Link Roundup 2/1

Data management can be a challenging task. As this survey conducted by NTEN shows (albeit a small sample), many nonprofit organizations struggle to collect data and many organizations also struggle to find meaning in the data they collect. Data management requires discipline, focus, and organization.

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Check out these five email metrics that should be tracked with every marketing and fundraising email your nonprofit sends out. Of course there are other nonprofit email marketing metrics you might want to keep an eye on, but these are the crucial ones that will help you determine whether your nonprofit's email strategy is working or if it needs some fine-tuning.

Varun Arora is the founding director of OpenCurriculum, a Pittsburgh non-profit startup that's turning the textbook and knowledge-sharing industry on its head. OpenCurriculum allows teachers and students to upload or create educational material in a stylistic fusion between Wikipedia and Dropbox-turned-public.

We spent the last month compiling and analyzing the answers from the 2,100+ nonprofit professionals who completed our annual communications trends survey. Now it's time to officially release the 2014 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report! We'll be posting some of the more interesting results over the next few weeks, but here is the infographic with key findings.

16% increase in online donations to nonprofits in November and December 2013 compared to the same time period in 2012. -The Chronicle of Philanthropy In 2013, we saw online fundraising continue to assert its position in the nonprofit fundraising hierarchy.

It is estimated that nearly 30 million people around the world are trapped in modern slavery while many others have survived human trafficking or are in situations of risk. Social enterprises could offer a sustainable solution to the problem of economic vulnerability that ensnares people in modern slavery.

If your organization hasn't been using Instagram, now might be the time to jump on the bandwagon. Last week the photo-sharing platform released a new video feature that is proving to be hugely popular. Within 24 hours of its launch, more than five million videos were created on Instagram, reported TechCrunch.

Peter Kenez, UCSC History Professor, and his experience during the Holocaust in Hungary.

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Guest Post by Jeff Haguewood, a Co-Founder of Sidekick Solutions. Sidekick Solutions believes nonprofits are real-life heroes and helps nonprofit heroes succeed with nonprofit software. Jeff is passionate about providing nonprofit organizations straightforward and actionable tips, tricks, and how-tos on fundraising, program management, technology, and performance management that nonprofit organizations can implement immediately in their daily work.

Retaining great volunteers is always a challenge for any nonprofit. The holiday season brings an influx of new volunteers, however after Santa disappears, organizations usually notice a decrease in volunteer interest. To reap maximum benefits from the holiday rush, nonprofit staff must fuel community involvement and re-engage their volunteers.

We're declaring 2014 as the "Year of No Excuses" -- and we'll have a handful to share with you in the near future. This year, we want to help your organization take the first steps to implementing an effective online strategy to raise awareness, engage new (and old) constituents, and fundraising for your organization the right way.

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The NonProfit Times - January 14, 2014Most nonprofits don't leverage their monthly giving programs as well as they can. Erica Waasdorp, president of A Direct Solution in Marstons Mill, Mass., shared some tips on getting the most out of your monthly giving program in her book, "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant."

Tue, January 14 2014 Director of Content Strategy, Network for Good Filed under: Fun stuff * Social Media * Is one of your 2014 goals to get your social strategy in order? Here are 10 fun stats on social media that can help you decide how to spend your time.

The season of email is here. Thanks to eager and tenacious retailers, there will be more email sends, opens and clicks in November and December than any other time of year. With all that inbox influx, it's more challenging for organizations-not just retailers but nonprofits and B2B businesses as well-to get their emails read, let alone clicked and acted on.

It's incredible just how much we can learn about our marketing efforts with Facebook's Insights feature. From details on the optimal time to post updates to data on the success rates of posts with images, we are now armed with more information than ever on what we share.

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"Customers want transparency," Walter Robb, the co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, declared at a recent talk. Buyers do not want any surprises. And, most importantly, they want producers to have integrity in the products they are producing. He and his partner, John Mackey, came up with this notion quite a long time ago, long before "buying organic" was, well, a thing.