View the live recording of this crucial discussion led by top development experts with 120 participants across the US! Panelists include:
Dr. Royce Frazier, President, Barclay College, Haviland, Kansas
Shannon Johnson, VP For Institutional Advancement and External Relations, Warner Pacific University, Portland, Oregon
Rev. Donovan Coley, President/CEO, The Rescue Mission, Fort Wayne, Indiana
Jody Fausnight, Director of Advancement, Hinkletown Mennonite School, Ephrata, Pennsylvania
What kind of strategic marketing strategies should you be working on now to maximize the current climate and help you to be digitally ready for donor bounce back? The below 7 digital marketing tools can help you respond to the need to move closer to the digital environment where donors and volunteers tend to spend most of their time.
Website Storytelling Is More Important Than Ever
Does your “brand story” show the best version of you? Does your brand story engage your users? Is your website helping you to persuade volunteers and donors? This is a great time to get the foundation of your digital marketing right.
Optimizing Your Site to Receive Organic Search Traffic (SEO)
Organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the dominant source of trackable web traffic, with 53% of traffic coming via this channel compared to paid’s 27% (smartinsights.com). This makes SEO the most powerful content marketing strategy when it comes to grabbing your audience’s attention and acquiring customers. Regardless of what they’re looking for, it’s content that provides it. And the more of it you publish, the higher your chance for greater search visibility and page ranking. SEO is more important than ever to prepare your brand for its bounce back.
Omnichannel Content Strategy
There are several different channels and formats of content for your audience to enjoy, and that’s why you need to be thinking about widening your net and publishing content across multiple channels. Seize this opportunity to review and refine your omnichannel content strategy and align it to engage your donors.
Mobile Clarity
To connect with more of your audience, it’s imperative to optimize everything for mobile use. At the moment, only 13% of websites are able to retain the same position for a particular search across all devices. So, you may be ranking well on desktop but not even appear on the first page of results on mobile. In fact, 30% of pages that show on the first page of desktop search results do not appear in the top 10 results on mobile (smartinsights.com). That means that any content you create for mobile channels, including a mobile version of your website, must look good on a smaller screen.
Visual & Voice Search
Text search may take a back seat to new types of searches. The first digital search trend gaining ground involves visual search. With this type of search, someone can take a picture and then use that picture to find more information. This offers an opportunity for nonprofits to incorporate and optimize more visual content. For instance, you could incorporate storytelling through visuals and let the pictures do the talking for you.
The other type of search that is set to grow in popularity is artificial intelligence voice search through smartphone tools like Siri as well as through virtual assistants from Amazon, including Echo, and Google’s Home device, which are appearing in more homes and businesses. With this search preference, you may have to change your search engine optimization (SEO) tactics and optimization strategies. People tend to use different words when they speak versus typing out a query. For example, voice queries tend to be longer and use more natural language.
Private Messaging
As more nonprofits focus on personalization, another trend is direct engagement with individual donors, volunteers, and prospects. Private messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger open direct individual dialogue to share information about results from that donor’s contributions, ask questions, exchange ideas, and build trust in this digital world. As a result of the direct and always-open channel, donors and volunteers may feel more involved and connected to your nonprofit. These audience members know they can reach you directly and get specific responses.
Be On The Lookout
These are just a few of the digital marketing responses we’ve seen and are personally preparing for. However, there may be other digital tools that are more applicable to your nonprofit segment. due to the current climate, more trends are destined to appear throughout the year. Be on the lookout of shifting trends as well as remaining flexible and digitally ready for donor bounce back.
For more great digital cartoons and advice, please visit: https://marketoonist.com/
This guide shares Oral Roberts University’s “dragon tale”. Learn how to slay your dragons — master the 6 types of leadership dragons in the education arena. Dragons have a fairly long life expectancy, so they will not die of old age! Includes the Prioritization Matrix Guide, a practical tool for help on how to assess ease and impact.
