November 3, 2009 ADVERTISEMENT infoGROUP Joins Together Nonprofit Industry Leaders May Development Services and Triplex to create infoGROUP Nonprofit—Offering Unparalleled Products and Services! For more information please contact Gretchen Littlefield at 202-973-5404. In This Edition: Time, Resources Slow Nonprofit Social Media Adoption Fundraising ... 5 ways to boost donors up the pyramid Advocacy ... 4 ways to turn support into action Management ... Religious groups need earthly goals ADVERTISEMENT   Blackbaud NetCommunity Grow includes an easy-to-update content management system, professional design, sample campaigns, strategic consulting, community sharing, and individual support for nonprofits that need to up their online presence, but have limited resources to work with. Learn more and download the free white paper: Taking Five Website Staples to the Next Level.    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!   ADVERTISEMENT Looking for a career opportunity with a nonprofit? Check out the most comprehensive study of salaries and benefits ever conducted for nonprofits in the new Nonprofit Times 2009 Nonprofit Organizations Compensation & Benefits Report today! Click here. Time, Resources Slow Nonprofit Social Media Adoption The responses of 1,295 nonprofit executives show that 91 percent raise money online, but only 58 percent of those nonprofits use social media for fundraising. Sharing their story, building a community, public relations, and donor engagement/retention -- not raising funds -- were listed as the nonprofits’ top reasons for engaging in social media. The executives were responding to a survey conducted by Sage Nonprofit Solutions, based in Austin. The responses were from across the country. Among other findings: To read the complete article click here...   Fundraising ... 5 ways to boost donors up the pyramid A loyal direct mail donor might be passionate about your organization, but direct mail is all they know. Push the envelope with direct mail donors by getting them to climb the donor pyramid. There are steps to take before your direct mail donor suddenly makes a major gift, according to Teresa Davis Pusztai, director of planned giving, Matthew Reals, northeast regional director of major gifts, and Heather Rudinsky, director of direct response, all from Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Pusztai, Reals and Rudinsky presented their ideas at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation New York Nonprofit Conference. Here are some tips: Know the pyramid. A majority of your gifts will come from annual giving, workplace giving, direct mail and online -- the bottom of the pyramid. There may be a majority of gifts, but not a majority of the fundraising revenue. Above that are major gifts. The tip of the pyramid, planned gifts and capital and endowment campaigns, follows that. Why an endowment program? An endowment program can close the gap between what you want to do and what you could do for your program. For Make-A-Wish, it expands how many wishes can be fulfilled. For your organization, it may be increasing beds at a homeless shelter or answering more calls on your hotline. Plus, interest income can also go to the program. Donor capacity. Your organization should conduct a feasibility study before creating an endowment program. See if the donors have the ability to give in that capacity. Make-A-Wish had a mature direct mail program that just continued growing, so an endowment was the next step to enhance donor giving. Personal impact. Trying to raise most of your money from corporate grants? You may want to think again. You should focus on major gifts, planned gifts and an endowment because individuals give the most-75 percent of total contributions in 2008, according to Giving USA. Create time frames. You can’t just decide to start a major gift or endowment program. It takes time. Start with a feasibility study and work off of that for your planning stage. Continue with lead gift solicitation, cultivating donors and then have a public launch of the program. Advocacy ... 4 ways to turn support into action The Chicago-based Alzheimer’s Association wanted to go beyond information for those people dealing with the disease -- it wanted to spurn action. “We knew two years ago as we started thinking about these things that we needed to do more to get people engaged in this cause, and so it really was about moving people from just being educated to being engaged,” said Angela Geiger, vice president of constituent relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. She presented at the American Marketing Association Nonprofit Marketing Conference how the association went from information portal to action hub: Dedicated space. The organization launched its “action” site, www.actionalz.org, to urge people to do something about the disease. Easy to use. The navigation bar names the calls to action – write Congress, fundraise, donate and learn. Take supporters deeper. The group asks people to sign up as champions on the action site and the organization’s homepage. Geiger warned that other organizations asking for sign-ups should test its placement -- the organization had a considerable dip when they moved the sign-up box lower on the homepage User-generated content. The group created a town hall space on its site for people in the early stages and provided an outlet for user-generated content, including stories, pictures and forum discussions. Management ... Religious groups need earthly goals A strategic plan shouldn’t be a static piece of paper with lofty goals that will never be fulfilled by your parish. A strategic plan should give some direction to the vision you have for your organization, according to Theresa Shubeck, executive vice president of Ruotolo Associates Inc. Shubeck explained at the National Catholic Development Conference that a strategic plan is important for your organization and can be significant to your donors. Here are some of her thoughts: Past the vision. A strategic plan is a great way to have the whole organization think about the big picture. But it also breaks down the overall vision in manageable tasks, which can show how to get the job done. The write stuff. Strategic plans are written out and can be extensive documents. You have to make sure that the strategic plan isn’t just on paper. Make the plan live out through actions. Effective planning. A concrete, developed strategic plan can also help effectively use the parish’s resources, from volunteer time to funding. Instead of launching a project, hoping for a hit and disregarding a miss, the strategic plan will focus on specific actions that will push toward an ultimate goal. Financial need. Your parish might take up a collection, or two, every week for financial support. A strategic plan can focus goals that can develop into a capital campaign. Use strategic goals to formulate different spokes of support. For example, a part of the strategic plan may be to promote the parish school system. You can then develop a scholarship program specifically for a young parishioner. Develop the parish community. Before writing out a strategic plan, your parish needs to survey the parishioners to see where they see the future of the community. By asking for their opinion, you are building a stronger faith community that is invested in the growth and success of the parish. 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.