June 2008
Data management "out of the box"
Posted by: ChrisOjeda at 7:01PM EST on June 30, 2008
Convio's ability to engage your constituents online and to acquire new constituents gives your organization the opportunity to capture up to date information, such as addresses, phone numbers and, especially, email addresses. As an organization with a Convio powered web presence, you have the ability to send and receive this information to and from your organization's local database for a single view of your constituents.
Convio's built-in solution to online-offline data management is known as data synchronization. Convio DataSync lets you easily exchange data between Constituent360 and an offline database to keep information current and accurate. These DataSync tools can be found by logging in as a Convio admin to your site and navigating to Data Management -> Import/Export. The operations listed under the "All Data Sync Operations" tab allow you to download constituent data (Constituent Data Download) as well as update and add new constituents (Constituent Data Upload). There is even an operation to download transaction information (Transaction Information Download).
These DataSync operations send and receive data via comma-delimited, or csv, text files, with the first row containing the field names. The offline database needs the ability to import and export these types of files to take advantage of the DataSync. While the actual data in these csv files may not be formatted to be "received" by the respective database, these files could be further manipulated, or "transformed", by your organization to meet any formatting requirements. For example, Convio stores "Yes" and "No" as a number (1 and 0, respectively). If your offline database requires a "Yes" or "No" text value for a particular field, you would need to interpret, or convert, this to 1 or 0 accordingly.
Plant a Tree! Outreach International launches new Facebook Application with Multi-Channel Marketing Approach
Posted by: Jordan Viator at 10:37AM EST on June 30, 2008
Outreach International, an organization whose mission is to " help the poor help themselves" and "develop the capacity to create a new future for themselves and their community" launched its first Facebook application online Friday. And with all the new pages, groups and applications springing to life on the popular social networking site, it's sometimes difficult to keep up with all the exciting activity and innovation taking place. To explain more about the idea and strategy behind the new application, Andrew Betts, OI Marketing Director, sat down and shared a few details about the project in an interview.
Share with us the idea and details behind the Outreach International Facebook application? (Name, overall objective, other goals)
Outreach International had created a Facebook page in the past, called sustainable good, which had around 900 people sign up. However, we want to embrace the full potential of Facebook and engage with our audience in a more tangible and relevant way. The best solution for us to achieve this was to create something that would be seen in their profiles and be updated regularly with a great deal of brand awareness for the cause. The Facebook application will be able to act as a ‘badge for the cause’, it needs to be an application that says what they believe in as much as what we (the organization) are able to offer. That way people would not only be interested in having the application on their profile, but also interested in recruiting others to add the application.
The campaign:
Convio came to us and suggested we do a relief aid appeal for the Myanmar cyclone disaster, however as we talked, there were two concerns about that. The first concern, was at the time we talked about doing the campaign, there was an ever decreasing level of media attention that would have left the campaign highly unpredictable in terms of its success. The second concern, was that Outreach International deal with long term solutions and the cyclone appeal need was a more short term solution.
As we spoke further, I decided that we needed to focus on a long term solution project, where the audience could play a tangible part in our story. Therefore, we decided that we would focus on our deforestation work that we had recently done in a few developing country communities, planting 100,000 trees.
As we talked with Convio, they were very clear as to how this concept of deforestation could work and we decided that for every person that added the application, we would pledge to add a tree into a developing country community. For those that wanted to add more trees, they would give a $5 donation for every 10 trees planted. They would then be ranked in order of how many trees they had planted and this would be noted in the application on their Facebook profile.
The goal is to gain 1,000 people giving $5 each.
What made your organization decide to use Facebook for this campaign? Will you be using any multi-channel marketing tactics with this application? If so, why?
We have used email communication a lot with our current donor base, which we believe has been successful in sharing information and updating donors on the work that we are currently doing. However we also wanted to reach a different audience, as we understand the power in creating excitement in a younger generation to become an advocate for our cause.
Convio told us about the difference in email usage for a younger audience, and from that advice, we believed that a social network would create the kind of environment that we needed to communicate our message and engage with this audience. And to do so without our brand being seen as email spam.
We will however use email and other forms of promotion to communicate the launch of the application to our current constituency, but believe the greatest level of growth will come from within the Facebook community itself.
Is this the first time your organization has used social media for marketing and outreach purposes? If so, why have you waited until now? If not, what social media assets did you have before this project and what have your experiences and results using social media been like, so far?
Outreach International has a Facebook page and Myspace site, however our experience with social networking so far has been positive and useful, but it has not been massively impacting or engaging compared to a relative other number of NGO’s on social network sites.
