Recently we posted an article about using the power of personas to craft more focused messages and better communications.

These character sketches are psychographic profiles. When developed, they can help you think about your audiences’ motivations, which helps you write the messages that compel donors, volunteers and others to take action.

As a follow up to that article, here are 10 questions you can ask yourself to bring your character to life:

1. What are their names, ages, genders, occupations, family details?
2. What are their interests, habits, hobbies, and pastimes?
3. Who influences them? Religion? Politics? Strongly held beliefs?
4. Where do they go for information?
5. Where do they shop, eat, hang out?
6. How do they dress?
7. What concerns keep them up at night?
8. What kind of cars do they drive?
9. What is their relationship or potential relationship to you?
10. What do they want from you?

What other questions have you asked yourself? Have you created a character you think is particularly evocative? Post a comment. We want to hear from you!

We’ve noticed a trend lately in the calls we receive from nonprofits asking for help with the way they communicate about their work. While more and more nonprofit professionals are eager to embrace branding, more and more also seem unclear about the difference between establishing a brand and establishing a strategic plan.

A strategic plan is quite different from a brand plan. And although we counsel our clients to complete any strategy planning (or at least get a good head start) before embarking on a branding effort, we also believe that the brand plan ultimately transcends the strategic plan. Why? Because a strategic plan is an articulation of what you intend to do and how you intend to do it over a set period of time. A brand plan is a codification of the values, personality, attributes and promise the organization embodies – elements that are unlikely to change significantly, even if the way you do the work does change.

A strategic plan should set the direction of your organization. It summarizes how you will fulfill your mission, and is therefore focused on programs and resource allocation.

A brand plan, on the other hand, articulates the desired reputation you want your organization to have – so that you can fulfill your mission using the strategies set out in the strategic plan. A strong brand supports an organization reaching its goals.

If the strategic plan articulates the how of your work, your brand articulates the why. Why does your organization matter? And most importantly, why should it matter to others like the donors, volunteers and advocates you need in order to do your work?

A strong brand makes a big promise to the public. It boldly proclaims what you mean to do and what the public (your public) can expect from you. Beyond just a mission statement, your brand helps you lay claim to all of the attributes that will distinguish you from other worthy causes.

A strategic plan doesn’t do that. And in fact, a good nonprofit brand can and will remain powerful in the face of changes in strategic direction. Brand transcends programmatic details.

Think of the iPod. Maybe it’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when Apple was in the business of computers – just computers. But because their brand was so strong, they were able to expand into music distribution. We consumers loved their music players as much as their desktop and laptop computers, so the iPod was a hit. Then, Apple went into the telephone business. Is anyone reading this on an iPhone screen?

These new products represent changes in strategy. Apple moved from making money from computer hardware to also making money on music distribution and phone manufacturing. But their brand never changed – innovation, design and usability stayed steady.

For your nonprofit, the computers, music and phones of Apple are the programs, services, and geographic reach. We know a college-access organization that moved from serving one county exclusively to serving two. Their brand didn’t change, but their strategic priorities did; they increased their service area in order to help more kids get to college.

An education-focused nonprofit we know moved from facilitating a coalition of groups who all wanted equity-based public schools in the San Francisco Bay Area to one that counsels school districts around the country on how to make equitable schools a reality now. Same mission, but a totally new programmatic way of going about achieving it. And while some of their marketing language needed updating to accurately represent their new strategic approach, their brand – expertise in equity education – remained the same.

In fact, the stronger your brand, the more useful it will be during times of strategic change. If your public knows and trusts you to do the right thing – because you’ve convinced them why you matter – they will be more likely to remain steadfast supporters if you change how you go about meeting your mission. I would venture to say that most of your organization’s supporters don’t have a particular interest in the details of how you get the work done – they want you to be the experts and just do it.

Both branding and strategic planning take up a lot of your board’s time, and at some point, you’ll have to decide which to do first. Which forces the question: If brand transcends programmatic details, and strategic plans focus on programs, why would we recommend our nonprofit clients set strategic plans before starting a branding project?

A board who has recommitted to an organization’s mission and established new strategic priorities for meeting it is often primed and enthusiastic about how branding can help them succeed.

