October 2009 Newsletter
Nonprofit Neighborhood
Fall Webinar Series: 3 down, 2 to go!
As you've probably heard by now, thedatabank is hosting a series of FREE educational webinars this fall, featuring nonprofit industry experts on topics ranging from advocacy to email marketing to fundraising. We've had great turnouts for the first three sessions and the good news is, there's still time to sign up for the other 2 listed below:
thedatabank Exhibiting at MCN Annual Conference 11/5-11/6
If you'll be at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Annual Conference in St. Paul on November 5th and 6th, stop by thedatabank's booth (#41) and say hello! This is a great opportunity to meet our sales reps in person and tell us how much you love thedatabank (and get a prize of course!) or sign up for a demonstration.
Local Food Heroes Use The Databank
Edible Twin Cities, a quarterly publication that promotes the abundance of local foods in the Twin Cities area is awarding Local Hero Awards to farmers, restaurants, and nonprofits in the area. Here at thedatabank, we're finding it hard to choose who to vote for, as all three nonprofit nominees are clients of ours! Congrats to Minnesota Food Association, Land Stewardship Project, and Sustainable Farming Association of Minnesota. And may the best hero win!
New Clients
Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania - The mission of The Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania is to ensure that all Pennsylvanians, especially those with low incomes, have access to safe, decent and affordable homes. Housing Alliance is a growing and influential membership organization, with over 500 organizational and individual affiliates statewide.
Lakota Funds - Lakota Funds actively promotes the socio-economic stability of OglalaLakota Oyate (people) on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation through culturally appropriate strategies including business loans, technical assistance, and targeted community and business development.
Addiction Technology Transfer Center - The ATTC National Office is part of the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network. The ATTC Network is a national leader in preparing the addictions workforce to deliver effective and culturally sensitive services which lead to long-term recovery. "We choose The Databank to help us find ways to better maintain relationships with our stakeholders, including improved communication and outreach. We are excited to work with The Databank, and look forward to benefiting from their expertise!"
Featured Resource
This Thursday, Eric Rardin from Care2 will present a webinar session as part of our fall series, on best practices for reaching and engaging your email audience. Care2 helps nonprofits build their opt-in email lists. They do this by running issue-based campaigns through their online community, which is popular among the socially conscious for its newsletters, ecards and daily actions. Visit their website to learn more!
Karen’s Blog
Email: the more I learn, the more questions I have
I've been thinking a lot about email this week, and here's why:
1. We have packed a record number of email blasts into the past 3 days - are we going to exhaust our list? We only send email to people who have opted in, but still...will people start unsubscribing, or worse, filing spam complaints? This article suggests that it's okay to email people more frequently.
2. I spoke to a fundraising class at the University of Minnesota last night, and a student asked about email list building. There are resources like thedatabank's email append service or Care2's campaigns, which are cost effective in the long term, but you still have to come up with some money up front. What can organizations on a shoestring budget do?
3. I got a preview of Eric Rardin's webinar presentation, scheduled for tomorrow, and - I hope I'm not giving too much away here - one of his slides says this: the biggest emarketing concern of people in a recent study was delivering relevant content. Yeah, amen. Here at thedatabank, obviously we have great emarketing technology at our disposal, but I have to tell you, it's difficult coming up with something interesting and useful to blog about every month. (And I don't always succeed!)
If you are also wrestling with these questions, I hope you will join us for the webinar tomorrow. Or, weigh in on our Facebook discussion.
P.S. High five to Eric for inspiring me to put a photo in my signature.
Karen Graham
Director of Business Development
thedatabank