Salsa Scoop

Let's Get Animated!

With the volume of email people receive every day, sometimes it’s hard to stand out from the rest.  Most mass emails have static images with some words.  Maybe the formatting is a bit different, but for the most part, they’re all similar.  One of the questions we get a lot here at Salsa is how to embed video in an email.  The answer is, right now you can’t.  Email providers don't allow this.

However, there's a solution that’s close to video, works among most email providers, and most importantly, will make your email to stand out from the rest: animated GIFs.  When the idea of embedding an animated GIF in an email first occured to me, I wondered, "How come I’ve never seen it done before?"  So, I decided to set out to see if it’s even technically possible.  And it is!  While animated GIFs are not supported in some email clients, such as Microsoft Outlook, they do render correctly in Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Apple Mail and more.  And even when the GIF doesn't render as an animated image, the recipient will still just see a static image.

Websites like GIFsoup (and others) allow you to convert Youtube videos into image animation.  The only limit is the size of the file. 

How could animated GIFs be used to spice up your organization's emails?  Here are a few ideas:


•    Show the destruction of a forest to emphasis an ... 

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02:42 PM Jun 10, 2011 - 0 comments permalink

Salsa Highlight: Invoice Option for Paid Event Registrations

Greetings!

It's the "Salsa Highlight," your quick hit on what's new in Salsa to help get the most out of your online program. As always, you can find plenty more news, updates, and conversation throughout the week on SalsaCommons.org.

This week, we wanted to turn the spotlight on a cool new feature we've recently added to Salsa Events.

"Invoice Me" Event Payment Option

You'll find this new option under an event's Event Fees tab: it's just a simple checkbox (unchecked by default) called Invoice Option available for any paid event.

 

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02:12 PM Jun 09, 2011 - 19 comments permalink

Reflections on PDF 2011

Jim Gilliam, formerly of Tweet Progress, act.ly and other ventures, at this year's Personal Democracy Forum (PDF) in New York City. Jim was talking about his own life and how the people connecting and acting through the Internet had literally saved his life by helping him receive a much-needed blood transfusion and, later, a double-lung transplant.  There wasn't a dry eye in the place.  Watch Jim's stirring testimony here.

Amidst the broiling New York heat, I pondered the "soul" of a conference, what makes it truly different and important to a larger community. We go to a lot of conferences, and each one has a unique personality. For some conferences, this essence revolves around tactics and strategy, for others, around networking and bonding.

PDF reminds us of who we are and what we can become.

Surrounded by Salsa friends and partners (shout-out ... 

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09:49 AM Jun 09, 2011 - 10 comments permalink

Donor “Bling” and Goats: Four Takeaways for Online Engagement

Friday’s Nonprofit 2.0 Unconference started off with a heartfelt call to action by speaker Stacey Monk of Epic Change.  After relaying the challenging personal story that brought her from the corporate boardroom to a nonprofit, she gave an emotional call to return “love” to the front and center of why we come to work each day.  This message spilled over into many of the day’s unconference sessions.  The Salsa-led session on donor engagement was no exception. Below are four takeaways that emerged on how best to cultivate engaged donors over time:

1) Make a tangible ask and bring out the “bling”

Participants agreed that we need to connect donation asks to tangible and immediate benefits for both beneficiary communities and donors themselves.  For the former, this means tying the donation to the direct alleviation of a need.  Examples could be five dollars for a mosquito net or $100 for a goat.

On the donor side, the term “donor bling” was coined to describe donor gifts that they can wear with pride after donating.  One example was the Blue Key Campaign of the USA for ... 

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11:14 AM Jun 07, 2011 - 1 comments permalink

Friday Fiesta: Double Opt-ins, short forms, and Texas toast

Happy Friday!

I've had a crazier week than usual, and I'm trapped in Texas while we adopt a daughter. Did I say trapped? Sorry, I might be holding a grudge for Jessica Simpson and the Bush family.

Commons Comments

Configuring a Double Opt-in Signup Page? Make sure you check out our Weekly Highlight post for some tips.

Missing emails? You'll probably want to email support. We like to check out the specific details for your account.

Want to create a short signup form for your home page? We do have some sample source code for you.

Thanks to Bill for great feedback on scheduling exports of reports.

We do merge legislative names into action salutations automatically.

This event we're co-hosting looks awesome. If you work with unions, use Salsa, and are interested in learning ... 

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04:00 PM May 27, 2011 - 15 comments permalink

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