Last month, we released an Assessment and Reflection Report authored by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine on America’s Giving Challenge, a program we launched in order to test and encourage the power of individual giving online. As part of this report, Beth and Allison featured three case studies on organizations that were successful in mobilizing their supporters during the Challenge. The case studies are based on interviews with remarkable individuals leading their Challenge efforts and winning $50,000 each for their causes.

I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight these organizations again in case you missed them. Below are short summaries to pique your interest! Make sure to check out the report if you haven’t already, and let us know of other organizations that are successful in using social media for social good.

Read more on the case studies of nonprofits Love Without Boundaries, Students Helping Honduras and IDEA League at Case studies of social media success – Case Foundation, 25 Aug 2009.

Flickr photo credit: Mindful One

A non-profit’s website needs to make it easy to find out more about their cause, to donate money, and to become more involved. It needs to make it easy for media contacts to find the information they need and the contact information of key personnel. And it needs to do all this in a way that’s inviting to the organization’s targeted donors and/or volunteers.

Below are a list of best practices for designing non profit websites followed by some examples of non profit websites that are getting things right. … Read more at Non Profit Website Design: Examples and Best Practices – Smashing Magazine, published 14 May 2009.

Flickr photo credit: tobiashm

The danger of basing an organization around one person with charismatic leadership qualities is that the focus can quickly become the leader rather than the organization. A leader can always leave an organization. This is why Sagawa and Jospin argue that building a fundamentally strong, team based nonprofit will be a more effective method in the long run than relying on individual leadership.

“There are two kinds of social capital,” explained Sagawa. “One kind brings people together and unites them in a cause so that they want to be part of that community.” This is especially valuable because it means that, in hard economic times, an organization’s donors and supporters will still be there and feel a connection to that cause. The other type of social capital is “bridging social capital.” This means that an organization is able to reach beyond its immediate network, which allows it to expand their donor base or political influence. …read more and see the video at Building a Charismatic Nonprofit – Center for American Progress, published 21 April 2009.

Flickr photo credit: an untrained eye

D.light, a company cofounded by Sam Goldman, who spent four years in the Peace Corps in Benin before earning a master’s degree in business from Stanford University, is an example. Mr. Goldman started D.light with the mission of replacing millions of kerosene lamps now used in poor, rural parts of the world with solar-powered lamps.

Having used kerosene lamps himself while living in Benin, Mr. Goldman learned firsthand of kerosene’s problems — it is expensive, it provides poor light and it is extremely dangerous. When the son of his West African neighbor nearly died after suffering severe burns from spilled kerosene, Mr. Goldman said he realized he wanted to create a venture to solve both the social and economic problems caused by these lamps. His time in Benin also convinced him, he said, that only as a business could a project become large enough to reach the great number of people who use these lamps as their primary source of light.

“We could have done it as a nonprofit over a hundred years, but if we wanted to do it in five or 10 years, then we believed it needed to be fueled by profit,” he said. “That’s the way to grow.” …read more on this at Solving a Social Problem, Without Going the Nonprofit Route – NYTimes.com, published 4 March 2009.

Flickr photo credit: jurvetson

When friends, coworkers and even family members find out that I went to Washington, D.C. for the Inauguration of President Barack H. Obama, they ask, What was it like? In their usually hushed voices, you hear one part awe, one part envy and two parts reverence. Even one of my husband’s friends, who mostly just nods when he sees me, asked to speak with me – during their sacred weekly call about football – when he heard that I was on the National Mall for the swearing in.

Certainly, everyone from my mom to Rupert Murdoch and from the Guardian to CNN, MSNBC and Fox News (and how often do they all agree?) have called Barack Obama a rock star. Even rival John McCain pejoratively referred to then-Senator Obama during the presidential campaign as a celebrity. …more at The Obama Brand: Lessons for the Nonprofit Sector « TSNE – Strategic Communications Blog.

Flickr image credit: tsevis

The Entrepreneur: Blake Mycoskie, 32

Background: A self-described serial entrepreneur and inveterate traveler, Mycoskie’s ventures have ranged from a laundry service for college students to a reality-TV network. In 2001 he was a contestant on the CBS (CBS) television show The Amazing Race (he finished third). In January 2006, Mycoskie traveled to Argentina to learn how to play polo, practice tango, and do some community service work. While there, he was struck by the country’s health and poverty problems and discovered that numerous children did not have proper footwear. Soon after, he came up with the idea to create a shoe for the U.S. market based on the traditional Argentine alpargata—a slip-on in lightweight fabrics and vibrant colors and prints. He envisioned a company that operated in a way that helped others while offering something unique for the consumer. …read more at BusinessWeek. Photo credit: TomsShoes.com

How well is your nonprofit doing at creating a superior constituent experience? According to market research firm Forrester Research, there are three areas to look at …read more at Idealware. Flickr photo credit: Brande Jackson.

The post sparked heated debate. Fast Company responded with “The Most Influential Women in Technology.”

I’m humbled to be listed in the “Activists” category!

But as with any “best of” or “most this or that” list, it’s bound to be incomplete. So, when Lynne Johnson from Fast Company asked me to blog a list, I thought I’d create a nonprofit technology category and acknowledge the work of these awesome women …more from Beth’s Blog. Photo credit: Fast Company

Unfortunately, the world of nonprofit development can be notoriously fickle and unfocused.

Clearly we are in a major recession with no end in sight. The trick is not to panic. Here’s how you can meet your goals and, yes, even prosper in the upcoming year!

