The Nonprofit Podcast

Send us a textIf your online fundraising is frustrated by underperforming donation pages our conversion-focused best practices will set you on the fast track to success.Online giving is a critical element of your fundraising strategy, so ensuring your donation pages and forms are fit for purpose is the logical starting point for all successful campaigns.  While your website is there to educate visitors about your mission, it’s your donation pages’ function to convert them into donors.   And that’s where Jena jumps in, deconstructing the elements that optimize donation page and form performance.Not just a simple, seamless way to donate online, your fundraising fit donation page and form will expand your reach, enhance your brand awareness, and deliver the all-important increase in donations your mission needs.  Take ten minutes and find how these immediately implementable best practices will hone your donation form to peak fundraising performance. For much, much more on donation form fitness join our upcoming FREE webinar: "Is Your Donation Form Fit for Fundraising? The Ultimate Transformation to Get 4x More Donations for Your Nonprofit"When: Wednesday, Feb. 22nd at 2 pm ESTBook your spot here: https://webinars.donorbox.org/w/transform-nonprofit-donation-form?utm_source=The+Nonprofit+Podcast&utm_medium=NPP&utm_campaign=NPP Plus our Donorbox Nonprofit Blog has two excellent articles to guide you through bringing your donation page up to speed, you can find them here:13 Best Donation Page Examples for Better Fundraisinghttps://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/donation-page-examples  27 Donation Page Best Practices For Nonprofits – Tips and Exampleshttps://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/donation-page-best-practicesImprove Your Donation Page Conversion Rates With These Easy Tipshttps://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/5-tips-improve-donation-page-conversion-rates  Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/ DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name, and ask us! ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X The Nonprofit Podcast is available every Thursday on all your favorite podcast platforms, so follow, rate, and download so you never miss an episode.Support the show

Send us a textFundraising is about so much more than asking for money.  ‘The Ask’ may dominate, but don’t forget about Attract, Acknowledge, Account, and of course, doing it all Again!Each of these actions underpins one of the most important, but often overlooked, drivers of nonprofit growth, a strong communication strategy!   Today we look at ‘Nonprofit Communication Made Easy’ using an easy-to-remember, donor-centered communication cadence that will improve fundraising for your organization.  Donorbox’s 5 A's of Awesome Fundraising is a simple way to remember the all-important Cycle of Fundraising that sits at the heart of every successful development program. To help you stay focused and on track throughout the fundraising year we recommend you make this your screensaver, pin it on your message board, or use it as a useful aide memoir hand-out at strategy sessions.  We know you will be using it again, and again!  Download The 5 A’s of Awesome Fundraising Here: https://poweredby.donorbox.org/podcast-five-as-of-awesome-fundraising/ If you’re inspired to take control of your outgoing communications but feel you may not be ready to do it alone, follow the link to find out more about Donorbox Premium custom packages including coaching, and the support you need to advance your mission here:  https://donorbox.org/premium Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/    DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name and ask us! ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show

Send us a textLet mission-driven SMART goals drive your nonprofit’s success in 2023!Goal-setting is a necessary, but potentially painful, process to bring your strategic planning to life, so why not make it SMART and stress-free?  Join us for mission-moving tactics that will help you structure your goal-setting and make your strategic plan meaningful, implementable, and measurable!From practical tips on determining clear, defined, and actionable goals, to the tactics and timeline to implement them, Cara and Jena unpack the value of the SMART goals framework. Plus offer their personal favorites to take the pressure out of planning with advice on the right tools to use to manage everyday tasks that keep your mission on track, and you and your team stress-free.Reaching your fundraising goals is hard work, but armed with a SMART approach and the right tools, you can do it!We have two excellent guides to assist you in implementing some of today’s tips on our Nonprofit Blog, you can find them here:The Ultimate Guide on Creating a Strategic Fundraising Plan for Nonprofits: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/strategic-fundraising-plan How to Set and Meet Fundraising Goals the Smart Way (13 Tips): https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/set-and-meet-fundraising-goals Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/    DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name and ask us! ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show

