Blog entries

Fundraising Across Generations:

Kn Moy — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:00:00 +0100

Digging a little deeper into Gen Y.

As our mature donors — those born before 1945 — exit the giving scene, the imperative to attract new and younger donors has never been more important. Two critical questions arise as we work to engage the next generations of donors today:

- How will we optimize bringing on younger donors without compromising current revenue from our current donors?
- What generational age cohorts are the most strategic and economically viable to pursue?

As we consider these questions, let's look first at the evolving traits and current realities of the youngest giving generation, Gen Y, which is also known as the Millennials. In future blogs, we will look at the other generational cohorts.

1. Gen Y is big — almost as large as the Baby Boomers, the largest generation in the U.S. today. While the typical Gen Y donor gives far less in total annual contributions than the typical Boomer donor today, the difference is primarily driven by the number of charities supported, rather than by differences in gift size. The typical Gen Y donor gives to fewer charities (3.6 charities with average cumulative giving of $161 to the top charity) than the typical Boomer donor (5.2 charities with average cumulative giving of $211 to the top charity). (This data is from 2010.) Non-profits that have "cracked the code" in attracting Gen Y donors can be quite profitable, especially when donor lifetime potential and responsiveness to lower-cost online communications is factored in.

2. For Gen Y, giving on a charity's website is greater than giving through the channel of direct mail. It is the only generation where this is the case. For Gen X, giving on a website is almost equal to giving by direct mail. For Boomers, giving by direct mail is prevalent. Additionally, Gen Y is effectively giving via mobile/text and social networks, as is Gen X. When asked the question, "If you were stranded on a desert island and had to choose one and only one communication channel, what channel would you choose?" all generations answered, "the Internet."

3. If you're the typical Christian non-profit organization, it will be challenging to locate Millennials within a faith-inspired context. The vast majority of Millennials have no connection with a church because they find the institutional church "unreal" and irrelevant to the complexities that define their lives. Today, nearly 60 percent of Millennials who grow up in church drop out and never return. They see the church as being "shallow, rigid, repressive, and anti-science." They value input primarily from their peers. It will take Gen Y more time to fully trust an organization prior to giving their resources. Building social capital with Gen Y will be a bigger challenge than building social capital with Boomers.

4. Charitable giving usually comes out of an individual's disposable income. Today, Boomers control half of all disposable income in our nation. Gen Y, on the other hand, faces financial hurdles that deter them from being as generous as they would like to be — including whopping student debts. Just over two-thirds of the Class of 2010 graduated with an average debt of $25K in college loans, and 25 percent of graduates are currently behind in payments. Many Millennials today are finding it challenging to pay for basic things. In 2010, only 55.3 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 were employed. That was the lowest level that we have seen since World War II. Of men between 25 and 34 who typically should be in their prime earning years, almost one out of every five of them is still living with mom and dad.

5. Today, Millennial wage earners that do have jobs are not making much money. Many are considered "underemployed." The number of the "working poor" in America is rapidly increasing, and this is especially true among young adults. Since the year 2000, incomes for U.S. households led by someone between the ages of 25 and 34 have fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust for inflation.

6. Following college graduation, people generally enter a period of acquiring., Sociologists refer to this period as the materialistic life stage. While today's Boomers are entering a "post-material life stage" and freeing up their resources for things like giving, Gen Y, despite all their current debt, is entering into this materialistic life stage while facing whopping housing prices, whopping childcare fees, etc. These are hurdles the Boomers generally didn't face. One reason today's Boomers control 80 percent of all financial resources is that they had an easier road financially than today's Millennials. And, we see many Boomers today answering a desire to give back to the society that enriched them. It will be a long time before Millennials are in the same cash position and the same "giving back" life phase that Boomers are in today.

7. Researchers, like Jean Twenge, author of the 2007 book, Generation Me, point to an increasing narcissism among this generation compared to Boomers when they were the same age as today Millennials. These researchers raise serious questions about the predictions that this generation will be highly civic-minded and generous with time and money. Twenge points to Gen Y's sense of entitlement, narcissism and rejection of social conventions. And for all the self-confidence of Gen Y, researchers point to a cynicism in Gen Y that most things are beyond their control. "So, why bother?" Why bother to work hard at finding a job; it just comes down to being in the right place at the right time. Why bother to give to charity; my little donations will influence nothing. In Twenge's recent study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, she found that today's high school seniors and college freshmen actually make far less effort to help the environment than Baby Boomers did at that age. "There was a lot more questioning of materialism in the 1970s. Now, it's just like, 'Let's all live like the Kardashians,'" Twenge wrote. Said Time Magazine columnist Joel Stein, "[Gen Y] won't do anything that actually involves sacrifice ... [they] do stuff not to save the planet as much as look as if they are saving the planet ... and they are so underemployed, they can't afford to be faux green."

8. Before the recent Great Recession that redefined economic opportunities for Gen Y, donors who are Millennials gave an average total of $557 while Baby Boomer donors gave an average of $2,614. Boomers gave 4.7 times as much as Millennials. This same pre-recession study showed that Millennial wage earners averaged $28,234 annually, while Boomer wage earners averaged $89,800.

9. A sense of financial security is correlated with higher giving. As mentioned earlier, Boomers control 80 percent of all financial assets in the U.S. The average wealth of Millennials is $18,287 (after a deduction for student loans), while the average wealth for Boomers is more than $342,300 (not including home equity).

10. Based on data from the Center on Philanthropy, Millennials are not yet giving in proportion to their share of the population. Nor is Gen X. Boomers' giving is nearly exactly that generation's share of the nation's total household income and wealth. Millennials represent nearly 10 percent of households in the U.S., but collectively they account for a very low percentage of the nation's household income and wealth. In 2006, when considered as part of the overall giving picture in the U.S., monetary donations from Gen Y accounted for just 1.6 percent of total giving.

11. Extensive focus group research is demonstrating that Gen Y may become the greatest giving generation ever. When asked the question, "Do you plan to give more to charity next year?" more Gen Y answer, "Yes," than any other generation. It is not too early to be engaging Gen Y as long as your organization can optimize and sustain a multigenerational donor engagement approach, stewarding younger donors across their lifetimes. The significant value today certainly lies with the Boomers. But Gen Y is already giving and everything points to their commitment to giving growing with time.

Stay tuned for a look at the evolving traits and current realities of the Baby Boomers.

How NOT to Start a New Program

Steve Brock — Thu, 10 May 2012 07:00:00 +0100

You get an idea. You think it's just what your donors would love.

So you gather some clever people on your team. You talk a lot about social media, apps and movements. You get an idea you're convinced will go viral. Everyone gets excited. You work out the details. Spend a lot of time and money. Then you launch.

And nothing happens.

Sound familiar? It happens to the best of organizations and all for a simple reason: Most don't really have a plan, model or framework for building a new program or initiative.

A program usually goes beyond a single product like a book, app or website. Think Purpose Driven Life or World Vision's Experience: AIDS traveling exhibit as examples. To do these larger initiatives right, you need an intentional process that involves both good ministry and good marketing.

Here's a 6 Step Program Development Model we've used repeatedly with good results for clients of all sizes:

1. Research — Determine the market need for this program. What do people really want (not what you think they want)? How do you know this? What motivations are you addressing and for what specific audience?

2. Design — Determine how you will meet those needs and create a strategy, success metrics and execution steps for doing so.

When Starbucks wanted to try out a new concept for a store, they didn't roll it out to hundreds of locations at once. They prototyped it, as in this example in Amsterdam, and are learning from the results.

