Here is the free non-profit webinar round-up for October, 2011. This month we've found webinars on branding; email marketing for non-profits; newsletters that engage; online fundraising; successful volunteer interviews; twitter basics and much more! Check out this list of webinars to see if any interest you and pass it along to others in your organization.
Wild Apricot Product Webinars
Here are the free Wild Apricot webinars we're offering in October:
Wild Apricot - Software Overview
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Eastern)
This free webinar is an introduction to Wild Apricot Software for associations, non-profits and other member-driven organizations. Led by one of our friendly and knowledgeable Apricots, you'll learn about the many features including: member applications and renewals; self-service portal; online member directory; communications features; event registration and management and more. You will also have an opportunity to ask questions and see first-hand how Wild Apricot can help you manage the "boring stuff" and get on with the real work of your organization.
Wild Apricot - Software Overview
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Eastern)
See above for program overview.
Managing Events in Wild Apricot
Thursday, 13 October 2011
3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Feel like you could be doing more to promote your events? In this webinar we'll teach you how to use all the features of Wild Apricot to publish and promote your events.
- Adding new events
- Capping event registrations
- Customizing the registration form
- Setting up registration pricing
- Multiple Event Calendars
- Customizing confirmation emails
- Working with Event Attendee Reports
- And much more...
Check our website later this month for additional Wild Apricot product webinars.
Here are the rest of the free non-profit webinars in chronological order:
Why Email? Reasons to Love (& Use) Email Marketing
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
1:00 PM (Eastern)
Are you connecting with your constituents via email? Do you pair your email marketing and social media efforts? In this Network For Good webinar, Matt McCutchan from Emma, Inc will explain how to use email to reach your audience, advance your cause and reduce your bottom line Join this webinar to learn:
- The art of knowing your audience
- How to save money by moving your marketing online
- How to quickly determine which messages resonate the most with your audience
What is a Brand and Why Does it Matter?
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Eastern)
This “brand 101″ session offered through Nonprofit Webinars is designed to help nonprofit leadership and board members understand the basic concepts around developing and maintaining a strong brand. Takeaways:
- What it means to brand an organization
- How to identify what’s at the core of your organization’s brand
- How to build simple messaging frameworks that allow consistent communications of that brand
- How to help your organization “walk the walk” and deliver on the promise of your brand
Nonprofit Newsletters that Engage
Thursday, 6 October 2011
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM (Eastern)
AND
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM (Eastern)
Engaging email newsletters raise awareness, strengthen your relationships, and help achieve your mission. Are yours doing that? In this live webinar, hosted by a Constant Contact online marketing expert, you can questions, hear your peers, and see for yourself how to get the most out of your newsletters. Discover the keys to an engaging newsletter and why online is essential.
- Understand what kind of content you should be sending supporters and explore resources for fresh content.
- Gain the top design tips that drive response.
- Find out what you can do to get your newsletter into the inbox and opened.
- See what other nonprofits are doing with their newsletters and the results they are getting including examples and statistics.
- Finish with some lessons you can learn inside of your reports to continually improve your newsletter.
Successful Volunteer Interview Strategies
Thursday, 6 October 2011
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Eastern)
Interviewing each prospective volunteer can seem overwhelming, but it's one of the best ways to ensure that the volunteers you recruit are the volunteers you need. This VolunteerMatch webinar introduces a variety of question types used in volunteer interviews and offers strategies for honing your interview skills. Materials will be provided to help you implement this process in your organization, as well as a training syllabus so you can learn how to recruit and train a volunteer staff to assist with prospective volunteer interviews.
How to Grow Your Business With Email Marketing
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
12:00 Noon – 1:00 PM (Eastern)
Email is the ideal complementary tool to social media. With it, you can grow your message virally! It’s a great way to reach customers and donors and interest them in what you have to offer. And you already know how to use it. In this Ventureneer webinar, you’ll learn to ratchet up the impact of your email marketing to increase its response rate. Let your email be all that it can be! We’ll show you best practices and winning strategies in this comprehensive look at what email can do and how it can help you:
- get and keep customers
- increase delivery and open rates
- write good headlines and content
- save time
- get readers to take action
- incorporate social networking
What Every Nonprofit Leader and Social Entrepreneur Needs to Know to Engage Listeners
Tuesday, 11 October 2011
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (Eastern)
Humor, storytelling, authenticity, and passion give you the power to engage listeners. And engaged listeners are more likely to take action on your behalf. In this Ventureneer webinar, you'll learn to develop your personal story, tell it with passion, and use your voice to draw people in. You'll also learn how to think on your feet so you can respond to tough questions with solid, confident answers. Our instructor’s 5-step process makes sure you can. The class adds to the skills taught in Giving Voice to Your Cause. If you liked Giving Voice, you'll like this webinar as well. However, there is no pre-requisite for joining this webinar.
