Legacy giving, also called planned giving, is a type of donor-based fundraising that scares a lot of organizations, causing them to neglect it altogether. But it’s not that scary—at least, it doesn’t have to be. 

This form of fundraising can be extremely impactful, helping you generate steady, predictable revenue streams of often unrestricted funding. It also creates many opportunities to deepen your relationships with donors, allowing them to work with you to create meaningful and long-lasting legacies. 

Let’s go through the basics so you can decide if legacy giving might be the secret ingredient to your fundraising strategy. Here’s what we’ll cover:

1. What is legacy giving?
2. How to solicit legacy gifts
3. How to cut the jargon
4. Honoring gifts and growing your program

What is legacy giving?

A legacy gift is a donation made by an individual through their will or other formal estate planning designation. 

Bequests (which designate a dollar amount or portion of the total estate to be donated) are by far the most common type of legacy gift. FreeWill’s guide to the types of planned gifts covers the other forms you may encounter as your program grows.

Legacy gifts are typically prepared by a financial planner and reflect the values and desires of the donor. Today’s online platforms have also made it easier for donors to create simple, planned gifts on their own.

But why do people want to leave legacy gifts? As the name suggests, most donors want to leave a legacy or memory of their life through their posthumous giving. Helping sustain the good work of a favorite charity for years can be a powerful motivator for some. Plus, planned gifts can bring various tax benefits, particularly reduced estate taxes for a donor’s heirs, making them a meaningful and practical choice for many donors.

In most cases, a legacy gift is made upon someone’s death, but not always. Legacy giving can take a number of forms, including recurring donations that begin while the donor is alive and continue after they’re deceased. Legacy gifts don’t have to be monetary, either. They can include material goods, property, mutual funds, stocks—anything valuable to the beneficiary.

How to solicit legacy gifts

Nonprofits solicit and secure legacy gifts through their legacy or planned giving programs. There are a few essential (and easy) steps you can take to get your program up and running:

1. Create a planned giving process.

How will you help donors create their legacy gifts? Playing an active role in the process can help increase completion. 

For instance, many nonprofits offer their donors free will creation tools that simplify the process of creating a bequest (the simplest and most common type of planned gift). You can also provide detailed instructions and resources for donors once they’ve reached the point of wanting to set up a gift. 

Either way, educating your team and understanding the process from start to finish will set you up for success.

2. Add legacy gifts to your website.

Most nonprofits don’t receive legacy gifts because their donors simply don’t know it’s an option. 

Add a dedicated section about legacy giving to your website’s Ways to Give page, or go a step further by creating a separate landing page or microsite specifically about the different types of planned gifts, how they work, and their benefits. Here’s an example—the Humane Society of the Pike’s Peak Region created an entire microsite to promote planned gifts and other forms of non-cash giving.

3. Develop additional materials.

You’ll need more than just a web page to promote legacy gifts effectively. Letters, emails, phone scripts, mailers, and more will be helpful once your team discusses planned giving with interested donors.

And since this form of giving is often new to donors and more complex than straightforward cash gifts, you’ll need to provide user-centric educational materials. Remember to explain why these gifts are essential to your organization. Like any other form of fundraising, if a donor doesn’t see an organizational need, they may not donate. Explain to your donors the impact a legacy gift would have on your organization and the people you help.

4. Survey your donors.

The tricky part about legacy gifts is that a donor doesn’t necessarily need to notify you when they create one—your organization could already be in a donor’s will.

This is why it’s helpful to kick off your giving program with a quick email survey. Ask your donors a couple of questions:

• Are you interested in creating a legacy gift with our organization?
• If legacy giving is new to you, would you like to learn more?
• Have you already created a bequest or other form of legacy gift for our organization?

If you find that donors have already created legacy gifts, immediately thank them and begin actively nurturing the relationships to maintain engagement.

Conducting a survey also allows you to gauge general interest in planned giving among your donor base. Suppose donors respond that they’re interested or would like to learn more. In that case, you can flag them for outreach by sending them educational materials or directly reaching out to discuss the process.

5. Start promoting your giving program.

With all the essentials in place, you’re ready to begin earnestly promoting legacy gifts.

