Don Akchin

Now you have valuable help as you try to figure out the best donor management system for your organization. NTEN and Idealware, two trusted names in nonprofit technology, have jointly published A Consumer’s Guide to Low-Cost Donor Management Systems. The report analyzes 29 systems that cost from the low three figures up to $4,000, and recommend best fits for different organizational needs. Download it for free (with registration).    

Need help turning your good works into great stories? Here’s help: Professional copywriter Rachel Foster has penned an e-book called Storytelling for Nonprofits: How to Craft Stories that Inspire Donors, available free on her website. (Thanks to Wild Apricot blog for the lead.) For a fine example of good storytelling, look no farther than Baltimore’s Public Justice Center, which explains a complex legal victory in terms of a single combatant, Earline.

Well, surprise surprise! When people with mobile phones connect to the web, the number one thing they do is check their email, says a Nielsen study. If you’re sending email to solicit donations, make sure it’s user-friendly on a mobile phone. You also may want to develop a mobile app for your organization – something that gives mobile users a reason to click through. For inspiration, check out these seven examples of nonprofits and their apps.

Blogger and consultant Lisa Sargent has written a valuable report on the state of online and offline fundraising, based on interviews with professionals representing organizations of varying sizes and across a spectrum of causes. Among the most interesting findings: social media contacts are “fragile followers.”

The 2010 Fenton Forecast surveyed 1,000 donors and found them positive about nonprofits but less sanguine about giving to them this year. Two-thirds plan to give the same amount or less, with the Baby Boom generation distinctive as the gloomiest group of all. One bright spot: The only age cohort planning to donate more is the 18-to-34-year-olds. All the more reason to crank up the social media that reach them best.

Photo: William Warby If your fiscal year starts January 1, the deadline for filing Form 990 with the feds is May 15. A nonprofit that fails to file the Form 990 for three successive years loses its tax-exempt status. Don’t do this to your donors.

Photo: Michael Reeve Beth Kanter reports how the Brooklyn Museum has used Foursquare, the latest location-based social medium, to engage with visitors and potential visitors. Social Media Examiner provides a good overview of “geotagging, local search and location-based services” and how they work with cellphones and GPS.

Those thoughtful folks at the Wild Apricot Blog are sharing some practical ideas about a planning matrix for keeping track of your social media messaging opportunities.

Jeff Brooks reprints a list of the eight most common mistakes that nonprofits make in producing newsletters for donors. Then he adds three more to the pile.

For months, it was hard to find any real results from using social media tools. Now, all of a sudden, nonprofit case studies are filling the air like pollen. (Gesundheit!) Jennifer Mattern at Social Implications discusses NPR’s use of social media for audience engagement, Idealist.org for volunteer recruitment, and others for fundraising and education. For an international perspective, Tactical Tech’s “10 tactics for turning information into action” features six-minute video clips on each of 10 organizations detailing what worked for them and why. Closer to home, Social Media Examiner takes a detailed look at the social media success of Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.

Blogger and nonprofit marketing consultant Nancy Schwartz has put together a downloadable template developing a two-year marketing plan. It’s a simple way to make sure you’re asking all the right questions.

What are the right ways to apply social media? In a wonderful column, writer Lisa Barone walks through the ways one nonprofit can use an assortment of social media tools to achieve awareness, interest, engagement and, of course, more financial support.

I can’t easily explain what a widget is or how you can use widgets in your online fundraising, but fortunately, Eric Schrader can. And it’s worth knowing.

Google has a tool called Optimizer that lets you try different variations of your webpage and measure which is most effective. A post at Frogloop blog explains the tool and also suggests ways to avoid the pitfalls of overtesting.

GLAD TIDINGS: Why You Love What You Do Feeling a case of burnout creeping up on you? Try this antidote: a post from the Fieldstone Alliance on 25 random things that make the nonprofit sector great. See? It still beats driving a cab!

GLAD TIDINGS: Why You Love What You Do Feeling a case of burnout creeping up on you? Try this antidote: a post from the Fieldstone Alliance on 25 random things that make the nonprofit sector great. See? It still beats driving a cab!

Cause Communications has developed a Communications Effectiveness Index to identify the habits of highly successful nonprofit communicators. It’s based on survey research across a broad spectrum, and should provoke thought at the very least.

Cause Communications has developed a Communications Effectiveness Index to identify the habits of highly successful nonprofit communicators. It’s based on survey research across a broad spectrum, and should provoke thought at the very least.

Cause Communications has developed a Communications Effectiveness Index to identify the habits of highly successful nonprofit communicators. It’s based on survey research across a broad spectrum, and should provoke thought at the very least.

Here’s an easier way to schedule your countdown to the big event or the printing deadline: a compact calendar that strings all the year’s dates together on one page, with weekends pushed to the side and holidays marked. It’s free, and it’s easy to modify. (Thanks to Warren Allan Johnson at Unsolicited Marketing Advice.)

Here’s an easier way to schedule your countdown to the big event or the printing deadline: a compact calendar that strings all the year’s dates together on one page, with weekends pushed to the side and holidays marked. It’s free, and it’s easy to modify. (Thanks to Warren Allan Johnson at Unsolicited Marketing Advice.)

Here’s an easier way to schedule your countdown to the big event or the printing deadline: a compact calendar that strings all the year’s dates together on one page, with weekends pushed to the side and holidays marked. It’s free, and it’s easy to modify. (Thanks to Warren Allan Johnson at Unsolicited Marketing Advice.)

Nancy Schwartz, nonprofit marketing consultant and blogger, is making a special effort to help nonprofits create better taglines – not the vague, ambiguous, over-reaching kind such as “We Do Good Stuff for People” – but the kind that really complement your organization’s name, convey the value you deliver, and distinguish you from competitors. To help her do work that may help you, it would be great if you could take a couple minutes to complete this short survey. You can request a copy of the results too.

Nancy Schwartz, nonprofit marketing consultant and blogger, is making a special effort to help nonprofits create better taglines – not the vague, ambiguous, over-reaching kind such as “We Do Good Stuff for People” – but the kind that really complement your organization’s name, convey the value you deliver, and distinguish you from competitors. To help her do work that may help you, it would be great if you could take a couple minutes to complete this short survey. You can request a copy of the results too.

Here are items of interest collected during the late summer, and shared even though past their expiration dates: Fellow marketing communications blogger Kivi Leroux Miller offers wise advice on the power of stories to communicate ideas and emotion. Idealist.com launches Common Ground, a resource for job seekers and HR mavens. A fascinating case study of a nonprofit that used a viral marketing campaign to build a new donor base. 107 Dirty Words that will bounce your email into the Spam pile Links to the above are here. But wait, there’s more: Facebook adds a feature that makes it easier for nonprofits to promote their causes. Also, links to some primers for newbies. You have 8 seconds to make a good impression on your landing page; tips for making the most of them. Message planning is an often-neglected first step to communicating; some tips. And if you’ve run out of things