New column every MONDAY: "The Fundraising Guru"--Dec. 17, 2007

"Fundraising Success": Internet radio/PODCAST!

"Fundraising Success," a weekly, one-hour radio show, airs on WXEL-90.7FM Sundays at 7p.m. throughout South Florida--when it is also streamed live. BUT it's also always available from anywhere in the world at any time by anyone with Internet access or its equivalent.

There are a gazillion shows and columns regurgitating advice on how businesses can succeed, but nothing--zip, zero--for nonprofits. On "Fundraising Success," national and local experts in communications, grant-writing, capital campaigns, PR, and other areas of interest will share their best advice. It provides nonprofits the consultants none of them can afford, but all of them need.

To listen to the podcasts, go to www.wxelpodcasts.org. Then, click on any of the many "Fundraising Success" headings.

Your "Fundrasing Success" Radio Host

Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein--Host & Producer of "Fundraising Success" Columnist, author, consultant, TV and radio personality, and workshop leader--Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein is a nationally recognized marketing, communications, and fundraising executive, as well as a trends analyst and forecaster.

For more than 30 years, he has developed award-winning strategies for nonprofit success. Dr. Goldstein's "Fundraising Guru" columns, based upon his nationwide bestseller, 30 Days to Success Fundraising, appear in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel and the Scripps newspapers on Florida's Treasure Coast. He is also the developer of The 7 POWERS Fundraising Success System, which is the basis for the fundraising workshop he offers around the country. Stephen Goldstein has also contributed fundraising advice segments for nonprofits on Wealth and Wisdom on WXEL-TV, Public Television. Dr. Goldstein works with individual nonprofits all across America to increase their fundraising success.
E-mail Dr. Goldstein at trendsman@aol.com

New Column Every Monday--September 3, 2007

Suggest a feature segment for WXEL/National Public Radio: "Fundraising Success"

From WXEL/National Public Radio: "Fundraising Success," the unique, one-hour, weekly Internet radio/podcast, is now available to anyone with Internet access or its equivalent from anywhere in the world at any time. Just go to www.wxelpodcasts.org and click on "Fundraising Success." You can then hear, download, and forward the program.

August 26, 2007
Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein, host and executive producer of "Fundraising Success" and author of 30 Days to Successful Fundraising, talks with:

1. Former Goldman Sachs executive, Chuck Harris, now Executive Partner, SeaChange Capital Partners (queries@seachangecap.org). He’s already gotten a commitment of $5 million from Goldman Sachs. Now, he’s out to raise $100 million in the next three years to provide multi-year funding for high-performing nonprofits—especially for operating expenses, the most difficult monies to obtain.

2. Beth Kanter, beth@bethkanter.org: Step 2 of 10 Steps to Web 2.0—“Read people’s minds; change their hearts. Liberate their dollars.” How to use http://www.technorati.com/ to search and research the blogosphere for your name and topics of interest. What one nonprofit dealing with the homeless discovered to its surprise when it did so.

3. Weekly feature: “Philanthropist’s Corner” with Sean Stannard-Stockton, author of
the blog, http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com/, and principal with Ensemble Capital Management (Burlingame, CA): “Family philanthropy for almost everyone.” You don’t need to be a Rockefeller or Gates have a family philanthropy strategy.

5. Weekly feature: “Freebies Galore” with Jesse Carter from Profit Quests, “The People’s Fundraising Web site,” http://www.profitquests.com/: “Raising funds by offering donors the opportunity to dine with celebrities in your community--elected officials, sports figures, TV and radio personalities, etc.”

6. Weekly update from The Chronicle of Philanthropy: Holly Hall on the shortage of major gift fundraisers and the skyrocketing salaries they are commanding.

7. Stephen Rockwell, mailto:srockwell@mcs.org, of Management Consulting Services: Breaking traditional barriers of time and space to raise money. “Not for young people only!” How nonprofits can use social networking sites—like http://www.myspace.com/, http://www.facebook.com/ , http://www.change.org/--to build their presence, create an identity site, and raise money.

