DonorDreams – Page 6 – The Healthy Non-Profit

Where are the philanthropists and non-profit board volunteers of tomorrow?

May 10, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership

A few weeks ago I had the honor and privilege of having breakfast with one of my community’s iconic philanthropists. His family name is legendary around here. They have contributed lots of money to a number of different non-profit organizations, and those who don’t receive any support from this family pursue them like a dog looking for a lost bone.

During our breakfast meeting, he shared a concern that I’ve heard many non-profit people express over the last 12 years that I’ve worked and lived in this community:

Where are the philanthropists and non-profit board volunteers of tomorrow?

As has been the case in most communities for as long as anyone can remember, there is a small circle of very influential people who own businesses, employ lots of people, possess a fair amount of wealth, sit on non-profit boards, and influence policymakers and opinion-shapers.

This small group of very influential people is getting older and their numbers are dwindling. While the circle always seemed to replenish itself in the past, there is this feeling that we now live in different times. Many of the non-profit people in my community with whom I speak are concerned that the next generation isn’t apparent or obvious. I even see some agencies starting to recruit the next generation from the current of circle of philanthropists because they’re not sure what the future looks like and this is as good of a strategy as anyone can think of.

My breakfast partner weighed in with his opinion, and I found myself enlightened and frightened all at the same time.

He believes that globalization of our economy is at the root of this trend.

The old economic paradigm produced locally owned business people who amassed wealth and influence. They lived locally. They employed their neighbors and friends. They were able to see firsthand and comprehend the idea of “community need,” and it was in their personal and business interests to invest back into the community.

The new economic paradigm aggregates business in the hands of large multinational corporations that play on a global stage. As a result, our community gets “big box stores” rather than locally owned and controlled businesses. The decision-makers for these very large companies don’t live here. In fact, many of these corporations are located in large markets like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Or even more challenging, they are located overseas and their idea of “philanthropy” can be a little different from ours for cultural reasons.

In the opinion of my breakfast partner, the effect of globalization on the non-profit sector is and will be devastating!

He believes that for communities that are not major cities, the days of a small inner circle of influential philanthropists may be over.

When there isn’t a small group of wealthy business owners who live locally and are motivated by personal and business interests to participate in philanthropic activities, then he hypothesized that charitable giving will get tighter and non-profit mergers aren’t far down the road.

Finally, he believes this trend is most devastating inside of the non-profit board room. He sees many well-intentioned volunteers agreeing to do their part and serve on non-profit boards, but he sees these individuals lacking the financial resources, social networks and business acumen necessary to fuel an effective non-profit sector.

In the final analysis, he thinks the non-profit sector in smaller communities will be radically restructured in the next decade as a result of economic globalization trends.

I think that I agree. It is very possible that this economic trend will be what fuels non-profit mergers and acquisitions. It will also likely re-shape board development and resource development best practices.

As breakfast came to an end and we said our goodbyes, I was left with one thought that is more than two millennia ago by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus:

“The only constant is change.”

My conclusion? We can sit around our non-profit boardroom tables and lament change. Or we can recognize the challenges and adjust to the headwinds.

I say . . . Upward and onward! I have faith that the non-profit sector can and will adapt and evolve. We always have and I suspect we always will; however, let’s not drag our feet and let’s a move on it because “change” is coming fast.

So, I’m curious about what you think about this one philanthropist’s opinion about the effects of globalization? Are you having the same conversations in your community? What do you see other non-profits doing to adjust to what they perceive as winds of change? What are you doing? Please scroll down and share your thoughts in the comment box. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

FREE fundraising movies every Monday morning? Sign me up!

