Great Article: “Check Your Mindset to Market Your Way Out of the Recession”
From the APF web site, written this past February by Elaine Fogel: president and CMO of Solutions Marketing & Consulting LLC in Scottsdale, Arizona.
http://www.afpnet.org/ka/ka-3.cfm?content_item_id=24814&folder_id=914
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Introducing CauseMP.com
Cause Marketing Partners help businesses increase traffic, revenue, and good will by establishing event marketing partnerships with matching nonprofit organizations. The events themselves are hosted at the business location.
The event marketing partnerships are specifically designed for both groups to share resources and collaborate on promotional efforts to drive as much traffic and revenue to the event as possible, and to generate as much publicity, participation, and attendee donations as possible for the partner nonprofit organization.
CMP services also include helping individual volunteers and participants with existing fundraising commitments – such as runners looking to host an event to raise money for a walk-a-thon.
CMP is becoming the central source in the Chicago area for developing relationships with nonprofit organizations that are actively looking for event opportunities to cultivate awareness, volunteers and donors. CMP leverages relationships with dozens of Chicagoland businesses and nonprofits, as well as twelve years of event planning experience, to create programs uniquely suited to each organization’s needs.
As a component of overall event planning services, CMP offers a complimentary brand assessment of participating businesses. This assessment is used to help identify potential partners and ensuing promotional best practices for the charity events as well as for future marketing endeavors.
Additional benefits to nonprofit organizations include:
- Negotiation of event amenities and services
- Guidance in event marketing best practices
- Exposure to promotional resources of business partners
- Cultivation of volunteers, donors and sponsors for other events and programs
If your business is interested in collaborating with a matching nonprofit organization to help generate exposure, traffic, revenues, and good will – CMP will then help initiate the event planning and event marketing processes.
Please e-mail marc@causemp.com to begin discussing how CMP may be able to increase traffic and revenues for your business while expanding good will for your brand.
Coming Soon: The official CMP web site and blog!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Multiple Events Crucial To Overall Nonprofit Success
Multiple Events Crucial To Overall Nonprofit Success
Nonprofits face three “intrinsic” challenges: never enough time, never enough money (from donors and/or sponsors), and never enough resources (from volunteers and/or sponsors). In spite of these challenges (all of which may now be exacerbated due to the recession) nonprofits must still find effective ways to continue cultivating donors, volunteers, sponsors, advocates, etc.
While some cultivation activities can effectively occur online and even through electronic and/or snail mail, truly productive relationship building can only take place in person. This means more events. Specifically, understanding the habits, emotions, aspirations and rituals of prospective donors, volunteers, sponsors, and advocates should be used to plan more affordable, effective cultivation events. Nonprofits can overcome fundamental challenges by way of free event planning resources.
Some nonprofits may argue that hosting too many events is simply asking too much of a given support base’s time and commitment, and may even annoy them to the point of diluting their commitment. This may be true, but I would also counter that there are multiple bases to be addressed, and doing so is most effective via formalized “environments” or “experiences” most akin to their interests and most likely to capture their attention.
Hoping a prospect reads a piece of direct mail, or notices a “wall posting” on Facebook – and in turn decides to respond to the call to action – is simply not as reliable as an in-person dialog. Creating occasions to focus relationship building, sponsorship solicitation, and overall messaging efforts is critical if nonprofits hope to realize ROI from their (inherently challenged) development endeavors.
Some nonprofits only host one major event per year, and only look for support for that single event. Why can’t they host smaller sponsor cultivation events? Why can’t they host smaller volunteer cultivation events? What if this networking activity at events like these lead to the identification and acquisition of resources in other areas? Examples:
- What if a volunteer cultivation event results in a guest – initially in attendance because of their volunteer interest – offering up sponsorship support from their company?
- What if a sponsor cultivation event results in a prospect offering more than originally discussed because they are compelled by the energy, emotion, and engagement activity at the event – that can only truly manifest face-to-face?
