Don't you wish it would be that simple? (Image by Tax Credits)

And now a post about money. Because as we all know, it’s what makes the world go around.

Okay, that’s a mild understatement. But it’s very mild in the nonprofit world. And unless you’re independently wealthy, you’re always fundraising, and looking at ways to stretch your dollars and cultivate donors.

Here’s the thing, though. Quite often, nonprofiters, cause advocates, and even entrepreneurs tend to be visionaries. They tend to be people with a burning passion to do something, make a change, and improve the world around them. When that mindset happens to come equipped with the skills of an MBA, magic happens. When it does not, which is often, the ability to execute the mission hits a big fat bump in the road.

This is why I recommend that nonprofiters across the board read up—heavily—on the following. This is especially directed toward those who start off it in the nonprofit world, rather than first spending the best years of their life in the for-profit world:

Your reaction should not be "What fresh hell is this?!" (image via plutor)

P&L Statements

Learn to read one. Get to the point where clicking on that spreadsheet put together by the finance people in your life—whether they’re the interns or the development staff—doesn’t fill you with dread. Know how to parse the information so that you know if the minus sign staring at you is a good thing or a bad thing. (Hint: It’s a great thing when the minus means you’re under budget, and not broke. But that’s assuming the spreadsheet’s set up that way—you gotta know the diff, right?)

Revenue vs. Income

A lot of organizations—in any industry—find themselves stumped when the steady stream of income, successful campaign, or full box office doesn’t translate into a profit. That’s because the two are not the same. And as anyone who has ever managed a business of any sort will tell you, it’s not enough to have money walk in the door. You need to have a cushion left over after all your expenses are met. Know what your expenses are, know what you need for your revenue to create income.  Speaking of which . . .

Pennywise, Pound Foolish

Non-profits learn to move mountains with little. Because that is what you do when the mission isn’t to make money but to serve a community. But! Know when it is better to spend the money. Hire the right people, and pay fairly for the core employees who will take you far (development, communications, management). Few things burn a hole faster through your budget than hiring the wrong people. And not just in terms of money, but time and relationships, which are invaluable.

Obviously we are all still reeling after a massive tornado tore apart Moore Oklahoma.

Parents lost their children, children lost friends, neighbors lost neighbors. And many people are still missing!

Family and friends first

• For those who have family and friends in the area, Red Cross Oklahoma set up a resource to locate loved ones.

• Gov. Mary Fallon also set up okstrong.ok.gov.

• If you’re on twitter you can keep up-to-date with the latest information by following #okwx.

Nonprofits who are on the ground

• Feeding America is delivering food to impacted areas, and also set up additional dropoff sites.

• Samaritan’s Purse, a nonprofit that fights poverty, has sent a disaster relief unit and staff to help people affected by the tornadoes in Oklahoma City. Find out how you can support the organization’s efforts here.

• Convoy of Hope is raising $15,000 in seven days for the town of Moore. The organization set the one-week goal because it says the first days are the most important for recovery.

• As always, you can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. Your donation will go toward the Red Cross’ Emergency Relief Fund, which is working to provide relief in Oklahoma and Texas.

And check out this cover image I created:

The Huffington Post has posted a comprehensive list of organizations that are helping out in various different ways.

We all know that professional sports teams are businesses. But we really don’t treat them like one, do we? We think of them more as celebrities that come to our events, and sign things for auctions.

But sports teams can offer a lot more than star appeal, or a signed baseball. I learned this firsthand in a partnership with the Boston Bruins a few years back. I’ve been thinking about it lately as I’ve been watching the Bruins win their way through the NHL playoffs (2-0 in their series against the New York Rangers).

Here’s my story. I think you’ll learn something.

I was really looking forward to my meeting with the Boston Bruins. Waiting for the director of community relations in the TD Bank Garden where the team plays, I wasn’t admiring the Bruins’ (and Celtics who also play at the Gahden) championship banners hanging from the rafters. I was looking at all the sponsors surrounding the rink.

“Forget about solid ice. More like solid gold,” I confidently thought. “If I can get the Bruins to introduce me to just a few of these sponsors, it will be like I won a championship!”

I must have been glowing when I sat down with the community relations director because he immediately dimmed my prospects.

“We want to help your organization, but our current sponsors and corporate partners are off the table,” he said.

