The holidays are in full swing, and in between the last minute shopping, out-of-town guests, and end-of-year nonprofit campaigns, most of us are trying to fit in as much time as possible to make a positive impact in our own way.

Collaborating with leaders in the nonprofit tech community, we’ve put out heads together to find a way to come together this season and tap into the spirit of giving to give back to the amazing community of nonprofit professionals that do wonderful things all year.  Working with the folks over at NTEN, we decided the nonprofit community itself should be empowered to recognize the people of their choice to win none other than a membership to the best nonprofit technology organization around, The Nonprofit Technology Network!

So starting today, anyone can nominate their personal holiday heroes at www.convio.com/nphero telling why they are deserving of the free membership and what makes them worthy of the recognition. Everyone nominated will be entered to win one of 50 free NTEN memberships, compliments of Convio! Submissions will be open through the end of day next Tuesday, December 22, and like it says on the page, it’s as easy as 1 – 2 – 3 to get involved:

1. Nominate your hero
2. Share the contest with your peers and increase your odds of winning each time you use the hashtag #nphero on Twitter
3. Leave a comment at www.convio.com/nphero and give a shout out to your hero for everyone to see

And to show our gratitude for helping share the campaign and making sure everyone has the chance to recognize the person of their choice, each time you Tweet the contest we’re counting your submission as five. 

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So what are you waiting for? Get your nomination and recognition on over at the Nonprofit Holiday Heroes page!  And then stay tuned the first week in January when we announce winners.

Whether personal or professional, New Year’s resolutions represent a fresh start, and are made to help you reach your larger goals. I make resolutions every year, some I keep, some I screw up on January 2, but I find the process of making them refreshing, and it gives me a chance to reflect on what I’ve done well in the past and the things I need to work on in the future.

For organizations, it’s the same exercise but even better, because as you set your 2010 initiatives you have a whole team of people buying in on “resolutions” that will make your more successful in the New Year. For the second year in a row, Convio is hoping you'll share your nonprofit's initiatives or resolutions that will help you achieve goals and become more efficient and effective in 2010. This spurs an interesting dialogue, and provides insight into the needs and challenges that you as nonprofit professionals face every day.  At the Convio Summit a few weeks ago, we asked several of your peers to share their resolutions on camera – check out the below video and I am betting a few of them might ring true for your organization as well.

Join the discussion and share your 2010 resolution at www.convio.com/resolve2010 and pre-register for the Nonprofit Resolutions Guide that will be published in early January. The guide will outline many of the common challenges and needs that nonprofits experience, and will have tips and best practices from industry experts that will help you overcome obstacles and fulfill your resolution. 

The #Convio09 Summit has come and passed, and one thing was for sure - this year's nonprofit technology conference was bigger and better than ever!

And now that the dust has settled and the turkey has had time to digest, I've had time to sit down and reflect on some of my top favorite highlights from this year's event.

1. Nonprofit Live TV. This year, the conference featured videos live from the floor of the event highlighting the experts and thought leaders in attendance. If you haven't checked out the videos, there's something there for everyone. From fundraising and volunteering, to donor management and website redesigns. My personal fave? Well, Social Media for Social Good of course with Carie Lewis from the Humane Society and Matthew Mahan from Facebook Causes (recently reposted to spell Matthew's name correctly : )

2. Hands-on Workshops for attendees. Conference sessions are always great and full of tons of information. But taking what you learned in an hour and using it for real world application is a challenge. With 3-hour workshops this year, attendees were able to not only hear speakers present on useful applications, but were able to work hand-in-hand with other attendees to brainstorm, write plans, fill out personal worksheets to help their organization and walk away with a real source of help when they return to the office.

3. A heart-felt and truly amazing keynote speaker. If you didn't have the chance to hear Gilbert Tuhabonye speak firsthand, here's a short interview with him on Nonprofit Live TV, as well as a link to his organization's site - Gilbert's Gazelles.

4. The rise in the use of social media at the conference. While many questions remain around social media by nonprofits, the personal use of these tools at the conference was leaps and bounds ahead of where it was last year. Just take a look at a Twemes search for the #convio09 hashtag to get a feel for the all social media fun happening from the floor of the event.

5. The incredible learning and education at the event. Three days of workshops, sessions, networking events and yes, BBQ from the Salt Lick (shout out to NTEN's Brett Meyer and his mad eating skills), left attendees ready to put their new learnings to action. Our friends at See3 took amazing video from the event to chronicle what folks learned, what they were excited about and what they were taking away from the conference. Day two of had an Introduction video and covered attendees reactions from the floor. And the final day's reflection video (below) highlights some of the keys takeaways from people who attended.

 Thanks everyone for another amazing Summit!

Despite the difficult economy, American consumers will be going online in record numbers to support charitable causes in the final four weeks of the year – giving an estimated $4B online. This according to The North American Technographics® Omnibus Online Survey, Q4 2009 (US), a commissioned omnibus survey conducted by Forrester’s Technographics® on behalf of Convio. More than 63% of online consumers plan to use the Internet to donate to charities of their choice during the upcoming holiday season, up from 51% in 2008 – when you look at the amount they plan to give it looks like organizations ready to engage online could see a more prosperous holiday season than those late to the online game.