Bottom line: Events are affordable, measurable, and again crucial components to the advancement of nonprofit objectives. Nonprofits with more frequent event activity will enjoy greater success on all fronts. Again, nonprofits can overcome fundamental challenges by way of free event planning resources. For more information on these resources, please e-mail fundraising20@gmail.com
Marc-Portugal
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Press Release
New Revenue Generating Solution for Struggling Nonprofits and Businesses: Fundraising 2.0 — http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/04/prweb2363064.htm
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Great Article fron Nonprofit Times
A worthy read about collaboration and creating efficiencies in event-based fundraising: http://www.nptimes.com/instantfund/09Apr/IF-090421-1.html
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Friendraising Through Swine Flu
Friendraising Through Swine Flu
Nothing like an imported flu epidemic to interfere with conducting the business of fundraising (and the business of business.)
Unfortunately, consumer money that might otherwise be earmarked for fundraising events (or just a night out to eat) is being spent on gallons and gallons of Purell and boxes and boxes of surgical masks.
The cost of consumer apprehension presents a new layer of difficulty for both nonprofits and businesses. While timetables for containment are unknown, nonprofits and businesses can work on other Fundraising 2.0 efforts in the mean time. The easiest activity to work on is Friendraising. Plus – it’s free!
As described in the previous blog entry, Friendraising can immediately begin by creating a Friendlist. The development of this list requires no cost or time commitment – just a focus and “analysis” on understanding the habits, emotions, aspirations and rituals of prospective donors, volunteers and customers.
The more people in an organization or business that can be involved in Friendraising and “Friendlisting” exercises – the better. Why? Two key reasons:
1. More heads are better than one. Input from more people will inevitably result in more thorough results – even if it occurs by ruling out external input generated in Friendlisting sessions.
2. Organizations and businesses can better ensure that team members truly understand their respective brands, messages, needs, opportunities, etc. such that their ensuing, independent Friendraising activity is as effective/productive as possible.
While this latest crisis only further delays recovery and returns to growth for both nonprofits and businesses, there is no reason not to be as productive as possible in the mean time so that Brandraising and Fundraising can take place as opportunities present themselves and as crises finally begin to resolve.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
The Friendlist
The Friendlist
An easy way for nonprofits to immediately begin participating in Fundraising 2.0 is to create something called the Friendlist.
This is not a replication of an existing donor, volunteer, or other in-house database. The Friendlist is a list of Habits, Emotions, Aspirations, and Rituals that a nonprofit feels is most accurately representative of their prospects. A Friendlist may change based on corresponding changes in nonprofit campaigns, shifts in economies, new trends in pop culture or social media, etc. Having said that, it is a great exercise in ensuring an accurate understanding of prospects such that ensuing Brandraising and Friendraising activities are as effective as possible.
Habits are “live” activities that prospects engage in on a regular basis outside of their home and workplace. The outcome of this exercise is to categorically identify potential host venues and activities that can be affordably engaged for Brandraising and Fundraising on a regular basis. Examples:
· Eating out
· Watching sports
· Playing sports
· Getting manicures
· Working out
· Attending networking events
Emotions, in this context of making a Friendlist, represent the manners in which the core commitment of the nonprofit may be articulated by prospects. It will be these keywords, or variations of articulating emotions, that facilitate online social networking (online Friendraising). Examples:
· Fight against Breast Cancer
· Mom and Breast Cancer
· Walk for Breast Cancer
· Help Breast Cancer
· Stay Healthy Breast Cancer
Aspirations are activities that prospects do NOT engage in on a regular basis, but wish they could. These activities are ones that the added layer of a call-to-action from a nonprofit might compel prospects to engage. The point of this exercise is to identify potential venues and content for F20 events. Examples:
· Test driving luxury cars
· Spa services
· Food tasting
· Cooking class
· Meet a celebrity
Rituals, in this context, are professional and social communication activities that prospects engage in on a regular basis. Listing these mediums will identify where Brandraising and Friendraising may be most productive. Examples:
· YouTube
· MySpace
· Blogging
· Bookmarking
· Mobile Messaging (SMS, MMS, etc.)
· Proximity Messaging
Once a Friendlist is created, it will serve as a great roadmap for nonprofits and/or complimentary Fundraising 2.0 event planning resources in expediting and negotiating live events for nonprofits to help them raise money sooner than later.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )
Fundraising 2.0 Live 