Seth Godin once famously said, “The ideas that spread, win.” Hugh MacLeod of the GapingVoid just reframed this as “The ideas that spread are the ones that become social objects.” They enable social interaction.
If this brings to mind the recent memeification of the Kamala Harris campaign, or Trump’s red MAGA hat, or the amazing lightening-in-a-bottle nonprofit Ice Bucket Challenge, you’re right. Once you see a social object, you can’t unsee it.
And, of course, when building awareness for your nonprofit’s cause, that’s what you strive for, right? You want to be memorable. But, in a good way.
Social objects are what businesses – for-profit and nonprofit – are built on. So, ask yourself if the idea you want to spread is a social object.
Truly, everything you do in fundraising and marketing should enable a value-for-value exchange. Everyone should get something from the conversation.
Towards that end… let’s get right to this week’s collection of free resources!
If you poke around this issue of the Clairity Click-it, I’m sure you’ll find something provocative to fuel your thinking. What might you do differently to more effectively engage your constituents? To raise more money to fuel your cause and create extraordinary outcomes?
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.]
Clairity Click-it, Your Nonprofit Ticket to…
ARTICLES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: How to Launch a Successful Monthly Giving Program. You need to be doing this! Learn everything you need about how to acquire monthly donors and keep them in this comprehensive post from Katelyn Baughan on the iDonate blog.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Enhancing Donor Communications by Speaking Your Donors’ Love Language. This article in the Nonprofit Marketing Guide applies the concept of love languages, popularized by Gary Chapman in his book “The Five Love Languages,” to understanding how people prefer to give and receive appreciation. By applying this idea, you can enhance your donor communication and thank you strategies in a truly fresh way.
Events
Click-it: How to Ask Companies For a Raffle Prize + A Sample Prize Request Letter. A great prize is a significant factor in selling raffle tickets. But how do you get them? That’s what the experts at Eventgroove lay bare in this article. Plus ,they share a cool template to get you started!
Online, Digital and Mobile Fundraising
Click-it: How Your Busy Nonprofit Can Start Texting by Recycling Social Media Posts. Studies show people open text messages far more than emails (98% vs. 25%)! But nonprofits sometimes are loathe to add one more thing to their plate. This article from Rally Corp highlights a way to easily send texts by simply recycling social media posts. It includes tips on how to build your text message list.
Click it: Are Donors Even Reading Your Emails? 13 Pro Tips to Help You Write Better Emails. Take it from the Veritus Group – you have the power to make your emails more effective! Some of these “lucky 13” tips may surprise you (e.g., #4) while others are simply sensible yet often overlooked strategies (e.g., #5; #7; #11) that pack a huge punch. There’s even a specific tip about how to schedule a meeting date/time.
Major, Capital and Legacy Gifts
Click it: No More Asking Asking Board Members to Swap Gifts with Friends – Please! Brian Saber of Asking Matters opines in this article for Giving Tomorrow about one of his pet peeves: “the horrible practice of asking board members to hit up their friends and family for gifts.” Tit-for-tat giving is ineffective in both the short and long-term. And it makes everyone unhappy.
Click-it: Legacy Logjams (and How to Free Them): Four Easy Ways to Overcome Barriers to Bequest Giving. If you make it easier to leave a legacy, more donors will do so. Here Lisa Sargent outlines four barriers that prevent people from making a bequest or other deferred gift.
Psychology of Giving and Community
Click-it: From Talk to Action: The ROI of Measuring Donor Experience. This is an interesting piece based on research conducted by the Agitator-DonorVoice folks. It shows the positive outcomes of simply asking for donor feedback. Something to seriously think about!
Strategy
Click-it: 5 Top Strategies To Cultivate Loving Awareness To Repair Our World. The times we’re in call for new approaches to our work. In this article for the Bloomerang blog, I share my take on the best way to build empathy – a key foundation for establishing trust with donors and developing lasting relationships.
Writing
Click-it: How to prevent a fundraising crime. Learn why only seasoned fundraisers should write fundraising appeals. Share this with anyone else in your organization who needs to understand this. From Mary Cahalane, Hands-On Fundraising.
YOU
Click-it: It’s Time to Take a True Break. Are you good about taking real vacations? Here Jeff Schreifels of the Veritus Group makes a good case for self-kindness. And a culture at work that isn’t punishing.
ONLINE CONFERENCE, WEBINAR SERIES OR COURSE
Click it: Fundraising Summit: Defying Gravity [Register for free, day-long Summit, 8-8-2024]. Join host CauseVox for a day dedicated to eliminating common fundraising blockers and empowering you to reach your goals. You’ll get lots of expert-led sessions plus plenty of actionable insights and tips. And there will be free guides and templates to boot!
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!
Content Marketing
Click-it: How can my nonprofit benefit from launching a podcast? [Listen for free or read transcript] Join Farra Trompeter, co-director of Big Duck, and Marcus dePaula, audio engineer, podcast producer, and consultant, as they explore what nonprofits need to launch a podcast as part of their communications strategy. Learn key factors to consider and tips for managing your podcast series effectively.
Data
Click-it: Mastering Fundraising Metrics: Achieving Your Nonprofit’s Revenue Goals [Register for free webinar, 7-30-2024]. You can’t measure everything, but you really should measure some things. In this webinar from Nonprofit Tech for Good. Learn how to design, implement, and manage metrics that are not only meaningful but also practical in enhancing your fundraising strategies and hitting your organization’s revenue goals.
