Navigating Off the Napkin: 75 Nonprofit Fundraising Posts Later, Part 2

As you saw last week, I'm taking a look back on the some of the posts from the last two years. I selected 20 in my last post. Here's another group that got conversations rolling.

1. "Donor Communications: Get It Documented! No Excuses" — How can you understand the communication experience your donors are having if you don't have it all written down?
2. "Omnichannel vs. Multichannel" — Before taking on omnichannel marketing, fundraisers should master multichannel fundraising and effectively measuring it.
3. "I Just Don't Understand the Bitcoin Opportunity" — Am I too old or just not opening my eyes to see the fundraising opportunity of Bitcoin?
4. "Not All Videos Are Created Equal" — Learning from the "I Will What I Want" campaign.
5. "Yes, There Is a Challenge With the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" — Here's the good, the bad and the real opportunity of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that has taken on a life of its own and brought in more than $100 million for the ALS Association.
6. "I'd Like to Order Some Social Influencers" — Oh, and can I have a side of "how to find them" and "what to do with them"?
7. "Can We Talk About What 'Not Interested' Means?" — The next time you're tempted to say, "I'm not interested," I highly recommend you break that down and understand what is really holding you back.
8. "Are Consumers Worried About Sharing Their 'Voice'?" — Privacy concerns could be preventing you from getting donor feedback.
9. "What's in a Personality?" — Believe it or not, your donors actually have expectations based on specific character traits.
10. "Picking Apart the 2014 Giving USA Stats" — Are we back to pre-recession giving yet? Look to the 2014 Giving USA stats.
11. "What Do Oxytocin and Cortisol Have to Do With Fundraising?" — Storytelling is much more scientific than you think.
12. "Are You Measuring Donor Retention Correctly?" — What if there is a new metric that is more important than strictly the financial engagement of donors?
13. "Yes, Fundraising via the Phone Is Still Alive!" — As someone who works in the marketing intelligence world for nonprofits, I continue to be surprised how many organizations don't use the important channel of telemarketing or — even worse — have used it before and stopped using it.
14. "Emotional Marketing: Did They Really Just Call It 'Sadvertising'?" — Nonprofits know they must emotionally connect with their constituents. Now, for-profit brands are focusing on emotional marketing, or as Fast Company calls it, "sadvertising."
15. "Will a Marketing Vision Help Your Nonprofit Organization?" — Keep in mind a marketing plan is not the same as a marketing vision. Here are some helpful tips for creating a vision that is actionable, achievable and measurable.
16. "Are You Marketing and Raising Funds the Right Way for Today's Donors?" — Are you inward-focused or outward-focused with your marketing and fundraising?
17. "Do You Leverage All the Thinking Hats?" — Decision making is tough enough, so let these "thinking steps" help you break it down.
18. "Are Your Facebook Fans Really Loyal?" — Facebook is about "quality" and what you do — or don't.
19. "Extra, Extra Read All About It! The Nonprofit e-Newsletter" — Oh, wait, it's just another nonprofit e-newsletter! Check this list to make sure you are maximizing the opportunity.
20. "Are You Maximizing Both Facebook and Twitter?" — If you are wondering if there really is a benefit to social-media platforms Facebook and Twitter for your nonprofit, read this. If you are a fundraiser and not really thinking about these two channels as a part of your fundraising arsenal, then start thinking differently today.
21. "Why Not Just Ask Your Donors for Feedback?" — There's a big difference between donor feedback and market research.
22. "Not Enough New Donors? Maybe It's Because You Need 10 Touches and More 'Story'" — It takes 10 touches to move someone through the buying process. Why don't we look at donor prospect lists the same way?
23. "The Devil Is in the Details With an Email Welcome Series" — It sounds simple, but an effective email welcome series takes time, detailed thinking and the right technology.
24. "My 1st 2014 Brain Teaser: I'm in Love With 'Campaign Influence'" — I'm going to come out of the gate challenging all you marketers and even analysts with a brain teaser. I had to read this whitepaper three times to make sure I understood the formulas correctly — but I'm in love with the concept of "Campaign Influence."
25. "Predicting Weather Is Not Like Predicting Donations" — Never trust the weather man? That's OK — but you should trust your modeling experts!
26. "Counting E-mails Not Calories This Holiday Season" — The subject line is more important than you can ever imagine.
27. "Who 'Owns' the Data in Your Organization?" — Ownership is a dangerous word, but someone typically owns it in a nonprofit. Which hands hold your data — and is it a good thing?
28. "Which Metric Are You Using?" — This article is a must-read for people who think they are tracking long-term marketing metrics.
29. "But Wait, We Don't Have Deep Pockets and We Just Started Our SEO Strategy" — That's right — all that search data just went away for most nonprofits.
30. "Why, Oh, Why Do We Have to Keep Writing About Donor Retention?" — There's a donor retention article every single day it seems. Why is this so hard?
31. "The Great Ratings Debate Recap" — Here are some insights and opinions gleaned from the opening session of the FS Virtual Conference + Expo, where we talked with the head of a charity watchdog group and an outspoken nonprofit leader.