Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog

Today I answer another reader question.  David asks:

As an advocacy based non-profit, should we acknowledge or address negative and untrue comments about our organization and our positions? Some of the Board want to ignore the comments and others want to respond to the comments.

Here’s my advice on handling negative comments.

1. Listen for them.  Be sure you monitor what people are saying about your organization online.

2. When you find something negative or wrong, assess who is saying it and who is listening.  Is this one crazy person with no audience? You might want to just watch and wait. Or is it someone who talks to people in your audience? Even one noisy person can be a problem if he or she has or can rapidly build a following with people who matter to you. I generally err on the side of judging someone worth responding to rather than ignoring negative remarks.  Remember, people are speaking out online because they want to be heard.  It’s wise to show you are listening to them.

3. Act fast on the site where it started.  If you need to respond, do it as soon as you can calmly answer (never when you’re still annoyed), in the venue where the situation started. Things move at lightning speed online, and you don’t want something to spiral out of control before you get in a response. It’s OK if you don’t have all the answers or every piece of needed information — just be transparent about it. “Thanks for sharing your view - I am looking into your concern” is better than radio silence. “I’m concerned about what you reported about our policy and am finding out what happened so I can give you the response you deserve” is better than nothing. But do that on Twitter if the negative comment was a Tweet.  Respond on LinkedIn if it happened on LinkedIn.  No need to issue a press release over a Facebook comment.  Respond on Facebook.

4. Be honest, transparent, friendly and open.  This is key. If there is misinformation out there, correct it in a helpful, noncombative way. My organization’s own crisis communications plan (hope you have one, too) sets out the following principles:

  Never delete negative comments unless they are profane or hate speech.
  Thank people for expressing their opinion.  They need to know we are listening.  If they feel we are not, they will only get louder.  Reflect back to them their feelings.
  Be sincerely apologetic if we’ve done wrong.  Take responsibility and say what we’re doing to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
  Err on the side of open, frequent communication.
  Be absolutely honest.
  Ensure what we say is accurate — if we’re not sure, say we’re not sure.

5. If you’re dealing with incorrect facts, don’t repeat them when you graciously correct the record!  Why waste words repeating what isn’t true?  It could reinforce the falsehood. A couple of years back, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tried to combat myths about the flu vaccine by listing commonly held views and labeling them either “true” or “false.” Examples of myths were, “The side effects are worse than the flu” and “Only older people need flu vaccine.”  University of Michigan social psychologist Norbert Schwarz found that after reading the flier, the target audience incorrectly recalled 28 percent of the false statements as true. And three days later, they remembered 40 percent of the myths as factual.  If you are trying to overcome a falsehood, you’re doing yourself no favors by repeating it—even if only to debunk it.  Repeating myths perpetuates them.

6. Remember, what you’re in is not a debate - it’s a conversation.  This isn’t a monologue by the critic or by you. Nor is it a war. It’s a conversation. When you respond, be open to reactions, and answer questions. Speak as a human being, not a press release.  People are watching how you handle that conversation, so be at your best.  You can’t post one response and call it a day; you need to keep tabs on the situation and participate in the ongoing conversation.  But don’t descend into tit for tat. 

The bottom line?  Breathe deeply until you find yourself able to type the words, “I’m so glad you took the time to share your view.”  Then respond, graciously, from there.  As long as the person isn’t a troll, he or she deserves to feel heard, acknowledged and understood.  Most sane people are genuinely nice when you make that effort to grasp their side and share your own. If you get venom in response, let it go.  You tried, and the other people watching the exchange will see who took the high road.  You may not win over the commenter, but you may win over the people reading the exchange.

Good luck!

The Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) has released its annual State of the Sector survey, and it shows nonprofits like yours are struggling with a tough funding environment and increasing need for the services you provide.  This is requiring tough choices - and changing the way you do business, according to the survey.

Here’s a summary of the report from the NFF.  Does it capture your situation?  Are you better or worse off than your peers?

According to NFF:

Nonprofits need new funding sources and models:
• 42% of survey respondents report that they do not have the right mix of financial resources to thrive and be effective in the next 3 years.
• 1 in 4 nonprofits has 30 days or less cash-on-hand.
• Over the next twelve months, 39% plan to change the main ways they raise and spend money.
• 23% will seek funding other than grants or contracts, such as loans or investments.

Nonprofits that receive government funding face particular challenges:
• Only 14% of nonprofits receiving state and local funding are paid for the full cost of services; just 17% of federal fund recipients receive full reimbursement. Partial reimbursements require additional funding to cover the growing gap as nonprofits serve more people.
• Government is late to pay: Among those with state or local funding, just over 60% reported overdue government payments; over 50% reported late payments from the federal government.

Under these challenging conditions, many nonprofits are unable to meet growing need in their communities:
• For the first time in the five years of the survey, more than half (52%) of respondents were unable to meet demand over the last year; 54% say they won’t be able to meet demand this year.
• This represents a worrying trend; in 2009, 44% of nonprofits said they were unable to meet demand.
• Jobs (59%) and housing (51%) continue to be top concerns for those in low-income communities.
• 90% of respondents say financial conditions are as hard or harder than last year for their clients; this is actually a slight improvement from prior years’ outlook.

