Volume 13: Issue 1 | January 2010

Also in this Issue

5 Membership has its Privileges 9 Advocacy: The Voice Behind the Message 12 No Rhythm Required: Make Your Marketing Sing 14 Transformational Gifts 23 Interlacing Mobile Marketing And MORE...

In the lasthalf of the 20th century,

this nation witnessed a non-violent revolution of values and

ideas that changed America forever. There were protests and marches, visionaries and activists, prominent leaders and ordinary citizens who manifested that transformation. Philanthropy, too, was an unsung, but a vital force that fueled that change.

Thousands of people gave a little bit and others gave a lot to support the Big Six nonprofit organizations that would alter the destiny of this nation. Without the charitable giving of entertainers like Harry Belafonte, Ray Charles, Barbara

Streisand, James Baldwin, Joan Baez, Tony Bennett and other individu-als, without the philanthropy of the Ford Foundation, the Stern Family

Foundation and others who supported the modern-day Civil Rights Movement, we might not be where we are today as a nation.

That is why I see my leadership of the Philanthropy Caucus as a natural extension of my work as

a public servant. I have been cont. on page 7

Giving Can Change the WorldUnited States Congressman John Lewis (D-GA)

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ChAIrSusan M. LothDisabled American Veterans (DAV)

VICe ChAIrGeoffrey W. PetersCDR Fundraising Group

MeMbersMary ArnoldChildFund International

Vinay BhagatConvio

Jennifer BielatEaster Seals

Mary BoguckiAmergent

Brian CowartALSAC/St. Jude

Ken DawsonInfoCision Management Corporation

Diana EstremeraInfogroup | Nonprofit

Karen GleasonAmerican Cancer Society

Jeanne HarrisSCA Direct

Tom HarrisonRuss Reid Company

Beth IsikoffMerkle

Karin KirchoffDefenders of Wildlife

Mimi LeClairMercy Home for Boys & Girls

Steve MaggioDaVinci Direct

Kristin McCurryMINDset Direct

Matt PanosFood for the Hungry

Chris ParadyszParadyszMatera

Chris RagusaEstee Marketing Group, Inc.

Kyla ShawyerOperation Smile

Atul TandonUnited Way

Kim WalkerMemorial Sloan-KetteringCancer Center

Kathy WardAmerican Institute for Cancer Research

sTAFFChristopher QuinnExecutive Director

Helen LeeSenior Director

Alicia OsgoodMembership Manager

2010 LeadershipFollowing are the members of the DMA Nonprofit Federation’s Advisory Council:

MAnAgIng edITor: Alicia Osgood

PubLICATIon desIgn: Andy Farkas, SCA Direct

News UpdateNonprofit Only News & Information

Delivered to Your Inbox Each ThursdayContact Alicia Osgood @ AOsgood@the-dma.org to sign-up!

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I’d like to wish all our readers a happy new year and welcome to 2010!

2009 was a transition year for many of us; a new President, new Congress, new leadership at the DMANF both at the volunteer and staff level and of course, learning how to do more with less.

Together we got through 2009 and we’re very excited to kick off the New Year. Not only are we working on a host of new projects to make your membership more valuable, but January also means it’s time for the 2010 Washington Nonprofit Conference.

Our planning committee has been working extremely hard and was able to land speakers like Dan Adams, President & CEO of Cal Farley’s. Attendees are in for a real treat and will be able to choose from any number of sessions to learn how to succeed in 2010.

On the communications front, we recently started our monthly DMANF Legislative & Regulatory Update. Its purpose is to keep you informed of the advocacy efforts we pursue on your behalf. We want to make this process as interactive as possible, so please, e-mail or call if you think we should take a look at a specific issue.

Keeping up with communications, the DMANF is now on Facebook too! Become a fan of our page and leave comments, post photos, or just visit to see what old friends are up to. That’s not all, though. We will also be unveiling a new website that will be easier for our members to navigate and utilize to interact with the Federation. Be on the lookout for the official announcement and visit www.nonprofitfederation.org.

As always, I hope you enjoy this edition of our Journal. Member feedback is always welcomed and we would love to hear from you on articles you’d like to see or simply how we can keep improving.

Yours truly,

Christopher M. QuinnExecutive Director

Letter from the Executive Director Christopher M. Quinn, Executive Director

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Membership – sounds exclusive doesn’t it? I’m a member of Sam’s Club along with a few million other people in the country,

though, and there is nothing exclusive about that membership. Still, I like the word and I really like the thought of being a small part of something much larger. The benefits are pretty great too.

In my volunteer role as the Member Services Committee Chair of the DMA Nonprofit Federation (DMANF), I am reminded every day of the benefits of being a member of the DMANF. With Kim Walker of Memorial Sloan-Kettering as vice chair, we work to recruit new members, remind current members of all that the DMANF has to offer and even get the opportunity to help enhance member benefits now and then.

Whether you work for a nonprofit or a commercial provider, the DMANF provides benchmarking information, opportunities for learning, networking and gives this community a voice in Government, the Post Office and the judicial system.

Possibly the most valuable benefit Kim and I see to membership is the vigilant effort the DMANF puts into legislation on behalf of nonprofits. The DMANF Legislative & Regulatory Update launched last month and is intended to keep members aware of the latest developments in Congress, Regulatory Agencies, the White House and the many State Houses that impact nonprofits. We think it makes what some people feel are complicated and tedious issues, comprehensible and clear. If you have not yet subscribed online, take an opportunity to do so, you will not regret it.While this particular membership benefit is a monthly summary, the DMANF does not wait to

deliver urgent messages to its constituents. Special news bulletins are sent whenever possible to keep us up-to-date on decisions that will effect our organizations, clients and the missions they serve.

As if these communications were not comprehensive enough, the DMANF also sponsors the Critical Issues seminar in Washington DC each year. This event is designed to educate and update attendees on the best accounting practices for nonprofits, state and federal law changes that will affect nonprofits, court rulings on cases that have brought against nonprofits and much, much more. This highly specialized seminar can be beneficial to almost every nonprofit I can think of regardless of mission and is unique to this association.

We would say the other huge benefit to being a member of the DMANF is the opportunities they provide for us to learn. We personally look forward to the quarterly Journal. The articles are always relevant and interesting. They also expose me to people in the industry I do not know and allow me to see things from different perspectives.

In 2009, the DMANF has also added distance learning to their mix of education opportunities. Webinars are now a scheduled event on the learning calendar and so far have been taken advantage of by much of the membership base. Of course the place to be is at the two large nonprofit conferences held by the DMANF in August and January. The DMANF staff goes to great effort to make sure the sessions at these shows cover a variety of topics, adhere to strict standards of conduct and include real actionable content that can be taken away and tested in your own programs.

Diana Estremera, Senior Vice President of infogroup/Nonprofit Contributor: Kim Walker, Director of Direct Mail for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

MeMbership hAs ITs PrIVILeges

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Of course the networking opportunity at these two events is really unlike any other. These shows are highly targeted for the nonprofit community and the people you can meet and interact with will directly impact your program and your life. These two educational conferences are put together with plenty of opportunities to convene with peers, find new suppliers and make new friends.

The DMANF knows that sometimes

you need more than brief encounters to make the kind of lasting connections someone might need to advance their professional career. This is why they have also created the DMANF Nonprofit Careers e-bulletin. It is a listing of job opportunities available with some of the largest nonprofits and commercial partners in the country. It has well over 8,000 recipients and is one of the most popular offerings the DMANF has. Weekly editions are posted on the homepage of the website.

A new program that has been recently added to the DMANF’s benefit roster is one-on-one mentoring at the summer and winter conferences. This program allows participants to sign up before the conference and discuss any aspect of their career development they would like. An experienced Direct Marketer, the mentor, is hand selected based on the needs of the mentee and together they sit in a private session helping the mentee grow his or her direct marketing fundraising skills for the future of this sector.

Planned for 2010 is a fellowship program linking mentor and mentee together for a sustained period of time. The DMANF’s hope is to provide a setting for the personal growth and development of young people who will become vested in the nonprofit sector, thereby ensuring that this community will be continually filled with the talent and commitment that is needed to continue to accomplish the many good works it does now. The program will include monthly coaching calls, on-on-one web sessions, and in person meetings whenever possible.

Like I said before, I like the concept of membership and being a part of something bigger. Nonprofit Federation membership is organizational, not individual. Every

employee of the member organization has access to the numerous resources and opportunities for professional growth and development membership has to offer. We all benefit from the endless work the Federation does on our behalf to represent this sector, protect our best interests and provide one voice on difficult issues. For us, being DMANF members is a necessity for both the organization we represent and our personal development. So to us, membership most certainly has its privileges. OK – maybe not giant rolls of paper towels at a great price but certainly benefits we still can’t live without.

Diana Estremera is a Senior Vice President with infogroup/Nonprofit providing complete solutions for nonprofits. She has worked in this sector for 23 years and currently sits on the Advisory Council and also volunteers her time on the membership services committee.

As Director of Direct Mail for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Kim Walker is responsible for the planning, creation, implementation and analysis of the comprehensive direct mail campaign. With over 25 years experience in the direct mail industry, Kim has worked in the for-profit as well as the not-for-profit arenas. Kim started in the catalog business with Philips-Van Heusen, producing a catalog devoted to men’s shirts. Prior to joining MSKCC she was with the nonprofit organization Lighthouse International, first as Director of Marketing and Merchandising for their catalog devoted to low vision products for Lighthouse International, then as Director of Direct Mail Fundraising. Kim was President of the Direct Mail Fundraiser’s Association (DMFA) in FY 2007-2008. Currently she is on the advisory council of the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation.