Is there anything you have learned from past nonprofit applications and social media projects? What advice would you share with a nonprofit looking to try new, social media projects such as this?
I think it needs to be something that is interactive, informative and relevant. If the application fails in checking all these boxes then it is likely to be a short lived application.
Want to add the Plant a Tree! application? You can find it here on Facebook.
The 10 Commandments of Web Desgin
Posted by: brandyreppy at 5:28PM EST on June 27, 2008
As an advocate of trend-monitoring on Friday afternoons, I wanted to pass this link along from this week's Business Week. With contributions from some of the most influential people in the web industry today, The 10 Commandments of Web Design outlines ten of the most basic principles for successful web sites (and web experiences).
Check it out - and if you're interested in monitoring still more trends in the industry, check out Business Week's Special Report on Web Design. You can tell your boss I said it's ok if you tell mine the same.
eNewsletters - Be Smart and Contribute to Your Constituents' IQs
Posted by: Robin Anderson at 10:47AM EST on June 26, 2008
 Can email rot your brain? According to this study sponsored by Hewlett-Packard in 2005 – yes! Compulsively checking email can actually reduce your IQ. While I feel I have a pretty good grip on email checking, it occurred to me while reading this, that (like most people) I am overwhelmed by email every day. With so much information coming at me at once, I’ve found it necessary to skim over emails for important information and disregard the rest. For example, I receive several different kinds of eNewsletters, but do I ever make it through the entire thing, reading every word? If only I had that much time… Usually I look for what’s most interesting to me (be it an article for improving my web design skills, an article on human rights in Burma, or some new and strange finding on Neatorama) and skip over the rest, or make a mental note to read more later (which usually ends up being much later…like never).
What does this mean for nonprofits sending out eNewsletters? As with any email (or any written work for that matter), know your audience. What are they interested in? What motivates them? This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is one of the most important aspects of an eNewsletter.
Also, keep the design clean and simple. Nowadays, with the ability to do so much with Photoshop and CSS, it’s tempting to get a little fancy, but when designing an eNewsletter, it’s important that the design allows the reader to focus on the content, not the other way around. Not to mention, many email providers do not fully support CSS, so that beautiful design may end up a garbled mess of broken images and x’s in your constituents’ inbox if you’re not careful. To avoid this, check the email across several different email providers, like hotmail, gmail and yahoo and tweak where necessary.
Linking back to your site is also important. Provide a link to the homepage in the header and 3-4 teaser articles. Then link to the entire article for your constituents to read more. This keeps your email short, while not skimping on content and drives people back to your website. If they are inspired by what they see and read, you may even motivate them to donate. Either way, your constituent is happy to receive an email that piques their interest, gets them passionate about your organization and is easy to read. And that just might contribute to a healthier IQ.
Ideas from Campaign 08: Provide clear and obvious calls to action throughout your Web site
Posted by: Tompkins Spann at 1:07AM EST on June 26, 2008
(This post is part of an eight part series focused on lessons learned from the 08 Campaign. Read the parent article published in Convio Connections
Idea #2 Provide clear and obvious calls to action throughout your Web site
I’ve seen your web site and it’s beautiful, really it is, and there’s so much fantastic content and information I found myself clicking around for minutes! But to be honest I don’t recall being asked to do anything while I was there. Hillary Clinton’s campaign web site mastered this art. During her campaign she prominently displayed on her home page links to “5 Things You Can Do”. By explicitly calling these out, and providing a diverse list of options, no visitor could say they did not feel they were given ideas for how to get involved. This lesson has also been embraced by other media, ABC News has a new campaign titled “The Power of 2” that suggests two new things you can do to impact the environment, your health, your finances, your diet and your community. Regardless of your mission, virtually all nonprofits could do something similar. Consider the following tactics for your web site:
- Provide some easy options. Not everyone is able to come to a house party or give money, so offer a low-effort option or two (e.g. tell one friend this week, place a widget on your MySpace page, or send an eCard to 5 friends).
- In subsequent interactions, be sure to acknowledge the actions they have taken or have committed to take.
- Customize the calls to action based on prior actions and what you know about the visitor. This tactic requires some sophisticated tools (Er, got Convio?) but is a very powerful approach.
- Segment your visitors into 3 or 4 groups and design your action calls based on a quick persona of these groups.
Don't Take Your Staff's Engagement For Granted
Posted by: Chris Bailey at 8:31AM EST on June 25, 2008
Once upon a time, I worked as a membership development director for
non-profit professional associations in Washington, DC. The core
functions of my work centered on new member recruitment and current
member retention, both of which were (and still are) incredibly
important to organizational health. I always pitched to my staff, executives, and
Board of Directors that members are the lifeblood of the association.
