Netscape Users: Migrate Data Now

You spend years getting used to something and then it's snatched away. Netscape Navigator, the once-popular Web browser now owned by AOL, will not be supported after February 1. At one point during the 1990s, Netscape was used by more than 90 percent of people surfing the Web.

Old versions of the browser will be available for download, but won't be supported. "Organizations are going to want to find an alternative now and start the migration process. It's not terribly difficult, but it can be a little tricky, and it will take time," said Holly Ross, executive director of NTEN, a nonprofit technology organization.

According to AOL, the number of users has slipped to less than one percent because of competition from Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE), which is used by an estimated 80 percent of Web surfers.

AOL bought Netscape Navigator in 1998 from Netscape Communications Corporation but reportedly recently had multiple staff defections to Mozilla Foundation. It was developed by Marc Andressen, co-author of Mosaic, the first popular Web browser, which he wrote in 1992 while a student at the University of Illinois.

"Netscape Navigator is not dead; it's just been taken off life support with no new updates being released. For most of the Internet community, the news that support will cease is like hearing that some ancient rock and roll legend has died," said Tim Mills-Groninger, former associate director of the IT Resource Center in Chicago. "Some people morn by listening to their collection of the artists' music and go to work tired from staying up too late. "Most just say 'huh, I thought he died years ago.'"

For many people, according to Mills-Groninger, the choice of browser has been a fashion statement, with Navigator usage "shifting from a turn of the Century 'I'm a cool early adopter who will not be swayed by monocultural juggernaut that is Microsoft' to 'I'm comfortable and maybe a bit lazy and when I get around to upgrading from my Pentium II Windows ME machine I'll upgrade to Firefox."

The risks of staying with Netscape Navigator a while longer are the increased chance of a machine exploit by malicious code and that something will break -- either in not being able to interact with a Web site as the designer intended or Navigator not installing on a new machine, he said.

Protecting Your Data

Perhaps more worrisome than security breaches, which occur relatively infrequently outside the university arena, consider industry statistics for data loss, compiled by online back-up firms Data Deposit Box and Protect Data:

• A hard drive crashes every 15 seconds;
• 2,000 laptops are stolen or lost daily;
• One in five computers suffer a fatal hard-drive crash during their lifetime; and,
• 40 persent of small- to medium-size businesses don't back up their data at all.

If this is what's occurring in Corporate America, tradition holds that the nonprofit sector is much further behind.

Experts in the area of risk management, including AH&R Insurance's Mel Whiteley, Laura S. Quinn of Idealware, EarthJustice IT director Peter Campbell, and the staff at mindSHIRTTechnologies, managed services provide to Seeds of Peace, provided the following recommendations for protecting data:

• Risk management is number one. No matter how much insurance you have, you will never totally recover your loss. Make sure that employees are using reasonable passwords (mix of numeric and apha, six and seven characters) to access their own computers. Educate employees against phishing, and have a reasonable back-up plan.
• Evaluate your current back-up plan. Consider the newer back-up technologies such as virtualization - which allows you to run multiple servers on one computer, moving to disk rather than magnetic tape; utilizing "snapshots," which makes restoring data quicker and easier; and synchronizing one disk to another disk 24/7 using continuous data protection.
• Develop and implement a system. Don't just leave it to the wind; designate somebody with the absolute resposibilty of implementing the risk management system.
• Anticipate your likely loss. Recognize that trouble can come from different places. Also, recognize security breaches can occur no matter the level of your firewalls.
• Have the appropriate insurance that deals with what's likely and probable to happen. Also, consider your media exposure - basically, your cyber exposure - as a seperate and unique exposure.
• Try to get your host to undemnify you. It doesn't hurt to ask your software provider if they will provide coverage.

-Marla E. Nobles

DON’T BE LEFT BEHIND BY TECHNO TERMS

As nonprofit leaders navigate the ever-changing world of high technology, they find themselves encountering terms that can be arcane or confusing.

At a recent national conference on nonprofit technology, several words and terms were explained for the benefit of those unfamiliar with them.