Send us a textToday Jared Polivka meets Curt Yagi, the  Executive Director of Real Options for City Kids (R.O.C.K.) a nonprofit that helps children become successful and healthy adults. Curt and his team serve children in the Visitacion Valley area of San Francisco. With 28 years of providing resources for their young community, anchored in academic and social support that nurtures youth with love, courage, and hope, Curt and the R.O.C.K. team have a great deal of experience to share. In this episode, you’ll learn more about the nonprofit, how they integrate social-emotional learning into their programs, a bit about his team’s fundraising philosophy, and the unexpected way the pandemic pushed R.O.C.K. to become more strategic and evolve.If you are delivering services to a community where challenges are great and resources are few, R.O.C.K.'s experiences may unlock solutions for your organization. From the pros and cons of accepting public sector funding, why R.O.C.K. diversifies their fundraising, to how the team listens to their community through friendly surveys, focus groups, and Zoom calls, Curt guides us through their journey spotlighting the learning curve.If you've been inspired to support this small but mighty team find out more about their programs, impact, and volunteering opportunities here:https://rocksf.org/ R.O.C.K. (@RealOptionsKids) / Twitter Or, find out more about online fundraising for your nonprofit at: https://donorbox.org/ DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, open the form, add your name and ask us ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast_40   Support the show

Send us a textLooking to assess your nonprofit team's performance in 2022?  A turbulent year may have tested your nonprofit to the limit, but it sure taught us all a lot about the nonprofit sector’s ability to pivot and perform!  Today we tackle mindful retrospection as a ‘quick and cool’ tool to take your nonprofit’s temperature at the start of a new year.  Using the Rose, Bud, and Thorn technique Cara and Jena explore mindful retrospection as a way to assess your team, event, and fundraising campaign performance over the past 12 months, and improve structure and planning for the coming year.  From highlighting strengths and weaknesses to identifying roadblocks and setting more realistic expectations, this exercise offers a great opportunity to review, recalibrate and reinforce hard-won learnings. Plus we have a fabulous free downloadable worksheet to get you started, just follow the link here: https://library.donorbox.org/rose-bud-thorn-worksheet/ Don’t forget to check out all the other useful nonprofit resources available in our Donorbox Library, or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/  Now we have to ask: DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name and ask us! ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show

Send us a textTop nonprofit fundraising trends for 2023 take center stage in our last episode for 2022.  Cara and her guests tackle three key issues that will influence fundraising in the coming year, unpacking how to manage, mitigate or make them work for you.Recession, conflicts, and a distracted, time-pressed audience present a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges.  The global economy is on a downtrend, donors are more discerning in their giving, and blanket communication strategies aren’t cutting it, so what does a strategic nonprofit fundraiser need to do to sustain? From polite, persistent but carefully planned appeals and leveraging digital wallets, to standing out in your service area Cara and her guests offer tactics to meet, manage and maximize your donor engagement, streamline your supporter relationships and keep your funding flowing. We have three great guides to assist you in implementing some of today’s tips on our Nonprofit Blog, you can find them here:How to Create a Nonprofit Landing Page that ConvertsThe Guide to Creating a Perfect Nonprofit Case Statement Donorbox UltraSwift™ Pay | Make Giving a Breeze with Fast Payments Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/    The Nonprofit Podcast will be back with a new season on January 12, 2023, and we look forward to sharing your nonprofit journey with you.  Thank you so much for your support, and for choosing to join us each week as we work together to change the world for the better.DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name and ask us! ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show

Send us a textAfter a year of change, conflict, and challenge, what did 2022 teach the savvy nonprofit fundraiser?Any expectation that 2022 would be ‘business as usual’, with a reassuring return to pre-pandemic fundraising strategies evaporated by February.  We’ve experienced a sharp increase in the need for nonprofit services globally, from humanitarian aid to the protection of freedoms, matched only by tightening economic realities.  Through it all nonprofits have continued to serve and fundraise, meeting the need as best they can.  From evolving in-person event strategies and discovering how to do more with less to communication that cuts through the noise, Cara and Jena look at 2022’s three top trends and what they mean for the future of nonprofit fundraising.So, join us as we look at what this volatile and demanding environment has taught us and find out how to make those learnings work for our organizations as we head into 2023.You can take a deeper dive into the essential and free marketing tools recommended by Cara on our Nonprofit Blog here:  10 Essential and Free Marketing Tools for Nonprofits  Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/    DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, simply open the form, add your name and ask us!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show