Nonprofits are changing the way they do business to adapt to the new reality. In the past 12 months:
• 49% have added or expanded programs or services; 17 percent reduced or eliminated programs or services.
• 39% have collaborated with another organization to improve or increase services.
• 39% have upgraded technology to improve organizational efficiency.
• 36% engaged more closely with their board.

For more on the survey and detailed data, go here.

Image via Fanpop.

For the month of April, I’m hosting the nonprofit blog carnival.  What that means is not cotton candy (sorry) but rather a mix of contributions from bloggers and readers on a shared theme, highlighted right here on my blog, at the end of the month. (You can view last month’s carnival hosted by Allyson Kapin here.)

The theme is “best advice” - what was the one, best piece of professional advice you ever got and why?  How has it transformed your work?  You can also share your own best single piece of advice for people who work at nonprofits. 

How to enter?  Submit your posts by emailing the URL to nonprofitcarnival@gmail.com.  All bloggers are welcome to submit their work!  The deadline is Friday, April 26.  The carnival will be posted here on the last day of the month.

When we think about what motivates people at work, some cliches come out.  Money?  Maybe.  Power?  Perhaps. But as someone working for a mission you know it’s something else—altruism.

But what may surprise you is this isn’t just a truism in the nonprofit sector.  It works in most places.

This past Sunday, the New York Times had a fascinating magazine profile of Adam Grant, the youngest-tenured and highest rated professor at Wharton.  Grant focuses on workplace psychology and the effects of altruism in your career. His research shows generosity at work is a strong motivator that spurs increased productivity and creativity.  Helping others, it seems, helps ourselves.  (As a person, Grant is radically generous, spending hours a day helping students, colleagues and strangers for the sake of being useful to others.)

Early in his career, Grant worked with a demoralized call center to show the positive effects of altruism.  Since one of the center’s purposes was funding scholarships, Grant had a student who benefited from the fundraising efforts speak to the telemarketers for ten minutes.  The student told the callers how the scholarship had changed his life - and how he was headed off to work for Teach for America.  A month later, the call center reported workers were on the phone 142 percent more and raising 171 more.  A follow up found revenues had rocketed up 400 percent.  Grant concludes the greatest untapped source of motivation is service to others. This reminds me of Daniel Pink’s writing on a higher purpose being a powerful professional motivator.

Maybe that’s why there is research suggesting that the first instinct of humans is to contribute to the greater good at their own expense.  We’re wired to do what motivates us to do our best.

In my own work at Network for Good, where we not only support nonprofits like yours but also seek to help companies bring philanthropy into the workplace, we find these ideas hold true. Allowing employees to do good for others builds loyalty, increases job satisfaction and boosts morale.  Giving rewards to employees like charity vouchers have been documented to make people happier and more satisfied with their jobs. 

We know giving makes us happy.  Maybe it makes all of us more motivated - and successful - too.

M+R Strategic Services & NTEN just released their annual online benchmark study for nonprofits, and they found online fundraising continues to grow - as does the social network reach of nonprofits.  (The study is based on analysis of 55 large nonprofits, including the American Red Cross, Sierra Club, American Lung Association, AARP and Human Rights Campaign.) 

That’s the good news.  The bad news is that email response rates are declining.  Possible explanations are that electoral campaigns or (for international organizations) a lack of a major international humanitarian crisis in the news may have hurt response rates.  But the cause also could be our own fundraising practices.  The study notes: “The lower response rates are also part of a long-term trend: in the years we have produced this study, we have never seen fundraising response rates increase from year to year. This long-term trend may be driven in part by a practice common to many email fundraising programs: continuing to send fundraising messages to unresponsive email addresses over long periods.”

What does all this mean to your organization? I posed that question to Will Valverde, Vice President of Creative Development at M+R Strategic Services and co-author of this year’s Benchmarks study. He said:

“Email remains a critically important piece of the puzzle for most nonprofits, but declines in fundraising email response rates show the importance of connecting with donors through more than one channel. Successful nonprofits are responding to this reality by securing more and more revenue from monthly donors, and by rapidly expanding their audiences not just for email, but on social media as well.”

Key findings of the study shared by M+R are:

● A 21 percent increase in online revenue overall from 2011, with only International groups seeing a decline in online giving.
● A sharp decline in certain key email metrics – such as a 14 percent decline in click-through rates for advocacy messages and 27 percent decline for fundraising messages. This trend was driven mostly by the decline in click-through rates among Rights and International groups. Advocacy messages sent on behalf of Environmental groups performed best.
● Since 2011, online monthly giving grew by 43 percent – more than twice as fast as one-time giving. Although still a small percentage of overall giving, sustaining gifts now account for 18 percent of revenue for International groups.
● Email list sizes continue to grow for all sectors and sizes, up 15 percent in 2012. This trend was greatest for Wildlife and Animal Welfare groups, which grew their email lists by 32 percent from 2011.
● The growth of social media audiences outpaced email lists in 2012, growing an average of 46 percent on Facebook and 264 percent on Twitter. However, Facebook continues to be king for connecting with supporters on social media, reaching 149 Facebook fans for every 1,000 email subscribers.

