Nonprofit News

Over the past several months, many organizations have seen an influx of new donors. Organizations focused on racial justice. Social service agencies. Hospitals. The list goes on. If your organization has experienced an uptick in support, we encourage you to first focus on retaining these supporters beyond the crisis moment.

As you work to make a strong first impression, engage donors meaningfully, and quickly renew them, consider future upgrades. Which of your new supporters have the potential to become major donors down the road, and where should you place your focus?

Read More

As our sector continues to navigate new challenges, the Campbell & Company team has paused to reflect on our own best practices and strategies. We recommend taking the time to evaluate your internal structures and systems, including your database. In this spirit, we encourage you to ask: “Are we managing our data effectively?”

While most nonprofits track data on their constituents, like donor bios and giving history, simply collecting that information isn’t enough. It may even waste time as you sift through pages of data entries. Without effective data management, you miss out on insights that could lead to better understanding and, ultimately, better fundraising.

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

Jargon.

It’s the inspiration for a hundred too-accurate lists of “Words and Phrases Everyone Should Please Stop Using ASAP,” the incomprehensible (but extremely accurate) technical terminology we tune out during all-staff meetings, and the verbal tic we all have that makes us wince as soon as we hear it.

Read More

If your organization was planning to “go public” this year, your announcement plans have probably changed.

You may have added to or revised your campaign case to account for current events, and you are likely considering a digital rollout of the campaign, with any larger kickoff or celebration events postponed to a later date. In this case, social media will play a central role in sharing information and creating excitement among your constituents.

As you enter this next phase, you’ll need to build on your momentum while also making a significant pivot in messaging strategy to engage your broader community. Throughout the public phase and beyond, think of social media as a two-way street: a channel to push out campaign-related content and a catalyst for community building.

I compiled a list of 10 tips to guide your social media efforts at this inflection point.

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

When we do our Fundraising Communications webinars every year, one of the most common questions we receive in Q&A is “do I need different cases for different donor audiences (alumni, parents, corporations, foundations, etc.)?

The answer to that question is “ehhhhhh”—basically, don’t waste time worrying about that until you’ve done all the work to produce one really great, really versatile case for support that works for a variety of uses and audiences. But there is another sense in which, yes, you do need multiple cases in your campaign. Not across audience segments, but across time.

Read More

COVID-19 has altered the way we connect and forced us to reimagine how to engage alumni, parents, and donors. Shelter-in-place mandates across much of the country led to innovative ways of staying in touch and engaged through digital channels. As regions begin to reopen, but still with social distancing measures and limited capacity for gatherings, higher education institutions are rethinking their engagement strategies for the remainder of 2020.

Download our new resource: Creative Digital Engagement Strategies for Colleges and Universities.

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

Nothing conveys the true meaning, impact, and weight of your mission like the words of the actual people who benefit from your work every day. It’s not just a good way to engage and move your audience—it’s the best way to ensure they hear directly from the people who understand your mission best.

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

This is our second article in a series on nonprofit visioning—a process to define and clarify the aspirations that inspire nonprofit communities and move them forward. To dig further into visioning and the process we outline today, read our first entry on what a vision statement is and why it’s important here.

You’ve dreaded the questions we started with last week:

• These plans sound great—but what do they add up to?
• I love the new leader so far—but where are they taking the organization?
• This sounds like what you’re already doing, just more of it. What will be different afterward?

A concise, creative vision statement that puts your organization’s deepest aspirations in focus may be the answer you’ve been looking for. But the longer you think about it… and the more important a vision statement feels… the harder it is to know where to start.

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

They are the kind of donor questions we hear all the time—and dread…

• These plans sound great—but what do they add up to?
• I love the new leader so far—but where are they taking the organization?
• This sounds like what you’re already doing, just more of it. What will be different afterward?

The situation and wording may vary, but the underlying question is the same: What’s your vision?

Read More

The state of the world has made us want to connect with more of you, more often. For the rest of 2020, the Campbell & Company Communications team is sharing a new article every week that explores a topic in case development and fundraising communications, drawn from our work.

Whether it’s thinking about how to approach fundraising communications against the backdrop of current events or tackling an evergreen challenge we see time and time again in nonprofits across the sector, these articles focus on practical tips to empower fundraising leaders in their day-to-day work. Subscribe to the series here.

Once you’ve labored through long weeks of work on your case statement, your campaign brand, or your annual report, and you finally arrive at a full draft that you and your core collaborators feel great about…congratulations! You’re at mile 13.

The second half of the marathon is committee review—our sector’s Olympic sport. Because we value consensus and inclusion, we put most significant organizational communications through an extensive process of committee review with staff and volunteers.

Read More