The ENGAGE Podcast

As nonprofit marketers, fundraisers and executives, we always need to be looking for new and more effective ways to reach new people. One of the best and most underutilized ways to do that is through social ambassadors – people who love your work, support your mission and have a wide reach of their own. They can reach out to their own networks on your behalf, bringing in new donations and awareness of your cause.

Today’s guest, Beth Kanter, is an international non-profit thought leader who knows a thing or two about non-profit fundraising and how social ambassadors can help. Listen to the episode to hear Beth’s thoughts on this interesting subject.

Topics discussed this episode: 

• How influencers help nonprofits
• What type of person can be a social ambassador
• How Beth once raised $5000 in 15 minutes with the help of influencers
• How changes to Facebook will affect nonprofit fundraising
• How video content is becoming more important for engagement
• The importance of leaning into new technology 

Resources: 

Beth Kanter

The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit

Beth on Twitter

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter

Blackbaud - Facebook 

“Who are the people that already support you, or are interested, or their interests is aligned with your campaign or organization, and who are their networks?”

“If your organization has been able to build a really engaged organic fan base, and if you’re producing content that people are talking about and interacting with and sharing, that’s not going to change.”

“Groups are a great way to manage your influencers and fans.”

In the nonprofit sector, digital engagement and fundraising is a hot topic. But are donors and activists on the same page as organizations when it comes to digital engagement and giving online? Are nonprofits taking the right steps to engage them digitally? Do nonprofits understand what metrics matter online?

To answer these questions and more, Steve’s guest today is Carie Lewis Carlson, of CLC Consulting and formerly of the Humane Society of the United States. Listen in to hear Steve and Carie discus what’s happening in digital marketing today.

 Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• The similarities between consumer behavior and donor behavior
• Whether donors distinguish between online giving and offline giving
• How resource availability and leadership can affect the ability of nonprofits to appeal to donors with digital marketing
• The importance of being willing to try new things and learn from them, even if they don’t work out
• How to wean off vanity metrics and focus on more useful types of metrics
• The importance of developing a strong content strategy 

Resources: 

Carie Lewis Carlson

CLC Consulting

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter

Blackbaud - Facebook 

“I think that our constituents and our customers are actually way more advanced than we are. Technology can’t keep up with them.”

“You’re going to come out better in the end, no matter if you fail or succeed, because you’re going to learn from those mistakes.”

“Everybody’s on social, but they don’t know why.”

In the nonprofit sector, it’s easy to think of the pool of donors as being limited. You end up returning to the same group time and time again. But is there a different pool of donors out there that you’re not reaching, perhaps because your organization isn’t reaching out to them with the right language or operating within the right cultural context?

Joining Steve for today’s episode is Adrian White Slagle, the Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Supporter Experience at Operation Smile, a nonprofit medical service organization that helps children born with cleft conditions. Tune in to hear Steve and Adrian discuss how to expand your donor base by engaging with multilingual donors.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The changing demographics in America, including the rapid growth of the Hispanic population
• The large percentage of Hispanic Millennials in America
• The importance of engaging bilingual and multilingual donors on a cultural level
• The importance of Spanish in Hispanic culture, even among Hispanics who also speak English
• The process of implementing multilingual programs for donors
• The benefit of starting small and layering in more widespread multilingual efforts gradually
• The importance of understanding key cultural values when determining if a cause is relevant to a specific audience
• The benefits of starting with a digital campaign first in order to gather valuable quick data about the response

Resources:

Adrian White Slagle

Operation Smile

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter

Blackbaud - Facebook

Quotes:

“I think you can start out slow and small and just continue to layer on adapting from what you’re already doing, and that works.”

“If we’re not diversifying our audience, we’re just saying the same things to the same people, and at some point, they may move on.”

“We’re not reaching out to people who are sitting there waiting for us to start a conversation with them.”

We’ve all been there: the latest reports show this one color donate button works best, everyone is blogging about shortening subject lines, our board is inspired by another organization’s successful campaign and suggests we emulate. We find ourselves at the crossroads of “Should we do that?” and “Will that work for us?” Steve MacLaughlin, VP of Data and Analytics at Blackbaud and the host of today’s episode, explains that the answer is almost always going to be “it depends”. It depends on your mission, your technology, your audience, your goals – it depends on each organization’s unique situation and circumstance. The only way to get your answer: Test.