Very often, a strategic plan review leads the board to the recognition that investing in their brand should be a strategic priority. This makes any branding effort stronger. When brand is linked to strategic priorities at the highest level of the organization, rather than being viewed in a silo, the brand is owned by everyone – staff, board, volunteers and your public – and has the greatest chance of positively impacting the organization’s ability to achieve its mission. Without this commitment to creating and leveraging the strongest brand possible, a branding effort can easily be a waste of time and money.

A strategic plan and a brand plan are both essential to the health of your organization. Know the difference, and get started.

We’re big believers in creating taglines that compel your audience to take action. So why do we let foundations break our rules?

When we facilitate our Taglines that Tell session with a nonprofit, we are insistent that a tagline must command the audience into action and support. In fact, one of our fundamental rules for nonprofits is to avoid taglines that start with an “-ing” word, because the gerund saps the magnetic power of the tagline.

Consider this hypothetical situation. A grassroots marine preservation organization is deciding between two potential new taglines:

• “Protecting the Oceans”
• “Protect the Oceans”

The way we see it, the former informs the audience that the organization is already taking care of preserving the ocean—the public can let them take care of all the dirty work. The latter, on the other hand, is a call to action—the audience becomes an important player in marine preservation efforts. We would strongly recommend the second option.

And yet, philanthropic foundations are the exception to our rule. Foundations are in a very different business than other nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits have to attract various audiences to reach their goals: donors, major funders, policymakers, other officials… the list can go on. Without this external support, many nonprofits cannot dream of achieving their mission.

Philanthropic foundations, on the other hand, are in the enviable position of giving money away. Although they have strategic objectives that need to be met, philanthropic foundations rarely need to court audiences in the same way as nonprofit organizations.

Foundations need their brand, messages, and tagline to communicate their specific giving profile, so that they can effectively and efficiently build partnerships with potential grantees and other foundations. For a foundation, an effective tagline communicates the vision it is advancing.

Since foundations are not actively trying to engage donors in their mission, the gerund (“-ing”) tagline rule doesn’t apply. A foundation’s tagline should serve to reinforce their brand and communicate its vision.

Let’s say a foundation is in the business of funding marine preservation initiatives and researchers, the likes of the hypothetical organization in our first case study. This foundation is also searching for their perfect tagline. In this case, “Protecting the Oceans” would be an appropriate choice, as it accurately reflects the foundation’s specific giving profile.

Here are some other taglines structures that work well for foundations:

1. Starting off with the word “For”
   • Many foundations fund certain areas because they want to reach an envisioned future. Whether it’s “For healthy kids,” or “For greener cities,” foundations give to causes or individuals whose work will contribute to progressing towards a social, environmental, or political objective.
2. Starting off with the word “Where”
   • Foundations are in the business of affecting change by investing in change-makers. When TechAmerica Foundation states “Where the Future Begins” they are making the statement that their investments in technical innovation will pay off in the form of prosperity, security and general welfare.
3. Using the word “Advancing”
   • The Annenberg Foundation demonstrates this with their tagline “Advancing Public Well-Being Through Improved Communication.”

Do you think the challenges are different for other nonprofits? If you’ve worked with or for a foundation, what has your experience been? We would love to hear your thoughts.

I’m a Mac girl myself. But I was fascinated to read about Microsoft’s new Windows logo and the fact that it has changed about as often as Windows itself has come out with updates.

At Mission Minded we encourage our nonprofit clients to change their logo as infrequently as possible. Why? Because changing a logo is really, really expensive.  Not only are there costs associated with hiring a talented graphic design team, but after you have a new logo it costs money to update all of your printed (and even) your electronic materials.  Not to mention the considerable investment of staff time needed to properly manage such an important project.

Most importantly, nonprofits don’t have the money to be as visible as their for-profit brethren.  That means that when you change your logo it will take time, a long time, before your constituents associate your organization with it.

So unless there is a real strategic reason to change the logo we advise against it. We think its better to save that time and money for things like better messaging or a review of your brand (reputation) and how well that brand is serving your ability to achieve your mission.

Still, there are times when a nonprofit needs a new logo, just like Microsoft’s Windows did.  When Pentagram was hired to work with the Microsoft team Paula Scher asked a simple question of her client: “Your name is Windows. Why are you a flag?”