1. Stay the course. Develop a balanced, thoughtful budget approach which includes realistic goals for grants and corporate support, individual support, program support and events. Plan as you normally would.
2. Retain staff. This one is key. I have worked with nonprofit organizations who have had – seriously – five development directors in three years! How can an organization have any kind of continuity with donors with that kind of record? Staff your organization with quality individuals and do your level best to keep them.
3. Invest in Education. If you’re not sending your development staff to workshops, classes and seminars, you’re doing your organization a grave disservice. Why are so many organizations reluctant to invest in education for their employees? Training enables and accelerates innovation. It’s good for the employee – it’s good for the employer.
4. Research, research, research. Foundation giving may be declining. On the other hand, it may not. Remember, foundations are created with the sole purpose of supporting philanthropic causes – regardless of the state of the economy. To maintain their legal status Foundations MUST donate an amount equal to 5% of their assets averaged over 5 years. Foundations also often INCREASE their giving in challenging times to offset decreases in giving from other sources

That said, you need to make it a practice to routinely scope out new sources of foundation funding. Develop a system where you’re sending out proposals or letters of inquiry to new foundations on a weekly basis.

5. Start a Monthly Giving Program. This one’s a no-brainer and I am astounded that more organizations have not picked up on it.

If you’ve got donors who are giving you $1,000, $100, even $25 every year, they’re prime candidates for a monthly giving program. Implement one now. Give donors the option of monthly credit card or checking account debits. And what rule says you can only mail once a year? Why not twice or even three times a yea

6. Refine (or Define) Your Story. Benevon calls it the organization’s “emotional hook.” It’s your nonprofit’s “story” – what makes donors give to you. The most compelling stories bring on the tears. Talk to your board members, talk to your clients, talk to your staff, talk to foundation funders and individual funders to find your emotional hook. Bring it to life.
7. Communicate. It doesn’t have to be on a weekly or monthly basis but it absolutely needs to be consistent. Donors would rather be kept notified on a timely basis in a simple manner than receive a glossy magazine publication (that makes them wonder what the heck you are doing with their money) once every two years. A two to four-page quarterly or triannual newsletter is ideal.

About the author: Pamela Grow is a consultant, assisting nonprofit organizations with proposal development, prospect research, annual appeal strategies and communication planning and is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants.” Check out her weekly blog, “Towards Effective Nonprofit Writing” and join her Facebook group, Tools for the One Person Development Office.

We all know the story of Bill Clinton’s successful 1992 presidential campaign against George H.W. Bush. While, early on, Bush was considered virtually unbeatable, Clinton’s campaign chose to address an issue that Bush Sr. had ignored, and “It’s the economy, stupid” became a catch phrase.

Nonprofit development is, by its very nature, data driven.

Yet it is rare that an organization gives more than lip service to its database. Databases are often selected solely on the basis of price. Staff is given little to no training on software. Entry policies are never established. No one is given ownership of the database – or the organization qualifies the data manager as low-level clerical staff.

Just imagine the following scenarios:

You’ve just received a donation from a contributor who notes that she would like her gift to be allocated to a specific program – and you have no record of the existence of this program.

You’ve located that “perfect fit” foundation, spent three weeks crafting your proposal, sent it off with high hopes … and later learned that the foundation HAD funded your organization three years ago, kept no record, and failed to follow through with a final report? (Did I mention that you are the third development director in three years and files are nonexistent?)

You’ve just fielded a call from an irate regular donor of thirty years, vowing to never contribute again because she has phoned three times in the past to have her deceased husband’s name removed from the mailing list – and she just received a newsletter in his name?

You’re unable to track how well your Fall Appeal did – because the proper coding was never created in the donor database to track it.

I have encountered these horror stories and, yes, worse, in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations.

An organization’s best campaign will fall on deaf ears if donors have given up on your organization in frustration over poor record keeping.

And, while employee attrition probably plays a large role in the problem, it’s clear that selecting the appropriate database, thoroughly training staff and developing firm policies for data entry from the start, and recognizing the long-term value of maintaining the integrity of your data will alleviate many of these problems down the road.

From the smallest organization to the largest, written protocols should be established early on setting forth the most exhaustive details – from your organization’s salutation standards, to who signs thank you letters – and regularly tweaked (and always put in writing).

What salutation style does your organization prefer? First name or Mr./Ms./Mrs.? Ampersand or “and”? How do you handle deceased records? How are the grant files maintained? Do you use a separate database for tracking grants?

What is the turnaround time for gift acknowledgement? One week? Two? Who places thank you phone calls? When and why?

How are email addresses collected and entered?

When deciding upon a donor database, is price your only criteria (I sincerely hope not!)?

Once you have a database in place, is your organization recognizing the value of proper maintenance, including training and the hiring of a qualified database manager?

Raisers Edge can be the Cadillac of donor databases – or an Edsel, depending on how many people have had their hands in it and how badly folks have mucked up the coding.

And Excel is not a database. It is a spreadsheet. If you’re keeping your records in Excel, you’re in for some problems.

Development is, by nature, data-driven. Pay attention to the details, now and on a consistent basis, and the capital campaign your organization runs ten years from now will function seamlessly.

About the author: Pamela Grow is a consultant, assisting nonprofit organizations with proposal development, prospect research, annual appeal strategies and communication planning and is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants.” Check out her weekly blog, “Towards Effective Nonprofit Writing” and join her Facebook group, Tools for the One Person Development Office.

Photo credit: Adam and Rob