Building Relationships: The Secret to Effective Online Fundraising
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
12:00 Noon – 1:00 PM (Eastern)
If raising funds online is about technology, then raising funds through direct mail is about paper. But that’s just silly. Any form of fundraising is about the relationship between the nonprofit and the donor or prospect. Strengthen that relationship and you increase the frequency and amount of donations as well as the number of donors. Online marketing builds relationships; offline fundraising uses those relationships. Online fundraising includes your website, your e-newsletter, social media and the synergy they generate. These leverage each other and they leverage your offline fundraising efforts.
Online fundraising isn’t a new way of thinking; it’s just a new way of delivery. In this Ventureneer webinar, you will learn:
- how to deliver your message to your most likely donors
- how to determine what combination of online and offline outreach is right for you
- which media builds donor loyalty and repeat giving
- how to leverage offline outreach with email and social media
- how to maximize synergy among media
- what works and how it works
Handling Difficult Conversations
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Eastern)
This webinar is for anyone who would like to improve their communication with difficult people. In this Nonprofit Webinars session, Judith Katz, MS, will present a set of simple tools that you will be able to apply immediately to any communication situation. The process she will be presenting on is a four-step methodology developed by psychologist Marshall Rosenberg that has been taken up by thousands of people and applied in businesses, community organizations, and government institutions around the world. Takeaways include:
- Being heard and understood by others
- Capacity to handle different points of view with grace and ease
- Using language with clarity and precision
- Effectively advocating for clients or others
- Establishing long-lasting, friendly relationships in the work-sphere
Best Practices to Advance Planned Giving
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Eastern)
How, when and why to secure planned gifts that bring real returns. Components and relative benefits of bequests in wills, annuities, a variety of trusts, retirement accounts and other planned gifts to nonprofits are described. Why nonprofit board trustees, senior managers, advancement professionals, every staff member and stakeholders can help stimulate the easiest gifts to make – planned gifts that secure an institution’s future! Roles of planned giving newsletters, seminars, financial and legal advisors, board trustees and individual visits. In this Nonprofit Webinars session, takeaways include:
- Best practices to market and solicit planned gifts
- Where to find planned gifts
- How to discover planned gift potential
- Family wealth management options
- Ways to blend personal solicitation and marketing
- 100-day plan-to-execution
Giving Your Constituents a Voice
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
2:00 PM (Eastern)
If there’s one thing more powerful than your organization sharing its mission to constituents, it’s letting your supporters tell your story for you. In this session, we’ll explore ways that nonprofits empower their constituents to voice their support for the organization’s mission year round. We will examine the channels and tools that maximize results based on your goals. In this Charity Dynamics webinar, you’ll learn how to:
- Create a space for constituents to talk about your mission
- Empower supporters to use social media to spread awareness for your cause and take action, from fundraising to advocacy
- Use survey’s to develop robust constituent profiles and leverage the enhanced data
How Nonprofits Can Easily Gather and Use Online Supporter Feedback
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
2:00 PM - 2:45 PM (Eastern)
The number one priority for nonprofits is retaining current supporters. It makes sense since keeping current supporters costs less than getting new ones, loyal supporters donate/act more, and they also bring in brand new supporters for free with positive word of mouth. Creating meaningful and useful two-way dialogue with supporters is a key ingredient to retention. In this Constant Contact webinar you'll discover:
- How to use the conversations already going on in social media for insightful feedback.
- How to easily make your own emails, website and social sites more interactive and useful.
- The right content to include to get high engagement among your supporters and actionable feedback.
- How other nonprofits are using feedback to help them achieve success.
- How to leverage supporter feedback to have loyal, raving fans of your organization.
