Branding

An organization’s brand touches a person’s head, heart and spirit, says Tony Elischer, managing director of U.K.-based THINK Consulting Solutions. “A brand is a relationship that creates and secures an emotional connection to a cause in a profound way that leads to a funding preference and volunteer loyalty,” Elischer said in his session, “Brandraising: Securing Share of Mind, Heart and Spirit,” at the 2008 Bridge Conference held last month in Washington, D.C. “Do a brand right, and a donor will trust you. They will tolerate us asking for money,” he said. Branding can make or break an organization. Marketers must own and drive an

In May, FundRaising Success conducted the webinar “If You Optimize It, They Will Come: SEO Best Practices for Fundraisers,” featuring Todd Whitley, vice president of e-marketing at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; Farra Trompeter, vice president of client relationships and strategy at Big Duck; and Rob Yoegel, vice president and online publisher, for the Target Marketing Group. Our panel was able answer many of the audience’s questions, but not all. Here, our experts address those questions that we couldn’t get to. To view this webinar, go to www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/story/story.bsp?sid=96827&var=story. For a look at all of the archived FundRaising Success webinars, go to www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/docs/webinars.bsp.

Members of the Millennial generation are just as likely to open their wallets to charities as those born decades earlier, according to a report released in May by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. The report, which analyzed generational giving trends by focusing on donors’ motivations for giving, types of causes supported and the amount donated, showed that young donors are as generous as those from older generations. “We thought we would see some real differences, but giving across generations is not all that different,” says Edith Falk, chair and CEO of Chicago-based fundraising consultancy Campbell & Co. The study, funded

Often, seeking funding from traditional sources is like filling a funnel— you receive money from grants, sponsorships, donations, and pour the money into the funnel, use it up and have to work like crazy to keep the funnel filled. And the money in the funnel usually comes with strings attached defining how you use it, report it, etc. Funnel-filling becomes an endless cycle. Wouldn’t it be great to have a regular source of unrestricted income that you could use for operating expenses or new programs or whatever your agency needs to better fulfill its mission? This concept of unrestricted income isn’t a pipe dream.

Here are some more responses to questions webinar attendees submitted from David Drinnon, pastor and director of information technology and Web sites at the Second Baptist Church in Houston. Q: How many demos should we look at before deciding [what fundraising software to use]? What should we have done before checking out demos? A: First, define your absolute core requirements that you know would be the most difficult to find in a solution. This will narrow the selections quickly. Then eliminate options by: a. talking with other organizations in your industry; b. searching the blog aggregators for insights on features and failures of the

Held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, the 2008 Kintera User Conference provided organizations with a plethora of useful information, including a formula for effective grassroots engagement. In the session “Grassroots Engagement: More Donors, More Messages, More Success,” attendees were given this formula to help create high impact campaigns: Engagement = (microtargeting + mobilization) x viral. High-impact campaigns require compelling content that targets and mobilizes new and existing constituents, and gives them the means to increase the reach and depth of the campaign. Providing viral-marketing tools for the audience will increase overall engagement metrics. Successful and ongoing engagement requires pushing into the supporter’s “Priority

Sure, you might hear some really, really forward-thinking folks saying that e-mail and the Internet are so ’90s when it comes to nonprofit fundraising. But the truth of the matter is that a good deal of small and mid-sized organizations still are feeling their way. That in mind, e-mail marketing firm Constant Contact offers this really basic and incredibly helpful glossary of terms for companies and organizations that are just starting to make e-mail marketing and fundraising a priority. If you have ever felt out of your depth in a discussion about e-mail marketing, rest assured you are not alone. These top 25 common

This insight on securing second gifts comes from British consultant John Grain and was first posted on Grain’s blog on the UK Fundraising Web site. Last week I was lucky enough to spend some time with the Director of Fundraising of a large France-based NGO with many fundraising offices all over the world. He was talking to me about something they call “consolidation,” which is effectively a specific strategy for securing a second gift from a newly acquired donor. I was interested in this as it is not something that I have generally come across in the UK and yet when you think about

When evaluating greener paper options, take into consideration not just the source of the fiber in the available stocks but also the processes used to create these more environment-friendly sheets. In particular, the bleaching process produces harmful dioxin gases, even when taking post-consumer material and de-inking it for reuse. The following terminology, as reported by San Francisco–based paper manufacturer New Leaf Paper on its Web site, applies to papers that have been created without chlorine for bleaching and, thus, are less harmful to the environment: Unbleached — Unbleached paper is either gray or dyed during papermaking. This process causes the least environmental impact.

At the Getting Attention blog, nonprofit marketing expert Nancy E. Schwartz offers a link to a nine-page primer on nonprofit branding. Some highlights: What is branding? * Branding is the art of creating a consistent, recognizable and clear, unified voice or personality that conveys your organization’s uniqueness, focus and values. * A brand is more than a logo, packaging or design. * A brand constitutes the essence and values of an organization’s work, product or service. The organization’s image and brand equity are developed by how its personality is perceived. * A brand is the sum total of key ideas, emotions, physical attributes and