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the direct beneficiary of a partnership between government and charitable institutions that was able to contradict even the power of the state when it oppressed its citizens. Giving can transform the world. I believe that. So I accept this role with high expectations of the philanthropy community and with great hope for what we can accomplish together.

Government is responsible to meet the needs of millions of Americans, but government cannot do it alone. We rely on charitable institutions, often an organic part of the com-munities they serve, to be the eyes and ears that highlight human need. At critical times in history, nonprofit organizations can even lead the way by demonstrating how government can more effectively care for its citizens. We often call upon your expertise to inform our legislative efforts.

As Chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Oversight, I recently co-chaired a joint hear-ing that revealed the problems of hunger in America. An Agriculture Department report declared that 37 percent of single parent households struggled at some point during the year to provide food for their families. Congress has increased the amount of food stamps a family can receive, but legislation cannot reach every hungry person in America. We have to rely on the goodwill of concerned citizens and nonprofits to do this.

When called to testify food banks reported they do not have resources to meet the demand this upsurge in hun-ger presents. This is where open lines of communication with government and our creative collaboration can help relieve the challenges charitable institutions face. Your testimony

helps make our legislative efforts smarter and more directed toward the kind of change that can ease despair in the lives of Americans.

Medical advances are saving veterans disabled by war who would not have survived in the past. This Congress has broadened veterans’ benefits, and defense budgets are supporting innovative research, but soldiers and their families shattered by war need personal, sustained, and specialized outreach. Philanthropy can help fill some of the gaps government cannot cover.

Unemployment has risen to 10 per-cent, but it is double that in many minority communities. This Congress has extended unemployment benefits, but that is only part of what needs to be done. Last year, I held an over-sight hearing on charitable institu-tions and the dispersement of federal funds to diverse communities. We concluded that charity is too confined to certain social, racial, ethnic and religious local communities, and the needs of too many citizens remain invisible to nonprofit institutions charged with broad outreach.

These urgent times require us all to take bold, new steps to address the problems of our society. We have to get out of our comfort zone and con-front the problems that are boiling to the surface in our society. Congress is called to address these issues, but charitable institutions have a mandate as well to find new ways to serve the disenfranchised and dispossessed.

In the Movement, we did not have a cellphone, a website, or even a fax machine. But we used what we had, and we transformed our society. We put our bodies on the line to make a difference in our society. The prob-lems of today may not require that we risk our very lives to help others, but

we must have the courage these times require to free ourselves from limita-tions and take the lead. I welcome your ideas and I expect your ingenu-ity, as we try to solve the problems we face ahead. Above all, we must see ourselves as one community, one hu-man family, working together to solve human problems. Each with our own responsibilities and capacity to be the answer we are seeking in the world today.

giving Can Change the World, continued from cover

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Advocacy is not just for government relations staff anymore. Over the years, organizations – for profit and nonprofit alike – have come to depend on a combination of staff, volunteers and even the general public to help develop and execute an advocacy strategy that involves informing elected officials how proposed legislation would impact their families, jobs, communities and lives. In other words, advocacy has become a business…and you need to make it your business.

What is Advocacy? Merriam-Webster defines advocacy as the act or process of advocating or supporting a cause or proposal. Advocacy can be easily confused with lobbying as the words are sometimes used interchangeably. They are somewhat different, however. The key difference between the two is that lobbying, which is allowed by nonprofit organizations, is more narrowly defined as an attempt to influence elected officials. Advocacy is much more than the act of lobbying. Anyone designing advocacy campaigns should consider integrating lobbying as one way to execute the plan. Yet the strategy of advocacy is leveraging knowledge by educating others about legislative issues, collaborating with other individuals and organizations, and building longstanding relationships.

It is important to point out that not all advocacy programs look alike. What may be effective for one organization may not work for another. However, at the core of most advocacy campaigns, you will find three basic tools that organizations depend upon when executing plans to convey

AdvocAcyThe VoICe behInd The MessAgeBy Dawn P. Latham, CAE

messagemessage

message

voice

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important messages to elected officials and the public. They are: direct lobbying, grassroots activities, and media communication. Let’s look at a general description of these three resources.

Direct lobbying is communicating with elected officials or their staff with the main purpose of influencing their actions on legislative proposals or other issues before them. Federal lobbying activities are regulated by the Internal Revenue Service and organizations – particularly 501(c)(3) charitable and philanthropic organizations – that decide to pursue this venture should fully understand the rules and reporting requirements. Organizations lobbying at the state level should also know state lobbying laws.

Grassroots activities are ongoing efforts to inform and engage a network of concerned individuals who can help shape legislative issues by communicating with elected officials through a number of coordinated activities such as writing letters and placing phone calls. This important initiative can be a quantitative approach by getting everyone involved through an “all hands on deck” line of attack or a qualitative effort by identifying key participants – sometimes called grasstops advocates – to relay the message to elected officials.

Media communication is a powerful resource when properly used as it depends on strategically conveying information to the public through mass media resources. And as organizations become more comfortable with

the capabilities of social media and how it can innovatively reach new and specific segments of the population, media communication will be playing an exciting role in the near future.

While each tactic serves a particular function, when skillfully combined, they afford organizations countless opportunities to reach elected officials and the public.

Although developing and executing an advocacy plan may sound straightforward, in reality, advocacy is a challenging endeavor. Designing a comprehensive plan incorporating the three tools noted above is important to an organization; however, the essence of the plan rests upon the distinct blend of passion, dedication and perseverance of the advocates. These characteristics help drive volunteers to mobilize around your cause or issue.

Results from advocacy campaigns typically do not come immediately. They are like long races with inter-mittent sprints; advocates needing to pace themselves, but then springing into action when called upon. The legislative process is deliberative. As bills move through Congress or the state legislature, several proce-dures are required before they may

signed into law or vetoed. With this in mind, good advocacy plans can easily fall by the wayside if the advocates – the people who are called upon to help relay the message – are not fully engaged. Don’t let this happen to you. If you want to have a voice in affecting proposed legislation, then get involved with an advocacy effort that can help shape your industry.

beIng The VoICe

How to design an effective advocacy campaign and how to motivate and manage those who already have volunteered to be a part of the cause is frequently discussed and debated in the government relations field. But why should someone become part of the process in the first place? Why is participating in an advocacy network considered an important tactic like directly lobbying elected officials and utilizing media relations? As we explore answers to these and other related questions, let’s look at the VOICE behind the message – value, outreach, individual, credibility and experience.

VALue

Those responsible for coordinating advocacy programs have come to realize that the more people engaged in the issue, the more attention the communication may receive. But those who are not involved in this role may only view themselves as a single voice; thereby not see themselves as effective messengers. Consequently, it is the perspective of the organization’s staff and volunteers outside the government relations arena who bring value to the conversations. A consistent message advocated by a diverse group of

Results from advocacy

campaigns typically do

not come immediately.

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individuals and practitioners who are directly impacted by a legislative proposal is a significant achievement. The value of this collective voice, if communicated properly, reinforces any communication from government relations professionals or those who may be speaking on behalf of the group. Elected officials value the thoughts and opinions of those directly affected by the proposed legislation. In fact, many of them depend on it as part of the decision-making process.

ouTreACh

If advocacy is the strategy of implementing a plan, then outreach is the goal. However, if outreach is the objective of an advocacy campaign, it should not be deemed simply as the advocates waiting to respond to requests sent from those operating the campaign and then delivering email messages or placing phone calls to their elected officials. Even though organizations may depend on this tactic to immediately relay information to policymakers, it is only a small act that will help attain a much larger goal. Outreach is successfully building relationships among the advocates, engaged organizations, elected officials and the public. Outreach is more than one-way communication; it is creating an open channel of communication among all engaged in the effort. Establishing this type of connection is a slow process, but with persistence it is attainable.

IndIVIduALAdvocacy is not effective if individuals are relying on others to deliver the messages. It’s about you. One person sending a message to Congress or the state legislature is

fundamental. Multiply the number of individuals and the message becomes impressive. Advocacy depends on teamwork and individuals working together can help make a difference.

CredIbILITyAs previously mentioned, when practitioners who are directly affected by legislation become involved in advocacy campaigns, they bring value to the message. This authoritative voice also brings genuine credibility to the entire endeavor. The sincerity that can come from individuals who will be directly impacted by the legislation is a reliable source and should not be overlooked (or misused) in any advocacy effort. Credibility leads to trust, which is a critical factor when setting advocacy campaigns into motion. Credibility also must be earned and it will most likely require numerous contacts to earn a respectable reputation. Nevertheless, once it is established, credibility among elected officials and the public will be of great value to any organization taking part in advocacy.

exPerIenCeAs some grassroots experts will point out, the personal experience of the advocate is the most powerful component of the message as it directly connects the legislation to an individual. This perspective goes well beyond facts and statistics by providing first-hand knowledge and expertise. Who better to explain the impact of the legislation than that person who must react to the final outcome? Bringing experience to the conversation does not discount the role of the government relations professional, but rather amplifies his or her work.

TAkIng The FIrsT sTePConsidering yourself an advocate can be overwhelming if you are not familiar with how your personal message is part of a strategic advocacy campaign. Nevertheless, breaking it down by examining the value that individuals with credibility and experience can bring to outreach efforts will, hopefully, dispel any beliefs that advocacy is not for them. In other words, practitioners who will ultimately respond to legislation enacted into law have a key role in advocacy.

Think about advocacy as purely an opportunity to share your knowledge – your opinion – with elected officials. Members of Congress, state legislators and local officials are contacted by their constituents every day. Remember that most of the individuals who are relaying these messages are probably not government relations professionals.

