Defenders of Wildlife

Seeing what others are doing with their fundraising is one of the best ways to jump-start your own creativity and find new things to try or test. If you haven't done it recently, make some donations to nonprofits that you think you can learn from; reading about fundraising is good, but actually being a recipient of it is great!

The DMA Nonprofit Federation’s Nonprofit Digital Day opened with Mikaela King from Defenders of Wildlife, Sean Powell of The Engage Group, Heather Marsh of ABD Direct and Peter Kaizer of Aquilent (former digital director of Catholic Relief Services). The panel, titled “Digital Fundraising 101,” discussed the basics of online acquisitions, email campaigns, Web marketing and social media.

Although much of the panel’s morning session focused on how to use content messaging and search engine marketing to acquire new constituents, one of the biggest takeaways was the importance of making nonprofit websites as user-friendly as possible.

At the 2014 Washington Nonprofit Conference, three fundraising professionals tackled "Digital Fundraising 101," specifically covering best practices for email, websites, online acquisition, social media, testing, integration, retargeting, responsive design and mobile optimization.

What kind of direct-marketing trends made their mark on the MAXIs in the fundraising and nonprofit space this year?

Blackbaud released findings from its Next Generation of American Giving study that explores charitable-giving trends and engagement behaviors and attitudes across four different generations — matures (68+), boomers (49-67), Gen X (33-48) and Gen Y (18-32). Baby boomers are emerging as the dominant force in charitable giving, responsible for 43 percent of all dollars donated. The study also revealed that multichannel engagement is the new normal, but the ideal mix varies from generation to generation.

At the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, three fundraising technology professionals shared some website best practices in their session “37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitor.” Here are the final 11 strategies.

At the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, three fundraising technology professionals shared some website best practices in their session “37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitor.” Here are the strategies 18-26.

At the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, three fundraising technology professionals shared some website best practices in their session “37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitor.” Here are the strategies 9-17.

At the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference, three fundraising technology professionals shared some website best practices in their session “37 Must-Have Strategies to Better Engage Your Website Visitor.” Here are the first eight strategies.

Blackbaud announced the release of “Connecting Online Advocacy and Fundraising”, a white paper focused on optimizing advocacy appeals that lead to increased response rates and fundraising.

“The integration of advocacy and fundraising has proven successful with many organizations,” said Daigneault co-author Steve Daigneault of M+R Strategic Services. “In fact, advocates are seven-times more likely to give as compared to non-advocates.”