Award Winning Blog

An “Obama Effect” On Fundraising?

I’ve been wondering whether there will be an "Obama Effect" on nonprofit fundraising. Will the enthusiasm about President Obama in so many quarters translate somehow into increased charitable giving? Although it would be awfully hard to prove, I think it might, for three reasons: 1. For many, Obama has supplied a booster shot of hope, […]

Learn More January 22, 2009

More Caution Re Online Social Nets

Yesterday I suggested that fundraisers not go overboard with the resources you devote at this stage to social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. Here is some more caution. As reported by Mediapost, a recent study by market research firm IDG found that members of social networks tended to click on ads less than […]

Learn More January 21, 2009

Social Nets – A Fundraising Distraction?

First, the good news. A recent "must read" data memo from the Pew Internet Project reports that 35% of American adult internet users have a personal profile on an online social network site … four times as many as three years ago. More detail on the percentages of online folks who have a social net […]

Learn More January 20, 2009

What Are You Doing Tomorrow?

Beginning with the New Year, Tom and I have been pounding away on the subject of “loyalty." The term means different things to different folks. A key factor is likely to prove to be "involvement." ( We have a series of surveys and other analytic projects in the works which we’ll share with you later. […]

Learn More January 19, 2009

Top Marketing Trends For 2009

Here’s how your compatriots in the corporate marketing world view the year ahead. In a recent survey of senior marketing execs by the Marketing Executives Networking Group, the basic message was "return to the basics." What that means to these marketers is first and foremost: customer retention (76% rated as very important) and satisfaction (79%). […]

Learn More January 16, 2009

Who’s Using The Internet, Anyway?

With pressure to reduce costs, direct response fundraisers will likely turn up the volume on their online solicitation efforts. So, who’s using the internet these days? Here’s the latest internet user profile from Gallup, using as the key barometer the percentage of Americans who use the internet more than one hour per day (though additional […]

Learn More January 15, 2009