Pitching Your Cause: Effectively Working with the Media to Spread Your Story

Network for Good is offering a live teleconference on September 1st on getting the media involved with promoting your organization. The insert from the invitation reads:

As your organization works to stay top of mind for supporters and the media, you may be feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of public relations, pitches and press releases. You think to yourself:

What grabs a reporter's attention?
How can I increase the chances of my event being covered?
Who's the best person to contact at media outlets when my organization has news?

Join our journalism and communications experts (Zan Dubin Scott, Paul West and Scott Martelle) for a free "Public Relations 202" teleconference. Our experts know the ins and outs of media coverage; they can explain why those assigning editors never called you back and why the sure-hit event you planned drew no free media.

View the source and register today »

Process Automation and Fundraising Results

OrangeLeap is offering a repeat online webinar August the 25th. The webinar is about understanding business rules and fundraising automation. Here is an insert from the invitation:

Have you ever struggled with timely donor acknowledgement? Ever wished you could easily target cultivation to key donors in a consistent, systematic way? Processes at many organizations can be sporadically implemented and sometimes capricious having evolved organically over years.

If you're interested in the webinar, sign up today.

New and Improved: The Children's Shelter

The Children's Shelter was another winner in the NPower Texas Web Makeover Giveway. After my discussions with them, I realized that they were in desperate need to have their site redesigned. At the time, it had been some years since this had been done. Their existing site consisted of a layout that was all large, blocky images which weighed down the website and didn't allow for them to change it or make updates to. After thinking about it, I designed a fun website that focused on children and the programs CS provides to those in need. The site was put into a Joomla CMS so that it would be easy for them to update and manage. Visit the website

If your organization or business needs a new web site or just an update, contact GoGreenCre8tive

Wikispaces for Non-Profits

The following information has been offered by TechSoup. These offers don't last long so check it out. There may be some restrictions so be sure you review those:

Most people have heard of Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia that the whole world can edit. Wikispaces can allow your nonprofit to create your own wiki to share information, store resources, and collaboratively modify content. Wikispaces is a wiki hosting service that allows you to create a collaborative Web site that is easy to setup and use. You choose who has access to create or modify content, and because each version of a page on Wikispaces is saved, users can compare versions or go back to a previous version for reference. Wikispaces hosts the wiki sites, so setup is easy.

Donated Service to Help You: The admin fee for a Wikispaces subscription is only $10 per year.

Learn More at TechSoup: Read how your organization can create and edit online content quickly and easily using Wikispaces in TechSoup's Mini Guide to Wikispaces.

Or visit http://www.wikispaces.com/ for more information.

Free Google Apps for Non-Profits

Google Docs allows users to share the same online copy of each document, spreadsheet, or presentation. All revisions are saved and recoverable. Presentations can be delivered to remote audiences, and documents and spreadsheets can be published internally for people to view. Import and collaboratively edit or publish from .doc, .xls, .csv, .ppt, .txt, .html, .pdf and other file formats. Best of all, Google Docs is totally free to use!

Short video explaining the concept in plain english http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/collaboration.html

Explore Google Apps and what's available

If you are a registered non-profit, here's how you get hooked up!

Volunteer-Nonprofit Relationship

Making a successful connection can sometimes be difficult. The success of a volunteer program depends on making the right kind of match -- one where both the volunteer and the organization gain something without feeling frustrated or ignored. Motivated, skilled technology volunteers don't want to twiddle their thumbs while trying to figure out what they can and cannot do on the job. Likewise, organizations don't want volunteers to blow through like a whirlwind, upturning systems that already work and criticizing every procedure.

That's not to say that the volunteer-nonprofit relationship is doomed. Many organizations have developed very successful programs that are rewarding for both parties.

Whether an organization hires a volunteer to redesign a database, upgrade hardware, or build a Web site, establishing clear expectations and guidelines will help create a positive environment and ensure a productive experience for all concerned. go to source

Take advantage of the help that's out there

If you've never heard of Techsoup or have not had an opportunity to use them, you need to check them out. As a non-profit, they offer many great services including software. You can register on their website as a non-profit and get all kinds of software donated to your organization for use. They also have a searchable database of services that are available as well as a learning center which covers some information on technology and implementing it in your organization. They make it very easy to register. Go to the website and at the top right it has a link to "register organization." That's all you got to do to get started.

Best Practices Associated with Banner Ads

When first introduced on the Internet, banner ads changed the face of advertising. While most marketing companies were thinking in terms of print ads, the concept of banner ads, with their limited space, visibility and size, was revolutionary. There are several tips and best practices on how to utilize them. 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

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.

