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[encorehq-blog]

ENCORE BLOG HAS A NEW HOME

ENCORE BLOG HAS A NEW HOME 

BLOGBYENCORE.COM

Or keep track of Encore and our musings about nonprofit communications, innovation, tech, community, and design through Facebook and Twitter. 

[encorehq-blog]

Our First Webinar: Making Email Newsletters Valuable Again

We recently had the privilege of co-hosting a webinar with Giftworks, and it was an awesome experience. We had over 300 nonprofits tune in for the one-hour presentation, which you can find above.

The webinar covers:

Why even have a newsletter in the first place (setting goals)

How to generate better content, faster

Increasing open rates

Increasing clickthrough rates

Final takeaways from 2012

We're also opening up to one-on-one demos on our website, www.encorehq.com, if you're interested! Encore, our flagship service, builds in all of the best practices discussed in this webinar into the newsletter creation process.

[encorehq-blog]

For Goodness Sake, Please Send an Email Today

Only one thing you need to know for this post:

1/3 of all online donations happen in December, and huge portions of that come on the 30th and 31st. HUGE portions.

Only one thing you need to do:

Even if you've already sent your end-of-year appeal, send out a reminder email now. You're losing out on a huge opportunity if you don't. One story about what you've done in 2012, and one more request for support!

[mercycorps]

Mercy Corps team member Sanjay Gurung has the rare gift of being able to make his subjects feel at ease in front of the lens. The result is often engaging portraits like this one of a novice Buddhist monk in Myanmar. 

See the other Mercy Corps Ten Best Photos of 2012.

[encorehq-blog]

How Your Nonprofit Can Capture December’s Giving Trend

Our friends at Software Advice wrote this awesome article. Here's a quick excerpt which we really liked. 

The holidays are upon us, and nonprofit organizations are scrambling to capture a share of holiday generosity. Statistics show that December represents a third of all online giving. And 22 percent of year-round donations accumulate in the last two days of the month.

Additionally, December donors tend to give more than supporters in other months. In fact, Network for Good's Online Giving Study shows they donate 52 percent more. The study also says,

“December is the strongest month for most organizations offline. It’s even more so online. Further, it’s not just the month of December that’s spectacular, it’s the last couple of days, and even last few hours that make the difference.”

Americans want to donate to charitable causes during this time of year. In a survey conducted by The American Red Cross, 80 percent of Americans surveyed said helping those who are less fortunate is an important part of their holiday tradition. And 70 percent who donated in the last holiday season said they planned to donate the same or more in the upcoming season.

Here's an example of one of their suggestions

Make Giving Easy

Prospective donors shouldn’t have to search for a donation page. Frogloop writer Allyson Kapin suggests a big, bold, clear call-to-donate button. “This should be incredibly obvious in your navigation and in a callout box towards the top of your website. If you want to raise money, the donate button should not be buried and de-emphasized on your website.”

To see the rest of their suggestions, we recommend you check out their full article for more great advice

[encorehq-blog]

Donor insights from NTEN’s latest report

Happy Wednesday all!

NTEN recently released a Nonprofit Donor Engagement report that surveyed about 1,000 donors about their giving behavior. It’s a quick read and very organized, so we definitely recommend you check it out…But if you happen to be busy with the million things you need to do for your end-of-year campaign, here’s some quick highlights we found particularly useful:

“Donors gave an average of 67% of their annual amount to their favorite charity”

What it means: You have big fans out there! Find the people who care most about your cause and make sure you keep feeding their bellies with updates about their money and other opportunities to act on behalf of your cause. Speaking of which…

“Only 27% of donors reported a desire to sign a petition once a year or more frequently. Just 20% were willing to contact legislators or elected officials by phone or email on behalf of the nonprofit. Finally, just 18% said they would share their story, related to their favorite charity’s cause once per year or more often.”

What it means: You need to make it as EASY and SIMPLE as possible for someone to act. Everyone hates cold-calling people. You can’t be gimmicky. And some people think giving is enough – don’t press people to do things, just give people the opportunity to; some will jump on it excitedly, the others won’t feel pushed.

