The Rayvan Group will be expanding to the East Coast

After a very successful year in Arizona, The Rayvan Group has been able to assist several nonprofit clients with event planning, multi-level fundraising strategies, grant writing, board development and much more.

Now The Rayvan Group will ALSO have a presence in South Carolina. The Arizona based company will remain in Arizona as well but will be extending services into South Carolina.

In fact, this month The Rayvan Group will be offering an introductory social media package to help promote your business and increase your awareness. Ask us how!

There will be more news on the expansion to come. Stay tuned!

Social networking is an investment in your future

I am a huge advocate for generational giving campaigns and from statistics provided, mostly young people you will be dealing with are (or will become) your donors and supporters of tomorrow. This helps with the social media spike!

Eventually you will want to start turning your 'friends' into activists, donors, and volunteers. Make sure your social networking pages always feature various opportunities to get involved. Also include donation opportunities on your social networking pages. Even if you do not raise much in the short run, it helps to set expectations for the future.

Be specific when you do ask your friends to do something for your organization. And always let people know what happened at an event or with a campaign even if they did not participate. They might get involved the next time.

Get into the game now and learn how to use social media or you might be left behind for good. The Rayvan Group can help and will offer an introductory price for a 6 month contract. For more information, email jarrett@rayvangroup.com

Putting a face to your cause, qualifying your worth and quantifying the rational for your need will boost results

"In today's economy..." who is tired of hearing that phrase? Tired as it is, it's also the beginnign phrase we use when talking about marketing plans and shifting tactics in the industry. However, the fact of the matter remains that sound mrketing practices still apply even as the amount of money we can spend toward marketing is squeezed. As business and marketing consultants to nonprofits and small businesses, we always strive to offfer the leanest, most effective plan to our clients, and now that budgts are even shrinking, it's a simple face that we can only grow our business by making sure our plans create results so our clients can incrementally increase their spend and happily refer us.

To help, we will be posting a series of usable marketing tips on this blog to get you started on your way to better return on your marketing investment. Let's begin with some nonprofit marketing truths:

Putting a face to your cause, qualifying your worth and quantifying the rational for your need will boost results.

Today we will talk about putting a face to your cause -- personalizing why you should receive sponsorship or donation dollars starts with emotino whether consumer or business based. (We will talk about the other components in ensuing posts.) You need to grab attention and then make a connection with your audience. Since consistency and logevity of the message is important, you willw ant to carefully consider how to frame your cause depending on your target audience and what you expect of them. When applicable, images, spokesperson, music and copy choice all subtly influence the way your message will be received and how your target audience will respond. Think of the difference among Humane Society, PETA and Girls Scouts messaging.

Need help figuring out what is right for you? The Rayvan Group is here: www.rayvangroup.com

Code of Ethical Principles and Standards

The Rayvan Group is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Greater Arizona Chapter.

Many times the RG is asked about writing grants and to be compensated on a commission basis. Based on the Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of AFP, we are unable to receive funds this way.

Please refer to the AFP website for more specifics regarding principles and standards.
Specifically #22 under Compensation and Contracts.

I would also like to advise anyone looking for a professional fundraiser to ask this question of them. If they are a true fundraiser and knowledgeable of these rules, they will not receive commission based compensation.

Starting a new nonprofit

Starting a nonprofit takes a lot of time, energy and dedication. However, it is not impossible. The Rayvan Group has experience helping nonprofit organizations (and new foundations) get started. Since we have received a few HOW TO questions recently, we thought we would outline the major steps.


1. Understand what a nonprofit is. Do your research/homework
2. Create your mission statement
3. Form your Board of Directors
4. File Articles of Incorporation
5. Draft bylaws
6. Develop a budget
7. Develop a record-keeping system
8. Develop an accounting system
9. File for 501(c)(3) status
10. Apply for a federal employer identification number (FEIN)
11. File for state and local tax exemption
12. Fulfill charitable solicitation law requirements
13. Apply for a nonprofit mailing permit

Seems like a lot to do...it is. The Rayvan Group is here to help you through every step!

8 ways to help you improve your site

To help your site soar in 2010, The Rayvan Group has put together 8 ways to help you improve your site and increase site traffic:

1. Be impressive and up to date - Keeping an active blog is a great way to generate text heavy content that is sure to keep search engines coming back to index your site and thus drive traffic to it. Websites that are not updated on regular basis do not get indexed as often.
2. Keep it Simple - Remember that visitors should always be able to easily look around your site. Don't trick them into staying too long. If visitors are frustrated and can't find the right information, they are more likely to leave quickly and are less likely to come back.
3. Provide Contact Information - Make it simple for visitors to find ways they can reach out to you. Provide an email address, form for their questions or a place they can simply write in, such as guestbook. Of course you should always be cautious not to give out too personal information.
4. Submit to Directories - Adding your site to Google and other search engines helps index it faster. Submitting this information will allow your site to be considered for future searches.
5. Illustrate that File - Use keywords when naming your image files that are being used by your site. Doing so will help you gain visitors when people search using Google Images.
6. Create Links - Linking to your site from other websites will help generate more traffic and improve your placement in search engines.
7. Tag your Site - Adding site tags can increase the number of times your site shows up in search results. To pick the right keywords, try putting yourself in the shoes of your visitors.
8. Categorize your Site - Just like adding tags, categorizing your site helps to better define what your site is about, thus improving the quality of your site traffic.

Tips On Writing a Grant Proposal

First of all, let me define what a grant is.

Grants are sums of money awarded to finance a particular program or agency. Typically, these grant awards do not need to be paid back. Federal agencies, corporations and private foundation sponsor grant programs for various reasons.

Before creating a grant proposal, it is important to understand the goals of the particular funde, and of the grant program itself. You can do this simply by reading through the funders for Request for Proposal (RFP) or Request for Applications (RFA) and discussions with the information contact listed in each resource description.

At this time you can find that, in order for a particular project to be eligible for funding, the original concept may need to be modified to meet the criteria of the grant program. In allocating funds, programs base their decisions on the applicant's ability to fit its proposed activities within the program's interest areas.

It is important for an applicant to become familiar with eligibility requirements and other criteria related to the organization and grant program from which assistance is sought. Applicants should remember that the basic requirements, application forms, information, deadlines and procedures will vary for each grant maker.

Before You Begin Writing the Grant Proposal:

Rule #1: Believe that someone wants to give you the money!
Project your organization into the future.
Start with the end in mind...look at your organization's big picture.
Who are you? What are your strengths and priorities?
Create a plan not just a proposal.
Do your homework: Research prospective funders.
Try and search locally first. Target funding source that has interest in
your organization and program.

If you need the money now, you have started too late.