3. Prototype — Build it (or parts of your overall program) out as a mock-up, then test repeatedly. In Jim Collin's latest book, Great by Choice, he uses this illustration: Imagine you're on a ship being attacked by pirates. If you take your limited gunpowder, fire a single cannonball and it misses, you're dead. Instead, take some of that gunpowder and shoot a few muskets to get your aim. Then fire the cannonball. Bye, bye pirates. Most organizations do the former, going for a single big launch. The better approach, however, is to try a number of smaller prototypes, see what works, then build the bigger initiative. You'll not only have a better program, but you'll learn a ton about your constituents in the process.

4. Pilot — Take your prototype and do a pilot test in a limited geographical area, testing your marketing and messaging.

5. Test Market — Once you've got the right products/services (prototype) and right messaging (pilot) nailed down, roll out the program on a larger regional basis in this phase.

6. Rollout — Finally after testing repeatedly, you're ready to roll out nationally. If your program is completely online, you can jump to this phase right from the pilot.

This approach works well for both online and off-line programs. Increasingly, larger initiatives involve and integrate both. For example, no matter what you might think of the Kony 2012 campaign, while it went big online, the off-line posters, kits and other supporting pieces helped sustain it beyond the initial video.

The point here is that no matter your channel, you'll dramatically increase the likelihood of success by starting small, testing often (social media like your Facebook page is a great place to get input from constituents at each phase), and rolling it out in phases over time.

“Bottom Line” isn’t always about $

Ruth Schenk — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:00:00 +0100

As Chief Financial Officer, people expect me to focus on the bottom line. And of course, I do.

But at Masterworks, we have an advantage over most for-profit businesses. We were founded almost 25 years ago now with a "bottom-line model" that is built on 3 principles — not just the traditional dollars-and-cents model. Those principles are:

1. A clear mission to help non-profit Christian ministries develop greater Kingdom impact.

2. A central purpose to empower our staff members to cultivate and advance their professional skills for a more satisfying career and to better serve our clients.

3. An effective business model that allows us to embrace the first two principles without sacrificing the financial viability of Masterworks.

That's the rock-solid foundation that has lifted Masterworks today into the position of the leading marketing agency specializing exclusively in the Christian non-profit arena. We also have an "investment mentality" that focuses on opportunity as well as vision casting for where the industry is going in the future.

Over the past year, we've invested in hiring some of the leaders and rising stars in the non-profit marketing industry. The economic climate has been right. Other agencies have been failing and laying off staff. One even closed its doors. We've been hiring those leading players and strengthening our already strong team.

In addition to investing in the best people with the right skill sets, we've also devoted significant amounts of time and energy focusing on insight and innovation along with the latest in digital marketing. Now we're ready with capacity to serve even more of the best Christian organizations that are making a difference for Christ around the world. Check out our team on this website. I believe you'll be impressed.

Remembering Chuck Colson

Bob Ball — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0100

The election of 1972 was the first time I was eligible to cast a ballot in a presidential contest. But as Watergate unfolded, I became so disillusioned with politics and politicians--on both sides--that I sat it out and didn’t vote.

1972 was also the year that I became a Christian. A couple of years later, when I learned that Chuck Colson had also become a believer, I was at first curious — and then encouraged greatly by his book, “Born Again,” and by his testimony.

As I followed Chuck’s life, I was impressed by his commitment to get into the ring and take action. Rather than shrink back into a religious cocoon, Chuck forged ahead into all sorts of arenas, from prison ministry to public policy to Christian thought leadership.

In the late 1990s, I had the privilege of accompanying Chuck into a maximum-security prison in South Carolina for a Prison Fellowship evangelistic event.

I was there with a job to do. I was supposed to gather stories and resource to be used to raise funds for future Prison Fellowship efforts.

But something happened when I went through step after step of security. I felt myself beginning to understand the sense of hopelessness of being locked up. When the big metal door closed with the resounding clank, you knew you were not getting out until the authorities let you out.

It was summer. We were in South Carolina. And prisons don’t have air conditioning. As we visited prisoners cell by cell, we got the sense of how bereft of hope so many of them were. These were broken men who had made serious mistakes and were packed away in tiny cells to pay their debt. The prisoners who did not know the Lord were a picture of despair.

After a day of visiting prisoners cell by cell, the day culminated in a service. Chuck preached, and Steven Curtis Chapman played guitar and sang.

I will never forget the amazing moment, at the end of the service, as everyone joined together arm in arm singing, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Grown men were weeping. The love of God had dispelled the darkness, and we were having church and experiencing a little piece of heaven right there in that prison.

This was just one of the many examples of Chuck keeping his promise to remember his fellow prisoners.

One personal note: Chuck was somewhat wary of marketers and almost always either wrote his own letters or used a trusted, personal ghostwriter.

But back in 1996, for one reason or another, his usual resources were not available. Even though I was an agency marketer, I was asked to write a letter for Chuck. Frankly, I think I was the last resort.

The letter announced a major, new initiative by Prison Fellowship and asked donors to send a gift of support. I knew of Chuck’s low opinion of “slick marketers,” and so I undertook the assignment with fear and trepidation. I studied everything I could find, to learn what Chuck had said or written about the topic, wrote and rewrote and revised again. Finally, I sent the letter off to Chuck.

To my great relief, he liked it.

I still regard his approval of that single letter one of the proudest moments of my professional career.

Chuck Colson, A Great Man of God

Steve Woodworth — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 20:56:53 +0100

I don’t use that phrase lightly. I truly believe Chuck was one of the great men among us.

I have had deep personal affection for Chuck, since his first book, “Born Again,” was instrumental in my own salvation. I’ll never forget the day I read his account of his intellectual struggle with belief. He quotes C.S. Lewis saying that Jesus didn’t give us the option to consider him as just a great teacher. That took away my last doubts.

I had the privilege of telling Chuck this story many years later.

As my company, Masterworks, went to work for Prison Fellowship, I had the greater privilege of actually helping further the work of Prison Fellowship and BreakPoint.

Chuck Colson had a greater impact on the evangelical movement than most will ever know. He gave important counsel to Christian leaders, behind the scenes, including people whom you’d think didn’t need anyone’s counsel. And it was wise, godly counsel.

One memory stands out when I think of Chuck’s character. He must have been in his late 60s, still involved at Prison Fellowship on a monthly basis. My team was there in a planning meeting with Chuck’s marketing team. Chuck came in to meet with us. Rather than just a perfunctory greeting, Chuck engaged us in a lively discussion about the future of mail in fundraising. He did it with the attitude of a student, still learning, still interested in a wide range of things. I felt in awe of his intellectual curiosity and his humility in learning from me, a college kid who had been deeply influenced by him and read many of his books through the years.

We will all miss Chuck. I suspect his influence on the church was much greater than any of us know. I trust God will raise up one or more others to fill the vacuum left by this great man of God.

Chuck Colson goes home to be with the Lord

Josh Dougherty — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 19:30:00 +0100

Chuck Colson passed away this afternoon at 3:12 pm EST. He had been fighting complications resulting from a brain hemorrhage since March 30.

This is an especially poignant moment for Masterworks because we’re privileged to serve 2 ministries that Chuck founded — Prison Fellowship and The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Both stand as a testament to the amazing work God did in his life.

Chuck was a key figure in Watergate in the early 1970s. That experience changed his life. In the aftermath of the scandal, he met Jesus. After serving 7 months in prison, he spent the next 36 years crafting a different legacy, one marked by humble service and “living monuments” to God’s grace: Prisoners transformed by the love of Jesus Christ.

