Radical Concept: Asking the Donors to Decide

The title of the email was bland: "Help us Serve You Better." I opened it anyway, and the first words from the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Foundation caught my interest: "The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) strives to communicate with you in a timely manner to keep you abreast of our efforts..." It went on to ask,"

Please take two minutes to complete our seven-question survey to help us better serve you. Your answers will enable us to modify the type and frequency which we send information to our supporters and subscribers.

We aim to provide only the information you wish to receive and in the format you choose. Participating in this survey today will allow us to better serve your needs through direct communication.

Please click here to begin the survey and thank you, in advance, for your participation.

So I did. It asked me what kind of information I wanted to receive, via what channels (hard copy, email, RSS, or "I'll would prefer go to the web site on my own to get updates" (which is so much nicer than saying, "Don't call me, I'll call you"). The survey went on to collect a little bit of interest and demographic information.

We preach this all the time. It's so nice to see someone doing it. I was tempted to submit a few different submissions just to see how the different answers are used. That's the hard part, of course. It's easy to ask your email supporters their preferences. It's another thing to be prepared to truly delivery on them.

Online Marketing to Demographic Segments

At the DMA's Nonprofit New York Conference this August, I'll be moderating a panel discussion on fundraising "from people who don't look like you." It's aimed at discussing the opportunities and pitfalls of reaching out to different demographic groups. As part of the research, I'm identifying news items that may add to the body of knowledge, and I'll be blogging them here.

Today's New York Times announces the launch of Rushmore Drive, a search engine that is aimed at blacks. It does this by looking at search results (probably from its sister company, Ask.com) that were clicked on in heavily black cities and comparing them to the search results that were clicked in less black cities. While that's not exactly precise, the model found distinct differences in "hair products, dance, cars, fraternities and sororities" and recipes.

Yes, the article says, one could find much the same results at Google by including a phrase like "African American" in the search. And to the extent that someone is aware that their demographic or lifestyle differences will impact the search results they want, that's an option. But search, and in fact much of the internet, has been about making it easier, not harder, on the user.

It will be interesting to see how this succeeds, and how Google reacts.

Only the Feds can move this slowly

Today's New York Times reports that Federal regulators have approved a plan to allow text messages to be transmitted to all cell phones in the US in the event of natural disaster, terror attack, or kidnapped child. The last line of the article says, "The service could be in place by 2010."

No doubt federal bureaucrats will spend the next few years creating flowcharts and finding a way to tax us for this service. As we all know, a federal project with a two-year time frame has a high likelihood of coming to fruition about the time cell phones are replaced with the next technology.

The wacky thing is, the process already works. What do they need to implement? I've already signed up at USGS.gov to get major earthquake notifications sent to my cell phone. The weather channel sends me storm alerts based on my zip code. And I don't really want to know every Amber Alert in the US (though I would likely subscribe to a service that broadcast Amber Alerts that correspond to my current GPS location).

Rob Prisament has too much fun at March for Babies

Also, he positively loves it when you laugh at him... so long as you're supporting MOD!

So this is the latest thing he's come up with:


Create Your Own GushyGram
Visit Marchforbabies.org


It's the first video I posted to my MySpace page in a long time. I just don't have the nerve (or time, or creativity) to create my own. Maybe we need to empower our crazy-about-you supporters to do crazy stuff like this?

Rick...