“The majority of donors (65%) reported supporting their favorite charity because they ‘believe in the charity’s cause,’ and nearly a third (30%) reported that they did so because they wanted to ‘help make change happen.’”

What it means: Impact. People give because they care about your mission and want to see change. SHOW THEM THE CHANGE. THEY’LL WANT TO SEE MORE, AND PROBABLY GIVE YOU MORE.

  “30% of donors reported being thanked immediately, and 21% reported that they were never thanked.”

What it means: Noooooooo. These are terrible statistics. Immediate thank you’s are a must (and honestly not hard to implement, so you don’t have an excuse). It’s also a really good idea to shoot a quick update with another thank you a month or two later. It’s great to be reminded about how generous you are! The problem is waiting until the end of the year and accompanying it with another ask…come on, we all know what you’re trying to do!

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the full report!

[encorehq-blog]

Email will Soon Change

Today, we’re going to take a step back and offer some thoughts about technology and how email is changing.

In the past, most people received five to twenty emails per day; a substantial number, but certainly not overwhelming. It wasn't too difficult to read through all of your messages, respond to the urgent ones, and save the others for another day.

But now it’s a whole new ball game.

Today, it’s not uncommon to receive upwards of a hundred emails per day across three email accounts. If it doesn’t elicit an immediate response, a message will likely be buried by nightfall.

Email still behaves linearly as a constant stream of disconnected information that comes in at random times and from an assortment of places. Unlike many of its fellow web tools, email has yet to undergo a significant evolution.

We’ve seen it across the board with other technologies: the iPhone changed the way we communicate via text, the way we manage data through using organized apps, and how we receive real-time information. Windows 8 is following suit with its app-based desktop format. Google paved the way for how we find information on the internet. Most recently, exploding sites like Reddit and Facebook aggregate and filter popular content, bringing relevant information directly to the user.

It’s a fact: the younger generation’s attention span is shorter than ever. Goodbye text, hello video. How about just status updates and tweets? Now, GIFs and memes.  

Now, we’re not saying email is becoming irrelevant; it’s still the best way to push out content to specific audiences.  But it better be easy to consume, or it’ll find its way to the trashcan rather quickly.

[encorehq-blog]

Charity: Ball 2012 (Studying Campaign Page Design)

Charity: water recently launched a page inviting supporters to its annual gala, charity: ball. The same event last year, held in NYC, raised $2.2 million dollars. In one night.

We're spotlighting the page today because it's a great example of how impactful a single webpage can be. There's:

1) The beautiful typography. Even though the rest of the page is not terribly fancy, the headline sets the tone and says a lot about what this gala will be about.

2) The video. Notice that this page actually doesn't have a lot of information about what happens during the gala; other than the Waterwalk description (presumably a twist this year thanks to sponsors) and the subheadline, the page is designed to have you learn about the gala through a graphical format (the video), which they rely on to get you excited. Watch it!

3) Advance tickets. Something every organization can learn from, it's an easy way to generate and gauge purchase early on for planning and for funding purposes. 

A final note: it's not a coincidence that this feels a little like a wedding invitation. Even though this invite has been sent out to all supporters (and by no means an exclusive VIP list), the site is a little classier in tone than the rest of the organization's website and truly feels like an exclusive invitation... which is how you should treat everyone coming to your events too. 

[doctorswithoutborders]

Photo: The grounds the MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, seen at dusk. Afghanistan 2012 © Michael Goldfarb

Letter from North Afghanistan: “This Is Life and Death Under a Magnifying Glass”

Nurse Brett Adamson recently completed a six-month mission in Kunduz,Afghanistan, where Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a hospital providing emergency surgery to people with life-threatening injuries. Below is some of what he wrote while he was there:

Today we watched a child die. We had done all that we could, but there are always limits. He was hit by a speeding motorcycle, cracking his skull.

The child was hooked up to a ventilation machine. We have four in our intensive care unit and they have saved many lives—of people hurt in bomb blasts, wounded by gun shots, or with head traumas. We kept the child alive to see if he might recover—buying time for healing, for the family to pray, for us to hope. Unfortunately he didn’t make it, but thankfully the majority do.