Among the words:

• RSS. A format for storing online information in a way that makes that information readable on different kinds of software.
• Aggregation. Gathering information from multiple Web sites, typically via RSS.
• Blog. Originally short for “weblog,” a Web page that contains entries in reverse chronological order. An easy way for people to maintain a constantly updated Web presence.
• Blogroll. A list of recommended sites that appears in the sidebar of a blog.
• Mashup. A Web service or software tool that combines two or more tools to create a whole new service.
• Moblogging. Short for “mobile blogging,” refers to posting blog updates from remote or mobile equipment, such as a cell phone or camera phone.
• Newsreader. A device that gathers the news from multiple blogs or news sites via RSS, allowing readers to access all their news from a single Web site or program.
• RSS feeds. A constantly updated version of the site’s latest content, in a form that be read by a newsreader or aggregator.

Fundraising ... 10 ideas for making the ask

Ten is such a nice, round number. It's everywhere: The 10 Commandments. David Letterman's nightly Top 10 lists. How many fingers? Toes? And how high does volume go? That's right, 10.

In her book, "The Ask: How to Ask Anyone for Any Amount for any Purpose," Laura Fredricks presents "The 10 Guiding Principles For Any Ask."
Using the guiding principles as a "road map" for all your asks, she wrote, will make you "ready, focused, and energized to ask for gifts in your own winning style."

The 10 Guiding Principles For Any Ask:

• The more personal and sincere you are with the people you are cultivating, the quicker you will be able to make the ask.
• Every prospect must be treated separately and distinctly.
• Anyone asking for a gift must first make his or her own gift.
• Ask for a specific amount for a specific purpose.
• Consistent givers can and will make larger gifts.
• Always use we instead of I in any ask because that connotes that the ask is being done with all the strength and backing of the organization.
• Any organization's planned giving program must be coordinated with all other fundraising programs.
• Every campaign prospect must be asked for as specific amount, with guidelines on how to fund the gift and with a proposed time frame.
• At the initial ask, stay committed to the ask amount.
• The ask without the follow-through will result in no gift.

Donation Idea Had Very Little Spice For Taco Bell

Jacob Ellsbury's stolen base in Game 2 of this past World Series will go down as a minor footnote in the annals of baseball history. For Boston Red Sox fans, the stolen base ended up meaning little in the context of a four-game sweep of the Colorado Rockies.

For America it meant a free taco at Taco Bell as part of a "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion. Three guys in New England, however, tried to give that meaningless stolen base a little more meaning.

Mike Esordi, Ed Northby and Jeremy Milner work together at Care New England, a Providence, R.I.-based health system. They were at lunch having burritos - at Taco Bell no less - when the discussion turned to the previous night's Sox game. One conversation led to another and www.donateyourtaco.com was born.

The online petition asked people to forgo their free taco, which retails for less than $1, and instead ask Taco Bell to donate the equivalent to the American Red Cross for relief efforts for the San Diego wildfires.

The petition doubled from 2,000 yo 4,000, on the morning of Oct. 3o, said Escordi, and reached more than 9,200 before the 5 p.m. deadline while the web page had 15,000 unique visitors that day, representing all 50 states. Escordi, who used to live in Southern California, said Taco Bell basically turned them down, but they're working on Plan B. He's open to suggestions.

Ellsbury walked and stole second base in the bottom of the fourth inning. Julio Lugo grounded out to end the inning, stranding Ellsbury at second base and leaving the score tied 1-1.

-Mark Hrywna

Just a Dancin' Fool...

According to talk-show powerhouse Oprah Winfrey, all it took was a guy, a stage, a spotlight...and some killer dance moves.

The result: "Evolution of Dance," the little video that could... garner 60 million views on YouTube, that is, and notoriety as the most viewed video of all time on the user-generated site.

Just as Judson Laipply did with his shimmies and shakes through decades of popular dance moves --- including such flat-footed staples as the "running man" and the "roger rabbit" --- so can you. Here are some simple tips compliled by Collactive, which assists nonprofits, like Campaign for America's Future, with Web 2.0 technologies:

• Create a relevant, informative video
• Keep video short - preferably less than two minutes
• Select a catchy title and thumbnail shot, which is uaually the exact middle, or "center frame," of your video
• Choose a relevant niche category to got on "Most Viewed Today" list
• Target the "Most Viewed Today" lists, rather than "Top Rated," "Most Discussed," or "Top Favorites"
• Ask constituents to view and promote your video

-Marla E. Nobles

Web site layout becoming commonplace

As the whole idea of technology-related nonprofit operation becomes commonplace, more thought is given to making the best use of what is available.

