The 2011 Online Giving Report was recently released detailing the behavior of individuals who donate online and the nonprofit organizations that benefit from such donations. The full report can be viewed here. Online fundraising is a key element in efforts by nonprofits to collect funds throughout the year. As a nonprofit, you face many challenges. Understanding the current state of online fundraising efforts can help you to develop effective strategies for more effective efforts. Here are some of the highlights of the report of special interest to nonprofits.

About the Report: The 2011 Online Giving Report combines annual multi-year …

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Today we interview Joe Lambert, founder of the Center of Digital Storytelling out in SF. He’s one of our panelists at the Nonprofit Technology Conference this year too. Here he shares his thoughts on the future of nonprofit storytelling.

What is the future of nonprofit storytelling? How is it going to change?
I recently found myself reading Robert Fuller’s Somebodies, Nobodies and the Politics of Dignity, a book about hierarchy and what he calls “rankism”, and the explicit and implicit ways we all abuse our large and small privilege and power as people, more or less without exception.

I believe …

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We love TechSoup, and our friends over there are having a digital storytelling challenge for nonprofits this month! Read more below.

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TechSoup’s third annual Digital Storytelling Challenge (TSDigs) is on this month, and we want you to submit!

It’s simple: Create a one-minute video or five-photo slideshow capturing your organization’s mission, passion, and hard work and enter it by February 29. A panel of judges – including award-winning documentarian Marc Smolowitz, Raven Woods of Netroots Nation, and the folks from the Story of Stuff – will pick the best videos and photo slideshows to win technology for your org…

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When I left the TV news business, the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to tell inspiring stories. When I looked around most of those stories were coming out of the nonprofit world, so I decided to put my focus there. I believe that nonprofit stories will continue to be some of the most powerful of our time but that nonprofits will need to tell the following types to get the stories produced and noticed in the ever changing media landscape.

Stories that turn up the emotional volume
With thousands of websites and new videos created …

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For nonprofits entering the online space or nonprofits just getting started, finding the right ways to reach prospective donors and supporters can leave you scratching your head. With the rise of email newsletters and social networking, you can interact with supporters on a regular basis by notifying them of current events or fundraising opportunities. With so many options available, getting your supporters to donate their time and money can be a fun and interactive experience.

Creating Your Own Website
The first thing your nonprofit should do is put together a website because if you don’t have a website, then you …

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Online fundraising websites need to compel their visitors to action. Your fundraising efforts should incorporate design and marketing techniques for the maximum effect. One such tool, color theory, has the potential to improve your nonprofit’s success and, as is always the goal with nonprofit ventures, create a greater social impact.

Color theory is the study of how different colors, as well as mixtures of colors, impact an individual. A great deal of marketing and scientific research has gone into improving our understanding of which colors speak to our donors, and which colors do not.

Using the correct combinations of colors …

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“CauseVox is easy to set up and easy to maintain. They also have lots of great tools and tips available that got our campaign going.” ~ Jed Dembrowski, United Way of Norman

This case study discusses how the United Way of Norman’s “No Shave November” campaign raised over $16,000 through their CauseVox fundraising site. In addition, their campaign strategy, techniques, results, and lessons learned from their campaign are discussed in detail.

About the United Way of Norman
United Way of Norman strengthens the Norman, Oklahoma community by empowering each person to change lives. For example, one of their recent successes …

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Telling your story matters much more than you think. It especially does when you’re running an online fundraising campaign.

From a population set of campaigns (outliers removed), we picked the top 15 highest grossing campaigns that CauseVox has powered.

In total, this sample set raised $1,203,072 in donations with an average raise of $80,205.

After examining what type of media was embedded on their fundraising sites, we found that over 90% of these campaigns used video. The campaign that raised the least did not use a video; they used a static photo instead. There is a strong positive correlation between …

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Digital storytelling is one of the big trends for nonprofits in 2012. More and more of them are seeing a high ROI on creating videos, writing narratives, and investing in media. Yesterday, we presented with Annie and Ethan from ListenIn Pictures at NTEN’s 501 tech event in NYC about our digital storytelling for nonprofits. We had a crowd of 80+ nonprofits, video experts, and techies. Here are a few highlights from Twitter:

• @nonprofitbridge: Advice for #nonprofits – don’t focus on what you do; focus on who you do it for
• @ekornblut: “Your organization is not the protagonist”: good advice from

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