April 18, 2013

6 ways to optimize calls to action in your blog posts

Be clear, optimize and analyze for great impact

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, businesses, marketers, Facebook users.
When you think about calls to action on your website, you typically think about landing pages. For example, your donation page or your email sign-up form.

But how often do you think about the calls to action in the blog posts you’re publishing each week?

Before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s get one thing straight:

The chief purpose for your website is to encourage people to act. Whether it’s making a donation, joining your email list, signing a petition, or changing a habit, the purpose of your website is to encourage actions.

Here are six simple ways to improve the calls to actions in your blog posts: Continue reading →

March 4, 2013

8 tools to help you fundraise for a cause

Photo by Victor1558 on Flickr (Creative Commons)

YouCaring, GoFundMe, other sites help individuals raise money for personal causes & nonprofits

Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, bloggers, social media managers, individuals.

By Lindsay Oberst
Socialbrite staff

After Superstorm Sandy hit in October 2012, individuals created campaigns and inspired people to donate money using online fundraising tools (including the ones mentioned in this article). These people raised millions of dollars and made many people’s lives a little bit easier.

This type of crowdfunding may not be new, but in increasing numbers, people around the world are creating all kinds of campaigns — for creative projects, technology, nonprofits and much more.

Individual fundraising, which we’ll examine in this article, means money raised from individuals. Two types exist:

Individuals raising money for nonprofits
Individuals raising money for a personal cause

Continue reading →

February 13, 2013

How to raise $1 million on Kickstarter

Kickstarter - Brazil
Image courtesy of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung via Wikimedia Commons

5 tips on how to stand out in crowdfunding world

Guest post by Christopher Wallace
Amsterdam Printing

Christopher-Wallace Let’s go back in time five years to 2007. You’ve got a great idea to build a watch with built-in Bluetooth, allowing you to control and access your phone or tablet from your wrist. Unfortunately, you’re a relatively broke hobby designer working a 9 to 5 technology job.

How do you proceed? Call up your rich uncle and ask him to back you? Go to the bank and apply for a loan?

Five years ago, any method of raising capital for a project would generally require a substantial profit share once the product came to fruition. Continue reading →

February 11, 2013

Nonprofits: Focus on donor retention in 2013

Takeaways from Blackbaud’s Charitable Giving Report

Blackbaud’s just-published 2013 Charitable Giving Report shows that small nonprofits, with annual total fundraising of less than $1 million, grew their fundraising by 7.3 percent compared to 2011.

These small guys blew away the large nonprofits who only grew 0.3 percent!

Five key observations from the 2012 Charitable Giving Report: Continue reading →

January 7, 2013

7 ways to increase your nonprofit’s donations

Photo by zizzybaloobah on Flickr

Make donating simple, say thank you & showcase your results to keep donations coming

Target audience: Nonprofits, fundraisers, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises.

Acquiring a new donor is more expensive than keeping a current donor.

Most nonprofits know this, but it seems like most of them spend a larger amount of their resources on acquiring new donors instead of keeping their current donors happy.

Plus, the lifetime dollar value of a happy donor is way more than the value of a donor who only gives once. Continue reading →

November 27, 2012

Last call for your nonprofit to join #GivingTuesday

Leverage the power of #GivingTuesday to raise awareness & funds

Today charities, families, businesses and folks like you will come together to help create #GivingTuesday. This creates an opportunity to join a massive trending conversation on social media that will surely create more awareness for your cause.

How can your nonprofit join #GivingTuesday? After you become a #GivingTuesday partner, create a Partner Page to be featured on the GivingTuesday website.

Then use your existing social channels to tell your people about #GivingTuesday: Continue reading →