Join Masterworks as we pray for Chuck's family and the continued work of the ministries he founded.

Please visit http://chuckcolson.org/ to learn more about his life and legacy, and leave a remembrance. The Colson family has requested that in lieu of sending flowers, donations be made to The Charles Colson Legacy Fund.

It just makes NO SENSE!

Rob Zawoysky — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0100

Direct marketing is so darn illogical. I’ve been doing this for over 40 years, and common sense seems to be, well, not as common as you might think.

“Going with your gut,” or trusting your intuition, is an easy trap that both experienced veterans and younger “superstars” can fall into. Without long-term testing and accurate analysis, trusting what seems logical can be disastrous. Here are three glaring examples of the kind of logical assumptions that are just plain wrong.

1. Don’t ask first-time donors for a second gift too soon.

That seems reasonable. After all, they just gave you their first gift. Logic tells you that you should thank them well, make them feel good about their decision and don’t scare them away with a second gift request too soon . . .

But the truth is . . . if you don’t get a second gift within 90 days, you probably won’t get a second gift no matter how much you invest over the next several years in educating and cultivating the donor. One study shows that donors who give just one gift during their first year have only a 28% retention rate in the second year. That compares to an astounding 78% second-year retention rate for those who give three gifts during their first year as a donor. The challenge is coming up with the appropriate second-gift ask, and communicating effectively.

Second wrong assumption . . .

2. You alienate donors if you call them to ask for a gift. Everyone knows that we all hate telemarketing. The callers always interrupt your dinner time. And they are so irritating – you just can’t get off the phone . . .

But the truth is . . . phone calls are a good way to get a second gift from first-time donors, not to mention reactivating lapsed donors. Say all you want about invasion of privacy and interrupting that precious, intimate dinner-time conversation, but hearing a sincere voice explain a simple but urgent need moves hearts and minds. Of course, it takes a well-conceived telephone script and a skilled caller. But the genius of this strategy is, you can stop the calls as soon as response dips below a 1:1 ROI. Or at least revise the script. So you can guarantee never to lose money on a telemarketing campaign.

And the third obvious, but wrong assumption is . . .

3. Those hokey direct mail techniques just don’t work anymore. We’ve been underlining important copy, using bold face type to emphasize what’s critical, including matching checks and coupons, featuring handwriting, inserting personalization and pumping out emergency grams and dramatic photo inserts for years. Donors today are too sophisticated for those “tricks of the trade.” They’re just not buying . . .

But the truth is . . . potential donors don’t read every word, no matter how well your copy is written. Therefore, they love to scan and pull the most important information. All these techniques help a reader save time by scanning instead of reading, understanding within a few seconds exactly what the opportunity is and deciding with both their heart and their head if this is something they want to get involved in. Sure, you have to be careful. If everything is emphasized, nothing stands out. Effective communication is both an art and a science. This is where the “art” comes in.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) said it well:

“Logic is like a sword – those who appeal to it shall perish by it.”

That’s why we must continually test our assumptions. And tests have proven over and over again that these tried-and-true strategies and techniques continue to perform. Sort of like Jamie Moyer, that quintessential major league pitcher who’s turning 50 next year and is still playing professional baseball. We’ve seen him over and over again, lobbing that slow pitch for the Seattle Mariners, the Philadelphia Phillies and now the Denver Rockies. Sure, his technique isn’t flashy or breaking any speed records. Fans aren’t screaming frenetically when he walks up to the mound. But that slow pitch still strikes out the young guys who think their skill and power is ushering in a whole new day for the sport. Logically, they could be right . . . practically, maybe not so much.

Direct marketing is both an art and a science. That’s what makes this vocation so unpredictable, frustrating and totally fascinating.

Masterworks at CLA 2012

Olga Holguin — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0100

How well do you know your donors? Learn what motivates people to give.

If you are attending CLA this week, you can find out how to leverage new opportunities to learn about your donors by attending our conference workshops on Thursday, April 12th.

8:00am: CLA Session #113: Communications and Marketing track

Stop Your Disaster Response from Being a Disaster
Panel Discussion led by Carter Wade

No matter what organization we work with, we all respond to disasters. Sometimes they are natural disasters. Others are political, while still others are financial. Come to get practical marketing and fundraising advice so your next disaster response isn't a disaster.

Joining Carter on the Panel:

- Major George Hood, The Salvation Army
- Megan Hawkes, Campus Crusade for Christ
- Mark Khouri, Food for the Poor

Three Key Learning Objectives and Takeaways

1. Recognize that we all deal with disasters — how to identify and respond to them.
2. Learn a variety of disaster response lessons from organizations of all sizes.
3. Share and learn among peers.

4:00pm: CLA Session #116: Revenue and Stewardship track

Donors for Life®
Presented by Corey Gordon

In this workshop, we'll present a fundraising strategy, called Donors for Life® — based on the science of Customer Experience Management used by Fortune 100 companies — for dramatically improving donor engagement, reducing donor attrition, and maximizing long-term donor value.

Three Key Learning Objectives and Takeaways

1. Learn today's new world of donor behavior.
2. Understand a new fundraising model based on three core strategies that work together to dramatically improve donor loyalty.
3. Discover how to apply this model in fundraising programs across all donor segments.

Enter to win 1 of 6 Apple iPads

1. Conference attendants can visit www.masterworks.com/cla2012 and take our 3x3 survey to receive an entry code.
2. Bring your code to BOOTH #501, in the corner of the Exhibit Hall opposite the general session entrance, to be entered to win 1 of 6 Apple iPads.
3. While you’re there, meet with Masterworks speakers and leaders Lee Wilhite, Corey Gordon, Carter Wade, Olga Holguin, and Doug Clark. We are looking forward to seeing you!

Sleuthing out success in donor acquisition

Doug Clark — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 07:00:00 +0100

Acquiring new donors is a tough challenge in today's economic climate of tight budgets and increasing donor demands for control of and accountability for their gifts.

Add to that the explosion of new causes crying out for support and increasing mailing and production costs, and many ministries face a serious conundrum. As a result, new donor acquisition is succumbing, in many cases, to a depressingly downward spiral.

But we generated significantly improved results from our fall 2011 campaign for Cru (Campus Crusade for Christ). Positive trends included:

- 69% increase in gross income
- 62% increase in ROI
- 60% increase in average gift
- Holding production costs to basically last year's prices

How did we pull that off in this tumultuous climate of uncertainty and change? In addition to increased media coverage of needs in the Horn of Africa, which is difficult to calculate or quantify, I attribute our success to 5 critical factors:

1. Comprehensive testing over several years that revealed the strongest offers. Then we invested our largest numbers in those winning offers.
2. Enhanced offer strategy that generated larger gifts.
3. Intensive list evaluation that determined the best lists to mail for each offer. Again, we devoted larger numbers to lists that are proven performers.
4. Refined creative – beefing up the emotional impact.
5. Stronger endorsement – moving from endorsers few people knew about, to a super star!

It worked. The client is happy. And we're clarifying new tests for our next acquisition campaign that again should lead to improved performance.

Being successful and figuring out exactly why is what makes this business so much fun!

"Summer Slump" is on the rise!

Barbara Takata — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0100

We've been making this strategy work for years – that "Summer Slump" appeal that talks about rising needs and falling income over the "lazy, hazy days of summer." For most clients, it happens every year. So the creative challenge is to make the situation look different from year to year along with solid, logical positioning so the financial squeeze is not a reflection of poor planning on the ministry's part.