8. Regular feature: “Blog Beat” with Peter Panepento of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, www.philanthropy.com/giveandtake: Susan Herr author of http://www.philanthromedia.org/, gives advice for the “discerning donor,” high net worth individuals. Her blog is syndicated daily to 70 community foundations. A new media/fundraising genre: filmanthropy!
E-mail your comments and questions--and suggestions for guest segments on "Fundraising Success"--to Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein at trendsman@aol.com.

New Column Every Monday--"The Fundraising Guru"--August 27, 2007

Enter the world of Web 2.0 for fundraising success
By Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein, author of the nationwide bestseller, 30 Days to Successful Fundraising, now in its second printing, available through http://www.amazon.com/, http://www.barnesandnoble.com/, other online booksellers, and bookstores nationwide

Every nonprofit (yes, even the tiniest with no money in the remotest location) can now extend its fundraising reach (and success) to anywhere in the world, at any time—for free. The barriers of time and space no longer exist. The world is filled with your potential donors. No kidding!

All it takes is your being willing to enter the world of Web 2.0—and you don’t even need to be computer savvy. A few years ago, it was a big deal if nonprofits developed a web site. Most organizations simply created the digital equivalent of their brochure and, too often, forgot about them—or at least didn’t feel they needed to keep them fresh and inviting. You can’t be passive in the world of Web 2.0. You need to be actively engaged in an ever-expanding conversation; but once you realize the doors it opens, you won’t be able to resist its enormous potential to enhance your fundraising.

Here’s a primer on Web 2.0. Be sure to go to the podcast of my “Fundraising Success” radio program—itself an example of Web 2.0—to hear the full interviews with the people to whom I refer below.

1. Use Web 2.0 to increase your fundraising success: You may hear Beth Kanter (Boston, MA) talk about how and why nonprofits’ future fundraising success depends upon their savvy use of social media, Web 2.0, on the podcast of my radio program, “Fundraising Success” (081907). She defines it as using the Internet to instantly collaborate and share ideas with people. It’s interactive. You’ll find and have a conversation with all sorts of people who are like-minded, who may be passionate about your organization’s purpose, and who may donate and help you raise money. They can be anywhere in the world. You’ll learn from Beth that what Google is to the Internet in general, Technorati is to blogs—a search engine for what people are talking about. (Technorati boasts that it is currently tracking 100.1 million blogs. The last time I checked there were 91,567 blog posts just about fundraising.)

2. Start your blog for free and why every nonprofit needs one: Stephen Rockwell, of Management Consulting Services (Boston, MA), on “Fundraising Success” (081907), points out that blog is simply short for web log. You don’t have to make any changes to your existing web site. Just link it to your blog. It’s a great way to create an individual relationship between yourself and your individual donors. Executive directors and others can communicate directly and ongoing with their constituency. Think of it as an online diary. Web sites like blogger, wordpress, livejournal, and blogspot let you have your own blog for free. Investigate each one. Create an account. Customize the formats you’re given. Be sure you are committed to updating it at least once a week—but the more often, the better. You just need to know word processing—how to type.

3. Keep track of the fundraising blogosphere: Peter Panepento of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, www.philanthropy.com/giveandtake has his finger on the pulse of the blogosphere. He regularly reviews new blogs on fundraising and contributes a weekly segment to my radio program, “Fundraising Success” (www.wxelpodcasts.org).

Stephen L. Goldstein is the author of 30 Days to Successful Fundraising, now in its second printing. He is producer and host of “Fundraising Success” on WXEL/National Public Radio in South Florida, broadcast Sundays 7 to 8 p.m. and available at any time from anywhere in the world at www.wxelpodcasts.org. Email your comments and questions to him at trendsman@aol.com.

