Best of Nonprofit Gold 2010

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Josh

Happy New Year!

Nonprofit Gold has been in existence for a little over seven months. Through this experience, I have gained a new found passion for writing and sharing my thoughts on the nonprofit sector. Throughout the past seven months, I have shared personal stories and opinions, moved the blog to its own Web site, participated in a blogging challenge, started blogging for another blog and started three other blogs. With this post, I have written 60 different posts ranging from board development to fundraising to volunteering.

The following posts are the Best of Nonprofit Gold 2010:

May 2010 – Memorial Day: Honoring All Our Volunteers A post about honoring the volunteers who make our organizations succeed.
June 2010 – Nonprofit Professionals: The Need to Join a Board A look at how nonprofit professionals can give back by serving on a nonprofit board.
July 2010 – Your Ideal Job Description Challenge yourself by coming up with a job description for your ideal position.
August 2010 – 3 Reasons Evaluations Should Be Used In Nonprofits A post about how evaluations can make nonprofits stronger.
September 2010 – Forgiveness – The Call for Change On a personal level we forgive, why does this not happen with our organizations?
October 2010 – Jewish? Gay? Fine By Me THE MOST READ POST OF 2010
November 2010 – Trucking Across America to Get Home to Vote My experience as an election judge in November.
December 2010 – 5 Reasons Small Nonprofits Need Blogging A new service provided by Nonprofit Gold.

Nonprofit Gold wishes you and your loved ones a very Happy New Year! I hope you continue reading and following Nonprofit Gold as we begin the next decade of exploring the nonprofit sector together.

Is Your Inbox Empty?

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Josh

Double Check Your Mailbox

If not, you might want to get ready.

Nonprofits are going to spend the next three weeks bombarding your e-mails and mailboxes and phones with letters and e-mails asking for end of year donations. These organizations will use newsletters, postcards, Web sites and even social media to try and get those last few dollars out of your pockets. Many of these organizations will thank you for your support during the year and then will ask for additional support and throw out key words like “tax break” and “childcare credit ends in 2010.”

After receiving five mailings (postcards, letters and cards) and ten e-mails asking for a end of the year donation, I have a question: are these mailings and e-mails successful in getting additional donations?

After looking into the topic, I found there are three reasons why organizations continue to do these mailings.

It is a great way to start the year. Organizations are trying to end one year on a high note and continue the goodwill for the next year. The organization knows that some people will give money before December 31 but they also expect some of the money will come after the first of the year. They now have gotten their first donations of the next year by sending out one letter or e-mail. The organization is also using these letters to thank their donors and supporters for the last year.
They show that the organization is alive. Using these end of year letters helps organizations show they are still working hard on their missions and that individual donors have helped them reach successes over the last year. These letters also use emotional stories to try and reach out to donors who might have only given once in the past. These mailings are also usually sent to the organization’s entire donor base rather than a targeted mailing. This shows the organization cares about all donors not just wealthy or ones who give a couple of times a year.
They truly work. People are much more generous at the end of the year. These people are in the mood of giving (could this be due to the holidays?) and will open their wallets for charities. There are also many individuals who look at their personal finances and find out how much more money they need to give for the next tax break. These individuals might give more and one of these letters might be the catalyst for your organization receiving more money.

S0 the next time you get one of these letters maybe you will take a second look at the mailing before throwing it away. These organizations need your support now and in the future.

Social Power of Social Media – Part 2

Posted on December 10, 2010 by Josh

Raising Awareness with Cartoons?

Three different outcomes. Three different purposes. Three amazing results.

Over the last two weeks there have been three incidents where the social power of social media has impacted my life. These three examples show the power of social media and how it can benefit your nonprofit organization.

Raise Awareness – People and nonprofits are taking their causes to the social media and creating a major impact. Have you noticed your friend’s Facebook profile picture changing to their favorite cartoon character and wondered what that means? Many people are doing this “to raise awareness of child abuse.” It is amazing what people will do if you can get a handful of people to buy into your message. Who knows, maybe your cause will be the most talked about thing on the internet next week?
News Travels Fast – On Saturday, December 4, messages began cropping up on my Facebook Wall about a son of a Denver rabbi who had been missing since that morning. People put pictures of this individual on their Facebook pages and put out a search committee who could be contacted using different social media and cell phones. Within a couple of hours (and over 10 of my friend’s posting on their Facebook), this individual was found.Also, a rabbi who had worked in the Denver community was one of the victims of the recent fire in Israel. Within hours of his death, the Denver community was talking about this individual’s accomplishments and service to the community.Imagine how both of these situations would be different without the use of social media.
Raise Money – As discussed in Social Power of Social Media – Part 1, Wednesday, December 8 was Colorado Gives Day. This project was established with the goal to raise $1 million for nonprofit organizations in Denver. The total amount raised was over $8 million dollars. By organizations utilizing social media (e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc.) this goal (which seemed lofty) was completely destroyed. Imagine if your organization knew how to utilize these tools to bring new money to your organization or to participate in Colorado Gives Day in the future.

