Author: CharityHowTo

A Beginner's Guide to Video Marketing for Nonprofits to Inspire Action

A Beginner's Guide to Video Marketing for Nonprofits to Inspire Action

Telefundraising: Is It Still Effective for Nonprofits?

Telefundraising: Is It Still Effective for Nonprofits?

Nonprofit Storytelling 101

Nonprofit Storytelling 101: How This Powerful Technique Can Make More Impact

How to Ask for Donations: 3 Easy Phases for Effective Fundraising

How to Ask for Donations: 3 Easy Phases for Effective Fundraising

Micro Donations: The 3 Big Benefits of Asking Small

Micro Donations: The 3 Big Benefits of Asking Small

Major Donor Strategy: How to Build a Major Gift Fundraising Program

Major Donor Strategy: How to Build a Major Gift Fundraising Program

4 Awesome Marketing Ideas for Nonprofits that Still Work in 2023

When a major brand like McDonald’s or Nike has something to sell, they don’t just tell their friends and family.

6 Latest Social Media Trends for Nonprofits

You’ve heard it who knows how many times.

Millennials & Philanthropy

When you think of millennials, who do you think of? How do you imagine them in your mind?

Text-to-Give Fundraising Isn’t Just for Disaster Relief Anymore

When cell phones became mainstream (and even more so with the rise of smartphones), text-to-give fundraising jumped onto the scene.

Monthly Giving Programs: 3 Things to Consider

Nonprofit monthly giving programs are popping up everywhere. It’s one of the most popular (and amazing!) nonprofit trends.

SEO for Nonprofit: 7 Tips for Setting Your Site Up to Rank on Google

Maybe you’ve heard other nonprofit professionals talking about it.

Fundraising Psychology 101: What Is It? Plus 3 Strategies You Can Use

As nonprofit professionals, we “make the ask” at one point or another. But asking someone to donate to your organization can feel overwhelming.

Nonprofit Copywriting: 5 Major Dos and 4 Don’ts for Writing Effective Copy

Does this sound familiar?

It’s Time! 5 End of Year Giving Campaign Tips Plus 3 Strategy Ideas

It’s Time! 5 End of Year Giving Campaign Tips Plus 3 Strategy Ideas

How Can Nonprofit Professional Development Prepare You for Leadership?

Today’s current nonprofit leaders were once in the same shoes you’re in now.

How to Build Stronger Staff and Volunteer Relationships | CharityHowTo

How to Build Stronger Staff and Volunteer Relationships for Little to No Cost! Very rarely are nonprofit organizations one-person shows. They require plenty of teamwork to make the biggest impact possible. And that either means working with nonprofit staff or nonprofit volunteers. But there’s a difference between having people work with a nonprofit and getting them to love working with a nonprofit! That’s why building strong nonprofit staff and volunteer relationships are so important. When your organization works to create a positive experience for all staff and volunteers, you reap the benefits. And some of those benefits look like: Having staff and volunteers who give their all when...

Featuring Our Wonderful Nonprofit Community: Krystina Burow

Today, we're featuring Krystina Burow, Development Officer at Tapestry Charter School Thank you, Krystina! 💙💚 Your comments take us to the moon and back! We're thrilled to hear how much our resources have helped you become a better nonprofit professional. This has been one of the most outstanding testimonials we've gotten so far, and we appreciate you taking the time to provide us with such amazing feedback. We hope you can continue learning and impacting the world positively with the wonderful work that YOU do. - The CharityHowTo team.

Featuring Our Wonderful Nonprofit Community: Serena Dallas

Today, we're featuring Serena Dallas, Marketing & Philanthropy Director at YMCA of Saskatoon Thank you, Serena! 💙💚 We love to provide you and all nonprofit professionals with high-quality training that can help your organization better reach your communities, strengthen relationships with your donors, and have the greatest impact on our societies. We hope you can continue learning and impacting the world positively with the wonderful work that YOU do. - The CharityHowTo team.

