Technola : Public Interest Law & Technology Updates & Commentary : Matthew Burnett & Kate Bladow : Tech Advice for the Non-Profit Legal Sector

M & R Strategic Services published a case study of Oxfam International's end-of-the-year online fundraising campaign: Weak Economy, Strong Campaign. While Oxfam's resources, even in lean years, are more than the typical legal aid organization, this case study outlines some best practices that organizations of any size can use in their fundraising campaigns.

• Focus on one major problem to let people know why they need to give to your organization now. This is different than reminding the community that your organization is a worthy cause. Your potential donors need to know why to support your organization instead of the many other worthy organizations that are also asking for money.
• Let people know what will happen if they don't give. Oxfam included language in their appeal that said, "If we don’t hit our goal, programs may be scaled back." Legal aid organizations are already scaling back. When you ask people for money, tell them that if they don't give, more programs may be scaled back, and how many more low-income individuals may not have access to lawyers.
• Test various messages to see which works best. Instead of just guessing what language will convince people to donate, test it and see what language actually works. (This is often called "split testing" or "A/B testing." ) You may be surprised.
• Start planning your campaign now. Don't wait until just before it needs to be implemented.
• Use a short video to appeal to emotion. According to M & R, "Make me laugh, make me cry, or go home."

For me, the most important point that this case study makes is "ask." Your donors are out there. You need to remind them why your organization is important and then ask for their help. - K

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A blog post from Kenneth W. Davis, Sending Fewer Envelopes, caught my eye, reminding me that good writing encourages people to keep reading. Particularly for our client community, many of whom may not be strong readers, we need to remember that less really is more. - K

 

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TechSoup reports that MarketingProfs is offering a free marketing webinar on April 1, 2009 from 11 am to 5 pm Eastern. Topics that they'll cover include

• Online branding
• Building community with Facebook
• Getting your fans to tell your story

For more information, check out the TechSoup post about the free webinar. - K

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The Legal Information Institute (LII) at Cornell University School of Law just announced the launch of a new online lawyer directory in collaboration with Justia.com that allows lawyers to purchase a LII badge for their profile, with proceeds going to support the work of LII. More information about the Legal Information Institute is available here. -M

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Yesterday, the Texas Supreme Court held a hearing on the state of legal services. In addition to a great opportunity to learn more about Texas' legal services community, this hearing was also an amazing example of how to include people who can't attend in person: Cynthia Martinez, the TRLA Communications Director, live-blogged the entire session, and the hearing was webcast live and recorded.  - K

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At conferences, I spend a lot of time wandering around the vendor exhibits. Most of this wandering is done when I have been staffing the Pro Bono Net booth at either the NLADA Annual Training Conference or the Equal Justice Conference. However, this year, even though, or maybe because, NLADA had a great layout for the exhibit hall,  I didn't end up wandering around as much.

Nevertheless, I did swing by the Management Information Exchange booth and pick up the latest copy of the MIE Journal. At the same time, I found hard copies of the first two installments of the Access to Justice Series from the Brennan Center for Justice. When I picked them up, I assumed that they were new documents, but when I started reading them at home, I realized that they were written in response to the massive cuts of 1996. I was awed by the stories that had been collected, and they made me incredibly proud to be working with the legal aid community. Along with Houseman's and Perle's "Securing Equal Justice For All: A Brief History of Civil Legal Assistance in the United States," I would recommend that legal aid organizations include these documents as suggested reading for new employees. In addition to providing inspiration, these documents explain why many advocates long for the "good old days" and why organizations advocate so strongly for dropping the restrictions.

Look for Part 3 in my NLADA series tomorrow. I'll cover some more sessions. -K

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On Tuesday, October 21, 2008 Grassroots.org is hosting a free webinar on the Grassroots.org Toolbox. This session will offer an introduction to the free tools and services offered by Grassroots.org to enhance your nonprofit's web presence. Learn more and register to attend this webinar here. -M

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Charlene Prince Birkeland of Yahoo spoke during lunch at BlogHer. She mentioned some great tips for increasing your blog's traffic, which I've summarized here.