Joining Steve for today’s episode, a true expert in the field, is Tim Kachuriak, the Chief Innovation and Optimization Officer for Next After, a research and consulting firm that helps nonprofits, NGOs, and businesses grow their research capacity. Tune in to hear Steve and Tim tackle everything from why you can’t afford not to be testing, a simple change that tests showed could increase online giving up to 20% and how to get started with simple data points.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How the web works as our own behavioral laboratory
• Why testing is important for small organizations as well as large ones
• The challenges of determining what is and isn’t working and where testing is needed
• How data can demonstrate the changes in donor activity over time
• How best practices can provide diminishing returns as more organizations adopt them
• How to prioritize which areas to test using analytics
• The three components of creating online revenue
• Next After’s projects for 2018

Resources:

Tim Kachuriak

Next After

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter

Blackbaud - Facebook

“The thing that I’m usually amazed by is how seemingly small things can make significant impact as it relates to getting more people to say “yes” to give a gift to you.”

“One of the ways that you can mitigate risk is by doing testing and finding out for sure, using data, what works and what doesn’t.”

“I love best practices, but I love them as a starting place, not a final destination.”

On today’s podcast episode, we are talking about how to be a manager, a badass coach, and a fundraiser all at the same time. My guest today, is the Fund Diva Kishshana Palmer. She is the founder of Kishshana & Co. Today, she shares how to be a manager and coach while achieving her mission of helping fund raising organizations grow.

Topics discussed this episode:

• The importance of management and people skills
• Making sure your people have the tools for success
• Being strategic and creating clear goals and vision
• Bouncing ideas and helping to create a roadmap
• Generational differences and defining roles and responsibilities
• Time management and allowing space to manage and fund raise

Resources:

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #nofilternonprofit

Blackbaud - Facebook

Kishshana on Instagram

Kishshana on Twitter @FundDiva

Kishshana & Co

Kishshana on Facebook

Quotes:

“When my team does well, I do well as a manager.” Kishshana Palmer

“I try to find what my team needs to see and hear to succeed and then enable them.” Kishshana Palmer

“As a manager, you have to be able to have balance and set expectations early on.” Kishshana Palmer

Today’s episode is all about Change Management and how you can better your organization by implementing change at all levels. My guest is Tiffany Getch, an Organizational Change Manager at Blackbaud, and she is an expert at creating data-driven solutions while defining and improving processes for non-profits. Join us as we cover specific tactics and resources you can use to create change and improve efficiency at your organization.

Topics discussed this episode:

• Project management and adding new workflows
• Productivity and organizational tools
• Process mapping and milestones
• Identifying and managing stakeholders
• RACI diagrams and user training
• Getting the team to work together

Resources:

Trello

Smartsheet

Basecamp

Tiffany on Twitter - @Tiffany_getch

Danielle on Twitter - @DJVermenton

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #raiseandengage

Blackbaud - Facebook

“When driving a project, collaboration is key. Bring the whole team across the finish line.”

“The biggest thing about change is to bring everybody along.”

“Process mapping is an incredible exercise to get clarity of the things you were doing, things you thought were getting done and and things that still need to be done.”

Our topic this week is the intersection of major gifts when it comes to online and offline tactics. Many organizations resist the idea that major gifts can be done online, so we will go over how it works and what the concerns are. My guest to discuss is Jerusha Schmalzel, a Customer Success Manager at Blackbaud’s Arts and Cultural Verticle. She has over 10 years experience working with nonprofits and Arts and Cultural organizations as a VP of Development and Major Gifts Officer. Join us as we share the variety of ways major donors can be engaged online and increase the impact of your mission.