Without members - who bring their dues, participation, and energetic
passion - there would be no association. Common sense, right?
But
then, I would follow this with something usually less obvious: without
an engaged staff, there would be no members wanting to bring their dues,
participation, and energetic passion. Too often, professional
associations and non-profits expend so much of their focus on what lies
outside, they can overlook the very people who make things happen
inside every single day (don't worry, for-profits are not immune
either). There's a reason why many non-profits are not run solely by
members or volunteers. It's because the professional paid staff have
the experience, skills, and talents to help members and volunteers
achieve great organizational goals.
If
you're in a leadership role for a non-profit, take some time today to
think about your staff and whether they're truly engaged in their work.
Because non-profits are usually mission-driven, it's easy to take
employee engagement for granted. But an engaged staffer who has the
ability to use their unique strengths, talents, and passions on a daily
basis is far more likely to deliver the kind of remarkable service that
attracts new members or constituents and retains them.
Here are a few questions to ask. Start by answering yourself and then pose them to each staff member during your one-on-ones:
- Are you able to use your own unique strengths, talents, and passions everyday in your work?
- What would you like to be doing more of that will help you grow your strengths?
- Are there barriers that keep you from bringing your best to your work every day?
Deeply
listen to what is said and learn from what you hear. Then make a point
to take action and openly communicate that action and results to your
staff. Just don't push this under the rug. And don't let your employees feel invisible. That's a sure-fire way to kill engagement and
create the kind of service culture that loses both employees and
constituents.
Lessons Learned from User Testing
Posted by: laceykruger at 11:38AM EST on June 24, 2008
As a user experience professional, I’ve worked on small,
medium and large projects. I’ve learned that the smaller the budget and
timeline, the harder it is to include user testing in the project. Ideally, in
every project I’d love the opportunity to sit down with some users and watch
how they interact with the site since, in my opinion, this is the best way to
really understand how to meet their needs. Alas, I often have to skip over this
step and in these situations, I’ve always relied heavily on my industry
experience and expertise to provide recommendations on usability best practices
– I’m an expert, right? Lately, in the context of user testing, I’ve learned
some things that have made me re-think my standard set of “best practices”
which has really allowed me to understand (and now evangelize) the importance
of user testing.
Here’s an example – in the past when I’ve helped clients
re-evaluate their sitemaps and navigation, I’ve always considered it a standard
and widely acceptable practice to exclude “Home” from the navigation bar and
assume that users will know to click on the web site logo to return to the
homepage. Here are some sites you may recognize that follow this
standard:
In a recent user test on a site set up in this exact way, more than
half of the participants struggled to locate the homepage once they had browsed around the site. One user clicked the
Back button six times until they landed there! Now, I’ve really slapped myself
in the knee and realize that we just need to spell it out every time.
Not only does this demonstrate the importance of user
testing when you’re implementing a new site or redesigning, but it also goes to
show how we can continually build upon and re-think our bank of best practices
knowledge as we go through the user testing process. Can you think of any other
examples of how you’ve re-thought what you originally considered a standard or
best practice? Please share in the comments if so.
Michael Whybrew interview: What you Could Learn from the International Campaign for Tibet
Posted by: Jordan Viator at 10:47AM EST on June 23, 2008
At a time when we are all casting our eyes on different parts of the world to learn what's happening with the human rights, the economy, natural disasters and foreign aid, I decided to sit down with Michael Whybrew, Director of Development for the International Campaign for Tibet, to learn more about what his organization does and a few keys tactics it implements to further its mission - both online and offline.
Share with us a little about the mission of The International Campaign for Tibet and how your organization is involved with international human rights issues.
ICT’s primary mission is to promote human rights and democratic freedoms for the people of Tibet. That work is expressed through a broad range of activities, such as monitoring and reporting on human rights, environmental and socio-economic conditions inside Tibet; advocating for Tibetans imprisoned for their political or religious beliefs; and securing humanitarian and development assistance for Tibetans. ICT also helps promote self-determination for the Tibetan people by supporting the negotiation process between the Dalai Lama and Chinese government
What projects are you currently working on (or have you worked on in the past) to support or advocate for your cause? Tell us a little about the International Campaign for Tibet’s goal(s) here and possible plans and projects we may see from you in the future.
So much of what we do is dependent on the larger context of world events and international politics. The current situation inside Tibet has put the next round of talks between the Tibetan Government-in-Exile and Beijing on much more of a fast track then we were anticipating earlier this year. We are also deliberately leveraging the heightened awareness of the Tibetan issue (and the larger human rights issues within China) between now and the Olympics to keep the pressure on China and world governments that are supportive of what the Dalai Lama is trying to accomplish.
