According to this recent article in the New York Times the number of charitable organizations in the United States between 1994 - 2004 increased 64%.
Furthermore, according to Charity Navigator President Trent Stamp there is currently more than 700 breast cancer related charitable organizations in the United States. His blog post suggests we may all be better off with less charities focused on the same cause.
In the for-profit sector only the strong survive but it doesn't appear to be that clear cut in the not-for-profit sector. I am sure many of the 700 breast cancer causes are doing good work and probably a few things that other organizations could learn from. What if ten, twenty or fifty of those organizations merged, built a new business plan using the best practices taken from each organization and leveraged the top donors from all of the organizations to support one unified cause?
I envy those who are willing to pour their heart and soul into a cause they believe in and start a their own non-profit but I also believe in the law of diminishing returns!
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Proof About the Power of Text Messaging
I suggested in an earlier post that text messaging could be the wave of the future and apparently there is an organization called MobileActive who agrees with me and is smart enough to make it work for them!
If I told you five years ago that 65 million votes would be cast via text message during the season finale of American Idol would you have believed me then?
If I told you five years ago that 65 million votes would be cast via text message during the season finale of American Idol would you have believed me then?
Winner Gets $25 Million...Do I Have Your Attention?
Richard Branson has come a long way from being an eccentric billionaire who spent millions trying to circumnavigate the world in a hot air balloon to the man putting his money where his mouth is to "cure" global warming.
Branson has put up $25 million of his own money to be awarded to whoever can create a technology to remove one billion tons of greenhouse gases per year over the next ten years. I don't know enough to judge just how lofty a goal that is, but for $25 million it shouldn't be easy and I imagine he got the attention of many with kind of cash!
Branson may be a wacky guy but no one can argue his business acumen. To me, this is a great example of what to do for marketers, nonprofits, etc. Branson set forth one goal, not two, etc...eliminate lots of greehouse gases, you win and the concept has gotten lots of attention. All non-profits would benefit greatly if they would follow a similar strategy. Find out what it is that you do better than anyone else in your city, state or the world and make that your concise case for giving. When I decide who gets my money the winner will be the one who does what I care about most better than anybody else rather than the guy who does a lot of different things pretty well.
Branson has put up $25 million of his own money to be awarded to whoever can create a technology to remove one billion tons of greenhouse gases per year over the next ten years. I don't know enough to judge just how lofty a goal that is, but for $25 million it shouldn't be easy and I imagine he got the attention of many with kind of cash!
Branson may be a wacky guy but no one can argue his business acumen. To me, this is a great example of what to do for marketers, nonprofits, etc. Branson set forth one goal, not two, etc...eliminate lots of greehouse gases, you win and the concept has gotten lots of attention. All non-profits would benefit greatly if they would follow a similar strategy. Find out what it is that you do better than anyone else in your city, state or the world and make that your concise case for giving. When I decide who gets my money the winner will be the one who does what I care about most better than anybody else rather than the guy who does a lot of different things pretty well.
Friday, March 9, 2007
Is Paying to Read Blogs the Future?
I am relatively new to the blogosphere but I am truly addicted and let me tell you why! I used to read the newspaper every morning but then several years ago I gave up the paper because I liked reading the articles published in the newspaper on the Internet the night before it arrived at my door. To me, blogging is the "new Internet" (a.k.a - the "blogosphere") where I read about the really good stuff long before it makes it onto the "old internet".
Not only is the "good stuff" found in the blogosphere but it is also free of distraction, so far! I have yet to start reading a blog post only to be interrupted by an unsolicited pop up of the new Honda Accord racing towards me on course to drive straight through my living if I don't save myself in the the waning moments by locating the "Close X" button obscurely placed in one corner of the screen.
To me, blogging is the "underground" of the Internet. The place where feed readers are encouraged and information can be found free of unwanted advertisements, pop up windows with the sharing of ideas and content not as the exception but the rule!
I am all for free enterprise and entreprenuerial innovation but I do fear the "blogosphere" is in danger! The rapid growth of blogging is too tempting not to find ways to make it profitable, but will it be overrun?
I am truly conflicted on this matter. I am all for blogs raising money for either your own personal piggy bank or for that of your favorite Charity, both can be done well on credible sites like Squidoo. I am also in favor of mashups like AuctionAds which enables you to link an Ebay auction for items related content in your blog. I love blogs and I love Ebay, bring it on!
