| Dear Ohdeuk,
Here's a special opportunity coming up for our North American readers . . .
Beginning March 6, the Resource Alliance, Inc.—the North American affiliate of the Resource Alliance—will offer a year-long series of online seminars (Webinars) featuring many of the top-rated speakers from the celebrated International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands.
Here are just the first four of the Webinars available to you at this link if you live (or are traveling through) North America:
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March 6 |
Bernard Ross |
The Magic of Influence: How to Win Over Donors in one-to-One Situations |
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March 13 |
Mal Warwick |
Raise More Money Through High-Impact Communications: The Latest Insights from the Fields of Marketing and Communications, and How You Can Put Them to Work in Your Fundraising Program |
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April 24 |
Geoff Peters |
Getting the Most from Your Donors: Integrating Multiple Channels with your Direct Mail Fundraising Program |
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May 8 |
Judy Nichols |
Repositioning your Fundraising for the 21st Century |
Other top speakers on tap include Jennie Thompson, Terry Axelrod, Roger Craver, Karen Osborne, Tony Elischer, Adrian Sargeant, and Richard Radcliffe.
These are all popular, highly rated speakers, who are top experts in their fields. This is a rare opportunity to learn from these outstanding pros. Many of them speak infrequently in North America.
Just in case you're unfamiliar with the Webinar format . . . it's really simple. once you've registered by clicking here, you'll receive both a toll-free phone number and a link to a Web address. For the 90 minutes of the Webinar, you'll follow along on a slideshow broadcast online while you listen to (and, if you wish, question) the presenter on the phone.
Stay tuned for more information!
Cheers,
mal
1. Hospitals in the mail (Part 2)
By Managing Editor Deborah Block and Paul Karps
Last month we began our review of what's working in the mail—and what's not—for community-based hospitals. We turned to organizational consultant Ann Thompson-Haas, FAHP (Oakland CA), who specializes in direct mail fundraising for community hospitals and hospice organizations nationwide. With her expertise, we mainly covered the acquisition of new donors and the impact of the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
In Part 2, we'll take a closer look at the issue of donor retention, trends in package themes, and testing ideas.
 see Part 2
2. Specificity!
There's a great lesson on the Made to Stick blog (companion to the book of the same title) about the value of concrete details.
It's a look at some of the work of Claude Hopkins, a legendary copywriter from the 20s and 30s (and author of the classic book on ads, Scientific Advertising) when he got the Schlitz Beer account.
read more
3. New Year's list resolutions
By Suzie McGuire
Yes, it's time—time to take a close look at those practices and habits that haven't served you so well in the past and could use a little tweaking. Time to start afresh in the way you manage your mailing lists. And here are 18 possibilities you can consider . . .
read more
4. Holiday giving at its best
No doubt you've seen them before. You might have even used them yourself in your direct mail solicitations. We're talking about those ubiquitous lists of what specific giving amounts will go toward: something like "your gift of $20 will buy two meals for a hungry senior" or "your $35 will pay for a new winter jacket for a child in need."
Of course, there's a reason why this mailing approach is used over and over again. It works, pure and simple.
But a recent house appeal from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF (New York NY) did an admirable job of taking the strategy to the next level. Focusing on holiday time gift giving, the package tied it all together with a smart, appealing Marketing Concept.
read more
5. Ask Mal
Since 1994, when the Mal Warwick Associates Web site went online, Editor Mal Warwick has answered fundraising questions posed by visitors to the site. Hundreds of those Q&As are available here. In this new feature, we'll spotlight one Q&A from the most recent month.
Question: What advice do you have for creating a first planned giving program?
Mal answers
6. 10 ways to energize your thank you letters
By Sandy Rees
The thank-you letter often is created and sent without much thought. It may seem to be the last step in getting a gift from a donor and a routine task that warrants little merit. But it's actually the first step in securing the next gift!
Purposeful and well-thought-out thank-you letters can help you steward your donors, not to mention provide you with another way to communicate with them. Make sure you are getting the most from your thank-you letter efforts with these ideas.
read more
7. Size matters!
As reported in NPT Instant Fundraising, a new study conducted by The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University for American Express looked at national charitable giving patterns. But instead of examining total annual donation amounts, the analysis focused on individual gifts. one of the more significant findings was that while the average gift amount was $172, 66% of the donations were under $100 and 45% were under $50. What's more, the median donation was $50, emphasizing the overall importance that smaller-sized gifts play in American philanthropy.
