Have a question?
Send enquiry
Message sent Close

Blog

Wild Woman Fundraising > Blog > Book > A Look Back at 2010

A Look Back at 2010

No Comments
Happy New Year!

Wow. It’s been a crazy decade, and even though I’ve been blogging since 1999, I have never focused so closely on it. In 2009, I started this blog, as a way to get the word out about my book, to give helpful tips, and clear my head of some utterly crazy-making thoughts I had about the nonprofit world.

But it’s become more than that. It’s been a place where people can gather, and share ideas. It’s become a resource. Wild Woman Fundraising has become a place where I go just to look and admire the design. A place that has been my excuse to be constantly learning about new marketing realities that EVERY BUSINESS needs to know.

I’m so proud of what I’ve built. I hope you feel proud to be part of the community here, whether you comment, are part of the mailing list, or just like to lurk.

Now I’m going to look back for a few threads from this last year:

Tipping Points

Published my first book!
in November, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, and the response has been tremendous. I’ve sold tons of books all over the world. I’ve had such opportunities open up because of this book! (BTW, you heard it here first, I’ll be giving a series of workshops at Austin’s Center for Nonprofit Organizations in 2011)

Launched this site!
Posted 284 posts on Wild Woman Fundraising.com, built up my audience (Yeah, That’s YOU!) to 7,000 people per month, 75,000 pageviews per month, and 35,000 visits per month.

Launched my mailing list
In April, 2010, I bit the bullet and launched my mailing list. And I’m so glad that I did. Previously, I had managed mailing lists for different nonprofits, but had not thought about having one of my own. Now I see, of course, that nearly everything you learn in nonprofit fundraising, you can apply just as well to the business world, with killer results. Yes. If you’ve been fundraising for awhile, you could totally start your own business, too! So, if you haven’t signed up for my mailing list yet, it’s right there on the right, and you’re going to love it! Go ahead and sign up! I’ll wait!

Launched my social media coaching business
And it really took off! I am so psyched for the new year, when I’m going to be doing a LOT more to help people and businesses succeed in selling their products and services online, and help them control google search results about themselves too! Yes, a new business is in the work! With new partnerships! Oh! Details TBD!

Invested in my own education
This year I went to a two day workshop on public speaking at Communispond. It rocked so hard, I encourage everyone to do it. I also bought Naomi Dunford’s and Dave Navarro’s products, I also bought a few other ebooks and courses which I won’t mention. I can recommend Dave and Naomi’s stuff most highly. They deliver the goods. I also bought a few books. Social by Social by Amy Sample Ward and others! Toolkit for Radical Democracy edited by Kim Klein! The Networked Nonprofit by A. Fine and Beth Kanter! Dan Pallotta’s Uncharitable! All books you should really buy if you have an interest in nonprofit fundraising.

Trust!
This was a big one. All of the above would not have happened if I didn’t have support and affirmation and appreciation in the form of a few key people. I learned how to trust and let people be there for me this year. I learned how to sit back and not assume I was going to have to do it all myself again. And for this, I am so grateful for the people I know I can count on. There are many, and to keep it brief, I would like to mention specifically Steve Havelka, Sue Thornton, Jane Tremblay, and Vicki Flaugher.  Thank you Thank you Thank you.

10 Thought Provoking Posts from 2010

Lessons Learned in 2010

  • Set a goal and stick to it
  • Don’t say yes to everyone who offers you opportunities
  • Learn what you like to do, and do that
  • Do things, even if people say you can’t do them.
  • Surround yourself with people who excite you, who can affirm, appreciate you, and who want to help you, and who you want to help. Everyone else can suck it.

Things I would have done Differently

  • I would have slapped that Promisekeeper right in the mouth. No joke.
  • Email: I will be emailing my list a LOT more in the new year! I want to pay more attention to you!
  • Monetization: I would have launched information products sooner, in many different places, and different ways. I would have built up friendships and affiliations a lot more too.
  • Strategic Guest Posting: I guest posted a whole bunch of different places this year. Vivanista. Sharpskirts. iGrad. Pamela Grow’s blog. Some places (Ahem, @PamelaGrow ROCKS!) were better than others!

So, what did I do this year? What DIDN’T I do this year?

Aside from this blog, I traveled to Portland, Oregon, to New York City, to Boston, saw the new Boston art museum (ICA), met a famous psychic, showed my art at my first art fair, wrote grants for artists, started writing poetry and attending a poetry class again, published my poetry, made hard and castille soap from scratch, learned how to run a lecture series, became a better teacher, became a better writer, learned to write every day, learned how to set a fire under myself to just DO things I said I had no time to do. Learned how to post my goals on the wall and come back to them and cross them off.

What’s in Store for 2011?

Glad you asked! I have had a lot of requests to focus a bit more on for-profit stuff. There was a lot of response to making an income on the side, how to get out of fundraising and into something you like more, and multiple streams of income.  So I will have more posts on this. I’ll still have nonprofit posts, and there will be more about for-profit business around here, more about making money on the side, about building relationships, about time-saving tools and ways to be even MORE successful online. It’s going to be about getting things done. About social media and digital marketing.

I’m going to write less in 2011, probably 3 posts a week instead of 5, but the quality will be higher.

I am also going to finish the long-awaited fundraising game! It’s just taking longer than we thought. But it WILL happen. And I’m going to have lots more things for you to buy, lots more advice, and lots more amusing posts!

You are going to be seeing more videos of me in 2011 too!

Thank you for reading! Happy New Year!

Leave a Reply