In the tough economy that might not make up for the revenue that some organizations have lost, but it is a significant shift in the giving habits of the US consumer. There is a bunch of data, but here are a few things that jumped out at me:

1. The influence of the website on gift giving regardless of how the final gift is given – 44% of the consumers said the website was most influential in their decision to give – last year only 27% rated the website as the most influential. The website is like the front porch of your house – it might not be the most important part of the house, but it is what everyone sees – is it compelling and inviting them in?
2. Multichannel is alive and well – while these people prefer online, 61% wrote a check and mailed it, 38% gave at an event, 17% responded online to an appeal from a family member or friend in support of a run/walk/ride event, and 16% gave over the phone. If you are not investing in making all the channels work together you’re missing an opportunity or worse sending people elsewhere.
3. 60% of seniors – those over 65 years young - said they plan to donate online. Just last week I was told by an ED at a hospital foundation that my older donors are not online...really?  See point one above – they gift might not come in online, but they are online checking you out. Validation for the Wired Wealthy Study as well.
4. 40% of people said word-of-mouth influenced their decision and nearly 1 out of 4 said what family and friends said on their social media sites influenced their decision.  I’m not sure what to make of this completely, but one observation is that many NPO leaders trust word-of-mouth more than they trust social media – yet we don’t know what people are saying. While social media was honestly lower than I expected, it does show that if we provide content and ideas it will help influence giving. The key point here for me is that organizations need to provide their most passionate supporters with the tools (online and off) to help tell the story and engage people in giving.

Two other salient points that I took from the data show good news and bad news, depending on one’s perspective:

• 56% said most charity websites make it easy to donate.  That’s better than last year, but it also means almost half are not doing as good a job as possible.
• 54% said nonprofit websites do NOT make it easy to get the info needed to decide whether or not to donate.   Organizations still need to focus on the user experience, making sure all the right information is in the right places, easy to access, navigate, etc.  Is your site designed for them or for you and your leadership? That’s an important question to ask - hopefully you can answer it is designed for the prospect/donor, not the internal audience.

Hopefully you are executing a well thought-out and designed year-end campaign and are ready to engage these consumers as donors. If you are great. But if not, our experts in our services and support functions took the key findings from the survey and created a last minute guide to help organizations be more successful in the last four weeks of the year.  You can download the entire guide, but here is my summary of the information – really download the guide. 

Four tips to help succeed in the last four weeks of the year:

1. The website matters!  Optimize your website for giving – make it easy and make sure the information the consumer needs is easy to find - offer eCommerce options so consumers torn between buying a gift and giving a donation – let them  give a gift that does both. Regardless of the size of the gift or the final method of payment consumers are going to charity website and using technology to learn about and engage with charities.
2. Make every email count – make sure content is compelling and provides easy to see links to giving options – make sure it is consistent and integrated with other channels.
3. Empower your most passionate supporters to help tell your story through tell-a-friend emails, eCards, content for their social media sites and/or offer the ability for them to build their own personal fundraising page.
4. In the last week of the year, promote tax benefits – the last day of the year is historically the busiest day for online giving.

With consumer dollars being tight and the competition for donations growing, online marketing and fundraising continues to grow in importance for donors and organizations alike. It is clear that online giving has joined traditional channels as mission-critical part of the giving mix and successful organizations are investing accordingly in their online relationships. Don’t get tied around the $4B estimate, rather look at the millions of people that are available to engage and build relationships with this holiday season. Use this season as an opportunity to engage with them’ to cultivate a relationship; and create a sustained relationship that yields returns for many years.

My “batteries” are almost back to 100 percent after the Convio Summit. What a fantastic week with our clients and partners. I mentioned in my “chat” with the crowd at the opening session that the innovation in the Convio client base is 10x what it was just a few years ago. Our clients are truly setting the pace for how the NP sector is engaging supporters and constituents in new ways. On NonprofitLive.TV I was asked to look into my crystal ball and tell the world what things look like in 5 years. I gave the best answer I could, but frankly, it is impossible to see that far ahead. Just comparing the work of our clients and partners at our Innovator Awards ceremony from two years ago is an apples to oranges comparison. They have embraced our Open strategy, our knowledge of the web and partnered with us on best practices and they still want more, which we intend to deliver. They have committed teams that are using the medium to motivate and drive passion out of their constituents that we haven’t seen before.

I am sure at the end of 2009 glasses of bubbly will be raised across our market in hopes that the tough times are in the rear view mirror and that 2010 will provide a return to growth in philanthropy. And yet, while times have been tough from a monetary standpoint, the Convio client and partner base has in many ways made 2009 a great year.

As we conclude our 10th Anniversary, I want to thank our clients, partners and the nonprofit community as a whole for your support, insight and acceptance of Convio - it has led to our mutual success. On behalf of the entire Convio family – thank you!