As part of our Philanthropy February campaign, I immediately thought of a friend and colleague, Jen Barth, who with a husband, two twin daughters, a dog and cat, and running her own business, finds the time to be a leader in grassroots education and children’s health reform.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Jen about what nonprofits, with limited resources and budget, can do to build their brands and connect with their supporters.
Reaching out to volunteer for a nonprofit in your community can lead to opportunities and benefits that enhance your company’s long-term reputation while growing your business.
Sure, you’ll be contributing positively to society and spreading your brand awareness across the community. But you’ll probably also have some fun while networking to meet new leads and potential business partners.
Choose a charity you respect and admire that also coincides with your company’s values, and learn the benefits below for how helping others can help grow your business. Continue reading…
Almost half of small businesses consider late payments to be their single biggest pain point when it comes to cash flow. But with so many small businesses experiencing these annoying late payments on a monthly basis, it’s a wonder why the issue isn’t brought under the spotlight more often.
Check out this infographic that illustrates how chasing down those late payments can be as complicated as orchestrating your own late night show. Data was gathered from PaySimple’s October 2011 Small Business Pulse Survey.
Facebook is one of the fastest growing social media outlets. If your small business hasn’t engaged with it yet, then now is a great time to start because chances are your customers (and your competitors) are already there. Your first step should be creating a Page for your company on Facebook. Once you do that, you can start collecting “Likes” from your customers in the community, and interacting with them to foster brand loyalty, generate recommendations, and acquire new customers.
This post details resources you can use to get started with your first Facebook Business Page. Once you’ve done that, you can participate in the Facebook Small Business Boost program. You’ll need 50 “Likes” to be accepted into the program which offers $50 in free Facebook advertising to start and an additional $100 in free advertising if you can generate an additional 100 “Likes” by program’s end. Continue reading…
Today’s technology allows you to hold your life literally in the palm of your hand. Before I got out of bed this morning, I had already skimmed the morning news, checked my bank account, browsed my email and confirmed an upcoming airline flight.
All your most private information is stored on imaginary clouds that seem to be protected by passwords. But even as technology evolves, the methods hackers use to break into your personal information continue to advance as well. Continue reading…
Gabe O’Neill could have never predicted back in March 2008 that a father-daughter project would blossom into one of the most influential nonprofits in social media. Now – with a combined audience of about 50,000 Twitter followers and Facebook fans, and a network of more than 1.4 million followers through tweets donated by supporters – Mashable considers Kids Are Heroes to be the No. 4 must-follow nonprofit making a difference with social media.
It all started when Gabe’s daughter, MaryMargaret, approached him about building a website to help animals. “Why stop at animals?” asked Gabe, a software engineer in Maryland with an entrepreneurial spirit. “Why not help people too?” And that’s when the father-daughter duo came up with the concept for “Kids Are Heroes,” an organization dedicated to encouraging children to become leaders through community involvement. Continue reading…
Technology has exponentially evolved the way nonprofit approach fundraising. It reduces costs, speeds up productivity, expands their ability to reach new donors across the globe and enables smaller nonprofits to compete like large organizations.
Technology has also simplified the donation process, making it easier for nonprofits to accept donations online. Enabling your donors to donate online has not only proven to increase donations; 80 percent of the biggest donors who donate $10,000 or more actually prefer to donate online, according to a report by Convio, Edge Research and the Sea Change Strategies.
But while technology has improved our ability to operate more efficiently, it can also overwhelm us with infinite options and possibilities. Knowing where to begin can stress business decision-makers out to the point that they can neglect opportunities. Instead, some nonprofits will concentrate on one-off tactics and narrow strategies, without comprehending the full spectrum of operational strategies that can elevate their fundraising to the next level.
Concentrating solely on soliciting donations can be helpful. But, if you incorporate that with improving donor acquisition, engaging with donors through social media, knowing when and where to cut costs, and understanding how to pull all these operational tasks into one cohesive business strategy, and you will truly maximize your ability to drive revenue and expand your donor outreach. Continue reading…
If you’re a nonprofit just starting out in social media, you can launch a very effective online fundraising campaign for free using only a blog and Facebook. Mastering these two tools will help you to build the framework for future online fundraising strategies.
According to the 2011 Nonprofit Social Network Report, 92 percent of all nonprofits use at least one commercial social network and 89 percent of them use Facebook. A survey commissioned by Idealware also found that 84 percent of nonprofits were effectively using blogs to enhance existing relationships with donors.
Continue reading…
“Would you like to help out my organization with a gift of $50?
“No, sorry, you won’t be receiving any tangible product or service, but we can give you a warm fuzzy feeling inside… Are you interested?”
Soliciting donations is hard work, plain and simple. I did it for three years while studying at The University of Iowa (Go Hawks!) and it was some of the most grueling, energy-draining, frustrating work I’ve ever done. We spent hours making phone calls, building relationships with potential donors and trying to convince them why they should give back to us.
But, it was also hands-down the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. In fact, it’s a lot like being a salesperson, except instead of offering the coolest new widget or service the prospect can’t live without, I was selling the satisfaction that comes with giving to an amazing organization.
Making your non-profit stand out can be difficult, especially when competing with so many other great causes in this tough economic climate. Here are five surefire sales tips that will make your organization’s conversations stand out in the minds of potential donors: Continue reading…
If you travel for business often, then you know how important it is to stay in a good hotel. A clean room and a good quiet night’s sleep can make all the difference when you make that big presentation the next day.
Many people turn to online reviews from sites such as Expedia and TripAdvisor to help select the best hotels. Typically the first concern is location, and after that you want to find the best experience for your money. The hotels know this, and that’s why these review sites are so important to them. So how do you know whether to believe what you read? Common sense is always your best defense. But if you’re in doubt, try the new Review Skeptic site. Continue reading…
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