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Your readers are going to find your blog in a lot of ways - search engines, social media, statistics reports, and so on. You need to actively make certain that readers are engaged, and not turned off, by your site. You can do this in several ways.

• Make your site usable. You'll be better off with a simple and clean design. Everything should be no more than one click away.
• Target the right audience with fresh and interesting content. Be genuine. They'll know if you are posting just to be posting. If you see a spike in visits, pull those readers in by posting lots of new content.
• Build community. You need to be a part of the conversation. Make connections and remember to comment on other people's blogs. And respond to the comments that are posted on yours.
• Use social media to distribute your content. But select the avenues that will really help you. This area can take up a lot of time.
• Embrace search engine optimization best practices. You'll want to use keywords in your title and text (within reason) and to tag your posts and photos. For keyword research, try WordTracker Keywords suggestion tool.

While each of these areas can take a lot of thought, planning, and time, you can make the process as simple as you want to or have time for.  And don't obsess. Search engine optimization isn't the end goal. It's just one way to make your goal happen. - K

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Idealware, an organization we've mentioned before on Technola, is offering a free webinar--Online Communications on a Shoestring. The session will look at how websites, e-mail blasts, and social media can help your organization serve its mission. This webinar will be held on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 from 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm (Eastern). You can register online here. - K

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Hamster Dance. Star Wars Kid. All Your Base Are Belong To Us. All went viral and were viewed by millions. But as it turns out, going viral might not be all that it is cracked up to be. You do get the immediate fame, but your site, project, or product may not gain a lasting following according to The Word of Mouth Manual - Volume II from Dave Balter. You would do better building a community of loyal followers even if it takes longer.

Dave has a few other nuggets to share.

• People have a list of about 40 products and services that they are willing to talk about.


• Word of mouth is not about the big influencers but normal people who influence their smaller networks.


• Organizations engaged in word of mouth marketing need to recognize that it is a conversation and have to be ready to listen to what comes back.


• Don't just jump in. Word of mouth takes planning. (Dave used a couple of great examples - Ghost Busters and the Coney Island hot dog eating contest.) - K

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From the title, you might be hoping for a guide to online romance in the legal aid and pro bono community. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint. This is not that article. (Maybe you want to head over and check out the networking opportunities at the ABA Equal Justice Conference?)

This article is really an ode to Andy Goodman and the resources that he and his colleagues produce to help progressive businesses and public interest groups "reach people more effectively." Usually, that means getting them tell their stories better.

I stumbled upon Andy Goodman accidentally. I was looking for marketing and outreach best practices and picked up The Communications Toolkit from Cause Communications. Andy Goodman's name seemed to be everywhere, so I looked him up online to see what else he might know. My online research ended with me signing up to receive two books - Why Bad Ads Happen to Good Causes and Why Bad Presentations Happen to Good Causes - and his newsletter, Free-Range Thinking.

It took me a while to pick up the books, and I regret not reading them earlier. They look dense but are quick reads with lots of useful images and valuable information.

• Bad Presentations is a simple discussion of what works and how to give a great presentation. It should be a necessary read for everyone advocating for good causes. At the very least, if you use PowerPoint, for your audience's sake, please read Chapter 4.

• Bad Ads is also a great resource. While this book concentrates on creating big, glossy ads with great design, the principles that Andy lays out aren't just about those big glossy ads. Getting people's attention and having them remember your message is just as important if you are creating simple fliers that promote your website or a fundraising event.

The newsletter is just as impressive. In this day of e-newsletters, it refreshing to have a small four page newsletter arrive by snail mail each month. It covers a wide variety of topics related to advocacy and communications. And true to his message, Andy tells stories to involve the reader.

You can sign up for several of Andy's workshops on his site. However, if you want to hear how he presents for free, you can check out a recording at the Social Innovation Conversations' website. - K

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