Steve Thomas | February 22, 2009
This week we’re talking about 5 steps for producing direct mail fundraising that work! And by “work,” I mean that it brings consistent net income for your ministry or non-profit.
Gone are the days when it was easy to raise money in the mail. In spite of my pronouncements that mail is dead (maybe “on life-support” [...]
oneicity | February 19, 2009
A week has passed since the big Twestival! I’m still thinking about social media and donor acquisition, charity:water and the chorizo stuffed mushrooms at the Spitfire Grill.
Interestingly, since my participation in the charity event, with the exception of the online discussions I had with Doug and Mike the organizers of the Seattle event, as a [...]
Steve Thomas | February 18, 2009
What if you had only one donor? Really. What if your organization or ministry was funded by only one donor, how would that change things?
There was comment made during the great socialvibe debate a week or so back that has been on my mind. The comment came during a tangled discussion of the merits of [...]
Steve Thomas | February 18, 2009
Whew! We’re finishing our marathon 3-part series on the common denominators for successful blogs.
The first four denominators are:
1. Publish constantly.
2. Have a team.
3. Get creative with content.
4. An attitude.
Next in line…
5. Be visual.
Every single blog on the worldwide top 10 list features at least one image or video in nearly every post. Video continues to [...]
Steve Thomas | February 17, 2009
Yesterday I recommended lying down until the urge to blog passed and then went on to give the start of our 6 common denominators of better blogs. Thanks for stopping back by.
The first two denominators were:
1. Publish Constantly. No matter what.
2. Have a team. As they say: Many cooks make the soup light (well, you [...]
Steve Thomas | February 16, 2009
That’s my advice and I’m sticking to it. Don’t. If you’re thinking about starting a blog, just don’t. Lie down in a dark room until the urge passes.
Here’s a news flash—it is much easier to read blogs and think about blogging than to actually blog. (I know you knew that, but it is something [...]
Steve Thomas | February 13, 2009
I hopped the ferry last night and attended the Seattle Twestival! The event was at the Spirtfire Grill in the Belltown neighborhood. The organizers were estimating that there were about 150 there. It was a young crowd and wired crowd. Nearly everyone had their device of choice in hand—my very rough estimate was that iPhones [...]
Steve Thomas | February 12, 2009
You are who google says you are.
According to a July 2008 Nonprofit Times article, after receiving a piece of direct mail, 44% of the people who receive it will look up the sending organization online. That’s a big increase from the 25% mark in 2005. That increase cuts across every demographic, so don’t get suckered [...]
Steve Thomas | February 10, 2009
Give me 8 minutes and I’ll radically improve the income you receive from your donors. And they will be delighted.
It’ll be a good investment. Guaranteed or double your money back.
Ready?
Start the timer.
*0:00 to 1:00* Take a minute. Think about what you are asking your donors to do. Are you asking them to pay for [...]
Hoots and Thomas | February 9, 2009
The Chronicle of Philanthropy is hosting a pretty lively discussion on social media, the Tipjar issue and general self-promotion.
Much of it is the same kind of discussion we had here last week—with a side-order of defensiveness.
Give it a look. Let us know what you think.
Hoots and Thomas
Steve Thomas | February 9, 2009
I’m infamous for my “you can’t write a check on gross” stance. But I’ve recently run into the situation where Net Income, my focus, wasn’t really Net Income.
Here’s how it happens. Many ministries and non-profits will do work in-house. Sometimes it is “lick-and-stick” work—adding postage or stuffing newsletters into envelopes. Others will handwrite the major [...]
Steve Thomas | February 6, 2009
About 3 weeks ago (January 15), over 200 people burst into spontaneous dance in London’s Liverpool Street Train station. It was a viral marketing campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi for T-Mobile (Hey, “Saatchi & Saatchi” there’s another tough to pronounce brand name!)
Watch the video, if you’re not dead you’ll smile. Don’t miss the Umbrella [...]
Steve Thomas | February 4, 2009
In naming our company “Oneicity,” we ignored one of the tenets of classic, old-school branding–”the never choose a name that could be mispronounced or misunderstood” rule. Actually, we didn’t just ignore that rule, we ignored it with reckless abandon. Oneicity certainly can be mispronounced but so can Nike (does it rhyme with Mike?) and don’t [...]
Steve Thomas | February 2, 2009
As long as we’re jumping off the band wagon and swimming completely upstream on the popular social media fundraising strategies, we’re going for the whole enchilada with this post.
Consider this is our “The Emperor Has No Clothes” post.
charity:water is announcing a twestival (tweeting+festival). Mashable is joining in. The idea is to build awareness for [...]
Steve Thomas | February 1, 2009
Linkin Park and SocialVibe.com recently released a video to ask people to help raise $25,000 for Haiti. The SocialVibe member with the highest number of recruits will be flown to Los Angeles to meet Linkin Park in their studio while they record their new album this spring. You can watch the video here.
Here’s the way [...]
