July 16, 2009 ADVERTISEMENT 4th Annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference Gaylord National Resort July 21-23 http://www.bridgeconf.org In This Edition: Shrinking Universe When It Comes To House Files Capital Campaigns ... Ready, set, building, halt work Online ... Optimizing Google AdWorks for your grants Donors ... Turning your Web site into a cash register ADVERTISEMENT  National Parks Conservation Association is a non-profit membership organization that focuses on defending, promoting and improving the National Park System. NPCA believes America's National Parks and historical sites embody the American spirit. They are windows to our past, homes to our rarest plants and animal species and places where every American can go for inspiration, peace and open space. Contact Belkys Reyes at (914) 925-2406. NPT Jobs NPT Resource Directory Subscribe to NPT NPT Latest Edition NPT Advertising Contact Us      Please forward NPT Instant Fundraising to your colleagues so that they can also subscribe. Tell-a-friend! Editor's Note: Do you work for the best nonprofit on the planet? We are looking for the best nonprofits where people love to work. They actually show up early and stay late. If your organization has at least 10 employees, we want to know why you're great. Please go to http://bestnonprofitstoworkfor.com/ Shrinking Universe When It Comes To House Files Nonprofits appear to be cutting back on solicitation volume, focusing on their current donor files and trying to reactivate lapsed donors during this economic downturn. “We’re seeing volumes on lists across the board decrease,” said Diana Estremera, senior vice president at May Development Services, a division of Direct Media, in Greenwich, Conn. “That’s a drag because if you’re trying to achieve quantity, it forces you to go to outside lists that are out of their core range,” she said. To read the complete article click here...   Capital Campaigns ... Ready, set, building, halt work Do you think you are ready for a capital campaign? Think again, according to Jane F. Karlin, vice president of mission advancement at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), based in White Plains, N.Y. The LLS fundraising counsel completed a market study for a capital campaign before LLS launched into a campaign based around Therapy Acceleration, which hastens the drug development for blood cancer patients. The organization found that it wasn’t quite ready to take the leap into a capital campaign, but the Karlin study helped LLS take steps to prepare. Here are some actions LLS took after the study: Board development. Usually LLS board members would make the progression from chapter-based involvement to the national board. But LLS needed national board members that were better positioned to “give and get.” Sometimes influence counts. National stewardship. The organization created a recognition program to enhance chapter work. Research. LLS trained a researcher to optimize prospect research and decided to design a new database system to amp up research. Relationships. LLS decided to go into more relationship-based fundraising. The organization is trying to build stronger relationships with current and prospective major donors, even if it may take more time than transactional fundraising. Share stories. To gain support for Therapy Acceleration, LLS decided to focus on examples of its success. The stories also capture donor interested and the successes reinforce why donors should give. Online ... Optimizing Google AdWorks for your grants Does your organization have a Google Grant AdWords account? If the answer is “yes,” the next question is -- do you know how to optimize Google Grant AdWords? If that answer is a resounding “no,” Kristie Ferketich, Google Grants senior strategist, has some tips to change that answer. Just because you have an AdWords account doesn’t mean you know what to do with it, Ferketich explained at NTEN’ s 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference. Here’s how optimize: Actually use the account. That may seem simple, but some organizations set up their account and never revisit it. AdWords works best when continuously evaluated. Ferketich recommended looking at it at least once a month. It helps that maintaining an active account is now required. Evaluate campaign statistics. Analyze performance statistics for ad groups and keyword by sorting the Quality Score, Clickthrough Rate and Cost. Identify problem areas. This can include high-cost adds with a low Clickthrough rate or poor quality scores. Delete what’s not working and try something else. Run reports. You can schedule a monthly summary report to be mailed to you. That can serve as a reminder to check out your account. Keep testing. You never know what will work best for your organization. Donors ... Turning your Web site into a cash register Barack Obama’s presidential campaign sold a staggering amount of merchandise that became a business unto itself. The most popular item? A 5-inch-car magnet. Stephen Geer, former director of email and online fundraising for the Obama for America, said nonprofits can apply many of the lessons learned in the campaign to their own online fundraising efforts. Now vice president for new media at Washington, D.C.-based OMP, Geer presented “What nonprofits can learn from the Obama online fundraising campaign,” during the recent Fundraising Day New York, sponsored by the Greater New York Association of Fundraising Professionals. It was not just the quality of designs or strength of the brand, Geer said, but “what set us apart were lessons that can be applied to any online fundraising campaign.” Everything was tested, and from every different angle: design of the item, testing different price points, email content and layouts, different subject lines and landing pages, Geer said. The car magnet is “exactly why you should test,” he said, which turned out to be the perfect combination of popularity and price point. The lifetime value of someone buying the magnet was nearly the same as someone who came in through a straight donation and higher than someone who purchased a T-shirt. Five times more items were sold by email than through the Web site, according to Geer. “It’s not that online stores aren’t useful or lucrative, it’s just that email allows you to present a compelling argument and follow it up with a simple landing page that takes just one step to make a purchase,” he said.   Don't Forget Us! Changing positions? Or have you moved to another organization? Then, make sure you still get NPT's family of eNewsletters by simply updating your profile. Copyright @ 2009 The NonProfit Times. To read our Privacy Policy click here. To forward Instant Fundraising to your colleagues so they can also subscribe click here.