My heart sank.

“Well, how do you think you can help us?” I asked. I was starting to think of what I would do with that signed hockey stick he would probably give me.

But he had bigger plans than that. He explained that while he couldn’t share his sponsors with me, he could share other things.

• – The Bruins had a rabid fan following, and maybe finding that Bruins fan in the corporate world would be the key to winning a new business partner–if he gave us the right things with which to woo them.
• – The Bruins often played to a full house at the TD Bank Garden, and the jumbotron and check presentations on the ice would put my organization in front of thousands of people. The Bruins were also willing to host a group of supporters in one of their luxury boxes.
• – The Bruins were willing to commit to a limited number of player appearances at businesses that hit ambitious fundraising goals for our organization.

The Bruins didn’t give me money or connections, but they did give me assets–things I could use with business prospects to raise money.

Shortly after meeting with the Bruins I recruited two new company partners to work with my organization. They were excited about working with the hometown team. In a town known for its baseball fans, I had found two hockey fans!

Together, we raised $42,000 the first year, and matched that number the second year.

The Bruins won. My business partners won. And my nonprofit won.

Let’s hope the Bruins continue their winning ways!

People support your organization for one reason: They view your organization as the agent of change they seek.

If they had the resources, they’d make the changes they desire by themselves. But they don’t, and that’s why you’re in their lives.

So when you tell the story of your cause, you need to show how supporters ultimately create the outcomes.

Nonprofit Storytelling with Infographics

One powerful way to do this is with a set of infographics like the Best Friends Animal Society created.

What’s really great about this infographic is that it’s broken down into five separate infographics, which makes the information even more digestible.

Five Tips for Creating Powerful Infographics

Best Friends Animal Society does so many things right with their infographic. Here are a few:

1. Keep it simple. The information should be instantly understood through pictures and words.
2. Make it beautiful. No one wants to share an infographic that’s ugly. Make sure you spend the money and hire a graphic artist that can create a beautiful info graphic. Here are a few tools to create infographics.
3. Make it easily shareable. Users should be able to share your infographic with one mouse click on Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter. If you use WordPress for your website, you’ll find a number of plugins that will add a sharing feature to images.
4. Put it everywhere. Make sure you post your infographic on your Facebook page, your Pinterest board, and even Instagram. This way people who call these places their home will easily see it.
5. Promote it. Just because you build it doesn’t mean people will come. You need to have a marketing communications plan that uses your biggest assets, like your email list, to promotes the infographic.

Have you seen an effective infographic about a cause? Post it in the comments below.

We’ve all heard the Latin expression “carpe diem” which means, “seize the day.” But in fundraising with businesses a new expression is taking hold: “da die,” which is Latin for “give the day.”

Here’s how it works. Generous businesses support nonprofits by donating the profits from a day’s sales.

This is different from what we’re used to seeing, like a “percentage of sales fundraiser” that donates a portion of sales from every product or service sold for a day/week/month/etc.. A “donate profits day” is when businesses donate a percentage of the day’s total receipts.

This fundraiser has its merits as it allows both the business and nonprofit to concentrate its efforts around a single day, and to potentially raise a lot of money!

Whole Foods Markets & One Fund Boston

Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings, Whole Foods Markets in Massachusetts joined together to host a Community Giving Day (a.k.a. donate profits day) to support the victims. Five percent of the net sales from the day went to the One Fund Boston. However, these giving days are common for Whole Foods as each store across the country is encouraged to hold one quarterly. Generally, they support local causes, such as the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs and other health, environmental, and education nonprofits.

At my local Whole Foods just outside Boston, nonprofits are encouraged to set up a display, and have staff on hand to educate consumers about local work.

Chili’s Grill & Bar & St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

As part of its annual fundraising effort for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, restaurant chain Chili’s Grill & Bar donates 100 percent of the profits on its donate profits day. In the days before and after the donate profits day, Chili’s sells Create-a-Pepper coloring sheets in its restaurants to raise additional funds.

This past year, Chili’s also included a QR Code on coloring sheets so that diners could learn more about St. Jude and donate via their mobile devices. The QR Codes were scanned nearly 300,000 times!