One of our most successful summer slump efforts recently was an integrated campaign for one of our larger clients in the summer of 2011. This client was sensitive to the fact that they didn't want our communication to sound like "a last resort cry for help. We won't be closing our doors if the response to this campaign isn't what we anticipate."

Rather, the summer campaign was used as an opportunity to engage donors and constituents in meaningful dialog about the ministry's financial condition, short- and long-term goals, ministry impact and extending its vision into the future. It's the kind of message you would send to family members you love and appreciate, not "customers" you're selling in order to motivate a "transaction."

Bottom line . . . the integrated "Summer Slump" campaign did well. And we attribute that success to 7 strategy essentials:

1. Engage this strategy only if there is a real need.
2. Send versioned mail appeals to all donor segments with a strong follow-up appeal.
3. Design email impacts around the traditional mail packages.
4. Integrate across all media. Use a homepage overlay or promotion on your website. Feature the "Summer Slump" offer and logo across all partner/co-branded websites along with Facebook and Twitter.
5. Lead with the opportunity for a 3-month summer pledge. Follow that with a fallback, one-time gift offer.
6. Customize your "thank you" letter to feature the "Summer Slump" for those who responded to this particular offer.
7. Report back on the need being met and/or ways the ministry cut costs and redirected resources to save money without compromising ministry. That's good stewardship of the donor's gift.

Results were good in a summer (2011) when the economy wasn't. And average gift was up by about 30% over a typical appeal. That's significant for a season that, without proper "care and feeding," usually "slumps."

It's still not too late to do something special this summer. The economy is on the upswing. That opens the door for us to do even better during those lazy, hazy days of our favorite season. Relax. We've got your back.

You can benefit from “Chaos at the Post Office”

Jackie Carden — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0100

The United States Postal Service faces huge financial and operational challenges. And word of cuts in service and facility closings sends shudders throughout the marketing industry – including ministries that depend so heavily on direct mail fundraising.

So how should one respond to all this? For starters, we've been actively testing a variety of fundraising channels across multiple channels, so the ministries we serve are prepared to deal with changes at the USPS.

We’re also working hard to help ministries make the most of the situation in their existing direct mail programs. Here are 4 ways to ride the waves of uncertainty and 2 opportunities to directly benefit from the situation.

1. Consider strategies that encourage your best donors to become pledgers using "other-than-traditional-mail" solutions like Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or automatic credit card payments. Pledgers give significantly more per year and have higher retention rates than single gift donors.

2. Work closely with your Masterworks account team to create a strategic mail plan that helps avoid excess mail processing and alleviates time-consuming handling by the USPS. The fewer times the USPS touches your mail, the more likely it will arrive on time and in the most cost-effective manner.

3. Use more first-class postage for your best donors to ensure that the mail is delivered at all . . . and that it's delivered on time. (See opportunity #1 below to cash in on savings for first-class mail.)

4. Get offline (snail-mail only donors) into a parallel online track for more meaningful contacts and a deepened relationship. Offline donors who have an email address on file, even with no record of giving online, give far more per year and retain and reactivate at higher rates than those who do not have an email address on file. Be sure to offer donors something that they value in return for their email address.

Cash in today on 2 great opportunities . . .

1. Get your 2nd ounce free on first-class automated and presort letters. The free incentive promotion became a permanent USPS program in January. That's a wonderful opportunity to use more pieces and heavier, higher-quality stock for Major Donors and other high-potential groups. Stuff that envelope as full as possible (up to 1.9 ounces). You pay for only 1 ounce. And recipients won't be able to resist opening that hefty package to see what's so important and bulky inside.

2. Include a mobile barcode in your package this summer and receive a 2% discount from the USPS. For the 2nd year in a row, the Post Office will be "giving money away" in July and August to demonstrate the value of physical mail in an increasingly digital world. Link your physical mail to online content via mobile phone scanning codes to get your donors involved in content you want to communicate. Most important, be sure that mobile content drives toward a gift.

No doubt, the USPS will drastically change how it operates in the coming years in order to survive. It's trying to figure out new relationships with online communication. Ride the wave with us. And cash in on the savings while it's available.

Lessons from KONY 2012

Josh Dougherty — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0100

What you can learn from the controversy surrounding this year’s biggest viral video.

Last week, Invisible Children's Kony 2012 campaign went instantly viral. By Thursday night, the 30-minute video, focused on building an advocacy campaign to bring Joseph Kony to justice, had more than 79 million views.

Non-profits dream about creating viral videos like this. Imagine if your cause reached 79 million in a week. Imagine the difference that you could make.

Millions of people have jumped behind Kony 2012, but the criticisms have been equally loud. There are many. Some criticize the financial dealings of Invisible Children. Others call into question the very nature of their efforts.

Invisible Children has issued a response to the criticism. They now face a very complicated damage control campaign.

Is your organization prepared for intense scrutiny?

At Masterworks, we spend our days helping ministries like yours get the word out about your work. If you're doing compelling work, there's always a chance that a story you tell will go big. OK, maybe not 79-million big, but are you ready for the story that reaches even 10,000?

Here's 3 steps you can take to safeguard your organization against future scrutiny:

A quick disclaimer here: these comments are no way a judgment of Invisible Children or Kony 2012. I don't know the interior workings of their organization or have enough knowledge of the Lord’s Resistance Army and Joseph Kony to make criticisms.

1. Financial transparency pays off every time

Make sure people have easy access to financial accountability documents. More is better. Audits, 990s and those pie graphs that show how you spend your money are good. Outside links to independent watchdog organizations like ECFA, Ministrywatch.com and Charity Navigator are even better.

In his non-profit usability report, digital usability guru Jakob Nielsen says that this financial accountability info is a key factor potential donors look for when they are deciding whether or not to donate to an organization. Make it easy to find, don't bury it.

Don't just show what makes you look good. If there's an issue that people may question, admit it, then work to correct it.

It's especially important to do this because watchdog organizations, like Charity Navigator, award star ratings. 3 out of 4 stars can look bad if you don't take the time to say explain why it was received.

Invisible Children's score suffers because they don't have enough independent board members. Their case illustrates that financial mismanagement isn't the only factor that can lower your score. You'll need to explain why your score is low or potential donors and supporters will assume that you don't handle your money well.

Financial accountability is there for a reason: accountability. Be proactive. Be honest. Correct problems that arise.

2. Don't exaggerate the impact your supporters can make

Critics of Kony 2012 say the campaign exaggerates how easy it will be to bring Joseph Kony to justice. They argue that buying an advocacy kit, wearing a bracelet, and sharing the video, actually asks too little of people. The reality, they claim, is that arresting Joseph Kony is long and complicated. If it wasn't, he would have been brought to justice years ago.

The temptation to tell the next big story can be big. I understand because I serve on the board of a small non-profit. We want (and need) to get our story out to anyone who will listen.

The need to grow your constituent base should never lead you to stretch the truth. It's important to share how your donors can participate in your mission, but don't promise what you can't deliver. Instead, cast an ambitious vision and provide donors with goals and actions that they can actually accomplish.

3. Don't oversimplify

It's also important not to oversimplify a problem. Your donors deserve to know the challenges you face. They're your partners after all.

The bottom line, your donors are smart people. They can tell when you aren't telling the whole story. Be honest. You're already doing amazing things that they want to support.

Be careful with this one. Direct marketing efforts around complex efforts only work when you:

- Explain the problem clearly.

- Involve the donor's emotions.

- Give them meaningful ways to respond.

What do you think of the Kony 2012 campaign? What have you learned from the criticisms?

Shoot me an email, leave a comment below, or let's talk on Twitter.

