On May 5th each year residents primarily from the state of Puebla, Mexico, who commemorate the Mexican army’s AMAZING victory at the Battle of Puebla, join millions of Americans to celebrate Mexican heritage and pride.  Cinco de Mayo as it is referred to in the United States is not the celebration of MEXICO’S INDEPENDENCE which is September 16th, but their winning of the battle against the French forces in 1862 to remain free. CLICK the link below for more information as seen on the television special about Cinco de Mayo.

Although the origins of Cinco de Mayo can be informational, if this was part of your newsletter it would most likely send your message into a spam filter and jeopardize your ability to reach your intended audience.  The underlined words are all triggers that spam filters look for in each message that you send.   Here are 5 ways to ensure that your message gets through.

1.  Avoid using all caps and trigger words. Spam filters award points for each occurrence of a “spam phrase” or word.  One word by itself may not block your email, but several words can add up.  There are lists of hundreds of words and phrases that spam filters search for.  Here are a few of the most common:

3.  Make sure that it is easy to unsubscribe. Give your recipients the ability to unsubscribe or change the settings on their subscriptions.

4. Send only to your opt in list. Spam rules do not allow you to add names to subscriber lists without having the recipients’ permission.   To prevent spammers from registering for your newsletter, send each new list member an email with a link where they can verify their subscription.

5. Most Important -choose a reputable  newsletter service provider. In addition to providing professional looking templates, newsletter service providers help prevent your email from being labeled spam by providing resources to verify subscribers and test your message for spam triggers.   Email providers like AOL, Hotmail, Gmail and a few others have a list of newsletter providers that are protected from blockage.  Research them to make sure the service you choose is on the “whitelist”.

The Engage Group is a team of technically savvy, experienced fundraisers and technology implementers who will coordinate your online advertising, website and communications to maximize your online fundraising activities.

The winner keeping an eye on the competition.

The Engage Group would like to thank all of the people who stopped by our booth at this year’s Nonprofit Technology Conference  and especially those who participated in the Bubble Blowing Contest.  The competition was fierce with the winner blowing a 7 inch bubble.

Participants chose from two weapons of destruction, Dubble Bubble or Bazooka and faced off to outsize their opponents.  There were several that deserve honorable mentions for blowing bubbles ranging from 5 to 6 inches.  These competitors showed a valiant effort.

• Leah Kopperman, Blackbaud, Brooklyn, NY (5 inch)
• Zhabiz Chu, Defenders of Wildlife, (5 inch)
• Mary Getz, Episcopal Church, Washington DC (5 ½ inch)
• Bethany Bauman, Merkle, (6 inch)
• Adora Wilkins, Cross International (6 inch)
• Tiffany Price, Mitchell Kapor Foundation (6 inch)

In the end, three people were awarded prizes.  Erin Schiedler from The Center for Wooden Boats was selected to receive an Amazon Gift Card in the random drawing at the booth.  An  Amazon Gift Card was also awarded to Tim Brauhn with The 1010 Project.  Even with the disadvantage of a full beard and mustache he showed great persistence with multiple attempts and was awarded the Stick-With-It-No-Matter-How-Sticky Award.

The Grand Prize award was earned by Rachel Weidinger from Upwell.  With great technique, skill and her choice of Dubble Bubble, she produced a 7 inch bubble that beat out the rest of the competitors.  Her reward was a FlipVideo Camera.

Congratulations to all of the winners of the Engage Group Bubble Blowing Contest.  We look forward to seeing you next year at NTC.

Yes, you read that right.  The Engage Group is exhibiting at the very popular Science Fair at the NTC this year and we are holding a bubble blowing contest.  Contestants will be blowing their biggest and best bubbles to win a Flip Camera and we’re awarding the Best Bubble Catastrophe an Amazon gift card.  So, if you are attending, please stop by booth #36 and enter (or at least say hello).  If you aren’t heading out to San Francisco, keep up with who’s blowing the biggest bubble (and catastrophes) on our Facebook page.  We’ll be updating photos of the contest.

In the meantime, here are some outtakes of our office bubble blowing contest.  Our fellow co-workers from the entire PMG family were great sports!

Use your talents to help advance our clients’ good causes.  Send us your resume.

Sound like a fit?  Send us your resume.

Well, now you can easily remove those line breaks from blocks of text but preserve paragraph breaks with this handy tool.  You can remove line breaks only or line breaks and paragraph breaks.

Here are 6 Essentials for a Solid Online Fundraising Program:

1.  A fresh website that is easy to navigate, that adheres to best practices, and designed thoughtfully to address the different audiences you reach.

2.  Payment processing that integrates with your existing site and gives you the reports to evaluate results.

3.  Online appeals that connect donors to your site and your social media.

4.  A social media schedule and message that supports your mission.

5.  Google Adword campaigns that turns traffic into friends and donors.

6.  Online appeals that work in conjunction with your mailing schedule.

The Engage Group can help you overcome all the technical obstacles to get your fundraising online successfully.  Whether it’s connecting your merchant account, redesigning your website, sending out an email, setting up Google Adwords, launching a mobile giving campaign or anything else online – we can help.   We’d feel lucky to be considered a part of your team.

CUR is supported by membership both individual and institutional.  Members represent over 900 colleges and universities. They benefit from the sharing of research, successful models, and research strategies.  CUR produces a number of publications and hosts an undergraduate research poster session on Capitol Hill, and provides special Institutes on undergraduate research and faculty development as well as a bi-annual national conference.

CUR also provides information on the importance of undergraduate research to state legislatures, private foundations, government agencies, and the U.S. Congress.

Learn more

Now you can track how much time it takes to run an event, launch a campaign, get that mailing out, process payroll and more.  Happy time tracking.

That’s right, The Engage Group is holding a bubble blowing contest at NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference in San Francisco this year.  So, start conditioning your lungs, make sure you add those lip exercises to your workout schedule and plan to visit booth #36 at the Science Fair on Tuesday, April 3rd from 3pm to 8pm.

We’re giving away a Flip Video camera for the Biggest Bubble and an Amazon Gift Card for the Biggest Bubble Catastrophe.