Kansas City Restaurants & Good Samaritan Project

Every April over two dozen Kansas City Restaurants team up to raise money for Kansas City’s Good Samaritan Project, KC’s oldest AIDS service organization. Participants in the fundraiser ranged from upscale restaurants to mom and pop diners. But what they all share is a pledge to donate 25 percent of the day’s gross to the Good Sam Project.

Just about any business can do a donate profits day. My pick of businesses to host one of these giving days is the oil industry. On just one summer day last year, the top five oil companies made $375 million in profits. That’s just for ONE DAY.

Seize the day, and give the day!

Photo by Blankies for Boston

In 2007, back when Livejournal was still my favorite online platform, I was running an organization called Homespun Helpers. The group existed solely in the online world, although in some cases some of our members truly befriended each other, and got to craft together. Our goal each year was to make and donate 3,000 items to charity. Any charitable cause and any handmade item was counted.

It was during this time that the tragic shootings at Virginia Tech happened. Because I was tuned in to the crafting world, I heard about a person who was collecting Hokie-colored orange and burgundy squares that would be sewn into blankets for the families of the victims. Another organization started collecting scarves for a cause that one of the victims had held dear.

If you have never crafted for charity, it is hard to explain how rewarding the work can be. Even though you very very seldom meet the people who will receive your items, and even though you know that in the end these items will not undo the tragedy, it’s a tangible way to send your love and care to people affected by all of these senseless tragedies happening in our world.

Homespun Helpers Returns

This year I re-started Homespun Helpers. As I was beginning to get the group together in December, we heard about the shootings in Sandy Hook. An amazing woman named Jeanne Maligioglio promptly started a project called Scarves for Sandy Hook on Facebook. Jeanne received thousands of scarves not only from almost every single state, but even from overseas. Kids, parents, faculty members, and first responders all were recipients of the green and white scarves that poured in.

When the Boston Marathon bombings happened, almost exactly 4 months after the Sandy Hook tragedy, it was easy to feel like all good was just falling out the bottom of the world. I knew a lot of people were not just sad anymore. People were angry.

I posed the question to my fellow crafters in Homespun Helpers. What could we do? Was anybody doing anything in the wake of this latest tragedy? We looked around, and couldn’t find anything easy to donate to, at least not in a crafty way. A conversation sprang up. Maybe we could start something. Maybe we could be the magnet that would draw crafters together to show love and care to Boston.

That is how Blankies for Boston was born.

Too Many Amazing Stories to Count

If you are feeling down about the world or are feeling like social media can’t really support social good, I encourage you to check out what is happening on this page. I encourage you to watch the posts that our point person, Rebecca Lane, makes almost every day. She posts pictures of the boxes that are taking over her P.O. box and her house. She shares pictures of blankies that are being distributed to nurses who were at the hospital the day of the bombing. She shares stories of family members of the victims getting blankies. She shares stories of people who have heard about the effort from other people, and she has shared stories of people wondering how they can get involved.

I could tell you about people who have already made more than ten 36×36 blankies. I could tell you about the fliers our members have made that can be posted in local hang-outs. I could tell you how many people have commented on the page noticing that something really special is going on there.

So far, Blankies for Boston has collected just under 100 blankets. The goal is to have made and distributed 1,000 by June 14th, Flag Day, 7 months after the Sandy Hook shooting, just a couple of months after the Boston Marathon bombing.

The support that the people on the page give each other is woven into the blankies you see posted every day by the dozen. Visiting the page, reading the stories, and seeing the time and effort people are investing towards this cause is enough even to make the Grinch’s heart grow two sizes too big.

Get Involved

If you want to get involved, Blankies for Boston is asking for 36×36 blankies in red, white, and blue. The shipping address is on the page. If you want to support the cause but can’t craft, one of the best things you can do is to join the page and help spread the word. If you want to do more, there are people looking for donations of yarn who could use your help.

It is an honor to be a part of this cause, though Jeanne, Rebecca, and Susan Baranoff have done a thousand times more than I have. They are women who are forces of nature.

Join us in this effort to make social media “likes” into real, tangible love and care. It’s powerful stuff.

Photo by eldh

If you use Twitter, you know how important retweets are. If you don’t, retweets are the equivalent of a Facebook user sharing an update with all their friends.

And like your website and your Facebook Page, call-to-actions can dramatically increase results.

