I attended the DMAW List Bazaar on May 9 with three of my Avalon colleagues — to hear what’s new in the list world, and to talk about innovations in acquisition strategy. 

 

At this year’s conference, a large focus was on the Internet; specifically, how the web can help grow donor files and provide valuable customer service outreach. Carie Lewis, Deputy Director of Online Communications at the Humane Society of the US (HSUS), gave a great keynote speech about her organization’s adventures in social media. Some takeaways and advice:

Here’s what we’ve seen and heard online lately:

• DonorDrive’s Kevin Wolfe lists the 12 key findings from a recent webinar about how nonprofits can involve Millenials. Sure, they don’t have much money, but they are passionate about the causes they care about, and they are terrific fundraisers. Check out the full article.

As its website explains …Netroots (Internet + grassroots) refers to populist campaigns and movements sparked, promoted and conducted over the Internet….Think of the Netroots as a big political family. We may not agree on everything, but common threads connect us…

This year’s Netroots Nation conference featured progressives from all over the country, energized by the presidential election year, and ready to fire up the grassroots to organize and communicate online in new and exciting ways.

Pinterest is dead – already? Weren’t we just talking about how nonprofits are jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon? Pinterest was the third most-popular social network by the end of 2011, then dropped like a stone this spring. But is it over? Two blogs (of many on this subject!) examine what’s going on here and here.

Here’s what we’ve seen and heard this month:

• Pinterest – the online bulletin board – is getting lots of buzz in the nonprofit community as organizations find ways to use this fastest-growing social network. Beaconfire’s take on Pinterest includes links to some nonprofit pins here - there's a really interesting diversity of content.
• This M+R Researchblog has collected the current thinking on nonprofits’ use of Pinterest, including how to determine if your nonprofit is right for Pinterest and how to develop your strategy for using Pinterest to your organization’s advantage.

Avalon’s Allison Porter, Amy Padre, Bill Tucker, and I attended this year’s annual Nonprofit Technology Conference – always an interesting gathering of charities and techies – here are some of our takeaways:

• The session Five Biggest Trends in Online Fundraising was based on Blackbaud’s benchmark study showing that while online revenues are growing, they’re still a very small piece of the pie. Which is why we continue to promote multi-channel marketing all the way! The Blackbaud slide deck is available here.