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Xlerate Toronto 2023
Join hundreds of the country’s best nonprofit marketers and fundraisers back in Toronto October 16th and 17th at the MaRS Discovery District.
AFP Congress 2022
The slides for the AFP Congress 2022 session, The Long Haul: Applying Pandemic Learnings to Fundraising Campaigns can be found here. - -
Derail the Driver: MADD, Influencers and lighthearted PSAs
by Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester - One of the winners in 2020 and 2021 was social media: people spent more time online than ever: TikTok’s user base alone tripled in a year. Younger demographics are embracing social on new platforms and engaging in new ways. Along with the proliferation of...
Hack your to-do list: manageable tasks for pandemic times
by Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester - Where I am geographically, the metaphorical place we’re in right now feels uncomfortably familiar: COVID cases are climbing out of control, leaders who should be keeping us safe seem to be dropping the ball, and the stress is making everyone cranky....
Greatly Exaggerated: Amazon's love letter to print
by Kyla Winchester - A couple weeks ago I received a holiday gifts flyer. This in itself is very unremarkable; after all, my newspaper always becomes heavy with shopping-related advertising as we approach December. There are toy catalogues, electronics flyers, car ads, jewelry, etc., etc. -...
MADD Canada: Boating PSA
MADD Canada’s mission is to stop impaired driving and to support victims/survivors. Impaired boating IS impaired driving, and MADD Canada set out to raise awareness and change dangerous perceptions during peak boating season. - MADD Canada enlisted Candela to highlight the risks of impaired...
Hey Marketers: Disco Is back
By Chris Carter - Hey Marketers: Disco is back! - Talk about timing. The marketing geniuses behind arguably the most successful pop group of all time ABBA just dropped their first single in 40 years. “Don’t Shut Me Down” is unapologetically disco: it would have no problem tearing up 70s...
To-do and to-don’t: better living (while working from home) via a backlog
There just may be two kinds of people in the world: those who flourish in a work-from-home environment and those who do not.
Coronavirus: Five things fundraisers should be doing right now
By Chris Carter, published March 2020 - The world has changed. From a fundraising or marketing professional perspective your work priorities have been shifting or will be soon. Things that may have consumed a lot of your time are suddenly on the backburner: meetings, conferences, events, and even...
The Coronavirus: Fundraising during a worldwide health emergency
By Chris Carter, published March 2020 - First I should clarify: we all know this virus has the potential to take a devastating toll, and we all have a duty to protect everyone in our communities, no excuses. So that means social distancing, working from home, universal paid sick leave, ending...
Fundraising Statistics
This is a collection of stats and sources cited in our posts for #staturday, for ease of linking and to provide info to fundraisers. - Donors who are thanked within 48 hours are 4 times more likely to give again. - Almost half of donors give to more than 4 causes. 23% give to 6 or more. - 60% of...
Is your Best Practice tested and true?
by Kyla Winchester - The last two years have brought a lot of change—and things are still changing. Let’s consider: the “great resignation,” grocery delivery, virtual appointments and workshops, remote learning, less commuting, “nesting” (home office, home theatre, home retreat),...
Question & Answers to "Not Just Another Barrier: Digital Inclusion for Everyone!" from 22NTC
Thanks to everyone who attended our session at 22NTC last week! The session and deck are available online for registrants for the next three months. - We received a couple questions in the chat that we thought warranted longer replies as well as additional resources that we weren't able to take...
If you look for it, data is everywhere
by Kyla Winchester - I saw a post on LinkedIn the other day: it was a photo of a range of weights on a weight machine, with varying amounts of wear where the weights connect to the machine itself. The wear pattern followed a typical statistical distribution: there was more wear on middle-weights,...
GoFundUs: thank-yous with impact (part 2)
by Kyla Winchester - (Note: Part 1 can be found here. In part 1, I talked about donating to a GoFundMe and how it illustrated to importance of quickly telling donors the impact of their gifts.) - Heartfelt and personal - Let’s consider a more formal thank-you typical of the way many of learn to...
GoFundUs: thank-yous with impact (part 1)
by Kyla Winchester - This may be a controversial statement: I donated to a GoFundMe a few days ago, and I loved it. - Over the weekend, you may have seen that Iqaluit had no drinking water. Not just the common but nonetheless appalling news that an Indigenous community has been under a boil-water...
