Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 49

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! And to those of you who celebrated the Fourth of July, I hope you enjoyed some tasty food while sitting back to enjoy the fireworks. Personally, I devoured a Beyond burger, and WOW, I would never have known that it wasn’t meat. But I digress!

I’m happy to report that we’ve got another great haul of fundraising goodness for you this week. Learn how to rock text messaging appeals, make a plan to retain your new donors, or dive into the cryptocurrency frontier of fundraising!

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Great Fundraising Posts

How Petitions Can Help Boost Nonprofit Fundraising

Tim Forbes (Soapbox Engage)

Online petitions have become a popular way for nonprofits to rally supporters and grow their community of followers. It’s a great fundraising strategy to increase your visibility and grab people’s attention. Even if you stay as far away from politics as possible, you can still leverage petitions to your fundraising advantage! This blog will help you identify some creative ways to use petitions in your next fundraising campaign.

3 Ways to Keep Your Donors on Board

Jeff Brooks (Future Fundraising Now)

Your actions after a donor makes their first gift are probably more important than your actions that led them to give in the first place! Now the goal is to keep them engaged and ready to make more financial contributions in the future. Jeff offers three proven strategies to help you keep donors engaged and excited to participate in the mission.

How to Rock Nonprofit Text Messaging Appeals

Claire Axelrad (Clairification)

Have you added text messaging to your fundraising strategies? It’s becoming a popular and increasingly effective tool for development professionals because it helps you cut through the noise on social media and other fundraising platforms. Head over to this blog to get Claire’s take on why text messaging is such a great fundraising tool and how you can use it strategically and effectively.

The Back Page: How to Turn Those Good Feelings into Donations

Steven Screen (The Better Fundraising Company)

What does the back of your newsletter look like? Is it blank? If you’re following Steven’s advice, then you’re using the back of your newsletter to tap into your donors’ “good feelings” and turn them into another donation. It can be a place where you continue the strategy of showing your donors how they’re making a difference. This blog will help you create a back page of your newsletter that prompts a lot of donors to make another gift to the cause!

You Have New Donors. How Will You Keep Them?

Mary Cahalane (Hands-On Fundraising)

You’re celebrating bringing in some new donors--congratulations! Now the real question is how you’ll keep them engaged! In 2020, the new donor retention rate was 19.2%. That means four out of five of your new donors likely won’t stick around unless you take action to strengthen your relationship with them. This blog is packed with insights and wisdom about how to care for your donors so you increase the likelihood that they’ll stick around.

Thank You for Your Grace! 4 Tips to Ensure Lasting Donor Relationships

Jacqui Groseth (Heroic Fundraising)

Let’s be honest, we all make mistakes and sometimes those turn into frustrated emails or upset phone calls from donors. No matter what the cause, the goal is always to keep the relationship intact. In this blog, Jacqui offers some valuable wisdom about how to respond to problems with donors and ensure you have a happy donor at the end.

You’re Not Always Going to be Liked

Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels (Veritus Group)

Being a leader is hard in any context. Leaders have to make difficult decisions that aren’t always popular with the everyone. It’s just as true with nonprofit leaders. It’s tempting to put off difficult decisions to avoid discomfort or conflict. But that can cause many other problems. This blog offers wisdom from senior leaders, Richard and Jeff, as they share lessons learned from their early leadership days in the nonprofit world.

The New Fundraising Frontier: Cryptocurrency

Anne Guillen (Fired-Up Fundraising)

While Cryptocurrency is fairly new, it’s probably not going anywhere and it’s time to figure out how to use it to our fundraising advantage. About 43% of millennials prefer crypto investing to buying stocks and many hold highly appreciated cryptocurrency they can donate each year for tax purposes. Head over to this blog to get some insights into how you can begin to take advantage of this crypto craze to meet your fundraising goals.

How to Create a Winning Fundraising Strategy for Your Non-Profit (Masterclass)

Joe Garecht (Joe Garecht Fundraising)

When it comes to fundraising, more is not necessarily better and doing more doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll reach your fundraising goals. Success requires a plan and a strategy for raising more money. This Fundraising Strategy Masterclass will give you the tools and resources to write a successful fundraising plan, systemize your fundraising, write compelling cases, and so much more! Head over to this blog post to get all the details!