A well-optimized donation page can help you convert visitors into donors. Most organizations have donation page conversion rates below 20%, some even less than 10%. These poorly designed pages are driving away potential donors. Why should you care about that? Improved conversion on these pages mean more dollars raised with no increases in outbound marketing.

This post is the sequel of “Making Social Media Work for Your Nonprofit.” We continue exploring the framework for coming up with a social media strategy that will work for your nonprofit. Don’t just jump on Facebook or start a blog without knowing your target audience. Your audience will determine what social technology you should embrace.

Although there is a lot of interest in the nonprofit sector about using social media, there is also a lot of confusion. How you can use social media to accomplish your nonprofit’s goals? How do you put in place a successful strategy? What factors do you need to consider to come up with a successful social media strategy? In today’s post we explore Josh Bernoff’s four-step process for formulating a social media strategy that can work for your nonprofit.

As nonprofits, we want to engage new people. We want to capture their attention. Ultimately, of course, we want them to donate money, volunteer and attend our fundraisers. The way to get there from where you are right now is to make friends with them and to keep that friendship alive through regular communication. Just like you would do with any friend.

Learn about Google tools your nonprofit can use to promote your cause, raise money and operate more efficiently. In this post we will be exploring Google Apps including: Gmail, Google Calendar, Docs and Talk. In addition, Google Apps are packed with powerful spam filtering and customizable security features. If you are a small or medium size nonprofit, apply today. Google Apps is free.

Google in-kind advertising services for nonprofits gives FREE ADVERTISING up to $10,000 per month to selected nonprofits. Google does this through its advertising program called AdWords. Through this program your organization can take its fundraising goals to the next level. Google gives you the same marketing potential and outreach that major nonprofits and big business with large marketing budgets enjoy.

This is the time for nonprofits to jump on the social media wagon and use it to bring about change, to make a positive and profound impact in the lives of people, to reach out to new supporters, to raise more funds and, yes, to increase brand visibility.

This year, the IRS stepped in with its vastly revised Form 990. It contains two questions that pointedly ask about your compliance with state Charity Registration laws. An officer signs your 990 under penalty of perjury. Add to that a couple of recent enforcement actions and you’ve got a timely guest blog explaining what this is all about and why you need to pay attention.

The year-end appeal may be as old as the nonprofit world itself. Finding a fresh approach that donors can relate to—pulling at their heartstrings so that they open their purse strings—remains an annual challenge. Read 7 tips to make your case for giving compelling.

GuideStart offers the largest database on nonprofits organizations in the U.S and is used extensively by grant-makers, donors and volunteers looking for accurate and reliable information about nonprofits and the work they do.