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Articles by Terry Ibele
How to Start a Nonprofit in 12 Steps
If you’re thinking of starting a nonprofit, congratulations! It’s an amazing way to bring people together and make a difference in your community. It can also be quite an overwhelming process. That’s why we created this comprehensive guide — it covers absolutely everything you need to know about how to start and grow a successful nonprofit. It’s a lengthy one, so feel free to use the table of contents on the left side to jump to the sections you’re interested in the most.
14 Best Club Management Software Tools That Save Time and Money
Small to medium sized clubs — those run by a handful of part-time staff or volunteers — use club management software as an inexpensive way to automate nearly all of their administrative work so they can get back to what’s important: enjoying their club’s activities and creating value for their members.
The Best Membership Website Builders in 2024
Looking to build a membership website? Finding the right membership website builder can be a lot of work, especially if you don’t know where to start. But this blog post is here to help! We take the guesswork out of what makes a great membership website builder to help you find the right one. Read on to learn all about membership websites, the key things to include in yours and what to look for when selecting a membership site builder for your organization. What is a membership website?
10 Member Drive Ideas
If you’re looking to run a membership drive and need some help, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve rounded up 10 real-life examples of organizations (both small and large) that held very successful membership drives, gaining anywhere from 5 to 200 new members. To put on a successful membership drive you can’t over-complicate things. Your membership drive ideas should be fairly simple to plan and execute.
The Top 11 Chamber of Commerce Software Solutions in 2024
If administrative work is taking over your organization — things like filling out membership applications by hand, running cheques to the bank, manually processing event registrations and sorting through a messy Excel directory — Chamber of Commerce Software is one option that can free up a lot of time and save you money. In fact, I know someone who runs his entire 600-member Chamber of Commerce by himself as a part-time staff.
The Nonprofit’s Guide to Augmented Reality (+12 Examples)
If you’re interested in dabbling in some of the latest technology to give your nonprofit’s campaign a boost (raise awareness, donations, members, etc.), you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I’m going to cover everything you need to know about how to make a successful Augmented Reality nonprofit campaign plus 12 examples of nonprofits who’ve already found success. Here’s what I’ll cover: What is Augmented Reality?
the Best Options in 2024
I know one woman who runs her entire 1,500-member homeowner association by herself as a part-time staff member. That’s because she leaves most of the work up to her Homeowner Association Software — it essentially runs the organization for her. If you’re also a self-managed HOA and want an easier option to manage your homeowners’ association, it might be time to look into it as well.
How to Start an Association Step by Step
Associations come in various forms, each with their own goals and mission. If you’re looking to start your own association and want to make a meaningful impact, I’ve created this step-by-step guide just for you! This guide will help anyone who wants to know how to start an association in the USA.
25 Solid Membership Website Examples & How to Create Your Own
Want to see how other membership organizations have set up their websites? Or have a few questions regarding whether creating a membership website is feasible for you? Here are 25 solid examples of membership websites from all sorts of different organizations. I’ve sorted this list into three categories with instructions on how to create your own membership website at the end: What is a Membership Website? How Much Does a Membership Website Cost? How do I Create a Membership Website?
The Best Social Media Tools for Nonprofits in 2022
This is a guest blog post by Julia Campbell, a nonprofit digital marketing and online fundraising strategists. Social media offers endless opportunities for nonprofits to spread awareness and fundraise. This can be both exciting and challenging for nonprofit marketers. After all, thousands of social media management and scheduling tools are available, so it can be hard to know which ones are right for your organization. To help you choose, we’ve created this guide to the top solutions on the market.
21 Association Management Software (AMS) Options to Transform Your Org
“I’m drowning here! I wish I could afford an admin assistant!” This is what an association manager posted in a Facebook Group I’m a part of. I got in touch with her and replied, “Maybe you can’t afford an assistant, but how about a robot assistant?” I meant that kind of tongue in cheek, but there is a way to get basically the same thing by using an inexpensive software called association management software, which can automate nearly all of your administrative tasks.