Last year was in many respects a year of celebration after many years of hard work. ICT and our many supporters were key in getting the U.S. Congress to award the Congressional Gold Medal to His Holiness last October. Equally as important was the fact that President Bush made the award. It was the first time a U.S. President appeared with the Dalai Lama in an official, public setting. It was a very powerful gesture of support for the cause as well as a strong message to China.
What is your organization doing online to communicate, market or advocate to your constituents? And what specific tactics and/or tools have you used to help with these online efforts?
What we have been doing until very recently is what I’d characterize as very “strategic and practical” communications with our constituents . . . primarily because we are a small organization and staff are almost always wearing multiple hats. Of course, we promote our Web site wherever and whenever we can and encourage people to sign up for our email list. ICT generates a lot of original news and reporting content and that is a big draw for frequent visitors to our site.
Our email communications have tended to be very focused on specific advocacy actions we really need our supporters to take (e.g., sign a petition, contact their congressional representatives) or to publicize ICT events. From a fundraising perspective, we’ve had the most experience and success with email appeals tied to very concrete, immediate needs with a looming deadline. For example, we were in a position last fall where we suddenly needed to raise an unexpected $200,000 to cover the expense of staging a Tibetan cultural celebration on the west lawn of the Capitol. The venue also provided a large, video projection screen and audio so people could watch the Gold Medal ceremony remotely. We were able to raise almost half of our goal online and we started with only about three weeks to go before the event. I think all of us were surprised at the results. Thankfully, this allowed about 10,000 people to watch the ceremony on the west lawn in addition to almost 50,000 worldwide who watched a live webcast of the proceedings.
This year, we are moving toward being more systematic with our communications. We will be launching a regular Tibet news update email soon and are working on an online version of our hard copy member newsletter, Tibet Press Watch, that we will also promote by email. On the fundraising front, we are going to be more deliberate and strategic by crafting email versions of some of our direct mail appeals . . . when it makes sense and only if the message lends itself to the immediacy of email. It’s important to ask for support, but it’s equally important to know how often to do that. The last thing I want do is numb down our supporters by sending email appeals too frequently. I don’t want ICT to become just another drip of noise in people’s bloated inboxes.
What results are you seeing online? And how have these helped augment and/or exceed offline efforts?
I am thankful that we have very strong open rates, typically at or above 30%. That’s the first, most important hurdle. In general ICT tends to have high average gifts off line and we are seeing that with our online donations as well.
I know there is a lot of talk about how, one day, email will certainly (or hopefully) replace snail mail. I don’t know what the reality will be except to say it will be interesting to watch it continue to evolve. Right now, online is an important part of the overall mix. It’s part of the whole working together whether that takes the form of a direct mail appeal, a member newsletter, a one on one conversation . . . or an email..
The International Campaign for Tibet’s work includes not only communicating with constituents, but also asking them to advocate on issues of importance with elected officials and asking them to support the organizations financially; how do you balance those needs between fundraising and advocacy and are you seeing your constituents both advocate and donate?
Keeping it balanced is a struggle for all organizations. I think one of the things that makes that a little easier for ICT is that we keep our advocacy asks focused on those few things people can do that really will make a difference. We are very conscious of how many emails are going out in any one week, to what part of the file, as well as what they just received, and what we might be sending them two weeks from now. In addition to being mindful of the ongoing context of communications, we also try to keep every email, regardless of the content, focused on as few things as possible. Most of my career has been in direct marketing. If I’ve learned anything besides test test test, it’s to keep it simple. Less is more. Ideally, we try to keep the spotlight on the one thing we want people to do.
If you could give one single piece of advice to another nonprofit looking to use the Internet in their outreach or communications strategy, what would it be?
That’s easy. Be very respectful of the fact that someone is trusting you with their email address. Sure, they won’t be surprised if you abuse the privilege . . . whether that’s too many emails, too many empty advocacy asks, too many donation requests without a solid need behind it. But they just might be surprised if you honor their trust by only communicating when you really have something of substance to say.
Building Real Relationships with your Supporters
Posted by: Sally Heaven at 2:36PM EST on June 18, 2008
There are two things you'll hear over and over again if you work in the online marketing field.
1. Be timely, capitalize on news coverage of your issue.
2. Build real relationships with your supporters, don't just blast one-way email out to them. The first is intuitive - of course people will respond when you have their attention and when your issues are making headlines. The second requires a multi-pronged approach that can include one-on-one communication, behavior tracking, surveys, social networking, data integration and mining - and in some cases, empowering your supporters to use peer-to-peer tools on your behalf.
