Hi Reader,

Just this week, I made my best sourdough loaf.

I haven’t told you that I bake bread, but over a year ago, my bread budget was astronomical, and it was time for a change.

My husband, who loves making things with yeast (and barley), started baking sourdough bread during the pandemic.

But like many new habits started during the pandemic, it quickly ended.

At the time, he stored the “sourdough starter” in the fridge. If you know little about sourdough, you don’t use store-bought yeast. Instead, we mix flour and water to create a fermented culture and a lot of patience.

Last September, I pulled the starter out of the fridge and revived it. It worked, and I began my new adventure of becoming a home baker.

I’ve been baking bread since last September, and I’ve turned out some great loaves and even a few duds. So far, I’m pleased with my progress.

Why am I sharing my bread-baking story with you today? It’s because, in this edition of the Social Profit Stack, I want to explore how practicing new skills can perfect your adventure into online fundraising, even though mastery takes time and patience.

So much to learn

There are so many new digital products on the market. AI is taking software in new directions while productivity apps are gaining strength.

Staying aware of them is challenging, and learning another skill feels overwhelming.

As professionals in the nonprofit sector, we’re proud of what we know. We know how to fundraise, build donor relationships, and recognize and retain those donors over time.

But how will learning new digital skills help us elevate this knowledge?

Best answer: it won’t. But it will make our jobs easier.

Learning many of these digital tools won’t create the relationships we need for our nonprofit, but with practice, they can lead us to more engagement with more people who believe in what we do.

Simple to use, not enough time to learn

A well-designed software product should be easy to learn and simple to use, even for first-time users.

You'll begin to drive donor engagement effectively as you review new platforms, understand the latest algorithms, and tackle the latest donor preferences.

When you learn new skills and prepare yourself for new challenges, you’ll create new opportunities to support giving.

Here are 10+ digital skills I recommend you practice over the next 12 months. Perfecting them will help drive awareness, increase engagement, and convert your audience into donors.
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▷ Digital Fundraising—This is a great place to begin if you haven't set up your donation landing page. If you’ve set up your CRM, it’s time to learn how to create one using their software. Once created, add the page to your website and share the link via social media.

▷ Email Marketing - When you use a platform like MailChimp or ConvertKit, they offer tech support on how to set it up. Both platforms offer free templates and include automations that guide your audience when they sign up. Email provides a direct way to share your impact and allows for a personal connection with your audience,

▷ Social Media—Facebook and Instagram remain the clear winners in the social media space. The first step is to create profiles that attract and engage your supporters. Double down on learning these two channels and tracking engagement using tools like Hootsuite.

▷ Content Creation—Use content creation to share your nonprofit’s impact. Start by writing short blog posts or creating simple videos using your phone. Canva for Nonprofits takes centre stage when designing graphics and offers templates for nonprofits, making content creation easy and appealing.

▷ Donor Journey Mapping—Map out your current donor touchpoints using tools like Miro or a simple spreadsheet. Identify each stage, including awareness, engagement, donation, and stewardship.

▷ Website Experience—Whether it’s WordPress or Wix, each platform offers a ton of information and support on building a website. Follow the steps to learn specific skills or the process with online courses or coaching. Ensure it’s optimized for fundraising.

▷ Storytelling–Your website and social media can be filled with impactful stories about how your organization makes a difference. Don’t hold back. Sharing stories on these platforms helps slow the scroll and shows prospective donors what happens when they donate.

▷ Online Advertising–If you haven’t applied for the Google Ad Grants program, it’s time! It provides $10,000 per month in free advertising for nonprofits. You can follow their online tutorials to help you create and manage campaigns.

▷ Data Analytics–Since we still depend on Google, learning the basics of Google Analytics is a great way to begin. It’s free and offers valuable insights into your website traffic, donor behaviour, and campaign effectiveness. Online courses from Google Analytics Academy can help you get started.

▷ SEO (Search Engine Optimization)- Learn the basics of SEO with free resources like Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO. Use Google Search Console to measure your traffic, understand how your website performs in search results, and identify areas for improvement.

▷ Artificial Intelligence– Learning to prompt AI tools like ChatGPT or Microsoft Co-Pilot might be the most fun! Start by exploring free resources, such as online courses and guides, that teach how to structure prompts to generate high-quality content, insights, or donor engagement ideas.

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Now that you know the top 11 digital skills, perfecting them will take time. It may feel like a lot once you take the first step in leading your team. Remember that we all started with a tiny step.

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Link 💜

It's a link treasure trove in the email today - dig in. ⇪

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