An Introduction to Nonprofit Storytelling
This is a guest blog post by Vanessa Chase Lockshin, founder of The Storytelling Non-Profit. What's happened when you've read or watched a story that engaged you? Chances are you're still probably thinking about it. It was that memorable. One of the first nonprofit stories that I remember was a thank you video from the Ride to Conquer Cancer British Columbia Cancer Foundation. In fact, I still remember the two people who spoke that moved me to tears.
12 Productivity Tools for Nonprofits (2021 Update)
Alyssa had no idea what she was getting into when she landed her first role as the Admin Coordinator at a small association in Chicago. While her duties seemed clear-cut in the job description, she quickly realized what a mess everything was on the inside. On top of managing the general administrative work, she was also expected to help plan events, manage members, and promote the organization online. She loved the staff and members of the association.
Festival Stop Motion Montreal Awards Crown Expanded Virtual Edition
Festival Stop Motion Montreal’s 12th edition — and first-ever ‘Home Sweet Home’ virtual event — wrapped up with a live-streamed closing ceremony held Sunday, September 20, the Festival team and jury members assembled to announce this year’s award winners and, thanks to the virtual format, had some of the filmmakers join in to accept their awards from wherever they were across the globe.
Festival Stop Motion Montreal: Winners & Recap of Home Sweet Home Edition
Festival Stop Motion Montreal: Winners & Recap of Home Sweet Home Edition 23 September 2020 // Festival News It’s a wrap for Festival Stop Motion Montreal’s 12th edition and first-ever virtual edition, which ran completely online this past September 14-20.
Three Principles to Optimize Your Nonprofit Website for Conversion
By: Terry Ibele A nonprofit website is effective when it successfully encourages visitors to take up a specific call of action. The moment at which a visitor provides a desired response -- whether by donating, subscribing to an email list, or creating a new membership account -- is called "conversion." There are plenty of quick-fix tactics promising to dramatically boost your conversion rates, from customized pop up messages on your homepage to standard donation amounts.
Your Nonprofit Culture Can Be Ruined by These 3 Common Traps
Terry Ibele 19 January 2018 I’ve seen some nonprofits unintentionally create toxic (and downright annoying) work expectations that ultimately deter the creation of strong, functional teams. Take this example from Colin, who worked for an organization that managed a zip-lining course as part of a summer camp enrichment program for youth. At the camp, every employee had to complete the high ropes portion of the course “together” as part of the on-boarding process.
The Silly Duck Wizard
The Silly Duck Wizard 2019 // Childrens, Short Film, Stop Motion 1:27 mins Dir: Terry Ibele What is the film about? A silly wizard only knows one spell about ducks. What influenced it? A lot of influences came from my childhood – retro video game nostalgia, my love for fantasy novels and absurdist humor. A little background information... I decided to make this short film as a piece I could use for my portfolio and as an animation test for a kid’s show I had an idea for. How was the film made?
How to Start a 501c3 Nonprofit the Right Way in Nine Steps
Terry Ibele 20 August 2019 Everything you need to know to start a 501c3 nonprofit and get your first members. If you’re thinking of starting a nonprofit (association, club, charity, etc.) or 501c3, first of all, congratulations! Secondly, you’ve come to the right place. I created this comprehensive guide to cover absolutely everything you need to know about how to start a nonprofit and what it takes to become successful in today’s world.
The Best Way to Avoid Choosing The Wrong Nonprofit Software
This is a post relates to our free webinar on the top nonprofit tools used by the pros, which you can watch anytime you like. I know a 2,000 member association run entirely by one part-timer named Susan. She’s figured out how to use software like an army of robots to do all her administrative work for her. They process member payments, event registrations, schedule volunteers, and even send text updates to her members automatically.
The A - Z of Fundraising Ideas
Are you struggling to decide what to do for your next fundraiser? Do you have a high target to hit, and just aren’t sure how to get there? Whether you’re trying to raise funds for a nonprofit, club, or association, there’s a lot of pressure riding on you to find the best idea and to raise enough money to keep your organization going. To help you out, I’ve created this comprehensive list of fundraising ideas that can suit any organization, no matter your type, time frame or budget.