Equality for All, the campaign to defeat a proposed amendment to California's constitution to ban marriages for same-sex couples, has done both of these things. The issue all over the news lately, and they've set up a tool for couples who will marry in California to create a wedding registry - enabling people to fundraise for the ballot campaign by asking friends and family to donate through their personal page. Check out mine!
Giving your supporters the opportunity to fundraise or gather signups on your behalf will help strengthen their relationship with you. Peer-to-peer tools have tremendous potential for nonprofits and campaigns - some have already used these tools impressively, but I think the real payoffs are yet to come as we figure out how best to deploy these tools to supporters, and how best to coach people in their use. Maybe it's as simple as explaining how, getting out of the way, and letting your supporters do the rest!
A New Era in Constituent Relationship Management Solutions
Posted by: Gene Austin at 12:11AM EST on June 17, 2008
Two years ago we embarked on a research project with hundreds of clients and non-clients alike to look at how the market has evolved and what nonprofits expected as the 21st Century was unfolding. The strategy and creativity of our clients, combined with our pioneering products that empower nonprofits to use the Internet to drive results, was clearly providing new and innovative ways for nonprofits to engage constituents. While it is clear the world is evolving, you told us time and again that you wished that your donor management systems would evolve as well. In short, nonprofits want a modern constituent management system that encompasses all the media that their constituents are involved with – the Web, direct marketing, events, social media and other channels.
The feedback is clear - the traditional, proprietary, on-premise donor database vendors have created a system in which the value proposition is backward. Donor management systems have become a “cost of doing business” versus an engagement mechanism to help you truly build and manage relationships.
Today, working with the Force.com platform from salesforce.com, our clients, partners and the market, we introduced the Charter Program for a new constituent relationship management system that recognizes today’s world and tomorrow’s promise. Code-named Aikido, this modern offering recognizes several key elements we heard from the market:
1) constituent management is a multi-channel endeavor,
2) organizations are managing more constituencies and channels than ever before,
3) nonprofits need more openness from their donor database/constituent management systems so that they integrate easily with leading online constituent relationship management tools like Convio’s,
4) nonprofits need affordable, full-featured solutions that have a pricing structure that matches their operational needs, and
5) organizations need scalability and flexibility, while at the same time reducing the IT costs, burdens and headaches of the legacy approach.
The Aikido project not only delivers on those needs, it expands the choice and options for the nonprofit community. Because we have developed Aikido on top of the Force.com platform, clients will be able to access one of the technology industry's largest networks of developers and consultants to help you create and deliver business applications that meet your needs. Combined with the expertise and experience of Convio, the nonprofits we serve and the community of Convio Fusion Partners and salesforce.com developers, the Aikido project makes it easier to translate your ideas and needs into deployed applications in less time. We think our approach, which puts you in control, is the right move for the world we live in.
The Aikido Charter Program represents the latest in innovative ideas and technologies that is changing the way nonprofits access, share and derive value from their most important constituent information regardless of the channel in which the interaction occurs. We believe this is a milestone day for the industry. We invite you to learn more by signing up for updates on the Charter Program and Aikido at http://www.convio.com/crm.
We look forward to sharing more as we proceed and as always, we welcome your feedback and insight.
Gene
Ideas from Campaign 08: Get the email address
Posted by: Tompkins Spann at 8:11PM EST on June 12, 2008
(This post is part of an eight part series focused on lessons learned from the 08 Campaign. Read the parent article published in Convio Connections)
Idea#1 Get the email address!
Wait a second, didn’t we already learn that in 2003?
Yes, but Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton and others have taken it to a new level, by imposing a splash page registration form on their web site that visitors will not miss and likely complete, adding their email to your list before even reading the first description about your organization. Obama has done this very effectively, hmmm… do you think that has anything to do with the fact his email list is now over 2 million records? Here are some specifics tactics to consider:
- Test it first. Set a timeframe for the test, not too short, but not too long. If you can ascertain from your web site analytics how frequently unique visitors come to your site, a test timeframe that barely overlaps that average visit delta might be a good idea. Regardless, set a timeframe that gives you sufficient data to analyze (e.g. one week is probably not enough).
- Make it easy to skip the splash form – this is important because you don’t want to be obnoxious about it. Remember the old AOL pop-up and pop-under ads that seemed to defy your request to close them? Argh, that was so annoying.
- If possible, set a persistent cookie that remembers each visitor upon return, so they would only see the splash page upon first encountering your website. Using this tactic is debatable, so consider it based on your technical capabilities and organization’s appetite for this growth campaign.
- Limit the fields to collect to name and email, and consider making only the email address a required field.