May 9, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising

“Going viral” . . . It is something that every non-profit organization wishes and hopes that their ePhilanthropy efforts will do. For those of you still trying to find your “cyber-sea-legs,” let me give you a quick little example:

Johanna Wicklund is the Director of Program Development & Evaluation at Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay. She sees this awesome thing on the internet advertising free movie clips every Monday focused on fundraising and non-profit best practices. She signs up and forwards the information to her fundraising BFF who is Anne Lemke, the Grants Coordinator at Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Anne looks it over, signs up and forwards it to one of her favorite non-profit bloggers . . . which is ME, of course. I look it over and get excited. I sign-up for the free “Monday Movies for Development Directors” program and decide to blog about it.

Ta-da! This is what is meant by “going viral” with an idea, product or fundraising campaign. It feels very similar to a snowball rolling downhill, gaining speed and size.

Let me backtrack and talk a little bit about “Monday Movies for Development Directors“. This is a free service provided by Chris Davenport over at 501 Videos. Click the link I just provided, scroll down to the bottom of their landing page, give them your contact information, and every Monday they will send you a short clip of a fundraising interview focused on any number of resource development topics including (but not limited to):

finding donors
special events
social media
major gifts

The list literally goes on and on.

As Ron Popeil used to say, “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!”

The free clips you receive on Mondays are what people in the industry call “teasers”. You get some valuable information, but you are left wanting more because what you just tasted was so darn yummy! Of course, there is always more to consume, but it isn’t free anymore . . . you can have to pay a small price for it. In this instance, 501 Videos seems to be selling a number of different products including:

Movie Mondays Pro (online access to more detailed videos related to your Monday movie clips)
DVDs including “Top 10 Best Movies for Helping Board Members”
Movie making services to produce a marketing video focused on your non-profit and its services

Please don’t misinterpret the Ron Popeil reference. I am not being snarky or critical of Chris Davenport or 501 Services. “Sampling” is a common practice (heck, it is a best practice) when it comes to marketing. Chris’ heart even seems to be in the right place if you read about his story on his webpage.

Yes, I’ve signed up for Chris’ “Monday Movies for Development Directors”. So far, I like what I see . . . I might even purchase a few DVDs if I continue liking what washes into my inbox every Monday.

If you want to see a little sneak preview, click here and you’ll see a short clip titled “Strengthening Donor Relationships with Questions”. It really is quite good.

I’d like to thank both Johanna and Anne for directing this viral snowball in my direction. If you like what you see and want others to catch what you’ve caught, then post this blog to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest accounts. In addition to Chris getting some business out of it, perhaps I can get a few more people to subscribe to my blog. 😉

Does your non-profit access other FREE fundraising resources? If so, please use the comment box below and share that information with your fellow fundraising and non-profit professionals. Come on . . . pay it forwards! You’ll feel after sharing, which is what philanthropy is all about.

Here’s to your health! ACHOO . . . I think I’m catching a virus!?!? (Yes, this last link is to a funny YouTube video about sneezing. Enjoy!)

Happy Birthday to ME! And what can non-profits do with THAT?

May 8, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Yesterday, one of my favorite non-profit executive directors took the time to wish me an early happy birthday and surprised me with a bottle of wine — La Crema Pinot Noir. It was a thoughtful gesture because my partner and I are big “winos”.

The reason I bring it up today can be summarized in one simple word:

STEWARDSHIP

Over the last decade, my partner and I have personally contributed $40,000 to this non-profit organization. In addition to our money, we’ve both contributed our time by helping with special events and working pledge cards for their annual campaign. To say “we’ve drank the Kool-Aid” is probably an understatement.

While we both like to hear about this organization’s program outcomes and community impact, we really get more excited when we hear testimonials or success stories. In other words, numbers and stats are nice, but stories are the payday we crave more than anything.

While the bottle of wine was very thoughtful and much appreciated, a simple birthday card probably would’ve sufficed. A phone call would’ve been really nice, especially if the conversation would’ve included a recent fun success story. The bottom line is that the birthday wishes from this non-profit organization sends a clear message that I’m a valued part of their family. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like being thought of that way.