Other key findings were that no statistical difference was found between the average online gift ($165) and offline gift ($174), donations made by credit card were larger than those made by check or cash, and that 24% of the total amount donated was contributed during the holiday season between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. To read the complete report of the American Express Charitable Gift Survey, click here.
8. Have you tried an online auction?
By Lance Trebesch and Taylor Robinson
One of the most effective online fundraising tools you can use today is the online auction. As you may be aware, auctions are time consuming and difficult to manage but can also be very lucrative.
In 2006 alone, more than $16 billion was raised through charitable auctions in the U.S. (National Auctioneers Association). Furthermore, auctions give nonprofit organizations the unique ability to tap into "household spending" dollars which compose 66% of the GDP compared to the only 2% allocated to "charitable giving" (Making Auctions Work Best for Corporate Sponsors and Fundraisers). The use of an online auction in your organization will reduce the amount of resources required to host the auction while maximizing the potential profits.
see answer
9. CSR
If you'd like to learn a little about cutting-edge developments in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility—and learn a little about my life outside of fundraising—please join me Tuesday evening, 5:30 to 8:00 pm, January 29, in the boardroom of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
I'll be moderating a "Business Innovation Conversation" about "Values-Driven Business," the topic (and title) of a recent book I co-authored with Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's.
read more
10. The rising impact of online communications
By Sue Woodward
Sixty-two percent of adults link directly to an organization's Web site for information about the organization before donating, according to a recent online survey of 2,379 U.S. adults, conducted by Harris Interactive in collaboration with Virilion (formerly Mindshare Interactive Campaigns). Participants were 18 and over and had volunteered, donated, or advocated for a nonprofit in the previous 12 months.
The Web is used as a source of information more than friends (38%), the Better Business Bureau (38%), family (31%), or third-party sites such as Charity Navigator (11%) or GuideStar (7%).
The survey findings don't suggest you can ignore charity watchdog groups. But they do highlight the need to examine carefully how you present your organization to the world—and dedicate more time and resources to ensuring that your Web site shows off the great programs and personal stories that illustrate how your work makes an impact.
read more
11. Value!
By Mal Warwick
How much is a monthly donor worth to you? His Long-Term Value, I mean.
Just for instance, take this one exemplary former monthly donor to one of our clients at Mal Warwick Associates ...
Beginning with a $25 gift in 1983, this generous individual made a total of 279 monthly gifts of $25 or $30 each over a 22-year period ending in 2005.
read more |
January 2008
IN THIS ISSUE
Mal and other top speakers are only a click away. Starting March 6, the Resource Alliance, Inc. and Forum for Fundraising will offer a year's worth of Web-based seminars, webinars.
To see who's speaking next, click here.
WHERE'S MAL?
January 21-22, 2008
Zurich, Switzerland
Social Entrepreneurs' Summit
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
January 24-25, 2008
Washington DC
DMA 2008 Washington Nonprofit Conference
Site: J.W. Marriott Hotel
January 29, 2008
San Francisco CA
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
January 30 – February 1, 2008
San Francisco CA
Berrett-Koehler Publishers FutureSearch
Site: Commonwealth Club
February 25, 2008
Delhi, India
Resource Alliance
March 3-4, 2008
Mumbai, India
Resource Alliance
March 9-10, 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
more info: faridah.hameed@gmail.com
March 13, 2008
Webinar
Resource Alliance, Inc./Forum for Fundraising
March 26-28, 2008
Prague, Czech Republic
International Fundraising Festival
April 8 – 11, 2008
Redwood City CA
Global Philanthropy Forum
May 8-11, 2008
Social Venture Network Spring Conference
May 15, 2008
New York City or Washington DC
Resource Alliance, Inc.
May 21-25, 2008
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
8th International Workshop on Resource Mobilisation
June 3-5, 2008
Palm Beach FL
DMA Nonprofit Leadership Summit
June 5-8, 2008
Boston MA
Business Alliance for Local Living Economies
2008 BALLE Conference
July 23-25, 2008
Washington DC
Bridge to Integrated Direct Marketing Conference
October 14-17, 2008
Noordwijk, The Netherlands
28th International Fundraising Congress
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Mal Warwick, Editor
Deborah Block, Managing Editor
Kieu Tran, Production Manager
Contributing Editors:
Nick Allen, Donordigital
Ken Burnett, Cascaid Consulting
Harvey McKinnon, Harvey Associates
Jerold Panas, Panas, Linzy & Partners
Steve Thomas, Stephen Thomas, Joe White, Share Group, Inc.
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