Calendar

Social media management can be a full-time job, but rarely can small arts groups afford that kind of staff time to really use the tools to engage donors, recruit program volunteers, or advertise a performance in channels where people spend their time. Creating a social media team which mixes staff, board and other volunteers can really extend a nonprofit’s reach. The challenge then becomes managing all that effort in real time for measurable goals (often referred to as conversions in measurement tools like Google Analytics).

This session will dive deep into Hootsuite as one tool to manage scheduled posts, author roles, and monitoring channels for engagement. Ensuring consistent voice across authors and scheduling some posts for review will be discussed, as well as a brief overview of other platforms such as Tweetdeck and Buffer. Recommended Hootsuite primer available here: http://mashable.com/2013/09/18/hootsuite-beginners-guide/.

Hosted by the Three Rivers Community Foundation and Initiative Foundation.

Crowdfunding is a tool to seek and secure financial contributions from many donors in order to achieve specific project goals in a short period of time.  This exciting presentation by Steve Boland, Managing Partner of Next in Nonprofits, will review the common crowdfunding tools such as Razoo, GiveMN, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and discuss the essential elements of successful crowdfunding campaign.

Grant Writing is a key source of funding for most nonprofit organizations and in this session participants will learn how to make their proposals stronger. Barb Downs, Grants Specialist of the Initiative Foundation, will lead participants through writing clear and concise narratives that show program/project impact. Additionally, participants will review grant budgets and have the opportunity to ask their pressing grant related questions. 

This complimentary workshop will be presented at First National Bank of Elk River in the Training Room from 9:00 a.m. to noon. Doors will open at 8:30 with light refreshments

Donors don’t all think of themselves as philanthropists.

At least, not yet.

What has stood in the way of millions of individuals counting themselves as philanthropists has been the misperception that they don’t give enough to make a difference like those big foundations do. For any single person, that is mostly true. Aggregated, however, the individual is mighty. Aggregated, the crowds can do things even the large foundations cannot do.

Join CommitChange and Next in Nonprofit’s Steve Boland for a discussion on how you can turn your donors into your biggest advocates and mission communicators. Donation processing sites can help bring tools to encourage purposeful donors across charities, but both sides of the giving equation need to promote the benefits of millions of engaged philanthropists instead of millions of disconnected donors.

GiveMN.org has a range of tools available to help Minnesota nonprofits raise the support they need. One set of tools involves the creation of projects for teams, and then individual fundraiser pages which support the project goal. Spend an hour with the GiveMN.org staff, Steve Boland of Next in Nonprofits, and Peter Rachleff from East Side Freedom Library to talk about how these tools have been used in a start-up nonprofit, and how the Library provided support for its volunteers to help bring in new resources.

This breakout session from 1:45 to 3:00 PM is part of the full day Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Fundraising Conference. 

Join GiveMN for real life lessons for turning your best donors into your best (online) fundraisers. GiveMN fundraiser technology allows your donors to share your mission and their passion while activating their communities on your behalf. What’s holding them back? What’s holding you back? If the answer is “I don’t know,” you need to be in this session! We’ll hear stories from nonprofits who do this well and explore how to activate your donors, identify lucrative communities of participation, optimize GiveMN technology to bring your story alive and recognize your best donors and fundraisers.
Dan Moore, director of development, operations, and product, GiveMN
Steve Boland, managing partner, Next in Nonprofits

Social media is a great tool to get the word out about your programs, but that’s only the beginning. Build strong communities through social media by creating meaningful conversations online and providing relevant, consistent information. This session will give you the tools to create your own social media plan, including tools for measuring success and templates for managing it all.

This break-out session is part of the Nonprofits Essentials conference presented by the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits and the University of Saint Thomas. The full conference runs from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM. 

Give to the Max Day isn’t until November, why plan now? A lot of community resources will be devoted to promoting giving that day, and smaller arts groups have the opportunity to leverage that publicity and plans if they act early. Join us for a session that includes tips on:
1. Mobilizing an in-person event to get more publicity on Give to the Max
2. Ready teams with specific tactics and messaging, like targeting a Golden Ticket campaign.
3. Including Give to the Max, #GivingTuesday and year-end giving in a single, 4th quarter strategy to avoid “donor fatigue” while reaching new audiences to support your work.
4. Leveraging art as a donor tool to increase engagement (and fun) for supporters.

Attendees will be encouraged to complete a calendar plan before leaving the session, and include measurements to see what methods work best for your audience, and then hone those tools for the future.