Adding your voice to the collective message will help in a number of ways, from keeping momentum behind the issue to finally achieving the sought out goal. Advocacy, many times, does not bring immediate results and, quite frankly, will continue to move forward whether or not you decide to participate. Nevertheless, being a part of the process can help ensure your voice, and the voice of your organization, reaches those who can affect the outcome, and that is a worthwhile objective.

Dawn P. Latham, CAE is a Washington, DC-based public policy professional. She has spent 10 years in government relations, working for both an association and a national, humanitarian organization.

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Any traditional marketing 101 course will tell you about the magical quartet that composes the music of the marketing mix: price, product, placement and promotion (or, the “Four Ps”). The Ps provide a framework for professional MBA-types to gain their footing and strategize their

outreach initiatives to reach their audiences and ultimately sell a product or service.

Meanwhile, we as nonprofit, mission-oriented types often find ourselves looking at the ever-important nonprofit “P” (passion) and losing sight of the rest of potentially powerful Ps and how they affect our “customers”-our supporters and potential supporters.

So, can nonprofits apply the traditional marketing mix and achieve great results? What’s the difference in approach? What four bite-sized marketing tips can you take with you back to your next planning meeting?

Read on to see the overlap between for profit and nonprofit strategy and the ways to soar to a new understanding of nonprofit marketing:

1. PinPoint your Product. In the work we do we’re not selling cars or cola, but that doesn’t mean we lack a product. In fact, we have two products.

The first is what your nonprofit is actually delivering: school lunches for underprivileged children, showcases of local artists’ work, bed nets for people to prevent malaria, etc. We often confuse our mission for our product: Saving the Earth versus recycling bins for every household. The trick is to make your product into something tangible. It’s taking a concept and a dream, and translating that into a tangible, visualize-in-my-head-able thing or service.

The second-and oftentimes more elusive-is the value or service you’re providing to the donor/volunteer/advocate. Yes, you’re providing an avenue for him/her to help someone/something else. But think beyond that: What feelings or benefits are you providing for the donor (him/herself)? Here are a few examples of things you’re providing with your benefit-exchange: happiness, convenience, power, safety and so on. Take some time to brainstorm what your organization is offering behind door number 1 and door number 2. (Hint: “Stopping malaria” is not a valid response for either type of product. Providing a bed net and the proud feeling I get for potentially saving a child’s life are the right one-two punch.)

2. Set the Price. When translating for-profit-speak to nonprofit lingo, we might associate price with “amount of donation.”

no rhythm required: 4 Steps to Make Your Marketing SingRebecca Ruby Higman, Marketing Specialist, Network for Good & Editor of www.Fundraising123.org

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However, donation amounts are not the whole story. Price comes down to the sacrifice your supporter is making in order to support you-whether it’s with her time, money, etc. When you think of your marketing “calls-to-action,” the action is the price. Nail that down and you can speak more clearly and openly with your audiences. And, when considering what you’re “charging,” make sure you know the value you’re providing in return. What are the benefits for them? What’s the reward?

3. Plan the Promotion. Quick: Think of a synonym for promotion! Did you say “advertising”? *buzzer* Sorry, you only get partial credit. The complete answer we’re looking for is channels. Promotion refers to the various aspects of marketing communication.

By going through this “Ps” exercise with your marketing strategy, you’ve got the product and how much it costs determined; this third step covers how you’re going to spread your message about them. Are you going to talk about your “products” online? Via direct mail? With a black-tie gala? Through paid advertising?

We’ll sneak in a bonus “P” to this category: Packaging. The success of your promotion and outreach around your products relies heavily on the way you frame the information. What’s the messaging? To what audience values are you appealing? What’s your communications strategy? (Hint #2: “Facebook” is not a strategy. If anything, it’s a “place” and we’re not there yet. Hold your marketing-resource horses!)

4. Pick the right Place. “Place” is another two-in-one situation. When choosing your outreach tactics, you’re reaching out to audiences in two places or ways: 1) where they are physically (ex: in their email, on Facebook, at a convenience store), and 2) where they are mentally (ex: their state of mind). To be at the right place at the right time, make access easy: meet people where they are physically and appeal to what’s top-of-mind for them right now. One example of easy access is to accept donations on your website and have a donate button that’s simple to find at a glance. That potential donor is on your website and thinking about your organization, your product and the price you’ve set to get involved; make sure you’re in that place along with her.

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A small educational organization receives a gift equivalent to two-thirds of their $500,000 annual operating budget. Their single largest individual gift prior to this gift? $5,000.

Needing a new headquarters, a legal aid organization successfully completes a $7 million campaign. Before that time, this same organization traditionally raised through philanthropic sources less than $100,000 per year.

A community-based hospital struggles for years raising money from its traditional blue-collar community. In some years, its Foundation only broke even with its return on investment. Enacting a significant shift in thinking, and implementation of new strategies, the hospital is now on pace for an annual fund return of approximately 4 to 1. While still room for improvement, they are well on their way to transformation.

These examples of transformational success occurred in the last 24 months, during what many experts claim as a difficult environment for philanthropy. None of these successes happened by accident. Discipline, dedication, intentional strategy and, most important, strong leadership from both staff and volunteers were instrumental in all of these examples.

Can you and your organization accomplish the same? Absolutely, but it might require a dramatic paradigm shift in the way you view yourself as a leader, the way your organization is perceived by your donors, and how you embrace the leadership around you.

Mick Koster, Senior Consultant with Strategic Partners

Transformational Gifts

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sTeP 1: PrePAre yourseLF To LeAd.

Effective leadership demands vision, courage, and partnerships with other leaders.

As a volunteer leader of one of these organizations said, “We need to act our way into thinking, not think our way into acting.” How profound. Yet also instructive. Discovering the courage to act requires a truly transformational leader and will likely require a level of risk-taking uncommon to many mature institutions. When economic conditions are tenuous - like now - nonprofit Boards have a tendency to become extremely risk averse. Fight that trend, as these times will be a measure of your courage.

Next, other courageous leaders must be included as part of your vision. People support that which they help create is an axiom of effective fund development. As a leader, you must be willing to involve others in the early planning stages of your project. When the vision is yours and yours alone, it becomes an interesting agenda item at a Board meeting. When the vision becomes ours, the focus of your Board and your key donors will radically change.

As you seek to engage other leaders, a seismic shift of leadership affiliation appears to be occurring. No longer are key individuals interested in formal membership on committees. Many served for years on nonprofit Boards, committees, and similar formal groups. They are reluctant to do so again.

To combat this level of volunteer fatigue, do not concern yourself with

the formal affiliations held by your key prospects. Focus, instead, on informal individual relationships you, personally, need to develop. Rather than thinking of your organization through a hierarchical framework, consider it as the center of a constellation of key leaders with access for strategy, philanthropic networks, influence, and financial support.

Indeed, your organization is not in a competition for dollars. It is in a competition for leaders. Identifying, enlisting, and preparing key volunteers and staff to lead your efforts is the pre-requisite to developing transformational gifts.

sTeP 2: PrePAre your orgAnIzATIon To LeAd.

As your personal leadership continues to grow, the collective leadership of your entire organization will need to reflect that growth. Consider the following ideals as you evaluate your organization’s current culture of developing transformational gifts.

Hope is Not a Strategy. Fund raising is easy. Effective fund development is difficult. Creating unpredictable and transformational gifts for your organization does not happen by accident. It will be a result of very specific strategies, and a conflux of circumstances directly related to your individual actions and those of others on your team.

Practice the Language of Transformation. Words matter. When we fall into the trap of thinking in terms of mediocrity, our language will reflect that mindset. Remove your language from words of mediocrity and align it to a new language of transformation. For example, rather than asking illegitimate questions such as, “Can this be done?” consider a more strategic approach by offering, “How can this be done?” Now, your donor interactions can radically change from a negative focus of identifying potential barriers, to creating and inspiring a roadmap for success.

Once your own language reflects a transformational mindset, demand that every individual within your organization practice the same. Establish a Culture of Transformation. While sound fund development practice remains a requirement, methods to communicate with donors continue to evolve. More, now than ever before, major donors consider how their gift can be

All transformational gifts are deeply

rooted in an unseen, unstated, misunderstood, yet powerfully

emotional connection between a

donor and an organization.

16 17

leveraged to encourage additional donor involvement. This is much more complex than creating simple “matching” or “challenge grant” opportunities. It involves your staff, your board, and your donors shifting their paradigm away from what is expected. Now, they begin to consider what is possible. If your organization plans for, seeks,

and expects gifts of, say, $5,000, why should you expect to receive any more in return? When your organization plans for, seeks, and is worthy to receive gifts ten to 100 times greater, how will that translate into actionable steps? While we commit to appreciation and gratitude toward all our donors – regardless of gift size – our focus must be laser-like on those specific individuals with both the capacity and the inclination to make transformational gifts.

Left Brain vs. Right Brain. Traditional fund development seeks to identify a series of rational reasons an individual should make a gift. These reasons – almost always left brain focused – are presented through a traditional Case for Support or Case Statement. Yet this traditional approach fails to recognize how it foolishly offers rational reasons to perform an irrational act, i.e. give my money to you!

All transformational gifts are deeply rooted in an unseen, unstated, misunderstood, yet powerfully emotional connection between a donor and an organization. These are the “right brain” reasons for their giving. For example, the way a nurse cared for a husband in his final days. The impact a teacher impressed upon a student decades ago. The joy observed in a young person’s face as they learn to read.

