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pAuthor: Jill Ward/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/jill-ward-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pemReprinted from /ema href="http://www.grizzard.com/" target="_blank"emGrizzard/em/aem, original post by Chip Grizzard on 6/3/2010/em/p h2Donrsquo;t Panic if You Have Not Adjusted to Digital/h2 pMost every industry whitepaper, blog post, and trends report points to a similar conclusion.nbsp; Single channel direct mail is on the decline and digital fundraising is rapidly increasing. While most seem to point to similar recommendations, there is wide disagreement on how fast this change is going to take place.nbsp; I have heard ranges from direct mail will be dead in 5 years to direct mail will never die./p pBased on current trends as reported by Target Analytics and Convio, I think the typical organization will (or should) be raising at least 50% of itsnbsp; revenue from individuals via channels other than direct mail by 2016.nbsp; Today, most organizations are less than 10%.nbsp;nbsp; But this takes a commitment and focus to integrating your message across traditional and digital channels./p pFor organizations that are not investing outside of traditional mail, they are sure to experience a funding gap.nbsp; Their direct mail revenue will begin to decline and it will not be offset by online giving fast enough.nbsp; The internetrsquo;s impact on other industries has not shown to be a linear impact.nbsp; As adoption increases, the decline accelerates./p pOver the past 10 years, the entire purchase model for catalogers flipped from mailing back an order card to receiving a catalog and placing orders by web or phone.nbsp; The exact same thing is happening in fundraising.nbsp; Direct mail will still be used as a communication tool, but the method donors choose to respond is and will continue to change./p pIf your organization is slow to adjust to these new realities, donrsquo;t panic.nbsp; There is time, but take action now.nbsp; Itrsquo;s an exciting time to be in fundraising, but only for those willing to change their approach. /pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Mby9e39E3IA:O6cZfeFlkM4:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Josh Shepherd/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/josh-shepherd-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pIt's not easy to keep up with all the changes in social media.nbsp; It is definitely a task to decide which social media platforms should demand your attention and energy.nbsp; There really isn't a predictor for which platform will succeed and survive and which platform will crash and burn.nbsp; That being said, it has been interesting to watch the rise of location based social networks such as a href="http://foursquare.com/" target="_blank"Foursquare/a, a href="http://gowalla.com/" target="_blank"Gowalla/a and a href="http://www.loopt.com/" target="_blank"Loopt/a.nbsp; These geosocial networks are jockeying for position in the social networking world./p pFor those who haven't experimented with location based social networks, these networks are mobile applications where the users can "check in" at any place in the world.nbsp; It's like placing a thumbtack on a virtual GPS map so everyone knows where you are and where you have been.nbsp; The users can also provide details and tips about the places they have "checked in" at and the networks reward the users with virtual swag./p pMany businesses have seen a marketing angle for these mobile geosocial applications; for example, a certain number of "check ins" at a coffee shop could get you a free cup of coffee.nbsp; These applications have turned into the high tech version of the business card that gets hole punched at the bakery cash register every time you buy a kolache.nbsp; /p pRecently, there have been two nonprofit organizations that have started geosocial networking initiatives using a href="http://foursquare.com/" target="_blank"Foursquare/a./p p1. a href="http://www.earthjustice.org/" target="_blank"Earthjustice/anbsp;putnbsp;up posters like the one belownbsp;in the BART stations in San Francisco./p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/ej_bartpsa_oilrig_small.jpg" alt="Earthjustice Poster" //p p2. a href="http://www.wendys.com/" target="_blank"Wendy's/a is about to begin its strongTreat It Forward/strong campaign to raise money for the a href="http://www.davethomasfoundation.org/" target="_blank"Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption/a.nbsp; If a user "checks in" using a href="http://foursquare.com/" target="_blank"Foursquare/a, Wendy's will donate 50 cents tonbsp;DTFA per "check in."