As I bask in the after-glow of this stewardship touch, I find myself wondering what else could non-profit organizations do around a donor’s birthday? The following is a short, incomplete list representing just a few thoughts:

Send them a birthday card or call them . . . make sure to weave in a story about how their support makes a difference for your clients
If the donor doesn’t like “gift giving and receiving,” then this could be a tribute gift opportunity for your agency. This is, of course, where the donor tells their friends that in lieu of a birthday gift they’d appreciate contributions be made to your non-profit organization instead.
If your agency runs a “birthday club” for clients, then there might be an opportunity to fold donors into the same program using birthday recognition walls or inviting them to attend an organization-wide birthday party where they can interact with clients.
It could be an opportunity to turn a major donor’s birthday into a special event tribute party. The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is doing exactly this in a few weeks by inviting supporters to purchase tickets and attend a birthday bash for Harry Blizzard who is one of their biggest donors and supporters.

What does your non-profit organization do for donors around their birthdays? How do you go about capturing birth dates from donors? What systems do you use to remind yourself of this information? Please scroll down and use the comment box to answer a few of these questions.

Here’s to your health! (Oh, and thanks for the wine, Rose!)

Some Insight on Facebook Pages Insights

May 7, 2012 DonorDreams Mondays with Marissa, technology

Tools are better if you know how to use them. When it comes to social media, Facebook is a very powerful tool. But are you using it to it’s highest potential? Luckily, Facebook gives you some help in figuring that out with their analytical tool called, Insights. To access Facebook Insights, you need to be an admin of your organization’s facebook page. In the admin panel (which you should see when you are logged in and looking at your page), click on the graph and you will be taken to the Insights section of your page.

Upon first glance, Insights can be a bit confusing. There’s graphs and charts and numbers – oh my! All things that should tell you something about your organizations activity online. But what was most confusing to me was Insights terminology. Facebook analyzes each post with the following terms: Reach, Engaged User, Talking about This, and Virality.

What that what?

Today we’ll take a look at what these terms mean and how understanding them can help your posts make more of an impact on all social networks.

Reach

This is the simplest statistic out there. Reach simply means the number of people who see your post. Facebook has a very complicated algorithm that figures out what to post in a person’s News Feed. For example, you’ll notice that time of day, the type of post (status update, link, question, video, etc) can impact your total reach number.

If you click on the number next to the post, Facebook will break this number down even further into the categories of Organic, Paid, or Viral. Organic includes people who liked your paged and people who haven’t. Paid is the number of people who have seen your post because you used a Facebook ad. Viral is the number of people who saw your post because one of their friends liked it or commented on it.

To me, the most important thing is that your reach numbers are always going up or at least remain consistent.

Engaged User

Facebook defines an engaged user as someone who has clicked on your post. Anywhere on your post. Again, Facebook breaks this number down into Photo/Video Views, Other Clicks, and Stories Generated.

Photo/Video Views is pretty straightforward. This number answers the question: “Did the photo you posted cause someone to click on it?” The Other Clicks number is the number of people who clicked on something else included in the post like a person’s name, or the timestamp, or the number of people who liked the post. To me, stories generated is the most interesting. This is the number of stories that were posted on someone’s timeline due to their interaction with this post.

What I keep in mind when looking at my Engaged User number, is looking at the type of post it is. I find that most people will interact with a post if it contains a photo. Once I figured this out, I now make sure that most of my updates include photos.

Talking About This

The numbers in the Talking About This Column simply tell you how many likes, shares and comments your post received. That’s it. Again, looking at this number along with the type of post it is will give you a better idea of what type of posts are successful on your Facebook page.

Virality

For me, this is the most confusing statistic in Insights. Basically, if you take the number of stories generated (found under the Engaged User category) and divide it by the total (found in the Reach column), you get your post’s “virality”. The best thing about this statistic is it is a really fast way to see which posts are generating the most stories.

Now that we have a better understand of what all of those graphs and numbers represent, what does it all mean?

