Beneblog: Technology Meets Society
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'One of the reasons I started the Beneblog more than ten years ago (!) was to keep the Benetech team in the loop. As someone who travels roughly half the time, it’s important to provide some insight into what’s going on, especially since these meetings often influence where Benetech goes with our efforts. So, this is an in-depth report on the two days I just spent at the end of last week in Geneva.
Nonprofit Tech for Good
FEBRUARY 17, 2014
'With 51% of email now being opened on a tablet or smartphone, nonprofits would be wise to redesign their e-newsletter as soon as possible. Long-standing e-newsletter design best practices such as a two or three-column-fixed layout, 12 point font size, and text-based links only are officially 51% less effective. Unless your nonprofit embraces responsive design or mobile-first design aesthetics, your stories and calls-to-action will go unread and untapped.
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TechImpact
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
'Image courtesy of Pebble Road Marketing. Chances are good that while waiting for a webpage to load, you’ve become distracted by another task, and forgot about that webpage. If your nonprofit’s website is not optimized for mobile use, this extremely common situation could be costing your nonprofit donors, volunteers, and potential investors. Below are 4 statistics that will undoubtedly make you prioritize your mobile website, effective immediately.
Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'I’m co-facilitating a session on Nonprofit Training Design and Delivery with colleagues John Kenyon, Andrea Berry, and Cindy Leonard at the NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference on Friday March 14th at 10:30 am! Join Us! Our session will share lots of great advice about what to do before , during , and after leading an effective technology training.
Speaker: Andrew Olsen, CFRE - EVP, Fundraising Solutions at DickersonBakker | Kat Landa, CFRE, CSD - SVP, Talent Solutions at DickersonBakker
Across the nonprofit sector, organizations invest heavily in donor retention efforts, yet the struggle of cultivating lasting relationships remains. While attracting new donors is crucial, the lack of repeat donors poses significant financial risks. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry data, experts argue that there is a direct correlation between donor burnout, donor retention, and the talent retention crisis.
Wild Apricot
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'In this guest post, Claire Axelrad explains how to make your fundraising events worth the effort - "they inspire action".
NTEN
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Marc Pitman. Founder. FundraisingCoach.com. I emailed some of the top authors and social media experts from around the world and asked them to quickly answer this question: What is one thing you wish nonprofits "got" about social media? The replies were great!
Nonprofit Technology brings together the best content for nonprofit technical enthusiasts from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Beth's Blog: How Nonprofits Can Use Social Media
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
'I found this wonderful comic on Mashable “ The Field Guide to Procrastination ” that identifies 12 different methods for work avoidance or procrastination, defined in Wikipedia as “ putting off tasks for a later date.” We all do it. The comic is funny but a fairly accurate depiction of how we procrastinate. I tend to be a lister, cleaner, or distractor, but in my 35 years working in the nonprofit sector, I’ve probably used all of these at one time or another
Wild Apricot
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'Here is my take on some of the challenges and possible solutions to making fundraising a presidential priority.
NTEN
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
'Geof Pelaia. Founder and Marketing Consultant. Pelaia Media Group. A well thought out video strategy can accomplish all of these goals and more. If your organization has not yet produced video, odds are that you have been talking about it for some time. Now that YouTube is the second largest search engine behind Google, now is the perfect time to create content that will inform, inspire and engage donors.
TechImpact
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
'We all want our nonprofit’s website to rank #1 on Google. But, how do I make sure it get there? And once it’s there, how do I ensure it stays there? Your website is your most powerful, and most customizable online asset. Taking the time to make sure it is optimized to resonate with search engines is worth the time and resources. Below are 12 simple tips to help get your nonprofit’s website ranking higher, faster.
Speaker: Tim Sarrantonio
The average nonprofit uses five or more different software platforms to create their donor’s journey, making the experience clunky and disjointed. If you want to design a magical online giving experience for donors, making their journey as seamless as possible is key. In this webinar with expert Tim Sarrantonio, you’ll learn the fundamental steps to create an immersive and personalized online giving experience for your donors.