Dan Zarrella, of HubSpot, analyzed the use of call-to-actions for 2.7 million Tweets, using a retweets-per-follower ratio. Dan discovered seven phrases that correlated with more retweets:

Here’s what we can take away from this list:

1. Saying “Please” increases your chances of getting retweeted by 60%. So your mother was right.
2. Telling people to retweet your Tweet increases your chances of getting retweeted by 90%.
3. Doing both increases your chances of getting retweeted by 150%.

Does this mean you should include “Please Retweet” in every single tweet? Of course not! But when you do want followers to retweet something, adding “Please Retweet” will help.

Influence, Interest, and Retweets

I’d love to see Dan look at Klout scores as another factor in the retweet CTA research, since influential Twitter users have an easier time getting retweets. Even better is the influential user within a specific community.

Photo by kthompsonstudios

Have you picked up that mother’s day gift yet? Me neither. But what do you give the woman that’s gotten the best gift of all: YOU!

Easy. You buy her something that helps someone else that isn’t as fortunate! Here are four gifts that are sure to make mom and another feel special.

Praise Mom and Save the Children with Care Cards

Just in time for Mother’s Day, consumers can tell mom “well done” by creating a personalized digital Care Card on Facebook, by visiting johnsonsbabycares.com. For every Care Card sent, shared or Liked, Johnson’s Baby will donate $1 to Save the Children programs such as Early Steps to School Success, an early childhood education initiative. The Early Steps program works with more than 10,000 children, parents, and caregivers annually to help provide a brighter future through early childhood education.

Save a Dog or Cat During National Adoption Weekend

Is your mom lonely since you moved out? Surprise her with a cat or dog during Petco’s National Adoption Weekend, which takes place Mother’s Day weekend. You can meet loving pets searching for their very own family, speak to local adoption groups about fostering, and learn how to properly care for a new pet’s physical, mental, social, and emotional needs. After years of raising children, cooking, and housecleaning, a pet to care for and clean up is exactly what mom needs. Just make sure you’d be happy to adopt the pet in case mom thinks your gift is too generous.

Make Your Mom Feel Wicked Good With This Scented Candle

I’m buying my mom this tee shirt because she’s a big fan of Boston slugger David Ortiz–and she talks like a truck driver (she learned from my dad who was one). Your mom may not as big a fan of Big Papi–or curse words–so buy her this Boston Strong Candle from Yankee Candle.

It smells just like Boston. The Charles River? The Boston Red Sox dugout? Dunkin Donuts coffee? No, according to Yankee Candle, the smell is “a heartwarming blend of cinnamon, baking spices, and a hint of freshly poured tea.” The candle benefits the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.

Toast Mom with One Hope Sparkling Wines

Every mom needs a good drink every now and then. That’s why you should toast her with One Hope sparkling wine. Twenty-five percent of the profits go to bringing clean water to developing countries. At checkout you can designate another 25 percent of the profits to one of five causes, including charity: water and No Kid Hungry.

What will you buy mom for Mother’s Day? Sound off in the comments below!

Photo by Kamil Porembiński

I remember one of the first times I encountered a homeless person. They shook a little cup full of change as I walked by. I wanted to give some change but I was warned against it. “They’ll probably just use it to get beer,” I was told.

I remember a scene in the Terry Gilliam movie The Fisher King, where a handicapped veteran played by Tom Waits (of all people) is holding out a cup while sitting in a subway. Someone runs by, and plops a coin into his cup of coffee.

“They didn’t even look at you,” Jeff Bridges’ character says. “Of course they don’t look. They’re paying me so they don’t have to look.”

In my hometown, it is well known that there is a family that stands at a corner holding up a sign about how they need money, and a different family member sits in the wheelchair each day. We have learned not to trust people who say they are homeless because of that family. How do we know they’re not all fakes?

They’re Not All Fakes

This is just a sampling of what we are up against as we try to fight homelessness. Stereotypes, feelings of distrust or fear, maybe even societal shame.

Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.TV and known as @HardlyNormal on Twitter, shines the light on all of this, and has done so for years now. Mark travels the country and aims the video camera at homeless people who finally get to tell their story. He has met homeless veterans, homeless families, homeless drug addicts, and homeless nomads.