Featuring Our Wonderful Nonprofit Community: Andrea Giannini

Today, we're featuring Andrea Giannini, Development Manager at National Kidney Foundation Thank you, Andrea! 💙💚 It's great to hear you found our resources useful, and that the things that you learned from our webinars have been useful to you and your team! We hope you can continue learning and impacting the world positively with the wonderful work that YOU do. - The CharityHowTo team.

Cryptocurrency Donations: How To Get Started?

Free Nonprofit Webinar! Cryptocurrency Donations: 3 Things to Know About This Nonprofit Trend n any industry, certain trends come and go. And with changes and advances in technology, there are plenty of trends that revolve around the digital world. For this sector, one of those nonprofit technology trends is none other than cryptocurrency. No longer do nonprofit organizations need to be dependent on checks and cash donations. Nor do they need to only accept credit and debit cards or payment apps like Venmo, Zell, or PayPal. Cryptocurrency donations are on the rise. And we’re here to tell you the 3 things you need to know about this nonprofit trend. Plus, we have a free nonprofit webinar...

Develop a Workable Strategic Plan for your nonprofit

At the end of the 45-minute Nonprofit training, you will have the knowledge you need to create a strategic plan that will function as a road map to success for your organization. Nonprofits use strategic planning to focus their energy and limited resources on achieving their goals and objectives. Develop a Workable Strategic Plan for Your Nonprofit 0:01 Hello, my name is John Duffy and I'm pleased to be with you today to talk about strategic planning in this free for nonprofits webinar. 0:07 I have worked with strategic planning for nonprofits in numerous ways so I've seen the good and the bad. 0:13 Also I've worked in nonprofits in various positions as a volunteer, this page staff,...

Featuring Our Wonderful Nonprofit Community: Lena Jaffe

Today, we're featuring Lena Jaffe, Grant Writer of Downtown Streets Team. Thank you, Lena! 💙💚 We're really excited to hear that your grant writing has become better and more efficient as you've been learning from our courses. We hope you can continue learning and impacting the world positively with the wonderful work that YOU do. - The CharityHowTo team.

Free Nonprofit Webinar! How to Conduct Nonprofit Board Recruitment in 3 Easy Steps

Free Nonprofit Webinar! How to Conduct Nonprofit Board Recruitment in 3 Easy Steps As nonprofit professionals, we may spend our time recruiting talent or volunteers. And when anyone mentions recruiting, that may be the first thing we think of. But there’s another part of a nonprofit organization that requires plenty of thought – nonprofit board recruitment. Your nonprofit board is a group of people who focus on the overall strategy and accountability of your organization. While your volunteers and staff oversee day-to-day operations, your nonprofit board manages the bigger picture. So having the right nonprofit board members is crucial to running the organization the best way possible....

Featuring Our Wonderful Nonprofit Community: Sunnie Scarpa

Today, we're featuring Sunnie Scarpa, Executive Director of E.C. Scranton Memorial Library. Thank you, Sunnie! 💙💚 We love how you are becoming a better nonprofit professional through our nonprofit courses. We hope you can continue learning and impacting the world positively with the wonderful work that YOU do.

Nonprofit Professional Development

Never Stop Learning - Ongoing nonprofit professional development resources: essential for success! “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” —Socrates, NOT talking about nonprofit professional development ((but he could have been) Fewer than 20 years ago, the nonprofit sector was a little behind the times. We were the tortoise to the corporate world’s hare, mostly when it came to technology. Go back further to the early ‘90s and, like most nonprofits, your organization probably had a shiny, but static, website with some pictures, your mission statement, contact info and a big, red DONATE button at the bottom. Maybe at the top too.

Six Capital Campaign Best Practices to follow for a Super Successful Campaign

This a guest blog post by RobinCabral Capital campaigns are the most ambitious fundraising campaigns that a nonprofit organization will ever embark on during its lifecycle. Because of this, systematic steps need to be followed to ensure that a campaign will ultimately be successful. Over many years, these steps have been refined into capital campaign best practices. The following are recommendations based on these capital campaign best practices that one should follow to ensure the ultimate success of their next nonprofit capital campaign. Steps to Improving Your Nonprofit’s Next Capital Campaign 1. Conduct a capital campaign feasibility study in advance. Feasibility studies are conducted...