This child was hit by a speeding motorcycle. His family is present when I turn off the ventilator and pull the tube from his lips to see if he can breathe on his own. We have talked with them many times about his extremely poor chances of survival. If a child stops breathing, we know the bleeding or swelling inside the head has progressed to the point that almost all brain function has been lost.

The boy cannot keep breathing on his own. His bed is surrounded by people—his family, two doctors, a nurse, the nurse from the morning shift who has stayed on—all eager to do anything possible for the dying child. The child is gasping for breath, so we relieve his distress with drugs; a push on a syringe eases his suffering. Family members hold his hand, a nurse washes his face.

This is life and death under a magnifying glass. The boy gasps occasionally and again we settle him, his heart rate nearly stopping between each gasp. Family members ritually trickle a tiny amount of water into his lips. We suction his mouth and we comfort the family. Eventually he slips away.

We wash him, dress him, tie his jaw closed and his toes together, and wrap him in a clean sheet. A brother sheds tears.

The family wants to take him now. The father thanks us for our efforts, wraps his child in a blanket and carries him outside to an old station wagon borrowed from a friend. I hold his child for him as he climbs into the back. I pass him the child and he cradles him and they drive away to their home in the mountains.

We clean the bed, clean the equipment and attend to the other patients. Then we make up the bed with fresh sheets, and within a couple of hours it is filled with someone new. 

[encorehq-blog]

Occasionally we will re-post things from blogs we follow, but it's definitely not random. Today we read this post by Doctors Without Borders that epitomizes a great story to us--it's not only moving, but it shows the role the organization (and subsequently, the donor) is playing in the bigger problem.

[encorehq-blog]

Transparency & Impact Continue as Top Priority for Donors

First off - we'd like to apologize for falling a little behind on the SoundCheck blog. We're coming off an incredibly busy launch weekend in which Encore was named "DC's Hottest Start-up" and exhibited at the Independent Sector conference in San Francisco. 

We'll get back to our normal blog schedule next week, but wanted to give you a quick update.

On Katya's blog today, she references a new report by Blackbaud titled "Donors Perspectives". Here are two of the most critical insights you need to know from the report:

"Of the respondents that would consider becoming regular donors, the top three motivating factors were reported to be: 1) having an improvement in their personal financial situation, 2) having a passion for an organization’s mission, and 3) having access to information that proved the impact of their contributions."

Many respondents (20 to 30 percent) reported that they had stopped making regular donations to an organization in the past three years citing their financial situation and lack of transparency on the charity’s part.

Once again, a recent study finds that showing impact is an extremely high priority for donors. It's sometimes relevant to share broader news related to your organizations' cause, but it is most important to showcase the difference your organization is making in a tangible way; we recommend photos, testimonials, and even videos - the most effective devices for clearly showing impact.

See everyone next week!

[encorehq-blog]

Tips to Making the Most of Nonprofit Conferences

This Saturday, our team is flying out to San Francisco for the annual Independent Sector conference. To celebrate, we thought we’d put together some conference tips for everyone attending this or other conferences!

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 As a nonprofit, you’ve probably attended a few conferences, whether it be to learn how to communicate with donors, to fundraise more effectively, or to simply just network. No matter what your intention is, here are some tips to keep in mind to get the most out of your experience:

 Do Your Homework: Take the time before you attend the conference to learn about why it’s being held, the speakers, the content, as well as the attendees. Read over the brochures of speakers, mingling events, and more, so you can start planning out your conference schedule.

 Why are you at the conference? Think about what you want to get out of the conference and how your nonprofit is relatable to the conference. Doing so will allow you to know better what you want to learn and how you can get there.

 Network, network, network! Networking is such an important part of a conference: A lot of the information you find at speaker sessions and panels are valuable but by listening and talking ideas with other attendees you really learn how to improve your nonprofit. You get firsthand advice and experience stories from others who have been through or are going through the same process as you.

Questions are important: When you’re networking, you’re doing so to make new connections, collaborate, or to learn about new ideas. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. You should be learning about the other people taking part in your conversation.

