Panelists from the "Free Agents" session. Photo via Beth Kanter (Flickr/Creative Commons).

Elise and I went to NTEN‘s annual conference in Washington, DC last week. It was great to meet many of you there! Here are some of the takeaways we’ve spotted thanks to the still-buzzing #11NTC Twitter stream…

Change doesn’t have to be scary

• NTC Plenary: Dan Heath, Flip the Switch (Beth Kanter, NTEN blog) offers Cliff’s Notes to the opening plenary by Switch co-author Dan Heath.
• “Switch” the Way You Ask for Action – 11NTC (Kivi Leroux Miller, NonprofitMarketingGuide.com): How can we apply lessons from Switch to our daily work to make change less scary?

Online fundraising

• Five Lessons for Digital Fundraisers from 11NTC (Claire Kerr, Nonprofity.com). Are you using data and segmenting your email messages? Are you grudgingly or eagerly working mobile phones into your communications strategy? Here are some bite-size tips about these topics and more.
• Raising Money When Your Cause Just Isn’t Sexy (Raymund Flandez, Chronicle of Philanthropy) recaps a session led by Susan Gordon from Causes.

Kudos for transparency

• Measuring Impact in Human Rights Work: A Look at WITNESS’s Dashboard (Jenni Wolfson, WITNESS.org blog). Measuring the impact of human rights work is hard. WITNESS is doing it anyway. Here’s how.

Be nice to your tech people

• Maybe I just have it easy? (Bailey Kasten, Wish You Worked Here). At the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, muses Kasten, “operations and technology have a voice.” She offers some advice to the folks in workplaces where that’s not true.

Storytelling through specific channels

• DoGooder Video Awards Announced at NTC! (Maddie Grant, SocialFish.org). Thinking of incorporating video into your organization’s communications strategy? Check out the winners of “best thrifty organization video,” “best small organization video,” and more categories.
• Using Location Based Services for Your Nonprofit (John Haydon, SocialBrite) recaps a session about how services like FourSquare can be included in your strategy to raise awareness and money.

And these are just the beginning!

• NTEN Announces Launch of New Publication for Nonprofit Leaders (and it’s free!) (Annaliese Hohling, NTEN). Holly Ross, Executive Director of NTEN, “joked” that you might want to secretly sign your boss up for this quarterly online journal.

Are you blogging about your 11NTC experience? Leave a comment below with a link!

Wondering what donors want?

Well, what do you want – when you make a gift to a friend, a wedding couple, a grandchild, or a community organization?

The first thing I want is just a “thank you.” Often that’s enough. And if I want anything more, it’s to know that my gift made a difference was welcomed and put to use.

Penelope Burk is famous in fundraising circles for researching what donors want. As Guidestar reported last summer in its newsletter, Burk found that organizations where board members call key donors to say “thanks” see an increase in donations of 39% —without anyone doing any asking at all.

From vistamommy (Flickr/Creative Commons)

Saying thank you—quickly!—is the proven “donor retention strategy” that seems to fall off the edge of the desk a little too often.  When coupled with a brief message about the difference donations make to the success of the organization, it’s about the best thing a nonprofit can do to keep the flow of donations coming.

Not every organization can use this exact technique.  But every organization can think about what donors want, which is probably the more direct route to getting what the organization needs – more donations.

Have you tried having board members call your supporters? What works for you?

From Flickr user Alan/Falcon (Creative Commons)

Hope Consulting wanted to find out why people donate to good causes, and specifically what would encourage people to focus on supporting organizations that get results. What they found is published online in “Money for Good” (a pdf). According to the study, here’s how the universe of donors divides up:

• 23% support organizations that have helped them or a loved one in the past
• 18% give to well-known organizations, often through payroll deductions
• 16% give to organizations they feel are making the greatest social impact
• 16% choose organizations that match their religious beliefs
• 14% look for small organizations where their gift makes a bigger difference
• 13% give to organizations where they know people or where their friends also give

Only a third of the people they surveyed reported doing any research before giving, and nearly two-thirds of those donors do the research only to check up on an organization they have already decided to support (to “validate” the choice, in the researchers’ words).

Hope Neighbor, the leader of the consulting group, described herself in a profile on FastCompany with a bit of chagrin about her own habits. “I am mired in inertia,” she said, “and I definitely don’t choose the best organization. The way we act is different than the way we think we act. It’s true for me as for any of the people surveyed.”