/p pThese are great examples of nonprofits using a geosocial network platform, but there are anbsp;few things to keep in mind when deciding if this is an avenue your nonprofit needs to explore at this very moment:/p p1.nbsp; The success of geosocial networks is dependent on the rate of smart phone adoption.nbsp; If smart phone purchasing continues to rise, one couldnbsp;argue that geosocialnbsp;networks could become next big thing!nbsp;strongIs the current usage enough to show any sort of return for your organization?nbsp;/strong/p p2. The nature of the application is that the target is mostly a younger, early adopter audience.nbsp; From the recent research on a href="http://my.convio.com/forms/NextGenerationWhitepaper1?referrer=blog" target="_blank"The Next Generation of American Giving/a, there is a growing need to engage with Gen X and Gen Y.nbsp; strongCould these geosocial networks be your platform to engage with younger generations?/strong /p p3. A organization interested in using geosocial networking needs to find an appropriate use for it.nbsp; It's pretty safe to assume not everyone can "check in" at an offshore oil rig, so a href="http://www.earthjustice.org/" target="_blank"Earthjustice/a had to get creative with their poster placement.nbsp;nbsp;strongCan your organization get creative and be appropriate?/strong/p p4.nbsp;strongDoes your organization have the time and money to successfully experiment with this new platform?/strongnbsp; If you have your Blog, Twitter and Facebook game on point, I would suggest maybe looking into the use of geosocial networking.nbsp; If your organization's social media initiative is still a tad green, it may be best to concentrate on the more accessiblenbsp;social media platforms for the moment./p pLet me know what you think! Is your organization using or thinking about using a geosocial network?nbsp; Thoughts?nbsp; Ideas?/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=Lw-FcVsbDb0:DjFECzhhC6E:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Joey Martin/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/joey-martin-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pspan style="font-family: georgia,palatino;" p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"In the June edition of em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"nbsp;/spanWired /emmagazine there is a fascinating article about how the web is changing the structure of our brains. The article was adapted from the book em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains/em by Nicholas Carr./span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"You can guess by the title of the book Carr surmises that the internet is not promoting deep thinking on singular topics but rather skimming the surface of multiple subject matters. And to prove his argument I am not going to go into the details of the article, ha! Instead here are some of the theories outlined that I believe are good considerations for planning, designing and/or writing for your site./span/p ul style="margin-top: 0in;" li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"The internet promotes scanning not reading = strongLimit the amount of text/strong/span/li li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"The internet is distracting and interrupting = strongLimit distractions/strong strongon your site and in text/strong/span/li li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"Links disrupt concentration and decrease comprehension whether or not readers click on them = strongLimit the use of links/strong/span/li li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"Amount of information we scan while surfing exceeds our ability to process it = span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"nbsp;/spanstrongWrite in a clear and concise manner/strong/span/li li class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"We desire new information even if it is inconsequential = strongUpdate your site often, use twitter and blogs to push new content/strong/span/li /ul p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"span style="font-size: small;"span style="font-family: Calibri;"Make your site an oasis in the sea of information by creating a design and content that is relevant, fresh and succinct.span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"nbsp; /spanAnd get a subscription to em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wired/em if you donrsquo;t have one already. span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"nbsp;/span/span/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;"span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: small;"Carr, Nicolas. ldquo;Chaos Theory.rdquo;em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"Wired./em June 2010: 112+/span/p /span/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=dBzNJog5Sv8:Lsl3Gv2XXXk:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Corey Pudhorodsky/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/corey-pud-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pimg height="245" src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/conviocareslamp.jpg" style="float: left;" width="362" alt="Convio Cares 2010 " /If you contact employees at Convio on a regular basis, last week you may have gotten several out of the office notices stating that they were out for the day but would return your email