Turns out, Windows had a good reason for changing its logo.   Here are four ways to tell if your nonprofit needs a new logo.

1. If your logo (or name) reflects something you no longer do, you need a new logo.

A logo that suggests you serve say, a particular geographic region, is effective if that’s the only region you actually serve.  If you’ve branched out (or cut back) the cities, counties or states you serve, your logo is giving bad information to your constituents. Change it.

2. If your logo was designed by an amateur you need a new logo.

More than just a pretty picture, your organization’s logo should send a strong, powerful and positive message to your constituents about the value of your mission. We’re not design snobs (Okay, maybe we could be accused of that in some circles) but the truth is if your board allowed the executive director’s brother-in-law’s daughter who just got out of design school to design your organization’s logo we’re 100% sure it isn’t as strong, strategic or polished as it should be.

3. If your logo looks too much like other nonprofits that do similar work as yours you need a new logo.

There might be an exception to this: If your brand (reputation) is stronger than the nonprofits whose logos look like yours, it means your logo has more meaning than the other guys’.  Maybe they’re copying you because you’ve had so much success.  Maybe you copied them and did a better job of infusing your logo with value-laden dimension. But beware of grand delusions.  You might think your organization stands out because it does to you.  But is it highly distinctive as viewed by an outsider (say, that prospective major donor considering all of the nonprofits in your category?)  If not, you need a new logo.

4. If your logo is so intricate it doesn’t send a clear signal you need a new logo.

Some designs just don’t work.  Maybe yours was complicated by a runaway board, every member having a chance to add a little something. “I like blue!”  ”Add a circle at the top!”  ”Let’s include a font with wings over here!”  If your logo says so much that it says nothing at all, you need a new one.

Tell us why you think your nonprofit needs a new logo, or the moment when you became sure that it did.

In Chip Heath and Dan Heath’s book Made to Stick the authors share a story about how one of the most successful public education campaigns ever came to life. Faced with the challenge of trying to end littering on the highways, the Texas Department of Transportation, along with a researcher named Dan Syrek, sought to develop a campaign that would convince people that they should stop throwing trash out their windows.

Now, Texas could have just politely asked people to “Please don’t litter.” In fact, they did, but it didn’t work. Why? Because messages like this need to consider the point of view of the typical litterer.

Syrek and his team took time to think carefully about those whose behavior they had to change. And it wasn’t the people most likely to be swayed by a polite request.

Instead, the savvy marketers focused on their target audience. Who were the worst offenders? Men, ages 18-35. But they didn’t stop with demographic data. They also created a persona that painted a psychographic profile of their target audience. Naming their character “Bubba” they spent time thinking about who Bubba was. What did he care about? What did he wear? Where did he shop? What did he do on weekends?

Syrek and his team got a picture of Bubba, along with a picture of Bubba’s truck, and they realized that to change Bubba’s behavior, they had to convince him that people like him don’t litter. They had to tap into what Bubba thought was most important. And for Bubba what was most important was his pride in the state of Texas.

Syrek and his team tapped into Bubba’s patriotism and created the message “Don’t Mess with Texas.” The rest is history. Littering decreased, and the anti-littering slogan became so successful, it’s practically the state motto.

What Syrek and his team did — creating a profile of their target audience — is also referred to as creating a “persona.” This is an approach we often employ with our nonprofit clients, helping them think strategically about who they are trying to reach by not only considering their demographic characteristics, but their deep-seeded concerns and cares, as well.

In a blog post last week, Nancy Schwartz shared a terrific step-by-step process for creating your own personas. We share a like mind with Nancy when it comes to this approach and encourage you adopt this process into all of your communications.

Before sitting down to write your next annual report or newsletter get out of your own head. Instead of asking yourself “What do I want to say?” ask instead “What does my audience want to hear? What do they care about?”

Think about the communications challenge from their point of view. Ask yourself what your audience cares about. And create a persona that brings that character to life.

One of the things that helped Syrek and his team be so successful was that they found an actual picture that represented the persona to whom they were addressing the message. Thus the campaign was no longer focused on an abstract message, it was focused on a personalized message to one individual. If you can do the same in your campaigns, you’ll likely strike gold.