You can review the full study here.

If you have trouble viewing the above infographic, go here.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a great quick video from “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” host Peter Sagal on telling powerful stories that connect with donors.  (Can’t see it?  View it here.)

The bottom line?  Make giving joyful.  Let people enjoy the experience.  Tell an amazing story.  Doing good should feel good - or else we’re doing something wrong.  (Running in your underwear is optional.)

Today, I’m answering another reader question:

What are your suggestions for approaching corporations about giving to our non-profit? The ones with grants have specific request methods. Others give to charities, but it often seems sort of a random process, such as who has the ear of the president this week. What’s the best way to handle this?

Here are four quick thoughts for Judy.  For more thoughts, read what Wal-Mart and other companies had to say on this topic here.

1. Know the company - do they have a formal grant process with clear objectives for social good or is it more ad hoc?  Do your homework on the corporation and frame your issue according to what you learn about the company’s top philanthropic and business agendas.  What can you find out about the individual you are approaching?  How does your cause speak to what the company or individual cares about?

2. Get to the heart of your cause and why it matters to people.  It’s important to reach the heart not just the mind.  Tell stories and use examples of the difference the company could make - just don’t forget to tie that message back to #1!

3. Talk about how the cause drives business interests in addition to social good. Is your cause a way for the company to draw a distinction from competitors, a way to build employee engagement or a means to boost the brand in your community?

4. Start small if you’re hitting a wall.  Propose a simple, small grant for a pilot project.  That will be easier to get approved - and once you show the impact, you can use that success to ask for more.

One of the worst things we can do when making decisions is to frame them too narrowly.  This can lead us to the wrong thought process - and false choices.

As Dan Heath puts it in his new book, “The first villain of decision making, narrow framing, is the tendency to define our choices too narrowly, to see them in binary terms. We ask, ‘Should I break up with my partner or not?’ instead of ‘What are the ways I could make this relationship better?’ We ask ourselves, ‘Should I buy a new car or not?’ instead of ‘What’s the best way I could spend some money to make my family better off?’”

Or - to put this in nonprofit terms - we ask, “Should we have an event or not?  Should we blog or not?  Should we get rid of that board member or not?”

Dan’s new book Decisive is all about this kind of problem.  Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work provides practical ways to beat narrow framing and other villains of decision making.  Here are two of his tips (and I quote):

1. Consider opportunity cost. If you are considering an investment of time or money, ask yourself, “What is the next best way I could spend this time/money?” If you can’t come up with any other combination that seems enticing, you should feel more confident that you’re making the right investment.

2. Multitrack your options. Always try to think AND not OR. Can you avoid choosing among your options and try several at once? For instance, if you’re deciding whether to invest time in Spanish lessons or ballroom dancing classes, do both for a while until one of them “wins.” Or, rather than hire one employee out of three candidates, could you give all three a 2-week consulting project so that you can compare their work on a real-world assignment?

For more tips, join a free Network for Good webinar with Dan today at 1 pm Eastern.  Register here.

PS for fun, here is one of Dan’s great teaching videos on giving better presentations.  It draws on his book, Made to Stick.

Yesterday, the team here at Network for Good had a fantastic webinar with technology guru Guy Kawasaki.  He provided his top ten social media tips for nonprofits.  They are well worth sharing.

If you want to listen to the whole webinar (recommended), simply register here.  (It’s free.)

In the meantime, here’s a quick summary of the wisdom he shared.

1. Start Yesterday: Begin soliciting support through social media action immediately.  The day you have an idea is when you should start with a tweet or blog.

2. Segment by Service: People use social networks for different reasons.  Match your agenda and your efforts to the outlet.  Guy identified five “Ps”—

People - Facebook.  People go to Facebook to connect with people they know.  It’s about pre-existing relationships.
Perceptions - Twitter.  Twitter is about sharing perceptions about what’s around us with the world.
Passion - Google+.  Guy believes people don’t go to Google+ for the same reason as Facebook - it’s less about who you know and more about sharing your passions widely.
Pinning: Pinterest is for posting visuals.  It’s about the medium more than the people.
Pimping: LinkedIn.  Guy apologized for the word choice but says he feels LinkedIn is for business connections and finding jobs.

You can have success on any of these platforms, but you need to approach each with an understanding of its culture and purpose.

3.  Make a Great Profile: Spend as much time as you can spare developing your nonprofit’s profile, finding great pictures for your avatar (person affected by your cause or an awesome high-res version of your organization’s logo) and generally establishing a compelling, attractive and interesting presence.

4. Curate and Link: You don’t have to do all the work of creating content!  Curate and find links to other people’s interesting articles, video and photos that position your cause well. 90% of your posts should pertain to interesting things related to your cause - not simply self-produced self-promotion or self-serving calls to action.

