OK all you grassroots organizers, non-profit fundraisers and do-gooders out there. This article is about the power of the internet to save a person’s life that YOU can take part in or use as a template for creating and implementing your own drives, fundraisers or movements.

If you have a list or post in a blog, then this article might even spur you on to spread the word to help the cause or if you’re the type they’re looking for, you may even decide to save a life!

This is exactly why so many of us get so JAZZED about new technology, web 2.0 and the Internet.

We talk about how we use the Internet to start and grow our businesses in order to create more freedom and abundance, which is GREAT, but with all of the crazy things going on in the world, we can use it to do great things to help man(woman)kind in our life struggles as well.

“Petey Needs a Wheelchair Van” is an Example

I previously wrote of an example of one of my fellow competitiors in the Next Internet Millionaire, who is an aide for a young man by the name of Petey. Petey has an incurable debilitating disease and in order to help him lead as normal a life as possible with the time he has left, Jason Marshall put together a giveaway campaign to raise money to buy  a wheelchair accessible van.

While they didn’t reach their goal of $15,000.00, they did raise $6,000.00, which not only puts them closer to the possibilities and may open up new opportunities, but it also helped those of us who who donated recieve some valuable information products, softwares, books, courses, etc. for much less money than we would have had to pay if we bought them at retail…Obviously you can see the WIN WIN!

By the way, you HAVE to go see the Google graphic Petey created for a contest…Those of you who can relate to handicap life will LOVE it!  

When you Ask for More than Money

Well, this new grassroots effort takes this same sort of idea to another level. This time the disease doesn’t have to be fatal and by either contributing our time, our connections or our bone morrow, we get a chance to save a life of a darling 26 year old Asian American woman and more!

Michelle Maykin dedicated herself to helping others by creating Project Michelle, an online/offline campaign focused on recruiting people to become potential bone marrow donors for others like her who  have leukemia, so this drive reaches even further. Apparently, there is a major shortage of Asians registered as potential donors, which is a problem because they are the most likely prospects for donors that match others of Asian background.
 

My point is that this campaign can be used as an incredible template for using our skills and creativity to put together grassroots movements of as many people and entities as possible to provide for the needs of others less fortunate in our communities by leveraging the capabilities of viral marketing, blogging, email marketing and the Internet.

What makes this drive unique is that its purpose is not to raise money, but bone morrow donors. Think about the logistisical challenges, especially online, which, to the more traditional thinking person, might stop them before they start in putting something like this together.

So I invite you to study how this grass roots campaign is put together and how are successfully getting the word out, gaining volunteers and how they handle the logistics of creating drives in 5 major cities, as well as dedicated centers outside of those cities, that are tied in with the National Morrow Donor Program. 

Read the rest of the article here:
 

One of the things we talked about previously is condensing your message as a nonprofit organization down to the very basics.

Here are some examples to illustrate how organizations have distilled their core values to a single word or phrase:  

The Red Cross (www.redcross.org) provides disaster relief.  

Good News Jail & Prison Ministry (www.goodnewsjail.org) provides chaplains worldwide.  

The American Bible Society uses its www.ForMinistry.com website to equip the church online for ministry.  

These organizations have worked diligently on their single core value in order to capture mind share of their potential donors. Therefore, if a disaster hits, we all know the Red Cross will be there to help because the Red Cross has done an excellent job of securing that mind share in all of us. The Red Cross has done this mostly by doing good work, not marketing alone. Remember, effective branding equals content plus marketing.  

As you can see, having an effective brand strategy, this ensures that positioning statements in your marketing are in harmony with the content found on your site, will help your organization build mind share and cut through the Internet clutter that promises only to get more massive.  

Your goal should be to capture mind share and make your nonprofit a household name. How are you going to do this? What steps would you take to ensure a positive result?  

Imagine for a moment that you are running your organization for public office, say President of the United States.

How would you determine your message?

Read the whole article here:

Your organization’s brand personality is made up of those qualities that express who you are and what you do.

To brand your nonprofit on the Internet effectively, you must first focus on communicating three primary attributes of your organization:

1. Brand personality
2. Brand attributes
3. Core value

These three qualities make up what is called the Brand Triangle, and your organization must understand the importance of these interconnected components if you are to be successful in getting your message across in an increasingly cluttered world.  

Your organization’s brand personality is made up of those qualities that express who you are and what you do.  To develop a successful brand, you must attract people using messaging (marketing) that is in tune with the manner in which they already identify with you and your mission.

Once you have been successful in attracting people to your site, your content must confirm your marketing or there will be a disconnect. When that happens, you will lose potential friends perhaps forever.  

It then becomes self evident that branding = marketing + content.  

How do You Make that happen? 

For example, the elements that might describe your brand “personality” could be: faith based, educational in emphasis and global in scope.

As you firm up your position on the Web and increase your level of conversation with your visitors you will begin to integrate these personality traits into everything you say in your email campaigns, newsletters, year end reports, and as you talk and share with your growing list of volunteers who are now beginning to support your cause online.

Your nonprofit’s brand attributes are the values your nonprofit puts out there, and the primary benefits/features your organization provides. For example, your “attributes” may be: saving and/or changing lives, providing a place for the expression of art and culture, bringing health to those in need, providing educational materials, etc.