The Ultimate Nonprofit Video Marketing Strategy + 5 of the Best Nonprofit Videos We’ve Seen
I know many nonprofits who are sceptical of video marketing. “Making videos is too expensive,” Jen, a communications coordinator at a small nonprofit, told me. “And they take too much time to prepare.” However, video marketing can be a huge asset for your nonprofit. When I pointed out that with the right video marketing strategy, 57% of people who watch a video for a nonprofit go on to make a donation, she reluctantly agreed to give it a try. And once she filmed a video, there was no going back.
The Complete Guide to Running a Successful Membership Drive (+10 Proven Ideas to Get More Members)
If you’re looking to run a membership drive and need some help, you’ve come to the right place. I’ve rounded up 10 real-life examples of organizations (both small and large) that held very successful membership drives, gaining anywhere from 5 to 200 new members. The best part is that they didn’t over-complicate things. The strategies these organizations chose were fairly simple to plan and execute.
3 Nonprofit Hashtag Strategies That Actually Get Followers, Raise Money, and Spread Awareness
Most nonprofits aren’t doing hashtags right. How often have you come across a post on Instagram or Twitter that’s got nonprofit hashtags spammed to the max (the max on Instagram is 30, and Twitter only allows 280 characters)? Take this example: Do you think all those hashtags are worth it? If you think more hashtags are better, take a look at this research: TrackMaven found that engagement decreases after 11 hashtags are used on Instagram, and engagement decreases after just one hashtag on Twitter.
The Ultimate Membership Renewal Guide
Practical tips and tactics for small membership organizations on how to manage membership renewal. If you are looking for ideas to refresh your membership renewal process, you’re not alone! We get questions about renewals from small to large-sized organizations all the time. So, with access to thousands of organization across North America, we decided to conduct an extensive survey on their renewal practices.
6 Blogging Best Practices to Write Content That Will Actually Rank
When it comes to ranking number one in Google search results, which do you think is more important? From my experience, it’s a mix of both, but more importantly B: Writing really really really really useful content. Over the past year, I’ve been able to rank more than 100 blog posts from the Wild Apricot Blog in Google search results, many of which hold the top position for their search term. From what I’ve learned, technical SEO only gets you so far.
5 tips to launch an augmented reality campaign
If you’d like to create an augmented reality or virtual reality campaign, you’ll need technical skills and money. However, it doesn’t have to be a budget-busting endeavor. It’s increasingly easy and inexpensive to create AR experiences. Here are five ideas for crafting an affordable AR campaign for your company: Do you have a conference for which you’d like more attendee engagement, or perhaps a fundraising campaign happening in your city? How about a 5K event?
5 tips to launch an augmented reality campaign
If you’d like to create an augmented reality or virtual reality campaign, you’ll need technical skills and money. However, it doesn’t have to be a budget-busting endeavor. It’s increasingly easy and inexpensive to create AR experiences. Here are five ideas for crafting an affordable AR campaign for your company: Do you have a conference for which you’d like more attendee engagement, or perhaps a fundraising campaign happening in your city? How about a 5K event?
How your organization can use virtual and augmented reality
Nonprofit communication is all about inspiring action. Augmented and virtual reality can create visceral experiences that enable donors to see the world in a different way—in a tangible manner that seems close enough to touch. Ben Bisbee, a nonprofit engagement consultant, explains the boundless potential of these emerging, immersive technologies: Imagine you run a breakfast program for underprivileged students.
How your organization can use virtual and augmented reality
Nonprofit communication is all about inspiring action. Augmented and virtual reality can create visceral experiences that enable donors to see the world in a different way—in a tangible manner that seems close enough to touch. Ben Bisbee, a nonprofit engagement consultant, explains the boundless potential of these emerging, immersive technologies: Imagine you run a breakfast program for underprivileged students.
