Free EBook from Network for Good

Network for Good has released a new EBook titled "How to Raise A Lot More Money Now - 50 Great Ideas from 11 Top Experts." The book gives you creative ideas on how to raise money for your organization. In past postings, I've talked about strategic ways to get donations. People like to see where their money is going. So being creative with that part of your website can really get peoples attention. Take a few minutes to review this EBook.

If you need help with getting your website designed or redesigned to draw in donors, visit www.gogreencre8tive.com.

Don't forget your networking tools. Get help with you networking as well. I have packages exclusively for non-profits to manage your networking.

Thousands of nonprofits may lose tax-exempt status

An article in the Associated Press says that many nonprofits will be losing their tax-exempt status because they didn't file a new form with the IRS. Just a reminder folks - get it done.

Go to source »

Awards of Excellence

On Thursday, November 12, 2009, the Center for Non-Profit Management held their "A Night of Light" event. This event honors non-profits in the community for their "Awards of Excellence" in non-profit management.

A special congratulations goes out to "Promise House" for their Awards of Excellence in Communication. Promise House was recognized for their use of media, including web design, in promoting their "Sofa Surfing Campaign".

View a complete list of winners »

Myths and Facts About Targeting and Personalizing Your E-mail Promotions

Target and personalized e-mail promotions are possibly the two most dramatic ways of increasing your e-mail response rates. However the case, a recent report found that only 4 percent of marketers personalize e-mail promotions. As shocking as this statistic may be, there are several myths about targeting and personalizing e-mail promotions that encourage resistance from most businesses. The only way to... Go to Source

Five Things You Should Never Say to an Online Donor

Picture one of your supporters sitting at her computer. She’s browsing your website. She just finished reading a heart-warming story of success about someone whose life has been transformed by your nonprofit’s program, and there’s a tear in her eye. (There's also a bit of broccoli between her front teeth, but don’t focus on that now.)

Now you watch with bated breath: Will she convert from supporter to donor? What can you say during this open-minded moment of truth? What should you absolutely avoid saying during this crucial time?

go to source

Sharing: Debunking Five Myths of Online Fundraising

Thon Morse is the President of Kimbia and he has written an article about online fundraising and some myths about it. Some things he addresses are:

Myth #1: Online fundraising isn't as effective as offline techniques
Myth #2: People won't give online
Myth #3: Online fundraising means raising money through my organization's website
Myth #4: Technology is not the problem
Myth #5: Raising 10 percent of all gifts online is a great goal

To read the entire article and his responses to these myths, check out Kimbia: Inside Out.

Get Your Videos Ready!

Do you ever visit YouTube? Well I go there often. There are so many videos from so many topics, you could never get through them all. Well I'm not the only one who goes to YouTube. YouTube is a FREE online server where you can post your own videos in a personalized channel. Non-profits are starting to utilize it for their organizations. At YouTube, you can create a custom channel for your organization and post videos. This is great because if you have a lot of videos, you can store them there for free vs. storing them on your own web server. This saves bandwidth and space. YouTube also gives you custom code so that you can embed the videos into your website but they still reside on their servers. Another value to YouTube is that folks will have easier access to you and would likely see your video there first before they would at your website. Another type of video services is GodTube - same concept but more religious based so if you are a faith-based organization, consider using it as well.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Design Tip: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Do you remember your dad saying that? We'll mine always did and it's true. When a potential donor comes to your website for information or maybe to make a donation, a good visual of your organization can bring positive feedback. Capture your visitors attention with photos. Wouldn't it be nice for people to fully understand the work you do? You can do that by displaying photos of your organization doing what it does best for others, whether it's feeding the homeless, educating children or saving a displaced pet. Photos that tug on the heartstrings can eventually tug on the purse strings. It also helps people see just how far you've come. So the next time you're updating your website, don't forget the photos.