Lightly mention it across your various appeals and newsletters and in conversations with major donors. For donors who have already expressed interest, add them to an email stream or other outreach cadence that dives into greater detail about planned giving. Remember to have a concrete plan to guide interested donors toward a completed planned gift once they’re ready to start.

It’s also important to remember that donors will only leave a significant gift if they have a strong personal connection to the cause. Make sure you know your audience. Like with significant donations, legacy giving requires nurturing relationships with donors. 

For instance, detailed discussions of planned giving should only go to engaged, active donors with whom the topic has already been broached. Asking a one-time donor or volunteer to leave a legacy gift upon their passing isn’t an effective use of your time (and can come off as tactless).

6. Keep track of gifts over time.

Once you begin securing legacy gifts, keep track of them. This will bring a few important benefits:

• The ability to monitor the performance of your strategies and make improvements over time
• More insights into the types of donors who choose to give legacy gifts will help you more easily identify future prospects
• The ability to follow up with and actively steward your relationships with legacy donors

Track legacy giving data in your database or through a dedicated planned giving tool.

How to cut the jargon

A major barrier to legacy giving is the financial jargon that goes along with it. Bequest? Residuary? Annuities? What? 

These terms are essential for donors to know. However, it’s not your job to explain the fine financial details. Your team must understand the different types of planned gifts and their benefits. But, donors’ financial planners will best handle the nitty-gritty of exactly how they work (especially more complex annuities and trusts) and their tax implications.

Instead, use concise, emphatic language to explain the benefits of legacy gifts for both donors and your organization. You don’t want to scare them off before they understand your needs.

Keep these key benefits front of mind as you discuss planned giving:

• Benefits for donors
  • Legacy-building by sustaining a cause they love
  • Freedom to choose how the organization will use the gift
  • Tax breaks (discuss with professionals as needed)
• Benefits for nonprofits
  • Reliable, predictable revenue
  • Often unrestricted funds (although donors can restrict them)
  • Builds a more engaged community of supporters

You can have more productive conversations with donors by emphasizing these benefits and the long-term good that legacy gifts can do for your mission.

Honoring legacy gifts and growing your program

If a donor grants your organization a legacy gift, it’s crucial to express gratitude. Honor their legacy with a dedication, a plaque, or a public thank you. If the donor had any specific wishes for their contribution, such as funding a particular program, abide by those requests. It’s also a good idea to keep staff and volunteers informed of the person’s impact on your organization and cause.

Over the long run, it’s important to continue stewarding your relationships with legacy donors. Keep them engaged with special events and personal messages. This will encourage further giving (making a legacy gift has been shown to increase future annual gifts) and ensure that you’re kept in the loop if a donor chooses to make changes to their estate plans.

Many nonprofits create legacy societies, special memberships just for legacy donors, to centralize their stewardship efforts. They can be as casual or formal as you want, whatever is most aligned with your organization’s culture—just be sure to anchor your outreach and events in gratitude.

Updated Sept. 28, 2023 | Originally published in 2017

The post Legacy Gifts: What They Are and How to Get Them appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Make sure main responsibilities are cross-trained

Perhaps the worst situation you can get yourself in when an employee leaves is not knowing how to do their job. Whether they give you one week or two months of notice, make sure all of their primary responsibilities are cross-trained. That is, make sure at least one other full-time staff member knows how to do their job. If you’re running a two-person show, well, that’s you!

It’s a waste of time and resources to learn something from scratch when you could have been trained by an expert. If it’s not possible to conduct hands-on training sessions, have the departing employee create heavily detailed guides for each of their tasks. That way, even if they aren’t in the office they can teach others how to do their job.

If there are specific employees who will take over the duties of the departing staff member, make sure they’re spending ample time training. It can be difficult to pile responsibilities on someone who already has a full plate, so spread them out. A little extra work for a few employees is better than overwhelming one.

Be transparent with your staff and board

It may be awkward to bring up an employee’s departure with your staff, but the sooner the better. Get everyone together and handle the situation carefully and respectfully, explaining their reasons for leaving with as much transparency as you can. It your staff finds out about an employee leaving through the grapevine, it might cause unrest or a decrease in morale.

