Don Akchin

My wife and I recently joined a CSA. (Note to Dixie kin: Don’t get excited – it stands for Community Supported Agriculture.) We were expecting our first delivery this week, and were surprised when we didn’t see it last night. Our address is 221. It’s a large co-op apartment building. Little did we know that our shipment had been dropped off by mistake at 211. Timothy, who lives at 211, was stepping outside to take out the trash when he saw a strange parcel near his garbage cans. He inspected it and found vegetables inside.  Puzzled, he photographed it and loaded the picture on Facebook, with a message along the lines of, “What is this city coming to, now people are randomly dumping root vegetables.” A Facebook friend of Timothy, who until recently worked for my wife, looked at the photo, noticed that our name was on the label, and

By now you’re fully into the annual pre-tax appeal, and you will know in a few weeks whether you met your goal. Offering fantastic terrific fundraising ideas this month, when it’s too late to use them, would be the height of bad taste. So let’s not go there.   Good luck, happy holidays, and we’ll be back with more fantastic terrific fundraising ideas next year.

What does the data tell you? How can you use it? The CoolData blog walks through an example of a college alumni office which learns that the number of times an alumnus visits the college website correlates to the size and frequency of his gifts.

Facebook made significant changes last month. In the Stanford Social Innovation Review, blogger Amy Sample Ward explains their impact and directs you to links with more information. Twitter has launched a Twitter for Nonprofits program. Google Analytics has released a new and improved version. Allyson Kapin of Frogloop can explain it all.  Blogger Mitch Joel makes a case for why you should be present on Google+ now. For your reference collection: 10 must-have social media primers.

Want to get free advice from highly paid experts? Last month I interviewed three consultants who advise nonprofits on fundraising and marketing. The interviews appeared on the Nonprofit Marketing 360 blog. Here are links, along with a taste of each interview:   Toby Bloomberg writes the Diva Marketing Blog and hosts Blog Talk Radio. She talks about how social media can help nonprofits perfect “corner grocery store” relationships with donors and constituents.   Michael Stein, a senior executive at Donordigital, co-wrote a groundbreaking book about online fundraising. He discusses the intersection of direct mail and social media.  “People can organize revolutions on Facebook and Twitter, so why not fundraising?”   Mike Kujawski, who blogs at Public Sector Marketing 2.0, talks about building engagement strategies within the risk-averse cultures of government and nonprofit organizations.  “By the end of 2012, over 50% of world Internet access is going to occur via mobile device. Yet today, less than

“What’s the return on investment?” is one of those questions we’re frequently asked by nonprofit executives casting themselves in the role of no-nonsense business moguls. Hard numbers for social media have been hard to come by. Not so anymore. Now there are at least 67 examples of social media successes here and here. Use this valuable resource the next time you have to answer the ROI question.

In a piece about how to tell the story of your brand, consultant Simon Mainwaring made an observation that really struck me:   Like most marketers today, many non-profits still tell their story in a way that positions themselves as the focus or destination. Instead, every brand must shift from being the celebrity of their community to being its chief celebrant. That means the brand and its story exist to celebrate the success of its donors, field workers or community at large, and in so doing, inspires further fundraising and volunteer efforts on the basis of shared values and a sense of community. (emphasis added)   This observation, it seems to me, captures the essence of why social marketing differs from past marketing approaches. The old approach – we talk, you listen – no longer works when people are unwilling to listen. Customers, constituents and clients have learned that they hold the Power of the

Some nonprofits, in order to stretch the budget to the max, end up stretching their internal staff even more. Don’t let your boss strap you to the rack, when hiring a professional writer could solve a problem and make you look good in the bargain. Writer Kimberlee Roth points out five telltale signs that it’s time to hire a writer.

If you’re not sure how to measure the performance of your website, you’re in excellent company. And you’re also in luck, because blogger John Haydon has posted his list of five reports you can get from your free Google Analytics account. Even better, he tells you what the results mean.

Charity:Water has had one of the nation’s most successful online fundraising efforts. On Beth’s Blog, social media guru Beth Kanter features an interview with the group’s director of digital, who reveals some of the techniques they have used with good results. Here’s one shrewd piece of advice: “Do it wrong quickly.”

The social media that get all the ink have one thing in common: they are open to everyone. But House (or Private) Social Networks are gaining ground among nonprofits. The third annual Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report notes that 13% of nonprofits operate at least one – and among those nonprofits, 42% started up their house networks in the past year.   A House Social Network is a great tool for building engagement with donors or special groups of donors (alumni, for example). It’s a place to share insider news about your organization – and by sharing it, making your network members feel more like insiders. Check out the benchmark report for more on how nonprofits are using these networks, staffing and budgeting for them, and measuring ROI.

