Constant Contact

Without a doubt, the free staffing of corporate volunteers can be invaluable. But the unfortunate reality of corporate “days of service,” well-meaning as they are, is that they can be burdensome, time-consuming headaches for nonprofits, and of dubious value. The “help” may not be all that helpful.

A company may want to organize a team-building project to paint a community center, when what that center actually needs is a volunteer social media strategist to teach its staff to use Twitter, for example.

How do you go about getting email addresses from your social-media fans? First, put a URL in your About (“Short Description”) section on Facebook, and as the “Website” link on Twitter. Next, set up custom tabs on Facebook. Keep making asks to your audience to get people to sign up for your email list. Try using online advertising on Facebook and Twitter.

I wish I could tell you that somewhere out there is the perfect subject line, one that could send your open rates skyrocketing and make opt-outs and spam reports ancient history. But I can’t. I can tell you, however, that creating almost perfect subject lines for your nonprofit is possible

To do it, you first need to understand a few important things …

Borrow a page from the retail marketers who spend big bucks on market research. In "15 Subject Line Examples for Your Holiday Email Marketing," Ryan Pinkham provides some free inspiration that applies as well to nonprofits as to retail businesses. Here are eight examples I particularly like, with some thoughts about how you can adapt them to boost your year-end fundraising …

Thanks to Microsoft Citizenship Asia Pacific, I’ve presented a series of online fundraising and social-media trainings to more than 300 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) throughout Asia Pacific over the last three years. The experience has made me aware that access to information about trends in nonprofit technology, online fundraising and social media often does not reach small NGOs. Here are five online best practices to get small NGOs started: 1. Launch a new, mobile-optimized website. 2. Launch an e-newsletter. 3. Acccept donations online. 4. Study and mimic large NGOs. 5. Create a Facebook Page.

E-mail is one of the most effective ways to communicate with supporters. But if your e-mails aren’t reaching inboxes, aren’t sparking interest with a thoughtful subject line or are too generic, there’s a chance your supporters won’t read them at all. Below are a few tips to help you personalize messages and refine your delivery strategy so that your e-mails are read (and enjoyed).

Checked your spam folder lately? Probably not. Most people trust in their e-mail software or webmail provider to keep away messages from annoying advertisers or organizations you’d rather not hear from. However, as filtering algorithms grow more efficient and effective and providers pursue the cleanest, most appealing interface for readers, it’s possible that direct-marketing campaigns and other online outreach from nonprofits could end up diverted away from those who might be responsive to them.

Following are some simple ways you can take advantage of any downtime you have during the last few weeks of summer to get more out of you fundraising marketing efforts come the fall.

Engagement marketing, when done well, can become the single best source of new members, volunteers or donors for any nonprofit organization. By delivering great experiences and content to your key constituents, you can use that engagement to drive social visibility. Great content and experiences make people feel connected to an organization, and when these connections happen on places like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, one-to-one conversations turn into socially visible endorsements for an association or nonprofit. So how can a nonprofit use social media to inspire donations and grow its volunteer base?

There are reports that can make you feel better and other reports that can keep you up at night. We are a data-based industry, so we know that data can be looked at in a myriad of ways.