Eric Jacobsen Blog
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'In your leadership role, it''s vital that your team members know how to deliver excellent customer service. " Knock Your Socks Off " type service as book editor Ann Thomas and Jill Applegate would say. Part of delivering excellent customer service is saying "Thank You" to your customers and knowing when to say "Thank You". Thomas and Applegate recommend telling your customers "Thank You" during at least these nine situations : When they do business with you.every time.
Wild Apricot
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
'Are you rolling out the welcome mat to your community online and off?
NTEN
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Steve MacLaughlin. Director, Idea Lab. Blackbaud. For several years now we’ve been reading about the impact of the recession on giving in the United States. Declines in giving and donor retention have been a challenge in recent years, but some new data suggests that the giving environment is improving across the nonprofit sector.
TechImpact
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'Image courtesy of Complete Payroll Solutions. The question has invariably been raised at your nonprofit’s executive meetings, manager’s meetings or team meetings: Should we implement a CRM? The question is a difficult to answer, and is one that will undoubtedly be raised multiple times until it’s evident the change is necessary. It is sometimes easy to feel comfortable with your current spreadsheets or GoogleDocs and be hesitant to make the move to a more sophisticated system.
Advertiser: Digital Ocean
Effectively managing cloud technology is getting more complex. From cybersecurity concerns, vendor lock-in, cost increases, or lack of transparency on costs, it can quickly get out of control. Knowing what you can control and finding a platform that’s built with nonprofits in mind is key.
Care2
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'Are you impressed every time a blog post by your organization gets a lot of retweets? How about all those social shares on Huffington Post and Mashable? How many times has your boss come to you and asked “why can’t we get those social share numbers?” A new study by Chartbeat, which measures real-time traffic for some of the biggest websites like Upworthy, said their research shows that many people aren’t reading articles that they retweet.
Forum One
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
'What do organizations looking to be influential on policy issues need to do online in 2014? Here you’ll find what some of our lead experts see as key tech issues for organizations in the nonprofit, foundation and government sectors. Our focus is what is relevant for organizations looking to increase the influence of their work – and we see interesting trends in partnership approaches, user experience and empathy, video conferencing, open data, feedback strategies, going “beyon
NTEN
FEBRUARY 17, 2014
'Ryan Reynolds. Design Director. MSDS. Indexes are de riguer these days. It used to be that indexes (Or more properly, "indices") were used for monetary applications, with well-known examples like the Dow Jones Industrial average and the S&P 500 dominating financial discourse. But now a new breed of index has begun to proliferate some truly unexpected sectors, and they have the potential to have far-reaching impacts.
TechImpact
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Image courtesy of Coats. To many, social media is like John Wayne’s wild west. It’s an unconquered wilderness riddled with danger and unknowns. You’re under a microscope, and have to be careful of what you say; one wrong tweet can ruin everything you’ve worked for. Because of all the uncertainty and danger, we’ve provided you 10 social media stats to help you conquer the social media frontier.
Advertiser: Syncrony
Looking for cost reductions for your nonprofit? Why not consider modernizing with a digital board management system that's designed to work with remote meetings, with immediate cost reductions if you still distribute paper packets to members? Get going in less than an hour on a fully hosted cloud solution built on the latest technology that runs on any device - from desktops to tablets and smartphones - without any installation.
Tech Soup
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'In January, we shared some statistics on the explosive use of mobile devices and how important responsive design has become for mobile commerce. Now we’d like to share why mobile sites have gone from a “nice-to-have” to a “must-have” for nonprofits. Think about how you use your own smartphone or tablet. Chances are you’ve. been frustrated when you landed on a site that you couldn’t easily read. or interact with.
Eric Jacobsen Blog
FEBRUARY 16, 2014
'As a first-time leader, you''ll find it helpful to have some framework for your thinking. More specifically, according to authors George Bradt and Gillian Daivs of, First-Time Leader , you will benefit from the 5Cs Situation Assessment. This provides you a framework for understanding the your business environment by looking at customers, collaborators, capabilities, competitors, and conditions.
