March is flying by faster than the two comets which just zoomed by Earth: As of Saturday, March 19, it’s now officially spring*. For nonprofits, spring can be a good time to take stock of the year and reassess their approach to outreach. Here are five cool and useful outreach-related stories to learn from and to brighten your day:
Why is the San Diego Opera’s new flyer so smart—and so different from what arts organizations usually do? Trevor O’Donnell tells on his “Marketing the Arts to Death” blog: http://trevorodonnell.com/2016/02/15/a-miracle-at-san-diego-opera/
San Francisco’s overstretched BART transit system got a huge win on social media this past week, when the person running its Twitter account started speaking honestly and from the heart, and acknowledging some of BART’s failures. Reminding people that there’s a real person behind a faceless entity is a great way to inspire goodwill, and orgs could learn a lot from the BART tweets:
http://gizmodo.com/i-would-like-to-buy-a-drink-for-the-poor-soul-who-ran-t-1765477706
As you prep your next fundraising campaign, remember to segment your appeals by group. If you’re asking “but Tax Exempt Talk, what’s segmenting?,” then you definitely need to read this: https://bloomerang.co/blog/7-segments-for-your-best-year-end-fundraising-appeal-ever/
Following the example of ProPublica, the Philadelphia Inquirer is becoming a nonprofit. It’s the first time in the internet age that a newspaper has attempted the transition to nonprofit status, which is exciting for those who care about quality journalism. The Atlantic tells you everything you need to know about this experiment: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/01/newspapers-philadelphia-inquirer-daily-news-nonprofit-lol-taxes/423960/
And finally, a deep dive from our favorite new nonprofit arts blog, Createquity, which walks us through the past and tries to predict the future of arts and the nonprofit sector. This is one of the best single-source overviews of the history of arts organizations we’ve read in a long time, and it’s visually interesting to boot. Set aside 20 minutes and dive in. It’s worth it:
http://createquity.com/2016/03/who-will-be-the-next-arts-revolutionary/
That’s all for this week. We’ll see you next week as we edge closer to April. Remember that we’re here for all your nonprofit needs, and we always offer a free, in-person consult, right off the 7th and Figueroa subway stop. Yes, L.A. has a subway!
In the meantime, drop us a line at info@b-alaw.com or call us at (213) 736-5101. We’re here to help.
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* Technically, for some people, spring arrived Sunday, March 20—it varies by the time zone you live in. More from almanac.com: http://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-spring-2016-vernal-equinox