Conversation Starter for Your Nonprofit

Harvard Business Publishing features a blog called Conversation Starter, which offers some great out-of-box ideas to consider. A recent post, Recessions Call for More Creativity, Not Less, features Kevin P. Coyne and Shawn T. Coyne advocating for new ideas and their importance in the current economic environment.

Fundraising in 2009

The Philanthropy Journal offers resources on how nonprofits can sustain and improve their fundraising. Visit their suggestions here. How will your nonprofit approach fundraising this year? Share your thoughts or ideas. Are you optimistic in the New Year?

Online Gifts Might Be Larger Than They Appear

The Nonprofit Times newsletter recently related the following info about online gifts:

At the National Catholic Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., Erin Presseau and Nick Soggu of Silvertech, an agency specializing in online marketing and technology, reminded conference-goers of several facts about online fundraising: First online gifts are one-and-a-half times larger than those by direct mail, and total online donor revenue per year is higher; 46 percent of U.S. adults intend to make a greater percentage of donations online; about 75 percent of people do research online before giving.

Knowing all that, nonprofits can then know of the opportunities that can await them:

• Online tools help nonprofits acquire, cultivate and renew donors with minimal ongoing cost.
• An online presence delivers immediate assistance.
• It extends your reach globally.
• It automates personalization of information and collects data for intelligence, testing and reporting.
• It provides critical internal efficiencies.
• It's easier to manager than ever, even without technical knowledge.
• Direct mail and telemarketing are growing less effective and more costly.
• It is eco-friendly.
• It is convenient and data-driven.
• It provides one unified brand: many voices to many people.
• Online donors cross all age segments.

Do you have any feedback about your online fundraising efforts? Will you be focusing more on this type of giving this year? Share your ideas here.

BoardSource Offers Governance Resouces

BoardSource offers the following presentations from their 2008 BoardSource Leadership Forum:

• Opening BLF Keynote Address by Juan Williams (Video).
• From Strategy To Structure: Fresh Perspectives On the Board's Financial Leadership, presenter - John Griswold, Commonfund Institute (Click here to access the file)
• Nonprofit Governance: The Last 20 Years (Video).
• Nonprofit Governance: The Last 20 Years (Timeline).
• Finding Your Way Through the Financial Turmoil, Open Plenary Speech, Linda Crompton, BoardSource President and CEO.
• Hindsight, Insight, and Foresight: A Look At Governance Past, Present and Future, Moderator Juan Williams. Panelists Dick Chait and Nell Minow (Flash Audio File, Length: one hour, 28 minutes). Click here to access.

Editorialists give some insights about their regions for Gov. Paterson

Hillary Rodham Clinton will soon vacate her Senate position to become U.S. Secretary of State in the Obama administration. Gov. David Paterson will then appoint a Senate replacement. Upstate communities are rightly adamant the new senator pay attention to their concerns, which often are overshadowed by the political power of New York City and other downstate regions.

The Poughkeepsie Journal editorial board reached out to editorialists across upstate, including the Star-Gazette, to get their thoughts on these issues - and to find out what the new senator needs to know about upstate. Read the full editorials here.

2009 Planning Survey

The Steering Committee has set a planning meeting for January 23 at the Corning Library. In preparation for this meeting, the following survey is being implemented. Complete the survey and share your feedback on possible meeting dates for 2009.

How To Make Money Using the Internet

Seth Godin offers a post on his blog on a timely discussion of How to make money using the Internet. As Seth relates:

Make money: not by building an internet company, but by using the net as a tool
to create value and get paid. Use the internet as a tool, not as an end. Do it
when you are part of a big organization or do it as a soloist. The dramatic
leverage of the net more than overcomes the downs of the current economy.

Read Seth's ideas here.