Best Practices

Rapid Donor Cultivation

Common Knowledge

Common Knowledge is pleased to share a new online fundraising concept that they are pioneering–read an excerpt from the white paper here:

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When you sit down to view your nonprofit organization's website, you should be able to locate the donate button in one to two seconds. One Mississippi... Two Mississippi... Time's up! That's it. It should be that easy.

So why aren't more nonprofit websites designed that way?

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Get Ready for Year-End Fundraising

Rebecca Higman and Julie Stofer

Supporters choose to donate to organizations for a variety of reasons. While most of the time you’re better off focusing on the emotional side of giving, at the end of the year data shows you can get away with an appeal that’s focused on the financial side because people love tax deductions.*

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15 Secrets to Great Subject Lines

Rebecca Ruby

Lyris HQ has a great a white paper "Email Subject Lines: 15 Rules to Write Them Right," which highlights the make-or-break importance of subject lines. It's well w

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How to Approach Your Old and New Donors

Marc A. Pitman

Now you're ready to start asking. There are two groups for you to ask from: those who already know you and those who don't.

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The Three Pieces of Background You Need Before You "Make the Ask"

Marc A. Pitman

As you introduce people to your cause, it can be very helpful to have some background materials.

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6 Steps to Better Email Outreach

Katya Andresen

Here are six great, easy steps to improving your email outreach that Anne Holland presented at Marketing Sherpa's Email Summit:

Opt-ins - Make it easy for people to sign up to hear from your nonprofit right on your home page. Don't make them have to hunt long and hard to find how to sign up, or go to through many steps and pages to do it.

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5 Steps to Email Marketing

Winston Bowden

Nonprofits are confronted with many of the questions that any other enterprise, small or large, often ponders: How do I connect with my customers? Which communication vehicle will provide my organization with the highest return on investment? How can I determine what my target market wants?

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Tapping the Corporate Dollar: The ROI for Nonprofit/For-profit Collaborations

Mikel Smith Koon

Today is an exciting time in business for both nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies. Social causes are getting a great deal of media attention as consumers are demanding companies take an interest in the welfare of society. More and more research is showing that consumers want to purchase from companies that care about their causes.

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Five Deadly Sins of Website Design

Katya Andresen

Nonprofit organizations make many mistakes when it comes to the design, presentation and content of their websites. Here are the five deadly sins we commit:

Too egotistical: The home page is too often simply an About Us page. It should not be an electronic brochure with your mission statement. It should speak to the user's values, interests and desires.

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