I’m beginning again, as I often do, with a bit of borrowed insight:
The hierarchy of insight
It looks like this:
- data
- information
- knowledge
- understanding
- wisdom
Which do we measure the most, spend the most obtaining and argue about most often? We might have it backwards.
— Seth Godin
Do you glorify data above understanding? Opinion above knowledge? Information above wisdom? Give some thought to what informs your current strategies, and think about what else it might be helpful to know.
Hopefully you can use some of the insights you glean in this week’s issue of the Clairity Click-it to help you. So, start digging through the curated content from across the web. I hope it will make your job easier, and more fulfilling. There’s lots to get curious about!
As always, a big thank you to my sponsor, Bloomerang, for making it possible for me to spend the hours of time hunting, gathering and choosing the resources I believe will be most useful to you. It is my sincere pleasure and honor to help you find the ideas, strategies, templates and tools you need to succeed.
Thank you for doing your vital work, and making our world a better place,
Claire
claire@clairification.com
P.S. Please scroll down to see all my Clairification School sponsors who enable me to offer enrollment in ‘Clairification School at an affordable price [If the enrollment fee is a hardship, please email me and we’ll work it out.]
P.S. Even if you don’t care about all the Clairification School benefits, and are happy just being on the Clairity Click-it newsletter list, if you enjoy reading it and want to send a little love my way by enrolling. I promise to send it back.
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: We Grow Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart: Lessons from Botton Village. Roger Craver, the Agitator-DonorVoice, describes a case lesson from 30 years ago about the fundamentals of relationship fundraising. Read the story, then read about how we’ve squandered the lesson in the ensuing years. Then maybe buy Ken Burnett’s book, Relationship Fundraising: A Donor-Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money. Third Edition.
Click-it: Twelve Percent. That’s the percentage of funds raised online last year. If that surprises you, please read this article from Steven Screen, the Better Fundraising Co. It makes an important point as to why developing both strong online and offline fundraising programs is key to success.
Click-it: 4 Nonprofit Marketing Ideas That Embrace Creativity. Get creative to stand out! Soapbox Engage highlights a number of ideas to grab your constituents’ attention and help you raise more money. Pick just one, and commit to doing something memorable this season!
Content Marketing
Click-it: 5 reports nonprofits should produce annually. Telling your nonprofit’s stories, both before and after people engage with you philanthropically, is what will drive current and future donations. And these reports are not one and done. Showcasing the impact philanthropy makes possible is something you must do continually. Here, Storyraise shows you how to reach out with different reports, each serving a different purpose.
Donor Acquisition
Click-it: The New Name Welcome Series: Turn Subscribers Into Donors (With Fewer Appeals). I’ve never read anything on the NextAfter site that isn’t brilliant and super helpful. Because every recommendation is backed by research! This is no exception. So, please read and heed. Learn what a new name welcome series is, how to do it, and why. This approach provides value up front and builds a solid case for making a donation before you send your first appeal.
Donor Retention
Click-it: The Top 15 Member Retention Strategies to Grow Your Community in 2024. Learn how to make sure you’re providing enough value so members continue to stick around. Wild Apricot has great tips for all different segments of your member universe.
Events
Click-it: FOMO is Real—Use It to Sell More Nonprofit Event Tickets! Fear of missing out drives people to act based on the concern they might miss out on something exciting or important. Use this principle, borrowed from psychology and behavioral economics, to leverage ticket sales! The team at Eventgroove has five specific ideas for you. I’ve used them all in my career, and it’s hard to say which one works best. Maybe #4?
Click-it: Immerse Guests in Mission + Watch Fundraising SOAR! Let’s face it. Some events are an endurance test for guests. They come away uninspired, often forgetting even who hosted the shindig. Don’t less this happen to you? The way around it? Mission, mission, mission. Here are some great ideas from the experts at Auctria to show – not just tell — your guests how much their participation means.
Click-it: The Event Fundraising Metrics that No One Talks About. If you consider your event just a one off to raise money, you’re missing the bigger picture that makes this particular (expensive) fundraising strategy worth the investment. Learn which metrics to track to assure you get the biggest bang for your buck. All here in The Fundraising Report Card.
Grants
Click-it: Should Your Nonprofit Apply for Grants? while the process of applying for grants may seem daunting, it’s a learnable and highly valuable skill. First learn why you should do it. Then learn how. All in this article from the team at Care2.
