the art of friendraising

here, you'll learn about the how you can use communication tools like branding, public relations, marketing, social media, and earned media to earn, educate, mobilize, and acknowledge your friends.

the author, jenifer daniels, has over 10+ years of experience in communications through community and public relations, branding and messaging strategies, social media marketing, political communication, and over 5 years experience in organizational training/classroom instruction.

to learn more or view her portfolio, visit www.thefriendraiser.com

portrait of a volunteer

to view the interactive version of this infographic, click here.

say no to censorship

by the numbers: charitable giving in the US (2010)

what your friends can't live without


from The New Necessities: What Products and Services Can Consumers Not Live Without?

work life balance?

listen to a replay of 'Ladies Let's Talk w/ Coach Jeanna' as i discuss friendraising, work life balance, and being a female entrepreneur.

Listen to internet radio with Coachjeanna on Blog Talk Radio

how the top 50 nonprofits do social media

Americans engage in social change

macy's does qr codes right!

nonprofits listen up! sometimes it's okay to take a cue from big business and this time macy's does qr codes right!

this fall, macy's upgraded their 'backstage pass' marketing initiative to include the use of qr codes in stores. coupling their current list of designers with exclusive video content, macy's aims to take to the shopping experience to a new level.

what i adore about their campaign is that it does qr codes so right.  in the past, i've seen qr codes pointing to static websites that aren't mobile enabled or to facebook pages or twitter streams.  but all of these places are readily discovered through google and offer nothing in the way of exclusive content.

with macy's use of their own exclusive content - their designers - they mastered the intended use of qr codes.

if your nonprofit dares to venture into this communication channel, remember that there are some unwritten rules and best practices:

  • create dynamic, high quality content
  • exclusive works best - it doesn't exclude your majority audience, but offers that incentive to participate
  • test on all mobile devices
  • measure, measure, measure

5 years: your friends and social media

mind mapping - the simplest tool in strategic planning

think of it as brainstorming on acid. mind mapping isn'€™t new to Fortune 500 but it may be new a new concept to nonprofits.

according to Wikipedia, a mind map is a diagram used to represent wordsideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used togeneratevisualizestructure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problemsmaking decisions, and writing.

illustrated below, mind mapping allows every member of the team to participate in the strategic planning process together, allowing you to capture important information in one place that looks somewhat like organized chaos.

done in a freehand version with markers and paper or more sophisticated in a mind mapping program compatible with most major firmware, mind mapping can open up a world you never knew existed.

go ahead, try it out at your next planning or strategy session and marvel at your results.