Facebook Insights gives you a picture of how people are interacting with your page, and that’s the whole point. You want to build a community to get more people involved in your non-profit mission. Use these numbers to figure out what your community wants. Maybe they don’t like photos. Maybe they love being asked questions. The bottom line is that Insights shines some light on what’s working and what’s not.

An important thing to keep in mind about all of these numbers is that Facebook will only track a post for 28 days. In other words, to see the full picture, you’ll need to go back and check. Facebook also makes this easy in allowing you to export your data and keep it for your own records.

As you can imagine, there is so much more to Insights than what we’ve covered here. You can read more about this tool here.

Finally, I realize that Facebook isn’t the only social media site out there. In fact, it might not even be the right one for your agency. However, I believe that analyzing your posts and how your target audience interacts with it on any site, can only strengthen your social media community. If you are looking for a tool that helps you analyze Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, check out ThinkUp.

Has Facebook Insights helped you shape your organization’s Facebook community? We’d love to hear some stories in the comment section below!

Want to change your non-profit organization? Then change your people!

May 4, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising, organizational development, Planning, volunteers

Welcome to O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog. Every Friday for the foreseeable future we will be looking more closely at a recent post from John Greco’s blog called “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly” and applying his organizational development messages to the non-profit community.

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “Burn the Boats“. In that post, he talks about two different theories of change. One school of thought advocates that changing behaviors drives organizational change. The other school of thought speaks to the idea of changing the environment / structures to affect organizational change. I just love the story John shared in the beginning of his blog post by Napoleon Hill. If you have a little time today, I strongly encourage you to click-through and read Burn the Boats.

I see non-profit organizations struggle with this ALL THE TIME. One classic example that I’ve witnessed (and have seen over and over again) is how many agencies develop a resource development plan and then go about trying to implement it.

One example that bubbles to the top of my mind is an agency that was heavily dependent on a special events strategy to raise money. They were running a special event fundraiser every other month. After completing a resource development planning process, they came to see how damaging those activities were. They decided to cut the number of events in half and pivot strongly to an individual giving strategy focused heavily on person-to-person solicitation tactics.

One big challenge was that the agency’s staff were all event minded people. They were hired because of their skill sets and experiences in planning, implementing and evaluating fundraising events. Another big hurdle was that their board of directors and fundraising volunteers were all events people, too.

To John’s point in his post “Burn the Boats,” the organization tried to persevere with its people. It asked for technical assistance from its national office. Of course, they invested in training opportunities.

In the end . . . Do I really need to finish this sentence???

I’m with John . . . BURN THE BOATS!!!!

Jim Collins in his book “From Good To Great” talks about getting the right people on the bus and then finding the right seat for them. In situations like the one I just described, I think there are ways to have polite conversations with volunteers about finding a new seat for them on the bus when the environment on the bus starts changing.

As for staff, there are two options if you’re going to “Burn the Boats”. You either gracefully terminate staff (providing severance packages, etc) or you hire more staff with the skill sets you need to implement the new plan (and find new things for the old staff to do).

I suppose there are other less harsh ways to still “burn the boats”. For example, you can ask your biggest annual campaign donor to change their annual support from an outright contribution to a challenge gift. However, this still doesn’t change the fact that there are people being asked to do something they don’t have experience or well-developed skills to do.

I respect that this is a tough post with which to start your weekend. Sorry! Do you think John and I are being too harsh? Are there better ways to go about affecting change? Do you have any examples of change at your organization that you’d like to share? Please take a moment to weigh-in using the comment box below. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Know when to stop chasing the great white whale

May 3, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. I’m, of course, referring to the act of chasing that big philanthropist in your community.

Every community has a small circle of very generous philanthropists. They have the financial capacity to give, and they support their favorite charities in ways that the average donor (like you and me) can only dream of doing some day.