Likewise, being upfront with your board is crucial. They’re the people providing organizational vision, and it’s hard to do that when they aren’t fully aware of what’s going on. Be as transparent with them as you are with your staff. They might even have potential replacements in mind to make the process easier.

Create a positive environment

It’s usually not a particularly joyous occasion when an employee leaves. Even if it’s on good terms, it can be sad, scary, frustrating—any combination of things. As a leader, you need to make sure the environment surrounding their departure is positive. Frame it as an exciting new adventure instead of a sad terminus. Approach the addition of a new staff member with eagerness and positivity.

Don’t sever ties completely

It’s easy to wash your hands of an employee when they leave. You delete their accounts, restrict their admin access, throw away their food from the office refrigerator. All of that is fine, but make sure you don’t completely lose touch or burn any bridges. After all, you never know what’s going to happen—they may hate their new job, or their new city, or agree to do some volunteer work. The relationships you make as a director of a nonprofit are indispensable. Don’t let them slip away.

The post Staff Transitions: Tips for a Smooth Changeover appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Block out time for recognition

The easiest way to show your employees that they’re doing good work is to verbally recognize it. It sounds simple enough, but so often a job well done goes unnoticed. It might be because your organization doesn’t have time set aside to recognize staff.

At Nonprofit Hub, we block off an hour of our Friday mornings to celebrate everything that was accomplished that week. Sometimes we bring in donuts or breakfast pizza, but none of the bells and whistles are necessary. Each and every team member gets recognized for their work every single week. Celebrate jobs well done!

Change the norm for a while

You probably don’t have the extra cash to throw around for bonuses or extravagant gifts for your employees. However, something else might work just as well, and it won’t cost you anything—not directly, anyway. If your office usually enforces a dress code, consider easing up on it (or eliminating it) for a week or two. Frame it as a reward for your employees for their hard work.

Or, if your employees are expected to show up for work at 8:00 am, try pushing it to 8:30 or 9:00, or let them leave a little early. Not only will employees appreciate the gesture, but research shows shortening workdays can actually improve overall productivity.

Go beyond work

Believe it or not, employees do have lives outside of work. They have hobbies, passions, families and other projects that keep them sane when they’re out of the office. And while some employees like to keep their work life and personal life separate, it can’t hurt to show interest in what they do beyond their nine-to-five.

For example, if a member of your staff writes poetry in their free time, go see them read at an open mic night. Or if they’re runners, go cheer them on at a race. Of course, you’ll want to make sure they’re comfortable with it, but showing that you care outside of the workplace can reinvigorate your staff when they’re on the clock.

Broadcast successes to the world

Okay, you might not get primetime TV airwaves to brag on your employees, but you should still share their successes with whomever you can.

Post finished projects on your social media, publish success stories on your blog or feature staff in your newsletter. There’s no reason why the success of your team should be kept to yourselves!

These are but a few ways you can appreciate your employees without spending a penny. If your team shows that they care in other ways, take it to the comments!

The post 4 (Mostly) Free Ways to Appreciate Your Employees | Nonprofit Blog appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Nonprofits can take advantage of advertising the same way companies can. Instead of promoting products, nonprofits can promote their causes and the way they impact their communities. However, you don’t want to be just another ad that gets ignored on users’ timelines. Here’s what you can do to create promotions that convert to donations.

General rules

No matter the platform, there are a number of best practices you should follow when crafting promotion material online. You may already be familiar with a lot of this, but it doesn’t hurt to go over it again.

A picture is worth 1,000 words

It’s no secret that pictures lead to more conversions than promotions with only text. In fact, Facebook doesn’t even let users promote ads without a photo or graphic. Photos, especially those which showcase the impact of your work, create visceral, emotional reactions in people, and that’s what leads to donations.

Clear call to action

When users see your ad, they should know exactly what’s expected of them. Even if you just want them to educate themselves on your cause with a “Learn More” button, the call to action needs to make sense. Use the text in your post to clearly and concisely (ideally less than 25 words) explain your cause, campaign or whatever else you’re promoting, and have your button reflect that.

Facebook

Zuckerberg and Co. may be under fire for mining and selling user data, but one thing they’ve done right is their advertising platform. It’s robust, easy-to-use and relatively cheap, compared to alternatives.