Mobile Apps Make Nonprofit Messaging Precise, Immediate

These days, a nonprofit communications plan is about micro-audiences, immediacy, and precision. Any lag and you’ve lost them. Anything but what they want to know, and they’ll “swipe left” on your message. And while there are many ways to connect with your donors and other people who need to hear from you — from nonprofit direct mail to text — none hits on those three points as efficiently and effectively as a mobile app. Mobile apps cut through the clutter, making it more convenient — and likely — for your supporters to act. A mobile app is a superhighway from Point A (your organization) to Point B (your donor, your volunteers, your community, etc.) and from Point B back to Point A,...

How To Create A Storyteller System That Inspires Action

Inside Look | This guide will cover the following topics: 01 Introduction 02 Outline Your Nonprofit Storytelling Ambassador Plan 03The 6 Best Types of Stories for Nonprofits to Share 04 Conclusion 01 Introduction What is nonprofit storytelling, what does it do, and what does it matter for your nonprofit? Storytelling should be actionable - inspiring listeners or readers to take an action on your behalf, whether your goal is to get more members, donations, event attendees etc. It should also make readers want to share the story with others. Let me start with two scenarios. SCENARIO 1: You receive a dry-form letter in the mail from a breast cancer research charity that bought your name from...

CharityHowTo.com Reviews - What People Are Saying About Our Webinars

Read Our Customer Reviews of Our Various Premium & Free Nonprofit Webinars Below: How to Harness the Power of Introverted Fundraisers March 19th, 2024 “This webinar was perfect for people who wonder how they can maximize their introversion to build successful relationships and raise funds effectively. There were so many powerful insights.” Craig Gallaer, Virginia Peninsula Foodbank Interactive Workshop: Creating & Building Your Blueprint for All Grant Applications March 05th, 2024 “I've never actually written a grant before, but now I feel confident going forward that I can meaningfully lead my team towards securing the resources we need to continue our work.” Caryn Clements, Save The...

Six ways to future proof your website with WordPress

As the global population moves online, most people will end up with a more connected digital life than they had before. That includes your nonprofit community. The new shift to virtual interaction we’re experiencing won’t rebound completely back to traditional mediums of communication. Virtual interactions are becoming just as meaningful and almost as real as face-to-face conversations. Now that more people are active online, your website needs to be set up for frequent and fast changes. The internet changes faster than the real world. Future-proof your nonprofit website using WordPress. WordPress allows your organization to easily update, change, and maintain your site with tools necessary...

Ask a Nonprofit Expert – Beyond Virtual Facilitation: How to Maximize Engagement and Tackle Wicked Problems in Your Virtual Meeting

We’ve joined with a number of our nonprofit experts to bring you blog posts that will help answer some of your nonprofits toughest questions. In this post, nonprofit expert Caliopy Glaros answers some questions that came from nonprofit professionals during her last free live webinar with us “Beyond Virtual Facilitation: How to Maximize Engagement and Tackle Wicked Problems in Your Virtual Meetings“. See Caliopy’s answers below, and check out all of her webinars with CharityHowTo. Question: How is facilitating meetings among millennials and young professionals different when they seem afraid or powerless to share? Hierarchies and office dynamics can affect people’s participation in a virtual...

Ask a Nonprofit Expert – How to Budget In Crisis

We’ve joined with a number of our nonprofit experts to bring you blog posts that will help answer some of your nonprofits toughest questions. In this post, nonprofit expert Cherian Koshy answers some questions that came from nonprofit professionals during his last live webinar with us “How to Budget In Crisis“. See Cherian’s answers below, and check out all of his webinars with CharityHowTo here. Question: One of our challenges is forecasting revenue when we are trying new ideas and there is pushback on committing to underlying assumptions. Should we budget in a range, or just nail down a baseline scenario, etc…? If we don’t commit to any forecasting, we can’t make any decisions. Answer:...