From the outside looking in, fundraising and non-profit professionals start fixating on strategies to engage those individuals in our mission and our organization. It looks something like this:

looking at who (if anyone) in our agency’s circle of friends has access to that donor’s network;
engaging other people from that philanthropist’s social network in activities associated with our non-profit organization; and
inviting that philanthropist to get involved (e.g. attend an event, take a survey, participate in a focus group, or even volunteer some time).

All of this is called “CULTIVATION” and it is indeed a fundraising best practice; however, sometimes after all of this work the prospect doesn’t turn into a donor. There is no “magic moment”. There is no pledge card or check.

One of the most important skills for fundraising professionals to possess is to know when to stop cultivating and move onto greener, more promising pastures. If you’re unable to do this, then you end up spending lots of time (which is a limited resource) on something that will have no return on investment for your organization.

So, how do you know when to stop? Well, I think we can learn a lot about this by looking at it through a “relationship” lens.

View a Vlog post titled “They’re Just Not That Into You” by someone using the handle “DeniseActutallyVlogs” on YouTube. Sure, she is talking about dating rituals, but how different is that really from fundraising and resource development.

Caution: Denise is a little “salty” at times during her Vlog post, but it is mostly PG-rated stuff. I encourage you to listen to what she has to say and translate it into the language of fundraising. I think there are more than just a few nuggets of wisdom.

How have you guarded against chasing the great white whale? When do you know it is time to stop cultivating an individual and move along? Please scroll down and use the comment box to share a tip or two with your fellow non-profit friends.

Here’s to your health!

Expounding upon the idea of “Quality Donor Touchpoints”

May 2, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

Yesterday’s post titled “Non-profit donors: “Should I stay or should I go?” built upon a recent post over at “The Agitator” blog about donor retention. One of the things they said was that retaining donors goes way beyond doing a good job of talking about your mission and your organization. They argued that every touchpoint needs to be quality and inspire a sense of satisfaction for donors.

To put this in context, let’s use a for-profit analogy.

When a consumer goes to Walmart to buy towels, their experience is affected by so much more than just the satisfaction of finding the towels they desire at the price they want to pay. While these are indeed two factors, the following things also influenced that experience and play into whether or not they come back to Walmart next week:

Was the store orderly and easy to navigate?
Was the store well-lit?
Was the physical environment too warm, too cold, or just right?
When they couldn’t find the towels that they were looking for, did the employee who helped them do so in a friendly and efficient manner?
Did the store smell nice?
Did the other customers behave and conform to the social norms of shopping?
Did the shopping cart wheels stick and make it difficult to use?
How much time did customer spend in the check-out line?
Was the cashier friendly and helpful?

There are countless other little details that when added together can result in a great experience which results in repeat business and customer loyalty. Or they can also add up to an unsatisfied customer who won’t return, but will likely bad mouth you to their friends and post horrible things about you on Facebook and Twitter.

The same holds true for your donors!

Non-profit donors need to hear more than just good news about your mission and programs. They also need to hear more than how efficient your organization operates.

Your non-profit organization’s goal needs to be “putting a smile on the donor’s face” every time you cultivate them . . . every time you solicit them . . . and every time you steward them.

Now that is a TALL ORDER when you start thinking about it because there are so many factors (just like in the Walmart example I used). Some factors are easy to influence, and others can be very difficult to impact.

The following are just a few ideas to keep in mind as you contemplate how to ratchet up your donor services:

Communicate with donors as often as they tell you they want to be communicated with.
Communicate only those things the donor has said they want to hear from you.
Only send fundraising volunteers and employees with whom the donor has a GREAT relationship (and this goes for cultivation, solicitation or stewardship activities).
Send donors( who give frequently and recently) a birthday card.
Celebrate anniversaries for “weddings” and “becoming a donor to your agency” (focus these activities on major gifts prospects and donors).
Include the donor’s spouse whenever possible and make the cultivation, solicitation or stewardship experience feel like “family experience” (as long as it feels appropriate).
Let the donor tell you where they are most comfortable being solicited and then solicit them there.
Train volunteer solicitors about the finer points of soliciting a charitable contribution by going beyond the 12-step process of “closing the gift”.

