Blackbaud

Blackbaud, with the Nonprofit Technology Network and Common Knowledge, released the 2012 Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report at the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference.

The report provides a look at how nonprofits are using social media, highlights key trends and provides insights for the year ahead. It shows that nonprofit investment in social networks and membership continues to grow.

Seven in 10 nonprofits expect their donations to increase this year, after 2011 became the first year since the recession started that a majority of nonprofits reported a rise in the amount they raised.

Still, the recovery is uneven, according a report of 1,600 nonprofit. Thirty-one percent, mostly small organizations, said contributions dropped in 2011, and 41 percent said they did not meet their fundraising goals.

The study was conducted by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative, a coalition of nonprofits and fundraisers that report on the state of giving twice a year.

FundRaising Success e-chats with Blackbaud's Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman about their book, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits," and social media.

As I've looked at this whole area of proposal writing for major donors I find that a great deal of emphasis, by many authors, is placed on the actual writing of the case, proposal or whatever you want to call it. Most of the material starts with "create a need statement" or "create a theme," or with some instruction on how to begin to draft some element of the actual proposal. This is all good, but it starts in the wrong place. Why? Because it doesn't start with the most important part of the whole equation — the donor.

Blackbaud's Chuck Longfield, an expert in donor databases, received the Max L. Hart Nonprofit Award at the 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference, exemplifying the importance of donor data in the fundraising sector.

Blackbaud released two new reports focused on peer-to-peer event fundraising at the 2012 Run Walk Ride Fundraising Conference. The company also announced a limited release of next generation Friends Asking Friends.

Blackbaud announced the availability of Loyalty Insights and Lapsed Insights data services, designed to help nonprofits better understand their prospective donors based on behavioral segmentation. The services are the first of their kind available to the nonprofit market and are the latest offerings from Target Analytics, a Blackbaud company, which offers solutions for donor acquisition, prospect research, donor benchmarking, custom modeling, and data enrichment services to more than 6,000 nonprofits.

FundRaising Success speaks with Integrated Marketing Advisory Board Chairman Michael Johnston, founder and president of Hewitt and Johnston Consultants (hjc), and IMAB member Sara Spivey, chief marketing officer at Convio, about the role of the IMAB and the importance of integrated marketing and fundraising in today's landscape.

Ted Hart speaks with Blackbaud's senior public relations manager, Melanie Mathos, and Internet marketing manager, Chad Norman, about their book, "101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits: A Field Guide," on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.

The Blackbaud Index reports that overall charitable giving rose 1.8 percent for the three months ending December 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010 and online giving rose 12.9 percent for the three months ending December 2011 as compared to the same period in 2010.