Category Archives: Best Practices

The Value Of Thank You In Effective Donor Management

January 26, 2010 – 8:15 am

Thank You – perhaps of the most important words in anyone’s vocabulary and undoubtedly the most important in the fundraising and donor management realm. It’s gratitude in it’s simplest form and an acknowledgment for a donation or contribution whether in cash or in kind and no matter how big or small that contribution is, the [...]

By Neil | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments

How to Create Smart Tags

December 17, 2009 – 11:00 am

Smart Tags is a powerful feature that will change the way you look at your donor data.

First off, Smart Tags are pretty different from regular Tags; the main difference is in how they’re created (although you’ll notice that Smart Tags are orange, and regular Tags are blue). To create regular Tags, you simply add the [...]

By Chris Dumas | Comments

Would You Take the Risk?

November 12, 2009 – 1:00 pm

A non-profit company recently offered their donors on direct debit plans the option to cancel.  The company submitted a form to the donors that included a check box to cancel, (no questions asked) and also provided a place to request a different amount taken each month. What actually happened? Four people canceled, but over 400 [...]

By April | Comments

Why I Love Working for Donor Tools

October 28, 2009 – 8:00 am

Hello, my name is April, and if you read this blog very often, you know that I’m the newbie1. I am very honored and excited to be working for Donor Tools with all that it has to offer. One of my main reasons is their belief that customers are the business. Without our wonderful customers [...]

By April | Comments

Standing Out In Fundraising

October 26, 2009 – 11:08 am

In the world of popularity have you noticed that the cool people all tend to be doing pretty much the same thing? Same clothes, same cars, same sports, etc. However, in the world of fundraising and non-profits that dynamic just doesn’t fit. The ones that stand out and do things differently are the ones that [...]

By April | Also posted in Fundraising | Comments

Be Careful Where You Put Your Password (A Lesson From Twitter Spam)

October 14, 2009 – 12:20 pm

I just got this Direct Message today from one of my contacts on Twitter:

Clicking the link takes you to this web page that asks you to log in to Twitter:

If you put your username and password in that form, prepare to have your identity stolen! As you can see from the URL, this website is [...]

By Ryan | Tagged , , | Comments

Email: The Variable Reinforcement Machine

September 28, 2009 – 10:43 am

Do you check your email 100 times a day, like me? I’ve always wondered, what fuels my compulsion to keep my email open, and check it every 10 minutes or so. For all I complain about email, you’d think I love it based on the attention I give it. This article by Jeff Atwood really [...]

By Ryan | Also posted in Links | Comments

Carrotmob: How Organized Consumer Purchasing Can Change Business

September 14, 2009 – 11:13 am

My dear friend Kristy Graves sent me some information about this concept called Carrotmob. They had a “mob” recently at Epicenter Cafe in SF.
Carrotmob is a method of activism that leverages consumer power to make the most socially-responsible business practices also the most profitable choices. Businesses compete with one another to see who can do [...]

By Chris Dumas | Also posted in Links | Tagged , | Comments

The Bar for Success

September 3, 2009 – 7:00 am

Jason Fried, of 37signals, argues that the bar for success in tech businesses is too low:
If there was an airline that flew more passengers than anyone else, but lost money on each one, would we call it a success? If there was a restaurant that served more people than anyone else, but lost money on [...]

By Ryan | Also posted in Links | Tagged , | Comments

Online Fundraising Idea From Charity Navigator

September 2, 2009 – 5:13 pm

I was very impressed when I ran across a very well done pop up ask on the Charity Navigator website.
It reads:
Did you know?
If everyone who paid us a visit over the course of a year voluntarily gave $1, we could comfortably meet our annual budget!
Our web site and all of its great content are absolutely [...]

By Chris Dumas | Also posted in Fundraising, Links | Tagged , , | Comments