Three different events which brought about three different outcomes. Social media is impacting our daily personal and professional lives, why not learn how to use these tools for your or your organization’s benefit.

Set up a blog, Facebook and Twitter page to make this happen. Don’t have time to do it yourself? Let Nonprofit Gold help you. Check out morehere.

Social Power of Social Media – Part One

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Josh

Today is Colorado Gives Day. If you are anywhere near a computer, cell phone, Facebook or Twitter, you will know this. This morning alone, I woke up to 20 e-mails, five Facebook and 10 Tweets about organizations asking me to donate to their organization on Colorado Gives Day. This does not include the individuals posting on their own Facebook pages about the organizations they are supporting.

Colorado Gives Day was established in 2004 by Community First Foundation to promote “Give Where You Live.” The mission is to increase the amount of money donated to Colorado organizations as Colorado “ranks among the lowest states in charitable contributions while having some of the highest average incomes. This initiative was created to increase support for Colorado charities through online giving.”

The nonprofit organizations in Colorado have jumped at this opportunity because there is an incentive fund ($250,000 initially from FirstBank) where they get a percentage of this money based on the donations they receive on December 8, 2010. Overall this initiative hopes to raise $1 million in one day for all the Colorado charities participating.

Colorado Gives Day is onto something. According to a recent webcast titled “Charities using more social media to raise funds” on American Public Media’s Marketplace, more nonprofits are using social media to reach new and past donors. The Salvation Army made an Iphone app with a bell (similar to the ones outside of every grocery store and mall in the United States) where people can use the app to donate using their credit cards. Each year the use of this social media raises $3 million.

Another organization, ShelterBox USA, went from raising $1 million a year to raising $10 million after the earthquake in Haiti just by setting up information on Facebook.

As social media grows, the need for nonprofits to use these resources will also increase.

Why not ring your organization’s bell to reach new donors where they are? Set up a blog, Facebook and Twitter page to make this happen.

Don’t have time to do it yourself? Let Nonprofit Gold help you. Check out more here.

5 Reasons Small Nonprofits Need Blogging

Posted on December 2, 2010 by Josh

Reach Your Full Potential. Start Blogging.

Are you a small nonprofit organization? Is your Web site out of date (or do you even have a Web site)? Do you think blogging is only for individuals who like to talk about themselves? In this post, Nonprofit Gold will help you explore how blogging can benefit your small nonprofit organization.

A blog can serve as a Web site for your organization.
Many startup and small nonprofit organizations do not have the money or staffing to maintain a full blown Web site. Many times, you will see an organization spend a couple thousand dollars setting up a Web site but then the organization does not know how to make the daily or weekly changes needed. By utilizing a blog, these small nonprofits can use templates provided by the blogging sites (WordPress, blogger, etc.) to set up a user friendly “site” where they will be able to get information to their constituents. For the initial set up, these blogs are completely free (until you want to self-host the site), easy to use and there are tutorials which can help guide you when you have questions (unlike paying your Web designer to train you).
Stay fresh and current in your community.
A blog allows your organization to remain fresh and current with the news stories going on regarding the services you provide. The blog also holds all the articles you have written and people will be able to view them as long as they are still on the web. (I am continually surprised by the fact people are reading articles which I wrote 5 months ago.) By blogging, your organization is able to get and give fast comments to clients and donors and allows a forum for personal discussions. A Web site can often be seen as static but with a blog, readers can comment on your post (article) and you can respond within seconds of their post.
Become the expert in your field.
Establishing a blog brings credibility to your organization and what the organization is doing. By maintaining a blog, people will begin looking at you as if you are the expert in your field. People will begin quoting your posts or use your posts to start their own posts. This “free” forum allows your organization to provide facts, personal stories or research to the masses and help you spread the work you are doing.
Bring new donors to your organization.
Any time you can add another way for people to find out about your organization, you are reaching out to a potential donor. Imagine you have a first hand story of someone who has been impacted by your organization. You post their story on your blog and then send it out to your list serve. One of these people takes it and sends it to their e-mail list and you receive a $50 donation a week later with a message about the story and how it impacted them. You have found a new donor without a lot of hard work (and a high return on investment).
Create a buzz on the internet.
By connecting your organization’s blog to its Facebook fan page and Twitter account, you are now creating your own news. Rather than using press releases or interviews with reporters, you are making your own news and putting it out for the masses to read it. You are not limiting your message to a community newspaper but people around the world can find your blog and see you have your annual event coming up. Or you have found a new way to help people with hearing impairments. You did not have to spend time tracking down a third party to run your story.

Found this helpful but do not know where to begin? Nonprofit Gold can help you design your own blog or help maintain the blog for you. For more information click here.