The weather is warm, summer camps are in full swing, BBQs are a weekly occurrence, and as the sixth month of the year wraps up, some organizations are already gearing up for end-of-the-year asks and setting up holiday campaign fundraising goals.
While it might seem a little early to start thinking about 2018 to some (hint: it’s not), it’s the perfect time to benchmark where 2017 has taken you. Are you on course to reaching those optimistic January goals and resolutions?
This list is comprised of tools, research, fundraising ideas, and other reading material to give you insight into how the sector as a whole is doing and what your strategic focus should be going forward. I hope these resources fill you with inspiration and gusto to go out and create your own amazing content!
21 Nonprofit Resources for the Smart Fundraiser:
Sector Insight:
- Giving USA: If you didn’t know Giving USA was out I’m going to assume you’ve been on vacation and have avoided all websites and social media. The annual publication offers valuable insight into charitable giving across the USA. From their website: “For over 60 years, fundraisers, nonprofit leaders, donors and volunteers, scholars, and other individuals who work in or with the charitable sector have counted onGiving USA to provide the most comprehensive charitable giving data available. No other source provides the context for annual giving like Giving USA.”
- Charitable Giving Report Quiz: The Blackbaud Institute for Philanthropic released the 5th annual Charitable Giving Report at the beginning of the year. You may have already read the report, but a few months later, do you remember everything that was in the report? Have you revisited it when you need to pivot or reevaluate your strategy? Is it all just a blur of numbers and percentages now? Take the Quiz to see for yourself!
- A Philanthropist’s Guide to the Future: Philanthropy is changing. This report, presented by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, offers insight into why social impact professionals work, how they work, and what will enhance their work, along with information and data about what it means to be an active donor.
- Blackbaud Index: The Blackbaud Index provides great fundraising ideas and resources that bring you the most up-to-date information on charitable giving today. Compare your fundraising performance against the Overall Index.
Strategic Planning:
- 10 Steps for a Midyear Fundraising Checkup: Have you revisited your fundraising budget? When’s the last time you reviewed your plans or asked for feedback from your team? Use this checklist to check in.
- Gift range chart: Utilizing a gift range chart is a great way to created focused, goal-oriented campaigns. Think about how you can add this to your end-of-year strategy or even prepare for next year.
- Fundraising scorecard: How well is your fundraising program performing? Gail Perry’s insightful blog post and scorecard will give you a realistic measurement into the organization and productivity of your programs.
Organizational Culture:
- npEXPERTS – Building a Culture of Philanthropy: Fundraising is critical to the success of your mission. Does yourentire organization treat it this way? In the newest npEXPERTS eBook, 10 of the brightest minds from across the nonprofit sector share their unique perspectives to help you create a culture of philanthropy.
- 4 Signs You Are a Burned Out Nonprofit Fundraiser: Even if you have a vacation on the horizon, make sure you’re not burned out.
- The Surprising Link Between Employee and Donor Retention: It can be difficult for a fundraiser to develop a relationship with donors when their average tenure is only 18-20 months. It’s imperative that employees are healthy and happy at your organization to grow the success of your organization.
- 7 Ways to Prove Your Charity Can Be Trusted: Make sure your organization looks trustworthy to prospective donors and volunteers.
Fundraising Programs:
- Four Metrics to Measure the Success of Your Major Gift Program: It’s not enough to simply measure dollars raised by major gifts. This post in Guidestar’s blog goes over some other metrics that you should also be measuring to ensure true success of your major gift program.
- Sustainers in Focus Part 2: How focused is your organization on monthly, or sustained, giving programs? The six best practices uncovered in Sustainers in Focus Part 2can help jump-start a monthly giving program or take your current processes to the next level. I’d also suggest reading Sustainers in Focus Part 1 to reminder yourself of the bottom line: sustained giving works.
- Want some quick donor retention advice? Read Erica Waasdorp’s 4 Ways to Improve Donor Retention and Recruit Sustainers blog post.
Nonprofit Marketing:
- Technical SEO Glossary: Want to increase the amount of visitors to your nonprofit website? This article from NTEN provides the SEO terms you need to know.
- Content Strategy and Copywriting for Social Impact: This piece covers everything you need to know about copywriting for the web (and how to keep people on your site).
- Using Social Media to Build Supporter Relationships: See what t turner4, See3, Boulder Strategies, ActionSprout, Fission Strategy and Beth Kanter had to say about demonstrating social love to your most ardent supporters.
Community Inspiration:
- Emails We Love – Nonprofit Edition: This blog shares examples of the best nonprofit email examples to hit inboxes over the past few months.
- 10 Nonprofit Twitter Accounts Doing it Right: These accounts offer some inspiration for creative ways you can boost your own organization’s Twitter profile.
- Fundraising Event Ideas from A to Z: These fundraising ideas for nonprofits will help you encourage event engagement and keep it fun!
- 4 Facebook Posts That Prove Why Shareables Are a Campaign Organizer’s Best Friend: Want to expand your reach, and move people to respond? Include a shareable.
- 450 Email Subject Lines From End of Year Fundraising: Steve McLaughlin analyzed 456 email messages from 90 different nonprofit organizations. This post shares insights, trends, and the complete list of email subject lines.
from npENGAGE http://ift.tt/2tykK65
0 comments:
Post a Comment