Get creative with your donations

So last week we talked about the many options that are out there for online donations. Now it's time to get creative. Whenever I speak before organizations, I always like to use the example of Heifer. Heifer is an organization whose goal is to end hunger around the world. They have incorporated one of the most creative ways to get people to donate to their organization. In many cases, when folks donate, they want to know where their money is going. So it's always nice to give them some kind of visual on that. Heifer has done just that. If you go to their website, click on their option "Gift Catalog." You can actually browse the type of item you want to purchase. You can purchase ducks, chickens and even trees. When you click on the item you want to donate, it explains why this item is so important to those people. It really helps you appreciate the needs of the people and where the money will go. They also have an area where you could donate to a specific project in another country. They list a country and the project they are working on for them. When you dig deeper, it explains the details about the project. And again, on the same page, they list where they are with their donations and how much more they need to finish the project. A very cool way to set-up your donations. While this may not always work for everyone, you can still try and come up with a creative way to do this. In any case, the option to donate should always be there.

Start accepting donations online

Times have changed and people are looking for easier ways to make donations. Gone are the days of mailing in checks. Consider setting up your website so that folks can pay online instead of filling out some form and mailing it in. Now I do agree there are still some people who are not comfortable paying online and still like the traditional method - so do both. There are many tools or options out there for you. Here are a few:

Volusion: I talked about Volusion briefly last week. While it is an e-commerce tool, it does give you the capability to accept donations or round your purchase up for your donation.

PayPal: This is one of the cheapest options out there. It's very easy to sign up for a PayPal account. They also walk you through the steps of setting up your donation button. They then provide the code that you just paste into your website. Their fees are very minimal.

Network for Good: If you are a non-profit organization, you can use this pretty much for free. It costs nothing to set-up your account with them. What is neat about this is although there is a fee, they give you an option to put on the form where the donor can opt to pay the fee that is used to process the card. It's a neat option. www.networkforgood.org/npo

Kimbia: This is a bit more upscale version and a very versatile tool. You set up your account with them and then you can start customizing and building your own forms. So you could set-up a donation form with whatever fields you want. Then because the tool is somewhat of a widget, you can copy and paste the code anywhere - websites and etc. and a person could donate right there. Definitely worth checking out. http://www.kimbia.com/

Cool Tool Alert: Chip In

I came across an interesting tool that would be great to show status of your fundraising. Know how many websites show a thermometer that indicates their fund raising goals and where they are currently? Chip In offers a FREE widget that you can incorporate onto your website that keeps track of your fund raising. I have attached a photo to the right of what the FREE widget looks like. You are unable to customize it but it's pretty cool if you want something that is dynamic and shows people where you are on your goals. You do have to have a PayPal account in order to use it because that's where the funds are deposited so be sure to have an account created there first. But in a matter of a few quick steps, you're ready to go with this widget. Now they do offer a full editable option called Sprout. There is a little more work involved but it's well worth the effort. The Sprout version requires you to register but again a very fun and functional tool to engage your donors and supporters.

Fundraise with Online Auctions

NpowerTexas, a non-profit IT consulting firm, is fundraising for their organization by having an online auction. An online auction is a great way to get extra funds for your organization. You can also do it with almost no expense. First, register your organization with EBay and set up an account. Next, set up an account with Mission Fish. Mission Fish and EBay have partnered together to help non-profits fundraise with online auctions. What makes this great is that EBay will refund your submission fees if you are registered with Mission Fish. They also base that on the percentage of funds being donated. So, if you place items up for auction and 100% of that goes to your organization, then you will receive 100% of your fees back. By using PayPal to process your transactions, you are charged probably a lower fee than most credit card processing companies. Then get all your board members together and start pulling together items for the auction. Your board members should be a huge asset to distributing out invitations to potential buyers of the auction items. See if they can send out an email to the folks in their company to help get the word out. Consider too, that your items will be available on EBay for people everywhere to vote on. Not only can you raise funds but you can get the word out about your organization with minimum marketing.