The 10 Best Social Media Tools for Nonprofits That Save Time and Money (2018 Update)
This is a guest blog post by Julia Campbell, a nonprofit digital marketing and online fundraising strategists. Does trying to manage all your social media accounts feel like running on a hamster wheel that never stops? You’re not alone. For over a decade, I’ve helped nonprofit professionals save time (and money) by setting up free and low-cost tools for social media managers that can easily manage and monitor all your accounts in one place.
The Top 5 Social Media Fails Your Nonprofit is Still Committing (and How to Win Instead!)
Every day I see nonprofits doing social media wrong. Some are even hurting their reputations from repeated mistakes. So, let’s get down to business and talk about the top five #fails I see nonprofits doing on social media. If you’re committing some of these #fails, don’t worry. I’m also going to show you how I’ve seen nonprofits #win on social media. What’s wrong with this line of tweets from a nonprofit on Twitter. I blurred out the content and the account for privacy.
The Top 5 Social Media Fails You’re Still Committing (and how to #win instead!)
Note: I’m writing this post from a nonprofit perspective, because that’s where I have expertise in. However, these fails apply to any organization on social media. Some are even hurting their reputations from repeated mistakes. So, let’s get down to business and talk about the top five #fails I see nonprofits doing on social media. If you’re committing some of these social media #fails, don’t worry. I’m also going to show you how I’ve seen nonprofits create social media #wins.
37 Free Nonprofit Webinars for February 2018
Every month I compile the internet's biggest list of free nonprofit webinars. If you don't have a date for this Valentine's Day, don't worry, there are three free webinars on the 14th that can keep you company, including one on improving your relationships with your Grantmakers. Other topics this month include online auctions, fundraising planning and tech trends that will help you find volunteers.
A Nonprofit Guide to Augmented Reality (+12 Examples of Inspiring Campaigns)
If you’re interested in dabbling in some of the latest technology to give your nonprofit’s campaign a boost (raise awareness, donations, members, etc.), you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I’m going to cover everything you need to know about how to make a successful Augmented Reality nonprofit campaign plus 12 examples of nonprofits who’ve already found success. Here’s what I’ll cover: Simply put, Augmented Reality (AR) is the integration of virtual elements into the real world.
How to Get Millennial Donors from Social Media
Many nonprofits create a message for their donation campaigns on social media the same way they would an ad for their organization. They say things like, “Support our organization…” or “You can help us by…” The problem is these types of messages ask millennial to do something with little context — the same way advertisements do. Unfortunately, millennials hate ads. In fact, only 1% of millennials say they would trust an organization based on a compelling advertisement.
37 Free Nonprofit Webinars for January 2018
Every month I compile the internet's biggest list of free nonprofit webinars. Do you want to raise more funds, engage more volunteers, and stay on top of the latest online tools in 2018? If so, there's a free nonprofit webinar in January on each of these topics and more. And if you're a membership-based organization, there's one special webinar to look out for on January 30 (hosted by yours truly): 21 Tech Tools Membership Managers Use to Save Lots and Lots of Time.
The 5-Step Process to Create a Successful Nonprofit Landing Page
When done right, your nonprofit landing pages can become your most powerful tools for growing your organization online — donations, email subscribers, members, volunteers, etc. For example, here’s the story of one nonprofit that set up a donation landing page and experienced a 200% increase in online donations.
5 Types of Nonprofit Members and Practical Tips on How to Engage Them
Is your organization experiencing some of these symptoms of unengaged members? I’ve seen some nonprofits avoid these symptoms for too long and members started to leave. On the other hand, I’ve also seen organizations turn member engagement around for the better simply by identifying the different types of members they have and creating strategies to engage each one. In this post, I’m going to cover the five most common nonprofit member types I’ve encountered and the strategies I’ve seen work best.
5 Types of Nonprofit Members and How to Engage Them
Is your organization experiencing some of these symptoms of unengaged members? I've seen some nonprofits avoid these symptoms for too long and members started to leave. On the other hand, I've also seen organizations turn member engagement around for the better simply by identifying the different types of members they have and creating strategies to engage each one. In this post, I'm going to cover the five most common nonprofit member types I've encountered and the strategies I’ve seen work best.
