Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 97

Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers! It’s no secret that I love a good newsletter! :) One of the articles we highlight this week explores 10 ways to encourage engagement with your nonprofit newsletter. You can share an impact story, interview a donor, curate some resources for the community you serve, or leverage the content you’re already sharing on your social media platforms! You know…I just might be taking some notes!

Scroll on down for more excellent fundraising and nonprofit content. Let me know what stands out!

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Great Fundraising Posts

Tracking the ROI of Nonprofit Recurring Giving Programs

Tim Forbes (Soapbox Engage)

As a development professional, you invest hard work, time, and careful strategy into every fundraising strategy. It's critical to accurately measure the effectiveness and progress of each strategy. The right tools will help you track progress, guage your success, and build on the most effective strategies–including your monthly giving programs. Tracking the progress and the ROI of your recurring giving programs offers insight into what's working and where to make improvements.

How to Measure What Matters in Fundraising

Jeff Brooks (Moceanic)

The old adage says, "you get more of whatever you measure." This is especially true in fundraising. But there are a lot of things that could be measured in fundraising and it's not always easy to know exactly what you should focus on. Not all of them are equally important. A handful of things are absolutely critical to measure for your fundraising success. Check out this blog for some insights about what you should measure in your fundraising–and how!

10 Engaging Content Ideas for Your Next Nonprofit Newsletter

Vanessa Chase Lockshin (The Storytelling Non-Profit)

Newsletters are an effective strategy to build relationships with your constituents, in particular, donors. When done well, your newsletter can even help your nonprofit raise more money. But for that to happen, you need great content to put in your newsletter–content that your supporters want to read. This may require abandoning the more "traditional" newsletter content and thinking outside the box. This blog offers some fresh content ideas that can take your newsletters to the next level.

6 Tips for Keeping Your Nonprofit’s Donor Data Clean and Ready to Use

Mark Becker (NonProfit PRO)

Data powers your fundraising efforts, drives your donor communications, and feeds your reports. No matter how powerful your fundraising and marketing software might be, it won't work as well as it should if you have outdated, duplicate, and/or missing donor data. It takes quite a lot of intentional strategy and work to maintain a high level of data health and hygiene. But it doesn't have to be an overwhelming or daunting task. Using a few proven best practices, you can have more complete, accurate, and clean data to power your fundraising and marketing efforts.

Apple’s Privacy and Your Nonprofit’s Email Marketing

Marc A. Pitman (The Fundraising Coach)

Have you noticed a change in your email newsletter open rates lately? Perhaps you're noticing a dramatic increase? That increase isn't really what you think. It's connected with Apple's privacy settings. Apple introduced new protections in iOS 15 that affects email sent to Apple domains like iCloud. The protections stretch to all emails read on devices using the default Apple "Mail" app (even if it's sent to donors' Google emails). This blog offers insights about the Apple privacy features and how you can better measure success with your email newsletters

Is Now the Time to Raise Big Money?

Jenn Shefcik (Fired-Up Fundraising)

There are more high net-worth donors in the US than ever–thanks to several years of strong economic and stockmarket growth. You may even have some of the "quiet millionaires" in your database–the average age is 62!. But instability in the markets and world events can affect donors' feelings around wealth. Most high net-worth donors have diversified portfolios. A practical (and simple) strategy is to speak with donors to understand how they are feeling and what they are thinking. Don't let your own financial or fundraising worries hold you back! Check out this blog to learn more about how to have these strategic conversations with your supporters.

How to Overcome Nonprofit Fundraising Myths

Claire Axelrad (Clairification)

Many people think of fundraising in a negative light–a "necessary evil" for a nonprofit to exist. And many people can get creative telling you why it's something to be avoided. Claire calls these creative excuses "half-truths" at best. They have a ring of truth but can be distracting and disorienting. In this blog, Claire unpacks some strategies to avoid basing your fundraising strategy on any of these common myths.

How to Increase Your Email Open Rate by 14%

Steven Screen (The Better Fundraising Company)

An e-story is a low-fi, simple-format email to your donors. It tells one "before and after" story. Why do these types of emails have such a powerful impact? Most "reporting" to donors via email answers questions that nobody is asking. Typically, e-newsletters have terrible open rates. If your e-newsletter open-rates are low, that means they aren't relevant for most of your supporters and this strategy might be just what you need! This blog even has an email format you can follow.

21 Inconceivable Things Non-Profits Do That Hurt Donor Relationships

Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels (Veritus Group)

Development professionals have the best of intentions in everything they do, but sometimes it's easy to overlook the role that the donor plays in carrying out the mission. When we treat donors as a means to an end (usually unintentionally) rather than seeing them as partners in our mission, it's going to show up in their giving. Check out this blog to learn about 21 things that nonprofits do to hurt their donor relationships unintentionally.