Blue Trolley Press » Conversations

Are There Too Many Nonprofits?

Jeff Stanger — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 14:51:17 +0000

Check out this post over at the Donor Power Blog, written by Stephen Ferrando. It raises some interesting questions about the sustainability of the 1.5 million charities in the United States.

The pot of charitable dollars that the U.S. population is willing to contribute annually is rapidly approaching its threshold, which means that either charities need to redefine what a successful year means – where growth from one year to the next might not be possible – or larger organizations may need to begin to consider acquiring or absorbing smaller organizations of similar mission to eliminate the competition for charitable dollars. At the very least small organizations will soon need to band together to leverage the “strength in numbers” approach, in order to manage an ever-increasing cost to market to their donors. If not just for the benefit of the industry, for the good of the donors across the United States who are being flooded with donation requests. ~Stephen Ferrando, Donor Power Blog, Feb 3, 2010

Sometimes It Takes An Outsider

Jeff Stanger — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:18:12 +0000

I’ve preached this sermon. Over and over again, as I’ve worked for one of the nation’s largest nonprofits, I have pushed us to move into the new millennium. As I have spoken to groups and fundraising professionals, I have hear them lament the same issues. Well, on behalf of all of us, thanks to Seth Godin for his post today.

We’ll blog about it, forward it to our Nonprofit Boards and Executive Directors and hope that this is the time they listen. Sometimes it takes an outsider with the marketing chops and the publishing pedigree for the top decision makers to listen.

3 Reasons to Create an Event Page

Jeff Stanger — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 15:58:48 +0000

You’re planning a big event this fall and you want to include your website into your marketing mix. You might have added it to your volunteer opportunities page or even an online event calendar. You may even be planning a feature story on your front page. All of these are good steps, but have you considered a unique web page for the event?

Purchasing a unique URL for your event costs less than 10 bucks -it won’t break your budget. With a simple WordPress based site, you can create an inexpensive place to host your event. Consider a solution like eTapestry to take registrations or ChipIn to encourage individuals to raise money for your cause.

So why go through the trouble? Here are 3 good reasons to create a page.

1) It provides another opportunity for people to find you on the web. You use multiple types of fundraising techniques, right? (direct mail, special events, planned giving) Why wouldn’t you apply the same concept to your online fundraising master plan?

2) It allows you to step outside your agency’s normal look and feel to create some excitement. Check out this example from the Salvation Army in Indianapolis. Here is their main page. Here is a special event page for the WIBC Radiothon. Notice the difference in graphics, tone, attitude.

3) You get to show off your sponsors, create value for them, and strengthen that relationship. The Salvation Army Indianapolis hosts event pages for 2 of their media partners: WIBC radio and WISH-TV. The media partners are happy because they have one less thing to worry about. The sponsors are happy because they get more focused promotion. Of course, both the media partners and the nonprofit are linking to the event website from their main pages.

These pages always manage to pay for themselves and the extra value keeps your partners happy. If you have a good example of a specific event page please post a link in the comment section below.

Let the Donor Speak

Jeff Stanger — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:34:37 +0000

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 bad.

Nonprofits need to be transparent in the new age of fundraising. Don’t be afraid to allow your site visitors to comment or interact via a forum. Let the donor speak. She might be your best fundraiser.