Getting Noticed on Pinterest

Jacob Smith — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 07:00:00 +0100

There has been much published about Pinterest and non-profit use over the past few weeks.

As she often does Beth Kanter kicked it off with a thoughtful blog post that serves as a good primer on the subject.

If you just pronounced "primer" prim-er as opposed to prime-er you lose one point. Don't worry I am keeping track of these points.

Pinterest is interesting in how fast it has grown and the disproportional number of women using it. That is of special interest to non-profits since women usually make up a majority of donors.

While Pinterest's audience and focus on images does make it different, you should still approach it the same way as other social spaces: like you are a debutante.

Debs don't throw their own party, they are sponsored by an already established member of the community. That's what you need to do in social.

Often the first inclination when entering a social space is to create a content calendar and posting plan, this is a great way to go nowhere. Gary Vaynerchuck has said, using a content calendar in social is like going to a cocktail party with a script. I couldn't agree more.

There are five easy steps you should take as you get into Pinterest or the next anointed social network:

1 - Decide Whether You Should Post as a Person or Group: Different networks have different norms. While groups do have Twitter accounts, posting as in individual tends to work better. Facebook is more group friendly.

2 - Listen to the In Crowd: Find the popular users of the service as well as users, who are internet famous, see what they post about and how they use the service.

3 - Listen to Your Crowd: Find a few of your current constituents on the service, this can be tricky, but if you have constituent email addresses, you should be able to do it.

4 - Develop a Topic Map: Back to the cocktail party, when you're at a party and you listen long enough you can start to pick up on topics and themes that folks have a shared interest in. Instead of a content calendar, develop content around topics that tend to get talked about and be ready to interject your witty and interesting post at just the right time.

5 - Cultivate your Advocates: Find people in the space that will repost, like and otherwise share your content. It should be some of the same people identified in step two. Follow these key constituents, repost what they say and write content to areas that interest them.

I do think this is a fairly good scheme for a party as well, but more testing is necessary.

In terms of Pinterest, I think the topic map is fairly clear:

1 - Small gifts
2 - Do it yourself projects
3 - Recipes
4 - Decorating/organization ideas

Of course your constituents may be talking about something completely different. I can think of three or four ways to get at these topic areas, but I'm more interested in what you are seeing out there.

If you want to chat Pinterest, email me at jsmith@masterworks.com. I'll setup a Google Hangout next week so we can discuss

Help your donors deal with what they fear more than death!

Kn Moy — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Despite a recent thawing in the nation's pessimism, donors continue to experience stress and worry because of the stubborn effects of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. More than half of older adults – likely the demographic that comprises the majority of your donor database – said their net worth dropped "significantly" in the current economic downturn, according to one recent survey.

Even more significant, 3 in 5 older adults made the surprising statement that "they fear depleting their assets more than they fear dying." The conclusion: death may be frightening, but to a majority of older Americans, the possibility of outliving their savings is an even more terrifying prospect.

What was most surprising to the consumer marketing research people who conducted this survey was "the level of fear" among older Americans. It was much greater than they had anticipated, raising the question: "How much will older Americans pull back on their charitable giving?" In the aftermath of the longest and severest recession since The Great Depression, economic uncertainty may be fundraising's greatest headwind in 2012 – even as the nation's economic engine seems to be picking up a little steam.

Behavioral economists are telling us that in the aftershock of The Great Recession, with the near collapse of consumer confidence, many consumers have adjusted their spending (giving?) behavior in fundamental and perhaps permanent ways. Only time will tell how recession psychology will impact giving long term.

But we can do something today. Here are 4 strategic recommendations to help address the fear that plagues so many of our donors:

1. Leverage highly empathetic approaches with donors. For example, if you see a recent trend with a segment of donors to give smaller gifts, consider offering pledge options to spread out their giving. Or you can provide more wallet-friendly offer amounts until you see an uptick in their average giving amounts. Emphasize greater value for their donations by offering more frequent gift-matching amounts. Include language in the letter or email that lets the donor know you empathize with their situation in this economy. The key here is to ensure that your donor knows that you understand their situation and are entirely sympathetic. Empathy will enhance their loyalty. Long-term, it will enhance their giving.

2. Focus on Y-touches that show you care about the donor. For example, conduct a phone campaign with donors who demonstrate recessional behavior and ask how you can be praying for them. This is also a great time to update donor profiles with these donors.

3. Be as "remarkable" as you can. Instead of just basic "blocking and tackling" – through a robust thank-you receipt program and welcome series, make your donors feel highly valued. Target donors carefully and be relevant and specific when asking as well as reporting back on how their gifts are being put to work. In addition, think of and test other ways that your organization can be seen as the one that stands out from all the others. For example, what if you offered donors a "Money-Back Guarantee?" There are many other ideas that will make you stand out from the crowd and cultivate trust and excitement in what you are accomplishing.

4. Deepen your relationship with donors even if their ability to give is diminished. Make sure that you keep applying a range of Y-touch interactions, such as ongoing gratitude for donor loyalty and support of the mission during these hard economic times. Right after 9/11, many nonprofits halted their donor-engagement efforts, fearing that they would appear inappropriate in the aftermath of a national tragedy. That kind of all-or-nothing thinking resulted in shrinking donor databases to uncomfortable levels. It took years for many nonprofits to recover from the economic downturn of 2001. (Many organizations still had not returned to 2000 levels by 2005). By deepening donor relationships in this "Great Recession," you will significantly increase your ability to recover quickly and effectively. History tells us that markets have always rebounded. How quickly you get back to prerecession levels will depend on how many donors you keep engaged.

If we walk with our donors through this journey of uncertain times, relationships will deepen and flourish in significant ways. Your ministry will benefit both today and for the long term.

Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter Increases Revenue by 521%

Bob Ball — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Over the years, I've seen a lot of different kinds of newsletters from non-profit organizations.

Some simply report accomplishments. Others are nothing more than fundraising appeals, thinly disguised in newsletter clothing. Still, others are institutionally-focused pieces written for insiders.

One of the most effective types is the Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter. It is aimed squarely at the donor. In fact, it is all ABOUT the donor.

This approach assumes donors give because they love to give and love to make a significant difference in the world. It combines reporting back about what the donors have accomplished, and offers them a clear opportunity to give again.

The extreme donor-focused newsletter is full of love and appreciation for the donor.

We recently had to opportunity to test this approach against an internally-produced newsletter at one ministry. This was one of those test situations you dream about: Head-to-head A-B panels set up for a statistically valid test and spread over 3 different newsletter mail slots.

The results were gratifying, with the Masterworks Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter showing improvement across the board:

- 419% lift in response
- 19.5% lift in average gift
- 521% lift in revenue

We follow some simple principles as we created those winning newsletters. You can put them into practice with your own.

10 Principles to Create the Extreme Donor-Focused Newsletter:

1. WRITE to the Donor, For the Donor, About the Donor. This is NOT objective, arms-length journalism. This is NOT the organization talking about itself to organization insiders. This is a warm conversation with the donor about the things he or she is most interested in.

2. ENSURE a High "You" Quotient. The copy is written directly to the donor using the second-person singular. The most frequent word in the copy AND headlines should be "you."

3. TOUCH the Heart with Strong Emotion. The newsletter needs to stir the donor's heart. Make the donor feel something! Tell stories of amazing accomplishments that the donor's generosity helped make possible. Use vivid language with strong, active verbs and concrete nouns. Dramatic, emotional photos are worth their weight in gold.