As you consider your “right brain” strategy, be careful not to be misled. Individuals, regardless of wealth, will never describe themselves as an “emotional decision makers.” That’s okay, because as you begin understanding the “right brain” motivations of your donors, your organization can

begin communicating through that lens. Next, promote these emotions through pictures and videos, rather than expensive word-heavy brochures listing your organization’s needs.

sTeP 3: eMbrACe The TrAnsForMATIon Around you

Any success you achieve will not be about you. It will be about the mission of your organization, all of the key people with whom you surround yourself. Most important, it will be about your donors. When you focus on the needs of your donors first, your organization simply becomes the fulcrum for them to practice their philanthropy.

Ask yourself, will you be a container where you meekly accept gifts for your mission? Or will you become a bold conduit for your donors to accomplish their own personal goals?

Operating on the agenda of your donors, rather than on your own personal or organizational agenda, will be the catapult toward achieving transformational results.

These three simple steps will place you and your organization on a trajectory of transformation. It requires personal vision, courage, and the ability to identify and inspire the leadership around you.

Mick Koster, Senior Consultant with Strategic Partners, specializes in executive coaching for mission-driven leaders particularly focused on major and planned giving. He can be reached at mkoster@spi-pcs.com, or read his blog at www. mickkoster.wordpress.com.

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Often times, nonprofit organizations struggle with the logistics and management of promotional and fundraising events. With small budgets and sometimes minimal skill sets, the task of hosting a productive event can seem as challenging as

climbing Mt. Everest. Whether it is a national conference, a sporting event, a banquet, a concert, a local fundraiser, or some other type of special event, the ten tips below will be your guide to producing a successful event.

10 Goals…Whether you are trying to raise funds, honor your patrons or celebrate an accomplishment, you will need to prepare a list of the goals or success markers

of the event you are planning to host. Your goals should be established based on your organization’s current needs and previous performances. Are you looking to raise funds? Are you looking for greater publicity? Are you looking for community involvement? Are you looking to thank dedicated volunteers? Each type of activity will have specific goals associated with them. Many times, organizations have lofty ideas that are unrealistic. If you are new to event management, keep goals realistic by planning smaller events that have room to grow versus planning huge events that have to be downsized. Larger organizations that have established resources will benefit from creating committees to assist with the planning. These committees will be able to focus on their individual committee’s goals. If you choose to delegate planning tasks to committees, make sure you have one person or a small team overseeing all activities to ensure themes and plans are aligned.

By Katie Herritage

Ten TIPs hosTIng A suCCessFuL nonProFIT eVenT WITh MInIMAL Funds

18 19

9Strategy…After your goals are established and before

any vendors are contacted or any contracts written, you must formulate a strategy. To begin the process of building a blueprint for your event, you need to reflect on your goals, ideal timeframes, locations, theme, budget, key players, audience, etc. A detailed strategy can be your best friend in managing all of the minute details that go into planning. While there are a hundred different ways to write an event strategy, consider centering your strategies on three categories: Research, Implementation and Evaluation. Begin by researching timeframes, effective solicitation mediums, dollar figures, locations, activities of nonprofits in the same arena, previous activities, the goals and any other information that might be helpful in building the core concept of the event. Once the core concept has been conceived, begin planning the implementation, or the exact details of how your event will play out. Finally, set the benchmarks for the event’s evaluation. Included in this should be the standard by which you measure the event’s success. A well-built strategy should prepare your team for the upcoming event and be able to answer any questions.

8 Formulate themes with the mission of the organization…The

best events for nonprofits are ones which incorporate the mission of the organization with the individual activity. For example, if you are trying to generate awareness for a children’s charity, you might want to choose a theme for your event that is more aligned with laughter, joy and a jovial spirit. Other items to tie into the event are your corporate colors, slogans, and mottos. Let your event foster consistent branding so the event matches direct mail campaigns,

websites, newsletters, and other printed material.

7 In-kind Contributions...For budget challenged organizations, in-

kind contributions can be a major key to your success. Reaching out for donations such as venues, food or entertainment can prove to be worthwhile for you and the donor. These contributors can be local businesses or national chains. You

may receive the necessary supplies to host an event and the donor may receive publicity and a tax incentive. While the current economy may be tight for your organization, it is also tight for vendors as well. Be sure to consider what incentive is available for in-kind contributors. To repay the donors for their generosity, you might consider a printed program with the donor organization’s contact information and logos, along with a personalized thank you. Refer the event attendees to the vendors so they have the opportunity to become customers.

6 Sponsorships...Before soliciting sponsors, your organization

needs to review the event’s targeted audience. This will give you a starting point in identifying who should be

asked for sponsorship. Once you know the ideal sponsorship types, you will need to create levels of sponsorships. It is a good idea to create a wide range of options so as not to exclude the smallest or largest of budgets. Sponsors may ask, “What’s in it for me?” You will need to determine the return to the sponsoring organizations, examples of this are: sponsor banners displayed at event, sponsor advertisement in a program or flyer, sponsor logo on the event’s website with a hyperlink to the sponsor’s website. Sponsorships have the ability to generate a significant amount of money and forge beneficial relationships. To be effective in soliciting sponsorships, you must highlight the return on investment to your sponsors.

5 Volunteers…In the world of nonprofits, volunteers make the

world turn. According to Katharine Medina, Executive Director of Rebuilding Together Alexandria, “As a nonprofit with a staff of 1.5, it is critical that volunteers help us plan our events, be it home repair projects or fundraisers. With the assistance of devoted volunteers on committees, we are able to help 85+ homeowners each year and hold 2 annual fundraising events, raising the profile and awareness of our organization, which in turn allows us to serve more homeowners.” While planning for your event, make sure to ask your volunteers if they have any specialized experience that could be useful to event preparation or follow-through. For volunteers with little experience in this area, you will need to create an explicit list of tasks to be performed, timelines and provide plenty of guidance.

4 Publicity…It is crucial to the success of your event to build

In the world of nonprofits,

volunteers make the world turn

18 19

visibility and generate publicity. While traditional press releases are beneficial, there are a myriad of other methods to drum up fervor and support. This is the time to be creative and utilize all connections for success. You may consider reaching out to local media, displaying flyers, sending out mass mailings, e-newsletters, public service announcements or advertising through local business and associations. This is also a great opportunity to provide publicity for donors and sponsors by providing them with signage highlighting their support. The success of your event will be a direct result of your publicity. Keep in mind, publicity can be used to increase awareness about the event, encourage sponsorships and even attract volunteers.

3 “Take-aways”… While “take-aways” may be an unneeded

expense and trivial, research has proven that they remind the recipient of the event long after it has ended. These items also give the attendees an opportunity to reconnect with the nonprofit and possibly make a donation. To choose the best novelty item for your event, you need to keep your audience in mind and evaluate the “take-aways” benefit to them. Any “take-aways” should tie in with the event’s theme and be branded with the nonprofits name and logo. Examples of creative guest gifts are calendars, CD or USB drives with pictures of the charitable recipients, the event and information on upcoming events, mouse pads, juggling balls and picture frames. Be creative, you don’t have to spend a fortune to make a lasting impression.

2 Please and Thank you… One of the greatest mistakes organizations

make during the event process is

failing to show an ample amount of gratitude to their donors, sponsors and volunteers. Often nonprofits are so driven by logistics, they fail to stop and say thank you. This can be detrimental to future donations and your events. As simple as it sounds, the common courtesies our mothers taught us to say “please” and “thank you” go a long way toward making a difference in meeting your goals. A few suggestions for extending your gratitude are taking pictures of your guests at the event and sending the pictures with a personalized thank-you note, have a recipient of the nonprofit’s assistance complete a video thank you and post it to your organizations web page or provide the donating firm a thank you plaque to display in their offices.

1 Day of the Show Details…The most significant aspect of the

“day of the show” is to consider the event from the guests’ points of view. What is it like for them to navigate the event space? Will they know the order of events? From behind the scenes, your event may be mammoth, but from the outsiders point of view the event should appear smooth and personable. Position smiling greeters at the doorway to the event; these welcoming faces will set the tone for your guests. Also, pay attention to the sound volumes, temperature and lighting of the facility. These factors can make or break your guests’ experience.

These ten tips will not do the planning for you, but they do provide a blueprint for success. The key to event planning is to be prepared for anything to happen, because inevitability something will not go as planned. However, by completing the leg work prior to and keeping a relaxed demeanor, you will be able

to shine for your big event. I wish you the best success for all of your upcoming events.

Katie Herritage, is an events consultant who has helped stage successful local, national and international events – and she’s made it look easy. For more information, she can be reached at Katie@herritage.com.

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20 21

Social networking is a topic of many conversations these days, and for good reason. It’s estimated that 65 percent of teenagers in the United States and 35 percent of adults maintain at least one social networking profile. Popular sites such as Facebook and MySpace connect millions upon millions of people online every day, cultivating social ecosystems that are ideally suited for organizations to recruit participants and build momentum for grassroots events.

With a few simple steps, nonprofits of all sizes can establish a presence in the world of social networking, begin building a network, cultivate new and existing audiences and develop a meaningful community to support events.

buILdIng eVenT CenTrAL

To position your organization for success in the social networking environment, you first need to build a base of operations. On most social networking platforms, this step is relatively simple. In Facebook, for example, it only takes a few minutes to create a fan page for an event. As a result, your organization is able to establish a presence that can convey key event information, drive registration, motivate ongoing involvement and maintain consistent communications.

When planning your social network event hub, keep these easy steps in mind:

• Provide a high-level event overview. Keep it simple, informative and engaging. Include the dates, locations, promotions. Don’t forget to include your mission.