The power of Facebook ads lies in its targeting capability. You can choose which Facebook users see your content based on location, interests, connections, gender—pretty much any classification that Facebook collects from its users. If you know who your typical donor (or volunteer other constituent) is, use these refinements to narrow who sees your promotions.

Twitter

There are tons of guides out there that explain the technical process of setting up Twitter Ads, so we won’t go over that here. Instead, we’ll focus on what to include in the content of your promoted tweets or other Twitter advertisements.

Like any other ad or promotion, you want to keep things short, sweet and to the point. If your call to action is for users to donate, create a sense of urgency with your ad copy. Create a limited timeframe for donors to contribute, or express how time-sensitive your cause is.

Twitter allows users to use #hashtags to categorize tweets, but use this feature sparingly with promotions. You don’t want to confuse or distract people from your call to action with hashtags that aren’t directly related to your cause.

Instagram

As you can probably guess, advertising on Instagram is all about pictures and videos. Promoted advertisements show on users’ timelines, “Discover” pages and “Stories.” And, since Instagram is a property of Facebook, its advertising platform is equally dynamic (in fact, you can run your Facebook and Instagram ads from Facebook).

The trick with advertising on Instagram is posting a photo, graphic or video that immediately captures a user’s attention. Instagrammers are looking for a lot of rapid-fire visual stimulation, and if they don’t get what they want from your content, they’ll just keep on going. There’s more than enough stuff out there to keep them satisfied.

Use eye-catching colors or (if you have the means) fun animations or video effects. At the very least, these might keep a potential supporter viewing your content for a few seconds longer. That’s all it takes for someone to click a link, decide to do further research, or maybe even take part in your fundraising efforts through Instagram.

Social media platforms are making it easier and cheaper to gain supporters through promotions and ads. If your organization has a bit of extra cash to spare, or at least experiment with, it might make a world of difference.

The post How to Create Social Media Promotions That Convert appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Nonprofit Hub hosts Cause Camp, a national nonprofit conference, every spring. We survey all of our attendees each year, and it’s taught us a lot. And we’ve been to our fair share of events around the country, too. Here’s what you need to do to make the most of your conference experiences.

Networking

Frequent conference-goers will often tell you that networking opportunities are more valuable than the conference’s content. That’s certainly not true for everybody, especially natural introverts, but failing to take advantage of the chance to people like-minded professionals is a big conference no-no. A lot of conferences have structured networking sessions built in to the agenda that almost force attendees to mingle with one another. And, in most cases, there are social hours and parties where the environment is a bit more casual and candid. In either case, make sure you’re putting yourself out there—you never know what those relationships will yield.

Do all the things

Conferences are exhausting. It’s easy to go through the one-track content and then retreat to your hotel room to kick your feet up. But if you’ve gone through the trouble of making it to a conference—buying a ticket, potentially traveling a long way, taking time off of work, etc.—the least you can do is take advantage of what the conference has to offer. Sometimes it’s hyper-specific workshops, or one-on-one time with experts or an off-site mini-conference. Other times it’s just fun stuff: parties, cocktail hours, yoga (yeah, we actually do this at Cause Camp).

Whatever your options are, you’ll never regret taking the time to try everything a conference has to offer. At the worst, you’ll know what to avoid next time.

Take notes

This may seem like a no-brainer, but so many folks fail to retain the information they learn because they don’t write it down. Yes, most conferences will make their presentations available after they’re over, but taking notes puts the info in your brain without having to rewatch or relisten to content. And, if you’re able, it’s best to write notes by hand. Studies have shown that notetakers retain information better if they write by hand as opposed to digitally.

Some conferences have an official notetaker, which is an awesome resource for people who are unable to take notes themselves or who want to be fully engaged with the presentations. However, it still creates the problem of retainment. Everyone has different notetaking preferences, but just make sure you’re going home with something tangible to take back to your organization.

Attitude is everything

As you’re conferencing, you need to maintain a positive attitude. If you’re not willing to learn from and engage with the content, you won’t have a worthwhile experience. Trust the conference hosts, the presenters, workshop leaders and anyone else providing content and education. They put in countless hours to make sure you take away as much as possible.