or phone call as soon as possible. This was because last week Convio sponsored our annual Convio Cares Week when each employee is encouraged to participate in a service project in our local communities. Itrsquo;s a great chance for us to get out into the community, support organizations we care about, and get to work with one another in a context outside of our daily jobs. The event makes me more proud to work for Convio because I think it reflects our culture to support the nonprofit community./p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/icare.png" style="float: left;" alt="iCare" //p pThe project that I volunteered at with fifteen other Convio employees was a classroom makeover for a local Austin school, Gus Garcia Middle School. The room is used by a href="http://www.cisaustin.org"Communities in Schools of Central Texas/a, a local affiliate of the largest national dropout prevention organization. a href="http://communitiesinschools.org/" target="_blank"Communities in Schools/a works with other nonprofit organizations to bring programs into schools to help students with academics, social issues, counseling, mentoring, and financial support. As students passed by our classroom throughout the day while we were working I came to understand how important Communities in Schools is to each of them. Their smiles and excitement over the changes we were making was priceless.img src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/conviocaresgroup.jpg" style="float: right;" alt="Convio Cares Group Photo 2010" //p pOur challenge was that the classroom was not originally well suited for the activities that take place in it. There are often sensitive conversations that counselor and volunteers need to have with students. Small groups of students also need an environment where they can feel at home, distinct from the other classrooms that they are sitting in throughout the day. We were asked to think of a way that we could divide the room into several areas that could be comfortably used for various activities. We wanted to soften the room with design, decorations, and furniture. /p pWe supplemented a small budget with donated items from a href="http://www.topstexas.com/" target="_blank"TOPS/a, a local office furniture and supply company that donated literally a 14 foot truck full of shelves, chairs, tables, and other supplies. The shelves were used to divide the room into 3 sections and then we used curtains, lamps, rugs, and shades to create unique spaces. Lunch was also donated by a href="http://www.jasonsdeli.com/" target="_blank"Jasonrsquo;s Deli/a which we gobbled up as we learned more about Communities in Schools and the work they do from the program coordinator, Melissa. /p pI also love to volunteer because it reminds me of how the money that Irsquo;m helping nonprofit organizations raise is being used. Itrsquo;s important to keep this in mind when designing campaigns to acquire new supporters or raise awareness for a cause. Itrsquo;s fun to feel physically tired after a day off good deeds. The results from our efforts at Convio last week: almost 30 projects completed in 7 states and DC which amounts to thousands of hours donated to help out some great causes. Check out pictures from several of the projects at our a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/convio/sets/72157624081850284/" target="_blank"Convio Flickr photo set for Convio Cares Week 2010/a./p pstrongUpdate: /strongI forgot to mention another generous donor who helped us out on the project.nbsp; span style="font-family: quot;Calibriquot;,quot;sans-serifquot;; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA;"HOME DEPOT La Frontera donated: 4 area rugs, chain for curtain system and other small items like zip ties, adhesive spray.nbsp; The rugs were a huge help because they can generally be so expensive.nbsp; Thanks a href="http://www6.homedepot.com" target="_blank"Home Depot/a!/span/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=nikc1nGXUig:yHy0lPFN1Cs:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Jordan Viator/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/jordan-viator-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pIrsquo;ve decided that one of the next areas I want to put some concerted focus around is the topic of ldquo;influencing your influencers,rdquo; an area thatrsquo;s really caught my eye for the past year.nbsp; The heart of almost all social media tools is tapping into the power of online word of mouth, and the best way to achieve that is by having influential sources share a message on your behalf./p pThere are influencers and evangelists among all social media networks.nbsp; These are the people that have developed social media ldquo;credrdquo;.nbsp; They are different from your regular user; they are more invested, spending countless hours engaging with others.nbsp; They also have a nose for what is the truth and whatrsquo;s not.nbsp; It is important to understand who your influencers are and what makes them so passionate about you,nbsp;because simply put,nbsp;influencersnbsp;can benbsp;your biggest cheerleaders - cheerleaders who will scream your message through an oversized megaphone, as long as that message stays true to your mission.nbsp; /p pOne of the most recent examples I've seen that exemplifies this concept is from the organization a href="http://www.freethekids.org/" target="_blank"Free The Kids/a that used its influencers earlier this year when the earthquake in Haiti struck.nbsp; With a full-time staff of only 2 people (one of which is the on-site Priest running the program in Haiti), Free The Kids focuses on helping Haitian orphans.nbsp; And at the time the Haiti disaster occurred in January 2010, the nonprofit had virtually no social media presence aside from the a href="http://pwojeespwa.