Capital campaigns are unique fundraising ventures. These campaigns not only require months (and sometimes years!) of a nonprofit team’s time and effort. They also help organizations raise massive amounts of revenue that make large-scale projects possible, like building a new facility or purchasing important equipment. Because of the sheer scale of capital campaign work, there are many moving parts to keep track of and thus, many opportunities for error. To help your nonprofit team prepare for future capital campaigns, we’ve assembled a list of common capital campaign mistakes and how to avoid them: If you are a school leader, you may not think Salesforce has anything to offer you. However, that’s not the case. Salesforce Education Cloud for K-12 is a CRM platform for schools, aimed at keeping students and their families, alumni, and staff connected. This integrated platform offers many benefits for schools and students. Keep reading to learn more about the Salesforce Education Cloud, and whether or not it’s right for your school. Issue 133 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! We put a little extra love into the newsletter this week! Scroll on down for some top fundraising content relating to design and accessibility of nonprofit websites, CRMs for nonprofits, sponsorship letters, and more! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Your nonprofit’s website is a hub for all information about your organization, including everything from how to donate to how to sign up for events. It should be full of meaningful content that serves long-time supporters, current donors, and newcomers to your cause. But meeting the evolving needs of these audiences requires constant changes and growth. A website growth or transition plan is a strategy for growing your website sustainably over time. Keep these four tips in mind when developing your growth plan: CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is an incredibly important tool for nonprofit organizations. And when it comes to CRM software, Salesforce is an excellent option. It is without a doubt one of the most widely utilized business software platforms. However, many who are using Salesforce don’t fully know how to utilize it. They’re missing out on capabilities and therefore not functioning as well as they could be. If you’re wanting to implement Salesforce to its highest capacity, you should consider hiring a Salesforce consultant. Keep reading to discover what a consultant can do for you. Though soliciting board members sounds like a simple enough topic, it’s often not done in the most effective way. If you’re planning or currently conducting a capital campaign, you’ve likely already thought about what the best approach will be to secure these important commitments from your organization’s leaders. This step comes long before the public-facing projects of promoting your campaign and engaging with the community, so it needs early consideration. Issue 132 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! How do you plan on expressing gratitude for your donors this year? Here are 6 cost-effective donor thank you gifts to consider. Timely and meaningful acknowledgment of support really does make all the difference! Scroll on down for last week’s top fundraising content! We’ve got great ideas relating to reconnecting with donors, using text-to-give, and preparing your nonprofit for financial uncertainty in a recession. You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Issue 131 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! Here’s to finishing out the first month of 2023 strong! This year, you may want to consider improving your wording when asking for donations. The words you choose can make all the difference. After all, giving is about connecting with your community. And language is one important tool we use to connect. Download this guide to asking for donations to learn tips on how to strengthen your relationships with your donors through the words you use. Scroll on down for some top fundraising ideas relating to major donor meetings, engagement strategies, and monthly giving. Enjoy! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Salsa Engage is sunsetting and it’s time for Salsa customers to look for an alternative solution for their online engagement and fundraising needs. Salsa Engage is a cloud-based solution that unifies an organization’s campaigning and advocacy efforts. It was a great all-in-one-platform for fundraising, advocacy, CRM, and more, but it will be phasing out entirely by 2024. Luckily for Salsa Engage clients, there is a wide variety of alternatives out there that can give you exactly what you’re looking for. We’ve compiled the top five alternatives to Salsa Engage. Issue 130 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! Lately we’ve had some rainy weather in DC, which has encouraged me to rest up in the new year. I hope you’ve been doing the same! Are you considering adding fundraising software to your nonprofit strategy in 2023? If so, might I invite you to an introductory webinar at the top of next month? Introduction to Soapbox Engage will walk you through a suite of apps that offers solutions to any nonprofit’s online engagement needs, from fundraising, to events management, to classes, directories, and forms of any variety. You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Issue 129 Happy Tuesday, fundraisers! What are your fundraising resolutions for 2023? Maybe it’s time to look into creative fundraising strategies to expand your support— whether that’s using popups to drive site traffic to your donation pages or starting a corporate matching gifts program. Scroll on down for some great fundraising ideas to get the juices flowing! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Many schools rely on fundraising to support clubs, sports teams, field trips, and other fun activities. But since these activities persist year after year, certain fundraising ideas can become boring after being repeatedly used. But school fundraisers don’t have to be boring or “been there, done that.” When done right, they can be great community building activities. Issue 128 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! This week’s newsletter is packed with great content relating to fundraising SEO, goal assessment, donor appreciation, and nonprofit fundraising trends for 2023. Dig in! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! Hosting a nonprofit event allows you to deepen relationships with supporters and raise valuable funds to drive your mission forward. But, in order to generate the large turnout needed to achieve a successful event, you need to be diligent about creating personalized and targeted outreach. Whether you’re hosting an in-person gala or a series of livestreamed raffles, adopting a data-driven marketing strategy can help you reach your goals. In this guide, we'll walk through three event marketing tips powered by actionable metrics. When scrolling on the internet, you’ve definitely encountered popups. Some people may view popups as annoying or distracting. And yet, they’re still widely used. Why is that? Because they work! Using a compelling popup is one great way to engage your website visitors. And it can be a very effective tool for fundraising. Of course, popups are not always well executed, which is why people may sometimes find them frustrating. Luckily, we’ve got tips for you to ensure that you are using popups the right way, in order to boost fundraising, increase subscribers, and grow registrations. And with the Soapbox Engage Popups app, you’ll be able to design popups that help you meet your goals with data driven strategies. Issue 127 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! And WELCOME to 2023! I am so excited for what this year has in store for this community and the greater fundraising and nonprofit communities! At Soapbox Engage, we plan to bring you even more value through our blog, free resources and guides, and events. If you have any content requests or ideas for how we can add more value to this weekly newsletter, please let us know! Whether you are a resolutions person or not, I hope you have much to look forward to and work toward in this New Year! Onward! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! As a nonprofit professional, you understand the importance of creating messages with meaning. Whether you’re promoting a fundraiser or an awareness campaign, adding impact to your nonprofit content will convert a casual reader to an active supporter of your cause. Plus, impactful content will help your nonprofit market itself and stand out from the inundation of messages your audience encounters on a daily basis. Let’s review different types of nonprofit content before exploring how you can add significance to your messages. If you’ve read anything about marketing, you’ve heard about SEO. SEO, which stands for Search Engine Optimization, is an essential tool for nonprofit organizations. SEO is the process of optimizing your website to increase visibility when people search for events, education, fundraising campaigns, volunteer opportunities, or other happenings surrounding your mission. If you feel overwhelmed by the process of optimizing your website for visibility, read on! We’ve got you covered. Issue 125 Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! I hope you’re staying warm and cozy this season. Tomorrow is the winter solstice, marking the first official day of winter. BUT it also means that after tomorrow, we get a little bit of sunlight back each day— those of us in the Northern Hemisphere at least. That’s certainly something to look forward to! Scroll on down for this week’s selection of top fundraising content. We have tips relating to donor conversations, SEO keywords, and advocacy campaigns. Enjoy! You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today! At the start of this month, we were able to gather in person again for another NPSP Day— this time, in San Francisco! I was fortunate enough to once again facilitate the event alongside Katie McFadden from Common Voyage. It was another exciting day, filled with collaboration and new connections! The purpose of an NPSP Day is for nonprofit staff, consultants, and Salesforce admin to come together to share knowledge, pose questions, and solve problems to benefit the nonprofit and education sectors' use of the Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack. And no better setting for NPSP Day than the Salesforce Tower in downtown San Francisco! |