New Column Every Monday--"The Fundraising Guru"--August 20, 2007

Podcast “Fundraising Success”
http://www.wxelpodcasts.org/
Indispensable Nonprofit Resource

By Stephen L. Goldstein, consultant and author of 30 Days to Successful Fundraising

Attention anyone and everyone who has anything to do with nonprofits: WXEL/National Public Radio has extended launched a podcast of its highly acclaimed, weekly, one-hour program, “Fundraising Success.”

The public service for the nonprofit community is now available at http://www.wxelpodcasts.org/ at any time, from anywhere, to anyone with Internet access or its equivalent.

First, the premise of “Fundraising Success:” There are a gazillion shows and columns regurgitated advice on how for-profit businesses can succeed, but nothing—zip, zero—for nonprofits. So, the program brings together experts in communications, grant-writing, capital campaigns, PR, and other areas of interest. It’s literally the consultant team that no one nonprofit could ever afford, but which all of them need.

So, second, what’s a podcast? In the words of WXEL’s president and general manager, Jerry Carr, “It’s anytime audio—radio taken to a whole new dimension. Podcasting allows us to break the traditional barriers between stations and listeners. We’ve always had to try to second-guess our audience to determine exactly when they’d want to listen to which programming. In the case of ‘Fundraising Success,’ we now have a unique opportunity to serve its unique listenership when it’s most convenient for them to hear the program.”

“Fundraising Success” covers the proverbial waterfront. It airs weekly segments from The Chronicle of Philanthropy. In a recent interview, The Chronicle’s Peter Panepento discussed “Donor Advised Funds--Where the Money Really Is!" Another recent program opens with Andy Sernovitz, author of Word of Mouth Marketing, revealing the formulas nonprofits can follow to get the word out about them—for free.

In a weekly series spotlighting fundraising in Cyberspace, Gary Grobman, co-author of Fundraising Online: Using the Internet to Raise Serious Money for Your Nonprofit, sheds light on everything from creating an Internet fundraising strategy to researching grants online. Ellen Schulman’s recent segment on her “Board Members’ Credo” is must-listening for everyone associated with a nonprofit.

Recently, Stephen Wertheimer, senior vice president of Brakeley Briscoe and Michael Rose, president of Carolinas HealthCare Foundation, revealed "The Formula for a Capital Campaign Mega-Success." In addition, Bob Ottenhoff, president & CEO of www.Guidestar.org, talked about its continuum of free services available to nonprofits, including access to nonprofits' IRS Form 990.

Providing a rare glimpse of how a foundation actually works, Jerome Lyle Rappaport (founder) and Phyllis Rappaport (chair) of the Rappaport Foundation discussed fundraising success from funders’ perspectives. Kevin Lane, “The PR Guru,” stressed the importance of “putting the profit into nonprofits.”

During Listeners’ Forum segments, I answer questions that have been emailed to me at trendsman@aol.com, or, sometimes, find an expert around the country to do so. One recent Q &A answered, “How can I identify large donors for whom there is so much competition?”

If you’re getting the feeling that “Fundraising Success” brings together resources you won’t find anywhere else, you’re right. It is a unique nationwide forum, through which leaders in their fields share their expertise—and nonprofits are helped to succeed.

Send your questions and comments to Stephen L. Goldstein at trendsman@aol.com.#

"The Fundraising Guru"

Nonprofits can do their best marketing—for free
By Stephen L. Goldstein--consultant, author, and host of "Fundraising Success," a weekly radio program, streamed on the Internet and podcast from WXEL/National Public Radio