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"Father Marcrsquo;s blog/anbsp;updating supporters of the organization's work in Haiti./p pAfter the earthquake struck, the organization sent an email to its core group of supporters informing constituents that without donations, the organization-run orphanage in Haiti would run out of food in 4 days. And with no Twitter account containing an outlet to reach online followers, this was the best and really only form of communication they had at disposal for quick outreach.nbsp;nbsp;/p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/email_1.png" alt="Free The Kids Haiti Disaster Email Donation Appeal" //p pemHowever/em, an online supporter who was social media savvy utilized the practice of reaching out to a group of influencial Twitter users to get the message out and promote social sharing of the need for immediate donations.nbsp; One large influencer, a href="http://twitter.com/neilhimself" target="_blank"author Neil Gaiman/a, shared the message sent to him which was dispersed to his strong1.4 million + Twitter followers/strong. He used his megaphone to spread the message to his own followers about something he felt was a worthy and timely cause./p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/twitter-ftk-neil.jpg" alt="Free The Kids Nonprofit Social MediaTwitter Donation Appeal" //p pA surge in gifts and donations quickly found their way to Free The Kids through the avenues created by influencers and advocates.nbsp; By using a bit.ly URL, the organization was able to measure the actual click-throughs of the message and even see what other online entities on which users were sharing the message./p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/twitter-ftk.jpg" alt="Nonprofit Social Media Metrics Free The KidsTwitter" //p pThe initial email would have fallen on a much, much smaller audience had one super advocate not reached out to Twitter influencers who carried the influence to reach such a mass audience.nbsp; And now, the organization not only received the funding to help in the time of crisis, but it also was able to leverage these social media efforts to help build its housefile for future online marketing activities. /p pThis is just one small example of how important it is to engage and keep your users and potential influencers passionate about the cause you drive.nbsp; You wonrsquo;t need your influencers every day, but when you do need them, they can be absolutely instrumental in your success./p pAny other great examples of campaigns tapping into the power of "influencing the influencers"?/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=zxGOcNF29Bs:17eTKNrzA14:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Lacey Kruger/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/lacey_kruger-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pWhat catches your eye when you look at your web sitersquo;s homepage? What is the first thing you see and the first thing you want to click on? These are questions we almost always ask during a usability test to ensure our visual hierarchy is coming through clearly and consistently. Think of the visual hierarchy as the pecking order of a pagersquo;s content, providing cues as to whatrsquo;s most important. If your organization wants, first and foremost, to bring in donations, then a compelling ask should rank high in your list. Maybe yoursquo;d rather get visitors to take an action alert or read a new study yoursquo;ve published. Your visual hierarchy should reflect your organizationrsquo;s goals, whatever those may be at the time./p pTake a look at the Blockbuster web site. Since Netflix arrived on the scene, one of their goals is likely to obtain subscribers to the DVD-by-mail program. From their homepage, the first thing I see is the ldquo;Try it freerdquo; button on the ldquo;Movies Deliveredrdquo; promo. The ldquo;Learn Morerdquo; for Blockbuster On Demand also stands out, which is likely reflective of another one of Blockbusterrsquo;s goals.br /br /img src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/blockbuster_homepage.gif" alt="Blockbuster.com Homepage" //p pThe Jewish National Fund site also demonstrates a good visual hierarchy. My eyes are drawn to the ldquo;Donaterdquo; button in the top navigation bar