If you’re still wondering how powerful social media can be, just turn on the six o’clock news. Occupy Wall Street - no, you don’t have to live in the Middle East anymore to see social media trigger social unrest. A small encampment in one city, cheerfully ignored by media for two weeks, has now sparked (mostly) peaceful protests in dozens of cities, with no end in sight. And the political conversation has changed from national debt to income inequality. Take This Fee and Shove It - Bank of America’s announced $5 monthly fee on debit cards sparked enough outrage, amplified by social media, to force B of A to back down. When did that ever happen before? Herman Cain is My Name - Details of a controversy about charges of sexual harassment emerged faster than Cain could bat them down. Meanwhile Ron Paul, near the bottom of the pack in polls, raised $2.5

For several months it has been my privilege to conduct interviews with many talented experts who advise nonprofits on fundraising and marketing. The interviews appear weekly on the Nonprofit Marketing 360 blog. Below are links to the interviews that have appeared so far, and a salient excerpt from each interviewee. Sarah Durham - author of Brandraising and founder of BigDuck agency. “For better or for worse, an organization can’t get away with having a really lousy website or ignoring social media.” Jason Dick - owner of A Small Change blog, a major gifts officer. “Nonprofits will have to find a way to build community on their websites and use that as their way to sustain their donor base.” Zach Hochstadt - co-founder of Mission Minded, a branding agency. ”Your brand is not just your logo or your visual identity but a much more holistic concept, in some ways a synonym for reputation.” Sandy Rees - fundraising consultant, author, and owner of Get Fully

When I talk about the importance of engaging your supporters, I often get that look, the one that either means “Luxury item – maybe we’ll discuss it when we’re flush with cash,” or ”Why do you have two heads?” Now I can offer proof that engagement impacts the bottom line.Donor/Voice says that according to its donor commitment surveys, committed donors give 131% more than those who have little relationship with your organization. Every 1,000 donors you can move from low-commitment to highly engaged generates $200,000.   Ready now to talk about engagement? Our operators are standing by.

In August and September, Facebook announced changes in the features of both individual and organization pages. These changes are potentially far-reaching. Nonprofits using Facebook will need to re-think how they use it to engage their constituents.  No one is better at seeing the long-range implications of social media on nonprofits than Beth Kanter. She has posted three provocative reviews of the new features, along with some sensible advice about keeping priorities in order. I invite you to read her words here, here and here.

You have about 10 seconds to make a good impression on your website. Does your content satisfy the expectations of your readers? Nonprofit communications consultant and blogger Kivi Leroux Miller suggests the right content for three different audiences: strangers, friends and your most devoted fans.

In a new book, Social Media for Social Good, author Heather Mansfield suggests 11 best practices for using YouTube to your organization’s best advantage. Network for Good’s Katya Andresen provides a summary of the top 11 in two installments, here and here.

After analyzing more than 1 million Facebook updates, software developer Applum says posting updates using a third party application, such as Hootsuite, reduces response by 70%. Apparently Facebook’s internal algorithm discounts posts by third parties. For better response rates, update manually (at least until the algorithm changes).

The books about nonprofit market are suddenly popping up like mushrooms. Here is the latest crop:   Nonprofit Management 101, edited by Darian Rodriquez Heyman, contains 50 essays by 50 experts and practitioners that cover both traditional and cutting-edge tools and lay down a lot of solid advice, according to onereviewer.   Cause Marketing for Dummies, by Joe Waters and Joanna McDonald, takes the position that nonprofits of any size can link up with for-profit companies to promote their cause well. Reviewer Joanne Fritz gives it high marks.   Finally, in the popular Free category, Hubspot has produced a downloaded e-book on integrating email and social media, a topic that resonates with many nonprofit marketers this season.

Texas writer Jubi Headley offers a strong case for getting the hell out of the way and letting your clients tell their stories to donors. The impact outweighs the risks.   Speaking of storytelling, Marco Kathuria of MKCREATIVE and I will give a workshop on September 9 on Storytelling and Video for Life Span Network, Maryland’s association of senior care provider organizations. (If you’re interested in seeing it or talking about it, get in touch.)

QR (Quick Response) Codes are all the rage with marketers. In case you missed all the excitement, QR codes are like barcodes, only they’re bigger and square-shaped, and scanning them with a smartphone or a mobile phone with a camera will take you directly to a webpage. Blogger Allyson Kapin at Frogloop shares examples of ways the National Aquarium and four other nonprofits are using QR codes creatively.

Jumo, the social medium that started with a bang nine months ago, ended with a whimper in August by being absorbed into GOOD, a content-rich site catering to activists across a broad spectrum of causes. Jumo had aimed to be a social connector as well as a portal for giving to nonprofit organizations, but it failed to draw sufficient numbers of viewers away from more established competing sites.

Good branding is hard. Universities are a hard place to get definitive action of any kind. By launching a new brand for all its arts and humanities programs – developed with in-house staff and faculty consensus – UMBC has achieved the near-miraculous. (Full disclosure: I am married to UMBC’s head of marketing and communications. ) The three-word tagline (think-create-engage) will appear on all future advertising, posters, and online notices for events in dance, art, theatre, music, and other programs of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.  While the new Performing Arts and Humanities Building is under construction, the branding also gets prominent display on campus as the decorative motif for the construction fence surrounding the building site. Congratulations to a talented bunch.

I’ve been conducting interviews with bloggers and other experts in the field of nonprofit marketing and fundraising. The first, with Sarah Durham, is now up on the Nonprofit Marketing 360 site. The owner of marketing agency Big Duck and the author of the book Brandraising, Sarah talks about why branding is important for nonprofits.

“Multi-channel marketing” is the latest buzzword to proliferate and pollute all the multiple channels of communication. (See item below for a good example of why.) Convio has published a survey (produced by Edge Research, of Washington and Baltimore) that looks at how well nonprofits are doing and at what seem to be the  success factors. Blogger Joanne Fritz offers a succinct summary of the findings. One essential element for multi-channel success, the survey suggests, is the technology to synchronize online and direct mail databases. To get you started, blogger John Haydon has six good suggestions for integrating your email list with social media.