20 Free Resources to Support Your Nonprofit Through Coronavirus

There’s no doubt that the coronavirus pandemic — and its related restrictions and shutdowns — has wreaked havoc across all elements of society. But even as businesses everywhere are shuttering their doors and windows — temporarily, at least — shutting down isn’t an option for most nonprofits. Charitable organizations are needed now more than ever as unemployment rises and hunger, poverty homelessness and depression are starting to affect people who have never experienced these things before. And those who have feel the impact more acutely. At the same time, nonprofit organizations are facing a reduced workforce due to the illness and social distancing — and possible reduced income as...

Coronavirus Pandemic: 5 Strategic Changes for Nonprofits

The Coronavirus has brought about something new that no one was quite prepared for. Between the cancellation of events, the downturn in the economy, and social distancing, nonprofits have been hit hard in their fundraising efforts. Plus, with so much chaos, it can be tough to realize where to turn next. Try not to panic. Take a few deep breaths, analyze your data, and consider what your nonprofit can do at times like this. The changes you need to make to your strategic plan will help your organization stay afloat and show your supporters that you care. We recommend the following strategic changes for nonprofits in response to the Coronavirus pandemic: Check In With Your Supporters....

Nonprofits & Coronavirus, COVID-19 | What We’re Doing to Help

Free Nonprofit Webinars to Help During the Coronavirus During this unprecedented and chaotic time, we sincerely hope that you and yours are safe and healthy. And that you are diligently taking precautions to safeguard your health and that of those around you. Nonprofits do good all year long even in the best of times. But at times like this, when resources and patience are seemingly stretched to their limits, it’s the do-gooders, the agents of change, who lead the way in caring, sharing and responding to the call to help. We rest easier knowing that you are out there, working for the common good. We are so happy to be part of that. And we’re honored to be able to offer you resources to help...

5 Digital Strategies for Nonprofit Event Planning

Planning events can quickly go from straight-forward and simple to complicated and challenging. As the new year continues, it’s important to gain a truly comprehensive understanding of the digital opportunities and tools you can leverage. This way, you can optimize the event planning process and increase registration and attendance rates. The scope of tools and preparation time you need depends on what kind of nonprofit event you’re hosting. At Fonteva, we are experts in event management and know that there are several core ideas and key digital tools that can supplement any event you have in store. Whether you’re a nonprofit planning a fundraising event or an association hosting a...

10 great nonprofit conferences to mark in your 2020 calendar

Fundraisers can’t turn a page on their calendar these days, it seems, without discovering hundreds of nonprofit conferences to attend. That’s not a bad problem to have. The nonprofit/fundraising sector is one of the sharing-est sectors there is. Fundraisers really do seem to believe that a rising tide lifts all boats (because it’s true). So, there’s really no harm in the free and eager exchange of ideas in the fundraising world. One thing you’ll find at just about any nonprofit conference is an air of camaraderie – commiseration, even – with attendees sharing war stories, success stories, lessons learned, nuggets gleaned, etc. in the halls, at the lunch tables, at the after-session...

Five Steps to Prepare for Your Nonprofit’s First Capital Campaign

Capital campaigns are one of the most extensive campaigns that an organization will ever undertake. In most cases, an organization needs to fund capital purchases, upgrades, and/or renovations and repairs. Given their highly episodic nature, organizations that are seeking to undergo a capital campaign must do so with foresight and preparation geared to success. The most critical steps are taken before even the actual capital campaign plan is drafted and far before an actual solicitation happens. Organizations that are embarking on their first-ever campaign or who have not undergone such intensive efforts in a while would be wise to take heed of the following preparatory steps to ensure...

Why Donor Appreciation is Crucial This Time of Year!