and the graphic in the ldquo;Plant a Treerdquo; promotional box, both of which are major goals for the organization. /p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/jnf.gif" alt="Jewish National Fund Homepage" //p pMany of you may be so used to looking at your web site that you may not see a visual hierarchy anymore. Or, the one you do see may be artificially influenced by what you know is most important. In that case, have a friend take a look at your site and tell you what they see first. You could try a ldquo;5-second testrdquo; where you display the homepage for 5 seconds, then close it and ask your friend to write down what they remember. If their list does not correspond to your organizational goals, then consider rearranging the page or redesigning certain elements. Yoursquo;re likely to see more clicks and actions taken as a result./pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=xVKwYsq4rk4:E5i_y20JijI:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Brandy Reppy/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/brandy_reppy-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pLike any other technophile out there, I'm constantly finding new ways to clutter up my virtual space with gadgets, feeds, and bookmarks. But recently, after a weekend of spring cleaning at home, I decided that maybe it was time to do some geeky spring cleaning as well./p pWith an approach similar to cleaning out a closet, I began sorting through the clutter around me in my virtual space. Asking myself questions like, "I know you like the author, but do you ever really read this?" or "Can you even remember the last time you used this application?", I may as well have been standing in my closet pulling tattered jeans off of the hangers. After a while, I finally had widdled away a large chunk of hard drive space, and I reveled in my new freedom to focus./p pI realized in doing this that there are a lot of analogies between the closet content and website content. For example, news websites like a href="http://www.bbc.com/"BBC.com/a are the little black dress of the web world; the styles may vary, but every woman needs a good one that she can turn to. Conversely, websites like a href="http://www.hampsterdance.com/classics/originaldance.htm"The Hampster Dance/a are the a href="http://www.zubaz.com/"Zubaz/a of the web world. We all loved them at some point, but their relevance was short-lived. (Wait, we ALL loved them, right?) /p pThere's nothing wrong with the difference - in fact, people often underestimate the value of the quick, topical website. As consumers, we generally understand our responsibility to sort through these different types of information consumption and figure out which one matters the most to us. But as producers, do we always understand our responsibility to figure out what our sites' purposes are and to create that experience for our consumers? The answer in a lot of cases is no./p pHow does this apply to your organization? Do you think visitors can tell what type of website you are trying to be? If you think you have a handle on this with your organization's website, give itnbsp;the friend-linknbsp;test. /p pFirst, take a few minutes to really think about what the primary goal you want people to achieve is on your site, and how you want your site to be perceived. Now, go to your site and click around it the way you would if your friend sent you a link to a site you'd never been to before. Ask yourself a few questions as you click around, approachingnbsp;the content like any clutter-cleaning project: Is there a consistent theme in what you have on your site, or does it seem slightly frenetic? Are you trying to be too trendy in some sections? Has the content evolved with your organization? Are there areas of the site that never get updated? If so, is this because you simply have neglected them, or is it because they are no longer useful? These are basic questions, but their answers can reveal a lot about your site. /p pLike keeping a closet orderly, keeping your website clutter-freenbsp;is not effortless. But neither is finding information on a site that's in disarray. As a producer, the greater responsibility of creating the order, theme, and consistency falls on you. And the final productnbsp;- a neat,nbsp;organized,nbsp;websitenbsp;wherenbsp;everyonenbsp;cannbsp;find what they are looking fornbsp;-nbsp;is well worth the effort.nbsp;/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=bZzFJBf6frg:jegTNqT-ydM:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div