When I search for information on blogs I don't land on your blog by accident. You have posted something that I was looking for...and while I'm visiting feel free to convince me of your opinion and even suggest that I make a contribution but I will draw a line if the sand if you ask me to pay to read on!
Maybe paid subscriptions will raise the already high bar that blogs have set or maybe not! Is this the wave of the future, you tell me!
Not only is the "good stuff" found in the blogosphere but it is also free of distraction, so far! I have yet to start reading a blog post only to be interrupted by an unsolicited pop up of the new Honda Accord racing towards me on course to drive straight through my living if I don't save myself in the the waning moments by locating the "Close X" button obscurely placed in one corner of the screen.
To me, blogging is the "underground" of the Internet. The place where feed readers are encouraged and information can be found free of unwanted advertisements, pop up windows with the sharing of ideas and content not as the exception but the rule!
I am all for free enterprise and entreprenuerial innovation but I do fear the "blogosphere" is in danger! The rapid growth of blogging is too tempting not to find ways to make it profitable, but will it be overrun?
I am truly conflicted on this matter. I am all for blogs raising money for either your own personal piggy bank or for that of your favorite Charity, both can be done well on credible sites like Squidoo. I am also in favor of mashups like AuctionAds which enables you to link an Ebay auction for items related content in your blog. I love blogs and I love Ebay, bring it on!
When I search for information on blogs I don't land on your blog by accident. You have posted something that I was looking for...and while I'm visiting feel free to convince me of your opinion and even suggest that I make a contribution but I will draw a line if the sand if you ask me to pay to read on!
Maybe paid subscriptions will raise the already high bar that blogs have set or maybe not! Is this the wave of the future, you tell me!
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Get Warren Buffet to Read Your Blog
The Slate 60 recently posted a list of the top charitable donors of 2006. In total, these 60 people pledged more than $50 BILLION to charity with Warren Buffet pledging over $40 million to the Gates Foundation alone.
In one of my recent posts about statistics you should ignore I expand on some sound advice from Seth Godin about not chasing pennies from the masses and it all made sense until I read about The Slate 60. At first glance I thought this was just another example of the China Problem as I start calculating in my head what it would be worth if I can get my hands on 1% of this pot and so on!
Yes, Warren Buffet and I will likely never cross paths and it is even less likely he will read my blog but he is not the only big fish in the sea willing to part with big dollars.
My advice is not to forget about the little people -- as the power of a large audience goes well beyond the dollars they can give you -- but if you are the best at addressing a key issue important to someone with deep pockets make them take notice and it could be well worth your time!
In one of my recent posts about statistics you should ignore I expand on some sound advice from Seth Godin about not chasing pennies from the masses and it all made sense until I read about The Slate 60. At first glance I thought this was just another example of the China Problem as I start calculating in my head what it would be worth if I can get my hands on 1% of this pot and so on!
Yes, Warren Buffet and I will likely never cross paths and it is even less likely he will read my blog but he is not the only big fish in the sea willing to part with big dollars.
My advice is not to forget about the little people -- as the power of a large audience goes well beyond the dollars they can give you -- but if you are the best at addressing a key issue important to someone with deep pockets make them take notice and it could be well worth your time!
Monday, March 5, 2007
Blogging Evolution - 5 Key Terms All Beginning Bloggers Should Know
In celebration of my one month anniversary in the blogosphere here is my list of 5 key terms all new bloggers must embrace to make your new world much easier to understand and navigate. They are:
As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink!" Most of these terms I had heard before but found little need for until blogging became a daily "To Do" item.
RSS, Bloglines (a feed reader) and podcasts have become a necessary evil in my blogosphere and probably the first you will conquer with relative ease.
Widgets are next. Like most gadgets I probably don't need to add widgets to my blog but I will makeup a reason to find a place for ones like ChipIn. ChipIn is a simple platform for individuals or organizations to collect money for anything and everything that allows people to track your progress towards your goal and let's organizers use well known online bill pay tools like PayPal.
Last but not least is Mashup. Put simply, a Mashup is the combination of two technologies that when combined can make an even better product, service, etc. like the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup or if you prefer a more recent example the Apple iPhone.
Next month I offer an update list for the intermediate bloggers to continue tracking my blogging evolution! Stay tuned!
2 Staggering Blog Statistics You Should Ignore?
- There are more than 55 million blogs on the Internet.
- More than 100,000 new blogs are created daily.
Staggering statistics wouldn't you say? Just think, if you could just have a penny for every blog in the "blogosphere" you'd be socking away $500K and counting! Now forget you even read this...but keep reading!