Guest blog post by: Margaret Battistelli Gardner A special holiday poem (with great apologies to Clement Clarke Moore and Henry Livingston Jr., each of whom was credited at different times with writing the original “Twas the Night Before Christmas”) ‘Twas a few days before year-end and all through the land Nonprofits were scrambling to put out a hand. Donors’ mail and inboxes were stuffed to the hilt With asks and appeals and a wee touch of guilt. Fundraisers were huddled, awaiting the cash, Ignoring, just maybe, they’d been a bit crass. These donors, they knew, keep them sustained And deserve so much more than the same old refrain. When out of the slush pile arose something new – A note...

10 Holiday Volunteer Appreciation Ideas

Guest blog post by: Margaret Battistelli Gardner

Insta-tips for using Instagram for your #GivingTuesday Campaign

“It’s #GivingTuesday! Give us money!” Yes, there ARE ways to use Instagram to raise money on #GivingTuesday. But that’s not one of them. #GivingTuesday seems so simple. Possibly because it’s so social media oriented. And we tend to think of social media as a quick ‘n’ easy way to raise money and awareness for our causes. But it’s not. Not really. Like any good campaign, a #GivingTuesday effort takes planning. And orchestration. And prep. “Most of the stuff I see is organizations just posting on their social media pages, ‘It’s #GivingTuesday, so give us money,’” Ephraim Gopin, founder of nonprofit communications firm 1832 Communications, says with a heavy sigh. But it needn’t be that way. In...

Unique Giving Tuesday Ideas for Your Nonprofit Social Channels

Blog Post by Julia Campbell The seasons are changing, summer is waning, fall is approaching and that can only mean one thing – year-end charitable giving season is about to descend upon us! For many nonprofits, year-end giving season is kicked off by the global giving movement #GivingTuesday. #GivingTuesday was created in 2012 by the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation as a response to the consumerism that often marks year-end. Americans have a day of giving thanks (Thanksgiving). This is followed by two days of giving and getting deals (Black Friday, Cyber Monday) – so why not a full day for giving back? This year #GivingTuesday is on December 3, and expectations are sky high....

Moving Your Instagram Audience to Action | CharityHowTo

Instagram is a marketing powerhouse for brands, companies, and nonprofits alike. If you want to target a younger demographic, Instagram could be for you, with 59% of online adults ages 18-29 active on the network. More than 500 million people have Instagram accounts, more than 300 million of which use it daily!

Instagram for Nonprofits: 5 Simple Tips for Getting Your Nonprofit Discovered 

Blog Post by Julia Campbell Getting sick of Twitter? Are you considering joining the #DeleteFacebook movement? Have you considered using Instagram for nonprofits? Even though it’s owned by Facebook, building an engaged community of supporters on Instagram may be a viable social media alternative for your nonprofit. Here are some Instagram statistics from the Pew Research Center 2018 Social Media Report: 35% of U.S. adults now say they use Instagram (an increase from 28% last year); 71% of Americans ages 18-24 use Instagram, with 81% of this group going on the platform daily! Even if you have been on Instagram for years now, or if you are a complete novice, there are a few tried-and-true...

Instagram Stories: How to Start Using Them for Your Nonprofit

Blog Post by Julia Campbell What if Instagram Stories could help your nonprofit reach its’ audience? The social media struggle, especially for nonprofits and social causes, is real. Organic reach is plummeting on Facebook. Twitter is removing millions of fake followers from users’ accounts. 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. Every day it seems to get harder to reach the people who care, let alone get new people into the fold and excited about your cause. But, there is hope… enter Instagram Stories. Instagram Stories have been exploding in popularity – and not just for early adopters and celebrities like Busy Philipps (even though her Stories are a must-watch)....

How to Create an Irresistible Nonprofit Fundraising Video (6 Best Tips)

How to Build Out Your Nonprofit Social Media Calendar

Does your organization have a social media calendar? As a nonprofit marketer for a small organization, I am positive that you wear many hats. Between answering emails, making phone calls to supporters, editing the annual appeal letter and coordinating fundraising events, who has time to maintain more than one social media account?

How to Use Live Streaming Video to Build Your Nonprofit Email List

10 Ways to Use Instagram for Nonprofit Visual Storytelling