Major, Capital and Legacy Gift Fundraising
Click-it: The Power of Polite Persistence in Fundraising: A Great Story. I love this article from Brian Saber, Asking Matters, all about his personal experience of taking what a donor said at face value. When they were hesitant, but didn’t say ‘no,’ he persisted. It paid off.
Online, Digital and Mobile Fundraising
Click-it: Text to Give Strategy: 10 Tips to Optimize Your Keyword Choice. Text-to-give fundraising is an easy way for your nonprofit to encourage mobile giving. Donors text a special keyword to a shortcode—for example, text DONATE to 24365. But your nonprofit has to choose a keyword. This article from Rally Corp shows you how to carefully select a keyword that will give you your best results.
Technology as a Tool
Click-it: Types of AI in Fundraising. Do you like the idea of working less and accomplishing more? AI enables you to offload tasks such as updating contact reports, inputting information into a CRM, drafting email communications, organizing individualized donor plans and more. You need to know the basics before you can choose your best solutions. The experts at Momentum explain generative AI, predictive AI and natural language processing (NLP) so you can learn how to integrate AI with your day-to-day.
Tribute Giving
Click-it: From Tribute to Lifelong Engagement: Retaining Donors Who Give in Memory. Cherian Koshy addresses the challenge in transforming one-time tribute donors into lifelong supporters. Learn their unique motivations, and discover strategies to more deeply engage these donors in your community and cause.
Click-it: Mind: ‘Everlasting Forest’ digital memorial offers comfort and connection. SOFII showcases a research report finding memorial giving increased year over year in the UK – accounting for 165 of all donations in 2022, up from 12% in 2021. Here, they share a specific example of a successful memorial giving campaign for UK charity Mind.
Writing
Click-it: Why ‘Having Access’ Isn’t a Compelling Reason to Give. This entire article is about not using one particular word. But… what a dumb word to use. I agree with the writer, Sarah Lundberg, on the Better Fundraising Co. blog.
YOU
Click-it: Fall is the Perfect Time to Replenish Your Why. I often tell people the best way to inspire others is to inspire yourself. Reconnect with your own passions. Karen Kendrick of the Veritus Group suggests ways to do just that. If your battery is feeling a bit low, take some time to read this article and reflect on your “why.”
Click-it: 3 Top Learning Strategies You Need To Change The World. The times we’re in require us all to commit to learning. Don’t just keep doing what you’ve always been doing. It may no longer work the way it used to. In this article for the Bloomerang blog, I lay out why we learn, how we learn, and what you can do to innovate some learning strategies that will best suit your needs.
WEBINARS, PODCASTS, ROUNDTABLES & ON-DEMAND AUDIO RESOURCES
If you can’t attend live, or are interested in sessions happening at overlapping times, note many are available via recording – but ONLY if you REGISTER!
Annual (Year-Round) Giving
Click-it: What Worked in 2023 and What’s Next [Register for free webinar, 9-25-2024]. The best strategy is an omnichannel one, but which channels work the best. Moore and Fundraise Up collaborate to present you with outcomes from direct mail and digital fundraising. Hear not only what happened in 2023 and thus far in 2024, but the whys behind individual giving performance. Plus learn about the benefits of personalization and testing.
Donor Retention
Click-it: How to Defeat Fundraising’s Silent Enemy: Donor Attrition [Register for free webinar, 9-23-2024]. If you’ve never heard Jay Wilkinson, founder of Firespring, present, you’re in for a treat. Learn why donors leave and what to do about it. Among other takeaways, you’ll get 6 key drivers that can double the lifetime value of your donors. Plus methods for creating repeat donors.
Major and Legacy Gifts
Click-it: Increasing Revenue and Honoring Donor Intent: Bequest Administration Best Practices [Register for free webinar, 9-25-2024]. This information in hard to find elsewhere, so you won’t want to miss this session hosted by the NonProfit Times and Chisholm Chisholm & Kilpatrick Bequest Management. A detailed understanding of every matured bequest is the key to prompt and complete receipt of the intended gift. Learn what issues commonly arise, and how you can best take control to assure the donor’s wishes are fulfilled.
Sponsors
Click-it: Sponsorships for Nonprofits [Listen to free, on-demand podcast]. In this ‘Sipping Tea’ with Sabrina Walker Hernandez podcast you’ll dive into the world of corporate sponsorships with Mariah Monique, founder of the Sponsorship Catalyst. Learn how they differ from straight business donations; how to identify your most likely prospects; how to develop a winning pitch, and more.