One final note, my colleague, Sarah R. Moore, is fond of reminding us that in order for a persona to be successful, it must be crafted with love. If you create a one-dimensional caricature, you won’t be able to connect with your target audience. Focus on what’s great about that person — what you love about them — and the resulting messages will come to life.

Related: 10 Questions That Produce Better Psychographic Profiles

Mission Minded has worked with several large, long-established nonprofit organizations worried that their aging donor base is disappearing —and that younger donors are less interested in the missions embraced by the older generation.

These clients are prestigious, both because of the gravitas of their mission and the recognizable names who support it. But their major donors are often in their seventies or eighties, and their children don’t necessarily share their parents’ devotion to the work of the same organizations—or at least, they don’t see the need to offer their financial support at the same levels.

Instead, we’re hearing that the younger donors (in these cases, “younger” is defined as donors in their forties and fifties) are interested in supporting more entrepreneurial endeavors: causes where something “new” is being done to address an age-old problem. As Kay Sprinkel–Grace noted, “The age of the passive philanthropist is ending. As the face of philanthropy changes, so does its quest. An interest in outcomes is replacing a need for rewards. While recognition is still important, the way in which it is provided is changing. It is more mission-connected.”

Microfinance, public school reform, innovation in international aid—initiatives in pioneering fields seem to be garnering the most support amongst this generation of donors. Global poverty, inequalities in education, and other social ills have been a constant. These donors want to do something new to make lasting change, and they want to see a measurable social result in return for their donated investment.

How to respond to this? Our clients are doing the right thing: they’re digging deep to determine how to reposition their work to create a stronger appeal to these donors. It’s a seemingly formidable challenge:

How can we interest people in our work who have no interest in our work?

Two answers—or rather, two scenarios. The first is that a nonprofit continues doing the same work it always has, because it has and continues to be effective—but, it repackages the way it talks about the importance and value of the work.

The second scenario? Reinvent the organization. Reevaluate the problem it’s trying to solve and invent different ways of solving it. Those who bravely choose this scenario are hoping both to make a bigger impact and to attract greater support as a result.

Let’s look at the first approach. (Check back for a follow-up post about one of our client organizations that is actively reinventing itself for the next generation.)

Our society needs cultural institutions like theaters and art museums. It needs organizations that will work to preserve parks and open spaces, protect animals, and reform policies. Our society needs the people who devote their time and resources to helping those in need of food, clothing, shelter and compassion.

And some of the nonprofits that do this work do it so well that their impact is taken for granted. They do it so well that the mission seems to lose its urgency. After all, if an organization has been plodding along for 50 years successfully tending to a critical issue, can’t we expect that they’ll do so for the next 50?

If your nonprofit is worried that new major donors aren’t coming along to fill the generous, committed shoes of your past major donors, its time to start talking about the importance of your mission in a new way.

Going back to your roots, back to your original uniting purpose, to determine what made your current and past major donors fall in love with you in the first place is the best way to uncover what needs to be brought to the fore in your next donor appeal. Focusing on how to explain the critical importance of your work, instead of assuming people already understand that, is a must-do.

Chances are your brand—marketing jargon for reputation—has gotten muddled over the years. Your messages to your key audiences may not be as clear and succinct as they should be. Perhaps your communications routinely include the jargon and insider language that has the effect of keeping donors out, instead of inviting them in.

Most of your donors have something in common with each other – their values, their lifestyle, or their priorities. Make a list of what those are likely to be, and imagine that you had to start from the beginning with one of your donors, convincing them that a gift in support of your organization’s mission matters.

What would you say to draw them in? Start from their point of view. Not from the point of view of your organization and what it needs, but in a way that shows the donor how his or her values can be manifested and acted upon by supporting your work. This exercise can dramatically change the way you talk, write, Tweet, and blog about your work, and will help you attract the new donors needed to fuel your efforts into the future.

There will always be donors who want to fund the next flashy, big idea. But there are also donors who will believe – with a little strategic outreach on your part –
that your work is fresh and critical

If you’re like us, you’re watching more and more television programming on the Internet via sites like Hulu, rather than traditional networks. And you’ve probably noticed that many of the advertisements — particularly for older programs — are from nonprofit organizations.

