Where to begin? There are so many nonprofit organizations out there doing wonderful things! It’s great to see that Portland and the Northwest are a treasure trove of small to medium-size organizations (Mercy Corps being the notable Portland exception) that are involved with projects both locally and internationally.

No matter what the organization’s mission, though, there’s a burning desire there to do good and be efficient with funds. After all, it’s a really competitive market out there – you’re all after a specific pot of money from a finite (but growing) group of prospective donors. And how do you stay competitive and make sure you’re doing you best to raise money and awareness for your cause?

What i can do to help

There are a wide array of areas to which I can offer assistance. If you have specific goals in mind, I might be able to help in the following ways:

• Website improvements.
  If you don’t think your website looks very good or (more importantly) isn’t bringing in visitors, generating fundraising dollars, and bringing in prospective donors, then there’s a lot you can do! Unfortunately, the “you build it, they will come” mentality doesn’t work online.  Utilizing a combination of comprehensive web traffic analysis and application of website best practices, many improvements can be made (both large and small) that will get your org on the right track.
• Online fundraising growth.
  It all starts with a good website (i.e. read above), but goes much beyond that. If you’re making X online right now, there’s no reason you can’t be making X + 50% in 12 months, considering the average yearly online fundraising income growth for organizations is 20%-35% depending on who you ask (*) and the size of your organization. I can work with you on strategies that will effectively generate more money from your existing constituents; everything from messaging best practices, testing possibilities, to effective timing and scheduling of communications ALL impact what you’re bringing in online. It still matters how big your constituency list is, which brings us to…
• List growth.
  The size of your constituency (both offline and online) matters a great deal when it comes to getting people to take an action and give money to your organization. There are plenty of organic (i.e. non-directly-paid) ways to increase the size of your list and we can definitely talk about those. These days, though, there are a handful of great paid ways to get quality online constituents who are aligned with causes like yours.

If you don’t quite yet have specific goals in mind, that’s fine too.  You may have heard that some of the following areas have helped nonprofits; if you’d like to discuss how they might (or might not) work for your organization, that’s great:

• Email marketing;
• Content management system (CMS) for your website;
• Google analytics;
• Search engine optimization (SEO);
• Mobile marketing and QR codes;
• Online advertising via search engine marketing (SEM);
• Social media marketing (SMM);
• Care2 and Change.org social portals.

Who I have worked with

I’ve had the opportunity of working with so many awesome organizations over the years. Here are a few of the nonprofits who have had particular success in some of the areas above while I’ve worked with them:

• Citymeals-on-Wheels
  Developed and launched online program, beginning with launch of a new website in 2006 (and new one just about to launch); grew online fundraising income 5x – and grew email list 1,000% – in 4 years; created mobile marketing campaign generating 500 new constituents.
• Freedom from Hunger
  During FY11, created online campaigns (with donor match opportunities) that grew online fundraising income 20%; developed coordinated online advertising and social media campaign to generate 15,000 online actions.
• Cherry Lane Theatre
  Designed and launched new website that streamlined and modernized online presence.
• New York Public Library
  In FY11, created comprehensive multichannel holiday fundraising campaign that raised 2x more than any other campaign in the Library’s history; celebrated the Library’s Centennial with fundraising micro-site.
• Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine
  During FY11, developed and launched online program, with fundraising micro-site and integrated email marketing program; grew online fundraising income 2x.
• Smithsonian Institution
  Developed online campaign around a government matching gift promotion that raised 2x more money than any previous campaign.
• Northeast Animal Shelter
  Developed and launched online program, beginning with launch of a new website; grew online fundraising income 10-fold in 3 years; grew email constituency database from external and direct mail sources 600% in 3 years.

* Blackbaud Online Giving Report and NTEN/M+R eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.