Put your money where your rainbow is
By Kyla Winchester - You may have already known it’s Pride Month, but if you didn’t, it wouldn’t take long before corporate logos and sponsored ads gave you a very colourful hint. - There have been more companies than ever joining in with Pride Month celebrations. Putting my cynical hat on,...
Digital isn't free (and multi-channel is queen)
by Kyla Winchester - We’ve explored before why digital fundraising is an important tool in your fundraising toolkit—but it should never be your only tool, or even the main tool. - There is talk of digital transformation or digital maturity, but to me, that seems like talking about...
Plan for the Unplannable, Part 2
By Tracy Mazur - Welcome back! Our last article explained what an FMEA table is and how it may help you get in front of potential issues for a variety of areas in your organization. In this article we will explore how to make a simple FMEA. This one is just the basics, you can make them more...
Plan for the Unplannable, Part 1
By Tracy Mazur - There is a light at the end of the tunnel for the Covid-19 pandemic and everyone is breathing a sigh of relief. A year ago, everyone scrambled to accommodate an unknown stretch of remote, work-from-home shut-down wherever possible and modified how we conduct business to allow for...
Question & Answers to "It's not the CRM, it's your data!" from 21NTC
Thanks to those who were able to join Chris and Sheetal Persaud from UNHCR Canada at the #21NTC session, It’s not the CRM, it’s your data! There were a lot of great questions in the chat, though we ran out of time to address some of them. We’ve included those questions below along with some...
My kingdom for a Starbucks! On post-pandemic planning
By Kyla Winchester, posted March 2021 - So you might have noticed… *gestures vaguely at world*… that things have been a little different in the past year. From minor differences to big changes, people and companies have been adapting in different ways. My book club is meeting by video, a huge...
Your Constituents, Major Gift Donors
By Jeremy Slessor - Where do Major Gift donors come from? - Perhaps your organization has prospect researchers, and they work to find you these donors. Perhaps members of your board refer prospective Major Gift donors to you to pursue. In another time you may have hosted an event to attract these...
Double, double, mask and bubble: predictions, considerations and trends for 2021
by Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester - 2020… felt like a decade. So many things happened that changed fundraising last year, including things that continue in that trend for 2021 and beyond. Here are some things we think may continue, trend upward, or start this year. - People are at home - More...
Looking back on fundraising in 2020: the good, the bad, and the icky
By Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester - Do I need to say it? 2020 will never be forgotten. For those of us who have seen it unfold, the changes came quickly at first, then more slowly as the year continued. For fundraising as well, it was a year like no other: here are our highlights of what...
Fundraising and Millennials: Not Just Avocado Toast
By Jeremy Slessor, millennial - Look out! - There is a murderous mob on the loose! An unstoppable, inevitable, group who are constantly in the news for their senseless murders. This demographic is seemingly killing industries and trends at random. If the non-profit industry is not careful, they...
Gen X: The Missing Middle
by Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester - What’s the story, morning glory? And what’s the deal with generational difference? They might say it smells like Teen Spirit, or they might say, you better work! Life is a like a box of chocolates, but personally, I prefer a Royale with Cheese. Either way,...
Event Fundraising: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
By Jeremy Slessor, published November 2020 - Imagine this scene: You are at a concert with 1,500 other people, you are all there to see your favourite band. They have come out of hiatus or retirement to support a charity dear to them. You are bumping elbows with other people in the crowd as you...
Why people give, even during lockdown
by Kyla Winchester, published June 2020 - The motivations of donors can feel slippery and hard to pin down. It’s hard to know why a single person gave last year but not this year; or gave a certain amount last year but then gave less this year. However, there are patterns and trends that can...
We're hiring!
Candela Strategies is hiring for the following three positions: - Project Manager - Data Analyst - Sales Associate - Candela is committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds and perspectives. We encourage people who are reflective of the diversity of our communities to...
Review & Renew your Donor Communications
By Kyla Winchester - Social distancing is forcing us to re-think a lot of the things we take for granted: gatherings with friends and family, grocery shopping, our daily routine. It’s challenging but sometimes it has unlikely benefits —introspection, re-evaluation, new priorities. We can...