Nonprofit executives attending a recent national nonprofit conference learned that many organizations are finding a degree of success by employing certain strategies for the layout and presentation of their Web sites. They are shared by many of the organizations whose sites were rated in the Top 10 by either Forbes or The NonProfit Times.

Among the common characteristics:

• Nine out of 10 positioned their logo in the upper left-hand corner. It is the expected location. Further, logo placement should be consistent and link back to the homepage.
• Seven out of 10 use mastheads at the top of their homepage. This separates the core components to a site (Who, What, Where, Why).
• 80 percent positioned their search in the upper right-hand corner.
• 60 percent of the sites used a three-column grid format.
• 70 percent of the sites used a sidebar for simple navigation.
• 33 percent of the sites utilized Macromedia Flash.
• 30 percent of the sites incorporated streaming video.
• 40 percent of the sites used dropdown menus.
• 10 percent of the sites used pop-ups.
• 50 percent of the sites had a graph image that made eye contact with the viewer.
• Almost all built their text from html rather than a graphic.
• The best performers used multiple areas on the page for “Donate” or “Sponsor.”

Complex Executive Searches Take Different Directions

The complexities of an executive search sometimes reveal an unexpected direction that a nonprofit must take to effectively fill its leadership needs.

In its December issue of “Leadership Matters” Bridgestar features a case study of the search process for a chief operating officer (COO) at Fellowship Health Resources (FHR), a Rhode Island-based mental health services agency.

Here are five elements of the process:

• Look at the search process strategically. Evaluate your organization’s growth and senior management needs. Consider the type of structure and the types of leaders you need.
• Consider all candidates. Even if an organization has strong internal candidates, it’s important to open the search to a broader group. Vet internal candidates as carefully as you would external ones.
• Have an open mind and be ready to shift your thinking. Many organizations mistakenly believe that the job requirements they determine at the beginning of the search are set in stone. As hiring managers meet candidates, they gain additional insight into the needs of the organization, the right fit for their culture and the important requirements for the position.
• Have realistic expectations. The initial COO job description included a daunting list of required skills, as well as the expectation that the candidate would split time between the mid-Atlantic region and New England.
• Reflect on the qualities of hires that worked and those that didn’t. The driving requirement for the search became finding a candidate who would thrive in FHR’s hands-on organizational culture and who really understood the nature of FHR’s business.

This article is from NPT Weekly, a publication of The NonProfit Times.
Subscribe to The NPT Weekly eNewsletter or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest news and ideas related to fundraising delivered to your inbox.

Ideas for getting started on Web 2.0

If nonprofits are serious about reaching a newer and younger audience (read: donors), they should become familiar with a little thing called Web 2.0. The phrase is commonly used to describe the next generation of Web-based communities and services, such as social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, as well as other programs that help users share content.
But what does this do for nonprofits? Nonprofits can use social networks to gain access to new donors and advocates, said Marc Sirkin, chief marking officer at the New York City-based International Rescue Committee (IRC), during a recent direct marketing conference.

Social networks can drive donations, petition signatures and increase newsletter subscribers. While it may be hard to get any type of data to measure success of some Web 2.0 efforts, he said, a nonprofit can track referral traffic, as well as specific conversions, whether it's through donations, petition signatures or newsletter sign-up.

For nonprofits just getting started in Web 2.0, Sirkin offered some best practices for beginners:

• First, jump right in and get started, what are you waiting for? Feel free to learn on your own and set up your own profile.
• Don't worry too much about tracking at first.
• Start with re-posting some of your existing content on the Web to your social network page, such as images and video.

Are Your Automated Web Processes Working For You?

By Heather Fignar

Recently, I've been inundated with mail from a now defunct email box. In addition to all the email newsletters and feeds that I subscribe to, I have had my inbox cluttered with someone else's subscription choices.

In an ideal world, the former owner of the box would have changed all the subscription to a new email address. However, this exercise gave me an in-depth look into hundreds of subscription processes. It wasn't pretty. Here are some general observations on the good, bad and ugly -- not necessarily in that order.

