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Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Keeping it Simple

Funding ideas, motivational nuggets and stories from For Impact


SIMPLE = SUCCESS.
SIMPLICITY IS EVERYTHING!
  • SIMPLICITY is POWER. ('Knowledge' doesn't mean anything.)
  • SIMPLICITY exponentially increases UNDERSTANDING. (Complexity obfuscates understanding, much like using the word ‘obfuscates’.)
  • SIMPLICITY is about CLARITY. (The clearer your ideas, directions, goals… the better.)
SIMPLICITY is actually a way of life for great For Impact organizations!

BUILD SIMPLE:

SIMPLE VISION.
SIMPLE MESSAGE.
SIMPLE CIRCLES.
SIMPLE DESIGN.
SIMPLE FUNDING PLANS.
SIMPLE PRESENTATIONS.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Seven Deadly Sins of Nonprofit Writing




Kivi Leroux Miller Marketing Moment

I subscribe to marketing expert Kivi Leroux Miller's newsletter and she sends out a weekly email filled with marketing tips.These newsletters are chock-full of great words of wisdom from the marketing field and I've decided to create a little "moment" just for her.

Seven Deadly Sins of Nonprofit Writing:

1. Laziness

2. Trying to be a Good Student

3. Marching Down the Outline

4. Denying Jealousy.

5. Focusing Too Heavily on Business

6. Not Reading What You Write.

7. Imitation.

For the article in its entirety, go HERE.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Minority Report

Now this is interesting...

An article in Philanthropy News Digest indicated that minorities are more likely to engage causes online. Based on a 2010 survey of two thousand Americans age 18 and over, a new study conducted in 2010 from Georgetown University's Center for Social Impact Communication and Ogilvy Public Relations indicated the following:

~ 30% of African Americans and 39% of Hispanics feel they are more likely to support a cause or social issue online than off, compared to 24 percent of Caucasians.

~ When it comes to spreading information about a cause or social issue, 58% of African Americans and 51% of Hispanics are more likely to do so through online social networks, compared to 34% of Caucasians.

~ African Americans and Hispanics are more likely than Caucasians to use social media as an additional source of information as well as to engage with causes by joining a group on Facebook or posting a cause's logo to their online profile.

~ When it comes to social media-induced "cause fatigue," 76% Caucasians are more likely to feel that cause-related e-mails sometimes feel like spam, compared to 66% and 69% of African Americans and Hispanics.

~ Hispanics are more likely to believe that everybody "likes" causes on Facebook and it doesn't really mean anything.

~ 48% of Caucasians and 51% of Hispanics agree they get too many e-mails from the causes or charities they support, 33% of African Americans feel that way.

~ 54% of African Americans and 55% of Hispanics feel more strongly that it's important for their family to be involved in a cause, compared to 46% of Caucasians, and are more likely to be involved in key issues such as diabetes, domestic violence, bullying, childhood obesity, Haiti earthquake relief and recovery efforts, and HIV/AIDS.

Four Ways to Get To Know Your Supporters



  
Kivi Leroux Miller Marketing Moment

I subscribe to marketing expert Kivi Leroux Miller's newsletter and she sends out a weekly email filled with marketing tips.These newsletters are chock-full of great words of wisdom from the marketing field and I've decided to create a little "moment" just for her.

1. Be Curious, All the Time - Ask a question or two about why they love your organization.

2. Formalize that Curiosity - In the form of a, well, form.

3. Convene Informal Focus Groups - Get a small group of people together who have something in common, and ask a series of questions to get the conversation going.

4. Conduct an Online Survey - If you send an email newsletter, dedicate one edition to asking people to take an online survey, and then promote that survey in other places like Facebook too.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Creating a Funding Rationale

I've had the pleasure of attending one of Tom Suddes', founder of The Suddes Group, workshops and have to say that the 4 hours we were with him was not good enough. He needs to do monthly workshops here. I totally got fired up after the workshop with him and have since become a subscriber of his W.O.W. newsletter. Just little words of wisdom taken from different posts on the website.

This one was about creating a Funding Rationale:

Essentially there are three ways to create funding rationale – three P’s. You can ask someone to invest in:


  • A PLAN

  • A PROGRAM



  • A PERSON

    To read this post in its entirety, go HERE.