My takeaways?

Donors: think about what you want to accomplish with your gifts and then spend some time exploring whether the recipients are aligned with those goals. (Here’s how.) It won’t take long to put you in the top ranks of intentional donors.

Organizations: your work isn’t going to appeal to every group of donors, so figure out which donor-profile fits your work and your mission. Once you’ve done that, make sure they are able to find the information they look for on your website, in your “support us” mailings, and in the presentations you make. If your messages don’t match what your core supporters are looking for, you’re wasting your time – and disappointing people who might find great satisfaction in supporting your work.

Hissing Cockroach, U R A 10. (Photo by Flickr user butterflysha)

Forget truffles. I want to go to the zoo!

Flowers

• Advice from GOOD about avoiding roses that support violent labor abuses.
• Love, Women and Flowers: a film about the labor conditions in Colombia’s carnation industry.
• I’ve heard good things about OrganicBouquet.com. Anyone have other recommendations for conscientious flower-buyers?

Chocolate

• Search Idealist for chocolate-themed events and volunteer opportunities.
• Here’s a partial list of bean-to-bar chocolate manufacturers. Are you a Fair Trade afficionado, or a Direct Trade devotee?

Vermin

• Nothing says “BE MINE” like a hissing cockroach at the Bronx Zoo.
• …except maybe a Hero Rat!

Via flickr user fergie_lancealot (creative commons)

I recently read that this Sunday’s New York City marathon has the highest number of people running on behalf of charities in the event’s history, expecting to raise over $26.2 million dollars. That’s a million dollars for every mile. That’s a lot of money and a lot of people willing to run a long way to support a cause they believe in.

Walk/run events such as The Susan G. Komen For The Cure event, March for Equality, and the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer are popular with nonprofit organizations, maybe because they’re such visible fundraisers and awareness-raisers. (Who hasn’t heard of them)?

One of my friends recently participated in the AIDS/LifeCycle event in California, a 545 mile, 7 day bike trip. I would have loved to support the cause by riding with him, but let’s face it, I would have probably required medical attention after mile one. I donated on behalf of my friend’s race, but I was still left wanting to be in an event instead of just cheering on the sidelines.

So, I searched for events that were more up my ally and matched my physical stamina:

• Dance-a-thons: I can definitely boogie all night. Check out the 24 Hour Cancer Dance-a-thon.
• Movember: Teams of dudes raise money and grow mustaches in the month of November to raise awareness around men’s cancers.
• Donate your birthday: Hannah blogged about this phenomenon last year. I love my birthday more than the average Joe, so this is a big one for me. Ask your social networks to make a donation on your behalf to an organization that you support.

Boom: My excuse to not fundraise for a cause I believe in because I’m out of shape is out the window. Have any other non-athletic fundraising ideas?

This recession has clearly had ravaging effects, but fortunately, it has also sparked a lot of creativity. As nonprofit organizations attempt to carry out their work despite considerably reduced budgets, some are coming up with innovative takes on traditional fundraising and advertising campaigns. Here are two recent examples that we heard about:

The Salvation Army of Northern New England slashed its advertising budget to zero and nonetheless succeeded in rolling out a large, attention-grabbing advertising campaign to raise funds in Portland, Maine. Springwise reports that a local ad agency donated its time to design the ads and coordinate the campaign, and more than 50 local businesses donated various forms of ad space to the nonprofit. As a result, Salvation Army advertisements appeared on everything from store windows to pizza boxes to bathroom mirrors to tennis courts, all around town. Some individuals even scribbled on the dusty back windshields of their cars in order to display the ad.

In New York City, the Queens Museum of Art decided to transform its annual fundraising gala into what they called a NON-GALA in June. Rather than waste any precious donations on a fancy event, the QMA skipped the drinks and dancing in order to put more towards its actual exhibits and programs. The NON-GALA took place online, and it still managed to have most of the other highlights of an annual fundraiser: a welcome from the director, speeches by honorees, a chance to chat, and, of course, an opportunity to donate. There was even an auction conducted via a live streaming video, where participants could obtain the auctioned items for free by making creative, non-monetary bids via phone, email, and Twitter.

If you know of any other recession-friendly fundraising campaigns that nonprofits have tried, please share them in the comments below.

[This blog entry appeared on an older version of Idealist; any broken links are a result of having re-launched our site in Fall 2010.]