Paid Search: Now More Than Ever We’re all working on GEO strategy and how to combat the age of AI infiltrating search. Still, it’s time to go “all-in” with an “always on” digital strategy for search. Most nonprofits are using the Google Ads Grant (applause), but Google favors paid search. This results in paid search typically seeing a dollar or more less in cost per click. Utilizing a combination of your free Ads Grant and paid search will not only help…
5 Best Practices of Highly Effective Direct Mail Marketing Strategies
Direct mail marketing provides unique opportunities to connect with your audience in impactful ways. Check out our top five tips to elevate your campaigns and boost engagement!
Leveraging Lift Notes in Direct Mail
Lift Notes are a very powerful device and should be included in direct mail campaigns whenever possible. Check out our tactics for strategically leveraging them.
Color Theory in Practice: Color Temperature
Color Temperature is a vital element of Color Harmony, corresponding to the perceived warmth or coolness of a color. Shifting the color temperature within a palette can dramatically influence the mood and perception of a brand or design Warm Colors Warm Colors are inspired by elements like fire, sunsets, and autumn leaves, and are known…
Color Theory in Practice: Color Schemes
Color schemes are intentional combinations of colors that create harmony and balanced design based on their placement on the color wheel. Monochromatic A Monochromatic Color Scheme revolves around a single base hue, with variations achieved by altering lightness or darkness through the addition of black (to create Shades) or white (to create Tints). This approach…
Color Theory in Practice: Color Harmony
Color Theory is a fundamental element of design and branding. Often overlooked, It’s important to understand that colors have a powerful ability to evoke emotions, set moods, and shape how people perceive products and services. What is Color Theory? Color Theory is a comprehensive framework that explains how colors interact based on principles derived from…
Direct Mail Bakers Dozen for Increasing Response
Here’s a checklist to go through for all direct mail campaigns to help lift response rates on any direct mail package.
Navigating Digital Advertising During Election Season
We’re experiencing a historically unprecedented campaign. Time to buckle up and prepare ourselves with the key strategies that will help your nonprofit thrive before, during, and after election season.
Don’t Lose Your Google Data: Universal Analytics Shut Down
Google is discontinuing Universal Analytics on July 1, 2024, meaning users will finally loose access to the interface and their data will be permanately deleted.
10 Ways to Maximize AI Potential in Nonprofits
Successfully implementing AI in a nonprofit setting requires thoughtful planning and strategic execution. Use this comprehensive guide to guide your organization toward a more technically advanced workflow.
Case Study: WHYY
If you have ever been on a ship in a storm at sea, you know how challenging it can be to maintain course while minimizing risk. For fundraisers, the past several years have pummeled non-profit programs with a series of storms: political chaos, economic uncertainty, emerging technology, changing donor behavior, supply chain issues, and a…
Case Study: MPT PBS App Promotion
At a time when people are “cutting the cord,” there is a need to convert traditional cable watchers to streamers. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations direct plenty of time and effort into promoting paid Passport memberships. However, PBS identified a lack of awareness/education about the free PBS App. NextGen believes in a strategic balance between…
Redefining Public Media Engagement: PBS’s Digital Evolution
Measuring audiences and engagement is becoming increasingly sophisticated as more content is produced and redistributed across an ever-increasing number of digital streaming platforms.
Display Ads 101: A Beginner’s Guide
Display advertising is a powerful tool with wide reach, precise targeting, and, arguably most importantly, creative capabilities beyond what a text-forward search ad offers.
Display Ads Design Guide: Tips for High-Performing Creative
From crafting compelling visuals and messaging to choosing how to reconfigure certain elements of that design to fit all dimensions, here are some tips to create display ads.
Creating a User-Centric Experience With YouTube Advertising
We all know the public media landscape is rapidly changing. We have entered what’s known as the “user-centric period” of media consumption and see great opportunity with advertising on YouTube.
Budgeting Is a Balancing Act
Here are the broad brushstrokes of how to think about budgeting—a refresher for some, new tools for others, and some general guidelines as we navigate the impact of global events.
Budgeting is a Bargaining Process
We’ve spent many years where you sit now, running direct-response fundraising programs for nonprofits we believed in. As fiscal year planning deadlines approach, here are some important principles.
12 Key Fundraising Insights From 2024 M+R Benchmarks
The 2024 M+R Benchmarks Study is finally here! Use these key insights to assess your nonprofit’s performance by comparing your results with this year’s pool of participants.
5 Tips to Help Prepare for USPS Rate Increases
USPS announced proposed increases for some mailing rate, including a 5-cent increase in first-class mail stamps from 68 to 73 cents. Here are some tips to save money and prepare.
4 Tips to Boost Your Matching Gift Campaigns
How do you stand out and connect with donor audiences to strategically boost your matching gift opportunities? Here are some of our best tips.
Stop the Churn With These Simple Strategies
One of the challenges to building a successful email program is frequent and attentive list hygiene. At NextGen, we focus on several key areas to revitalize dormant programs.
NextGen Fundraising Leadership Transition
NextGen Fundraising’s Carol Leister has transitioned from ownership to a consulting role, leaving CEO Tim Oleary as the company’s sole owner.