4. SURPRISE AND DELIGHT! This is a newsletter, so it needs to have something new in it. Tell the donor something fascinating that he or she does not already know. The initial reaction of the donor upon first glance should be a big smile because his or her giving has made something wonderful happen.

Donors love to give, and the extreme donor-focused newsletter makes it easy and attractive to give again.

5. APPRECIATE the Donor. One of the major themes of the newsletter needs to be how important the donor is. "Look at what you have accomplished! With your help we can do all this. Without your help we will not be able to do it." Look for ways to use the words "Thank you!" over and over again. (This is not merely a report back about what the organization was able to accomplish. This is all about what the DONOR has accomplished through their generosity!)

6. DESIGN for Readability. Remove all unnecessary barriers to readability and comprehension. Use a large, readable SERIF font for body copy. All body copy should pass the "dollar bill test." (You should not be able to lay a dollar bill on any expanse of body copy without touching a headline, photo or subhead.) No large blocks of reversed out type. No busy backgrounds behind copy. Make the layout easier to scan with large photos, headlines, subheads and pull-quotes.

7. MOTIVATE Another Gift. Donors love to give and you should not be ashamed to ask them to give again. While most of the newsletter space is devoted to thanks and appreciation, the newsletter needs to give the donor a way to repeat their charitable behavior. This means making a clearly stated offer that donors have supported in the past.

8. MAKE it Convenient to Give. The newsletter should include a response device and a return envelope. If online giving is possible, the URL for the giving page should be clearly presented in case that is the donor's preferred giving channel.

9. APPEAL to the Most Basic Donor Benefit. Giving is joyful. This key message should be explicitly stated: "Nothing feels better than when you help. When you give to accomplish XYZ, your heart overflows with gladness!"

10. REFRESH AND REENGAGE. By the time the donor is finished reading the newsletter, he or she should be energized and eager to do more.

A different way to look at the “Great Recession”

Steve Woodworth — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Much of America’s economic expansion over the past 30 years was based on consumerism and people spending more than they earned, based on unprecedented “optimism” in an expanding economy.

As we all know, the bubble burst in 2008. And no matter who you blame, and there’s lots of blame to go around, ultimately, it’s an opportunity for believers in Jesus to turn from America’s cultural obsession with the newest, biggest, most prestigious “stuff” and take a fresh look at biblical values as a foundation for our lifestyles and our economics.

This “Great Recession,” as painful as it continues to be for many people, can be a significant turning point, at least for Christians.

One of my dearest friends lost his business during these difficult times. Instead of letting that defeat slow him down, he went into a career in education. Working hard, with a great attitude, he is now the dean of a large charter school network. And most remarkably, this career is far more satisfying on many levels than what he was doing previously.

Right here at Masterworks, a young staff person got upside down in his mortgage. While he needs to sell the house and move closer to the office for his family’s sake and to reduce commuting costs, he refuses to walk away and let the bank assume his liability. When their house does sell, this young family man is determined to rent something until they can get into the right house in the right place and with the right payment.

Another friend has watched his business cut staff by 80%. He figures the stock he owns in this company is now worthless. Yet, because he had no debt, he has been able to absorb a 50% cut to his annual salary. The late Larry Burkett would have been proud. He spent his life urging Christians to avoid debt and live below their means for two reasons: so we could absorb unexpected events and so we could give more for the Kingdom.

These are just three examples of how the “Great Recession” is driving Christians back to more careful, biblical, and Kingdom-focused personal economics.

We should take the opportunity to capture this moment for our donors by affirming the biblical economics of “first fruits giving,” (Exodus 22:29 and Deuteronomy 26:1-4, 9-11) “giving out of need rather than abundance” (2 Corinthians 8:3-5) and “trusting God for our security” (Job 31:24-28 and Luke 12:13-21). They probably won’t get that from other ministries.

By infusing those kinds of messages into your communications and fundraising projects, you will set your ministry apart from the “secular” pundits who are longing for a return to life as we knew it before 2008. But an economy based on greed, lust and scandalous overspending is not a destination for our nation, our world, and certainly not our Christian brothers and sisters.

By affirming the lessons Christians have learned in the “Great Recession,” we can build communities of donors who are less influenced by the winds of the stock market and more guided by the solid foundation of scriptural values. This could be a great opportunity to set yourself apart as the ministry that really understands the heart of Jesus for His people. Distinguish yourself as promoting Kingdom-grounded stewardship principles instead of the latest marketing gimmicks.

With the eyes of Joseph, we can look at the “Great Recession” with the attitude, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good . . .” (Genesis 50:20)

Be heard over the “ugly noise” of an election year

Kn Moy — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:43:44 +0100

As the marketplace fills with more and more noise, more and more “empowered consumers” are tuning out. Today, over two-thirds of consumers go out of their way to avoid marketing messages. That’s why TiVo is so popular. And that’s why more and more mail – snail mail and electronic mail – goes unopened.

In 2012, alongside the presidential race, 33 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, 11 gubernatorial, and a host of state and local seats will be contested in the national election on Tuesday, November 6. This will likely mean that in the months, weeks and days before the general election, your constituents and donors will face more competition for their attention than at any other time in the last four years.

This year’s campaign – conducted against the grimmest economic backdrop for a presidential race in 75 years – is shaping up as unusually frenetic, costly, grueling and unpredictable.

The good news is . . . in general, donors who give to charities appear to be demographically and psychographically different from donors who give to political campaigns. In other words, during periods of heavy political fundraising (as demonstrated in previous election cycles), revenue for charitable fundraising was typically not noticeably impacted.

However, this does not mean that, in the midst of a highly engaging, hotly contested political campaign season, a charity’s ability to fundraise in the fall of 2012 will not be impacted. External factors such as the amount of mail in the mailbox, or digital inbox, could be highly distracting for donors as a host of candidates and issues compete for their attention.

That’s why we all need to consider modifying what we’re doing to promote our ministries in 2012. Here are 10 strategic ways to cut through the distraction and get your message where it needs to go in spite of the “ugly noise”.

1. Do more and do it better. Enhance your communication stream to donors so they look forward to what you send. Infuse a generous proportion of “Y-touches” throughout the year alongside your fundraising impacts to affirm donors and provide real, useful information that helps deepen their interest and passion for your mission. This can result in up to a 10% improvement in retention and a 200% improvement in lifetime value.

2. Juggle your schedule. Consider doing more of your fundraising before October 1 and after November 6 so you don’t get lost in the sea of election noise. And pump up the creative so your mail stands out.

3. Use more first-class postage. That will guarantee that your mail is delivered and within the time frame most advantageous to your fundraising strategies. Consider first-class treatment for any current donor who has a $75-$100 cumulative giving status.

4. Stay on brand. Be sure your communications are easily recognizable as non-election materials that come from you. No “stealth” impacts this year. Pursue creative approaches that differentiate your communications from all the election noise and clutter.

5. Pay attention to what is in the public eye. Leverage where your donors’ minds and hearts are already focusing. Emphasize that whatever the outcome of the election, your mission will be needed as much as ever, because the need is greater than ever and growing.

6. Feature your current appeal prominently on your website and Facebook page. Up to 60% of donors go online to validate their giving decisions. Be there with a bold, concise and motivating presence.

7. Make donors feel like “insiders”. Offer an “insiders’ look” at how you put their contributions to work. Upload video stories on your Facebook page. Invite donors to a live Facebook event where they can ask questions and “hear” from program staff directly. They’ll give more money and develop into stronger advocates.

8. Tell more “success” stories. And use a ministry recipient to do the telling. Then let that same person appeal directly for support. You could use a donor in that same role, building a community of trust.

