FastTrack Fundraising Tips and Articles

Online fundraising offers nonprofits the opportunity to reach new audiences while building stronger relationships with existing constituents who are spending more time on the Internet. For organizations used to communicating via direct mail and telemarketing, embarking on a digital strategy presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Here, Pamela Barden, VP and group director, Russ Reid; Debbi Barber, president, Grizzard Communications Group; Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer, Convio; and Angie C. Moore, SVP and GM, fundraising services group at Merkle offer their Dos and Don’ts when it comes to online fundraising.

Pamela Barden, VP and group director, Russ Reid

Do: Think about the entire online experience

Begin with the subject line. It won’t “close the deal,” but it could stop further action if done incorrectly. On mobile devices, recipients see about 20 characters of your subject, so make every one count. Test your links. If you say “click here,” make sure “here” goes someplace that moves the reader closer to giving. Immediately send a short, warm acknowledgment for every donation, telling how the gift is being used.

Don’t: Don’t forget the small details

Don’t make the online donation form too complicated; it’s about getting the donation, not collecting every bit of information you’ll ever want. Don’t forget to include your mission statement on your Web site. Also, don’t assume a potential donor will stumble across your Web site and decide to give; be proactive online and offline in driving potential donors there.

Debbi Barber, president, Grizzard Communications Group

Do: Create seamless integration across channels

Direct mail pieces should have a unique URL landing page that supports the campaign and tracks direct mail visitors to the Web site. E-mail blasts to overlapping direct mail and online constituents should be coordinated and timed for maximum impact. Highlight critical campaigns featured in direct mail and e-mail within the online donation form. Integrate special campaign offers within paid search creative. Don’t just create a campaign and then add on a digital component.

Don’t: If raising funds is your goal, do not have all of your efforts pushed to the main Web site.

There is typically too much happening on the homepage for a fundraising message to stand out and be clear. Instead, create landing pages that focus on the reasons to give and drive potential donors to these pages.

Vinay Bhagat, chief strategy officer, Convio

Do: Empower constituents to act for you

Online tools provide great vehicles to harness supporters’ passion for fundraising, recruitment and evangelism. This can be accomplished by writing messages that inspire donors and reflect their interests. Also be sure to make giving opportunities tangible and explain how gift levels impact your cause.

Don’t: Stop building your prospect and e-mail files

Instead, use online and creativity to reach new people and provide donors who are giving less with meaningful ways to engage. Don’t rely on the structure, skills and approaches of the past. Try to evaluate and reallocate resources from declining, slower growing areas to those that are more efficient and effective at reaching people.

Angie C. Moore, SVP and GM, Merkle’s fundraising services group

Do: Recognize that retention is a metric, not a strategy

Take the time to understand what matters to your constituents and then create online messages around those interests. Being relevant is king when it comes to having mass market conversations with your donors. Relevance drives satisfaction, and satisfaction affects retention. Loyalty equals more support for your mission.

Don’t: Never underestimate the value of non-donor behavior

Every action — dialing a 1-800 number, changing an address, volunteering, requesting information, and more — is an indication of interest and a critical ingredient in the relationship value recipe. Don’t be afraid to model these interactions and understand the true value of the full relationship, not just the donations part.

Source: http://www.dmnews.com/dos-and-donts-of-online-fundraising/article/146504/

Back to school night is the official end of summer. This time-honored night of getting to know your school and staff has been going on for years. You might be tempted to miss it, but don’t!

Every year, our schools are expected to provide more with less. Every school, whether public or private, greatly benefits from the help of parent volunteers. At Back to School Night, this is the time to sign-up to give 2-4 hours of your time to help out your school.

Represented at every Back to School night is the Parent Teacher Organization or Association (PTO/PTA). There is a small fee to officially join the PTO/PTA. This fee goes towards the national PTO/PTA organization which in turn usually provides insurance to your local group. I strongly recommend you join the PTO/PTA or similar parent group. This volunteer group of parents works hard to raise money just for your school for necessities outside the school budget or fun events for the kids. While you are fresh off of summer, also make it a goal to attend at least 3 PTO/PTA meetings. They usually meet once a month during the evenings. You do not need to officially join the PTO/PTA to attend. The meetings are also the best place to bring up new ideas or learn more about the way things are done.

