March 27, 2013

3 ways nonprofits can use Facebook apps to motivate donors

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, fundraising pros, marketers.

Guest post by Jim Belosic
CEO, Shortstack

Anyone who works for a nonprofit knows all too well about the donation scramble. This is why creating an impactful Facebook Page should be an integral part your marketing efforts is a no-brainer.

Facebook serves as a doorway to donors, allowing nonprofits to provide brief updates and news bites to constituents. It’s also a one-stop shop for photos, success stories, and calls to action, which reinforce the mission. Plus, Facebook is a favorite tool among nonprofits because of its low, low price of … free!

Using custom apps like ShortStack can help increase donations during fundraising campaigns. Check out these three ways that nonprofits can use Facebook apps to motivate donors. Continue reading →

March 19, 2013

The right and wrong way to do Google AdWords

Make sure your nonprofit is directly related to the cause you’re promoting

Guest post by Chelsea Whitaker
SankyNet

Target audience: Nonprofits, cause organizations, foundations, NGOs, social enterprises, educators, Google AdWords advertisers.

For many nonprofits, search engine marketing is an important part of your online acquisition strategy. By bidding on mission-specific keywords, organizations run a short text ad as a “paid search placement” or “sponsored search result” on the search engines Google, Bing or Yahoo.

This can be a powerful tool, but there is a learning curve that many nonprofits find hard to navigate. Google Grants gives nonprofits a budget of up to $10,000 a month to work with, but it doesn’t come with easy “how-to” manual, leaving many organizations struggling with unfamiliar terminology and intimidating interface. Continue reading →

March 12, 2013

Attracting young people to your nonprofit

Use social media to encourage youth volunteerism in your organization

Guest post by Alison Richmond
easyfundraising.co.uk

Young people can be an incredible source of volunteers for nonprofits – they tend to have much more spare time than adults and often see volunteering as a good way to gain work and life experience to add to their resumé. But attracting young people can be difficult.

DoSomething.org released an index toward the end of last year in which they interviewed young people discussing their attitudes toward volunteering. With their suggestions in mind, here are some steps toward attracting young people to your nonprofit. 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.