This approach is not intuitive for many non-profit organizations. So, my final suggestion to those of you are very serious about improving donor services is to invite a small group of customer service professionals to participate in a focus group. During the hour that you have them together, educate them about how you communicate and interact with your donors. Ask them how they would go about improving the experience. You might just be surprised at what you learn.

Let’s add to my list of suggestions. Please scroll down and use the comment box to share JUST ONE IDEA on how to improve donor services and increase the quality of donor touchpoints. We can all learn from each other.

By the way, thank you to all of you for helping DonorDreams blog exceed 10,000 page views in less than one year. This milestone is a testament to you and your thirst for engagement. The next big goal is to reach 300 subscribers by December 31st. In celebrating today’s accomplishment and looking forward to the next one, would you please reach out today to one friend, non-profit professional, volunteer or board member and tell them about DonorDreams and encourage them to subscribe? Thanks again for tuning in, and I hope you continue enjoying this online community that we’re building together. 🙂

Here’s to your health!

Non-profit donors: “Should I stay or should I go?”

May 1, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

A few years ago I discovered two fundraising bloggers from “across the pond” who collaborate on a daily blog called “The Agitator“. I fell in love and told all of my friends to subscribe if they knew what was good for them. A few weeks ago, The Agitator published a post titled “Flat Earth Fundraising: Ignoring The Leaky Bucket” that was so outstanding that I fell in love all over again.

While Roger hits a lot of hot buttons for me in this post about donor retention, one point struck me particularly hard when he said:

“This means half of your retention battle has nothing to do with your mission features and organizational benefits. A large part of the reason a donor will stay or go is not mission or message or premium offer, it is how she/he is treated when encountering donor services. The opportunity here is not avoiding bad experiences (that is obvious), the real opportunity is recognizing that service can actually improve the relationship and is a critical touchpoint, one that can help to further monetize the relationship with cross-sell and upsell.”

There are big non-profit organizations out there that are well-oiled machines. These types of organizations have fundraising departments and use complicated direct response strategies that would make many for-profit organizations proud. They employ fundraising professionals responsible for managing a caseload of donors and use Moves Management strategies. I suspect “donor services” look very different at a large non-profit agency than it does at a small organization. I’m not saying that it should (maybe it should and maybe it shouldn’t) . . . I’m just saying that it does.

After reading Roger’s thoughts about “donor services” and the role it plays in donor retention, I started thinking about what this means for small non-profit organizations that focus more on in-person, face-to-face fundraising and less on targeted and direct mail.

What does it mean?

It means that the volunteer solicitors your agency recruits to work pledge cards becomes one very important touchpoint for the donor.

Duh . . . right?

As I think back upon my days on the frontline of a small non-profit agency working with volunteer solicitors on annual campaign implementation, I am embarrassed to admit that the thought farthest from my mind was “how enjoyable and fulfilling will that solicitation meeting be” for the donor. In fact, I was more focused on tactical issues such as:

do I have enough volunteers?
where can I host a good kickoff meeting?
how can I inject accountability and urgency into the campaign so that we can finish “on time” and run along to the next fundraising event?

Sure, I provided volunteer solicitors with “training” at the kickoff meeting, but it sometimes felt like an after-thought. As I look back over some of the campaigns I’ve run in the last decade and think about some of the volunteers I recruited, I now wonder how well some of those solicitation meetings went.

Ugh! I would describe some of my favorite volunteers as “major closers”. They are task oriented and would “hunt down” their assigned donors like a dog hunts down their favorite bone. While that approach might have been good for me, I am now worry about how the bone . . .errrr . . . donor felt.