9. Make more (appropriate) noise. Try bolder, hipper and brasher approaches and campaigns, especially if your donors are younger. Consider something fun that engages donors yet allows you to talk about issues in a serious way.

10. Give your donors more control. Donors who feel empowered to direct their relationship with you are more engaged and loyal. Encourage them to choose their preferred channel (online or print) for communication and giving. Choices create a more affirming relationship with donors.

2012 is unprecedented in many ways. We will keep the conversation going with the latest information and strategies for success.

New agency hits the road . . . RUNNING!

Lee Wilhite — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:00:00 +0100

You probably know what the greatest threat is to nonprofit marketing. It’s not a sluggish economy or too many good causes out promoting themselves.

No, it’s actually an internal threat – the tendency of growing stale – both on the part of the ministry development staff and the marketing agency. Even with the greatest causes, when you live them 24/7, day after day, year after year, you can get predictable.

Outsiders are captivated when they learn what’s happening. Insiders (both staff and agency people) can fall into the trap of viewing it as “all in a day’s work.”

In the same way, when you’ve been with a company for more than 11 years like I have with Masterworks, you can get set in your ways, even when you’re relatively young.

Friends often ask me, “Lee, how are things going at Masterworks? Do you still enjoy working there?”

My answer is always an emphatic “Yes!” I’m passionate about Masterworks and the ministry opportunity we have to serve some of the greatest clients in the world. I don’t get bored or tired of the “same old, same old” because Masterworks deliberately reinvents itself every three or four years. Tracking the leading trends and technologies in marketing and communications, we retool, restructure, and revolutionize how we do what we do on a regular basis. Over our 23 years, we’ve found that’s what you do if you want to be on the creative, effective, leading edge of marketing and development for Kingdom-focused ministries.

Launching Masterworks with 3.0 bandwidth + 4G energy

Here’s what Masterworks looks like in the unfolding days of 2012. After 8 months of dreaming, strategizing, and running prototypes based on a broad range of data points, we divided our staff into four new teams – three are client-facing and one serves and supports the other three. In a sense, we have become several smaller agencies that benefit from the overall strength of a large agency with a tradition of making real investments in the future.

Each team serves a set of clients linked together by some logical characteristics. Going with the theme of quality outcomes powered by innovation and excellence, our teams chose the names of Master Artists (aka Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles): Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello. What better nomenclature for Masterworks!

How our clients are benefitting . . .

While the transition has been almost seamless, and most clients hardly noticed the launch late last fall, there are at least four distinct benefits for the ministries we serve:

1. Increased responsiveness and timeliness to client requests. We can “pounce” on opportunities with significant potential.

2. Stronger team focus with laser accuracy on client distinctives.

3. Direct contact with Masterworks specialists so clients can get one-on-one, face-to-face expertise and thoughtful leadership while avoiding the communication chains that lead to misunderstanding and mistakes.

4. Better nimbleness, fluidity and flexibility as conditions change and opportunities evolve. Cycle time for projects is becoming shorter and efficiency greater which is already resulting in clients saving costs.

Staff members here at Masterworks are also enjoying these benefits:

1. The power to truly “team” with those players who are needed for maximum success on a particular project.

2. Greater relational and working synergy with colleagues.

3. More natural mentoring/coaching environment across agency functions.

4. Increased opportunities for innovation and job satisfaction.

Bottom line, our clients are experiencing a higher level of satisfaction and our staff is set free from a lot of the bureaucracy incumbent in larger agencies. Today, Masterworks is an agency of 120 people that functions with the leanness and responsiveness of an agency of 30-40 dedicated, motivated innovators.

The pivotal principle

I recently came across a quote that captures what we’re doing here in the life of our clients and Masterworks as an agency. It’s quite profound:

“Bureaucracy is guided by process. Leaders of effective organizations are guided by principles.”

So at Masterworks, between teams Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Donatello, we’ve created new rockets to carry our clients on a swift and targeted course into the future of nonprofit marketing. And the lift-off couldn’t be more exciting!

Editorial planning: turning your strategy into action

Josh Dougherty — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100

If content strategy is about actually figuring out where you're going and what you want to accomplish, editorial planning helps you figure out how to actually get the work done. Before you do editorial planning, make sure that you've weighed the costs and benefits of having a blog and thought about content strategy for your blog.

Once you've done that, you're ready to do some editorial planning. There are 3 main things that you should do during this process.

Step 1: Think sustainable

Overzealousness can kill us. We usually set out with ambitious goals about how much we are going to post. But no one thinks about the resources that are necessary to maintain that pace.

Spend some time thinking through who's going to create the content. Put real names down on paper. Don't assume that you can do that later. The sooner you can identify who has the capacity to create content, the better, and it will significantly reduce stress down the road.

Once you've identified who will be creating content and have a rough estimate of how much time they can commit, you can make an educated guess about a sustainable posting frequency.

Here at the Masterworks blog we focus on 1 quality post each week. It was an intentional decision because doing more than that would damage quality. We know that we can keep doing 1 post a week for the long haul. We're not going to peter out in a few months.

Step 2: Make a plan for how to get the work done

The planning work is often the easy part. Then comes creating content, and it can be very difficult. A clearly defined workflow helps alleviate these challenges. While you're thinking about workflow, define the following:

- How soon before the post goes live does it need to written?

- Who will review the content to make sure it matches the organization's goals?

- Do our posts need to be proofed?

- Are content creators going to have an editor to work with during the process?

- How are content creators going to find the resource for their posts?

Take some time to write out this process. Having a clearly defined process makes it easier for everyone once they get into the thick of things.

Step 3: Create an editorial calendar

Most of the time, a good old-fashioned spreadsheet works well for this, but you can also use a fancier tool like Divvy HQ. The bottom line: put down key due dates and content creators on a calendar. Accountability is a beautiful thing.

Extra credit reading

Content strategist Clinton Forry also recently wrote an excellent post on editorial planning. You owe it to yourself to have a read.

Now get started

Go ye therefore and plan, create and succeed. Let me know how it goes. Leave a comment here or catch up with me on Twitter @doughj.

Your blog needs a content strategy. Really.

Josh Dougherty — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:00:00 +0100

Most of us have the urge to get things done. We want to dive right in and feel like we're making progress. Usually that's a good thing, but with a blog it can be disastrous.

If you read my post from yesterday, you know that a blog is a big endeavor. If you decided that a blog really is a good idea for your organization, then you need to build a strategy for long-term success before you start writing. That's where content strategy comes in.

These 4 questions will start you down the right path.

Question 1: What am I trying to accomplish anyways?

Content must have a purpose. The reasons are two-fold:

- Content without a clearly defined purpose will quickly bore your readers.

- Without clear goals, it's hard to follow through with quality content long-term.

The key here is to spend some time brainstorming about goals. Think through what you're trying to accomplish as an organization, then identify goals for your blog that will complement your overall organizational goals.

Here's a little secret: if you can't think of any relevant goals, maybe you should rethink blogging altogether. Remember, blogging is a tactic; you should only use it if it fits your overall organizational goals.

Goals give you an instant filter when you're considering what content to create. It empowers you to throw out any ideas that don't help you accomplish your goals. This will help you make sure you're always focused on the messages you want to communicate.

Question 2: Who are my readers and what are they looking for?

Content is only important if someone’s reading it. A couple weeks ago, I talked to Erin Kissane (Content Strategist at Brain Traffic, check her out on Twitter @kissane) via Twitter and she said the same thing.

