Thank you is the most important thing you can say to your donor or supporter. The power of thank you is long established yet many of us in the nonprofit world have dropped the ball once or twice when it comes to telling our donors and supporters "thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Your nonprofit New Year's resolution should be to develop your online thank you strategy. You accept donations online and you have a community online. Now it's time to start thanking people in your online world.

Thi…

Now I realize it's only January and we all are still recovering from Christmas, but here at the Yonge Street Mission I'm already thinking about Easter. As I prepare the newspaper ads for the weeks ramping up to Easter this year I am faced with a new dilemma. What photo do I use? In years past it was never an issue because we had a great photo of our "meal man" Lloyd. But Lloyd's passing in November, 2011 has brought up a new discussion about the face of our "Provide a meal" newspaper campaign.…

Today Artez Interactive is excited to launch a new Facebook app enabling donors to share the charities and social causes they support via an integration with Facebook Platform.

The Artez Interactive App for Facebook Timeline makes it possible for people to share their donation activities with their family and friends on Facebook.

The app was announced at f8, Facebook's developer conference in September 2011, with launch partners Free The Children, Canadian Diabetes Association, Kids Help…

As an Aussie who has spent two of the last three years fundraising in Canada, it has been an odd transition moving back home. Not because I picked up any peculiar traits such as saying 'Sorry' when someone bumps into you, or using 'Eh?' (pronounced 'A') to seek approval for something I've said, rather, the fact that I have a better understanding of fundraising in Canada than I do in Australia.

Don't get me wrong, things aren't vastly different! Charities are not madly faxing out…

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Everyone is getting ready to step up in 2012. Have you made a strategic plan for the new year yet? Many charities and nonprofits are already making plans for 2012.

How is your organization getting ready? Are you planning your budget? Creating a new marketing strategy? Or are you considering recruiting a new board member? 

Although the last one sounds the least complicated, there are some points that are worth thinking about in advance.

Check the tips from "Tr…

 
Image from guardian.co.uk

It's an understatement to say that the end of the year is a busy time for the  charitable sector. Many charities and nonprofits can anticipate raising a third of their annual overall online donations in December alone. It shouldn't surprise you to hear that the last two days of the year are when most organizations also experience the heaviest volume of online giving.

In the crowded crush of direct mail, television appeals, print campaigns and email blasts, it's…

This year there seems to be more digital holiday fundraising programs than ever. It's no secret that December is a great month for giving.

Traditional increased giving around the holidays combined with greater access to digital, mobile and social fundraising tools have allowed nonprofit organizations to develop creative online holiday campaigns and programs centered around holiday giving.

Consider the following key factors before you launch your holiday giving program:

• Timing: Ideally the…

Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2011 have come to a close and IBM has the latest online retail performance data! This was a banner year on a number of fronts with mobile traffic growing by more than 200%.

In their recently released Coremetrics Benchmark Reports for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2011, IBM reports that online sales increased 39.3% Thanksgiving Thursday and 24.3% on Black Friday when compared to last year.

Amazingly, mobile devices(including the iPhone and iPad) accounted for…

You've may have noticed that the concept of "Gamification" is a hot topic in the technology community. What is it really, and what does it mean for charities and nonprofits?

Gamified experiences use game-playing techniques to engage users and encourage specific activities. A typical example of gamification might involve gathering reward points, achieving increasingly higher levels, or solving puzzles to unlock new challenges. One well-known example is the geo-location application Foursquare,…