I would also describe some of my other fundraising volunteers as “highly reluctant” and only agreed to participate because I was charming and persuaded them to do so. In spite of all the training, I can imagine that their solicitation calls felt uncomfortable for everyone involved.

I suspect that prospects/donors have the classic song “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” by The Clash running through their heads every time they are sitting down with a volunteer solicitor. This encounter needs to be good. In fact, it needs to be great!

The following are just a few thoughts running through my head this morning on how to get a little closer to achieving this objective:

put lots of time and thought into recruiting “the right” volunteer solicitors who are comfortable and excited about asking other people to consider making a pledge to your annual campaign;
be thoughtful and engage your volunteers during the prospect assignment phase of your campaign and focus on matching people based on good solid relationships;
go beyond the typical training focused on how to make the ask and use the case statement by including tips on how to improve the quality of the meeting itself; and
ask the volunteer solicitor to engage their prospects/donors in a conversation around what their preferences are for post-solicitation communication by the agency.

What is your agency doing to improve the quality of interaction between solicitor-donor and agency-donor? How are you evaluating and assessing the effectiveness of those encounters? Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health! (If you want to be “agitated,” go check-out Tom & Roger’s blog posts over at The Agitator. You won’t be disappointed!)

Non-Profits Can Mobilize Slacktivists Using Social Media

April 30, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, Mondays with Marissa, technology

Hi, my name is Marissa and I am a slacktivist. I admit to thinking I am politically active by sharing my thoughts on issues with my friends through social media without really taking any other political action. It is easier for me to “like”, “retweet”, “+1”, or “share” something than it is for me to write a letter to my Congressperson.

But is slacktivisim a bad thing? And how can you use this passive involvement of others to actually make something happen for your non-profit organization and mission?

This past week, I caught an episode of my favorite news source, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His guest was Ben Rattray, founder of a website called change.org. As the interview went on, it became clear to me that Rattray had found a way to take the simple act of a person’s “like” or “retweet” and turn it into powerful political action.

The basics behind change.org are this: a user can create a petition about any issue and change.org will help the user reach out through social media to get people to sign the petition for free. Petitions are simply signed with the click of a button.

If the user decides to pay change.org for their services, they can export the list of people who have signed their petition. Change.org also offers organizations access to sponsored campaigns.

“Sponsored campaigns” are promoted to change.org users who would most likely support your cause. The community on change.org is growing everyday, and I can only imagine it growing even more after this week’s exposure on The Daily Show. Tapping into the already growing community of users could help your non-profit organization gain more exposure. It could also be a great way of generating a list of prospective donors who are interested in supporting your mission and issues.

Change.org also connects users with local and national media outlets. Remember when Bank of America was going to charge $5/month for using a debit card? It was a change.org user who created a petition that 300,000 people signed, which gained national media attention. This, of course, resulted in Bank of America deciding to drop the proposed fee hike.

So, what could change.org do for your organization? You could create a petition connected to your mission and use change.org to engage individuals who sign your petition. A recent article on Mashable states:

“slacktivists are 2x as likely to volunteer, 2x+ as likely to ask for donations, and 4x as likely to ask others to get involved.”

If you’ve seen KONY 2012 or Bully, you know how quickly a message can spread through the internet. Projects like these have inspired many people to get involved.

Even if you choose to not use a platform such as change.org for your agency, there are still lessons to take away from the foundation they set-up.

Make it easy for people to get involved. If you have a blog on your site, make sure you have social media buttons at the bottom of each post to allow users to share your message with their friends.

Create a community. Peer pressure is a powerful thing. Use it for good. If you create a community on a social media site (e.g. Facebook, Twitter or even on your own blog), then make sure you take the time to reply back to those who leave comments as well as recognize those who are sharing your content with their social network.

Support a cause that supports yours. If there is a petition out there that helps your mission, then get involved and sign it. If people see that you care about an issue they also care about, they might take the time to visit your website to learn more.