“Face-to-Face Virtual Visits: An Opportunity to Love Donors”
Hope Academy is a unique school. This year, 550 children are receiving a remarkable, God-centered education. Most are from low-income families in Minneapolis, a state that leads the nation in the size of the achievement gap between white and non-white students. We are 90% privately funded, but all families have some financial “skin-in-the-game.”
Our development model is also somewhat unique. In a typical non-profit, .7% of the donors may give 70% or more of the donations*. At Hope, we cultivate relationships with financial “partners” who each sponsor one or more students at $3,000 or more per year, and whose generous support make up over 85% of our total annual contributions. We currently have nearly 400 partners, over 95% recommitting year-over-year, and many who have been with us five or more years.
While the support of our faithful partners is certainly a strength, the current national lockdown provides a challenge for our advancement team, primarily as we seek to love our partners. Face-to-face visits are an obvious no-no. And like the rest of the world, our partners are being impacted in some big ways. Our number one priority is to connect with them, listen well, and pray with them. It is critical that we maintain this contact. Enter virtual visits!
In late February, we started pivoting to virtual visits (Microsoft TEAMS or Zoom, whichever works best for them) and the response has been very well received. During these visits, four key principles guide our development team:
Ministry vs. Manipulation: The calls aren’t designed to “get” something from our partners, but as a way to “give” them something.
Steady vs. Staggering: Hope Academy continues to provide our students and families with frontline support and a remarkable education, albeit remotely.
Hope vs. Harried: We are trying to plan for the coming school year, but we are not ringing our hands. We have hope that He will provide.
Christ vs. Crisis: What an opportunity to point to Jesus!
As we listen, God reveals an opportunity to minister through prayer:
“Please pray for our unsaved children.”
“My husband is dying.”
“I am a surgeon and quarantined from my family after work.”
“There is a 50/50 chance my business won’t survive this.”
“Our daughter’s wedding is cancelled.”
“We can’t visit my 93-year old mother in the nursing home.”
And the list goes on. We purpose to focus on them, often for the entire call. When appropriate, we give a Hope Academy update. We stress that the need for a remarkable, God-centered education for low-income, urban children is greater now than ever; by God’s grace, Hope is positioned for such a time as this; and we are all in this together moving by faith. We close by asking them to keep in touch, to keep us updated on prayer requests, and to let us know about their support when they are able. Many let us know on the spot that they are committed to Hope for the coming year.
As we increase our requests for remote video calls, some prefer a good old-fashioned phone, or to wait until this all blows over to meet for coffee. We pivot accordingly. But most take us up on the virtual visit offer. For now, a new normal. And a wonderful opportunity to support and encourage those who support and encourage us!
A final thought: I have enjoyed a strong working relationship with The Timothy Group over the years. The team was a great help as we launched and completed a $9 million capital campaign. I’m grateful for their wisdom, strategic guidance, personal attention, faith ignition, and good humor. ?
Jim Stigman, VP for Ministry Advancement, Hope Academy, Minneapolis MN
View the live recording of this crucial discussion led by top development experts with over 200 participants across the US! Panelists include (1) Jules Glanzer, Tabor College, Hillsboro, KS, (2) Jim Stigman, Hope Academy, Minneapolis, MN, (3) Dan Brokke, Bethany Global Ministries, Minneapolis, MN, (4) Chris Glover, Wesleyan Christian Academy, High Point, NC, and (5) The Timothy Group moderators, Pat McLaughlin, Ron Haas, and Kent Vanderwood.
Download the PowerPoint presentations and image featured during the live recording:
Organizations, for the most part, understand the importance and alum of a website. Most realize that their website is like the front door of a store or church. And everyone wants a website that looks good, is clean, inviting – and most important – easy to access.