Despite the uphill battle, I’ve never, in watching Mark do his work, see him use the word “discouraged.” But he used it last week in reference to how little progress he was making in raising funds for his @Home Campaign.

@Home Campaign

The @Home Campaign has two main parts. The first half is to finish production on a film that not only tells Mark’s story, but also tells the stories he has gathered over the years. The second half is to develop a smartphone game that will help battle apathy, and raise awareness of homelessness in your hometown. Mark’s goal is to raise $100,000 by May 17. As of this writing, he is at $12,767.

“Making an ask” online can be tricky for anyone, and any cause. People are short on time, short on money, and you know they are getting bombarded with “asks” from tons of other people, too. However, this “ask” is really important not just because it is a great way to help combat the serious problem of homelessness in our society, but also because someone who has spent years giving without question wants just this one thing from us.

The math is pretty simple. If we could get 1,000 people to donate about $85, Mark would reach his goal.

If we could get 2,000 people to donate about $40, Mark would reach his goal.

Or maybe we could get 3,000 people to donate $30 each. That’s a pretty easy number, isn’t it? Maybe forego a week of Starbucks, and you’re there.

Spread the Word

Even if you can’t donate money, it would be great if you could share the campaign page, which is here. Maybe you will reach someone who just happens to have $87,000 lying around. You never know. Social Media can be terribly quirky.

Can you share Mark’s campaign? Can you help him reach his May 17th goal? I find his work inspiring. I think you will, too.

Do What Now? (Photo by AdmlCrunch)

If there is one thing companies should never forget, it is this: make it easy.

Make that call-to-action, the white paper download, the listserv subscription, join, or “donate” button an efficient one-click that respects your customer’s time.

What’s the Most Information You Need

Is it just an email address so you can reach the customer? And is any additional information about serving the customer or about your own market segmentation needs?

If so, keep it short. Because customers are sensitive to that, and apt to walk away. Your marketing issue isn’t their concern. And whatever you do, be simple, and really straightforward about what it is your customer is assenting to. (Which means you should go for clarity such as, “Click here to get more info” instead of “If you don’t click here, then we’ll assume you want more information from us,” any day.)

Because nothing will drive your customer away faster than a multi-step process that takes time, or worse, makes him feel foolish because the instructions which seemed clear actually weren’t.

“Wait, what now? But I don’t wanna to get more emails . . . so do I click the box or not? Grr!” See what I mean?

Make it One-Click Easy

I sound like a broken record here with the “make it one-click easy” bit, don’t I? There’s a reason. You see, the last month has seen me and P, a family member dive into the world of iPads. And there is nothing like new technology to humble even the most digitally-savvy consumer. P’s was a birthday gift. Mine was from redeeming credit card rewards that I had no idea I’d been racking up. (My budget is very happy about that!)

Neither of us, P and I, are out of it. P is an extremely successful partner at her firm. I live and work at the intersection of information and technology. And yet we both had our challenges with the new shiny toy. Using the iPad was easy enough––there’s a reason Apple has a well-deserved reputation for great design, and near idiot-proof instructions. Then we each delved into the world of apps, so we could better use the gadget for what we wanted to do––P to Skype her grandchild, me to check out books from the library. And that is when we both found ourselves hitting the wall.

P kept getting locked out of the app store (for an email address glitch that has yet to be resolved, so she simply started over). I meanwhile, took a full 30 minutes to be able to check out a book from the library. I’d been warned by my friendly local librarian that there was a bit of a learning curve, several steps, and perhaps I should set aside the time for it. Boy, was she spot on!

I was determined to make it work. So I did. But that is not an expectation I should ever have from a customer. And it is not one we should ever have from the people we seek to reach or serve.

The Lesson to Learn is: Make it Easy

With that in mind, I am now off to go and check all my clients’ websites, and make sure every last widget, donate button, sign-up form, share option, opt-in, and unsubscribe button work simply and efficiently. Because the things I’ve learned about being the recipient or the customer facing new technology are these:

1. If it isn’t easy, I will simply walk away. I don’t need it as much as they need me to use their product.
2. When it’s not easy, or I can’t figure it out quickly, I feel stupid––not a good start!
3. If it’s brand new technology, take for granted that there might always be something missing on your FAQ.
4. If it’s brand new technology, even early adopters will stumble. And that’ll lead to my first point….

Make it easy.