E-Philanthropy

The ASPCA recently unveiled a new online network where supporters across the country can sign up as ambassadors for the organization, and register to organize and host events in their own communities.

March isn't just about madness anymore. Razoo's March Goodness Contest encourages people to declare their allegiances with their favorite causes, and raise awareness and support for them to help them win thousands in grant funds.

It’s March of 2009 — certainly you haven’t forgotten about your New Year’s resolution already, right?

Whether it’s exercising, spending more time volunteering or some other personal goal, the first 100 days are critical to your success. You must engage and take action if you desire any level of accomplishment.

The same applies to your organization and the online resolutions you might have set entering the year. If you haven’t taken action to put your ideas and new online concepts into motion just yet, now would be a good time to revisit your organization’s resolutions for 2009.

For fundraisers, the first quarter of the year is as much a time to look back as ahead. It’s a time to find out how year-end appeals tallied up, to assess how winter events performed and perhaps to report back to the board on what it all means.

Larry Brilliant, the executive director of Google.org, said late Monday that he would step down from managing Google’s philanthropic unit and signaled that Google.org might curtail its financing of nonprofit groups unless they are closely aligned with Google projects.

The comedian Steve Martin used to do an amusing routine in the 1970s that ran something like this:

You can be a millionaire ... and never pay taxes! Yes, you can be a millionaire ... and never pay taxes! You say: "Steve ... how can I be a millionaire ... and never pay taxes?"

The Web offers ever-increasing ways for nonprofit organizations to educate, engage and raise funds from prospects and constituents. But just because it might seem easier to connect with people online than, say, via direct mail or the telephone, that doesn't mean it's easy or that you don't need a strategy.

In a Feb. 12 post on Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog: Getting to the Point, FS columnist Katya Andresen, vice president of marketing at Network for Good, listed 10 important steps nonprofits need to take when heading into the world of online fundraising.

Membership organizations looking for ways to entice constituents who have demonstrated an interest in their organization but haven't made the commitment to join are sure to find inspiration from Brooklyn Museum, which recently launched a socially networked museum membership called 1stfans.

Tips about wildly successful fundraising and awareness strategies will continue to be culled from the Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaign for months to come. If you have passionate constituents, tasty pieces of breaking news can be effectively delivered to supporters’ cell phones, and you can leverage these numbers to activate your grassroots support — maybe even with mobile phone fundraising (“text to give”).