Get out there: Don’t be afraid to meet or talk to a variety of people. That’s why you’re at the conference! Talking to different people gets you different perspectives on certain issues. It’s important to meet and connect with people who have different specialties.

Social Networks: Some conferences have their own social networks. Whatever is being used, use it before, during, or after the conference. If people see your tweets, pictures, etc. on the web, it’ll be easier to break the ice with people when you meet them. Be social! Search up the hashtag for your upcoming conference and check out who’s posting in it! Be sure to post your own content using that hashtag and join in on the conversation!

Follow up: You attended the conference, and now you’re back at home! Time to follow up with the people you just met. Don’t wait for people to call you. Contact the people you want to connect with. Shoot them an email letting them know how much you enjoyed the conversation and go from there. If you go home with a bunch of business cards but never contact the people you met again, then the networking was a bit of a waste wasn’t it?

 Balance is Key: Conferences can be stressful when you’re running around attending sessions, meeting so many new people, and adjusting to a new environment. Remember to take care of yourself! Eat a good breakfast, and keep hydrated. Sleep at a proper time and exercise regularly. That way, you can be your most effective self when need be.

 Check out this list of nonprofit conferences that are less than $1000! All are highly helpful and engaging conferences that you should go to. Remember the conference tips when you are there to get the most out of your experience.

Conferences are such great places to get your name out there, meet great people, and just to have fun. Good luck and remember these tips! 

[encorehq-blog]

The Content vs. The Channel: A Short Analogy

We've written in the past: way too many nonprofits are concerned about having a Facebook page for the sake of having one or "being cool," but they're not being used effectively because the substantive strategy and content just isn't there. We thought of a short analogy to illustrate how ludicrous this is.

Consider Disney.

Sure, when you think of Disney, you think of things like Disneyland, the Disney store (and the hundreds of dollars parents have to spend), cruises, mascots, restaurants, resorts, magnets, toys... you name it. Disney is everywhere in the world (literally) and an integral part of our culture.

But what would Disney be without its stories and characters? 

Nothing.

Everything starts with your stories. The channels are there to amplify your message; they are useless without the message.

[encorehq-blog]

What You Need to Know About Millennials

Last week, we had the honor of taking part of a panel event hosted by the Emerging Arts Leaders DC, titled “Creative Conversation: Fundraising in the Millennial Age.”

This was our first panel, so it was a bit nervewracking. Shout-out to the Artisphere, Ryan Holladay of the music duo Bluebrain (they have a crazy amazing app idea), Shannon Siemens of Wolf Trap (one of our favorite venues here in DC), and the one and only JR Russ, performer and crowdfunding rockstar.

It was a really cool opportunity to hear other speakers’ thoughts about how nonprofits can engage the next generation of donors online, as well as share some of our own ideas!

Many of our insights into fundraising to Millennials stem from The Millennial Impact Report – it’s a quick read that’s super helpful when you start to think about your strategy for reaching younger donors.

We definitely recommend you check out the full report, but here are some key points we love and would like to highlight:

“Millennials want the chance to work on the front lines delivering services” - Young people love to get their hands on things and be the center of attention. Empower your younger supporters to be advocates of your cause and tap their creative energy!

“However, organizations will be wise not to use the latest technology just for the sake of ‘being cool’ - In our experience meeting with nonprofits, many use social media because they think they have to, and unfortunately have no real strategy behind it. If you have the capacity, social media can be an effective tool. But one Facebook post a month doesn’t look good.

“Three-quarters of the Millennials responding to our survey made a financial gift to a nonprofit organization in 2011” - Some fundraisers think younger donors aren’t willing to contribute money. Not true! While they tend to give less, recruiting the next generation of big givers now seems like an effective strategy!

“They want to know that their gifts will have an impact, and are interested in seeing the tangible results that will come from their giving” - I know, I know. The words “impact” and “tangible” make it into our posts every week; but they are so critical!

“When going to a nonprofit’s website, 89% of Millennials go first to the page that describes the mission of the organization” – I’m sure you’ve landed on a really visually appealing, sleek website, only to ask yourself, “What exactly does this organization do?” People look at your “About” page all of the time! Your “About” page should accomplish two crucial things: One, a clear description of the unique mission of your organization. Two, a compelling story about the difference you make.