Events
Click-it: A Smooth Experience: Tips for Fundraising Event Success [Register for free webinar, 8-15-2024]. Join Auctria and event industry leaders for this discussion of key planning strategies for successful events. You’ll learn how to create memorable experiences, leverage technology for event management, overcome common event fundraising challenges, and more.
Major Gifts
Click-it: The Five Key Financial Planning Trends That Will Impact Giving [Register for free webinar, 7-31-2024]. In this 75-minute session, Stelter hosts financial advisor and former gift planner Juan Ros who will identify the five trends he sees in his planning practice that can have the greatest impact on philanthropic giving in the near term. You’ll leave understanding each trend and will get practical, actionable strategies to use when meeting with donors.
Click it: 9 Useful, Proven Strategies to Get the Major Donor Visit [Register for free webinar, 8-7-2024] Please join me and my host, Firespring, as we delve into tried-and-true strategies to secure the all-important donor visit. When you do this, you’ll be 85% of the way towards getting the gift!
NOTE: If you want to become a master of major gift fundraising – a highly valued skill — you might consider exploring certification. I highly recommend this fully revamped course from the Veritus Group: Certification Course for Major Gift Fundraisers. If you’re the executive or manager, there’s a companion course for you! The next cohort begins August 26th, and will be the last course of this calendar year. If you have any questions, just reply to this email and I’ll be happy to discuss whether this course may be right for you. I promise to be honest. USE MY CODE, CA5, FOR A DISCOUNT.
Storytelling
Click-it: How to collect and use multimedia stories all year round [Listen to free archived webinar]. Josh Kligman of Storyraise hosts Chris Miano of Memory Fox for a session on digital storytelling using multimedia. You’ll get some real-life examples plus a 3-step strategy to collect stories, and tips on creating engaging video content.
Strategy and Planning
Click-it: What If They Shut Down the Post Office? Dealing with Big, Scary Change. This article from Moceanic will make you think. When change happens to you (and, inevitably, it does), what steps can you do to minimize the damage? The more you’re able to plan ahead, the better you’ll be able to adapt.
DOWNLOADABLE GUIDES, PAPERS, TEMPLATES & OTHER RESOURCES
Annual (Year-Round) Fundraising
Click-it: Matching Gifts: The Ultimate Guide for Nonprofits in 2024. Do you have a strategic plan in place to assure you’re availing yourself of every opportunity to leverage your supporters’ philanthropy using matching gifts? If not, it’s time to check out this comprehensive guide on the re: charity blog so you can start to raise lots more money – without requiring your donors to give more. Shout out to Double the Donation for being the industry leaders in facilitating this process.
Donor Retention
Click-it: Use This AI Template for Killer Thank You Letters. Thanks to the Gail Perry Group, you now have an AI template – plus suggested prompts – to help you write warm, impactful thank you letters in the future. Have fun with this one! And, as Gail suggests, bookmark the page.
Grants
Click-it: Demystifying Grants: A Beginner’s Guide to Grant Proposals [Free comprehensive resource to read]. Neon One has put together this excellent primer for those new to grants. You’ll learn all the basics, including how to search for prospects and how to structure your proposals. Plus, you’ll learn common mistakes and how to fix them!
Major Gift Fundraising
Click-it: Your Guide to AI & Major Gift Fundraising [Click to immediately open free guide]. Did you know AI tools are already enabling major gift officers to do more with their time? This is stuff you need to know – and there’s no one better to enlighten you than the major gift tech nerds at Momentum! This guide shows you how AI can be a powerful ally for every stage of the donor funnel, provides examples of how AI tools operate, and covers a few of the concerns that frequently arise with AI.
Marketing
Click-it: The Ultimate Guide to Marketing Automation for Nonprofits [Download free guide]. Savvy nonprofits need to communicate on a variety of platforms to reach their donors and clients: Social media posts, YouTube videos, email newsletters, SMS messages, blog subscriptions, and more. But how? You can’t be everywhere at once. You’ve got limited staff and limited resources. Marketing automation applications are your secret weapon. Grab this guidebook from Nonprofit Hub as your roadmap to getting started.
Website
Click-it: Definitive Guide to Donation Pages [Click to immediately open free guide]. Grab this extraordinarily comprehensive resource from NextAfter – everything you need to know about improving donor conversions by making your donation landing page as user-friendly and persuasive as possible. They’ve tested this, and you’ll see some of the amazing – maybe even surprising – results of these tests.
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.
Bear with me!
Top Reasons Why Nonprofit Major Donor Qualification is Essential
YOU MATTER: The Soul of a Nation Could Be on the Line
How do you fight and lead for change during scary times?
Declare Your Independence Day – Information Overload Be Gone!
Nonprofit Strategy: Three Things to Cleverly Finagle
Donor’s Lament: You Didn’t Thank Me Properly
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: Do I Really Have To Worry About AI?.
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. AUGUST tips are live on your Clairification School Dashboard! 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 time-limited special BONUS!
Last week I shared hearts I “hunted” in the urban wilds of San Francisco. “Love of humankind,” aka philanthropy, is all around — if you only look for it! Here’s more of what I found!
Amazing what you see when you look down!
This little guy has a BIG heart!
Sidewalk chalk sentiment I share.
Happy serving plate seen through a shop window.
Amazing, gnarly, heart-shaped tree growth — nature is inspiring!
This building wall mural screams “have a 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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