5. Act Like NPR: Guy is a huge NPR fan (and was recently on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, a dream of his).  He says that’s why he doesn’t mind their pledge drives.  He says if your nonprofit provides great content every day, people won’t mind when it’s time to promote your organization on social media to solicit funds, volunteers, etc.  Your nonprofit will have “earned the right” to ask for help.  People may even be happy to give!

6.  Restrain Yourself: Limit self-promotion to 5% of what you say - the other 95% should be great content. This approach will yield more fans.

7.  Add Bling: On every post, include a picture or video (that is properly credited to the person who created it).  Visuals matter. 

8. Respond: Commenting on what your followers say and joining conversations will take your nonprofit’s social media presence from interesting to passionate.

9.  Stay Positive or Stay Silent: Remain positive or at the least neutral. Once negativity is introduced, your social media credibility will diminish. Avoid “trolls” (hecklers and contrarians).  Stay relentlessly constructive and don’t go round after round to argue points.

10.  Repeat: If the content is truly superior, don’t be afraid to repost and repurpose.  People rarely see everything you say or do, so it’s okay to circle back on something special.

I hope these are helpful.  And if you have time, I hope you can listen to the webinar.  It’s great practical advice on how to take your nonprofit’s social media presence to the next level.

Georgetown University’s Center for Social Impact Communication and Waggener Edstrom Worldwide just released a new study that delves into the perceptions, behavior and motivations for cause support (locally and globally) among digitally engaged American adults.

Here are some of the most interesting findings.

Passion and pride drive people to post on causes: People who talk about causes online mostly (76%) do so to recruit others to their passion.  Looking like a nice or smart person were distant seconds to the desire to influence others in general, but when it came to Facebook users (see bottom of this post), the desire to publicly display support of a cause came in first.

Conversations about causes are occurring primarily online, whether people choose to support the cause online or off.  Social media is a go-to source of cause information, especially for global and faith-based causes.  More than 8 in 10 respondents agreed that social media is effective in getting people talking about causes and issues.  Animals and children topped the list of popular causes on social media (of course - puppies and babies win every time!).

People are compelled to action by social media - but nonprofits shouldn’t ask for too much.  More than half of survey respondents (55%) who engaged with causes via social media have been inspired to take further action. The most common next steps are: donating money (68%), donating personal items or food (52%), attending or participating in an event (43%), and volunteering (53%).  But before you plaster your Facebook wall with constant requests for help, keep in mind that leading reasons people stop liking a charity on Facebook are the charity posts too often or only asks for money. 

As usual, good stories are your best case for support.  What does work for charity is when people read a story that makes them want to do more.  The majority of respondents said that factor most influenced them.

People are skeptical about causes, so instill trust. The biggest barrier to nonprofits realizing the full potential of social media is the skepticism people reported feeling about the legitimacy of causes they discover online.  Most people verify the legitimacy of a cause by researching online - which goes to show how critical it is for your cause to build a trustworthy, transparent web presence that details how you use support and your impact on the world.

For the full study, go here.  For a post I did on another part of the study profiling personality types who support causes online, go here.

Today, I’m answering another reader question.  Beth asks:

Can you provide a basic (simple) framework to create a fundraising plan (or resources to do so) - for a brand new nonprofit and their completely new to fundraising staff?  Thanks!

Here’s what Network for Good recommends in our Fundraising Campaign in a Box.  (You can get the whole free kit here.  It has worksheets, templates, etc.)

1. Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish.
Any campaign worth its salt is about getting results. What results are you and your organization looking to achieve? When you’re planning your outreach, remember these three tips:

      There is no such thing as “the general public”...
      Instead, you need to segment your communications to be effective and targeted.
      Some audiences are more important than others. Think about your goals and who holds the key to your success. Lack of participation from primary groups can cause your campaign to falter or fail.

2. Determine how you’re going to accomplish your goals (tell a great story).
So - you have groups of people and actions you want them to take. How are you going to tell your story in a compelling manner? What themes, messages and ideas are you going to take from your arsenal of content to encourage action? Need inspiration? Read How to Tap into the Heart and Soul of Your Organization When You Write.

3. Determine which communications channels you’ll use.
There are a variety of online and offline channels that you can use to send the right message to the right audiences. Examples of online channels include your website, search marketing, email marketing and social networking. Offline channels include things like direct mail, paid advertising and public relations.

4. Decide which resources you need to get the job done.
Ensure that you have all of your tools and resources in place to make your job-and the jobs of your audience(s)-as easy, effective and cost-effective as possible.

      Is email an important part of your plan, but you’re still communicating with supporters via Outlook? (eek! Stop what you’re doing and read 5 Steps to Choosing the Ideal Email Service Provider)
      Is your website well-branded and easy to use, with a clear way to donate?
      Is your website set up to take safe, secure online donations? (I of course recommend Network for Good!)

5. Determine who will execute your campaign steps.
Accountability will make or break the success of a campaign. As much fun as it is to pass the buck, now is as good a time as any to decide which members of your organization, board or volunteers are responsible for the different portions of your campaign.

