Your childhood may have been different, but as a kid, I was terrible at playing rock-paper-scissors! If you don’t know the game you can learn about it here. Somehow I always telegraphed my play. That and I loved “scissors” way too much. Some how, the 3rd “scissors” I threw in a row and the other […]
fundraising: rock, paper, scissors Read More »
Leonard and Mary lived together for 50 years, 7 months and 3 days of wedded bliss. Mary sometimes jokingly told the ladies in her quilting group that it was 40 years of bliss preceded by 10 years of training Lenny (as only she called him). That line always brought winks and knowing comments. But everyone
live by your donor database or die by it Read More »
News from a couple of weeks ago: Instagram’s daily users surpassed Twitter’s. I don’t know if that’s a blip or a trend but it got my attention. My buddy Jon has been after me for weeks to jump on the Instagram bandwagon, but who has time? Yet . . . more daily users than Twitter?
why you at least have to tinker with Instagram Read More »
It’s a busy, noisy, crowded, distracted, self-absorbed world. You may have wondered how to get and keep your donor’s attention.* Many ministries and nonprofits seem to have problems handling short donor attention spans. Here in the US, we’re about 5 weeks from a rather important event in our world — the US elections. Election news
how to make your donors care about what you’re doing Read More »
Good stand-up comedians have 3 key skills you need to remember to improve your next fundraising event. You wouldn’t think that a comedian could teach you about event fundraising, but they can. And I’m not talking about improving your jokes, although some of you could use some help. Hoots and I had the pleasure of
fundraising lessons from comedy night Read More »
Would you like to know the single most devastating thing you can do for your direct mail fundraising? What one thing will cause an income disaster? What’s the big killer (in a bad use of that word)? Simple: imagine your audience is you. Write for yourself. Write your direct mail the way you’d want it.
how to destroy your direct mail fundraising Read More »
Not in any particular order here are what I think are the 5 most important words in fundraising. 1. You. Talk to and write to the donor specifically. Make it personal for them. If it’s not personal, it’s not powerful. Help them see how they have an opportunity or a chance to do something big.
the 5 most important words in fundraising Read More »
Imagine instant, real time relationship-building communications with your donors. Imagine getting to know your donors easily and painlessly. Imagine your donors having the opportunity to effortlessly talk with you and share about your ministry. Imagine getting an up-to-date view of a donor’s life, interests and dreams . . . with little or no cost. I
finally real-time donor communications Read More »
The Oneicity office looks out over Madison Ave. No, it’s not that Madison Ave. Our Madison Avenue is on Bainbridge Island, a short ferry ride from downtown Seattle. As I write this, the Grand Old 4th of July parade is cueing up outside our office. I can see a goofy-looking 9 foot-tall stuffed camel. He’ll
small celebrations Read More »
I’ve been drawn into several conversations recently where the theme was something like: “our results are down” or “the economy is finally hurting us” or “we just have to settle for this new reality.” (The “new reality” was some measure of poor results — cultivation or acquisition or whatever.) Turns out there’s often a systemic
why everything is harder Read More »
5 signs that your fundraising might be in trouble (it was hard to do only 5): 1. You mail all your donors in every impact. Direct mail is highly efficient and can have astounding ROIs but only if you “get” the concept of targeting by giving patterns, gift sizes and seasonality. 2. You aren’t connecting
5 signs your fundraising is in trouble Read More »
The viral, connected nature of this world can be good to you and at other times it can kill you. 3 events in the media/online-world stacked up at the end of last week that have me thinking. First, Jason Russell of Invisible Children had an unfortunate media meltdown. He was arrested in San Diego. It’s
you are your message Read More »
Oneicity was born from our desire and passion to serve small- and medium-sized ministries and non-profits with affordable fundraising and marketing. We are a professional services firm that is unlike any you have ever worked with.