Now, go forth and have the best time at your next conference! Maybe we’ll see you there.

The post How to Make the Most of Your Conference Experiences appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Evaluate your workload

If you’re considering expanding your staff, you need to take a step back and determine how overworked, if at all, you and your staff are. Consider what’s on your own plate and then talk to your staff members—and tell them to be brutally honest. You won’t make any progress if staff members are pretending to be content when they’re actually exhausted and overworked.

If the overwhelming response is that your staff feels spread too thin, you know a change is needed. Whether or not that change comes in the form of additional staff depends on a number of factors.

Budget it out

You’ve likely already done this, but before you make any official staffing decisions you need to have a detailed budget. Staff salaries, program costs, operating costs, overhead, emergency funds—everything. Once you know how much cash you’re bringing in—from donations, earned income or other revenue sources—and how much you need to maintain operations, you can make a more informed decision about expanding your staff.

If you’re operating in the red or barely breaking even, you probably don’t want to add another expense in the form of a staff member. You might even want to consider cutting back on your programs until you’re profitable. But if you have a little extra cash to work with, you at least know it’s in the realm of possibility. (Note: you should have at least twice what it would cost per month to support a staff member before starting your search.)

Other options

Even if you have the means to expand your staff, that doesn’t mean it’s always the right choice. If, when you interviewed your staff, they complained of being bogged down by tedious administrative work, you might be able to utilize volunteers. Or, if the work is more substantial, a part-time worker could do the trick.

You should also consider the time of year: are you amidst an unusually busy season or campaign? Will some of the work likely subside by the time it’s over? If you have a consistently busy time of year, employing part- or full-time seasonal workers is also an option. Just make sure you’re upfront with them about the nature of their work.

As a general rule, the addition of permanent full-time staff members should be reserved for new or expanding programs, organization-wide administration and leadership needs.

Knowing whether or not to expand your staff is hard, and it’s not a decision you should take lightly. If you have the means, the addition of a staff member can spur a rebirth in your organization. But it can also put you in an even worse position than you were before. Slow down, evaluate your situation and move forward. Don’t forget to breathe.

The post How to Know When to Expand Your Staff appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Receiving feedback was one of our main goals this year, so we made sure to get a lot of it. We interviewed each Cause Camp presenter and sent an anonymous survey to all attendees, whether they were physically present or joining us online.

Here’s what they had to say.

“Conferences usually suck the life out of me, but this one energizes and inspires.”

There are a number of things that differentiate Cause Camp from other nonprofit conferences. Among those we’re most proud of is that Cause Camp doesn’t feel like work. Yes, the days are long and packed with content, but we provide needed breaks and a variety of sessions to accommodate both the social butterfly and the hermit.

“It set a high bar for content, self-care, technological competency and networking opportunities.”

We try to do a lot of things right at Cause Camp. And we know that you can’t take care of your organization and community if you aren’t taking care of yourself. That’s why we offer self-care sessions like yoga and meditation to complement our top-notch education.

“I have participated remotely and I [love] the speakers!…They give me the jolt of inspiration I need to keep fighting the good fight!”

Allowing attendees to stream Cause Camp is just one way we’re making the event accessible to all. And even if you’re watching from a monitor, you’ll feel the Cause Camp magic from a thousand miles away.

“You need to get yourself here for Cause Camp.”

-Kishshana Palmer, Cause Camp Presenter

Our live stream is awesome, but the best parts of Cause Camp are reserved for those who make the trip to Lincoln, Nebraska. The networking, the energy, the parties. Just take Kishshana’s word for it: you’ve gotta get yourself here.

“The crowd is ready to go, they’re ready to make a difference. I think we’re all on the same journey together.”

-Branden Harvey, Cause Camp Presenter

Almost all of Cause Camp’s content is presented in one room with everyone. We love the one-track conference format, both because it doesn’t make you prioritize content, and, like Branden notes, it makes the event feel like a journey that attendees go on together.

Want to know what the buzz is about? You can purchase every Cause Camp 2019 presentation for just $49, for a limited time. Now that’s a deal.

