We made it! It's 2017 - a new year full of promise. If you've got aspirations for an improved year, you've likely made some New Year's resolutions for yourself: exercise more frequently, eat right, stick to a financial budget. But take a look at their health of your nonprofit - does it need some New Year's resolutions as well?
Since a new year is the perfect springboard for trying new things, it could also be an ideal occasion to change up your fundraising techniques and company strategies. Here are three fundraising resolutions nonprofits should be making for 2017:
1. Mix up your social media and email marketing
These days, it's common to see social media pushed as the be-all-end-all for digital marketing. And while it's true that social networks are still one of the best ways to get the word out about your nonprofit, don't abandon your email marketing plans! It's worth putting some effort into refining and improving your email marketing, whether it's doing some QA testing, checking different open rates, or seeing what subject lines have had the most success in 2016. We mentioned this briefly in our fundraising trend predictions blog post, but it's a smart 2017 resolution to try out new things with social media and email marketing, both separately and together. Don't be afraid to attempt different things, or even be a little bit disruptive. Just be sure you have framework in place to measure the results!
2. Don't leave money on the table
Kind of a broad resolution, isn't it? Of course you wouldn't want to leave money on the table - your nonprofit needs all the donations it can get. But what we're referring to here is corporate gift matching - the ability to allow a donor's employer to match their donations, often dollar for dollar. This is an option that not enough businesses take advantage of, so make a resolution for 2017 to educate businesses on the importance of corporate gift matching. It's quick and easy to set up, and it could result in your nonprofit receiving even higher donations than ever before. Plus, it's a big piece of employee engagement and retention, which does double the good for employers.
3. Consider the cloud
As the global footprint for nonprofits expands, it's important that you find ways to integrate team members and donors no matter where they are. To that extent, it's wise to make the resolution to look into using the cloud in 2017. Moving your donor data to the cloud allows you to segment lists like never before, as well as giving your nonprofit maximum accessibility for team members across the world. Donor and volunteer management software has the flexibility to let you work from anywhere, at any time.
No matter what you choose, 2017 ought to be a year of trying out new things for fundraising success. We've got a full suite of fundraising tools for you to access, so schedule a call with us to find out how we can help you achieve your goals in 2017 - and keep your resolutions for the health of your nonprofit.
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