Hey, so I know we just met but is there any chance you can come over and dogsit for me this weekend?

Too much? Too soon? We do hardly know each other, right? It probably would be best to get to better acquainted before I hit you up for favors, eh? Maybe we can grab some coffee to get to know each other first? Yes. Coffee first. Dog later.

Just as personal relationships require time and steps to develop before both parties are willing to invest something of substance so, too, your nonprofit’s relationship with its would-be donors requires nurturing. Your first ask being a donation ask won’t necessarily be a winner. Just with my dog sitting, you need to grow into it. So, what’s the nonprofit version of asking someone out for coffee?

We’re so glad you asked! Here are five tactics your organization can use to grow your community before asking them for donations. Each falls on what is commonly referred to as a “commitment curve” or “ladder of engagement,” They get you from that introduction to getting an email address to growing engagement to finally getting someone to watch my dog, er, I mean, winning a new donor.

Google Analytics is an essential tool for many nonprofits seeking to effectively track their online marketing efforts. Whether you're focused on fundraising, event registrations, advocacy efforts, email sign ups or overall content marketing strategies, digging into the details of those eyeballs that are checking you out online vital. But numbers aren't everything. Sometimes a little context goes a long way in making sense of them.

So, you've got a lot of supporters, and many of them make donations on a regular basis. But not every donor is the same. You need to think about them both as individuals and as different groups of people.

But they all donate money, what's the difference?

It's how much money they contribute. Depending on the amount of money they're willing to give, people have certain expectations for you and your nonprofit.

Like, they want a place on the board? Special privileges? Snacks?

No, not snacks. However, through giving more or less money, donors have different expectations about how they should be treated and what they should have access to. They also have unique ideas on how they receive communications from you regarding your organization. But the behavior varies with the amount of money contributed. This is why you should consider using donor levels. Nonprofit CRM software can help you develop and assign them to new and existing donors.

Each person here donates differently. What levels will you put them in?

Every nonprofit, including yours, are likely still envious of the ALS Association. Last year's Ice Bucket Challenge campaign not only raised a significant amount of cash for the organization, but brought a huge amount of attention to the condition also known as Lou Gehrig's disease and its overall lack of research funding. Can you imagine what would happen if you could knock out two birds with one stone like that for your cause?

You don't need buckets of ice for a good viral campaign.

How does your SEO measure up?

Raising awareness for your cause can be a tricky business. You may have clipboard people on the streets and special ad placements in print and web publications, among other things. What about search, though? There are a lot of people thinking about your organization's mission, either directly or indirectly. These people could become donors, volunteers or supporters very easily. As a result, you should be looking at ways to improve your search engine optimization, or how you're seen and discovered on search engines. By doing that, you'll get more people to look into the projects your nonprofit is working on.

But how do you measure your SEO? Being a nonprofit is quite different from being a media page. You don't have people placing ads on your site, and you're not necessarily looking for page clicks. So here are some tips to get you going in the right direction, using basic analytics tools:

Before we truly put an end to 2014, let's remember the best moments.

While some people like to think that looking back on 2014 is strictly limited to December, we at PICnet believe that a year-in-review should happen in January. After all, December is part of the year, so it's rather silly to consider the year finished before the ball actually drops. In any event, 2014 was a big year for us and we saw a lot of things happen in the nonprofit sector, from payments to petitions. Here are some of our best articles from the last year. We think you may find them enlightening and fun.

What's your plan for the new year? What do you have in store for your nonprofit organization?

Well, we've got some balloons, silly hats and flat champagne…

No, what are your plans in terms of operations? What are you doing to further your mission in the next 12 months?

The same we've always done: raise funds and bring more people into the fold.

Perhaps you should look into more specific goals, since everybody does that. If you have specific goals for your nonprofit, you can actually achieve those results. Developing some resolutions around constituent relationship management (CRM) can help you do that successfully.

You should focus on your supporter relationships in 2015.

Well, then, what would you suggest?

Nonprofit marketer, Soapbox Engage just made your brain a lot mightier!

Let's say you've got a campaign for which you're hoping to drive traffic to your website and capture conversions. In other words, you're trying to get folks to DO something once they hit your website: Give you money, buy some swag, register for an event.

You get the idea.

You're tweeting and Facebooking and blogging and all around shouting about it. But how do you know which of those efforts are producing the best results? Or no results?

Let's talk numbers, shall we?

To start, let's grab the number 1.92. 1.92 is the number of times more likely someone signing an online petition is to donate to a similar cause after signing. This was quantified by researchers Yu-Hao Lee and Gary Hsieh in their study Does Slacktivism Hurt Activism?: The Effects of Moral Balancing and Consistency in Online Activism.

So, I sign your online petition, I am then almost twice as likely as someone who didn't sign that petition to give money to a cause that is similar to yours.

Notice that didn't read "give money to your organization". Mark that. It'll be on the quiz later.

The researchers also found that I'm more likely to take other actions in support of similar causes after signing your petition, provided those actions don't cost me much.

A great example: signing another online petition.

To effectively raise money and build an engaged group of supporters, your organization needs more than just a donate page on its website. You need strategies and tools like online petition software that move people from casual visitor to recurring donor and dedicated supporter – all while minimizing overhead.

Online petitions are an effective tool to capture the casual visitor and active donor alike, and move them down the engagement path - even if yours isn't an advocacy organization. In today's advocacy world, online petition software can ensure your organization is making meaningful connections with your supporters in a way that delivers on your mission.

Here are nine reasons why your nonprofit should consider using online petition software.