People Magazine

Thanks to cutting-edge technology, online advocacy campaigns are not only possible, but they can bring an issue located hundreds or thousands of miles away right to constituents’ backyard in ways that direct mail can’t. The “I Love Mountains” campaign is a perfect example of this. A collaboration by local, state and regional organizations across Appalachia working together to end mountaintop removal, a type of coal mining where the tops of mountains are removed and mined for coal, I Love Mountains is operated through iLoveMountains.org, a site produced by Boone, N.C.-based environmental organization Appalachian Voices. It uses cutting-edge technology to inform and involve

Unlike offline DRM, online donor cultivation doesn’t begin until donors opt in to receive communications from you. From that point forward, organizations should begin the process of fostering a two-way communication with constituents — meaning the collected set of people who donate, volunteer, serve on the board, or benefit from the services of your organization — and make efforts to understand how to get them involved, says Jeff Patrick, president of Common Knowledge, a Dallas-based consulting firm that provides services that help nonprofits use the Internet to fundraise, advocate, market and communicate to constituents.

In his book “Great Boards for Small Groups: A 1-Hour Guide to Governing a Growing Nonprofit,” Andy Robinson says organizations should begin their board recruitment with a “gap analysis” that locates board weaknesses and gaps that they then can work to fill. In Chapter 9 of the book, Robinson lists places where organizations can look to find potential board members to fill these gaps. They are: * Clients, customers and audience members. Those who benefit from the work an organization does or their family members are a good place to start. * Members and/or donors. They’ve made a financial contribution to your cause, demonstrating

BCA Fights to Set Itself Apart May 2, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FS Advisor What do you do when your organization's No. 1 funding challenge is differentiating itself from the hundreds or even thousands of other organizations, larger and smaller than yours, with the same mission? With a mailing list of 16,000, half of which are donors, San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Action is smaller than organizations such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation but larger than the many local breast cancer organizations out there. Getting people to distinguish BCA from other organizations is tough. Executive Director Barbara Brenner says it's

Linking People to Paws May 2, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FS Advisor "The state of animal welfare in this country, I believe, is a true measure of the overall health of our society," says Matthew Bershadker, VP of development for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Less than 1 percent of all foundations support companion-animal welfare, Bershadker says, adding that that is just one of the funding challenges his organization and other animal-welfare organizations face. Among the others: getting the 66 million households with pets to support an organization with a mission of serving the 5 million-plus homeless companion

Editor’s Note: This article contains some words and passages that some readers might find offensive or unsettling. We chose to leave them in so that the author could make his point, as well as to illustrate the powerful effect they can have on a reader. We apologize in advance for any offense. 

Illuminating the Four Stages to Online Fundraising April 11, 2006 By Abny Santicola, editor, FundRaising Success Advisor There are four stages of online fundraising, according to San Francisco-based independent technology consultant Robert Weiner. They are acquisition, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. In his session "Introduction to Online Fundraising" at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference in Seattle in March -- co-presented with Clint O'Brien, vice president for business development at Care2 -- Weiner discussed the various issues that come up in each stage. 1) Acquisition. People can sign up to become members or donors on your Web site or you can collect e-mail addresses at events.

Wars are being waged; natural disasters are wreaking havoc; people are living in poverty; and children continue to be abused. In these troubling times, international- and domestic-relief agencies and social-service nonprofits have their work cut out for them. The need is disturbingly obvious.

Feb. 21, 2006 By Abny Santicola If you're not soliciting the Hispanic population for gifts, you're ignoring 10 percent of the market. So said Joan H. Smyth Dengler, vice president of direct marketing for childcare agency Covenant House, in a session on donor acquisition last Friday at the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2006 Annual Washington Nonprofit Conference. But if you are trying to fundraise from Spanish-speaking people, Dengler shared some advice on strategies that work best with this population. First and foremost, she said, is to come at donors with emotion, the top motivator for charitable gifts. In order to trigger emotions in

5-Minute Interview--Mark Wilf & Victoria Agron Jan. 31, 2006 By Abny Santicola, associate editor, FundRaising Success New York-based United Jewish Communities is the umbrella organization for 155 Jewish community federations across the nation. UJC's annual campaign enables it and the Jewish Federations of North America to build community and provide humanitarian and educational assistance to those in need. Here, Mark Wilf, national campaign chair for UJC, and Victoria Agron, senior vice president for development at UJC, discuss the organization's annual campaign, the role of giving in the Jewish community, and how organizations can incorporate culture and giving in their appeals. FundRaising Success: How important