2024 Fundraising Forecast: What Should Be Top of Mind?
You’ve likely seen countless 2024 fundraising forecasts over the past few weeks. Don’t worry, this is not a laundry list of the same old regurgitated predictions.
Why NextGen’s Texting Solution Is Perfect for Your Nonprofit
As digital channels evolve and grow, it is important for nonprofits to stay ahead of the curve and find new ways to engage with their donors and prospects.
How Texting Can Supercharge Your Fundraising Program
As digital channels evolve and grow, it is important for nonprofits to stay ahead of the curve and find new ways to engage with their donors and prospects.
Best Practices for Email Marketing
Consistent and strategic email communication is critical to a robust, successful digital program. But it takes more than just sending any generic email.
Digital Fundraising Program: 14 Strategies to Maximize Your Success
Online donors act differently than direct mail donors. As we move towards an increasingly digital world, it’s important to have a solid digital fundraising program.
Don’t Trust Your Open Rates: Understanding Changes in Email KPIs
As any good digital marketer or fundraiser knows, you live and die by your KPIs. But what if one of the most important email metrics may not be accurate?
Case Study: Contributor Development Partnership
Against the backdrop of all that has happened in our region and the world the past couple of years, we believe there has never been a more important time to aggressively invest in digital fundraising and realize diversified revenue possibilities. At NextGen, we espouse guiding principles to lead our work in digital fundraising. These philosophies…
Case Study: Vietnam Veterans of America
While there is no such thing as a 100% conversion rate, NextGen provides strategy, technical support, and turn-key solutions to boost performance and improve donor experience. Our partnership with Fundraise Up ensures the fullest array of tools and integrations to best match your goals and personalize the donor experience. The Client As a nationwide service…
Case Study: Colorado Public Radio
Against the backdrop of all that has happened in our region and the world the past couple of years, we believe there has never been a more important time to aggressively invest in digital fundraising and realize diversified revenue possibilities. At NextGen, we espouse guiding principles to lead our work in digital fundraising. These philosophies…
Case Study: Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA
As we move into an increasingly digital world, organizations now find they must adapt to donors’ changing behaviors. While direct mail still is a powerful and effective medium, more organizations are seeing first-hand the effectiveness of multichannel campaigns. At NextGen, we are effectively implementing campaigns that combine the ease of online donations with the longstanding…
Don’t Get Hung Up on Attribution
We no longer live in a world where attribution is clear cut, so don’t get hung up on attribution. Your donors aren’t giving how you want them to.
Full-Funnel Approach: Building Bridges Across Teams
Many organizations struggle to evolve beyond a siloed approach that inevitably fragments branding, messaging, and donor conversion. How do we know? Because we’ve been there.
2022 Fundraising Trends: Journey Into the Mind of a Donor
As fundraisers and marketers, we’re always excited to learn about the latest trends and statistics that give us better insight into how donors behave, what they prefer, and how to adjust our strategy accordingly.
Navigating SEO & Organic Traffic During a Website Redesign
Website redesigns can lead to better visitor experience and increase organic traffic in the long run, but they can require proper SEO strategy.
Navigating Postal Price Increases
While it may be tempting to significantly scale back direct mail, here are some tips on how to navigate new price increases and keep your direct mailings manageable and effective.
Planning for Planned Giving
If you are not actively building a Planned Giving pipeline through targeted lead generation, who will capture these gifts from your donor file?
Supply Chain & Paper Shortages
Over the past two years, we have proactivity tracked and responded to the economic supply-chain and paper shortages to minimize impact for our direct marketing print clients, working to ensure a consistent, compelling, and high-quality donor experience.
Digital Acquisition Tactics
Going into FY23, it’s critical to build recognition with new audiences, establish brand affinity, and convert prospects to supporters.
Stay Ahead of Public Media Fundraising Trends
Public media is changing. Now, digital acquisition channels are a low-barrier, low-cost way to build brand affinity and attract new donors.
M+R Benchmarks 2022: Everything You Need To know
In case you missed it, M+R released its annual study containing comprehensive data about online fundraising, advocacy, and marketing.
Think Like an Investor: Managing Donor Segments
Understanding the value of your donor base—along with its segments and audiences—is critical for both fundraisers and nonprofit leaders.
Content Calendars: What Do You Need To Know?
Content calendars provide a visual reference or plan for integrated communication across social, email, website, and external properties.
Mission, Message, & Voice
What can we do to gain a new perspective and share how inspiring the work and mission can be?
Membership & Marketing: A Mutual Relationship
This is a mutual relationship. Marketing teams can support membership fundraising efforts with multi-channel stewardship or impact awareness campaigns.
Monitoring Economic Trends
The COVID pandemic, economic turmoil, social movements, and other unpredictable world events have impacted nonprofits. The good news: we’ve learned to anticipate and respond in real-time to global challenges.
2022 Roadmap for Successful Nonprofits
Nonprofit leaders will need to be agile in their approach and expectations to fundraising programs. Business as usual just won’t do anymore!
2022 Roadmap: Build a First-Party Data Strategy
Nonprofits should be transparent about current data policies and ensure that they adhere to stringent protocols. It’s just good business.
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