As you brand your nonprofit on the Internet, it is critical that you stay within these “attribute” categories. Not to do so will confuse people and dilute your message.

Many organizations produce lengthy lists of core values. And there is not worth wrong with it. However, to brand your organization successfully on the Internet…

I would encourage you to think through the single thing you promise to deliver.  

Your core value is the basis of your positioning strategy that will permeate your marketing tactics and help you capture mind share of potential visitors.  

Here are some examples to illustrate how organizations have distilled their core values to a single word or phrase: CLICK HERE to read the the rest of this article in full.

This post is a continuation of a previous article about how to start and carry on a conversation with online visitors and communities about your nonprofit entity and it’s mission. Below are 8 more ideas and strategies to add to your list of possible action items to leverage the power of the Internet!

7. Speak to your visitors/users at their level. Let them determine how quickly and at what stage they choose to become involved with your organization

8. Develop a marketing strategy that will win over your website visitors, making them friends, and turning those friends into donors, and grow those donors into loyal donors. This form of marketing is a process; it provides the kind of stability needed within an increasingly cluttered Internet.

9. Develop a fundraising and acknowledgement application that encourages, affirms, and leverages recent and past online donations. Provide an integrated, personalized “story telling” system that describes saved and changed lives. By applying basic database marketing techniques learned in your direct mail program, tell your donors how their dollars are critical to your organization’s success; do the work necessary to grow them into loyal donors.

10. Update your homepage and the general content of your site daily. Blogs are GREAT for writing regular columns on such subjects as donor feedback, advisory board decisions, how lives are being changed and saved, and your future organizational goals. A website can become a gravesite if you do not refresh its content regularly. Give them a reason to return regularly. 

11. Consider an appropriate use of bonuses (books, booklets, contests, tapes, CDs, etc.) as gifts for a visitor/user’s response to a survey, donation, or participation in an online focus group. Tailor this strategy to the uniqueness of your mission.

12. Invite interactivity by providing an online calendar that highlights your nonprofit’s events. This calendar could include the promotion of a speakers bureau, Web casting, podcasting, overseas trips, conventions, weekend briefings, internal strategic staff meetings, etc. Ask people for their email address whenever and wherever you can, and use it to update them on changes or additions of new events and activities on your calendar.

13. Create “testimonial” opportunities for your friends, donors and other advocates. Video and audio testimonials are extremely effective as opposed to traditional text. This allows them to give you feedback on how your organization is relevant in their lives in a more personal, from the heart, way. Giving time and resources to help others is important; it is equally important to ask for “stories” from those people who make your mission or cause possible.

14. Create a “wish-list” of gifts or in-

kind items your organization needs to further its mission, such as food, clothing, cars, school supplies, building supplies, etc. Begin implementing this critical involvement content and you will be communicating with your donors more intelligently and effectively.

You will also start seeing results because you have initiated meaningful connections where future donors suddenly give you permission to continue the conversation.

However, you still may ask, how will these people remember the mission of our organization? How can we cut through the Internet clutter and be seen and remembered as unique? How can we make sure our new friends return again and again?Important questions and that’s what an effective brand strategy is all about!

Stay tuned for an INCREDIBLE EXAMPLE of a nonprofit that incorporates much of the strategies we offer in this article that GutZy Women discovered just the other day. The site is incredibly creative, visually appealing and incorporates much of the new Web 2.0 capabilities that sets their organization apart from the crowd!

 In the last article I wrote about how nonprofit entities need to engage people they want to attract to their organization in conversations that their readers want to engage in. So here’s 6 smart content ideas that can help you develop a comprehensive involvement strategy…

1. Capture email addresses from your visitors and send a regular, relevant, motivational enewsletter that describes the excitement of what is happening in your organization—one that invites involvement. Once you have captured a visitor’s email address, you’re on your way to turning those visitors into friends of your organization.

2. Ask your visitors to become offline and online volunteers. Online volunteerism is an innovative way to get people involved. For example, an online volunteer could be asked to become an e-advisory board member, giving your e-advisory board the privilege of shaping your online strategic direction. The secret here is to develop meaningful connections that encourage regular involvement.

3. Create online polls. Use technology, such as Instant Messaging and Chat, for the facilitation of online focus groups and benefits testing. Use surveys to solicit both general and specific information from anyone who logs on to your site. Your friends want to give you feedback, however you must first politely ask for it.

4. Tap the power of viral marketing. This is where you click on a box that asks “Would you like to share this article with a friend?”—after which the person types in his or her friend’s email address. This promotes great interactivity and exposes your site to someone who you, in all probability, never may have reached.

5. Keep it personal. When you solicit comments from visitors, make sure the user addresses a real person. When you solicit comments from visitors, make sure the user addresses a real person…not webmaster@, info@ or support@… Instead, it must be attn: Chris@…or Melissa@…etc.

Your website is your ultimate direct marketing vehicle—and your unique opportunity to stay up close and personal. A basic principle when implementing new technology is that it should enhance the facilitation of conversation with people, not put up “techno walls” that make it more difficult to carry on a conversation.

6. Develop communication strategies at all levels within your website with:

Visitors Friends

Volunteers

Members

eNewsletter and other eCampaign recipients

Donors

Annual Donors

Mid Donors Major Donors

Corporations and Foundations

Planned Giving

Stay tuned for the next article where I’ll give you even more great ideas and read more here: