Urgent Advice: Send Email Appeal Today

Everyone wants a deal these days... even Santa

For years, marketers have been focused on Black Friday as the biggest shopping day of the year. If anyone watched the news over the weekend, the day after Thanksgiving held its ground as one of the most significant days on the shopping calendar.

But here is my prediction: Today will be the largest day in online shopping of the year, and it could be the largest day in online donatons if we fundraisers can get our act together!

Why does today have so much potential?

None of us want to be at the office today. After spending days in the company of friends and family, we are all reminded of what is most important in this world. Since we're also feeling guilty about how little we've done for our loved ones, we want to find a way to make this Christmas extra special... particularly during this economy, when we cannot afford the traditional presents we might give.

Go around your office today and sneak a peak at people's monitors. You'll see eBay, Amazon, and other sites ... everyone is looking for a deal. As we get closer and closer to the holidays, we're also aware that we have to order today in order to get the gifts in our hands on time.

This is an amazing opportunity for non-profits to encourage tribute gifts!

Here is what we should be doing on the Monday after Thanksgiving each year:

• Send an email to your entire list with a short, catchy subject like "Give the perfect gift this holiday season"
• Make the email BRIEF and to-the-point: "Make a gift in someone's honor today, and we will ensure that they get a personal letter the week of Christmas to let them know that a gift has been made in their honor."
• Consider getting your board to offer a challenge or matching grant to sweeten the offer

My guess would be that your open rates would be much higher than usual as people are sitting at their desk all day under the guise of "getting caught up from the holiday," and that your return rates will be higher than usual because of how much people prefer to take care of their holiday shopping list instead of work.

(By the way, emails are much more likely to get opened and read if you send them between 11:00 and 2:00 . . . so send them now!)

Like many people, I don't want anything this year. God help if my family buys me another sweater or tie that I don't need. The best thing that anyone could give me would be a gift in my name to one of the charities that I love. 

What better way to show me that you understand who I am and share my values? This is a message that I am going to convey to my family this year:

"Do not give me a gift. Instead, donate the amount that you would spend to one of the following organizations...."

If you are in the business of fundraising, I challenge you to do the same. Let us make live up to the highest standards of the noble calling that we have accepted. 

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How to Raise Money like Obama

How Obama had the last laugh

MSNBC's Howard Fineman put together a brilliant analysis of what he calls The 'Obama Way'.

Regardless of your politics, you need to read the full article to understand where fundraising is headed.

How would you adapt your organization to implement the Seven Steps of the Obama Way?

1. Be decisive
   
2. Have a tight circle
   
3. Stick with the plan
   
4. Sweat the details
   
5. Understand your brand
   
6. Go digital
   
7. Use caution

Read the full article here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27523773/from/ET/

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Officially Launched Site for Community Hunger Day

Community Hunger Day

CDM has officially launched the Web site for the 2008 Community Hunger Day here:
http://communityhungerday.org

I had the wonderful pleasure of being a daily part of this ministry from February 1, 2005 through the end of September, 2008 -- 1,338 days that changed the course of my faith and my life! I am forever grateful to this ministry, and for all that they are doing for our community.

I want to raise $1 for each day that I was here at the ministry: if I hit my goal, that will provide nearly 10,000 pounds of food to hungry families!

Please visit my page here:
http://communityhungerday.org/profile.asp?tpgid=59830874%20

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Network for Good to Acquire ePhilanthropy Foundation

Looks like Network for Good will be acquiring the ePhilanthropy Foundation to "combined resources to help nonprofits Boost online fundraising
http://www.fundraising123.org/article/network-good-acquire-ephilanthropy-foundation

Network for Good, a leading provider of online fundraising services and how-to resources for nonprofits, announced today that it has acquired the ePhilanthropy Foundation, an educational organization helping other nonprofits to use best Internet practices.

"The move comes as Network for Good seeks to expand its help tools for nonprofits at a time when many small- to medium-sized organizations are struggling to raise funds and need assistance in starting online giving programs. Because of their low costs and high yield, online outreach programs are especially important during an economic downturn.

"Bill Strathmann, chief executive officer of Network for Good, said, "ePhilanthropy Foundation's groundbreaking progress in developing Internet ethics and best practices will do much to help nonprofits get the resources they need. Not only do our organizations want to help a greater number of nonprofits to raise money online, now we collectively will have even more tools to teach them how to do it well."

"Network for Good currently provides online fundraising services and training to nonprofit organizations through fundraising tools, e-newsletter communications, free teleconferences presented by industry leaders and its Learning Center (www.fundraising123.org). It will integrate the ePhilanthropy Foundation's unique knowledge and research of how to properly cultivate and support donors, ensuring that people feel secure donating online. The ePhilanthropy Foundation's Code of Ethics has been publicly endorsed by more than 100 organizations and individuals, including Charity Navigator and CFRE International.

"Bob Carter, chairman of ePhilanthropy Foundation said, "Our proven leadership in delivering Internet education, advocacy and ethics programs now has the added sustainable support of a strong nonprofit that demonstrates an equal commitment to these principles. Nonprofits across the United States will benefit from Network for Good's decision to invest further in the future of ePhilanthropy."

"Network for Good will integrate the two organizations' resources for nonprofits by the end of the summer-thereby bolstering its offering of information, training materials and best-practices education."

Help D.C. Central Kitchen to Fight Rising Food Costs

I received this message about a matching grant to the D.C. Central Kitchen and could not resist making a donation. I encourage you to do so as well -- they have the most remarkable donor stewardship system in place, which allows you to automatically login and see how much you've given. They also making it very easy to give a gift in someone's honor.

Help Fight Rising Food Costs
Food prices are rising and thousands of low-income families are in crisis. Every day, the number of people needing a simple meal is rising, yet the organizations providing those meals are strained.

With your support we can secure an affordable supply of fresh produce from local farms, and use that product to serve nutritious meals to those in need.

Our goal of $20,000 will allow us to purchase produce for the difficult months of June and July.

Act now and help us provide meals that will nourish the community.

Double your impact!
Your gifts will be matched up to $10,000 by Clark Construction

Learn more here:
https://secure.my-websites.org/supporter/donatenow.do?n=gFRg&dfdbid=1066491

New Laws for Organizations that Accept Online Payments

Thanks to TechSoup for publishing this important article:
New Laws for Organizations that Accept Online Payments

Nonprofit organizations that accept credit card donations should pay particular attention to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) and state identity theft and breach notification laws.

Most nonprofits process fewer than 20,000 transactions and will fall into Level 4. The standard consists of 12 requirements that cover a broad range of security issues, from network protection to access controls to creating an information security policy.

1. Install and maintain a firewall configuration to protect cardholder data.
   
2. Do not use vendor-supplied defaults for system passwords and other security parameters.
   
3. Protect stored cardholder data.
   
4. Encrypt transmission of cardholder data across open, public networks.
   
5. Use and regularly update antivirus software.
   
6. Develop and maintain secure systems and applications.
   
7. Restrict access to cardholder data by business need-to-know.
   
8. Assign a unique ID to each person with computer access.
   
9. Restrict physical access to cardholder data.
   
10. Track and monitor all access to network resources and cardholder data.
    
11. Regularly test security systems and processes.
    
12. Maintain a policy that addresses information security.

Sounds like quite a change -- but don't be worried. There is an alternative that you can consider:

"The simplest and cheapest way to get compliant with PCI is to not have the data," said David Taylor, Vice President of Data Security Strategies at Protegrity, which provides data security products and consulting to Fortune 2000 clients.

Learn more here:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/webbuilding/page6432.cfm

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