Online Fundraising

The other day my daughter and I were walking down an aisle in a department store, and she noticed a huge Halloween products display. "Oh come on!" she said. Too soon. I agreed, and we had a laugh about how I forbid holiday music until after Thanksgiving. Ah, the apple doesn’t fall far from the…

Collecting—whether business cards, followers on Twitter, "likes" on Facebook or first-time donors—is meaningless without a strategy to turn those relatively blank connections into meaningful, lasting relationships. If your marketing and/or fundraising strategy is based on collecting and counting, it’s time to rethink this strategy...

What do you think is the No. 1 priority of your nonprofit’s website? Think about it for a minute. Is it to properly introduce your organization to the visitors? Is it to answer visitors’ questions? Is it to get them to make donations? Is it to get them to volunteer or attend an event? Is…

The more than 430 fundraisers posted on the GoFundMe website after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., have exposed weaknesses inherent in these popular do-it-yourself charity campaigns: waste, questionable intentions and little oversight. The fundraisers—an average of more than four for each of the 49 killed and 53 wounded—include travelers asking…

It’s hard to believe it’s almost the end of August, and year-end fundraising is just around the corner. One thing you need to do before you switch from going to the beach to picking apples is to make sure your website is up to par. This means it’s up-to-date, easy to read and navigate, welcoming,…

With its new bot, Charity: Water is now the first nonprofit to accept donations through Facebook Messenger. Founded in 2006 by Scott Harrison—one of Fast Company's Most Creative People—Charity: Water has worked to increase access to safe drinking water in developing countries, with an emphasis on being transparent about how the company accepts and uses donations.…

Netflix released its quarterly report in April, and its stock plummeted 10 percent. That’s what happens when stocks fly so high: Even 
the slightest hint of bad news triggers a sell-off. Bear in mind that most of the quarterly report was positive. Netflix added 6.74 million new subscribers to bring it’s total to 81.5 million global customers. That’s 31 percent more than a year ago. And now, 42 percent of Netflix customers reside outside of the U.S...

Technically speaking, a resend is sending the exact same message to the non-openers of the original email. Don't do this. Your deliverability can suffer. When should you resend? If the email tanked, ask yourself why. Timing, content, subject line? Will tweaking any of those elements and resending yield better results, or be more of the…

There are 142 days left in 2016. That sounds like a lot, and it is if you start thinking about year-end direct response fundraising now. But if you wait, there’s a good chance you will leave money on the table because of missed opportunities and no time to give it your best effort. For those of you who want to enjoy the holidays knowing that you’ve done all you can to maximize the income your nonprofit will receive, here are some things to work into your planning...

When the topic is email fundraising, testing subject lines inevitably comes up. Of course, subject lines are critical. Think of the famous one from Barack Obama's organization: "Hey." It was a big winner. But the "from" line can also make a big difference in open rates. After all, one of the reasons "Hey" worked was…