Sharing lists for fundraising outreach has long been accepted as a cost-effective practice in the direct mail world.  But list sharing has yet to be applied to online lists in any great numbers.  Many nonprofits are held back by fears over negative impacts to their e-mail lists or the quality of the new supporters.  Others are simply uncertain about how online cross promotions work.

An online cross promotion doesn\'t work like a direct mail list swap, where two groups literally swap lists.  Instead of actually trading lists, each nonprofit sends an e-mail to its OWN list, promoting a link to the other nonprofit\'s Web site.  Each nonprofit acquires only the names of people who affirmatively opt in on its Web site.

To learn more about cross promotion and how to run your own, read the full article.