When Warren Buffet purchases a company, he requires his new managers to purchase stock. He believes that executives with “skin in the game” make better decisions. Buffet is unknowingly expressing a biblical truth, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34). Board members who don’t give show that their heart isn’t really aligned with that ministry’s mission or vision. Every board member may not be able to give or get $100,000, but every board member should give a generous, sacrificial, annual gift.
How can you engage your board in fundraising? Paul wasn’t writing with nonprofits in mind, but he offers four applications for board members:
“Our counsel is that you warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Gently encourage the stragglers, and reach out for the exhausted, pulling them to their feet. Be patient with each person … ” (1 Thess. 5:14 MSG).
1. Warn the freeloaders to get a move on. Some boards are populated by “obit” members who only serve to build their obituary resumes. A board member’s job isn’t just to set policy to manage the money you already have, it’s to help you find more money. One board member commented, “Every one of our board members should constantly be in conversations with people to find out where God is hiding money!” Board chairs should prompt “obit” members to get a move on, or graciously ask them to move on.
2. Gently encourage the stragglers. The most successful fundraising is peer-to-peer. Some board members agree to raise money, but don’t follow through with their assignments. They keep promising to contact a potential donor, but they never call. They talk a good game, but it’s just talk. Solomon describes these board members, and even a few donors this way: “Like clouds and wind without rain is one who boasts of gifts never given.” (Prov. 25:14). It’s not what you expect, but what you inspect that actually gets done. Encourage board members to take an active role in fundraising. If nothing changes, refer to step one.
3. Reach out for the exhausted. Don was a rare board member who jumped into a capital campaign with abandon. As he made donor calls, he discovered that many of his contacts weren’t as excited about the ministry as he was. At one board meeting he shared, “This is hard work. I’d rather be out digging dirt with a shovel than asking people for money.” Don was doing a great job and needed encouragement. Donors weren’t giving because the ministry had done a poor job of telling its story, not because Don was doing something wrong. Don kept asking and by the end of the campaign he had raised three times more than anyone else. Reach out to exhausted board members and pull them to their feet.
4. Be patient with each person. The stress level at board meetings usually tracks with the monthly financial reports. As gift income rises so does everyone’s mood, but when donations go down, attitudes often follow. The executive director looks at the board and wonders why they aren’t helping. The board looks at the executive director and wonders why he or she doesn’t visit major donors. Paul ends with, “And be careful that when you get on each other’s nerves you don’t snap at each other. Look for the best in each other, and always do your best to bring it out.” (1 Thess. 5:15 MSG).
How can you bring out the best in your board? Have the “skin-in-the-game” conversation with your board chair. As a group, set giving and getting expectations and hold one another accountable. Start with a small assignment. Ask a board member to invite a friend to meet you for lunch. Good things happen when ministry leaders and board members work together.
This article can be found in the Summer 2014 issue of Outcomes Magazine
Save
So how many leaders in your organization does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: Change – what do you mean, change?!
Change does not come easily for many. That’s true with individuals and it’s true in the leadership of many nonprofits. While too much change certainly can do major harm, not enough change can be equally damaging. We all learn from successes and failures. Over the years, I’ve encountered both and have learned some lessons. Allow me to share a few.
The headline read “89 Breweries, 768 Beers, 146 Portable Toilets: The 2014 Winter Beer Festival by the Numbers” (Feb 22, MLive.com).
It caught my attention. Not that I had planned to attend but because of the numbers. There was specificity of what was going to be at this event. Digging into the article, more details were given:
Michael Jordan is arguably the greatest player in NBA history. His top accomplishments include: Rookie of the Year; Five-time NBA MVP; Six-time NBA champion; Six-time NBA Finals MVP; Ten-time All-NBA First Team; Nine time NBA All-Defensive First Team; Defensive Player of the Year; 14-time NBA All-Star; Three-time NBA All-Star MVP; 50th Anniversary All-Time Team and Ten scoring titles. When he retired from basketball, Jordan decided to chase his dream of becoming a professional baseball player. He had the athleticism, intelligence, and passion – but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t hit a curveball.