NTEN
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Liz Ragland. Marketing and Content Associate. Network for Good. With a good story as the foundation for your video, your organization can use YouTube to spread your message and raise money and awareness online. From free video creation sites to royalty free music to use in your videos, it's easy for a nonprofit to start making videos that tell the story of the work that you do.
Care2
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'Some companies, like Zygna, had early success thanks to cheap online advertising on Facebook. But with more companies entering the space, the ads got more expensive and that hit the Zygna’s bottom line hard. Similarly, many of us are very aware that it is increasingly expensive to acquire new users. In fact, instead of targeting obvious audiences (e.g. young moms), it is often more effective to try to identify lateral audiences that aren’t targeted as heavily.
Advertiser: DonorDock
Are your donors your biggest fans, or are you lacking donor loyalty? The truth is, your donors have expectations of what their relationship with your organization should look like. This ebook will help you learn how to live up to those expectations!
Tech Soup
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Not that long ago, there were dozens of charity mobile phone donation programs vying for attention. When I went looking for them recently, I found that many had disappeared. What happened to them? Here’s what we found out. Why Phone Recycling Matters. In the world of electronics recycling, mobile phones are a problem. They’re one of the hardest gadgets to get people to recycle.
Eric Jacobsen Blog
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Here are some of my favorite leadership and life tips and advice from William Arthur Ward , one of America''s most quoted writers of inspirational maxims: Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work.
ASU Lodestar Center
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
'posted by Victoria Michelson Communications Specialist Wild Apricot Nonprofits are organized around data. Whether for membership and volunteer management, communications, promotion, or revenue tracking, the information we collect comprises one of our most critical assets and is central to realizing our missions. Not all data is created equal, however.
Care2
FEBRUARY 20, 2014
'As I mentioned in a previous post about how many fundraising emails it might take per year to achieve a significant online fundraising program , digital fundraising is a numbers game. Having worked on nearly 450 digital campaigns for both nonprofits and impact-oriented brands, such as Abe''s Market and Fetzer Wines, a common challenge I see across organizations is just inadequate tools for planning - and thus it often doesn''t really happen in detail.
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Organizations like yours are increasingly realizing that technology adoption is only as good as the technology you choose. Statistics from a 2014 NTEN study show that seriously investing resources in training for your staff corresponds to higher adoption and ultimately technology effectiveness. In this report, we’ll give you a high-level overview of how to get your organization in shape for technology adoption and best practices for facilitating this critical process.
Tech Soup
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Every month NetSquared volunteers hold free or low cost educational events for people and organizations who want to use technology for social good. With 50 groups in 20 countries there’s probably a Net2Local group near you (but if there isn’t we’d love to help you start a new meetup.) :-). Ever wanted to discover the art of transmedia?
Eric Jacobsen Blog
FEBRUARY 21, 2014
'When you start reading Mark Thompson’s and Brian Tracy’s book, Now…Build a Great Business! , you may feel like you are reading 200 pages of Blog posts, but the bite-sized approach to providing tools, practical steps and ideas, rather than theory, is precisely the authors’ intended approach. The book thoroughly explains the seven keys for how to achieve business success : 1.
NonProfit Hub
FEBRUARY 18, 2014
'Walking around with your head in the clouds isn’t necessarily a great idea. You might be missing out on some great opportunities down below. But if you’re walking around your nonprofit without considering putting your data in the cloud, you’re oblivious to some other opportunities that exist. So what is nonprofit cloud storage, and is it right for your organization?
Connection Cafe
FEBRUARY 17, 2014
'Here are 50 fascinating nonprofit statistics you might not have known. 50 Fascinating Nonprofit Statistics from Steve MacLaughlin. Nonprofit statistics covering fundraising, charitable giving, online giving, social media, mobile, donor retention, email marketing, stewardship, donor research, charitable organizations, donor trends, direct mail, giving, and other key not-for-profit charitable giving metrics and benchmarks.
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Association executives—and hopefully their boards—know that they are facing perilous times. Driven by the pace of cultural and technological change, they are experiencing major disruptions in the traditional business models that used to guide organizational growth strategies.orgSource offers a straightforward approach to navigating these changes and readying your organization for growth.
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