The post Reactions from Cause Camp 2019 appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Taxes? But we don’t pay taxes

It’s true that tax-exempt organizations don’t pay any federal income tax. However, depending on your income model, you may still need to provide other tax documentation to the IRS. For example, if you sell a product or service that isn’t directly related to your operations, you’ll need to pay state and federal taxes on those products and/or services.

Nonprofits are also require to pay employment taxes, like Social Security and Medicare, just like for-profit organizations.

The Form 990

Even if you don’t offer any tangible products for consumers, the IRS still requires that you submit a largely informational Form 990. The Form 990 is required for nearly all federally tax-exempt organizations, and it’s used to evaluate your organization’s programs, finances, mission statement and more. Basically, the Form 990 is meant to ensure that your nonprofit is doing what it’s supposed to do. If you’ve been “following the rules,” for lack of a better phrase, you have nothing to worry about!

There are different types of Form 990, and the one you need to fill out depends on your organization’s gross receipts and filing year. Check with the IRS to see which form is required for your nonprofit.

Nonprofits are also required to make their Form 990 public information. Some organizations even decide to publish their 990 on their website to promote transparency between them and their stakeholders. This isn’t required, but it might be a good idea if you’re trying to garner trust with your constituents.

Three strikes, you’re out

If you fail to file your Form 990 for three consecutive years, the IRS will deem your organization inactive and will pull its tax-exempt status. This happens more often than you’d think—more than 500,000 organizations have lost tax-exempt status since 2011. You may think it’s a harsh penalty, but you can always regain your nonprofit status by sending in your forms.

Filing taxes for your nonprofit might sound daunting, especially if it’s your first rodeo, but it’s pretty painless compared to for-profit companies. If you’re not generating any income from unrelated business, the Form 990 is all you need on your radar.

The post What Tax Season Means for Nonprofit Organizations appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

At the center of Shark Tank is a pretty simple question: How can entrepreneurs convince the panel to believe in their idea? Or, at the least, how can they convince them that it’s potentially lucrative? It’s a question on the minds of thousands of small businesses, startup tech companies and—yes—nonprofits.

Nonprofit professionals may not be asking for million-dollar investments from the likes of Mark Cuban, but they’re still on a mission to convince the community that their cause is worth something. Almost every nonprofit experiences this, whether they’re applying for grant funding, asking for donations or recruiting board members. People won’t invest their time or money in something they don’t believe in. So, how can you get them to believe?

Be specific

If I’ve learned one thing from watching Shark Tank, it’s that investors want to know in very specific terms the plans for budgeting, expansion, operations—everything. They aren’t willing to fork up thousands, sometimes millions of dollars for a vague business plan. If you’re trying to convince donors to give or volunteers to serve, the same specificity is required.

Here are some important questions you should be prepared to answer:

• How is your organization funded (donations, grants, earned income, etc.), and how will it be funded in future?
• How many staff members do you have? What are their roles?
• What will my donation help you do (again, be as specific as possible)?

Be original (or better than the original)

It’s every entrepreneur’s dream to come up with an idea no one’s thought of before. But in the 21st Century it’s becoming harder and harder to create something completely new—so much has already been tried, successfully or not. If you can find that unoccupied niche for your cause, that’s great! However, you should also consider the way you go about achieving your mission, even if it’s shared by dozens of other organizations. Maybe you’re funded differently, or you allocate that funding differently, or you have a different idealistic approach to your work. Whatever it is, make sure your potential supporters know that you’re going about your work in a unique way.

Put your idea in real terms

It’s no secret that telling stories to communicate your impact is a valuable strategy—stories are essentially the foundation of modern content marketing.

It’s been scientifically proven that reading and hearing stories can increase empathy, so use them to your advantage. Tell your supporters about a child who benefited from your services, or a formerly homeless person who was able to find a job through your work placement program. If you turn your impact into narratives, it becomes real and palpable.

You can tell impact stories a number of ways: in a blog post, newsletter or social media post, or just via word-of-mouth at your fundraisers and throughout the community.

Getting people to believe in anything is hard, and getting people to give their money to something they believe is harder still. But if you’re serious about your cause, you’ll find a way, and these tips will help you get there.

The post How to Make People Believe in Your Cause appeared first on Nonprofit Hub.

