Acronym

I’ve seen some pretty creative fundraising outlets being used effectively by nonprofits and associations lately. While in New York City for a day, I rode in three cabs that each had mini-TVs with programming that included short pieces about participating in the national RED campaign by the American Heart Association and in a local United Way fundraiser.

I saw AARP spots on community service and membership during the recent coverage of the Olympics and, oddly, the Tour de France, the latter of which also attracted regular spots from the Virginia Association of Realtors. Neither of these seems like obvious marketing tools, but they did catch my attention.

I even saw two associations advertising membership on the sides of the Verizon Center ice rink during a Capitols game in DC—one repeated its ad on the Jumbotron hanging over the rink. Those I did wonder about. Did they really garner enough money and/or members from hockey fans to make it worth the cost of advertising there? They weren’t even hockey related.

Read the article in today’s USA Today for other avenues that nonprofits/associations are turning to in their increasingly desperate effort to avoid a crash-and-burn end-of-year financial scenario.