People who know me well, know that I have an obsession with pens and magic markers. So, when this viral fundraising campaign - #BuyPens - to help Syrian refugee came across my radar, it immediately caught my attention. When Gissur Simonarson, an activist from Oslo, Norway, shared a photo on Twitter last week of a father selling pens on the streets of Beirut as he cradled his sleeping daughter, the tugged at the heart strings of the 6,000 followers on Twitter. Within hours, requests poured … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2015
Facebook Launches Donate Now Button for Nonprofits: Field of Dreams?
Yesterday, after a planning call with colleagues for a session I'm moderating at IFC called "Viral Fundraising Campaigns One Year On," I noticed a promoted post in my stream for the ALS Icebucket Challenge with a donate button. Wow, two juicy news events in one post! Facebook has rolled out the "Donate Now" button for all ads and brand pages which makes it easier than for nonprofits to ask Facebook audiences to donate. But, is the feature a field of dreams for nonprofits? When Facebook … [Read more...]
New Playbook Resource: How To Engage Alumni
I am a huge fan of Playbooks in the nonprofit sector as a capacity building tool. A playbook is an online resource that is basically knowledge capture around a specific practice or type of program. The playbook collects, organizes, and synthesizes best practices from "bright spots" and others adopting this practice. A good playbook incorporates lessons learned, case studies, resources, checklists, and other useful materials for other organizations that want to improve their practice or … [Read more...]
How Nonprofit Emerging Leaders Can Build Emotional Intelligence Skills: There’s An App for That!
[slideshare id=49572169&doc=playbookfinalpdf-150618200535-lva1-app6892&type=d] For the past few months, I’ve been designing curriculum and materials and facilitating a Nonprofit Emerging Leaders online peer learning project with Third Plateau Impact Strategies. It's a pilot project supported by the Packard Foundation that tests different approaches to emerging leaders professional development. We created The Emerging Leaders Playbook which served as the “text book” for the … [Read more...]
Successful Social Media Content Strategy Is A Continuous Improvement Process for Nonprofits
I was in San Antonio this week to facilitate an interactive master class for 300 nonprofits that was hosted by the San Antonio Nonprofit Council that hosts The Big Give, a very successful local giving day. One of the goals of the giving day is to improve the local skills and capacity of nonprofits in online fundraising, and I was impressed at the level of knowledge in the room. (Having 300 people and doing a participatory style of teaching gave me an opportunity to use some of my facilitation … [Read more...]