How to Captivate and Engage Your Constituents with your Website
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
10:30 AM – 12:00 Noon (Eastern)
In this Firespring webinar, you will learn from more than 10 years of focus group research with nonprofit constituents and donors how to captivate and engage your audience. Key takeaways include:
- 5 required elements of engaging website;
- the 3 biggest mistakes nonprofits make with their website;
- 5 proven methods for promoting your organization online;
- the #1 thing nonprofits should consider regarding Search Engine Optimization;
- real-world examples of nonprofit organizations that have mastered their online presence.
Board Responsibility 101: The Basics
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
1:00 PM - 2:30 PM (Eastern)
Nonprofit boards have the ultimate responsibility and accountability for the organizations they lead. Does every member of your board understand their legal obligations, basic responsibilities, and duties?
It doesn't matter if you have served on a board for years or if you are serving on a board for the first time, this one hour Nonprofit Network course will help you with whatever stage of board development you are at with your organization. This Nonprofit Network webinar will address:
- 3 legal responsibilities of a nonprofit board
- 10 basic responsibilities of a nonprofit board
- Key tasks the board should undertake
The Artful Solicitor: Successful Major Gift Moves Management
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Major gifts fundraising is highly individualized. It focuses on the 10 percent who can give the 90 percent. Unlike direct response and special events, a major gift solicitation is most likely to succeed only when you physically and psychologically get in “front” of your prospects. Involvement is the key.
Moves Management, initially developed by G.T. “Buck” Smith and David Dunlop at Cornell University, is a disciplined process of relationship management that is the best way to assure the maximum return on investment. This Nonprofit Webinars session led by David A. Mersky, will examine the process and explore the methods of moves management from prospect identification and research through involvement, solicitation and stewardship. Takeaways:
- How to create and manage a major gifts process?
- Systems and forms to manage the process
- The single most important step in major gifts relationship management--the follow-up
- Tips in appointment making
- Overcoming objections in face-to-face solicitations
Boomer Volunteers Building Capacity: Successfully Managing Change
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Eastern)
Shifting from a traditional culture of volunteer management to a collaborative culture of volunteer engagement presents challenges and opportunities. This VolunteerMatch webinar introduces participants to specific tools that help to smooth the transition and structure your organization for successful - and lasting - change. The webinar features the stages of change, tools to assess of current volunteer practices, and a proven model for change that participants can take back to their teams to begin implementing. The series, presented by Jill Friedman Fixler, author of the Boomer Volunteer Engagement series, and co-author/editor Beth Steinhorn, is designed as a collection of four separate webinars and can be taken in any order.
It’s More than Dollars Raised
Thursday, 27 October 2011
2:00 PM (Eastern)
Social Media and mobile solutions should justify their investment, but that is only one aspect of their value. When determining where to spend your marketing budget, your nonprofit needs to look at the total value of each marketing channel including measurements for awareness, engagement, and retention. Understanding this will empower you to make smarter investment choices and create a more targeted fundraising strategy. Learn how to develop a full value measurement and compare tactics including: Facebook, Twitter, Search Engine Marketing, online ad placement, email and mobile applications. You will walk away with a worksheet to compare the costs and benefits of online media options that you can use to tailor your fundraising campaigns and maximize results.
After attending this Charity Dynamics webinar you will:
- Know how to measure full value of online marketing channels
- Understand what channels can deliver on different fundraising goals
- Be able to develop a comparison of tactics to tailor your fundraising campaigns and maximize ROI
An Introduction to Using Twitter for Your Nonprofit
Thursday, 27 October 2011
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (Eastern)
For nonprofits, the power of Twitter offers an opportunity to reach more people, engage influential advocates, and increase online donations. Organizations, large and small, like The National Wildlife Federation, Big Love Little Hearts, and Kids Are Heroes are successfully using Twitter as part of their online strategy. During this free high-level CharityHowTo webinar – presented by John Haydon - you’ll find out the benefits of using Twitter. And we won’t be showing PowerPoint only - we’ll be doing real-time tweeting, and retweeting.
Same time, next month?
This round-up of free non-profit webinars is a regular monthly feature compiled by the Wild Apricot Blog. Subscribe by RSS or get updates by email and be sure to catch next month’s webinars, as well as other great resources for associations and non-profits.
Do you have a webinar for the upcoming October Round-up?
If your organization offers a free webinar that would be of interest to non-profit, membership or volunteer-based organizations and you want to include it in next month's post, please email an overview (like those above) to lori@wildapricot.com no later than October 15th.
And, as always, if you know of a free webinar that we've missed for this month -- please share the details in the comments section below - but please provide only a brief overview!