Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Pew Internet Research has released survey results indicating that 40% of adult American cell phone owners now use their cell phones to access the internet, email, or instant messaging. 34% (up from 25% in 2009) use their cellphones to access email. With outbound email appeals still the workhorse ... Read more
Monday, June 14th, 2010
Ricky Van Veen started College Humor in his dorm room. The website now has 10,000,000 unique visitors a month, and his company produces TV shows, films, live tours and books. [Another one of those guys we love to hate!] In this article, 10 Web Content Urban Legends, he shares his thoughts on ... Read more
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Yesterday, in the course of making some comments about raising money from Boomers, I published this chart estimating the number of individuals in each cohort prepared by The Boomer Project. Today I want to make a different point about this chart. Today there are already more than twice as many ... Read more
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
I was reading this article on effective email messaging, the gist of which was … make it relevant via personalization. Now there are a variety of ways to personalize, especially in (but not limited to) the online environment — using the donor’s location to tailor content, keying ... Read more
Thursday, April 8th, 2010
I noticed this post in email Insider regarding effective marketing emails. Here’s the kernel: "Studies show that subscribers will spend just eight seconds on most messages before clicking through or navigating away. Your emails will drive the most dollars if you take on the ... Read more
Monday, April 5th, 2010
Over Easter, I had a chance to read The 8 Online Fundraising Changes You Must Make in 2010, an excellent e-book by Katya Andresen at Network for Good. If you are looking for very practical tips in terms of techniques and best practices, you won’t be disappointed. But this guide is much ... Read more
Friday, March 26th, 2010
Convio has produced this valuable white paper on generational giving patterns. It’s based on a 2010 survey of 1500 recent donors to nonprofits. The paper is framed around four segments — Matures, Boomers, Gen X and Gen Y. It’s chock full of data on how different generations give ... Read more
Thursday, March 25th, 2010
I was intrigued by this email fundraising appeal from Environmental Defense Fund (one of my alma maters), because it offered me some choice as a donor. However, I don’t think EDF pushed the choice concept as far as they could (see MyProjects for a look at what real ... Read more
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Network for Good, which itself processed $5.3 million in Haiti donations, offers some good observations about the experience. In their article, each of the following points is examined: Major charities represented, but smaller organizations raised significant funds More places to give online ... Read more
Thursday, March 4th, 2010
In the direct mail channel, the thoughtless, non-strategic practice of tossing as many appeals and acquisition pieces as an organization can afford — regardless of long-term result — is referred to as "burn and churn." I’ve railed about that in earlier posts. For those ... Read more
