I received a letter recently from a company called Corporate Rain International.  Actually, I didn’t receive it -it was addressed to someone else in our organization, but we will get to that in a minute. This letter so effectively sold me on NEVER using this company that I thought I would share it with you.
First, let’s look at the pitch. Corporate Rain Founder & CEO Timothy Askew wants to request the opportunity to meet with me (sort of) to discuss his recent successful work with Easter Seals, Lighthouse for the Blind, …

Today, I just wanted to pass along an idea that I think is fantastic.  The Salvation Army in Dubuque is giving a free senior citizen tour of the John Deere Dubuque Works.  Absolutely brilliant!  The Army gets to play PR middle man for John Deere and in the process, reinforces their relationship with donors.  John Deere gets to tell its story while the Army acts out theirs. It’s a three game sweep! (I absolutely hate the overused “win-win” phrase!)

Chris Anderson writes in The Long Tail, “For a generation of customers used to doing their buying research via search engine, a company’s brand is not what the company says it is, but what Google says it is.”

This applies to nonprofit fundraising as well.  People under 40 are more apt to believe what their peers say about a nonprofit than what we say in a mission statement.  Amazon gets this better than any for profit or nonprofit.  Of course, you have to be prepared for the good and the …