• Keep it in the family. Your social network hub is an extension of your organization and event. Make the connections between your social network, website and in-person connections seamless by cross-pollinating messages and links.

• Keep the buzz alive. Maintain a constant drip of information to your fans through updates (e.g., We just reached 1,000 participants!), RSS feeds from an external site, photos and news stories.

• Extend the invitations. One of the biggest benefits of social networks is the ability to tap into your constituents’ networks. So, make sure you invite them to join you! Publicize your social network hub in emails, websites and offline promotions.

• Talk amongst yourselves. Encourage conversations among your fans—the more chatter, the bigger the reach. Consider asking questions, posting polls or soliciting ideas. At a minimum, be prepared to monitor comments, respond to questions and participate.

boosting your event strAtegy WITh soCIAL neTWorksBy Donna Wilkins, Pesident of Charity Dynamics

22 23

WorkIng The CroWdEstablishing a presence in a relevant social networking environment is an important first step when it comes to building groundswell and maximizing grassroots involvement in your event. But, a single page won’t keep momentum going on its own. You’ll need to give existing constituents the tools to connect with their networks and attract new participants on your behalf.

Social networking applications that are available on the market today will equip your organization with the tools you need to maximize your social networking presence. By using such online tools, your organization can more effectively empower constituents to spread the word, extend their fundraising activities and even invite new supporters to participate in your event or engage in your mission.

Advanced social networking applications enable participants to:

• Invite and link their networks to donate or register for your event;

• Show progress on individual and team fundraising goals;

• Share key dates, locations and other event information; and

• Drive awareness with up-to-the-minute news feeds.

InCreAsIng your VIsIbILITyYour organization can further broaden its reach and the scope of conversations by adding additional social network platforms into your event strategy. Specialized social media outlets such as Flickr or Twitter provide niche communications tools

within their own networks of users. By connecting your existing strategies and networks into these platforms, you can exponentially increase the draw of your event. Here are some easy ways to get started:

• Create a Flickr page or group. Flickr is a powerful photo sharing and social networking tool with great application for events. Pho-tos loaded by Flickr can be shared with specific communities or with the entire Flickr community. You can create an event-branded Flickr page to house, gather and share event photos.

• Start a Twitter feed. One of the most popular micro-blogs in existence, Twitter, enables you to communicate with everyone who belongs to its community in short bursts of 140 characters or less. You can use individual posts, or “tweets,” to call attention to critical stages of your event, point to the registration page of your site or simply have ongoing one-on-one conversations with your constituents.

• Go mobile. Mobile technology is quickly emerging as a new social network tool and gives you an opportunity to incorporate texting into your overall communications plan. Other mobile technology, such as a WAP, lets you develop a single go-to-guide for your event that delivers critical event information directly to participants’ mobile devices.

• Leverage social bookmarking aggregators. Services like Share This and Add This specialize in creating social bookmarking aggregation buttons that you can add to your site’s pages. These buttons enable people to quickly and easily share your content with their worlds.

• Assemble a personal media kit. Send emails to your participants reminding them of the tools at their disposal. Encourage them to create and spread buzz around your event by bundling together key links, photos and focused copy that provides clear courses of action.

reAPIng The reWArdsThe process of creating a social networking ecosystem for your event is virtually free in terms of direct costs—and it isn’t nearly as complicated as you might think. However, keeping your presence meaningful and your target audience engaged once you’ve created your social hub is another matter altogether.

The rules of engagement are different on social platforms. People expect to be able to engage in open dialogue with each other, as well as your organization, on a fairly regular basis. Before you go down the road of creating your ecosystem, ask yourself whether you or others within your organization truly are ready to commit to learning about and keeping up with the social networking environment. If the answer is no, consider outsourcing the day-to-day maintenance to professionals. Whatever minimal costs might be associated with this maintenance will be well worth the investment. It’s a different kind of investment, but one that will pay off tremendously when it comes to driving grassroots participation in your next event.

Donna Wilkins is the president of Charity Dynamics, a provider of comprehensive online solutions for nonprofit organizations. www.charitydynamics.com

22 23

Just look around you, nearly everyone around you carries with them one or more wireless-enabled mobile devices. These devices come in all shapes and sizes and support a wide range of capabilities. The mobile device is so much more than a simple

tool to place calls; increasingly mobile devices are being used to power and empower a wide range of services, engagements and conversations:

• Text messaging – over 4.1 billion text messages are sent each day in the U.S. • Finding our way – Google is now offering navigation from the Android smartphone for

free – lookout GPS devices.• Engaging in social media – mobile is at parity, Facebook users spend 24 minutes a day

on the site on average compared with 27.5 minutes by computer users, a 2009 British study found.

• Watching videos – roughly 7% of mobile subscribers watch video on their mobile phone, 41% if they’re on an iPhone.

• Listening to music – roughly 7% of mobile subscribers listen to full-length music on their mobile phone, 38% if they’re on an iPhone.

• Engaging in commerce (e.g. banking, pay a bill, transfer money) – PayPal reported a 140% spike in the volume of payments made by mobile phone on Black Friday in 2009 versus 2008.

• Receiving and redeeming coupons – Money Mailer reports 8~14% average response rates to permission based text messaging alerts sent by its franchises.

• Participating in sweepstakes – by all accounts, sweepstakes are consistently one of the top three triggers that stimulate consumer participation in mobile marketing.

• Donating to charity – giving via mobile phones is in increasing, the industry saw a 471%

using information on your donors to fuel growth in your program

By Michael Becker, VP of Mobile Strategies, iLoop Mobile

MArkeTIngMobILe InTerLACIng

24 25

increase in mobile giving in 2009 over 2008.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, use, use patterns and use cases are growing daily. In fact, for many, according to Nielsen, text messaging not voice has become the primary mobile communication channel of choice in the United States. Moreover, with mobile we’re not just talking about mobile phones. According to Mary Meeker of Morgan Stanley there are over 10 billion wireless-enabled devices in active use around the world today (for phones alone there 221 mobile subscribers in the U.S., many with multiple mobile devices). There are traditional featured phones, smartphones (i.e. Apple iPhone, Blackberry, Google Android, Windows Mobile Devices, etc.), netbooks, eBooks, entertainment terminals, navigation devices as so much more. As evident from the list above, the latest generation of mobile phones and devices have grown beyond their simple voice roots and can now be considered truly rich multi-modal communication and data platforms, platforms that support numerous channels of interactive engagement; such as, text messaging, multimedia messaging, email, content (like TV and radio), mobile Internet, Bluetooth and the ever increasingly application channel as popularized by the iPhone (there are now over 100K applications in the iPhone App store and over 2 billion applications have been downloaded since its launch two years ago—keep in mind the iPhone accounts for only roughly 3% of the mobile subscriber base in the U.S., the Apple iTouch—i.e. not a mobile phone--is actually a bigger driver of downloads over the iPhone).

Now that the mobile phone and its cousins (the other wireless-enabled devices) are so universally diffused and adopted in the market, marketers and consumers alike are embracing the practice of using them within ever more engaging ways. One of these ways is a practice often referred to as mobile marketing. The Mobile Marketing

Association (www.mmaglobal.com) recently, November 2009, released an updated definition of mobile marketing:

Mobile Marketing is a set of practices that enables organizations to communicate and engage with their audience in an interactive and relevant manner through any mobile device or network.

The key to this definition is to understand its key constructs.

• Practices: activities, institutions, processes, industry players, standards, advertising & media, direct response, promotions, relationship

management, CRM, customer services, loyalty, social marketing, and all the many faces and facets of marketing.

• Organizations: Commercial entities, brands, agencies, marketers, nonprofits, enterprises, individuals etc., with products, services and offerings they wish to deliver to the market.

• Communicate: Two-way communication, relationship management, deliver an advertisement or message, receive messages from one’s audience member, and enable communication among the members of one audience.

• Engage: Start relationships, acquire, generate activity, stimulate social interaction with organization and community members, be present at time of consumers expressed need, engagement can be initiated by the consumer (“Pull” in form of a click or response) and by the marketer (“Push”). Recognizes the co-value creation of commerce today, i.e. mutual value exchange, between organizations and consumers, the need for both parties to obtain value from any and all interactions.

• Relevant: all the factors that are pertinent to tailoring and personalizing the experience both for the organization and the consumer, including time, location, content, context and behavior

• Mobile device or Network: any wireless-enabled device regardless of form factor or network.

While there is much to understand when considering mobile marketing,

text messaging not voice has become the

primary mobile communication

channel of choice in the United States

24 25

the most critical piece to realize is that the mobile device is an incredibly personal medium. To this end marketers must obtain permission before initiating communication with an individual on his or her mobile device; such as, sending an individual a text message. The best way to go about obtaining an individual’s permission or generating awareness of your mobile-enhanced program, product and services is to integrate mobile marketing practices into all of your existing traditional and new media marketing activities (e.g. TV, print, radio, direct mail, email, Internet, outdoor media, etc.). In other words, to really take advantage of mobile marketing do not view the practice as a separate and independent activity to what you’re doing, but view it as an element that is brought into and integrated with all of your current and future marketing activities, including advertising and promotion, relationship management, transactions, social media and customer care.

There is so much that can be accomplished with the practice of mobile marketing that we simply can not touch upon all the of the capability within this article, however, there is one practice in particular that many nonprofits are taking note of that is touched on here; that is, the practice of mobile giving.

