2012 Benchmark Trivia

Infographics are all the rage, and do we have one for you today! Who doesn't love big bold pictures with bits of trivia and data on online fundraising, advocacy, email and events that you can use to impress your coworkers? This year's 2012 Benchmark infographic condenses 56 pages of fundraising data in one awesome graphic. You're welcome. Pin it up in your cube, present it at your next staff meeting, or fold it in your pocket for the next nonprofit pub quiz. Choices are endless!

8 Hints for the Non-Photographer

Have you ever found yourself at your organization’s <insert big event> where you 1) find yourself with a camera in hand and 2) hoping that you didn’t miss that perfect photo opp of your mission in action? For the large majority of non-photographers that work or volunteer for a nonprofit - me included - I'm guessing it happens quite often.

Walt Disney said it best “Of all of our inventions for mass communication, pictures still speak the most universally understood language.” This is especially true for your organizations where pictures of your mission are an incredibly valuable asset. There's no better way to show your organization's impact than through a compelling photograph. But, the best part is you don’t have to be an expert or have professional-grade equipment to capture a special moment with a camera.

Let the non-photographers unite and pledge to make out-of-focus, chopped-off heads and poorly lit photo faux pas come to an end! Here’s some simple tips on to get nice shots with a digital point and shoot camera

1. Read the manual. You saw it here first, folks. Yes, reading the manual even with your point and shoot camera is a good idea. It may look compact and simple, but looks can be deceiving!
2. Unsteady hands? Consider a tripod, but if that’s not an option try steadying your camera on a stair rail or back of a chair to capture the shot.
3. Take lots of pictures. It takes 10 shots to get at least one good picture. So, if you have a group photo try different angles, flash on, flash off, etc. There’s bound to be a good one in there.
4. Move around. Try getting up high and shooting down. Don't be afraid to climb, kneel, lean, and move close or farther away. Changing your distance from your subject can create interesting shots. 
5. Flash on, flash off, that is the question. Will you be outside or in a dimly lit ballroom? Make sure you understand your environment and flash settings on your camera ahead of time. 
6. The rule of thirds. Imagine that every scene you look at through your viewfinder is overlaid with a tic-tac-toe board. You want to capture interesting things in the intersection points of this 9-square grid and avoid putting things into the center square.
7. Optical zoom vs. digital zoom. Avoid using your digital zoom if possible to preserve your images maximum quality. You can always crop and get closer to your subjects afterwards using a simple photo editing tool.
8. Practice and play around! The more you take pictures, the better you'll be and who knows maybe you'll graduate from your non-photographer status.

I'd love to hear more tips from pros and beginners alike, so please leave me comments!

#shamelessplug: Take This Fundraising Survey!

Getting people to respond to surveys is a hard nut to crack. Surveys, specifically online, get lost in the deluge of work and personal email, texts, Facebook updates, RSS feeds etc. And, honestly the surveyors don’t always give good and simple reasons to participate. People want to know...why is it important and what’s in it for them?

Well, here's a survey you should take as a nonprofit professional and a few good (and simple) reasons why you should participate.

1. You want to know how other organizations fundraising programs performed in 2011.
2. You want to see where your organization stacks up in terms of goals for 2012.
3. You want to know how other organization’s boards are engaged in fundraising.

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, you should take the The 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey conducted by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC). The report that will come out in early April will give you statistically significant and comprehensive findings that you can leverage to make informed decisions for your organization. Will your organization ever have the budget to conduct a national study to look at how boards are engaged in fundraising? Probably not – so take advantage of a group that will do it for you. The only thing we are asking in return is for you to take survey! The survey is open through January 28 and takes just 10 to 20 minutes.  To make things easy, the questions do not ask for any specific amounts or values.

About the NRC
The NRC and the 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey is a joint project between The National Center for Charitable Statistics, The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Campbell Rinker, Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, Convio, Blackbaud, and Giving USA Foundation. It measures the impact of economic conditions within the community on fundraising efforts for nonprofit organizations and private institutions, compared to previous years. The seven participating organizations each have, at a minimum, a decade of direct experience collecting information from nonprofits concerning charitable receipts, fundraising practices and/or grantmaking activities.

Year-end Fundraising Domination!

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for fundraisers this year? Based on the rock solid fundraising performance by Convio clients, I’m hopeful of what’s to come in 2012. Overall, Convio clients raised 17 percent more online in the last three months of 2011 than in 2010. But, the real impact was made in December when our client’s year-end fundraising efforts came on like gangbusters—raising more than $30 million more online than in December 2010.

Of course, my first question was what made 2011 year-end fundraising different from years past, and I was excited to hear from Sara Thomas, Senior Manager, Digital Marketing at Ocean Conservancy on their year-end success...

“For Ocean Conservancy’s 2011 year-end fundraising campaign we took a coordinated, multi-phase approach that focused on solutions-based messaging and highlighted our successes over the previous year both as an organization and also as a collective movement. It was important to us that we give our constituency tangible actions; reasons to continue supporting us and evidence that we were worthy of their gifts. And everything from our design and messaging, to the various channels we chose to engage with our constituency on, reflected just that. We look forward to continuing the success of our year-end campaign throughout 2012 and working with our committed constituency to expanding the movement for a healthy, sustainable ocean.”

Example email appeals:
10 days out - thank you message  |  1 day left  

Also, Tobi McIntyre, Interactive Media Manager at Canadian Wildlife Federation shared some details about their year-end planning and execution...

What made CWF’s 2011 year-end campaign so special and why do you think it performed so well?

“We implemented a year- end plan in 2009 and have been steadily building it since then. Our campaign begins in August and ends January 1 and is comprised of 3 stages. The first stage is to build our email list, the second stage is to remind folks what great works CWF has done and is doing, and the third stage is our big fundraising push. As our list builds so do our results.”

How will you carry-over your year-end momentum into 2012?

“We have a few solid follow-up campaigns planned for the first half of 2012, building on advances we made in our year end campaign. We plan on implementing our year-end campaign starting in August 2012 again with only a few adjustments – adopting more social media opportunities within our messaging etc. But largely we plan on sticking to our plan that has been successful so far - in marketing when something works don’t fix it!”

Example email appeals:
2 days left |  Happy new year message

Thanks to Sara and Tobi for reinforcing the themes of a multi-phased approach to year-end fundraising and starting early! I’d love to hear more about what made your year-end fundraising season great so please leave comments. And, check out more tips from our latest guide on how to continue your year-end momentum into the new year.

Best of 2011 – Multi-channel

MULTI- comes from the Latin word mulus which means MANY & MUCH. There are way more words out there than I originally thought that start with multi-. So, I thought I'd share a few, and they just might help you improve your Words with Friends score or answer some random trivia questions.....

5. multi-tasker – the performance of multiple tasks at one time
4. multi-loquent – speaking much; loquacious
3. multi-ped – an organism with many feet; as, a centipede
2. multiplicity – the quality of being multiple; as, a multiplicity of thoughts
1. multi-channel – pertaining to communications, usually full duplex, on more than one channel simultaneously

And, now that you have a few more words to use on game night, check out the top 5 blog posts this year on my #1 favorite multi- word... multi-channel!

1. CRM Glossary
2. Leave it for Tomorrow
3. Dad, Girl Scouts and Thank You Letters
4. Predicting Donor Behavior
5. How to Chat it Up with Major Donors