Also at Back to School night, many parents that chair an event (teacher appreciation or a school fundraiser) will be there to solicit volunteers. Although you may be weary of committing your time to help with a school event, please find one that you like and sign-up! Parents are much more likely to volunteer at the beginning of the year than during the year when school is in full swing. The benefits of volunteering, such as making new friends and learning more about your child’s school, are very rewarding.

Lastly, you will have a chance to talk with your child’s teachers. This is the best time to ask about volunteering for the classroom. Don’t worry if you work full-time, there may be some volunteer work you can do at home that does not require you to come into the school. This can include anything from cutting paper for an elementary to running off mailing labels for a high school.

This year, make a commitment to volunteer some of your time to your child’s school, whether attending a meeting or helping with an event. The best time to cash in on that commitment is at Back to School night, when school momentum is at its peak.

- Denver Educational Volunteer Examiner Lori Hampton

The recession has led to more reliance on these and other groups to save school staff jobs.

Press Release Service – Wired PR News – More and more organizations such as parent-teacher associations (PTAs) are increasingly being utilized to help save essential services and staff jobs in public schools. As reported by TIME, the recession has triggered more reliance on parents, school foundations, and community groups to supplement costs of operating schools.

California state PTA president Jo Loss is quoted by TIME as stating of the matter, “The state is supposed to provide the black-and-white essentials of a good education, and the PTA fills in the color… But our state has increasingly fallen far short of providing even the essentials. So PTAs are having to step in.”

Some, however, strongly oppose the idea of PTA fundraisers and related means of raising money by private entities being used for school funding. National PTA President Charles J. Saylors is quoted in the report as stating, “Parents should not have to raise money to underwrite staff salaries… That’s the responsibility of the local government. They should not be balancing their budgets on the backs of parents.”

WiredPRNews.com – The latest in Education News

Photo Credit: Wikipedia User Fagles

If your last fundraising event fell short of your expectations, you might consider switching up the theme of the event to increase the excitement and draw in a larger crowd. Casino Night themed fundraisers are increasingly growing in popularity and provide a great way to raise money while allowing everyone to have a great time for a good cause.

When attending a fundraiser such as a casino night, people are looking for a chance to get dressed up and enjoy a fun evening out so take that thought into consideration throughout your planning phases and create an event that outshines other events in the area. One way to ensure that your event is successful is to make the casino experience as real as you possibly can. You can do this by using customized game boards, event signage, playing cards and even game chips or funny money to transform a seemingly ordinary event hall into a frenzied casino floor.

To give your event attendees the feeling of being on a real casino floor try mixing in customized game boards for Plinko, Pick Till You Win and Punch-out Giveaways with more standard casino tables for Blackjack, Craps, Roulette and Texas Hold’em tables. These larger game boards can be used to create a backdrop for your casino floor and can help to fill in space that would otherwise be left empty. You can even have a display board created to track the progress of the event earnings throughout the evening.

Large scale, customized game boards not only provide a great way to enhance your casino floor, but they also provide you with plenty of space to list your event name and organization as well as to publicize your event sponsors. Adding sponsorship placement on each game board will allow you to cover the cost of each customized item and will give each sponsor a designated space for advertising their contribution to the event. When you have these names and logos emblazoned on the game boards, your casino players will be sure to be reminded that their playing for a good cause.

When it comes to customizing each game board, you can stick with a basic theme for each board or you can give each sponsor the opportunity to create a unique board design. Either way, you’ll be able to create eye catching game boards. Using vivid colors and even having the boards cut out in unique shapes can help to create a customized look. To give your game boards an added touch of Vegas flare you may even consider incorporating a few strings flashing lights onto them.

While creating ambiance with event décor is not your sole priority of the fundraiser, it can definitely contribute to the success of the evening. An event of this magnitude typically requires a year of planning in order to have everything from games and dealers to sponsors and catering coordinated before the final event so taking the time to create a realistic casino atmosphere can really take your fundraiser to the next level. Remember the better the experience you create, the more fun your attendees are having the more money you will raise.

This article was provided by Elizabeth Catalanotto with Pixus Digital Printing in Lafayette, Louisiana. Pixus is an industry leading provider of large format digital graphics, as well as many other digital printing solutions. Visit http://www.Pixus.com for more information on the services offered at Pixus, including Custom Casino Gameboards.