Cool Tool Alert: Volusion E-Commerce

Well there are many e-commerce tools out on the market. I wanted to highlight Volusion's E-Commerce tool. I have done a lot of research on tools for clients. The one thing that I've found that non-profits are interested in is allowing the buyer to "roll-up" their change from their purchase or add a new donation all together to their order. The website highlights many websites that are using it but the best one I could find that demonstrates the donation portion is Barack Obama's website. Go through his store and pretend to add an item to your basket. When it adds it, the next screen asks you if you want to round up your donation. This is a great way to allow donors to donate to your cause without having to hand out $5 and $10 donations. Most people don't miss the change. For example, when I go to PetSmart each week to buy my cat and dog food, upon payment, it asks if I want to donate $1. I always donate because in the large scheme of things, $1 isn't going to break my purchase of $100. So try using Volusion for your e-commerce solution. If you are interested in using this tool or want more information on it, drop me an email and I'll be glad to get you started.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

You may have heard a lot of buzz lately about content management systems (cms). More and more companies and organizations are migrating to them for a number of reasons. With a CMS, you don't have to have any HTML experience to update it. So this makes it easier to keep your website up-to-date without having to pay a designer $100 to change a few words. So which CMS is the best? Again, there are tons out there. Some of the most popular are Drupal and Joomla. I lean more toward Joomla when setting up CMS tools with my clients. As a designer, I'm able to easily design a nice look and incorporate the needed Joomla elements to make the template work properly. Another great thing about Joomla is they have an active development community meaning developers are constantly creating little plug-ins that you can use with Joomla. You can have a simple site with Joomla or a more advanced site - it doesn't really matter. There are also many free templates out there that you can instantly use. As a non-profit, you of course would want something a bit more customized for your organization so it will likely take you contacting someone who is experienced in developing with Joomla to create a custom design. After that, it's pretty smooth sailing. With an id and password, you can start making you own changes. You can read more about Joomla by visiting www.joomla.org. Also, explore their "Extensions" to get an idea of what you can add to your site.

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.

Why Not Start A Blog

In a recent workshop I came across an organization who was struggling with their website. It was out of date and because of the high volunteer turn-over, they were having trouble getting the site updated. One thing that I suggested in the short-term was to start a blog. Why not? A blog is a great way to get your organizations name out there to the public and they are very easy to manage and update. With tools like Blogspot or Word Press, you can create a blog in a matter of minutes. Blogs could be very effective for organizations who are very news and event driven. You could list all your news and events and people that are interested could "subscribe" to the blog. When someone subscribes through an RSS feed, they get an update in their email or their RSS reader when you have posted new information. Consider too, if your budget doesn't allow you to use something like Constant Contact to email folks about upcoming events or news, a blog is another option because it gives the donor or user the option of subscribing to it. While you may not be able to "track" their information, per say, you're still getting the information out there. Others have even used blogs for their website. If you plan it correctly, some blog sites can be customized to look like a website. Word Press allows a lot of flexibility to the design. It would take someone who has more of a technical background to customize it for you but it can be done. However, I always advise having a website and complimenting it with a blog.

One important thing to remember though is that a stagnate blog could be potentially harmful. The whole purpose of having a good website or blog is to show people that you are passionate about your cause or mission. If you don't keep either one updated, then it shows the person visiting your site or reading your blog that you may not be as passionate about your cause as you claim you are. So, if you want to start a blog great. Just keep the information fresh and updated and you can be successful.

Why I Started This Blog

I have been working with a variety of non-profits for awhile now. What I've found is that many don't know where to begin when it comes to IT or getting their site on the right track to attract potential donors and members. With that being said, I have been asked to speak at a few workshops and brown bag lunches to talk about the web and it's great potential for non-profit organizations. Now, I'm taking much of my presentations and experience to this blog. I know that many non-profits are 80% or more volunteers so sometimes there is the lack of time or knowledge available to get going in the right direction. This blog is going to cut some of your research out. I will use my 13 years or web design experience and experience with non-profits to post ideas and reviews of open-source tools that could be used. This is by no means the be all and end all to web design and strategy but it's mostly based on my opinion and background.

Every week, I will be posting an interesting notation or idea for your websites or I may post a review or information on a valuable tool.

If you have questions or would like me to discuss a particular subject, send me an email at patsy@thatsunique.com and I'll work a post in.