6. Lay out how you will measure your success.
In the case of holiday fundraising, this could be as simple as a dollar sign with a number after it. But take a moment to consider what other goals you may have. Wow your organization’s Board and leadership with conversation rates, list-building, website traffic and any other number results into which they can sink their teeth.

7. Set your timeline and benchmarks.
One of the defining features of a campaign is that it has a defined start and end. Now that you have planned out the ‘who, what and why’ questions of your campaigns, it’s time to determine the when. Continue to build your campaign plan by setting ownership and deadlines for the associated activities. Begin with the end in mind - if your campaign will run from 11/1 - 12/31, work backwards to be sure that all activities will happen in a smooth manner. Don’t use magical thinking to set deadlines! Run activities in parallel if you are worried about compression time-wise.

Good luck!

Today, I’m answering another reader question.  Beth asks:

Can you provide a basic (simple) framework to create a fundraising plan (or resources to do so) - for a brand new nonprofit and their completely new to fundraising staff?  Thanks!

Here’s what Network for Good recommends in our Fundraising Campaign in a Box.  (You can get the whole free kit here.  It has worksheets, templates, etc.)

1. Figure out what you’re trying to accomplish.
Any campaign worth its salt is about getting results. What results are you and your organization looking to achieve? When you’re planning your outreach, remember these three tips:

      There is no such thing as “the general public”...
      Instead, you need to segment your communications to be effective and targeted.
      Some audiences are more important than others. Think about your goals and who holds the key to your success. Lack of participation from primary groups can cause your campaign to falter or fail.

2. Determine how you’re going to accomplish your goals (tell a great story).
So - you have groups of people and actions you want them to take. How are you going to tell your story in a compelling manner? What themes, messages and ideas are you going to take from your arsenal of content to encourage action? Need inspiration? Read How to Tap into the Heart and Soul of Your Organization When You Write.

3. Determine which communications channels you’ll use.
There are a variety of online and offline channels that you can use to send the right message to the right audiences. Examples of online channels include your website, search marketing, email marketing and social networking. Offline channels include things like direct mail, paid advertising and public relations.

4. Decide which resources you need to get the job done.
Ensure that you have all of your tools and resources in place to make your job-and the jobs of your audience(s)-as easy, effective and cost-effective as possible.

      Is email an important part of your plan, but you’re still communicating with supporters via Outlook? (eek! Stop what you’re doing and read 5 Steps to Choosing the Ideal Email Service Provider)
      Is your website well-branded and easy to use, with a clear way to donate?
      Is your website set up to take safe, secure online donations? (I of course recommend Network for Good!)

5. Determine who will execute your campaign steps.
Accountability will make or break the success of a campaign. As much fun as it is to pass the buck, now is as good a time as any to decide which members of your organization, board or volunteers are responsible for the different portions of your campaign.

6. Lay out how you will measure your success.
In the case of holiday fundraising, this could be as simple as a dollar sign with a number after it. But take a moment to consider what other goals you may have. Wow your organization’s Board and leadership with conversation rates, list-building, website traffic and any other number results into which they can sink their teeth.

7. Set your timeline and benchmarks.
One of the defining features of a campaign is that it has a defined start and end. Now that you have planned out the ‘who, what and why’ questions of your campaigns, it’s time to determine the when. Continue to build your campaign plan by setting ownership and deadlines for the associated activities. Begin with the end in mind - if your campaign will run from 11/1 - 12/31, work backwards to be sure that all activities will happen in a smooth manner. Don’t use magical thinking to set deadlines! Run activities in parallel if you are worried about compression time-wise.

Good luck!

Network for Good has two amazing webinars coming up - and (as usual) they are free with registration.*

Nonprofit 911: How to Get More Followers on Social Media w/ Guy Kawasaki
Thursday, March 21 at 1 p.m. Eastern

Why isn’t your hashtag everywhere? When’s the best time for a Facebook status update? What does it mean when someone +1’s you on Google +? How come no one liked your picture, story, update, tweet, share, friendship, etc? You might be caught a social media slump!
Tune in Thursday, March 21 at 1 p.m. Eastern to hear tech and social media expert Guy Kawasaki lead a free presentation giving nonprofits the insider scoop on garnering support via the most popular social media platforms.

Register here.

Nonprofit 911: The Decisive Organization: Building a Culture of Better Decision-Making
Monday, March 25 at 1 p.m. Eastern

Best-selling Switch author Dan Heath’s done it again! Decisive: How to Make Better Choices in Life and Work hits shelves next week. He’s going to stop by and pre-release the most helpful decision-making practices to the Network for Good audience via a Nonprofit 911 webinar on Monday, the 25th at 1 p.m. Eastern.  Join Dan Heath as he makes it easier for your organization to make that sound decision.  Bonus: Dan will be giving away a free copy of his new book to 10 lucky nonprofits on the call.

Register here.

*If you can’t make the date for Guy Kawasaki, sign up anyway.  You will get a recording of the webinar afterward!  Dan Heath’s session is live only, so we won’t be sending recordings.