The 3 Best Instagram Strategies For Nonprofits
This is a guest post from Social Media Specialist, Lilach Bullock. Some nonprofits seem to get thousands of likes and new followers on Instagram effortlessly. And while it may seem difficult to get the same results, I’ve seen nonprofits find similar success pretty quickly. If you’re struggling to get results (engagement, followers, and so on), or simply starting from scratch, I’m going to show you the three best Instagram strategies for nonprofits I’ve seen get more likes and followers.
How I Quadrupled My Nonprofit Blog Traffic in Less Than 1 Year
In this post I’m going to share everything I’ve learned about how to build a successful nonprofit blog from the ground up. For the past two years, I’ve been managing the Wild Apricot blog. This year I’ve taken traffic from 9,000 visitors a month (where I left off last December) to over 36,000. We were even featured as the 14th top nonprofit blog in Feedspot’s Top 75 Nonprofit Blogs of 2017. This Google Analytics snapshot shows individual sessions, not total blog post views (ex.
Specific Strategies To Take Your Conference Full Frontal
This is a guest post from Jeff Hurt, the presenter of our free webinar “How to Turn Your Events into a Growth Engine for your Organization,” which is part of Wild Apricot’s Membership Growth Online Summit 2017. You can sign up for Jeff's webinar and the Growth Summit here. You can make your conference the purple cow of all conference experiences. That is if you want to be seen as unique and different. So how do you do that?
How I Quadrupled My Nonprofit Blog Traffic in Less Than 1 Year
Terry Ibele 30 October 2017 In this post I’m going to share everything I’ve learned about how to build a successful nonprofit blog from the ground up. For the past two years, I’ve been managing the Wild Apricot blog. This year I've taken traffic from 9,000 visitors a month (where I left off last December) to over 37,000. We were even featured as the 14th top nonprofit blog in Feedspot’s Top 75 Nonprofit Blogs of 2017.
Young Professionals Are Not Joining Associations, But Not for the Reasons We Think
This is a guest post by Amanda Kaiser, which first appeared on the GuideStar blog. Did you know that hair is a good metric for organizational health? Recently, I was on the phone with a seasoned professional and long-time engaged association member, who said, “I walked into the conference’s general session room and looked out over the seated crowd of about 3,000. Do you know what struck me?
10 Inexpensive (or Free) Nonprofit Marketing Tools That Create Stunning Visuals
This is a guest blog post by Julia Campbell, a nonprofit digital marketing and online fundraising strategists. Posts with images and videos get shared up to 230% more than those without. On top of that, when people hear information, they’re likely to remember only 10% of it three days later – but if it’s paired with an image, they will retain 65% of the information.
6 Tech Tools That Attract Lots and Lots of New Members
From my work with hundreds of nonprofits over the past few years, there are a couple of key trends that have stood out to me. One is that the demands on a nonprofit professional have increased dramatically. Years ago you didn’t need a social media presence, or an online component to your membership and events, plus it was much easier to find volunteers and raise money.
How to Say “No” to Board Members
Board Member: “We need to do something viral, like the Ice Bucket challenge.” Everyone Else: “I don’t think that will work for us.” Thirty minutes later, the board member is still insisting on a viral challenge. Situations like this, where a board member completely derails a conversation, or refuses to try something new, can hinder a nonprofit from optimizing their potential and meeting the needs of the people they serve.
The Complete Nonprofit Compliance Checklist From an Expert
This is a guest blog post by Austin A.H. Jefferson of ExpressTaxExempt, an authorized IRS E-File provider and hub for everything tax exempt. I recently spoke with the head of an organization whose nonprofit status got revoked by the IRS. It came as a complete surprise to him — he thought the organization was in good standing, but ever since the officer who handled their tax filings left, no one had actually taken the time to check. Unfortunately this isn’t a rare case from my experience.
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