Hi there. It’s Simone, your information curator. Have you seen / read these? You might find them reaffirming or informative. You might use them with your executive director or board.
- Interview with Roger Craver, 1/2 of The Agitator duo. Donor retention. Social media in fundraising. Changes in the profession. And more. To listen, click here to download the audio file or visit the Fundraising Is Beautiful page here, where you’ll find several listening and subscription options. Thanks to Jeff Brooks, May 23, 2013.
- New! I want something new. Read Tom Ahern’s e-news about “new” and other variations like (secret and insider and launch and…) But also read Seth Godin when he talks about “neophilia.” And check out Jeff Brooks’ reprise. The bottom line: What works matters more than what is new.
- And that leads to this next item, “When your common sense leads you astray,” another Jeff Brooks posting. Some uninformed person – knowing nothing about fundraising – criticizes a fundraising letter. This makes me so angry. Stop the ill-informed and uninformed expression of opinion when expertise actually matters!
- Now here’s an amusing little tale for your board members who “don’t like your fundraising.” It’s the story of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss…translated into fund development. It actually goes along with the opinion versus expertise issue.
- Here’s another amusing little tale, “Snow White and the Seven Small Woods People.” A fairy tale of fundraising from our Agitator pals.
- I just received my copy of the Donor Retention Project. Action guides. 12 interviews on 6 CDs. 2 CDs with mp3 and pdf files. Advice from Adrian Sargeant, Marc Pitman, Lisa Sargent, Simone Joyaux… Good stuff.
- I just finished this book by Dan Ariely: The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone – Especially Ourselves. I liked it. I learned. It’s part of professional development to learn about life and community and the economy (yes), etc.
- Check out this blog, “Why Social Media Hasn’t Replaced the Traditional Marketing Funnel,” by Dianna Huff. Remember, fundraising is really good marketing/sales. By the way, Dianna is a really good search engine optimization specialist. She changed my website to the well-organized, easy-to-use site that it is now. And Dianna introduced me to the web designers who created my wonderful site.
- Another by the way, based on Dianna’s blog: Subscribe to the Stanford Social Innovation Review. And, read Jen Shang‘s work about social proof. Jen is the world’s first PhD in philanthropy – and the world’s only philanthropic psychologist.
- And finally: Check out Bloomerang if you need a donor database. Designed with Adrian Sargeant’s donor loyalty and lifetime value research. Coupled with Tom Ahern’s donor communications expertise. And the ease and intuitiveness of iPad and iPhones.
