Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 199

Happy Tuesday, Fundraisers!

Virtual events have revolutionized fundraising and nonprofit gatherings, making them more accessible than ever for your community. To ensure a smooth experience, it's crucial to choose event software that seamlessly integrates with platforms like Zoom. This Thursday, we're excited to present "Virtual Events and Attendance Tracking with Zoom and the Events App." Join us as we guide you through the process of creating seamless virtual events from start to finish.

Keep on scrolling for the best fundraising tips on ethical storytelling, donor engagement, and digital marketing!

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Great Fundraising Posts

Uncorking the Success to Fundraising with Wine

Taylor Rogers (Greater Giving)

Did you know that May 25th is National Wine Day? This opens up a great opportunity for fundraising. Even if you’re not prepared to do something around National Wine Day, fundraising with wine can take place year-round! This blog post offers lots of tips on how you can use wine to raise funds to support your mission.

One Big Change to Make for Ethical Storytelling

Stef Arck-Baynes (NonProfitPro)

When telling stories about the work you do and the people you support, it can often veer into feeling exploitative or cringe-worthy. In this blog post, Stef offers several shifts you can make to make sure you are telling stories about the people you support in an ethical way.

The Real Way to Raise Money

Jim Langley (Market Smart)

The real way to fundraise successfully for your organization is to provide donors with what money can’t buy. In this blog post, Jim offers many examples of what kind of experiences you can provide your donors—as opposed to the common fundraising approaches that give donors what they already have in abundance.

Change the Recipe, Change the Results

Steven Screen (The Better Fundraising Co.)

When a nonprofit is first founded, its fundraising letters, emails, and personal asks tend to have high response rates and high average gifts. However, that typically goes down over time, because as you get more established as an organization, you change your tactics. In this post, Steven advocates for sticking to the original “recipe,” even as your organization develops.

Why They Give

Jeff Brooks (Future Fundraising Now)

It can be hard to remember why donors donate. However, when you lose sight of that then your fundraising is likely to miss the mark. This blog post offers a humbling reminder of the actual reason donors give.

Transform Donor Engagement With Unforgettable Adventures

The Bright Dot (The Bright Dot)

In the world of fundraising, captivating the hearts and minds of your donors is essential. As the landscape becomes increasingly crowded, nonprofits and charities are discovering that creating an “adventure” for donors isn’t just a fun gimmick; it’s a pivotal strategy in fostering lasting engagement and commitment. This blog post explains why transforming your fundraising efforts into an engaging adventure can have a profound impact on your relationships with supporters.

Can You Really Do More By Doing Less?

Karen Kendrick (Veritus Group)

There are so many different things that go into being a successful fundraiser. For that reason, sometimes some of us may wear being busy like a badge of honor. However, when we get caught up in the myriad of tasks, we might miss the things that require more thought and spaciousness. In this blog post, Karen makes the argument for doing less, in order to accomplish more.

Leveraging Digital Marketing Campaign Data to Drive Continuous Improvement

Vaughn Shinkus (RNL)

With a new digital marketing campaign, you’ll soon receive a steady stream of data that indicate how well your offering resonates with potential audiences. This trove of campaign performance information offers a continuous feedback loop that allows you to learn and adapt. This blog post explains how to take a deeper look to optimize targeting strategies, identify market trends, and improve operational effectiveness.

A Beginner’s Guide to Nonprofit Google Ad Grant Compliance

Aly Sterling (Aly Sterling Philanthropy)

Google Ads can catapult your nonprofit to the front page of Google Search results almost instantly. Even better, you can do so for free through the Google Ad Grants program. To participate in this program, however, you need to follow Google’s rules. This blog post serves as a beginner’s guide to break down the fundamentals of Google Ad Grant compliance so you can keep your account in good standing.