This is the question recently posed* by Slate’s Seth Stevenson in reference to the case of Karen Klein, the bullied bus monitor in upstate New York.  Students called her horrible names and brought her to tears.  When video of her torment was posted online, a groundswell of appalled people donated more than $700,000 to a spontaneous campaign on IndieGoGo.  (Klein accepted the money, retired and put $100,000 of the sum toward an anti-bullying cause she created.)

As Stevenson notes, campaigns to help suffering individuals crop up online everyday - including for people in life and death situations - but they rarely spark the scale of reaction to Karen Klein.  What was it about this particular situation that prompted a response from 32,000 donors?

Stevenson asked Stephen Reicher, a psychology professor at Scotland’s University of St Andrews, and Reicher cited the following factors - which should be familiar to those of us who enjoy reading about behavioral economics!

1. A tangible cause: As Reicher told Stevenson, “To say lots of people are suffering is an abstract concept. To see this one woman suffering, and be able to help her, is more concrete.”  This is the identifiable victim or singularity effect I’ve often cited on this blog.

2. Archetypal elements: Reicher talked about how the video causes us to flash back to our own childhoods on the school bus, which is powerful.  It also inverts roles - the children are bullying the adult, which seemed to evoke strong emotions.  This reminds me of the Story Wars idea—that basic universal themes unite audiences around causes.

3. Online dynamics: The network effects of the Internet encourage piling on - and can guide our actions.  We see this in fundraising all the time - collective action begets more collective action.  We join the crowd.

Bottom line?  What we know works, worked in a big way because of Karen Klein’s story.  Remember that, above all, is always the root of every movement.  There is someone who stood for something - or meant something to us - and everything grows from that.

*Hat tip to Clam Lorenz for sending me this article!

The team here at Network for Good has been working on our new mobile-friendly donation services lately so I thought I’d pass on our tips for making your site more mobile friendly.  Don’t worry - you can start with baby steps.  You don’t need a special mobile version of your site or an custom-built app to improve how mobile visitors experience your site overall. With a few simple design tweaks, you can make your nonprofit website much more usable on a mobile device – and improve your visitors’ experience across all platforms.

Try these best practices from my colleague Caryn Stein to help optimize your nonprofit website for mobile use and make your pages smartphone friendly:

1. Make it snappy.
Keep your website’s page load times under 5 seconds – under 3 seconds is even better for mobile delivery. Remove anything that makes your pages stall or fail to load.

2. Minimize data entry.
Whether it’s on a donation form or a newsletter sign-up box, try to minimize the amount of typing your visitors will have to do. It’s already a best practice on a desktop (they’ll be more likely to fill out your form or complete the action they’re trying to take), and it’s absolutely critical for mobile users, since typing in a lot of information can quickly become a drag on even the smartest of phones.

3. Your copy must be short and sweet.
Remember: online visitors don’t read, they skim. Reduce the amount of text you have on each page and break up longer blocks of text with headings. Use an easy-to-read font size and type. Choose shorter sentences and clear calls to action over long paragraphs.

4. Focus on one high-quality image.
Images can help quickly communicate a story or call to action, but make it your mission to focus on one high-quality photo rather than using multiple images on a page. More images will take longer to load and they won’t look good on a smaller screen.

5. Remove the roadblocks.
Website roadblocks can make your site virtually unusable on a mobile device. Reduce your dependence on Flash, JavaScript, popups or other animations for best results – most mobile devices can’t correctly display content in these formats. Swap them out in favor of static images and clear, compelling copy.

6. Keep relevant content front and center.
Don’t force mobile users to scroll across three columns and all four corners of your site to find what they’re looking for. Make it easy to access the key pages of your site by placing them prominently near the top and center of your page.

7. Make links and buttons easy to use.
Review your links and buttons: are they large enough to click on from small screens without zooming? Be sure to provide enough space between links or buttons to prevent a wayward thumb from clicking on something by accident.

8. Keep it simple.
A simple, clean design is a good idea for any site, whether it’s accessed on a desktop browser, tablet or smartphone. Embrace the use of white space, clear the clutter and narrow your visitor’s focus to one or two clear calls to action. This not only improves the usability of your website, but it will improve your conversion rates by removing unnecessary distractions.

I’ve enjoyed teaming up with Kari Dunn Saratovsky and Derrick Feldmann at several events over the years, and I’ve always been impressed with their insights on Millennials.  They’ve now pulled together their thinking into a new book, Cause for Change: The Why and How of Nonprofit Millennial Engagement.  I asked them to provide a summary of the key points in the book for us, and here’s their post.

By Kari Saratovsky and Derrick Feldmann

Like it or not, the Millennial Generation – those 80 Million of us born roughly between 1979-93, are hard to ignore if you are a leader of a nonprofit – or a leader of any sector for that matter. Sure, they may not be among your most active donors or largest contributors today, but these 20-30 something’s will soon become the recipients of the largest transfer of wealth from their Boomer and Greatest Generation parents and grandparents. So what does this mean for your organization?  It’s time to start creating a culture of openness and dialogue with the Millennial Generation, before they start creating it without you. 