[encorehq-blog]

Storytelling in the Spotlight

Recently, there’s been a lot of buzz going around about nonprofit storytelling – and we can’t be more excited.

Encore’s philosophy is that it all starts with a story: a moving story of impact and change inspires us to give, to volunteer, to act; and when we act, we help an organization create even more stories. The cycle of effective storytelling is a powerful phenomenon.

Katya Andresen from Network for Good recently posted a great article 7 Ways To Improve Your Storytelling. As she always does, Katya offers some really straightforward, actionable advice for charities. Our favorite part is when she says: “Everybody has a story to tell. So go find them. If you don’t have a great story, turn to your volunteers, turn to your coworkers, or turn to the people you help.”

Yes! We totally agree at Encore! And that’s why we’re helping you capture all of these inspiring moments as they happen!

On one of our favorite new blogs re:charity, Kate Kardol recently wrote about what makes a powerful story. Kate shares some insight into some key elements of an effective story:

1. Make it relatable

2. Make it understandable

3. Define the problem/solution relationship

4. Be consistent

What a great framework! We’d add “Be authentic” – donors these days know when they’re just trying to be sold. They’ll see right through a manipulated story seeking to evoke pity. Instead, just speak from the heart. Highlight the positive. And as Katya recommends, talk to the people out in the field volunteering – they live your mission every day.

We highly recommend you check out the full posts referenced above.

Bring on the stories!

[mercycorps]

Update: Mercy Corps teams are now providing desperately needed assistance in Mali. The hunger crisis that stretches across the Sahel is particularly severe for the nearly 400,000 people who have been displaced within Mali this year, many of whom were  forced to flee their homes by political unrest and fighting. Without the land and animals they left behind, these families are especially vulnerable to one of the worst food shortage in decades.

Read more about how we’re working toward solutions to prevent a crisis like this from happening again.

[encorehq-blog]

This is really inspiring work in Mali! We here at Encore are big fans of what Mercy Corps does. Their approach is amazing because they are working on improving so many aspects of the lives of the people living in Mali, whether its education of the villagers or helping build better foundations within the villages. 

[encorehq-blog]

Email Tips from Operation: BBCON

Last week, we had the pleasure of attending Blackbaud’s annual conference “bbcon 2012” in Washington, DC. While the motivation for our visit may or may not have been a spy mission (it was), we had the chance to meet some really great people and attend some really cool presentation.

Our favorite was delivered by Mike Snusz, a senior internet consultant at Blackbaud, who talked about emerging email trends for nonprofits. It was a goldmine of tips and tricks to improve your email right now – many of which we are directly incorporating into Encore in accordance with our “built-in best practices” methodology.

We wanted to share with you one of our favorite pieces of Mike’s presentation:

Email is still the most effective online communication channel for nonprofits – most donors prefer email over other routes. However, the central goal of email (often overlooks or not explicitly considered) is to encourage donors to engage the charity through other channels.

While email is the best point-of-attack weapon, it’s still limited, dry, and cluttered – that’s why click-through rates are so important: you need to get your donors to visit more engaging content that is more likely to spark action.

As Mike described, your email should be a visually-appealing “dashboard” that delivers a central message and then enables donors to easily click-through to social media, your website, videos, and other more engaging content.

How do you do this? Here are five simple steps to get you started:

1)      Keep your subject line under 34 characters

2)      Stick to a central message in your email: too much text = insta-delete

3)      Embed a video: click-through rates are 2-3x higher when a video is included

4)      More and more people are opening email via a smartphone – open up your newsletter on your phone to make sure the dimensions and text size are appropriate

5)     Clickable images are great, but also include a text link – if the viewer doesn’t display images, he/she won’t know to click-through

[encorehq-blog]

First World Problems

We discovered this short WaterisLife.com video today, and we think it's awesome.

A lot of people see it as just another guilt trip, but we see it as an innovative message that blends real (ridiculous) first world problems and social media trends to hit home. Which side do you land on?

It isn't all that ridiculous when you compare it to something like this: