Giving 2.0
Late last month, FundRaising Success launched its second e-strategy guide, Giving 2.0, a twice-monthly (for now) e-letter that offers insight, tips and advice on the most cutting-edge tactics that fundraisers are (or should be) using to meet their goals.
As I plan features and seek out writers for upcoming issues (for Giving 2.0, the FS Advisor and the magazine itself), I find myself increasingly looking beyond the circle of experts that deal specifically with nonprofit fundraising and incorporating pros from the rest of the universe.
Every kind of business from banks and stock brokers to radio stations and pizza joints is sending customers text messages about news and promotions. Fundraisers are doing it too, so there’s lots to be gleaned across the board. And then there’s online donating. No, donors aren’t actually buying anything from a nonprofit organization’s Web site (unless it includes an e-store), but wouldn’t the sharpest techniques from the e-tail universe be something that fundraisers who “do business” on the Web should know about and, perhaps, emulate?
I sure think so. And my opinion was bolstered when Melissa Campanelli, editor-in-chief of FS’ new sister publication, eM+C (www.emarketingandcommerce.com), told me that many of the folks who subscribe to the eM+C Weekly e-letter are from nonprofit organizations.
I was glad to hear that. Not only because it supports my own ideas, but mainly because it indicates an acknowledgment on behalf of the fundraising world that doors are opening all over the place — and a willingness to seek out the best ways to walk through them.
Join our Reader Panel
If you’re on the fundraising staff at a nonprofit organization — regardless of its size or mission — and would like to be part of the newly conceived FS Reader Panel, please drop me a note (and be sure to put “FS Reader Panel” in the subject line). We’ll be asking for panelists through the end of March.
Once the group is assembled, I’ll be checking in on a regular basis (mostly via e-mail) to see what it is you’re thinking about. What’s important to you as a fundraiser? What should we be covering more of, less of? I hope the panel will offer insights from the trenches that, collectively, will represent a good portion of what’s going on out there.
There’ll be polls and surveys to fill out, opportunities to sit in on e-chats and interviews, and to formally meet with the FS staff at conferences and other events. Sorry to say, there’s no payment, bling or swag of any kind for participants, but I hope you’ll find your involvement to be satisfying and enjoyable, and look at it as an opportunity to further the cause of education within the fundraising sector.
Margaret Battistelli
Editor-in-Chief
mbattistelli@napco.com
THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS
Soren Grau — founder, principal and managing member of Los Angeles-based Internet trust-mark certification company e-icon. www.e-icon.org
Alison O’Carroll — an associate at Planned Giving Services, a division of PG Calc, a gifts-administration consultancy based in Cambridge, Mass. www.pgcalc.com
Katya Andresen — vice president of marketing at Network for Good, a nonprofit that helps other nonprofits raise money online, and author of the book, “Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes.” www.networkforgood.org
Jeff Brooks — senior creative director at full-service direct-response agency Merkle, with offices in Seattle, Washington, D.C., and London. www.merkleinc.com
Sarah Durham — founder and principal at New York-based consultancy Big Duck. www.bigducknyc.com
Farra Trompeter — vice president of client relationships and strategy at New York-based consultancy Big Duck. www.bigducknyc.com
Timothy Churchill — former senior associate editor for FundRaising Success