Being the savvy nonprofit marketer you are, you’ve probably asked yourself, “How do I get my Public Service Advertisement (PSA) up there?”

Well, we asked ourselves the same thing. The answers haven’t been easy to find.

Until now.

Here it is, your complete guide to getting your free PSA posted on Hulu.

Step 1: Choose the Right Ad

Keep it Light
Hulu is providing entertainment. If you want your ad to be chosen, it can’t be overly depressing.

Hulu’s Brooke Citron says, “Our users come to Hulu to be entertained, and comedy is our biggest draw. Knowing that our users get upset when they see a very depressing PSA while watching shows such as Modern Family makes it all the less likely for us to traffic in heavier PSA. Understandably, if it is a weighty subject matter, please send us the “lightest” version that you have for your best chance of approval.”

Make it Evergreen
To run on Hulu, an ad must be appropriate to run the entire year. If you’re advertising a time-limited campaign or year-end appeal; your ad won’t run. Leave the push for upcoming events to other formats.

Keep it Family-Friendly
Hulu does not monitor, target or track PSAs the way it might for another type of advertiser. Make sure your content can run across the entire site on all channels, including kids/family programming. That means you need to leave out the controversial or shocking images.

Check the Controversy at the Door
“We do not support the efforts of gun organizations, religion, or political organizations,” says Citron. “Hulu cannot appear to take favor of any one controversial organization; we must remain neutral and non-partisan.” So if you want your ad to run, it can’t be controversial.

Make it Work for a Broad Audience
Hulu reaches a national and even global audience, so make sure your PSA is as meaningful to someone in Billings, Montana as it is to someone in your home town.

Quality Matters
The higher the production quality, the better chance your PSA has of making it through their process. So if your intern just created a slide show, save it for a smaller venue. The message you’re sending to the world needs to be crafted by professionals.

Step 2: Save it in the Right Format

Hulu Standard Definition Mezzanine File Format

• Size     540 x 404 or higher (4:3 aspect ratio), No black bars
• Size Option 2:      720 x 404 or higher (16:9 aspect ratio), No black bars
• Length:     :15 or :30 seconds
• Codec:     Any native Quicktime, AVID or Media 100 including MPEG-2, H.264No DivX, Sorenson, Cinepak or other lossy compression.
• Frame Rate:     29.97 – please preserve the native frame rate
• File Formats:     AVI, MOV, WMV or MP4
• Bitrate:     Greater than 2Mbps
• Color Depth:     32-bit
• Audio:    2 Channel PCM Audio, 16 bit preferred, or MPEG-1 44.1 KHz / 384 kbps accepted. Audio is required.
• Max File Size:     10GB
• Hosting:     Video ads hosted by Hulu
• Leaders/Slates:     Video must be submitted without leaders (slates) prior to the ad content. Please make content progressive.

Hulu High Definition Mezzanine File Format

• Size:     1440×1080 or higher (4:3 aspect ratio) *No black bars*
  1280×720 or higher (16:9 aspect ratio – 1920×1080 preferred) *No black bars*
• Length:     :15 or :30 seconds
• Codec:     MPEG-2 Program Stream
• Frame Rate:     29.97 – please preserve the native frame rate
• Bitrate:     Constant Bitrate (CBR)_ 15-30 Mbps, Main Profile @ Main Level (MP@ML), 4:2:0 Color Space
• Audio:     2 Channel PCM Audio, 16 bit preferred, or MPEG-1 44.1 KHz / 384 kbps accepted. Audio is required.
• Max File Size:     10GB
• Hosting:     Video ads hosted by Hulu
• Leaders/Slates:     Video must be submitted without leaders (slates) prior to the ad content. Please make content progressive.

Other Assets

Hulu asks that you provide:

• Your logo in vector format (either AI or EPS) to create the slate which will be displayed prior to the video commercial, and simultaneously with the voice-over
• The phonetic pronunciation of your organization to be synced with the voice-over, “Hulu is proud to support the efforts of  ____________”
• Your 300 x 60 companion banner in JEPG (which will be displayed simultaneously with the video commercial in the top right hand corner)
• Your 300 x 250 end card in JPEG which will show up at the end of the video commercial and allow users to click through to your site
• The click-to URL for your organization

Step 3: Contact Hulu

Brooke Citron and Lauren Kohli oversee PSA placement for Hulu. Brooke should be contacted directly via email (advertisers (at) hulu.com) if you have a PSA you want to place.