- Acknowledge and thank each subscriber immediately on your web site, don’t simply return them to your normal home page. They need to know that providing their precious email address is appreciated.
- Keep a prominent and position persistent email registration form on your web site for those visitors who skipped the splash page. You never, ever, ever want to subject new subscribers to a hunting expedition just so they can give you their email address!
  
Why the iPhone Opens Doors for Online Marketing
Posted by: Peter Genuardi at 6:28PM EST on June 12, 2008
This week Apple, Inc. announced that they are releasing a new version of the iPhone. The release of this news included such delicious tidbits as new features (like GPS), greater speed (on 3G networks it'll run twice as fast as the old iPhone), and the best part, which is it'll cost half the price. The only thing for me, better than all of this news, is that my contract with T-Mobile ends the VERY SAME DAY as the new iPhone comes out. Sorry T-Mobile, but all those dropped calls and mixed up bills will be coming back to you in spades.
Really though, I think the fact that Apple will introduce a much more accessible and widely distributed iPhone (and spurn a number of other cell phone manufacturers to imitate the) means good things for those of us focused on online engagement.
Here's why.
If you have any smart phone other than the iPhone, you know that the web browsing experience is horrible at best. The vast majority of the web sites on the planet have not been retrofitted for small screens and phone browsers have limited support for things like CSS and JavaScript, nevermind secure pages. For those of you who don't have smartphones, just think back to the wonderful world of web browsing, circa 1996...and then take away your mouse. This sad state of affairs has limited phone based engagement to the things that handsets can do right, like mobile messaging. As much as I like getting messages from Bono and advocacy alerts from Human Rights Campaign, I can't help but observe that it's not the most rich medium on earth. Also, even the best sites developed for mobile phones (see Orbitz and the New York Times, for example) lack much depth of content and interactivity.
The iPhone has made one of the greatest leaps in technology in years (and I'm surprised this doesn't get more coverage) by letting web surfers use the full featured Safari browser. Plus you can touch the screen to click and scroll, very much like the mouse or touch pad you use today. Check out the Safari demo on this page.
Now, some of you will point out that only about that there are only a few million iPhones in use AND that most sites aren't optimized for the Safari browser. But what I'm saying is that as these numbers go up, so too will the need, desire, and incentive for those of us who market our causes online to develop for them.
I love mobile messaging and will keep browsing with my old skool smartphone. But, I'm telling you, keep an eye out for the iPhone, its imitators, and the opportunities that such a rich phone-based browsing experience present to us all.
Also, if you get excited about "rich phone-based browsing experiences" like I do, you need to get out more.
Developing Philanthropic Children
Posted by: Quinn Donovan at 5:24PM EST on June 12, 2008
This Sunday is Father’s Day.
As the proud parent of a 4 year old I can honestly say that I have learned a lot about being a parent. Some things I intuitively knew how to do. Other things I had to learn along the way.
And in hindsight there are probably a few things I wish I would
have done differently.
This got me thinking.
As parents we’re continually learning, but what are we teaching our
kids? If things like giving are a learned behavior, what are we doing as parents to
actively teach our children about the importance of philanthropy?
Sure, any parent who has lived through the terrible twos
can attest that a certain amount of self-focus is natural among children this
age. However, despite the tantrums, and
the “it’s mine” and the “I want” children are amazingly aware that there is a broader world around them. Since they're paying attention to our lead, I think the key to raising a giving child starts
with being part of a giving family.
Here are a couple of easy ways to get your children involved:
- Create
family rituals around philanthropy. Help children identify causes that they can
relate to and feel passionate about.
Then give your children a say as to which charities you’re
going to support as a family each year. It could be making a financial contribution, participating in a food drive, or simply donating a book to the local library.
- There
is power in children helping children.
Children have a natural empathy for other children and want to contribute to those in need. For example, started by a child as a front yard operation, Alex’s
Lemonade Stand grew into a national charity raising over $5 million for kids with cancer. See more child founded charities
here: http://www.kidzworld.com/article/6444-child-founded-charities
- Frequent businesses that support charitable giving.
Dropping your loose change in the giving box during a visit to
McDonalds is an easy way to keep year round giving top of mind for your children.
- Help
your kids design and decorate a giving jar separate from their piggy
bank. Offer to match a portion of
your child’s allowance towards a contribution to an organization or cause of their
choosing.
- When
there is a drive for canned goods, new school supplies, or unwrapped toys,
have your child pick out what to purchase and donate. Make sure your child
understands the item(s) are not for him/her to keep.
Providing positive examples to our children will help them
become passionate about giving, show them that their actions can make a difference, and form a meaningful connection to a larger world.