A few of our favourite things: picks from Candela
Finding yourself with more time on your hands? In need of a distraction? We’ve got you covered. Here’s our recommendations, from books and cookbooks to TV, YouTube, hobbies, exercise and even virtual strategy ‘summer camp’, from the Candela staff. - Chris - Coco Peru’s “Thoughts While...
DIY self-care recipe: body scrub
By Kyla Winchester - Please note: Kyla has been making, testing and using skin care products for a long time, but she is neither a skin care expert nor a doctor. If you haven't used a similar product before or have any doubt about how your skin will react, do a patch test before use. - Self-care...
Warning! Digital Transformation Is Not What You Think
By Chris Carter - In these uncertain times, there has been a rush to embrace all things “digital.” However, much of these pivots aren’t being thought through and are missing key foundational steps. Often this embrace has been done at the expense of channels that have been deemed too...
The 3 Ws (and one H) of COVID-19 fundraising
By Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester, published April 2020 - We held a webinar recently, with Alex Tom of UNHCR and Claire Kerr of Care 2, on what fundraisers should be doing in response to COVID-19. There were a lot of questions from engaged attendees, resulting in a fruitful discussion. - One of...
What now? Questions from our webinar Q&A on fundraising in response to COVID-19
On April 2, we held a webinar with Alex Tom of UNHCR, Claire Kerr of Care2 and our own Chris Carter. We were sent some questions during the webinar that we couldn’t address in the allotted time. These questions and Candela's answers are below. If you were not able to attend the webinar, you can...
Hospital and healthcare fundraisers, this is your moment: Diversify
By Chris Carter, published March 2020 - In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been talking about how charity and non-profit fundraisers should be responding to the health emergency. It can be summed up as: - Be responsibleDon’t stopDiversifyBoost mass marketing This is particularly pressing for...
Stepping Up Self-Care in Uncertain Times
By Kyla Winchester, originally published March 2020 - As I write this, the City of Toronto is declaring a State of Emergency, and the Province of Ontario is shutting down nonessential businesses. Who knows what will have happened in the days it will take to edit and post these words. I say this...
A Survival Guide for Working @ Home
By Lou-Anne Hooper - As someone who has spent a great part of my life working from home, I have developed a few habits that have helped me over the years: - Start your day as you normally would if you were going into the office (although your commute will be much shorter!). End your day when you...
How You Can Feel the Bern…for Your Org
By Chris Carter - It’s Super Tuesday today, and if you’re not obsessively following American politics like I am, here’s a quick primer: the US political parties nominate their candidates by getting the most delegates in elections called primaries. States each have a certain number of...
How to be Campaign First
By Chris Carter - We’re switching things up. A lot of people talk about channels: their social strategy, their direct mail campaign, their year-end email. Much of the time it comes down to silos, since one person is working on one channel and someone else on another. - Here at Candela we want to...
Let’s Talk Corporate Partnerships
Candela Blog: Let's Talk Corporate Partnership
When do you start thinking about year-end?
It's that time of year: you're probably looking forward to spring, and hopefully you’re thinking about a summer vacation—which means you have plenty of time to start planning your holiday/end-of-year campaign. - You’re probably thinking, "It's way too soon for year-end! It's not even spring,...
I’d Like to Teach the World to Click: the Resurgence of Values-Based Marketing
By Chris Carter and Kyla Winchester (originally published in 2019) - Quick: have you seen any values-based marketing campaigns? They’re popping up everywhere lately, by companies and even non-profits taking advantage of a drastic shift in marketing trends. - Which of these campaigns come to mind...
“Why isn’t it working?” Troubleshooting for non-profits
By Kyla Winchester - It’s happened to all of us: you had a great idea for .... your campaign, mailing, email series, anything really! Unfortunately, it’s not doing as well as you thought it would. What went wrong? Usually, things go askew for one of a handful of reasons (or a combination of...
An Ode to Solicit Codes
By Tino Zhang and Kyla Winchester - One of the most important fields in your database may be Solicit Code. Without it, you wouldn’t know who you could contact, and you’d be paralyzed between not violating your donors’ wishes and sending solicitations necessary to continue funding your...
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