ColoradoGives.org

By Dana Rinderknecht, Director of Online Giving, Community First Foundation For several years now, I have been telling people the stories of what we hear from donors. But honestly, it is anecdotal only. We all know that I am not going to hear stories from all of our donors – as much as I would welcome that. We decided to find out what our donors thought of our messaging and, more importantly, why they donated on Colorado Gives Day . Segmenting out donors who gave to ten or more nonprofits last year on Colorado Gives Day, we sent them ten questions to better understand their experience with the day. For me, the best question was, “If you plan to give again on Colorado Gives Day this year, do you expect to donate to different nonprofits?” The answers validated for me why I truly love this program and what I do every day. From those who responded, we heard that  39% expect to give to different nonprofits this year . The reasons included the fact that we keep add...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation Every year I get my Dad the same thing for Father’s Day: stuff to grill with, a silly card, a DVD, a book…and even though he’s always grateful, this year I want to go above and beyond. Maybe it’s because I have a toddler now and empathize with the joy and frustration of being a parent. Maybe it’s because I think he’s awesome and want him to know that. Maybe there isn’t an enlightening reason, perhaps I just want to. Regardless of the reason, I’m excited that ColoradoGives.org has a couple of great options to use not only on Father’s Day but for any special occasion during the year (birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations): Giving eCards:  our eCards allow you to give the gift that keeps on giving. Giving eCards are electronic gift cards you can purchase on ColoradoGives.org and email to people. The recipient (Dad in this case) can redeem the eCard by donating to any nonprofit(s) featured on ColoradoGi...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation It’s that time of year again; time to begin the seemingly intimidating task of updating your organization’s profile on ColoradoGives.org. At this point, you may feel as though the task will only be complete when pigs can fly, but I assure you it can be done with relative ease. Here are a few helpful tips to get you started: Most important tip? Procrastination is not your friend here. Although it’s easy to get caught up in the fires of everyday nonprofit life, avoid the day-before binge rush, stress and challenges of waiting until the last minute. Spending even 30 minutes a week on the “easy” stuff is better than spending frantic hours on everything. Get out of the office . We all know how easily distractions can get in the way of getting the large projects done. Do yourself a favor and take this project out of the office (even once a month or every two months). Grab your computer and head to your favorite cof...

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist, Community First Foundation The annual Colorado Gives Day Report shines a spotlight on data gathered from the website ColoradoGives.org about Colorado Gives Day. It also includes feedback from nonprofits who participated in this giving day. It’s ten pages chock full of maps and charts that illustrate donation results in each Colorado county, how various organizational types fared, what we learned about donors, and much more. We highly recommend using this data to influence your online fundraising plans. But if you don’t have time to read the full report for 2013, here are the top 5 takeaways that we found meaningful at Community First Foundation beyond the day’s record-breaking increase in dollars and donations: The majority of nonprofits acquired brand-new donors because of Colorado Gives Day.  We surveyed nonprofits who participated in the giving day and 92 percent of respondents reported a donation from at least one...

By Angela Bevacqua, Senior Communications Specialist Now that I’ve got your attention, I’m referring to holding on to your donors. According to our survey, 92 percent of nonprofits reported at least one new donor from Colorado Gives Day *. So what are you doing to cultivate these brand-new supporters? To share with you some tips and inspiration, we recently put on a webinar called Nurturing Long Lasting Relationship With Your Donors After Colorado Gives Day . In it we talk about what can be unique about donors who first come to you on Colorado Gives Day. If they are people who didn’t already exist in your database, they probably didn’t hear about you directly from you. So how did they hear about you? Some possibilities include: From a friend’s ColoradoGives Fundraising Page By searching their favorite cause on ColoradoGives.org From a Colorado Gives Day article, news or radio interview Saw an ad with your logo on it Via social media ( Facebook , Twitter ) Keep on mind...

By Lisa Lujan, Online Giving Coordinator, Community First Foundation Recently, while speaking to a frustrated donor, I was reminded of the incredible importance of communicating with supporters. The donor wished that the nonprofits she gave to were more transparent about the contributions they received and how much they raised at fundraisers. Although it seems simple, creating positive relationships with donors is very important to donor retention. We’ll be covering this topic in our upcoming webinar , “Nurturing Long Lasting Relationships with Your Donors After Colorado Gives Day,” on February 13 from 9 – 10 a.m.   In the meantime, review these quick, simple tips to ensure that you're treating your donors right and getting off on the right foot with your brand new donors from Colorado Gives Day . Our survey shows that 76% of nonprofits received at least one new donor that day. Thank them. Perhaps at this point you’re thinking, “Really? This is basic; I already do...

By Bryce Wilkinson, Senior Online Giving Specialist, Community First Foundation We hope you are happy with how online giving fared for your nonprofit both on Colorado Gives Day and throughout the year. We are in the midst of reviewing data to understand the impact of ColoradoGives and evaluate online giving trends. The online survey we are e-mailing to nonprofits that use ColoradoGives.org will help us answer questions we cannot determine from our data alone—and is also considered a grant report. Some of the survey questions require a few calculations. Not a math person? Learn how to calculate answers to key questions below. What percentage of total fundraising by your nonprofit comes through ColoradoGives.org? The formula: (Total amount raised through ColoradoGives in 2013) ÷ (Total amount raised via all sources in 2013) x 100 How many donors on Colorado Gives Day were first-time donors to your organization? If a donor listed on your 2013 Colorado Gives Day donation repo...