Given the size and diversity of this generation, many executives become overwhelmed at the mere thought of where to begin.  If this sounds like you, you’re far from alone. You’re coming into contact with Millennials in every facet of your work and life. You may be hiring them to lead your programs, to tweak your marketing strategies or even to develop and enhance your fundraising efforts. And if they’re not currently on staff, you’re either raising them yourselves or are connecting with Millennials when your donors or volunteers bring their children with them to fundraisers or events.  You know they are out there, but with all of the competition for their attention, you’re just not sure what it will take to connect with them. 

Before developing any Millennial engagement strategy, you must create a foundation, a platform, within your organization for such involvement.  One that will ensure every employee, volunteer and donor has an appropriate role to play in order to achieve the greatest success.  Creating this foundation will not happen overnight – for some it will take a complete shift in organizational culture.  It will take an acceptance of opening up your organization to a generation that’s not only eager to involve themselves in your work but also eager to understand how you operate, how you generate money, and how you have impact. It is about releasing some of the control that may have prevented you from connecting with Millennials in the past.  But, creating a platform for engagement requires ongoing resources and time.  Without either of the two, almost all Millennial engagement programs are destined for failure. We know, we’ve watched many attempts at engaging Millennials fizzle into good intentions without results.

So how do you position the Millennial platform—and by extension, your organization—for success?  You must BUILD it – and here’s how:

Be unified as an organization about working with the generation. This starts by getting every level of your organization interested in what this generation can provide. Most gravitate to the financial opportunities, but that’s the wrong framework to lead with. Instead, all leaders, both volunteer and paid, must understand and agree that engaging Millennials is a long-term investment and there are different starting points for cultivating them – most of which do not begin with the immediate transfer of dollars.

Understand the complexities of this generation’s environment. Beyond understanding why you should work with Millennials, appreciate the environment this generation is currently in and the environment in which they have grown up. We all live in a society that’s connected 24-7, but for the greater number of Millennials, they can hardly remember when that was not the case. They have a multitude of people, organizations, and brands competing for their limited attention spans. Take the time to understand and appreciate their environment and then you can create a role within that environment to engage them.

Identify those seeking to make a difference. For every uninterested Millennial, you can bet there’s a Boomer or Gen X-er who exhibits the same qualities. Forget them. You must find those who want to work with you to make meaningful change. Create calls to action that ask for Millennial leaders to identify themselves by inviting them into the process of creating solutions. Find Millennials in the community who want to take their participation to the next level and then have them engage their peers. This peer identification is a great brainstorming activity for your existing Millennial supporters and volunteers, and it’s a way to expand the network in a controlled but authentic way.

Lead through engagement rather than participation. Focus on conversational and relationship engagement. If you are going for pure numbers at your event, you may have short-term wins, but that doesn’t get at the heart of the platform. True engagement comes from attendees who return and tell their friends about your message. As an organization you can create new levels of engagement that focus on getting to know Millennials and their interests. Engagement means you understand how they want to communicate, participate, lead, and challenge the organization to be better.

Determine your own Millennial success. Before you begin, create a standard for Millennial success and engagement, and then institutionalize it. Some organizations do really well with Millennial engagement because they have defined what it means for their cause and how they want Millennials to be involved. They identify a starting point, a goal, and the steps they’ll take to get there. Help the organization you serve to understand those benchmarks and rally around them for short- and long-term success.

There’s no such thing as a silver bullet when developing your engagement strategy – we wish there was. It will take time for your organization to change its current thinking and culture, especially if your workforce like many includes all three generations in the workplace. But if you start your Millennial engagement strategy by incorporating elements of the BUILD concept, you will begin to lay the foundation for success in future campaigns, solicitations or volunteer calls to action.

Jono Smith at Event360 asked me to share the following contest with you.  Since I imagine the readership of this blog has thousands of big fundraising ideas, I’m inviting you to participate!

By Jono Smith

It’s been said that “prototyping is the language of innovation.”

A video of the human experience of your proposed new event concept is a prototype.  Used correctly, an Excel spreadsheet is a prototyping tool.  Google’s Gmail started out as a prototype.  A temporary pop-up shop is a prototype. 

So how do you prototype fundraising ideas?

Last week, The Jimmy Fund launched its “Big Ideas Contest,” a competition that encourages community involvement in the prototyping of new fundraising ideas on a large scale. Not only does this initiative “engage the public in creating the Jimmy Fund’s next great fundraising initiative to help conquer cancer,” it also inspired a judging panel filled with CEOs from such prominent companies and organizations as Legal Sea Foods, Stop & Shop, The Kraft Group, the Boston Red Sox, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and others. What a great idea to engage both the business community and the public in a collective effort to help conquer cancer.

The contest is open to anyone with creative fundraising ideas and people are encouraged to think big. Nothing is off limits — events, apps, products, promotions — anything that is a feasible and viable fundraising idea will be considered. And, as if helping advance the Jimmy Fund’s mission isn’t enough incentive, there are prizes, including Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots tickets (a great tie-in for this iconic New England-based charity). For more on how to enter, visit the Big Ideas Contest site.