MobILe ProFITs oTher seCTors Too

Mobile is no longer simply used in the domain of consumer packaging goods, retail and entertainment, as is often thought. Nonprofits are using the mobile channel and its many paths to share their organizational

message, stimulate volunteerism and community, as well as to raise money through a new mobile practice commonly referred to as mobile giving. With mobile giving, nonprofits can invite people to donate to their organization by simply asking them to text message a keyword to a common short code and donate $5 or $10. Mobile giving was launched in the United States in 2008 by the Mobile Giving Foundation (www.mobilegiving.org) and in its first

year helped raise $350,000 in donations and by the end of this year, 2009, according to the Jim Manis, CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation (as reported by Mobile Marketer), donations and pledges accrued through mobile giving shall exceed $2 million, and this is just in the United States. In November 2009 the Mobile Giving Foundation announced support for mobile giving in Canada and it is expected that support in other countries will rollout over time.

Today, the process of mobile giving billing happens through a processes referred to as premium SMS (PSMS), i.e. via text messages flagged for billing, with the donation appearing on the mobile subscriber’s mobile phone bill or deducted from their mobile pre-paid account. For example, the Special Olympics Northern California (http://www.

sonc.org) launched their mobile giving program earlier this year in order to help raise money to support its athletes. People interested in donating to the organization can text SONC (the keyword) to the 20222 (the Common Short Code) to donate $5 to the Northern California Special Olympics. Similarly, the Direct Marketing Educational Foundation (http://www.directworks.org) invites people to text DMEF to 20222 and donate $5 to support their efforts in educating students in the maturing practice of direct marketing. For more details on the terms and conditions of mobile giving programs, see http://mobilegiving.org/T/Default.aspx or the respective Web sites of either of these organizations.

sTePs To MobILe gIVIng

As illustrated above, the consumer engagement process for mobile giving is straightforward. Here are the steps.

1. Consumers see a call-to-action to donate in a traditional or new media channel and respond by text messaging or they can enter their mobile phone number into a form field on a wired Web or mobile Web site, by clicking a prompt in an interactive voice response audio call, shaking their mobile giving iPhone application or a similar Web services application. This is step is referred to as the “opt-in.”

2. The opt-in triggers the application service provider and/or Mobile Giving Foundation’s servers to send a confirmation text message request to the mobile subscriber initiating the donation process, asking them to confirm their donation.

the mobile device is an incredibly personal medium

26 27

3. The mobile subscriber then replies ‘Yes’ to the message to confirm the donation.

4. Once the Mobile Giving Foundation receives the confirmation response, its servers process the billing and send a confirmation receipt via text to the mobile subscriber informing him or her that his or her phone bill has been charged and that he or she can donate up to a total of five times, not to exceed $25 dollars, in a month. It is at this last step that the billing happens. The mobile subscribers will not be charged until the confirmation is delivered.

It is worthy to note that mobile subscribers can always go the Mobile Giving Foundation Web site (http://mobilegiving.org/SMS_Donations/Default.aspx) to get a report of all the donations they have made. Also, it is important to note that the mobile giving engagement and messaging process are fixed and strictly controlled to ensure compliance with carrier and industry regulations.

MobILe gIVIng PLAyers

Mobile giving in the United States and Canada is powered by the Mobile Giving Foundation (http://www.mobilegiving.org), its partners and customers, including:

• Wireless carriers: AT&T Wireless, Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile, Sprint Nextel and U.S. Cellular

• Mobile Giving Foundation certified application service providers: iLoop Mobile (http://www.iloopmobile.com), mPower (http://www.mpowergiving.com), Mobile Accord (http://

www.mobileaccord.com), MobileCause (http://www.mobilecause.com), Mobile Commons (http://www.mcommons.com), Wireless Factory (http://www.wirelessfactory.com), Distributive Networks (http://www.distributivenetworks.com), g8wave Inc (http://www.g8wave.com ), Give on (http://www.giveonthego.com) and Guide by

Cell (http://www.givebycell.com)• Nonprofit organizations such

as the Northern California Special Olympics (http://www.sonc.org), Direct Marketing Education Foundation (http://www.directworks.org), Keep a Child Alive (http://www.keepachildalive.org) and others (see http://www.mobilegiving.org/charities.aspx for a partial list of the many nonprofit charities benefiting from mobile giving)

The roLe oF eACh PLAyer

The entire mobile giving process

hinges around the Mobile Giving Foundation and its relationship with each of the three organization classes above, the players. The following describes the role of each player, including the nonprofit organization.

• The nonprofit organization is the charity or foundation which seeks to collect donations and engage the target audience through and with the mobile channel.

• The Mobile Giving Foundation is the founder of mobile giving and the mediator that coordinates mobile giving. Simply put, the Mobile Giving Foundation 1) coordinates the development and maintenance of the business and technical standards for mobile giving, 2) oversees the money flow between the donor, wireless carrier, itself and the nonprofit organization, and 3) manages its network of application service providers and other partners.

• Wireless carriers maintain the mobile networks, the billing process and all the network mechanics for making mobile giving a reality.

• Application service providers: Mobile Giving Foundation certified applications service providers and agencies play a number of roles, including 1) acting as the primary point of contact for the nonprofit organization and overseeing all the processes for getting the nonprofit organization’s programs approved and up and running, as well as 2) providing the nonprofit organization with any additional mobile channel and marketing services that the nonprofit would like to offer to engage its audience above and beyond the donation call-to-action, including text alerts, mobile Internet Sites and

We need to embrace the

mobile channel and learn to hold

conversations with members of our audience in the medium that

they’re using

26 27

the mobile enhancement of the nonprofit’s traditional new media programs. And 3) often, the application service provider or agency, along with the nonprofit’s marketing team and agencies, will also provide mobile strategy and creative assistance as needed. The Mobile Giving Foundation hand-selects and certifies its application service and agency provider partners.

eAsy sTePs For A nonProFIT To geT InVoLVed

It is very straightforward for a nonprofit organization to get involved with mobile giving and to learn how to leverage the rich interactivity of

the mobile channel to engage its audience. In fact, it can be done in five easy steps.

Step 1: Ensure Qualification.

The nonprofit organization should check the Mobile Giving Foundation guidelines and ensure that it qualifies to participate. The basic qualification requirements are that the nonprofit organization must 1) be a 501(c)(3) with reported revenues of at least $500,000.00, 2) register in each state it will want to promote its program, 3) in compliance with all state and federal laws, 4) in good standing in its state and have been in operation for at least a 1 year, and 5) shall be truthful in all its representations and 6) maintain industry standard privacy policies and follow best practices. For a complete list of guidelines, see

(http://www.mobilegiving.org/pdf/MGFGuidelines.pdf).

Step 2: Partner with a certified application service or agency provider.

Assuming the nonprofit is qualified, it should then contact one of the Mobile Giving Foundation certified application service or agency providers.

The nonprofit should interview each one of these providers, not just for their ability to support the mobile giving process, but also for their ability to help the nonprofit organization meet its other marketing needs and how these needs may be met through and with the mobile channel. The nonprofit should

28 29

ensure that it finds a partner that can handle all its mobile needs, not just one element of mobile. In addition, the nonprofit organization will want to find a partner that has a business model that works for it. Each application service or agency provider has a different business model. For instance, some take a percentage of the donation, while

others may charge a monthly fee and/or transactional fees.

Step 3: Get the Mobile Giving Foundation NPO contract in place.

The application service or agency provider will assist the nonprofit organization in getting its contract in place with the Mobile Giving Foundation. The purpose of this contract is to lay the foundation so that that the Mobile Giving Foundation can collect the donated funds and then distribute them to the nonprofit organization. The contract process takes a couple of weeks and there is a nominal processing fee. At the time of this writing, the fee is a few hundred dollars.

Step 4: Work with application service provider on program details.

The application service provider will work with the nonprofit organization to collect all the necessary program details and fill out all the necessary forms for setting up and launching the program. It will manage this process with the Mobile Giving Foundation. This process typically takes two to four weeks once all the necessary information is collected for the program to be set up and approved on most carriers. Sometimes there are unforeseen delays, which the application service provider will oversee while keeping the nonprofit organization informed. Once the program is approved, the nonprofit organization is ready to launch, start marketing the program and collecting donations.

Step 5: Work with the application service provider to get the most out of the program.

Most application service providers provide additional value-added services, such as strategy and creative consulting as well as help with text messaging, mobile Internet, Interactive Voice Response, Bluetooth and applications - an iPhone application, for example - program development. These other programs can be used to augment the mobile giving program and the nonprofit organization’s marketing initiatives. Nonprofit organizations should avail themselves of these services to support their overall program.

Mobile device and network use is not going away, if anything it is increasing. As marketers we need to embrace the mobile channel and learn to hold conversations with members of our audience in the medium that they’re using to communicate amongst themselves, i.e. mobile devices. This is especially the case in developing markets where traditional infrastructure does not exist and where nonprofits play a big role. In these markets the mobile phone is often the only means of efficient communication. Most nonprofit organizations can get up and running with a mobile giving program, and support mobile marketing programs, quickly and cost effectively as well as engage in the conversation. There are many organizations, such as the Direct Marketing Association (www.the-dma.org), Mobile Marketing Association (www.mmaglobal.com) and others that are there to help. Don’t be afraid to embrace the mobile channel, as shown above in the mobile giving case it really is not hard and can be an incredibly beneficial medium of engagement for both marketers and members of their audience.

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The Intelligent Mail Barcode (IMB) can track every piece of mail with a single barcode. More importantly, this new technology provides the nonprofit mailing industry with a new range of capabilities in all of their mailing activities. Beginning from the customer list, through mail production, into the Postal Mailstream, and even to donor activity, Intelligent Mail brings a new measure of control and value to mail. We are truly wit-nessing the beginning of a new era in mailing.

