Big Duck

Branding is a vital, yet often difficult to grasp, component to any nonprofit organization. Donors must know who you are and what you do in order to give. In a roundtable eChat, “Bring the Brand!” during the first-ever FundRaising Success Virtual Conference and Expo held on May 20 (and available on-demand until Aug. 24), Sarah Durham, founder and principal of Big Duck and author of “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications,” answered attendees’ questions about branding.

Wow! More than 1,600 of your colleagues already have signed up for FundRaising Success' Virtual Conference & Expo, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 20. If that's not enough of a reason to get you to join them, here are 12 more!

On Thursday, May 20, FundRaising Success will offer its very first, daylong virtual conference and exhibition, "Engaging, Enlightening, Empowering Donors." It's seven hours of sessions dedicated to offering you the latest and most effective fundraising strategies, tips and tactics for your organization, presented by some of the most respected fundraising professionals in the sector.

Earlier this year, I participated on a panel about blogging for nonprofits at the Ad Council. The room was full of nonprofit people trying to understand what blogging is, if their organizations should be doing it and how it's done. To prepare for the talk, the Big Duck staff and I reviewed dozens of sites hoping to find out how organizations use blogging to enhance their programs, advocacy and fundraising communications. We reached out to nonprofits via Twitter, Facebook, e-mail and, oh yeah, conversation. We looked at who is blogging in organizations of all sizes, how the blogs relate to their primary Web sites, who is commenting, and who is doing something fresh or unexpected.

Back in 2008, many Americans got their first taste of social networking for good through the Web site mybarack
obama.com (or "MyBO" as it came to be known). The site engaged Barack Obama supporters online with a goal of inspiring action offline — attending events, canvassing, phone banking and, of course, donating.

The book “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications,” by Sarah Durham, offers nonprofit organizations strategies to communicate more effectively using limited resources — which has become an even greater challenge for many nonprofits, large and small, in today's struggling economy.

Lynn Edmonds, president, L.W. Robbins Associates
Loyal donors are being conservative but holding on. Since the spring, we have seen a slight increase in giving in some audiences but not all. And in certain cases, we have been able to reactivate lapsed donors by decreasing the gift asks.

Most of the nonprofit techies I know have a laptop appendage — an extra (digital) limb, of sorts — attached to their bodies. Not so with fundraisers. As a breed, fundraisers are "people people" — they spend their time cultivating relationships by phone and face to face. Sure, you know how to use a computer, but when it comes down to the big ask, you've got to get out from behind your desk, right?

President Obama is a stellar communicator, something even most people who disagree with his policies will admit. It goes beyond his abilities as a speechmaker. His campaign featured a message of change. And the message never wavered over two years, beyond that shift from the primary (“Change you can believe in”) to the general election (“The change you need”). The focus was always on “you,” his audience — supporters, potential supporters and even rivals.

For fundraisers, 2008 was a year of change and challenge. Plummeting endowments, budget cuts and other lows added pressure to bring in new money while spending even less than before.