Send us a textDo you feel that your team may be heading for burnout? The last three months of the year are a little frenzied, and a lot stressful, for most nonprofits.  This intense fundraising period requires the most energy, intention, and action from your team!  So if you’re all feeling a little fried as the festive season sets in, Jena has 5 practical actions you can implement immediately to support your team through the last few weeks of your year-end push, without pushing them over the edge!Burnout has been a hot topic for the past few years in the nonprofit industry, with many workers and volunteers reporting they feel ‘used up’ despite the gratification of their work. Burnout impacts physical, emotional, and mental well-being following extended periods of stress, and if that doesn’t describe Giving Season, nothing does!  Burnout has an enormous impact on performance and the quality of program delivery and is often a major contributing factor to losing committed team members who feel overwhelmed and lose enthusiasm at work, and in their personal life.  Your team is your most precious resource, so take 5 minutes and try our tactics to get you to your Giving Season goals intact, in tune, and ready to tackle a new year with the team you trust, and support!We have a great guide to recognize the causes, identify the symptoms, and 11 techniques to effectively manage burnout on our Donorbox Nonprofit Blog, here:Nonprofit Burnout: How to Recognize And Manage It: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/nonprofit-burnout Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/ DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, open the form, add your name and ask us ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast_40   Support the show

Send us a textIn 2021, the average open rate was 21.3%. In 2022 it stands at 16.97%.  So how does the founder and Executive Director of Ten Eighteen Uganda, Jennings Wright, achieve almost triple that - twice a week?Join us as Jennings shares the fine art of email storytelling. From how to break through writer’s block to demolishing common misconceptions about communicating, she provides simple tips and tactics that can be put into practice right away to ensure your email is eagerly anticipated, and read! No one can do everything, but everyone can do something!  This was Jennings’ big ‘Aha’ moment when she started Ten Eighteen Uganda, Touch the Slum.  So, she and her colleagues did what they could, while fully engaging as many people as possible who would also do ‘something’. For Jennings, her ‘something’ was creating compelling communications to inspire donor support for the much-needed programs driving cultural change for young women and girls in Uganda. Often excluded from education and socially marginalized, teen mums in the Namuwongo slum face devastating poverty and lack basic necessities and services.  Tackling the huge problems facing these girls alone would have completely overwhelmed the young organization in 2009, today the bi-weekly clear, concise and totally engaging communications help to ensure that teen mums and girls have free crisis care, Skills for Life vocational training, and holistic literacy training to change their lives.  Sign-up here to find out more, receive their newsletter, and support Ten Eighteen UgandaFor more on honing your email skills and strengthening your appeal communications head to our Donorbox Nonprofit Blog.  We have articles to assist from every angle, you can find them here:How To Create A Sense of Urgency In Fundraising Appeals - 10 Easy Tips 5 Must-Dos for Engaging Fundraising Appeal Letters [+ Samples] How to Devise the Perfect End-of-Year Appeal (Free Samples)   Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/ DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, open the form, add your name and ask us ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast_40    Support the show

Send us a textIf stewardship is about so much more than a thank you, what is it? And how do you make it work for your nonprofit?Donor stewardship is the intentional practice of building a relationship with your donors.  Today Cara and Jena examine how thanking and showing impact together underpin a sound donor stewardship strategy and support your all-important donor retention. It cannot be said enough, relationships matter when it comes to stewardship!From how to build meaningful donor relationships to creating ongoing commitment and recurring donations for your cause, we have five key tips that will help your nonprofit grow with gratitude.  For a deeper dive into understanding and leveraging today’s advice, head to our Donorbox Nonprofit Blog.  We have three excellent guides to get you ‘growing with gratitude’, you can find them here:Key Nonprofit Stakeholders and How to Steward Them: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/nonprofit-stakeholders   Acquiring and Stewarding Major Donors: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/acquiring-major-donors   Donorbox Introduces Powerful & Time-Saving Donor Reporting Templates: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/donor-reporting-templates Or find out more at: https://donorbox.org/ DO YOU have a question? The Nonprofit Podcast is here to answer your questions!  Our weekly Ask-Me-Anything feature is one click away, open the form, add your name and ask us ANYTHING!!  ➡️ https://donor-box.typeform.com/to/wXlnEX3X Support the show