Strategy and Management
Click-it: Introduction to measuring your impact [Register for free webinar, 9-24-2024]. In this Candid session, you’ll learn basic techniques for demonstrating your outcomes to current and prospective donors. Use what you learn to draft SMART program objectives, identify the parts of a logic model, and report the impact on your Candid profile.
Click-it: Branding your giving programs to attract, retain, and upgrade donors [Register for free webinar, 10-1-2024]. Join Farra Trompeter of Big Duck and Ishmam R. Rahman of the International Rescue Committee for this exploration of why and how to brand donor giving programs (mid-level, monthly, and planned giving) and how to build a connection between them so donors feel a sense of community and belonging. Learn how to establish an ecosystem between giving programs, and use it as a tool to retain, upgrade, and convert donors. Plus more!
Click it: The Maverick Marketing Approach (with Seth Godin) [Listen to on-demand podcast]. Don’t miss this! Joan Garry of Nonprofits are Messy interviews one of our greatest, and most inspirational, marketing gurus. Seth Godin reveals how understanding and aligning with your donors’ emotions can significantly enhance your strategy. One take-away? Learn how you want donors to feel 3 specific things.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, PAPERS, TEMPLATES & OTHER RESOURCES
Content Marketing
Click-it: 10 Steps to Create a Money-Raising, Donor-Delighting Print Newsletter [Download free e-book]. Grab this simple formula, developed by Steven Screen and the team at The Better Fundraising Company, for raising money with your newsletters. You’ll get professional tips, real-life examples and more!
Donor Acquisition
Click-it: Your Guided Growth Plan [Download free resource]. The DonorPerfect team partnered with digital fundraising expert Dana Snyder to meet you where you are, whether you’re just beginning to develop a donor acquisition strategy or looking to fine-tune the one you already have. You’ll get beginner, intermediate, and advanced steps to help you find (and keep!) new donors who are passionate about your mission and its projects.
Digital Marketing
Click-it: Maximizing LinkedIn for Business [Download free eBook]. This is such a treasure from Neal Schaffer. He has other books you can buy on Amazon, and a new one (Digital Threads) is in the works, but this free eBook is updated annually and includes everything you need to maximize your presence, authority and influence on LinkedIn. Want to master all the technical aspects of the platform? Want to develop your authentic personal and/or organizational branding? This is gold!
Technology
Click-it: A Nonprofit Professional’s Guide to Incorporating AI [Download free e-book]. With thoughtful incorporation, AI can help you get more time back in your day, reprioritize your efforts, streamline your workflows, and boost your fundraising efforts. In this e-book from Kindsight you’ll learn how fundraising intelligence and artificial intelligence work together, and how to incorporate AI responsibly.
Did You Miss My Newest Clairification Articles?
Here are links to recent articles on the Clairification blog. Remember, your goal is not simply to squeeze money out of people. It’s to give donors a squeeze and a hug for being caring and generous. This will make them feel good, which will move them to continue sticking with you.
And, the envelope please…
What to Say When Your Donor Asks: How Much do you Spend on Overhead?
9 Useful, Proven Strategies to Get the Major Donor Visit
7 Breakthrough Annual Fundraising Appeal Strategies
Leading Your Nonprofit with Hope, Not Optimism
Building Donor Relationships is Hard: Here’s how to make it easier
>> FINALLY… if you have a question, any question…
>> Check out my free fundraising advice column on the Bloomerang blog — and feel free to ask your own questions! Here’s a recent one: How To Tell A Compelling Fundraising Story
REMINDER for Clairification School students: Don’t forget to log in to your “My Clairification/Subscriber Dashboard/Monthly Tips” to grab your exclusive, timely tips for each month. SEPTEMBER tips are live on your Clairification School Dashboard (this month they’re an eclectic mix)! If you’re not yet an enrolled student, and don’t have access to ALL my blog articles, monthly tips, webinars, podcasts and much more, you can get in on the fun here — and grab your a special BONUS!
“Love of humankind,” aka philanthropy, is all around — if you only look for it! I’m still “hunting in the urban wilds,” looking for joy and inspiration in nature and my environs. Here’s what I found over the past two weeks! [NOTE: It’s recently come to my attention these images are not mobile friendly. Sorry. I’m endeavoring to find someone more tech-savvy than I to help me with this.]
Heart sculpture that found its way to a garden home.
Urban safari: Giraffe lurking in the bushes.
Lady cat mural spied on a garage door.
Hidden message — one all philanthropy facilitators should take to heart.
Love is all around! Please support my extraordinary sponsors (see below).
The Clairity Click-it content is free, and Clairification School is affordable, because of their generosity.
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