This past week, I’ve been privileged to be on a couple panels introducing nonprofit organizations to social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Linked in. While I love these tools, I was quick to express that: They don’t replace all the good fundraising practices we’ve learned over the decades. “Social” media is just that, social. [...]

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Do you remember Jean Preston, the unassuming librarian who’d amassed an $8 million estate? Or Helene Whitlock Alley, the $100 donor that bequethed $7.3 million to a diabetes group. Well here’s another entry in the never underestimate anyone category: Richard Walters. Perhaps you’ve heard his name on NPR: “Support for NPR comes from the estate [...]

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In Fundraising Secret #41, I encouraged you to go rounding on your donors. Since then, I’ve been reminded how much time this takes! It’s not just the visit time, that time is wonderful. But it’s time to set up the visits and then, more importantly, the time to record the visit in a database and [...]

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All week, I’ve been sharing the answers I’ve been giving to questions I’ve been getting on how to effectively use Twitter. The first two were on what I use to tweet and how to find interesting people to follow. Today is the final installment: What are hashtags? (And why should I care?) What are “hashtags”? [...]

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On Monday, I started the first of three posts I’m calling Twitter 101. That post focuses on programs I use to tweet. Today, I’ll answer the second question I’ve been getting: How do I find people to follow on Twitter? How do I find people to follow on Twitter? Following interesting people is the key [...]

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Recently, I’ve been asked how to use Twitter. I’ve already written on Twitter for Fundraising and Twitter for nonprofits. But these questions were much more “tactical,” how-to type questions so I thought I’d share with you what I’ve been telling folks. The questions work into 3 basic categories: What do you use to tweet? How [...]

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Have you heard about Twestival? In one day last February, people all over the globe used Twitter to organize fundraising events that raised $250,000 for charity:water. Well it’s back! This time it’s Twestival Local. Hundreds of teams around the world will be raising money for hundreds of local charities. Even if you’re not one of [...]

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I’m thrilled with the increase in Twitter usage I’m seeing! More and more people are checking it out. Here’s a tip: feel free to reply to other people’s tweets. If people are using Twitter, they know their comments are public. If they wanted to be private, they would’ve sent a direct message or an email. [...]

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This is the time of year when all the nonprofit geeks gather at NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference and when the rest of us who feel techincally savvy realize we’re probably just geek-wannabes. Even if you not in San Francisco, it’s very easy to keep up on what’s happening. To see the conference’s Twitter stream, simply [...]

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I was just on a call with fellow members of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy folks when someone asked, “Does anyone here use Twitter or Facebook?” It appeared I was the only one. Many wanted to be but their IT departments wouldn’t let them. Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn and YouTube are sites that are [...]

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