• In more than 90 percent of cases, the landing pages were so non-descript that the organizational affiliation was unclear.
• In particular, Lyris applications displayed a page that says: "Your email address will be removed" and then asks, "Are you sure?" But the page, question, font and Yes button were so bland that I missed them the first couple times and had to repeat the process.
• Some unsubscribe pages were also non-descript, non-personalized forms that required me to enter the email address. Lance Armstrong Foundation was one of the few organizations that had personalized the page with a header. Others had no identifying copy at all.
• Several groups require an account login before allowing me to unsubscribe.
• Some landed me on a page with the organizations header that simply said, "You have been unsubscribed. Thank you." Some provided a more in-depth customized form that allows the subscriber to differentiate between the topic and all organizational emails.
• One of Howard Dean's emails had a sentence that read, "Click here to unsubscribe from this mailing list." But, it wasn't linked.
• FeedBlitz was the only unsubscribe page that readily gave me an option to change my email address without unsubscribing and re-subscribing

The saddest finding was the lack of effort put in by more organizations to customize these crucial relational pages. Unfortunately, most signup processes are just as generic. We would recommend that organizations spend the time and energy to customize the process. If constituents want to leave the list, make sure it isn't hard, but also provide a compelling reason for them to stay. At the very least, identify yourself.


***Heather Fignar is a managing partner with NPAdvisors in Warrenton, Va. Her email is heather@npadvisors.com. The organization's Web site is www.npadvisors.com
This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

About Face at FaceBook Is A Good Thing

By Holly Ross
There was a lot of hoopla over the recent announcement by Facebook about its Social Ads program, called Beacon. And by hoopla, I mean near hysteria-level complaining.

The blogosphere was aghast at the idea of the opt-out based advertising scheme. Apparently, the fine folks at FaceBook have seen the error of their ways. Mark Zuckerberg posted to the FaceBook blog:

About a month ago, we released a new feature called Beacon to try to help people share information with their friends about things they do on the web. We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them. We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it.

In response, they are implementing a couple of interesting changes:

• First, you will have to opt-in to display any Beacon advertising in your news stream, etc., instead of having to opt-out. Additionally, if you fail to respond to the opt-in request that is generated when you interact with a Beacon site, the system does not display the advertising. This is a significant and good change.
• Second, you can opt-out of the dang thing to begin with. Just go to your FaceBook privacy settings and click on the link for External Web sites.

***This item is from the blog of Holly Ross, executive director of NTEN, a technology support organization. It was edited slightly. Email her at holly@nptimes.com. The Web site is www.nten.org

This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

Salvation Army Scammers To Serve Time

By Marla E. Nobles
The federal government sent another ringing message to charity scammers thinking about taking advantage of public goodwill during times of disaster: you scam, you serve.

Two Houston brothers each were sentenced last month to more than eight years for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of fraudulently operating a Web site that claimed to raise money on behalf of the Salvation Army for Hurricane Katrina victims. The fraudulent Web site, prosecutors said, collected more than $48,000 before anyone caught on.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Steven Stephens, 24, to serve a total of 111 months. Bartholomew Stephens, 27, will serve a total of 105 months. A jury convicted the pair after a four-day trial in June.

The Stephens case is just one example of the more than 2,400 Katrina relief Web sites believed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) to be fraudulent.

More recently, as Southern California burned this past October criminals began setting up bogus Web sites and soliciting donations. According to the FBI, in the days following the California wildfires fraudsters flooded the Internet with fake charity sites.

To Read Complete Article Click Here...

When in London...

When picturing an upscale dinner party, an underwater breathing apparatus doesn't usually come to mind.

That wasn't the case at a recent London Fundraiser, where celebrities, including British Actor Nigel Havers (Empire of the Sun) and rugby player Matt "Daws" Dawson, joined 500 others at a West London swimming pool to raise money for charity -- and to break the Guinness world record for the world's largest formal underwater dinner party.

In groups of 20, diners sat down to a NASA-style meal of smoked salmon, crap and hazelnut praline, all jellied so as to not disintegrate in the water. To eat the ice cube-sized portions, explained The Park Club in West London, "...remove the aqua lung from your mouth, pop in the space food from NASA, replace the aqua lung in your mouth and press the button on the aqua lung to purge away the water in your mouth and start breathing again: as simple as that!"

The record-breaking attempt -- the previous record was 100, set in 1991 -- raised more that $400,000 for six charities, including Save the Children, Wooden Spoon, and The Shooting Star Children's Hospice.

- Marla E. Nobles

Finding a Cure: Fox works to find the cure for Parkinson's Disease

Actor Michael J. Fox - best known for his long-standing role as Alex P. Keaton on the hit sitcom "Family Ties" - kept his Parkinson's Disease a secret from the public for almost seven years. But after disclosing his condition in 1998, he knew he needed to take an active role in beating the disease.

