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Friday, October 5, 2007

Burning Calories To End Hunger

Americans need more exercise. CARE needs more money to combat global poverty. An obvious match, right? OK, maybe not so obvious, but professional triathlete and author Eric Harr hopes to serve those two purposes with the "I Am Powerful Workout with Eric Harr." It's not exactly Hans and Franz, though.

The fitness expert at CBS network affiliate KPIX-TV near San Francisco has put up the initial $50,000 to match gifts to CARE through the workout, committing $1 million over the next five years.

People can raise money for CARE just by exercising. For each hour you work out, Harr will donate $5 to CARE (up to $50,000), donors also can raise money theough a personal Web page, and win prizes. For every $1 raised on a personal Web page, Harr will match it with $5 (up to $50,000). Those who log 100 hours of exercise get an "I Am Powerful" T-shirt. Those who tell their story online get a "Music to Empower Women" CD. Through the Web page, http://www.care.org/features/workout/index.asp, users also can log their workout hours and download Harr's customized training programs. - Mark Hrywna

Calendar

October

3-7 The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy will hold its annual conference in Philadelphia. Info: www.ahp.org

10-13 The National Committee on Planned Giving will hold its annual conference at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas. Info: www.ncpg.org

12-13 The 2007 BoardSource Leadership Forum will be held at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco. Info: www.boardsource.org

13-18 The Direct Marketing Association will hold its annual conference and exposition in Chicago. Info: www.the-dma.org

21-23 Independant Sector will hold its annual conference in Los Angeles. Info: www.independentsector.org

24-26 The 2007 Risk Management & Finance Summit for Nonprofits, formerly known as the Nonprofit Risk Management Institutes, will be held in collaboration with the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits. Info: www.nonprofitrisk.org

November

2-5 The National Arts Marketing Project Conference 2007 will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Miami, Fla. Info: www.artsmarketingconference.org

7-10 The American Association of Grant Professionals will hold its annual conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. Info: www.grantprofessionals.org

15-17 The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) will hold its 36th annual conference at the Omni Hotel CNN Center in Atlanta. Info: www.arnova.org

January 2008

24-25 The Direct Marketing Association's Nonprofit Federation will hold its annual Washington, D.C., conference, "Stand & Deliver: Fundraising in a Changing World," at the JW Marriott Hotel. Info: www.nonprofitfederation.org

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Web fundraising on a shoestring budget

A marketing or fundraising campaign can only get started with a big chunk of money to support it, right? Money doesn't hurt, but at a recent national conference on nonprofit marketing, Dina Lewis, Allyson Kapin and Donna Wilkins offered suggestions on six ways to help a campaign, titled "Internet Marketing on a Shoestring Budget."

The six ways they suggested are:

  • Submit to article marketing sites. These include EzineArticles.com, GoArticles.com, ArticleDashboard.com, SearchWarp.com and ArticlesBase.com
  • Create memorable URLs. URL names should be short, catchy and memorable. Beware of names that are too long or wonky sounding.
  • Build your online media list. Build an online/media blog list consisting of media outlets related to your field (e.g. public health, environment, politics). A site such as www.Technorati.com has a search function offering lists of blogs that cover your issue. Also, track media and blog hits for free by setting up a Google email alert.
  • Integrate off-line promotions. Include your Web site's URL in offline communications, such as press releases, direct mail, telemarketing, print advertising and radio advertising.
  • Use viral marketing. Make it easy for visitors to sign a petition or pass a message along to a friend.
  • Take advantage of social networking. Consider the following: www.myspace.com, www.facebook.com, www.digg.com, www.Twitter.com.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Marketing...Tips for your making your PSAs sing

One way a nonprofit organization can get free, although haphazard, publicity is the good, old public service announcement, or PSA, that appears on radio or television. This announcement can be written by the organization and submitted to the nearest media outlet for public distribution.

In his book The Public Relations Handbook for Nonprofits, Art Feinglass suggests PSAs as handy ways of maintaining visibility because radio and TV stations are required to provide a certain amount of airtime at no cost to serve the public interest.

With that in mind, Feinglass offers a few tips for getting maximum mileage out of PSAs:

  • Usually, PSAs are 10- or 30- or 60-second spots. Know the time frame, and write a script for that time. Sometimes stations will specify the number of words they will accept, and they may rewrite your PSA.
  • Prepare the PSA on a single sheet of paper, and be sure to include contact information. Organization letterhead can be good for this.
  • Make the PSA warm, lively and conversational in tone and content.
  • Keep the sentences short and easy to read. Try reading it aloud yourself. If you find yourself gasping for breath, the sentences are too long.
  • Avoid words that are hard to pronounce or easily misunderstood.
  • Grab the audience's attention right from the outset.
  • If a station does run your PSA, send a thank-you letter.

Key Words For Donors To Find You On The Web

By Beth Kantor

The Pew Internet and American Life project Research studies in 2005 found that more than 60% of Internet users turned to search engines to find information on a daily basis. That number continues to increase and recent studies confirm the growth.

Internet users are heavily exploiting search engine functions to better navigate their way in finding their desired information. And, a majority of Internet users begin their search at Google.

In addition to the search results, Google runs short text ads on Google.com called Google Ad Words. When someone enters keywords (short phrases specifying a particular search query) into Google.com ads targeted to those keywords appear alongside the search results.

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