Guest Bloggers
My direct mail fantasy, and other myths
I’ve found the perfect direct mail donor. Her name is Gladys, and she gives to everything I send her, 100% of the time. But I’m not sharing her with you guys. She’s mine. When Gladys gets a mailing from me, she does exactly what she’s supposed to do. When she sees my piece of…
Read More11 Commandments of Fundraising Design
I look in the mirror, and I start to think I LOOK as old as Moses, but that’s where the comparison seems to end. Though I do have close to 30 years in the industry, so I guess I have a few things I can share in the upcoming DMAW Lunch & Learn…
Read MoreGoogle Analytics and Ecommerce: Learning the Value of your Website in Dollars and Sense
When I sat down to attend the DMAW’s Lunch & Learn, led by the Harrington Agency’s Chief Digital Strategist Adam Ruff, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew the seminar (which I was happy to discover was a working session) would cover getting the most out of Google Analytics, but to what degree? I…
Read MoreLights, Camera, Action: Turning Views into Donations
Views and likes are everything nice, but do they really help drive donations and web traffic? According to See3 Communications CEO Michael Hoffman, those likes and views don’t mean much if they don’t turn into action—and that means you have to be reaching the right people. During the DMAW co-hosted webinar “How to Create an…
Read MoreMAXI Madness Strikes Again at National Harbor
It was a star-studded afternoon as Direct Marketing’s top fundraising experts and their guests gathered at the elegant Gaylord National Hotel at Washington D.C.’s National Harbor for the 38th Annual Marketing Awards for eXcellence and Innovation – the MAXIs! The MAXIs have become one of the industry’s most coveted prizes over the years because of…
Read MoreThree Steps to a Better Performing Website
Why do your competitors’ websites continuously outrank and seemingly outperform your own? It’s a question many organizations may find themselves asking. But thanks to the relative open nature of the Internet, we can grab glimpses of their digital strategies—and see what’s working. In this post, we will briefly examine steps your digital team can…
Read MoreFrom Sacred Cows to Successful Campaigns — Real Life Victories
What happens after you tip your sacred cows? In our previous blogs (one and two), we discussed how to identify your nonprofit’s specific sacred cows — those programs, events, campaigns, and practices that you perform religiously, often because that’s the way it’s always been done. Or sometimes our sacred cows are programs that represent too…
Read MoreIdentifying the Sacred Cows That Are Holding You Back
Let’s say you’re committed to tipping some sacred cows. You are ready to challenge and evaluate everything: your mission, your approach, your revenue. How do you identify your organization’s specific sacred cows? In our first blog of this series, we discussed the various fundraising practices nonprofits perform religiously — often with the only strategy being…
Read MoreHow Do You Tip a Sacred Cow? Strength and Patience.
Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We all tend to agree with this — but do we as nonprofits put it into practice? Particularly in our fundraising work? Echoing this same sentiment, management expert Tom Northrup once said, “All organizations are perfectly designed to get…
Read MoreNonprofits Must Leverage Millennials to Navigate the Digital Era
Digital communications have undoubtedly become an integral part of daily life. President Trump’s tweets instantaneously reach over 30 million people worldwide. Media outlets such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, and BuzzFeed routinely use Facebook Live and other digital applications to engage with supporters and share breaking news. Through Instagram and Snapchat, high…
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