Welcome to the Nonprofit Partnership E-News

In this Issue

	February, 2010
	Giving Your Newsletter Its Annual Check-up
	Get Engaged! Save Tuesday April 7 for Public Policy
	Also Upcoming from The Nonprofit Partnership
	Capacity-Building Grants for Arts Organizations
	Free CPR Training for NPP Members' Staff
	Save the Date - Grantsmanship Center Training
	Six Blog Writing Tips

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Robert Wooler,
Director
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February, 2010

This edition of The Nonprofit Partnership e-news is sponsored by Malin, Bergquist & Co.

Giving Your Newsletter Its Annual Check-up

Like most people these days, you are probably re-evaluating the utility of everything to justify the time and cost associated. And so it is with your organization’s newsletter. It probably falls into one of two categories:
• It provides an educational service to your readers
• It build support and urges action – financial or otherwise.
While your newsletter may do both, it is important to know which is your primary objective, because that is what will help you to create value in the eyes of your readers. For this purpose, it is important to be intentional and to plan. When you know the desired action you would like your newsletter to produce, you can work backward to create more specific calls to action. When your goal is to raise funds, it is essential to mix in pieces that show progress and success so that donors know how their gifts and those of others are working.

Creating “standing heads,” or standard categories of articles that you can use serves a useful tickler function and suggests a way to store pieces that you come across and want to save to use in your messages and communications. To help tie to reader interest and create a relevance and buzz for your newsletter, tie your stories to the larger stories in national news and create story arcs – themes that you explore in depth over several sequential issues.
 

For more information, please see Kivi Miller's extensive resources on nonprofit communications.

Get Engaged! Save Tuesday April 7 for Public Policy

Different Perspectives - Common Interests
A Full Day Event That Brings Together Erie's Nonprofits, Elected Officials, and Philanthropy

Wednesday, April 7, 2010 - 8:30 am - 3:00 pm at
Ambassador Conference Center, 7794 Peach St., Erie.

This unique gathering of nonprofits, elected officials, and the philanthropic sector is designed to shed light on the unique role and contribution of nonprofits, look in detail at the local, state, and federal budgets and what they mean for nonprofits in 2010, and examine the ways nonprofits, government, and philanthropy can work together more effectively.

In addition to local elected officials, special guests include Steve Gunderson, President of the Council on Foundations, Tony Ross, President of the United Way of Pennsylvania, and Sharon Ward, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center.

Also Upcoming from The Nonprofit Partnership

Three Deadly Data Backup Mistakes: How to Avoid Disaster at Your Nonprofit

Presented by Beth Burnside, Principal of CMIT Solutions, Erie

Friday, March 5, 9:30 - 11:30 am at Highmark Caring Place, 510 Cranberry Street, Erie

In this sobering yet entertaining and informative session, you will learn:
· The most common data disasters and how to avoid them
· Why one in five businesses loses their data every five years
· The three questions every organization should ask themselves
· How to evaluate your current system
· The quickest and easiest way to secure your data.
Beth Burnside of CMIT Solutions in Erie offers her views and solutions based on work with nonprofits of all
shapes and sizes.

_____________________________________________________

DIY Google AdWords Grant Program for Nonprofits

Thursday, March 25, 8:30 - 11:30 am, WQLN, 8425 Peach Street, Erie

Learn how nonprofits use search engine marketing to reach and connect with their audiences.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a unique online marketing channel that promotes organizations by increasing their visibility in search engine result pages through paid placement and natural ranking. And the use of relevant keywords and phrases that visitors used to search.

This session will help you understand how nonprofits can use search engine marketing to build awareness and drive traffic to their website to the online connected audience. The hands-on workshop will walk you through the process of obtaining a Google Grant for the AdWords program. This grant provides approved charitable non-profit organizations with in-kind advertising (FREE). You will learn how to create a successful Google AdWords strategy that can generate real results for your organization. You will see the tools used in creating, maintaining and tracking SEM campaigns for popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing.

To register, please call 454-8800 x 1, e-mail to tnp@thenonprofitpartnership.org, or reply.

Capacity-Building Grants for Arts Organizations

On Tuesday, March 2 at 12 noon at the Cathedral of St. Paul (134 West 7th St.), The Nonprofit Partnership and ArtsErie will introduce a round of capacity-building grants for arts and culture nonprofits. Funded by a grant from the Kresge Foundation, these grants averaging $6,000 - $10,000 in size will help arts organizations with strategic planning, fund development, marketing planning, and systems development in 2010 and 2011. Join us to hear about the grant program and application process and take the next steps toward building capacity for your organization.

Free CPR Training for NPP Members' Staff

Vanguard Medical Missions is offering to provide free CPR training to the staff and volunteers of Nonprofit Partnership member agencies.  The training will be three hours in duration and will satisfy the first aid certification requirements you may have for your client service setting or classroom.  We will schedule a session based on the interest and availability of 25 people who respond to this offering.  Please reply to this announcement with the names of those interested and we will coordinate training times.  The training is being offered for free in the hopes that attendees will make a donation for earthquake relief in Haiti.

Save the Date - Grantsmanship Center Training

This summer The Nonprofit Partnership will again host the world-renowned Grantsmanship Center training program, an intensive full week of immersion in best-practice grant-finding and grantwriting skills. This training will be held at the Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies the week of August 16-20 and is limited to 30 participants, so reserve your spot today by following this link. The Nonprofit Partnership will pay $400 toward the $895 tuition fee for current members.

Six Blog Writing Tips

1. Be Conversational
Write in a tone that seems like you are writing or talking to a friend. This will make the reader feel more connected to your organization.

2. Spell Check
Write as if you are talking to a friend, but a friend that appreciates proper spelling and grammar. You will look more credible by saying and spelling things correctly.

3. Stay Up-to-Date
Continue to research topics related to your organization. No one wants to read a blog about old news.

4. Be Who You Are
Write your blog as yourself, not somebody else. The readers will appreciate your very own style of writing the more they read it. They want to be informed and entertained.

5. Short and Simple
Keep the entry short. If you have more than a couple hundred words to say then split it up into a series of posts or link it to a longer article

6. Frequency of Postings
Do not post so much that you get burned out and then stop when you run out of ideas. Also try not to post so infrequently that the readers get bored or forget to visit. Try a couple times a week or see what suits your audience best before jumping into it.

For more information, see http://www.emarketingman.com/articles/e-marketing-success-tips-blogging.shtml