit you are probably getting very well acquainted with social media. But have you thought about YouTube? A recent article on Mashable, the social media website, details the success nonprofits have had in using YouTube and its nonprofit friendly tools to raise friends and funds.

The key is to make a compelling video. Whether you handle in-house or ask a volunteer to supply, the message has to grab people. YouTube will allow you to annotate your media message with key information as well as a call to action. Don’t forget to link to your donation page on your website and be aware of the importance of using keywords with regard to search.

Finally, use YouTube Insight, a version of Google Analytics, to measure how well you are doing and to tweak your product.

Asking for more

I had an interesting conversation with a friend this week. We were talking about direct mail fundraising campaigns and the importance of revising your list and letter became paramount as she recounted this. She donated $500 to a local nonprofit. Eight weeks later she received a letter asking for an $100 donation. Next time they may be lucky to get $50 from her. Why? Because they aren’t using their data correctly and that may give a donor the impression that the entire organization is inefficient.

Many organizations have large mailing lists and continue to “snail mail” donor requests. An efficient fund development office should cull those who haven’t given in a long time. They also must figure out if donors or possible donors would prefer digital communications vs. mail. And finally, they need to recognize donors for their donation and increase the “ask” next time around.

New Year/New Decade/New Approach

Though I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, I do find that after the holiday vacation it’s the perfect time to come back to work with some new approaches to liven up the year. So, I challenge you to come up with some ideas for how you would freshen your fund development and nonprofit marketing efforts for the year.

Some things to consider:
• Have you been using your board of directors effectively as advocates and fundraisers?

• Have you told your donors “thanks” and kept them informed about new plans?

• 2010 may be the perfect time to reach out to a new market. Do you have a plan to communicate with a younger generation?

• 2010 is also the year to become more digital in your approach. If you are not on Facebook and Twitter, are you planning to include in your marketing efforts?

• Have you considered partnering with another nonprofit to achieve results?

• Have you developed an annual plan for your marketing and communications efforts? Being proactive is more efficient and more effective than being reactive.

Whatever you do this year – whether it’s making board meetings more engaging or your website more interactive – have fun!

A Christmas story

In our household watching the movie “A Christmas Story” is an annual holiday tradition. Each year we know it will come back on television and we plan to watch and laugh. It’s expected.

For some nonprofits, it’s expected that each year they roll out their holiday direct mail and/or appeal. For some, it’s the only time of year that we hear from that nonprofit. For others it is part of a well-planned campaign.

Those nonprofits that reach out just during the holiday season are not “must” viewing like “A Christmas Story.” They are missing out on opportunities to establish a relationship with a donor or prospect and are counting on the fact that the spirit of the season will work for donations.

It’s best to establish a relationship with the donor/prospect that draws them in and creates an emotional bond over time. A once a year mailing to a purchased list is not going to achieve success.

Want to learn more about how to establish that “must” relationship? Call Cause to Communicate this holiday season.

Why United Way may not be your friend

Not to pick on United Way, it can be any fund granting organization that may not be your friend. Why? Because some nonprofits think that they don’t have to do marketing or public relations or fund development because they are receiving funds from United Way or a community foundation. Not so.

If your nonprofit is heavily relying on United Way or some other fund granting organization what happens when they cut your grant? Because it will happen. And when it does, it can be devastating unless you have had a plan in place to raise your own friends thus your own funds.

To protect your nonprofit, you must be communicating in such a way as to raise your own friends that are attracted to your cause and your message. It’s just a good way of not keeping all your “eggs” in one basket.

Barack Obama shouldn’t be the only one

Nine months into President Obama’s term, some of us may have forgotten how his campaign raised record-setting amounts of money over the internet. Does your nonprofit have the capability of raising funds over your website?  Don’t think it’s important?  Think again.

Website donations are a great way to attract the younger demographic to your organization.  Most members of the Millennial generation (they are just hitting the workforce now and include my two 20 something year old kids) don’t even own a checkbook. They pay their bills online. They may not make a lot of money but now is the time to engage them with your cause.

Besides, the internet is a great way to capture emails, create a database and then use that database for fundraising queries of an immediate nature (“We’ll have to turn kids away from our camp,” “We don’t have enough shelter beds for the homeless,” “We will have to euthanize our dogs” without your help).  One nonprofit that C2C works with raised over $43,000 with their immediate need request!

So no matter your party affiliation, follow the President’s lead on this one and develop a robust internet fundraising capability.

 

Welcome!

Do you have a Cause to Communicate?

Welcome to our blog. We hope to have an enlightening discussion with many people in the nonprofit community about how they are succeeding in communicating their cause to their various constituents – staff, donors, volunteers, prospects, media, recipients and the greater community.

The creation of Cause to Communicate has been a personal goal of mine for a very long time. I have been involved via volunteerism with a variety of nonprofits for many years and have gradually shifted my public relations/marketing practice to working with mostly nonprofits. Why? Because at the end of the day I like the feeling of helping people out – of doing “good.”

I look forward to hearing from you about what has worked or what has been a miserable failure. I will point out best practices in marketing/friendraising/ fundraising for nonprofits. The goal is to do more “good” by communicating a cause.

~Amy