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December 2011
(This article originally appeared on Third Sector New England's website.) An email list is one of the sharpest arrows in any nonprofit’s quiver. An effective list can maximize your reach, help foster closer relationships with constituents and improve fundraising. But what makes a list effective?
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December 2011
(This article was originally published in the December issue of the NTEN:Change journal.) Since most organizations don’t track just one type of constituent, the idea of a single database for all of them—donors, volunteers, clients, email subscribers, advocates and everyone else—is something of a holy grail. The ability to easily see how all your constituents interact with your organization, and with each other, makes for an attractive, ideal vision of what a database should be.
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November 2011
This article originally ran in the November 1 edition of The NonProfit Times.
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November 2011
Advocacy organizations often encourage their grassroots supporters to influence politicians and corporations using different methods, from promoting a cause or opposing legislation to challenging ad campaigns or policies. A large display of public opinion can have a powerful message, and advocacy groups often help to focus and channel this support to make the most impact.
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November 2011
It’s been six years (almost to the day) since I incorporated Idealware as a nonprofit. At the time, the idea of providing impartial info to help nonprofits choose software was more of an aspiration than a reality. But 15 reports and well more than 100 articles later—and about 60,000 nonprofits helped—it’s humbling to look back on the real impact Idealware has had on the ability of nonprofits to make smart software decisions.
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October 2011
UPDATED in October 2011!
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October 2011
Completely updated in 2011, the free 183-page Consumers Guide to Grants Management looks at the features and processes used by 22 grants management systems to help private foundations accept and review applications and track grants throughout their life cycles.
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October 2011
(This article originally appeared in the Nonprofit Times.) As user demand increases, vendors are adapting their donor management system offerings to support mobile devices and cloud computing, one of several recent market trends that are adding value and capability to the software. They’re also enhancing functionality that’s critical for nonprofits, like integrated email and ease of use, in many cases adding substantial functionality without raising prices.
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October 2011
(This article originally appeared on Third Sector New England's site.) If you post a message on Twitter and no one’s there to hear it, does it make a noise? The fact is, there isn’t much reason to tweet if you don’t have an audience—a fundamental truth of all social media channels.
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September 2011
(First published in the September issue of the NTEN: Change journal.) Social media has provided nonprofits with a whole new toolbox for marketing themselves and engaging constituents.
