'Tis the Season To Raise Funds

Ron Weber, Trinet Internet Solutions, Inc.

As the holiday season approaches, many nonprofits often find themselves scrambling to meet year-end donation goals. While it's well known that Thanksgiving initiates a greater charitable focus, it takes more than a "donate-now" button to funnel that giving spirit into a plentiful fundraising season.

Yet when it comes to nonprofit fundraising, remember one size doesn't fit all. With countless nonprofits vying for donors' dollars, the more tailored the campaign, the more success you'll find.

What's it Worth? 26 Hours to Help the Nonprofit Community Answer

Flickr Photo by cathytx2001Many nonprofits understand the importance of an online strategy but are unclear on how much to invest in online marketing and fundraising -- and what to expect in return.

Blackbaud is conducting a survey as part of their State of the Nonprofit Industry (SONI) series. This SONI survey on internet investments hopes to help nonprofits better understand how much to invest in online marketing and fundraising and what to expect in return.

> Help answer the question: What is the monetary value of being online?

Please take a few minutes to help the nonprofit community quantify the financial value of email, online event fundraising, websites, and social networks.

NTEN Member Buzz Round-Up: SxSW, Presentation Tips, Wind-Powered Websites, and More!

SxSWNP Flickr Cred: wharmanPeter Campbell changed web hosts and has some good advice about the process. Fellow NTEN members Green America (formerly Coop America) helped guide Peter to a wind-powered provider.

Convio is one of the featured companies at the first-ever Austin Interactive Showcase at SxSW as one of "16 Austin companies to showcase the interactive brain power and technology innovation" of the popular media conference's host city.

Maddie Grant and Lindy Dreyer host a weekly NTEN Office Hour they call "NTEN Water Cooler Chat", every Thursday at 3pm ET. If you haven't stopped by, you can read up on the community buzz in the NTEN Communications "Office" here.

Beth Kanter took some time to contemplate good presentation skills and the nonprofit sector. Since many NTENers are frequent speakers on nptech, and it's the start of a new "conference season," this read might help you make that presentation you're working on even awesomer.

M+R released a new case study on the impact of premiums in online fundraising campaigns. With the help of 4 nonprofits (including NTEN members Easter Seals and The Wilderness Society) who tested premiums against control campaigns during December 2008, they found that premiums can increase both response rate and donation amount. Read the report for tips on doing it right.

Beth Kanter has a quick summary of the NP Social Media ROI Poetry Slam session at SxSW this weekend, which included NTEN superstars Danielle Brigida, Wendy Harman, Carie Lewis, David Neff, Geoff Livingston, and NTEN's own Holly Ross. Congrats on getting the session's audience participation to be the #8 trending topic on Twitter!

Nonprofits and Technology: An Interview with NTEN's Holly Ross in the Artez Digital Fundraising Podcast Series

Flickr Credit: OllyhartPhilip King, President and CEO of Artez Interactive, has a great podcast series called Digital Fundraising. He interviews nonprofit technology rockstars. His most recent episode is a conversation with NTEN's own Holly Ross.

Philip asks Holly about the big picture: where we've come from and where we're going in the nonprofit sector when it comes to that crazy thing we call "technology."

You can find Holly's session at the top of the series on iTunes. Please check out the other podcasts in the series, too.

Debunking Five Myths of Online Fundraising

Thon Morse, Kimbia

[This article was originally published on Kimbia's website.]

Today's challenging economic times mean a lot of nonprofits are looking for new ways to raise money. Many organizations realize the Internet presents a huge opportunity, but most have achieved limited success.

If your organization has yet to experience strong results raising funds online, the coming year provides an ideal window to experiment with new approaches. A good first step is dismissing some myths about online fundraising that may be standing in the way of your success:

• Myth #1: Online fundraising isn't as effective as offline techniques.
• Myth #2: People won't give online.
• Myth #3: Online fundraising means raising money through my organization's website.
• Myth #4: Technology is not the problem.
• Myth #5: Raising 10 percent of all gifts online is a great goal.