Seth Godin refers to this type of thinking as the China Problem. The concept is similar to the example I describe above. Godin makes his point about marketing but the same rules certainly apply in the "blogosphere". I had big dreams when I started my blog...over 50 million blogs, countless more blog readers on top of that and yet you can fit my subscriber "audience" into a jiffy john. The whole "if you build it they will come" business clearly only applies to baseball diamonds in corn fields!
Big numbers seem to mystify us all beyond reason -- and this is not a new phenomenon-- playing the lottery despite the tremendous odds against winning is something we can all relate to.
You can't be all things to all people (or bloggers) but everyone can and should be relevant. Too often it seems like non-profits are trying to be everything to all people. Tell me what problem you are fixing and how my money is going to help you fix it and count me in. Nobody I've seen has ever done it better than Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly's who's back page article on the need for malaria nets raised over $1.2 million the last time I checked.
The organization that is the best at one thing relevant to me is the one that gets my time and/or my money. If they are really good I may even tell my entire subscriber "audience"!!
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The 2008 Election will be Won on the Internet
As of February 2007 there are now 25 candidates running for President which is all the more reason the Internet will be a major factor in electing the next President in 2008. If you don't believe me watch this video of how Hillary Clinton announced she was running for President. She didn't do this on the nightly news or a Sunday morning talk show she did it on her website! A longer look at her robust website is a clear indication that her people are putting a lot of stock in its importance to her success.
To be clear, I am not starting a Hillary fan club. That said, by all indications she is certainly a major player for the Democratic nomination in 2008. I assume she has a pretty experienced team in her corner who got her husband elected in '92 and '96 so they probably know what works.
As the saying goes, if you want to see the future all you need to do is look to the past. Do you remember Howard Dean going crazy in 2004? Well before that happened, his campaign, "Dean for America" was one of the most successful online political fundraising efforts ever. According to this Convio Case Study Howard Dean raised $3.6 million online in only 90 days and raised more than $7 million dollars in one quarter while growing his email list from 200M to 500M subscribers.
The Dean figures from '04 will likely pale in comparison to what will be raised online for 2008. Every candidate, Republican and Democrat, will have a presence on the net and I welcome the onslaught that is soon to follow. Creativity is often at its best when the stakes are the highest and there isn't much that can compete with the final table at the WSOP...or a presidential election!
To be clear, I am not starting a Hillary fan club. That said, by all indications she is certainly a major player for the Democratic nomination in 2008. I assume she has a pretty experienced team in her corner who got her husband elected in '92 and '96 so they probably know what works.
As the saying goes, if you want to see the future all you need to do is look to the past. Do you remember Howard Dean going crazy in 2004? Well before that happened, his campaign, "Dean for America" was one of the most successful online political fundraising efforts ever. According to this Convio Case Study Howard Dean raised $3.6 million online in only 90 days and raised more than $7 million dollars in one quarter while growing his email list from 200M to 500M subscribers.
The Dean figures from '04 will likely pale in comparison to what will be raised online for 2008. Every candidate, Republican and Democrat, will have a presence on the net and I welcome the onslaught that is soon to follow. Creativity is often at its best when the stakes are the highest and there isn't much that can compete with the final table at the WSOP...or a presidential election!
6 Essential Motivators for Giving
My brother tells me the key to compelling copy for my blog is to offer the next great list of top 5 or top 1o list of what to do...so I went in search of a good list for fundraising and came across this article in the February edition of Fundraising Success magazine.
Tim Burgess, CEO of Merkle-Domain explains how he recently went through all of the mail he had received in the past few weeks, he threw away a bunch that didn't appeal to him and kept the rest and then came up with his list of the six essential motivators.
Some of his points were good but I think he stops short of the real question that needs to be answered. Knowing who is motivated by what, and when is the best time to get their attention, is everything. When we can answer that question Tim won't be throwing out charitable solicitations he gets in the mail and I will be getting a lot less credit card offers don't you think?
Tim Burgess, CEO of Merkle-Domain explains how he recently went through all of the mail he had received in the past few weeks, he threw away a bunch that didn't appeal to him and kept the rest and then came up with his list of the six essential motivators.
Some of his points were good but I think he stops short of the real question that needs to be answered. Knowing who is motivated by what, and when is the best time to get their attention, is everything. When we can answer that question Tim won't be throwing out charitable solicitations he gets in the mail and I will be getting a lot less credit card offers don't you think?
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