The IMB has enough digits that every piece of mail can have its own unique identifica-tion. The ability to uniquely identify each mail piece has some obvious benefits:

• You can uniquely track every piece of mail as it travels through the Postal Service, and know what happened to it. Did it get delivered? When? Was it forwarded? Was it returned? All of this information is available when every piece is identified.

• You can get information on the address or the recipient if they’ve moved. Address corrections can be sent automatically to the mailer. You can be very selective about this process, choosing only those pieces where this information will have value to you. With constantly increasing production and postage costs it becomes more im-portant than ever to maintain accurate addresses.

If direct mail is an integral part of your business, you are going to use Intelligent Mail in the near future. The only question you face is when. Virtually all postal discounts will be tied to using the IMB by May 2011 at the very latest. These automation discounts are an essential part of any large mailing operation.

For nonprofit mailers who want to know in real time exactly when and where every single piece of their mailing is delivered.

The Future of Mail Tracking

Paul Ercolino, President, US Monitor

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beneFITs oF usIng InTeLLIgenT MAIL bAr-Code TeChnoLogy

Nonprofit mailers will never have to guess about their mail delivery or gamble on critical marketing deci-sions again. With Intelligent Mail monitoring, nonprofit mailers will dra-matically increase their fundraising by knowing exactly when their direct mail is in their donor’s hands. For ex-ample, response rates will rise when telemarketing efforts are synchronized with actual mail delivery. Customer service problems will be reduced when staffing is optimized based on exactly when the mail arrives. By placing the Intelligent Mail Barcode on your mail piece you can electroni-cally confirm the mail you send out.

• You know that customers are about to receive targeted fundraising packages and other important mail.

• You can choose the most cost ef-fective class of mail.

• Have documentation that you sent your mail and that the Postal Service has begun processing the pieces.

• Know that your customers receive fulfillments of mail orders.

• Plan and time mailings more effec-tively.

• Respond to customer inquiries re-garding a mail piece.

Knowing when mail is delivered al-lows you to staff and prepare appro-priately. This is particularly true with Nonprofit Standard Mail, where the delivery date can vary a great deal. Using IMB technology to determine the actual delivery date allows you to optimize staffing. If mail is not deliv-ered to the extent it was anticipated, staffing can be reduced. Likewise, if

the mail delivers early, call centers can be staffed adequately to meet cus-tomer needs.

By placing the Intelligent Mail Bar-code on the reply device you can electronically confirm mail sent back to you.

• Know in advance when donations are placed in the mailstream.

• Process payments more efficiently and manage cash more effectively.

• Process mail orders more effi-ciently by planning staffing and inventories based on accurate in-formation.

• Maintain better relations with customers based on more accurate information.

• Sharpen your telemarketing follow-up based on what you learn from the data.

• Evaluate the success of an ad or marketing campaign.

• Save money by reducing the num-ber of dunning notices you send.

According to U.S. Postal Service reg-ulations, Nonprofit Standard Mail is sorted and delivered at the discretion of the postmaster and only after First

Classes have been processed. Many Nonprofit Standard Mailers find there are times that their mail is delayed. A delay disrupts any direct mail opera-tion and the accurate analysis of its success. However, if you know how long it takes for your mail to be de-livered, you can take steps to analyze returns properly and get an accurate picture. When you know how long it takes for your mail to be delivered you can plan mailing schedules to allow for delays and help ensure on-time deliveries. Intelligent Mail monitor-ing gives you critical mail delivery information that allows you to make or modify strategic marketing decisions to maximize your direct mail cam-paign’s ROI.

The MeChAnICs oF WorkIng WITh The InTeLLIgenT MAIL bArCode

The IMB is used in conjunction with USPS Confirm to follow mail as it travels through postal sorting equip-ment. Using near real-time data feed from the USPS, detailed information is displayed on when and where mail is being delivered across the country. This can be viewed at a very high lev-el, or drilling down right to the single piece level. This same data feed can in many cases provide information on pieces that are not delivered to the intended addressee.

Job entry time is typically less than five minutes. After a job is created, the system will issue a range of tracking IDs to be used in the mail-ing. Typically, the mail preparer will upload the mailing file to the system, and the system will return an encoded file, ready to print.

Nonprofit mailers will never have to guess about mail delivery or gamble on

critical marketing decisions again

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VIeWIng your resuLTs

As mail travels through the USPS the IMB is scanned and data is sent to a third-party provider, who uses this data to create tracking reports. You will be able to watch as your mail is delivered using easy to navigate on-line reports. These reports include:

• In-home delivery by Date, State; SCF, BMC, ZIP Code and more. All of the in-home reports can be drilled down to viewing scans on single pieces. This makes the sys-tem an excellent diagnostic tool.

• Individual piece scan history; • Mail piece history report: A listing

of all scanned pieces showing first scan, last scan, in-home date. Se-lectable by a variety of elements;

• Single piece report: A listing of all pieces, selectable by geographic area, pieces scanned, pieces not yet scanned, or all.

• Single-piece lookup: Allows the lookup of a single piece in a mail-ing by a variety of elements in the address record or a user defined field.

All reports can be downloaded for in-tegration into other internal reports, or listings of delivered mail can be used to trigger other marketing me-dia. Raw confirm date is available for download as well.

The IMPorTAnCe oF InTeLLIgenT MAIL MonITorIng

The USPS processes and delivers billions of pieces of mail each year and your direct mail piece is among them. Because of the importance to your business, you need to know

when your mail reaches its final des-tination. Lost or delayed mail means a lost marketing opportunity. That’s why Intelligent Mail monitoring is vital to your direct mail campaign’s success.

In challenging economic times, it is extremely important that nonprofit businesses get the most from their mailing programs. Intelligent mail monitoring provides tools that help mailers reduce costs without sacrific-ing the benefits they get from a direct mail plan. Some of the most success-ful mailers today are already reap-ing the benefits of Intelligent Mail Monitoring. Now is the time for you to get intelligent…mail monitoring, of course!

Paul Ercolino is the President of US Monitor, the nation’s leading mail monitoring and list protection service.

US Monitor is proud to announce its partnership with the Nonprofit Fed-eration of the Direct Marketing Asso-ciation (DMANF) to perform a first of its kind study to track delivery results within the United States Postal Ser-vice (USPS) nonprofit standard mail. Results of the study are intended to help nonprofits understand the time it will take their mail pieces to arrive at their intended locations, as well as to see if delivery performance has changed over time. US Monitor and DMANF plan to issue reports to US Monitor clients and DMANF member-ship on a quarterly basis, beginning with 4th Quarter 2009 results in Jan-uary, 2010. If you would like more information on Intelligent Mail Moni-toring or the Mail Delivery Study, please contact Paul at paul@usmoni-tor.com or 1.800.767.7967 ext.103.

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Mailstream Intelligence, U.S. Monitor’s Intelligent Mail Barcode service, is available for 1 Free Mailing if you order now online at www.usmonitor.com/npfor call toll free 800.767.7967 to get started.

ASK ABOUT OUR PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NONPROFIT FEDERATION OF THE DMA (DMANF) TO PERFORM A FIRST OF ITS KIND STUDY TO TRACK DELIVERY RESULTS WITHIN USPS NONPROFIT STANDARD MAIL AND HOW YOU CAN BE A PART OF THE NEXT STUDY!

34 35

TerpSys is proud to be a Diamond Corporate Partner of DMANF. TerpSys Helps Non-Profit Organizations Engage their Constituents and

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34 35

It’s no secret that the economic crisis has had a dramatic effect on nonprofit organiza-tions. At the same time that the need for their services has increased, they’ve seen a decrease across most areas of giving. This is well documented by the National Council

of Nonprofits (www.councilofnonprofits.org) in its August 10, 2009, Economic Stimulus & Recovery Special Report Number 8 titled, “A Respectful Warning Call to Our Partners in Government: The Economic Crisis Is Unraveling the Social Safety Net Faster Than Most Realize.” In the report, the organization cites various national and state surveys. They in-clude: Guidestar: Report on the Effect of the Economy on the Nonprofit Survey, Johns Hop-kins University Listening Post Project: Impact of the 2007-2008 Economic Recession on Nonprofit Organizations, The Bridgespan Group: Update to “Managing in Tough Times – 7 Steps”, Nonprofit Finance Fund, “America’s Nonprofits in Danger, Alliance of Arizona Non-profits’ “Finding a Way – Arizona Nonprofits Economic Survey, Colorado Nonprofit Asso-ciation’s “Weathering the Storm: Challenges and Opportunities Facing Colorado Nonprofits During Recession” and others. Based on these findings, the National Council of Nonprofits reports that “since late last year more than half of the responding nonprofits (in recent sur-vey findings) experienced: increasing demands for more of their services; escalating operat-ing costs; and decreasing revenues to meet the higher demands and costs.” The report also notes the sobering finding that over one third of nonprofits have cut their operations in the face of the economic crisis.

Nonprofits do, however, have tools available to them to help increase contributions even during tough economic times. One such tool is affinity marketing. Affinity marketing is a business model whereby a for-profit organization, the affinity marketer, agrees to give back, to a nonprofit, a portion of the proceeds from its product/service sales to the nonprofit’s members/supporters. The percentage can be as high as 10%, which can represent thou-

ToP sTrATegIes For MAxIMIzIng Funds FroM AFFInITy MArkeTIng(for a successful fundraising campaign)

By Chuck Jamieson, Vice President – Marketing and Consumer Sales for Affinity4

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36 37

sands of dollars otherwise not cap-tured. To maximize funds generated from affinity marketing requires non-profits to follow proven strategies.

dIsPeLLIng CoMMon MIsConCePTIons

Affinity marketing is not well under-stood by most nonprofits. In fact, there are many misconceptions regarding affinity marketing. For instance, many nonprofits regard affinity marketing as a replacement for their regular fund-raising, capital campaigns, online giv-ing programs, annual pledge drives, etc. Once involved in an affinity mar-keting program, these organizations place their traditional fundraising ini-tiatives on the back burner, neglect-ing them and failing to give them the support needed. Some organizations actually abandon certain fundraising activities falsely believing the affinity marketing will compensate. Affinity marketing should be viewed as a com-plement to traditional and new media fundraising; not a replacement.