Wondering how to get started? Pull the analytics on the last year of blog posts and see which posts have been the most popular. Do you see any trends? Are there topics or formats that are more popular? If so, think about using them as a foundation for your posts for the coming month, quarter or year.

The other option is to just ask. Poll your readers and ask them to comment on what they'd like to read about.

Question 3: How will I know if I'm successful?

Once you've had a chance to think through both your audience and your overall goals, it's essential to put some real numbers on paper. Setting a benchmark will help you measure whether you’re accomplishing what you set out to do.

Metrics will vary based on your goal, but some common ones are:

- Subscribers to your blog

- Page views

- Comments

Question 4: What am I going to write about?

Now that you have an understanding of both what you want to accomplish and how your users are willing to interact with you, it’s time to commit to some topics.

To start, you should probably plan to post content about the topics that were most popular in the previous year — like we talked about earlier.

The second part is a little harder. Here are some questions you can use to ferret out additional topics:

- What did users tell you they wanted to read?

- What topics are essential for your readers to understand and identify with your mission?

- What time-sensitive events/issues/crises/problems do you know will come up in the next few months?

You can also read over suggestions from others about brainstorming blog topics. The Content Marketing Institute just wrote about how they find inspiration for content. It's definitely worth the read.

Congrats. Once you've come up with your list of topics, you've done some rudimentary content strategy. Check back tomorrow to read about the next step in the process, editorial planning.

For now, I'd love to have a conversation about content strategy on your blog. Leave a comment here or catch up with me on Twitter @doughj.

Before you start/revamp your blog ...

Josh Dougherty — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:00:00 +0100

ask if you should even have one.

You read the headline correctly. I just said that you should be taking a hard look at whether a blog is good for your organization.

Keeping a blog relevant and current is a lot of work. You need to make sure that your efforts will pay off before you put in the effort.

It's easy to say that you're going to start blogging, but it's challenging to actually sustain focused quality content. The handful of blogs that I've started and abandoned in the past is testimony to that.

Bottom line, you need to do a little bit of cost-benefit analysis before you start.

The costs

Overhead

There's an assumption floating around the Internet that blogging is a free marketing tool. Make no mistake. It isn't. It's actually quite expensive.

You can set up a WordPress or Blogspot blog for little to no money, but getting the platform up and running isn't the costly part.

The real cost comes from the hours your team will spend planning and compelling posts. Good posts don't take half an hour to write. You're going to have to dedicate some serious time if you want to create content that your audience wants to read.

Resource gathering

Good posts require quality resource. For example, if we're going to write blog posts about digital marketing, we better have actual resource to back it up. Hot air and marketing fluff doesn't work well on a blog. People expect you to dig into topics that they care about. You need to enough research to be able to create content that meets that expectation.

Audience cultivation

It's hard to cultivate an audience that cares, especially if you're starting from zero. Here are a few of the things it requires:

- Consistent posting

- Transparency

- Quality content

- Relevance

Don't take this piece lightly. Danny Iny considers it so important that he wrote a whole book about building an engaged audience.

The benefits

An engaged audience

An engaged audience may be hard to build, but once you have one, it's worth it. Once someone truly believes in the work that you do, they're going to support you in ways a direct mail donor never would.

Engaged audiences donate, tell their friends about you and interact with you on a regular basis. They've made the transition from a supporter of an organization to someone dedicated to your cause.

A rich storytelling platform

A blog gives you the opportunity to share stores you would never be able to tell in your normal fundraising activities. The opportunities are huge. You can:

- Give real feedback about the work your organization is doing.

- Educate your readers about the problem your organization helps solve.

- Introduce your readers and donors to the people you help with videos, text and images.

An opportunity to become a leading voice for your cause

If you can create consistent — and truthful — content, your readers will begin to view you as an expert. You'll have a whole new opportunity to speak about your mission, and people will listen.

The moment of truth

After weighing the costs and the benefits, you're ready to make an informed decision about whether a blog is right for your organization. Think about it; you'll be glad you did.

Full disclosure about the Masterworks blog

Our blog is a work in progress. I can say this because I'm the editor.

A couple years ago we looked at ourselves in the mirror and asked whether blogging was right for Masterworks. We decided it was. I still believe this, but it doesn't mean that we don't have work to do.

But, in keeping with Masterworks' core values of humility and integrity, I have to admit that we've got a long way to go with both of these.

In the past we were posting whenever someone was inspired to write. Posts were infrequent, at best. There was no thought put into planning what topics to post about.

During the last year, we determined a sustainable posting frequency. This year, we're using our most popular posts from 2011 to determine what topics to cover in the future.

We're making progress, but we have a long way to go.

Still believe you should be blogging?

If you've done your own cost-benefit analysis and decided that blogging is right for your organization, check back here tomorrow and Friday.

We're using content strategy and editorial planning to improve our blog. My next two posts will explain how you can use them to get your blog up and running successfully.

For now I'd love to have a conversation. What did you find when you weighed the costs and benefits of blogging? Leave a comment here or catch up with me on Twitter @doughj.

Donation page upgrades increase conversion by over 200%

Dave Raley — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:25:21 +0100

We’ve preached the importance of continuous online testing and optimization. But it really hit home when that resulted in a 209% better conversion rate for one of our clients in 2011.

The first important step was identifying an area for testing where a lift in results would make a real difference. We settled on the donation experience on the website.

Once we knew what area we wanted to test and optimize, we knew we had to get three things right:

Technology. The best test idea in the world is useless if we don’t have the platform in place to be able to serve multiple versions of a page, dynamically splitting traffic among the test panels and tracking the results.Methodology. After identifying an area for optimization, it takes careful planning and expertise to ensure that you are testing the right things and in the right way. In our case, we identified 15 different variables that were eventually grouped into what we call variable clusters — resulting in 3 test panels against the control (existing donation experience).Implementation. You can have a bullet-proof methodology and the best platforms in the world, but it’s still surprisingly easy to ruin everything with even the smallest mistake in implementation. Worst case? One flaw in implementation completely invalidates your results and you unknowingly choose a “winner” that in fact is worse than the alternatives.

And the important thing is we aren’t stopping at 209%. We know there is more to test, more to improve and so we’re embarking on our next round of optimization.

If I could impress one thing on you here — it’s that you should be consistently testing and optimizing.

If you’re a Masterworks client, talk to your MW team about how to do this — I’d be happy to help. If you work with another agency — talk to them and see if they have the expertise to help you. As I mentioned above, it’s important to make sure you are setting up the right tests, and setting them up in the right way.

I’ll leave you with some final lessons related to testing and optimization online:

Decide whether you are going for breakthrough or incremental improvement. Either might be called for, depending on the situation, but it does affect how many variables you can reliably test at any given time.You can test fewer variables than you might think. It is critical to get statistical significance, and the more things you test, the more traffic you need. You might find you only have enough traffic to test one variation against the control.Set up a testing platform that makes rapid iteration and testing possible. If you are going to invest in testing, make sure it’s in such a way that you can continue to do testing. Remember consistent testing and optimization.Calculate statistical validity. So important! As I mentioned earlier — it is surprisingly easy to make a decision about a “winner” that turns out to pull your results down! And the easiest way to do this is to make a decision before you have enough data to declare a statistically valid result.Watch out for other potential testing errors. We don’t have time to delve into these in this post, but testing flaws include invalid testing methodology, historical effects, instrumentation effects, selection effects and sampling distortion.Don’t stop when you get a breakthrough — keep testing!

Do you have any interesting test results you’d like to share, or something you’ve been thinking about testing? Leave a comment and let’s chat!