pAuthor: Jordan Viator/pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/author-photos/jordan-viator-thumb.jpg" style="float:left; margin:5px;" alt="" / pOnline fundraising programs are presenting new and effective ways for nonprofit organizations to raise more money and reach a wider audience more than ever, especially when integrated with other nonprofit organization communications efforts. In recent years though, organizations have found that more than just a simple donate now button linked from an email is needed to get the attention of information-overloaded supporters who are spending more and more time online ndash; and being bombarded with more messages, online invitations and digital marketing than ever before. /p pNumerous noteworthy campaigns have surfaced as of late, breaking through the clutter and compelling online users to not only donate but also attaching a tangible element to the somewhat general act of donating online. Mission inspired gifts specifically, or using ecommerce to allow supporters to ldquo;purchaserdquo; certain tangible objects that reflect what funds are used for in supporting an organizationrsquo;s mission, have proven to be an effective way of harnessing these elements in raising funds online. (These are often referred to as gift catalogues, as well) /p pAfter hearing about a href="https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=rwihkzar4qbl" target="_blank"strongthis webinar next week/strong/anbsp;with a href="http://www.commonknow.com" target="_blank"Common Knowledge/a, Defenders of Wildlife, Operation Smile and Sierra Club sharing their strategy, program concepts and best practices for implementing gift catalogues, I was inspired to dig around and make a list of 10 noteworthy campaigns using this concept. /p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/gifts-oxfam.jpg" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px;" alt="Gifts: Oxfam" /1. a href="http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/home.php" target="_blank"strongOxfam Unwrapped/strong/a ndash; Oxfam is well-known for working to end poverty and injustice worldwide, but wanted to find a way to show how the money supporters donated went to provide simple things to people, villages and movements around the globe. Not only can you buy, well in family friendly terms a href="http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/Manure-charitable-gift.html" target="_blank"manure/a, but you can also see a number of a href="http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/unique-gifts.html" target="_blank"other items/anbsp;at incrementally larger price points that make various different impacts. Theyrsquo;ve also done a great jobs on including descriptions for each item in their ecommerce store on hoe exactly that item helps a specific need. For example: if you purchase to ldquo;a href="http://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/Dig-a-well-gift.html" target="_blank"train a midwife/ardquo; it tells you this ldquo;Help[s] train a midwife working in rural communities to provide prenatal care and birthing support to pregnant women. /p p2. a href="https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_homepage#AllAnimals" target="_blank"strongDefenders of Wildlife Adoption and Gift Center/strong/a ndash; Here you can adopt animals from a href="https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_seaotter" target="_blank"Sea Otters/anbsp;to a href="https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_tiger" target="_blank"Tigers/anbsp;to a href="https://secure.defenders.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=wagc_snowyowl" target="_blank"Snowy Owls/a. They take the idea of the emotional tie people feel when seeing pictures of (yes cute) animals and allow them to actually ldquo;adoptrdquo; the animal of a supporterrsquo;s choice to illustrate how that personrsquo;s money is helping to save the lives and well-being of creatures shown in the ecommerce store. /p p3. a href="http://www.animalgift.org/site/c.ftIRI3PIKqG/b.5577977/k.989A/Unique_Animal_Holiday_Gifts.htm" target="_blank"strongInternational Fund for Animal Welfare/strong/andash; Similar to Defenders above, IFAW also allows for donations to provide ldquo;the gist of liferdquo; for seals, bear cubs and cats and dogs. Their clean interface and beautiful photography is inspiring to browse, and the offer of tangible gifts like stuffed animals of the breed you are supporting add additional incentive to participate in the program. /p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/gifts-seva.jpg" style="float: right; margin-left: 5px; margin-right: 5px;" alt="Gifts: SEVA" /4. a href="http://support.nature.org/site/PageServer?pagename=holidaygiving_xx_hgg" target="_blank"strongThe Nature Conservancy/strong/andash; The ecommerce offerings of the organization highlights a ton of ldquo;giftsrdquo; including adopting reefs, trees, habitats for hummingbirds and jaguars ndash; things similar to the organizations above. But they take the offering one step further by presenting the option to literally adopt an acre of land in areas all over the world. See a href="http://adopt.nature.org/acre/australia/gift.html" target="_blank"the example of Australia/a. Think of all the locations around the entire planet that are important to people that they can now personally impact. /p p5. a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=WildPlacesamp;s_src=N10ZSCHP05" target="_blank"strongSierra Club Sponsor a Wild Place/strong/andash; Sierra Club takes a mix of the