For a while, most questions one would hear about Twitter would be "what is it?" Most webinars I've sat in about Twitter fundraising have included basics of the Twitter world, like how to post, reTweet, and, in some cases, redirect people to your fundraising page. Recently, I came across (thru Twitter of course) a case of an organization that has moved far beyond these basic steps to develop a fully integrated, Twitter-based fundraising campaign from Operation Smile (@operationsmile on Twitter for those of you with Twitter accounts). To see the full campaign in action, visit [link]

Check out this donor profile: -Female -Give to an average of 8 non-profits/charities a year -Giving includes health, social activism, environment, veterans’, global and local relief, and religious organizations -Average gift: $50 I bet you are thinking: “Who is this donor and how do I get my clients’/organization’s hands on her?” Trust me you are not the only one.

Someone recently asked me in a comment on a different post what I thought about the current economic situation, how it was affecting fundraisers, and in particular, what Gen Y might have to do with all this. First First the not so good part for those of us who still operate for the most part in the traditional DM fundraising environment. As I wrote about in a recent post , most

Last week, driving home, listening to NPR , I heard a fascinating tale about a lady in Texas who decided to get over her divorce by throwing herself into gardening-at her rental property. When her landlords gave her 30 days to get out, the lady posted a desperate plea on a gardening forum: what would happen to her hundreds of day lilies? Now I am not making up what happened next: dozens of Texas gardeners

This week, I attended an event about, what else, social marketing. This even was targeted and women in technology, but not necessarily, in social media. During the Q&A, hands shot up like hotcakes and the thing on almost every one's mind seemed to be: "HOW" can I use Twitter to further my goals and "WHY" does it matter? Sitting in the back row as I usually do, I reflected on my own Twitter path, and decided it was time to share my "wisdom" with the world on the topic. When I first signed up for Twitter, it was

How many of you have taken Andy Goodman’s storytelling seminar ? Pretty mind-blowing, huh?  Andy unlocks the secrets of good story-telling, decoding a formula for narrative going at least back to Aristotle’s Poetics. There are easily thousands of non-profit communicators who have passed through Andy’s program. 

I am completely biased in this post because of my own studies in journalism. That said: Newspapers are downsizing. Jobs are being cut. The journalism field is in the midst of a re-invention.

Let's face it: People have short attention spans. Especially when it comes to the Internet. We're all clicking around furiously trying to nab the quickest, most-reliable answers to our questions. (And, And, often, we're just browsing for things to entertain our instant-gratification-seeking minds.)

By my most recent count, there are 106 fundraising blogs out there. My definition of "fundraising blogs" is deliberately broad -- these are blogs that are touch on fundraising in some way, at some time. That's a lot of talk about fundraising. More than a normal person can (or probably should) read.

I can guarantee you this: A lot more people hate the US Air Force than hate your nonprofit organization. For that matter, a lot more people love the Air Force. And that means people say all kinds of things about the Air Force in blogs and other social media places. And the Air Force is doing something about it.