The campaign’s tagline is “YOUR IDEA can change the course of cancer.” So what’s keeping you from making your next big fundraising idea real?

Jono Smith is vice president of marketing at Event 360.

I speak a lot about the connection between behavioral economics and our work, and after every speech I get asked for reference materials.  People also often email me for a list of my writing on the topic. So I thought I’d pull together in one post all the resources I’ve created.  Here’s a mini library on understanding how people really think - and adjusting our marketing, communications and fundraising strategies accordingly.

Plus, as a bonus, I’m including this hour-long video from the Science of Communication speaker series run by the Communications Network and Spitfire Strategies.  In this video, Harvard behavioral economist Sendhil Mullainathan provides a great overview of how his field applies to you.

Speaker Series: The Science of Communication Featuring Sendhil Mullainathan from Communications Network on Vimeo.

The Mini Library

The best place to start are the two ebooks I’ve written on the topic with Mark Rovner and Alia McKee of SeaChange Strategies:

Homer Simpson for Nonprofits: The Truth about How People Think and What It Means to Your Cause
Lisa Simpson for Nonprofits: What Science Can Teach You About Fundraising, Marketing and Making Social Change

I also wrote a series of blog posts reviewing the latest research on what compels generous behavior and giving.  Here are the best of them:

How giving makes you happy
Which makes people happier - giving or receiving?
The relationship between giving and pain
How pledging eases the pain of parting from our money
The power of social norms in giving
How do social norms, price & scrutiny affect what people give?
The role of personal connections in fundraising success
How the power of one (the singularity effect) prompts giving
The effect of mood on giving - and who we choose to help
What happens when you try to making giving less emotional
Sea monkeys and the case for tangibility
Interview with the Science of Giving authors
The time-ask effect
Neuromarketing tips for nonprofits from Roger Dooley
Brain tricks to sell your cause
Your gut is more generous than your brain

Enjoy!

Network for Good is hosting a free webinar this Thursday, March 14 at 1 p.m. ET on neuromarketing - a topic definitely worth your time!

The urge to help and give is hard-wired into the human brain. As a champion for a cause, it’s your task to tap into those recesses by appealing to that urge. The simplest things – images, words, gestures, even type fonts – can have a major effect on the potency of your message. Neuromarketing expert, Roger Dooley, has discovered some brain-science-based tweaks you can make to your print, web, and in-person outreach that will boost the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. 

Join Roger Dooley for this free event as he makes neuromarketing easy for nonprofits. Register here.

As I noted yesterday, Allyson Kapin and Amy Sample Ward have written a new book, Social Change Anytime Everywhere: How to Implement Online Multichannel Strategies to Spark Advocacy, Raise Money, and Engage your Community.  Since I get so many questions about how to best integrate online and mobile efforts into an overall strategy, I thought I’d ask them to share their thoughts with us.

This is the second half of our conversation (I posted the first half yesterday). 

Katya: What can advocates of online and mobile do if their organizational leadership doesn’t see the potential?

Allyson: Read Social Change Anytime Everywhere of course;) Seriously, my best advice is to educate senior leadership about the different online channels by showing them examples of how other organizations are using them successfully. Also give them concrete suggestions on how your organization can start using them. Make sure you are setting realistic expectations though. You can’t go from A to Z overnight. It takes time to develop a strategy, experiment and test to determine what is going to be successful for your organization.

Katya: What’s one organization that we can look to for inspiration because they’ve really mastered social change tools on a shoestring?

Allyson: I’m a huge fan of Epic Change. As a volunteer led organization by Stacey Monk and Sanjay Patel, they have been able to inspire and mobilize friends and total strangers online to raise money to build two classrooms and a library for Shepherds Junior School in Arusha, Tanzania. Epic Change has used every channel at their disposal to connect with people and build relationships with supporters. They even have a Facebook group to organize and plan campaigns with a core group of volunteers.

I have also been impressed with how much they treat their donors like rock stars. Donors receive personal, hand written thank you notes from Stacey and Sanjay and other members of the organization. This past year, donors had the opportunity to meet Gideon and Leah, two of the students who traveled to the United States and hear all about what they are learning in school and aspirations. We learned that Gideon wants to explore becoming an astronaut. And Leah wants to become a doctor to find cures for different diseases. Supporters are also sent updates from the children and teachers about how the school is progressing and how the children are advancing academically. It’s really inspirational.

Katya: If you could go back in time and tell your younger self the most valuable lessons you’ve learned about advancing causes, what would be at the top of the list?

Amy: I think my beliefs and knowledge have expanded and gotten a bit more seasoned, but I still truly believe the same thing today as I did when I was in elementary school: we really can make change and it’s a lot more fun when we do it together.

Allyson: The people working at our organizations are not necessarily our target audiences. They are already very committed to our movement. Our activists, donors, volunteers, and decision makers are our target audiences and they should always be the focus. I feel like we lose site of this all of the time to get multichannel campaigns approved and launched by senior leadership.

Thanks to Amy and Allyson for this conversation.