Get a Better Look at Images

If you want a really cool way to preview images and the iPhone has made 3D rendering your favorite way to browse through items, then you're in luck. My recent Sitepoint newsletter mentioned PicLens, a cool little browser extension/plugin from a CA-based company called Cooliris, Inc.  The extension is available for Firefox, IE, and Safari. Once you download PicLens, you can search and preview images in Flickr, Google Image Search, Yahoo, or other photo bucket sites.

I admit, it's not the most necessarily productive tool in the world, a.k.a. "it won't help you raise money". But, it's a neat little slideshow tool and proof that the pseudo-3d spatial interfaces can work in almost any environment. Plus, I'm a sucker for aggregator tools. The more tools that consolidate my searches/functions, the happier I am and the easier it is to do get stuff done... or relax and look at images in a fun way.      

Dear "First Name Not Given"

I recently signed up for an organization's online newsletter: simple enough input form and the acknowledgment screen was fine. I even puttered over to their programs area to look around after registering. Then, two days later (!), I received my welcome e-mail message that began with this salutation:

"Dear First name not given,"

Uh-oh.

Now, I've received quite a few "Dear Friend," messages from organizations, but this one was the best... or worst. Someone at this organization obviously needs to examine their response devices. This made me wonder how many organizations check these autoresponders or devices. Setting up automatic acknowledgments should be standard knowledge, but a look into my last two weeks worth of e-mails turned up nine messages from organizations that started with "Dear Friend," and one "Dear first name not given".

Why is this important? Simply put, you bought, leased, or developed the tool to maximize a constituent relationship and if you can't be on a first name basis with your constituents, how do you expect to grow an online relationship? The big and medium-sized CRM services provide standard templates for registration and donation processes. This should be one of the first things you customize in your CRM tool! Your capture forms most likely have a first and last name field, that information should be right in the autoresponder. I wouldn't drop it in a subject line (too spam-y), but you should definitely have it at the start of any welcome or appeal message. In fact, you might add the date they joined, the amount of their last donation, and target an interest or two with specific content or graphics.

Get personal and dig in, your constituents will notice and you'll maximize the potential of your online tools.

So, if  "Dear First name not given" is my first name, what is my whole name?

Best Super Bowl Ad: Text-to-Give PSA

Forget the rest of the Super Bowl ads (frankly, I don't drink soda or watch a lot of Fox), the most exciting ad was United Way's text-to-give PSA with Tom Brady. The ad was only 10 seconds long--perhaps not as gripping as watch a squirrel narrowly avoid being run over--but, it was great to see text-based giving finally land on these shores. It may be low-dollar giving, but for a nation of kids growing up using SMS over e-mail, it is the future of giving.

After that PSA, who needs the second half?

Read United Way's press release on MarketWire