Reply to this post with any examples you use with your kids,
or programs your NPO has to help parents educate their kids about the importance of giving back.
The Mobile Buzz
Posted by: brandyreppy at 1:05PM EST on June 9, 2008
As you may or may not know, this week is the Worldwide Developers Conference
(WWDC) in San Francisco. This is Apple's premier event for developers,
where they meet for information sessions about development for Macs and the
Mac product platforms.
The mobile world has been anxiously awaiting this event for some time, as
today's 10AM Pacific time keynote is predicted to be the time when Apple
co-founder, chairman, and CEO Steve Jobs announces the
next generation iPhone. Rumors of the new iPhone have been circulating since
the first gen phone shipped last summer. Faster, better, stronger...you get
the idea.
Why is this important to you? Because, while we can talk market share and browsing
habits, it could mean absolutely nothing to your organization. But, with
change like this, it's becoming increasingly important to be able to identify
and accommodate the browsing habits of your users. But how?
Using information derived from any analytics program (AWStats, Google Analytics, Mint, etc) you can monitor the what
browsers your site visitors are using. This data can help to dictate which
browsers your site should be optimized for. Developing for the iPhone simply
because it's new and sexy doesn't make sense if no one coming to your site is
using it (and you have no campaign designed to target iPhone users). Site statistics are going to be the best way to get a snapshot of these trends
for your particular organization.
It's easy to get caught up in the hype of new technology like the iPhone. However, learning what your audience is actually doing, not what the buzz is telling you, can be key to getting a better sense of who they are, and what they want from your site. And stats like this can be a very powerful tools for both driving people to visit you and gaining their loyalty moving forward.
Mobile Giving the Next Big (small) Thing?
Posted by: kevan at 3:36PM EST on June 6, 2008
The recent cyclone in Myanmar and earthquake in China have given rise to a whole new way of giving in the non-profit sector:
 Starting today, customers of Verizon Wireless in the U.S. can donate to a charity called “Save the Children,”
who has mobilized in this time of crisis to provide lifesaving
assistance in these two affected regions. Verizon customers can text to
the address 4SAVE (47283) with the keyword “quake” to
contribute to earthquake relief or the key word “cyclone” to contribute
to cyclone relief. They will then receive a reply asking them to
confirm their donation of $5.00, which will appear on their next
monthly bill. Definitely a potential game changer. I wonder if we should start developing for the iPhone?
Cross-posted from our ConvioDesign blog. Original article from ReadWriteWeb.
The T word
Posted by: Alex Wettreich at 12:48PM EST on June 5, 2008
One issue I see clients dealing with every day is the disruption caused by staff turnover - particularly unexpected turnover. It's not much fun when the staffer responsible for your action alerts quits 2 days before a key Congressional hearing...and no-one else knows how to use the email tool. And if the staffer is a database administrator, multiply the pain and fear by 2x.
Untrained folks will get frustrated stepping into someone's shoes at short notice, especially if processes have gone undocumented. Not to mention the potential havoc that can ensue when long-established business rules are ignored by a well-meaning stand-in.
On top of the immediate inconvenience and disruption, turnover can sap long-term momentum, particularly for online outreach or fundraising programs whose value - in many cases - is not broadly recognized or internalized by the rest of the organization.
I don't pretend to be an expert in mitigating the impact of employee turnover, but here are some suggestions for ways to minimize the pain if or - let's face it - when it happens to your organization:
- documenting business processes. Do you have a checklist of everything that goes into getting your email newsletters out? You can post the steps for recurring tasks like these on your Intranet/wiki (if you don't have one, Google Sites is free for 501(c)(3)s). Also, documenting relevant information contextually is always helpful - for instance, are you using the administrator description fields on your donation forms so that future generations of online appeal senders can understand which forms to link to in which situations?
- cross-training. In a resource-strapped nonprofit, it's never easy to build true redundancy into the organization - but perhaps rotating tasks once in a while can help broaden the knowledge base while keeping things interesting for staff. In addition, if your various technology vendors offer free online trainings - screencasts, on-demand presentations, etc. - encourage your team to take full advantage.
- documenting key contacts and contracts. Support desk 800 numbers, account manager contact info, the email address of that lifesaving freelancer you sometimes call on, copies of your vendor contracts...all archived somewhere other than your My Documents folder
- standard exit checklists. Sometimes staffers run away to the circus, but most times there is at least some kind of notice given...so create a standard exit checklist you can walk through with them. That way, any useful info is routinely captured before that person walks out the door and gets the usual new-gig amnesia
- identify your "break glass in emergency" kit. Who can you turn to for a helping hand in a crisis? For instance, I know that in addition to our in-house resources, Convio has some excellent partners whose product and strategic expertise makes them adept at stepping in and keeping the trains running (and your momentum intact) when key online staff quit and you need time to identify their long-term replacement. Or you may have a freelancer or ex-staffer you trust to help out in a pinch. But identifying who your go-to folks might be before the crisis hits will be a lifesaver if/when it happens.