Remember:

• Be nice. You’re asking for something for free.
• Be brief. Busy people appreciate brevity.
• Be clear. Assume the folks at Hulu haven’t heard of your organization or the problem you’re addressing. Quickly explain WHY your organization does its work. (That is much more important than HOW you do your work. But that’s a different blog post.)

Good Luck!

As far as we know, this is the only resource explaining how Hulu’s PSA program works. Please share your experiences here, and let us know if there’s anything else you’ve learned that can make this process even easier!

Related Post: The YouTube Nonprofit Program

You don’t have to blog. Just as much as you don’t have to Tweet, Facebook, or set up a profile on LinkedIn. But it’s likely that you have, because in this age of information, with instant virtual connections to friends, family, coworkers, and interest groups, blogging is one of the cheapest, most accessible methods of increasing your nonprofit’s visibility.

Not long ago, integrating social media into your organization’s communications plans also may have seemed like gratuitous work, extra “stuff” on your to-do lists that you’d cross off haphazardly. Tweeting took a couple of seconds, Facebooking a few more.

Blogging, on the other hand? You thought you left your essay writing days behind with College Writing 101!

These days, however, organizations without blogs are few and far between. Why? Blogging is one the best ways to reinforce your credibility in your given sphere and keep your most important audiences engaged in your work.

Now, we know that blogging for your organization is harder than it seems. With all the great blogs out there, you may feel the pressure to be unique, eloquent, witty, insightful, and inspiring—all at once! Talk about a blogger’s block.

We’re here to tell you to stop worrying and to start “blogstorming.” We’d like to offer you some advice on the seemingly arduous process of blogstorming: outlining and creating your nonprofit’s next blogpost.
 
 
1. First and foremost, scribble down your own ideas. Avoid reaching out to team members, or skimming other relevant blogs (we’ll get to that later). In a recent Washington Post article, Jena McGregor explains why group brainstorming is ineffective: a phenomenon that researchers call “cognitive fixation.” When exposed to other group member’s ideas, individuals are likely to fixate on those ideas and experience difficulty in producing their own unique ideas. Also, some individuals are hesitant to introduce different ideas in group settings. Our point is: who better to write about your nonprofit’s work than those most intimately involved in what you’re doing every day? That’s you. Get writing.

2. After you’ve thought of a couple potential topics, then check out some related blogposts. You might gather some new ideas and enrich what you have.

3. When you feel that you’ve compiled a good list of topics, reach out to your team members for ideas—see what they come up with, and take note. Watch your list grow and diversify.

4. Perhaps you thought of a snazzy title for your blogpost. That’s great! But beware. Titles can cage your thought process, too. Once you begin writing, you may find that new ideas may evolve. Before you know it, your blog content will have a format, style, and angle that you hadn’t planned for. Once your blog topic has solidified, wrap it up with a nice, strong title.

5. Stay away from long, overly-detailed paragraphs. Remember how we thought we left our thesis-writing days behind? We did! Your nonprofit’s blog shouldn’t be composed of essay-length pieces. Think about the kind of article that would make your eyes glaze over. Now, write the opposite of that: a post that’s short, punchy, and to the point.

6. Be professional, but be human. You want your readers to emotionally engage with your blog posts, and you want them to take your work seriously. Write like you’re having a conversation with them: don’t ramble about the minute details of your nonprofit’s work—write something that shows why your work matters. Did you have a fundraising event recently? Tell the story of one of the individuals that needs the program supported by these funds. Your work and mission will be explained in between the lines. As the saying goes: show, don’t tell.

7. Don’t take blog writing as seriously as, say, grant writing. If you find yourself spending more than a day’s worth of writing on one post, you may be working too hard. Remember that blogposts can be short, and still be very strong.

8. That being said, remember that you represent your organization when writing posts for your nonprofit’s blog. This goes for the content, as well as grammar and spelling. Have a team member or two read it, for input and for spell-checking.