Julia Campbell

“How to Use Digital Storytelling Strategies for Deeper Donor Engagement”

 Julia Campbell has run her digital marketing consulting business for almost a decade, focused exclusively on mission-driven organizations. A mom of 2 and a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer, she is the author of Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits, a call-to-action for nonprofits to use stories to accomplish their missions.

In this session, author and global authority on nonprofit digital storytelling Julia Campbell will walk you through the modern day secrets to nonprofit storytelling success, based on her bestselling book for nonprofits.

 

Steven Shattuck

“The Art & Science of Effective Gift Acknowledgements”

Steven Shattuck is Chief Engagement Officer at Bloomerang. A prolific writer and speaker, he curates Bloomerang’s sector-leading educational content, and hosts our weekly webinar series which features the top thought-leaders in the nonprofit sector.

In this session, we’ll explore the latest research into donor behavior and effective gift acknowledgements, with special attention given to the recent groundbreaking findings of Jen Shang and Adrian Sergeant. You’ll come away with practical takeaways to help you craft thank you’s that are both impactful and memorable!

 

Branden Harvey

“How to Break the Rules, Celebrate Good News and Get More People to Notice“

Branden is a storyteller focused on the good in the world. He’s the host of the podcast Sounds Good, the creator of the Goodnewspaper, a printed newspaper full of good news, and built an online community over more than 250,000 world changers. He’s helped brands like Disney, Square, Southwest Airlines, and (RED) tell meaningful stories with heart all over the world.

In this presentation, Branden Harvey will explain the importance of broadcasting the good work you’re doing to the world. He’ll teach you how to build creativity and innovation into your marketing efforts and how to grab people’s attention by breaking traditional “rules” of marketing.

 

Rachel Muir

“I Wish I’d Thought of That: ‘Best of’ Fundraising Examples“

Rachel has worked every side of the Rubik’s cube that is the nonprofit sector. When she was 26 Rachel Muir launched Girlstart, a non-profit empowering girls in math, science, engineering and technology in the living room of her apartment with $500 and a credit card.  Several years later, she’s raised over 10 million and has been featured on Oprah, CNN and the Today Show.

Rachel is firing up the very best fundraising examples from budgets small and large.  This session will inspire and delight you with eye-candy examples and concrete tactics you can implement in your next fundraising campaign. 

 

Kishshana Palmer

“The (Not So) Secret Ingredient to a Healthy Culture: Diversity and Inclusion as Your Organization’s ‘Special Sauce’“

Kishshana Palmer is your go-to advisor as you think of growing your organization, taking the next step as a professional or finding causes that align with your personal brand. Kishshana is a social-good matchmaker, non-profit consultant and your coveted insider on philanthropy, recruiting and retaining diverse talent.

In this presentation, Kishshana will focus on building internal cultures that are diverse and inclusive and focus on why this is the secret ingredient in your organization’s special sauce.

 

Shanon Doolittle

“How to Use Storytelling to Spark a Culture of Change“

Shanon Doolittle will tell you she is two things through and through: a heart-before-head kind of fundraiser and a feelings-before-facts kind of storyteller. She’s also a #donorlove champion for life. Shanon is known for designing creative, quirky, and delightful donor touches for nonprofits to sprinkle into their annual stewardship plans.

Want to learn more about your new ability and how to use it responsibly? This session has you covered. By the end, you’ll know the types of stories you need to tell, where to find the right person (or thing) to tell them, strategic ways to share them for amplified impact and last but not least, your storytelling kryptonite and how to avoid it.

 

Kelley Petersen

“Build a Strong Brand & Let the Cat Out of the Bag“

Kelley has played a hand in nonprofit marketing for nearly half her lifetime. Kelley helps nonprofits advance their brands for good. She is the past President of American Marketing Association National Professional Chapters Council and has been recognized as Lincoln AMA’s Marketer of the Year, inducted into the Lincoln Marketing Hall of Fame and Lincoln Business Journal’s 40 under 40.

In this session you will: 1) answer a few thought provoking questions about your nonprofit to reveal your brand archetypes; 2) learn all 12 brand archetype definitions, and 3) see how you can use your top three to be matchlessly different.

 

 

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