Another misconception is that the nonprofit has no role in making an affinity marketing program succeed. Furthermore, many nonprofits are hesitant to assume a proactive role in educating their members/supporters. They fear that their aggressive mar-keting of the program will jeopardize or compromise their relationships with their members/supporters. This is a huge mistake and can sound the death toll on the program. The non-profit, in collaboration with their af-finity marketing partner, has a major responsibility in the success of an affinity marketing program. The non-profit’s responsibility is largely one of communicating the program’s value to the organization’s membership/sup-porter base and, continually reinforce

this value by conveying how funds raised from the affinity marketing program are helping the organization achieve its mission.

Then, there’s the “if it didn’t work for another nonprofit, it won’t work for us” misconception. Like anything else, affinity marketing only succeeds if all of the right pieces are in place, from the organization’s commitment and active involvement in the program to selecting the right affinity market-ing partner offering quality products and services. As for selecting the right partner, therein lays another myth, which is that all affinity market-ers are alike.

Affinity marketers vary in the prod-ucts and services they offer, their cor-porate culture and infrastructure and client base. When selecting an affinity marketer, nonprofits should seek out companies that offer products/ser-vices that have a reoccurring revenue stream (i.e., monthly payments) rather than a single purchase price and function like an annuity. Examples of these products and services are long distance and wireless phone services, Internet and DIRECTV, credit cards and insurance products. The selection of an affinity marketing partner should also factor in other key criteria such as the company’s overall corporate culture and value system, its financial resources and customer service phi-losophies.

Lastly, another area of confusion re-garding affinity marketing is nonprof-its’ belief that their participation in an affinity marketing program will bring on burdensome tax and regulatory challenges. This should not be a con-cern at all. An experienced nonprofit attorney can competently guide the nonprofit client in their use of affin-ity marketing so that there will not be

any adverse tax impacts or compli-ance issues.

Ten sTrATegIes For A suCCessFuL AFFInITy MArkeTIng ProgrAM

With a clearer understanding of affin-ity marketing, unclouded by the afore-mentioned misconceptions, nonprofits are in the best position to implement a successful program. Following are the top ten strategies for maximizing funds generated through an affinity marketing program.

1. Select your affinity marketing partner carefully.

Be thorough when ascertaining the company’s qualifications. Ask ques-tions such as: How long has the com-pany been in business? (Choose a company with a proven track record serving nonprofits spanning several years.) What is its corporate mission? (Seek out a company whose mission is to help nonprofits succeed.) What is their client base? (Look for a variety of nonprofits, ranging in category, size and geographical reach.) How many employees does the company have and what are their functions? (It’s important that there be a solid infra-structure with key departments like marketing, customer service, technol-ogy, etc.). The company should also demonstrate its application of ad-vanced phone and computer technolo-gies and employment of trained and courteous customer service represen-tatives – both of which will facilitate a positive customer service experience for members/supporters.

What are the company’s products/services? (Again, products/services

36 37

with reoccurring revenue streams are ideal. The products/services should also be appealing to your members/supporters. For most nonprofits whose members/supporters are a diverse group, universally appealing and ev-eryday products/services are best. If the nonprofit has a very specific mis-sion that appeals to a distinct mem-ber/supporter group, in addition to seeking out partners with universally-appealing products, also consider those whose offerings are synergistic to the specific interests of the member base (e.g., environmentally-safe prod-ucts for members of an environmental protection organization, pet products for an animal shelter, etc.). Also consider high quality, brand name products over untested, lesser known brands which will not have as much consumer appeal. Weigh a company’s product warranty information when selecting an affinity marketer.) How does its pricing compare with other vendors? (Competitive pricing is es-sential.) Can they provide references? (When reviewing references, look for a wide variety demonstrating the af-finity marketer’s successful formula serving many different nonprofits. Contact these references to qualify the affinity marketer’s service quality and customer satisfaction levels.)

2. Designate an affinity marketing team leader.

Once the affinity marketer partner has been selected, it’s important to establish a strong liaison for the firm and its representatives. That liaison should be charged with overseeing the program, maintaining regular interface with the affinity marketer, participating in creative strategies, staying abreast of how the program is doing and communicating its results to key constituents within the non-

profit (i.e., management, Board mem-bers, corporate sponsors, key staff and volunteers).

3. Launch a multi-channel piggyback marketing campaign to communicate the affinity marketing program.

Expect the affinity marketing partner to play a large role in helping the non-profit use traditional and new media (i.e., advertising, direct mail, newslet-ters, online and digital communica-tions) to inform, educate and encour-age members/supporters’ participation in the affinity marketing program. This multi-channel approach is de-signed to create broad and pervasive exposure for the program at the low-est possible costs. It uses all forms of marketing from print advertisements, direct mail brochures, features, news releases, newsletters and public ser-vice announcements to email messag-es, social networking, online/website marketing such as banner ads, land-ing pages, streaming video and email headers that link back to the affinity

marketing partner’s website. By tap-ping into the company’s expertise and experience in the sale and marketing of its products and services, the non-profit can further leverage the rela-tionship and optimize multi-channel marketing tactics.

4. Keep it simple.

Use strategic marketing concepts to communicate with members regard-ing the affinity marketing program but be clear and straightforward. Fol-low sound marketing principles by evoking emotion in your appeals. In simple language, let members/sup-porters know about new products/services being offered by the affinity marketer and how their purchases will make a difference in helping the non-profit achieve its goals (e.g., feed the hungry, create a new program for re-covering alcoholics, build a new wing of a church, purchase computers for a school, finance new medical equip-ment for a hospital, help build a well in a third world nation, etc.).

5. Remain proactive in communi-cating the affinity marketing pro-gram throughout the organization.

The nonprofit’s website, newsletter and direct mail pieces should all in-clude information about the affinity marketing program. New product/ser-vice introductions and special promo-tions should be promoted heavily to keep interest levels and the potential of increasing sales and related pro-ceeds to the organization high.

6. Energize existing fundraising vehicles with affinity marketing.

Use affinity marketing to boost con-tributions for the annual fundraiser. For instance, create a promotional campaign whereby the affinity mar-

By tapping into the company’s expertise and

experience, the nonprofit can leverage the

relationship and optimize multi-

channel marketing tactics.

38 39

keting partner will allocate proceeds from the month’s sales to the capital campaign. Ask the affinity marketing partner to donate products for a raffle prize, or to use a bank of phones in its call center for a telethon.

7. Monitor the affinity marketing program on a consistent basis.

On a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual

and annual basis, track the progress of the affinity marketing program. The affinity marketer partner should be willing to generate reports indicat-ing the number of sales made, funds generated from those sales, and what products/services are associated with the sales. The reports should also cite customer service inquiries and/or problems reported as the nonprofit should always feel confident that its members/supporters are having a pos-itive experience when ordering from the affinity marketer.

8. Rely on the affinity marketing company as a true business partner.

Nonprofits should be willing to share information regarding fundraising challenges, achievements, and other developments which the affinity mar-keter may be able to leverage to gen-erate more sales and funds. For ex-ample, awards recognizing a nonprofit or one of its leaders’ contributions to the community can be linked to a special affinity marketing campaign. Similarly, news of a nonprofit’s fiscal integrity earning them a place on a list of organizations with the lowest overhead can be integrated into an affinity marketing piece.

9. Consider more than one affinity marketing partner.

There’s no reason that a nonprofit can’t benefit from more than one af-finity marketing partner covering a wider range of products and services. In effect, nonprofits can use multiple affinity marketing partners to create their own virtual cause marketing “shopping center,” where members/supporters can make purchases of telecommunications products, home electronics, office products, paper products, etc. and generate funds for their favorite nonprofit at the same.

When selecting multiple affinity mar-keting partners, it’s just as important to perform essential due diligence to qualify a company (i.e., its values, infrastructure, product line and cus-tomer service, etc.) as when using just one partner.

10. Pay it forward.

In the interest of all worthy nonprofits succeeding, share information about a positive affinity marketing program with other nonprofits that too would benefit from this tool. The broader understanding and usage of affinity marketing across the nonprofit sec-tor will accrue benefits to individual nonprofits as well as the beneficiaries of their services. It will also enable affinity marketing partners to leverage scales of economy to create even more programs and value-added services to benefit nonprofits and the communi-ties they serve.

In its June 2009 “Impact of the 2007-2009 Economic Recession on Non-profit Organizations” survey of 1,400 nonprofits nationwide, the Johns Hop-kins University Listening Post Proj-ect reported that 80% of responding nonprofits conveyed some degree of “fiscal stress.” Almost 40% of these respondents described their fiscal stress as “severe” or “very severe.” Clearly, nonprofits should be open to exploring new ways to generate funds. Affinity marketing is one way to capture monies that value-driven for-profit organizations are willing to set aside for nonprofits. The only thing nonprofits need to do is become informed about affinity marketing, educate their members/supporters of the value of the affinity market pro-gram, and implement best practices to maximize funds generated from the program.

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