Today at 1PM The NonProfit Times TV, Watch It!!! It's only 7 minutes!!

The NonProfit Times TV is launching a new show of its bi-weekly tv news program online today at 1 pm EST. Please take 7 minutes of your time to watch and let us know what you think about the cast. Watch it online at http://www.nonprofittimes.tv

In this cast:

Mailing Fundraising Appeals To Cost More
The United States Postal Service is upping rates for the first time in two years.

Quick -- Ask For That Second Gift
Study shows the faster you ask for a second gift the more likely you are to get it.

Many Americans Remain Hungry
The recession might be ebbing but pressure is still on at food programs.

Remeber to tune in, Its just 7 minutes. Tell everyone you know. 1PM EST today tune in at http://www.nonprofittimes.tv

Social media plus celebrities does not always equal a hit

This is a look back at a story from The NonProfit Times TV Broadcast

The subject of fundraising has become quite an art in recent years with a variety of strategies being employed to elicit the largest levels of support possible. Two things that many Americans increasingly exhibit an interest in are that of celebrity and social media. One might think that in combining these two factors to create a fundraising strategy, that the resultant success would be substantial and impressive. As it turns out, this cannot always be guaranteed to be the case. At the end of the day, it is impossible to predict how the public will respond to a given online marketing strategy.

Alicia Keys and friends earn disappointing results
Recently and online marketing event was organized called Digital sacrifice. It was an event organized by Alicia Keys in aid of the charity she has created called Keep a Child Alive. A number of high profile celebrities joined forces with Keys in an attempt to make a success of this event, including Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Usher. The premise of this event was that these and other celebrities would stay off social media networks until an amount of $1 million was raised. At the end of the day, the star-studded team pulled in disappointing results over a six-day period, with only $450,000 raised.


A billionaire comes to the rescueA pharmaceutical executive by the name of Stewart Rahr injected himself into the equation and pledged the outstanding $550,000, and thereby unleashing the celebrities in question back into the world social media. It just goes to show that there is more often than not no such thing as a sure bet when it comes to fundraising strategies. Nonprofits would do well not to limit their fund-raising activities to innovative digital plans and methods. The key is to think creatively across a broad range of mediums, and not to put all of one's eggs in one basket. Diversification and variety will go a long way towards ensuring the most successful fundraising campaign possible.

Supporters of the Salvation Army keep their contributions stable

If you are interested in current fundraising levels and trends directed towards nonprofit organizations, then you will find this video to be quite interesting. There are few charitable organizations that are more well known than the Salvation Army, and this institution provides a very good idea of what nonprofit fundraising trends and levels look like at any particular time. Despite one of the worst economic recessions in recent history, mobile giving appears to be very promising, and overall the fundraising levels have remained relatively stable, at least as far as the Salvation Army is concerned.

The increasing move towards donating online
According to Major George Hood of the Salvation Army, online giving grew by a significant 35% over the 2010 holiday season, as opposed to the same period in 2009. More and more people are taking to the Internet to conduct their fundraising activities, and this is at least partly due to an increase in effective online marketing campaigns. The fact that online contributions to the Salvation Army has increased by such a proportion, is indicative of the fact that use of and accessibility to the Internet continues to grow in leaps and bounds. It is a trend that holds true for commercial retailers as much as it does for nonprofit organizations

Donation levels remain constantWhile it may be true that online contributions have increased significantly, the impact of the economic downturn has not been completely absent. It would have been reasonable to assume that overall donation levels would have increased given the increase in online contributions, but this has not been the case. Major Hood has confirmed that overall contributions received by the Salvation Army have remained roughly identical moving from 2009 to 2010. The overall amount that the Salvation Army received in contributions in both these years was between three and $4 million. Taking the time to watch this video is one way to keep up to speed with regard to current fundraising trends.