"After I went public, people began to have conversation about Parkinson's," he said. "I started to go online and people were really talking about this. I realized I had become a student of this disease and truly had a responsibility to engage in this community."

Fox decided to form his own foundation to fund research of Parkinson's and educate others about what they can do to fight the disease. "With Parkinson's, the science is ahead of the money, and the idea of pursuing the science became very compelling to me."

But although Fox's foundation has made a huge impact on Parkinson's research (the foundation has given some $100 million to research), he still wonders why more isn't being done. "Who's in charge of finding a cure? There is $100 billion pt [into medical research]... you'd think there would be a Department of Cures or a Secretary of Cures."

In the meantime, Fox will continue his work in hopes of finding a cure. "We need to climb more mountains," he said. "My hope is that we find ways to link the academic world with the business world. That's what our foundation is doing and will continue to do."

Recommendations from New Orleans to you

Any nonprofit can face a difficult struggle when trying to bring relief to, or even cope with, a site of widespread devastation. The World Wide Web can be an extremely useful resource.

Rick Christ, managing partner of NPAdvisors.com, visited New Orleans. The city is still far from recovery, but Christ offered recommendations for utilizing the Web to stay operational that were presented to New Orleans nonprofits but that could have universal application.

The recommendations are:

• Think cheap and quick. There are plenty of free Web tools, but don't use any that take too long to learn.
• The Web was created for man, not man for the Web. A small nonprofit with no budget or tech staff that is literally digging itself out of the mud needs only to "do" online what produces real and immediate benefits. If there is no short-term gain online, don't do it.
• Get the fundamentals right, forget the rest. Focus on usability, on value to the Web user and on fundraising. Integration is only a problem if you have a lot of data.
• Web must follow mission. Only do online what furthers your mission (this week). If your mission is advocacy, the Web can help. If it is bringing people together, think chat rooms.
• Everyone wants to help. Ask. This can be true primarily along the Gulf Coast, but to an extent it's true among all nonprofits.

This article was posted in The NonProfit Times, Instant Fundraising. If you would like to read more articles like this one, signup for our free weekly eNewsletter here.

NPT/Mobile Cause -News on Your Cell Phone

The NonProfit Times has partnered with MobileCause to provide headlines and news when they happen directly on your cell phone.

You can now receive alerts every Tuesday, and when new breaks, on your cell phone by sending the word NPTIMES to 85944. Your normal text messages fee will apply.

MobileCause has been in the social sphere for more than 15 years. It is focused on cause and social marketing. It's in-house technology and developers connect to large, world-wide partners that insure everything is best in class.

The NonProfit Times has been a trusted news and comment provider for more than 20 years.

MobileCause utilizes servers in seven locations in the United states and two in Europe. Through this it has a large capacity to sustain large mobile initiatives o the scale of 64 million votes of American Idol. (Most mobile agencies are agency only and do not have in-house technology.) Also, the MobileCause team is filled with people who have Fortune 100 experience in all levels of interactive marketing and cause marketing experience.

When news breaks, you're just a ring tone away from being ahead of the game.

Sex Scandal Clean-up Continues At American Red Cross

By Paul Clolery

The American Red Cross (ARC) is undertaking a forensic audit of money spent by deposed Chief Executive Officer Mark Everson to determine if any of the charity’s money was used inappropriately as he romanced a married female subordinate who is now reportedly pregnant.

Everson, whose salary was $500,000, will receive nothing from the organization in terms of termination pay, said Carrie Martin, an ARC spokesman. “There is no severance package. The board has offered Mr. Everson a contribution (under $10K) to assist with medical insurance costs,” Martin responded via email to questions from The NonProfit Times.

The organization just started the review, according to sources. “The board members are livid,” said one ARC staffer with direct knowledge of the situation. “If he spent a dime, or bought a dinner, they are going to want it back.”

According to Martin, “As a matter of due diligence, the Red Cross has been reviewing sources that may potentially unearth evidence of financial or other impropriety. No evidence to suggest this has been found. … Therefore, we cannot speculate as to what actions the organization would take if any were found.”

Everson, 53, married with two adopted children, resigned Nov. 27 during a conference call with the ARC board. He had been on the job just six months. A senior staff member brought the situation to the board nine days earlier. The investigation was not initiated because of a complaint from the female subordinate.

