Nature Conservancy

Engaging your audience and getting them to act is one of the most important goals of any nonprofit organization. Though online fundraising has become extremely competitive, the advent of interactive marketing and the latest in Web site development have helped that goal become easier to attain. It’s simply a matter of knowing how to implement the technology and maximize your fundraising efforts with the use of a few simple creative elements. The Nature Conservancy and marketing agency Crew Creative put interactive marketing strategies to work for them when they launched the nonprofit’s large-scale reforestation campaign, Plant a Billion Trees. Creative techniques helped

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Last year in Inside Direct Mail, we wrote that the nonprofit sector was experiencing a “pretty big downturn in premium use.” Not only were total numbers down, but so was the variety of premium types being offered. Indeed, nonprofit premiums had an undeniable presence in both the 2003 and 2004 calendar years. However, after doing some research in our Who’s Mailing What! Archive, it became clear that the premium’s grip on the sector was beginning to slip, with 23.1 percent of nonprofit mail including a premium offer in 2003 and 16.7 percent in 2004. Perhaps because of budget constraints and more conservative direct-mail

Editor’s Note: Perhaps the best way for nonprofit organizations to learn how to effectively increase their online presence through innovative multichannel programs is to look to their peers that already are utilizing Web 2.0 channels for advocacy, friendraising and fundraising. We asked Katrin Verclas, executive director of NTEN: The Nonprofit Technology Network, to talk about some of the organizations that she sees as leading the way.

Nonprofit direct-response fundraising programs historically have centered around one channel, usually direct mail. But as other channels become more viable and new ones emerge — can you say W-E-B? — innovative organizations have become aggressive in incorporating them into their fundraising mix.

The Georgia Aquarium opened in November 2005. But already the organization is running where other institutions like it are just learning to walk. It’s able to accommodate multiple, large-scale special events at one time, has partnered with area schools and universities to develop one-of-a-kind educational programs, solely relies on e-communications to keep in touch with constituents, and has an advanced Web-based ticketing system.

One common characteristic of most Web 2.0 participatory tools is that they give participants and supporters a great deal more control than traditional engagement tools used by nonprofits. In late December, Beth Kanter, author of Beth’s Blog, posted a write-up about some organizations — e.g., the March of Dimes, the Nature Conservancy and Creative Commons — that have staged photo contests for constituents on Flickr, a popular Web 2.0 tool that offers online photo management and sharing. While some of the contests Kanter highlighted raised money, most — like the Nature Conservancy’s — were focused on raising awareness. The Nature Conservancy’s Flickr photo

In a session she co-presented on using direct response in planned-giving marketing at the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2006 New York Nonprofit Conference earlier this month, Amy Gill, director of gift-planning strategy and stewardship at The Nature Conservancy, spoke about how the organization has used direct mail to address the topic of bequests. For starters, Gill stressed that organizations should not be shy about discussing bequests with their members via direct mail because most people age 18 or older can and should have a will, it’s easy to add a charitable bequest to a will, and her organization has found that members find it appropriate

In his session on telemarketing at the DMA Nonprofit Federation 2006 New York Nonprofit Conference, Nate Drushell, vice president of marketing at InfoCision Management Corp., sought to disprove common misconceptions regarding telefundraising — among them that the phone is an effective fundraising medium only for certain organizations or only for small sub-segments of a donor file, and that using the phone will cannibalize other fundraising programs. The phone can work as a fundraising medium for any type of organization, be it national or chapter based; can work across all segments of an organization’s donor file — high dollar and low dollar; and will

As your mother said, saying “thank you” is really important. For nonprofit organizations, it’s essential. In fact, if you don’t express gratitude quickly and well, your donors are likely to give somewhere else.