Topics discussed this episode:

• Why the resistance towards online for some aspects of major gifts
• The pitfalls of making assumptions about donors
• Using technology for stewardship and efficiency, not just asks
• Visually showing donors your mission with video content
• Making unique content for major donors
• Removing ego from major donor work

Resources:

Jerusha on Twitter - @jschmalzel

Danielle on Twitter - @DJVermenton

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #raiseandengage

Blackbaud - Facebook

Quotes:

“Any time we make assumptions about people we’re just removing an entire group of human beings from a certain channel that might be really appealing to them.” - Jerusha Schmalzel

“People are more apt to giving to your organization when they are currently experiencing your mission.” - Jerusha Schmalzel

“Every time you convert people into that online channel, you’re freeing up more of your time to get out there and have those one to one relationships.” - Jerusha Schmalzel

“Any tool in our toolbox we should be deploying.” - Jerusha Schmalzel

On today’s episode we’re talking about our unfiltered end of the year campaign checklists - the things we need to stop doing and things we should be doing instead. My guests to discuss are Scarlett Bauman, Director of Marketing at Air Force Enlisted Village, and Brock Warner, Senior Manager of Fundraising at War Child Canada. Listen in as they share what their end of the year planning looks like and give us great advice on campaign organizing.

Topics discussed this episode:

• When and how to start end of the year planning
• Building content and planning stories
• Coordinating end of year plan scheduling
• Common campaign mistakes to avoid

Resources:

Air Force Enlisted Village

War Child Canada

The Unforgettable Photograph by George Lange

Scarlett Bauman on Twitter

Brock Warner on Twitter

Fundraising Robot on Twitter

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #raiseandengage

Blackbaud - Facebook

Quotes:

“What do we have, what can we use and how can we extend that story out into a journey over the course of the year end campaign.” - Brock Warner

“I found that having as many people around the table at the early stages is a lifesaver.” - Brock Warner

“When they receive that email I want them to open it up...and I want them to see a compelling photograph that tells a story.” - Scarlett Bauman

Today’s topic is about local Giving Days that don’t fall on Giving Tuesday - how does an organization decide which day to focus on? My guest to discuss is Amy Daly, Director of Marketing and Communications for Project Angel Heart. Her organization participates in Colorado Give Day and she shares how they balance their popular local event with the global Giving Tuesday movement. Listen in as she shares marketing and communication tips around Give Day campaigns. 

Topics discussed this episode: 

• Creation of a state-wide Giving Day in Colorado
• Incorporating Giving Tuesday into a local campaign
• Consistent messaging on Give Days
• Metrics and segmentation strategy
• Stewardship for Giving Day donors
• Things to consider when deciding which day to focus on
• Project Angel Heart and storytelling 

Resources: 

Project Angel Heart

Amy on Twitter - @amykdaly

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #raiseandengage

Blackbaud - Facebook 

Quotes: 

“This is bigger than just us, and participating in this allows us to be part of something that’s exciting and gets people really jazzed about giving.” - Amy Daly

“I don’t think it’s jumping on the bandwagon to participate in something that’s successful, that’s working and it’s getting people excited.” - Amy Daly

“If you see people getting excited about something, get excited with them!” - Amy Daly

Welcome to the Raise + Engage podcast where we help organizations with online communications and development. Today, I am talking about the important topic of email deliverability with Ryan O’Keefe, Product Manager at Blackbaud. There are a lot of misconceptions with how email is delivered because the process is handed off to so many different entities. Listen in as we go over the ins and outs of email delivery, and how to ensure that your communications reach your target audience.  

Topics discussed this episode: 

• How and why ISPs filter emails based on past history
• Configuration and user engagement influence deliverability
• Gmail is using open rates to judge email quality
• Opens, clicks, downloads and any action influence engagement
• How Blackbaud monitors everything to ensure deliverability
• Putting the effort into re engagement campaigns
• Give users a way to agree to receiving email
• Offer users other ways to stay engaged outside of email 

Resources:

Blackbaud

Blackbaud - Twitter #nofilternonprofit

Blackbaud - Facebook

npENGAGE

@whoisryanokeefe on Twitter

@DJVermenton on Twitter

[email protected] 

Quotes:

“At Blackbaud, we set everything up according to the best industry email practice.” Ryan O’Keefe

“Organizations need to adjust their policies for sending out email. Stop targeting inactive subscribers.” Ryan O’Keefe

“Target your most engaged users to get your biggest return at the end of the year.” Ryan O’Keefe