It was exciting for me to see how change.org makes a difference in our communities with a tool as simple as a petition. And I guess that’s the big takeaway from it all; the easier you make for people to get involved, the more people will be.

Is change.org a network that your organization could benefit from? I’d love to hear why or why not in the comments below! Or are you using other providers or platforms to accomplish the same objectives? Please share.

Non-profits under fire: Measure this! Measure that!

April 27, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “How Much Do I Love Thee?“. In that post, he talks about the recent obsession in the workplace to measure EVERYTHING (e.g. SMART goals, Management by Objectives, etc) and pushes back on the idea that everything must be quantifiable. He starts his post with the following quotation from Albert Einstein:

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

Every non-profit professional in the world knows that our sector is under extreme pressure to conform to the trends that John references in his blog post. Here are just a few examples:

measuring community impact,
program outcomes measurement,
employee performance (e.g. management by objective), and
measuring donor loyalty.

Neither John nor I (or Einstein) are saying that we must fight this trend; however, there are things that are not measurable that must be considered and brought in the equation.

More concerning to me is the impact that this trend seemingly has on fundraising practices. Specifically, I’ve heard more and more fundraising professionals talking about program outcomes and how it can be used to demonstrate “return on investment”.

Speaking as a donor, I love hearing that my local Boys & Girls Club’s homework assistance program resulted in 75% of kids either maintaining or improving their grades. However, I really want to hear the personal stories about little Jack and Jane; Jose and Irma; or LaShaunda and Xavier. There is something inspirational in those stories. More importantly, it helps me understand the impact of that program.

I think the Center of NonProfit Excellence stated it best in their marketing for a 2010 training titled “Narrative Philanthropy: Stories that Result in Gifts”:

“But the pendulum may have swung as far as it can in the direction of statistics and outcomes. Accountability is crucial, but cannot account for the fact of why people give. What explains the emotional impulse to give? Stories. One good story is worth at least 10,000 measurable outcomes.”

If you get a chance, I encourage you to click here and read more about Jim Grote and his ideas around Narrative Philanthropy.

I also like what Norma Cameron said a few weeks ago in her blog post titled “The Power of Legacy Stories: A Daughter’s Love“. You should check out an awesome template that Norma created to gather legacy stories from your donors. A link to this tool is embedded in her blog post.

Circling back to John’s blog post — “How Much Do I Love Thee?” — he drives home his point by posing a simple question: “How much do you love your spouse?” Of course, there is no way to answer this question in a quantifiable manner.

The same holds true for the non-profit version of this same question:

How much do your donors love your organization?

While you may be able to look at your donor database LYBUNT reports and review the results from a recent donor survey, I suspect none of this data will ever truly answer the critical question that I just posed. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that you stop trying to answer the question.

So, what should donor-centered fundraising professionals do???

I suggest picking up your phone, calling that donor, and inviting them out for a cup of coffee or lunch. When you are sitting across the table from them, do what Jim Grote suggests . . . tell them stories (and pepper in a little outcomes and impact data). Make them smile. Make them feel good about their last donation. Once you get to this point, you may want to take Norma Cameron’s suggestion and ask the donor about collaborating on the creation of their “legacy story”.

Yes, I know how busy many of you are. I am not suggesting this approach with all of your donors or the folks who buy raffle tickets to support your mission. Surely, you know who your most important donors are. Right? For small organizations, this might be a great project for your Top 5, 10, or 25 donors. For large organizations, the sky is the limit. This might even be a great cultivation/stewardship project in which fundraising volunteers can be trained and included.

I suspect this is can be woven into all organization’s Major Gifts and Planned Giving programs.

Where is your organization at with all this “measurement” stuff? What are you doing to adjust to the trend and ensure that you’re not over compensating? Are you having success aligning with United Way’s “Community Impact” model? Do you employ any of Jim Grote’s or Norma Cameron’s Narrative Philanthropy suggestions in your resource development program? Please scroll down and use the comment box to share a little bit of your experiences. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!