elements above, using ecommerce to sell a href="http://action.sierraclub.org/site/PageServer?pagename=VirtualSponsorships" target="_blank"virtual sponsorships of locations/a as well as adding an incentive of gifts supporters receive when donating. To all the animal lovers out there: who wouldnrsquo;t love a little stuffed animal or photo of the location you helped save? /p p6. a href="http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gos2008_home" target="_blank"strongSeva Foundation Gifts of Service/strong/andash; Putting compassion and caring to work with supporter donations, the Seva Foundation ecommerce items include a href="http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gos2009_T1" target="_blank"restoring sight to a blind person/a, money for projects a href="http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gos2009_G1" target="_blank"that alleviate suffering caused by poverty and disease/a and a href="http://www.seva.org/site/PageServer?pagename=gos2009_G3" target="_blank"providing human rights and medical support to women and girls/a. /p pimg src="http://www.connectioncafe.com/assets/blog-images/gifts-red.jpg" style="float: right; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 5px;" alt="Gifts: RED" /7. a href="http://www.joinred.com/#shopred" target="_blank"strongThe Red Campaign/strong/andash; Known for tying their mission of ending AIDS in Africa into contemporary brandrsquo;s marketing and entertainment projects, The Red Campaign offers a more mainstream way of supporting the organization. Supporters, or even online consumers, can purchase actual consumer products like a customized pair of Converse sneakers, red ldquo;Beats By Drerdquo; Monster headphones or a red iPod nano with proceeds benefiting the organization. The beauty of this campaign? All of the ecommerce items are popular items consumers are purchasing anyways, so by adding a personalized or unique branding element, the campaign benefits from something online consumers were probably already planning to purchase. /p p8. a href="http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/company/aboutUs.jsp" target="_blank"strongNational Geographic/strong/andash; Organizing elements of their site by the missions they support, NatGeo supporters can purchase personal items through their online ecommerce store, knowing that each purchase they make helps support the various missions. Like the Red Campaign, consumer goods (typically NatGeo branded) can be bought to add value to the buyer while also benefitting a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/projects.html" target="_blank"critical expeditions/a or a href="http://www.nationalgeographic.com/field/explorers" target="_blank"scientific fieldwork/a. /p p9. a href="http://www.costaricaturtles.com/costa_new_gifts.html" target="_blank"strongSave the Turtles/strong/andash; With an emphasis on branded clothing, Save the Turtles makes being an advocate of the cause both fulfilling for a supporter, but also smart for the organization in that supporters will likely publicly support their cause throughout the year when wearing apparel marketing the cause. /p p10. a href="http://www.operationsmile.org/gift-catalog/home.html" target="_blank"strongOperation Smile/strong/andash; ldquo;Life-changingrdquo; gifts fill the online catalogue for Operation Smile. a href="https://secure.operationsmile.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=trueamp;product_id=2041amp;store_id=2021" target="_blank"Antibiotics for 10 kids/a, a href="https://secure.operationsmile.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=trueamp;product_id=2001amp;store_id=2021" target="_blank"equipping a volunteer surgeon/a and a href="https://secure.operationsmile.org/site/Ecommerce?VIEW_PRODUCT=trueamp;product_id=2061amp;store_id=2021" target="_blank"childrenrsquo;s pain medication/a are just a few items for ldquo;salerdquo; that literally help to make the efforts the organization make on daily basis to change the lives of children around the world for the better. /p pEach of the above exemplify creative and powerful ways to connect the mission of an organization to the emotional (and yes, sometimes materialistic) ties of supporters, helping to drive crucial funding in ways that resonate with donors. If yoursquo;re interested in learning more about how some of the above organizations are designing and implementing these programs, donrsquo;t miss a href="https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/schedule/display.do?udc=rwihkzar4qbl" target="_blank"next Tuesdayrsquo;s webinar outlining gift catalogue examples and tips./a /p p*And as a bonus, as our ldquo;transmedia specialistrdquo; Josh points out not tonbsp;forget a href="http://www.newmansown.com/" target="_blank"Newmanrsquo;s Own/a!/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?i=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?a=jDfNvPE_vGc:xluDkXzt1G0:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/ConnectionCafe?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a /div