Click Here to Read Complete Article...

5 reasons YOU should be on the "tube"

With the explosion of YouTube -- and everyone else and their uncle jumping on the video bandwagon -- the use of video can now be an inexpensive tool for nonprofits to promote their causes. Michael Hoffman, of See3 Communications, which creates media for nonprofits, offers the following advice for nonprofits looking to dip a toe into the world of online broadcast:

1. Video is more important than ever and it's here to stay. As the Web and television come together, your Web site is becoming a channel and the need to have engaging video content is becoming an organizational imperative. Imagine being given television time and using it to put up a PDF.
2. There are so many ways to use video these days, that the "Dinner Video" model no longer makes sense. Instead, document what your organization does on a regular basis, and make sure to check the calendar so you don't miss the most interesting moments. Create a library of content, which you can go back and reuse and repurpose over time. As this library grows, so do your story options.
3. Not everything has to be done professionally. Depending on your organization, staffing and interest, a certain level of self-sufficiency can be brought in-house. The model now is that you still do the high-value post-production, but that organizations will be more nimble in both gathering new material and in getting certain pieces out the door quickly.
4. YouTube is important. But counting views is not usually a nonprofit's goal. Lots of views on YouTube don't necessarily translate into clicks, emails or donations. In fact, they usually don't. That might change with YouTube's Nonprofit Program, but that's yet to be seen.
5. It is very early in terms of direct response Internet video. There aren't good metrics yet on where/how this works well. So for now, the main focus is on video as engaging content that complements campaigns and works well in a social networking context.

Keep Your Writing Readable On The Web

By Jamie Holaday
Considering people's ever-shortening attention spans and given the shocking lack of grammar taught in public schools, it's important to keep your writing straightforward to keep your readers on track. I didn't do such a great job in that first sentence. We'll have to see if I can reign in my verbose tendencies.

This item post is really to provide some top tips for writing for the Web. There are a few quirks when writing for the Web that are important to keep in mind.

• Consider your audience. You have people of all backgrounds and experiences surfing as equals. To accommodate this wide-spread audience, you're going to want to write at about a ninth grade reading level or less. Newspapers generally follow this principle. They want their work to be as accessible as possible and so should you.
  
• Think about attention span. (again) As we continue on in our sound-byte driven, media overload world, people's attention spans seem to shrink at a rate equivalent to the speed with which new toys for them to play with are developed. Not to be cynical or anything. What I'm trying to say is that you need to get to your point quickly. If you don't capture attention quickly, your reader might surf on.
  
• Think about the mechanics of reading on screen. Depending on the machine a person is using, the screen size and thus the amount of text seen can vary widely. This is one of the reasons that long Faulkner-esque paragraphs don't work well. Also, it's really hard to follow visually as you scroll. Keep paragraphs shorter with a decent amount of space in between them.

***

Jamie Holaday is the internal communications coordinator at Blackbaud. Her email is Jamie.holaday@blackbaud.com

***

This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT TechnoBuzz or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.

It's never too late to get started

There's never a perfect time to begin a planned giving program at your nonprofit, but you have to start somewhere.

Viken D. Mikaelian, president of VirtualGiving, Inc. in Valley Forge, Pa., suggests getting down to business: Go into the office on a Saturday and start planning. But don't make a dramatic announcement to your boss on Monday morning. Play it cool and don't make him/her nervous, just highlight the fact that "everybody else is grabbing these gifts, it's time we got in line too."

Start with thanking those donors who already have put your organization in their will.

Mikaelian, who led a session on marketing planned giving programs during this year's National Conference on Planned Giving conference in Grapevine, Texas, recommends drafting a letter about how important the endowment is to your organization -- "not bequests, not planned gifts, but the endowment." Here are elements of the letter:

• Be sure to include specifics about dollar amounts, who's investing it, and how it helps your organization reach its goals every year. A board member or CEO should sign the letter and mail it to everyone who has given $100 or more for the past three years.
• Create a tag line to every annual-fund acknowledgement, such as, "Make a gift that costs nothing during your lifetime."
• During some down time, schedule a letter to consistent donors asking them if they have included your nonprofit in their wills, and including sample bequest language if they want to do so now.

This article is from NPT Weekly eNewsletter, a publication of The NonProfit Times. Subscribe to NPT Weekly or any of our other enewsletters and get the latest nonprofit news and stories delivered to your inbox.