I want to spread the word about a book about spreading the word. It busts nonprofits’ “we can’t afford to do the marketing/PR/publicity that we need to do” mantra—the self-defeating, poverty-perpetuating, too-often-believed rhetoric that keeps them stuck in a rut of their own making. In 184 jam-packed pages, it proves that using your smarts always trumps spending your bucks. It’s sine qua non reading for nonprofits that really want to succeed.
Word of Mouth Marketing by Andy Sernovitz is literally God’s gift to nonprofits. It even shows you how to create “a practical word of mouth marketing plan.” Subtitled “How Smart Companies Get People Talking,” its wisdom is directly applicable to the plight of every “community focused” organization. In Sernovitz’s words: “Word of mouth marketing works for . . . causes, ideas, charities, and organizations—anything that you want people to talk about.” Blissfully, it’s the non-money way to raise money.
Sernovitz defines word of mouth marketing as “everything you can do to get people talking”—with a marketing objective. In other words, it’s not just talk; it’s as “actionable, trackable, and plannable as any other form of marketing, just no-cost or low-cost.”
Obviously enhanced by morphs of the Internet—blogs, web sites, streaming audio and video—word of mouth marketing is predicated upon a concept as old as the proverbial hills: stellar customer service and products that make people want to tell everyone they know about you. As Sernovitz puts it, “Nothing beats coming up with a product so interesting that people just can’t help talking about it.”
Besides its cost-effectiveness, Sernovitz also points out that word of mouth marketing is “made for” nonprofits because they rely so heavily upon groups of supporters committed to their missions.
There are four rules of word of mouth marketing and three reasons people talk about you. For example, Reason #2 about why people talk is especially fascinating. It turns out that people really want to talk—to look smart, to help others, to feel important, to express themselves. In other words, all nonprofits have a built-in salesforce, if they are committed to giving it a reason to be energized and “sell.”
You’ll get the inside dope on the Five Ts of word of mouth marketing--the keys to getting it going, keeping it running, and assessing it. The #1 T is Talkers. You need to find people who will talk about you. Sernovitz tells you how to identify the seven most common types and how to put them to work for you. (They may not be who you think they are. For example, in his afterword to the book, Guy Kawasaki points out that your most powerful word of mouth advocates may be new to your organization. They may be the most excited about it, as opposed to those who know and are used to you!)
Number 2 is Topics. You have to know the art of giving people a reason to talk. Number 5, Tracking, shows you how to measure and understand what people are really saying about you.
Sernovitz invites you to check out the website that goes with the book: http://www.wordofmouthbook.com/. It’s full of ideas, examples, and resources to help you master word of mouth. The site and the book are must-reads. Take my word for it.

E-mail your questions and comments to Stephen Goldstein at trendsman@aol.com. He’s the author of 30 Days to Successful Fundraising and hosts “Fundraising Success,” a weekly, one-hour broadcast and Internet radio/podcast from WXEL/National Public Radio, hearable at any time from anywhere in the world at http://www.wxel.podcasts.org/.

Fundraising Success: July 22, 2007

"Fundraising Success" is a production of WXEL/National Public Radio member station
http://wxelpodcasts.org/2007/07/24/fundraising-success-072207.aspx
Host Dr. Stephen L. Goldstein talks with:
1. David Lees, nonprofit fundraising consultant: How to write a case statement, Part 2—“Applying the ‘so what?’ test to your success.”
2. Larry Butler, Maguire Associates (Concord, MA), lbutler@maguireassociates.com: Part 2—Noble Calling/Telemarketing Series, “Surefire insiders’ tips on ‘making the successful opening’ and ‘overcoming objections’ when fundraising on the phone.”
3. Holly Hall, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, www.philanthropy.com: A report on the Giving USA Report—“How much are Americans donating? Are they more generous or less? What do the trends mean for you and your fundraising success?”
4. Fundraising News & Views from important sources: Dr. Stephen Goldstein.
5. Phil Smith, major contributor to microcredit efforts and co-author with Eric Thurman, of A Billion Bootstraps: Microcredit, Barefoot Banking and the Business Solution for Ending Poverty—Part 2 on how he “uses his money wisely” to break the cycle of poverty by making contributions to nonprofits that provide loans of tiny amounts of money.
6. Bruce Trachtenberg, Executive Director, The Communications Network, www.comnetwork.org: “Foundations are your friends”—How to make and keep them
WXEL 90.7FM is licensed to the West Palm Beach market. Log on to www.wxel.org for a live webstream of radio programming including NPR programming and for more information.