9. Keep blogging! Frequent blogging keeps your organization alive online. This may be the hardest piece of advice to follow. Many nonprofits are understaffed and underfunded for the work that they face—blogging is likely to be one of the least-pressing tasks. This may be true, but an hour or two a week is all you need.
 
 
So take a moment to look at your organization’s blog. What does it need? More fun, lively pieces? Perhaps some posts are getting lots of clicks, and others aren’t. If you were a potential donor, what would catch your eye?

And before you know it, you’re blogstorming.

When you sit down with your best donor prospect, chances are that you’re armed with a well-written and nicely designed case statement or case for support. But while a printed piece is essential,  it may not be enough.

Electronic presentations of your case for support are no longer a “nice to have.” They’re now a “need to have.” In the age of digital, your organization also should develop an electronic presentation that can live on your iPad and support your paid and volunteer fundraisers as they make their appeal.

If you’re still considering the best way to get your case on to your iPad, we review the best tools available to help you create a case that leaps off the page and grabs your donor’s mind and heart.

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Acrobat PDF

If you have an existing case statement, Acrobat may be the easiest way to move the presentation to your iPad. Nearly every computer has Acrobat installed. PDF files are easy to transfer, share, and use.

What it Most Closely Resembles in the Analog World: A printed report

Benefits:

• Easy
• Preserves design elements
• Simple to send, move, and share

Drawbacks:

• Unless you’re a master user, your presentation will be static. You’ll only be able to show slides on a page, and you’ll lack transitions.
• Embedding video and links is more difficult
• Updates could be more challenging, depending on what original application was used to create the document

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PowerPoint

The old stand-by. PowerPoint has been the go-to presentation tool since it debuted in 1990. For better or for worse, it is still with us. The great thing about PowerPoint is that it’s easy for the novice user to use it. My 7-year-old uses it in school. Of course, the challenge is that most PowerPoint presentations look, well, PowerPointy.

What it Most Closely Resembles in the Analog World: An Old School Slide Projector

Benefits:

• Easy to use
• Easy to update
• Transitions, videos, and effects are relatively easy to include

Drawbacks:

• Design usually suffers, which can make your organization look less professional
• Requires additional software to be installed on your iPad

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Keynote

Apple’s answer to PowerPoint, Keynote does everything PowerPoint does but adds that touch of design for which Apple is known. Keynote’s effects are prettier; it’s templates are better designed. Keynote and iPads are also made to play better together.

What it Most Closely Resembles in the Analog World: A cross between a slide show and a documentary film.

Benefits:

• Design
• Ease of use
• Great effects
• Easy to add video
• Easy to update — even on your iPad

Drawbacks:

• Requires purchase of an additional app
• Although you can export a copy of your presentation for PC,  there’s no Windows version of the software

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Prezi

Here’s the one you probably haven’t heard of — yet — but likely the presentation tool you’ll soon covet most for your iPad. Prezi’s are gorgeous and completely change how we think about presentations. Like the web, a Prezi doesn’t have to be navigated linearly. Although a user can play a presentation that will take him through a set course, Prezi’s can easily be manipulated — moved, zoomed, and expanded to dig deeper into a particular subject.

What it Most Closely Resembles in the Analog World: A flight simulator

Benefits:

• Beautiful
• New navigation concept allows you to change your presentation more easily, as needed, on the fly

Drawbacks:

• As with any new software, there’s a learning curve before you can use it
• While simple Prezis can be created for free, the on-going usage fees make Prezi a more expensive option over the long haul.

Sample Prezi:

We Can Help

Mission Minded specializes in helping you create your case for support, whether it’s in print, Prezi, PowerPoint, Keynote, or video. Drop us a line.

And no matter whether your case lives in print, on your iPad, or on the web, the best practices of case writing will always apply. Check out Mission Minded’s “Make Your Case For Donations: Create a Stand Out Case For Support.” Just one of our many Free Marketing Guides.

Mission Minded Founding Partner Jennie Winton’s guest post for the Foundation Center is not to be missed. Read “Five-Point Checklist For Creating a Great Nonprofit Tagline” now.

Jennie will also lead a free training, Taglines That Tell: Creating a Tagline That Sends a Message on October 25 in Downtown San Francisco. Don’t miss it!