Those are just a few simple ideas - what have you seen work well to keep your online programs chugging along when a key person leaves?
Free Money From Microsoft
Posted by: Bruce Keilin at 11:49AM EST on June 5, 2008
Yesterday, Microsoft announced their new Search and Give initiative. Search and Give is a charitable program designed as a way for Microsoft to lure market share away from Google by making a $0.01 donation to a charity of your choice every time you use Live Search.
I'm not a development director for an NPO, but it seems like promoting this to your users is a way to get free money. I'd just be careful to make sure that search results for your organization are as good or better from Live Search when compared to Google. For that reason, (and maybe one other small one) I don't expect to see the nice folks at google.org embracing this anytime soon.
Contagious Causes: Is Social Networking the Next Big Thing?
Posted by: Jordan Viator at 9:17AM EST on June 4, 2008
Compliments of John Skendall, contributor to the AFP eWire - a weekly electronic newsletter sent to members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals which covers news and trends in fundraising and philanthropy - this article was originally included in this week's eWire and later on the AFP blog . Thanks for sharing John!
Social networking presents tremendous opportunities for charitable fundraising, but much of its potential remains yet to be unlocked.
Social networking is a way to spread information or ideas person-to-person through online networks that have formed on the Internet. Two examples of social networking include blogs—web pages that can be easily updated in diary form by multiple users—and websites like Facebook.com that allow people to create an online profile and share and interact with friends and meet new people.
The potential for a nonprofit is exciting, said online networking experts on a recent panel held in Washington D.C. titled, Converging Campaigns: How the Internet is Changing Philanthropy, Advocacy and Politics. Panelists included both political and nonprofit fundraisers who have begun to make use of blogs, networking websites and even text messaging to spark a movement for their cause.
Though vast and mostly uncharted, the use of technologies that link people together have started to bear real fruit for large organizations like the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and Rock the Vote, a nonprofit that seeks to increase youth voter turnout.
The use of networking sites and online tools for fundraising and advocacy are still in the experimental stage, and the environment is changing all the time, said Nicco Mele of the social networking consulting firm Echo Ditto. Mele served as director of Internet operations for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. “We are still far away from successful strategies,” he added.
Untapped Potential?
But as the Web 2.0 trend continues, a term for the new wave of interactive online tools, it’s not hard to imagine that word-of-mouth can start to make a real impact on the bottom line—especially when that word-of-mouth happens with the click of a mouse, transferring megabytes of video, images and written words about the worthiness of a cause to a friend next door or across the Pacific.
And, if the most convincing “ask” comes from peers and family members, the “viral” quality of the web offers the potential for exponential growth of your donor pool. (In social networking, “viral” refers to voluntary sharing of information from peer to peer over the Internet.)
Brian Rubenstein of the Cancer Action Network noted that in terms of government advocacy, their organization’s use of online tools has actually been a way to organize offline volunteer activity, such as meet-and-greets with officials.
Feasibility
But how can a nonprofit really make use of a blog or other web tools to make a campaign? And are these as yet unproven methods a worthy use of a nonprofit’s limited resources?
A post called “10 Ways Nonprofits Can Use Blogs” may be helpful to nonprofits considering taking the plunge.
Two recent articles on the subject (see below links) were written by notable blogger and consultant in the field of social-media for nonprofits, Beth Kanter. Her blog, called Beth’s Blog, can be found at http://beth.typepad.com. Kanter advises nonprofits to know what they are getting into in terms of time commitment, but also to feel free to experiment in this sprouting field.
Maybe your nonprofit will be the next to spark an online movement.
(For those of you interested in viewing the full length version of the Converging Campaigns panel, the recorded stream is available here. And for those of you unfamiliar AFP - AFP represents over 30,000 members in more than 197 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education and certification programs. For more information or to join the world's largest association of fundraising professionals, visit www.afpnet.org.)
Articles: Eight Secrets of Effective Online Networking & Determining Your Social Network Needs
Meeting Donors Where They Give
Posted by: Markus Beeby at 2:33PM EST on June 3, 2008
Two seemingly unrelated pieces in the New York Times over the last two days, begging two relevant questions to fundraisers.
Article 1: It’s Not So Easy Bei |
