Uncategorized – Page 9 – The Healthy Non-Profit

Ooops … Experiencing technical difficulty

March 30, 2012 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Dear DonorDreams blog subscriber:

I am on the road today for business and came prepared to blog from the road. Unfortunately, I have experiencing connectivity glitches and only have my cell phone to bang this quick message out to you.

If you are needing an organizational development “fix” because today it is “O.D. Fridays” at DonorDreams, I encourage you to read yesterday’s blog titled “To change or not to change your annual campaign! That is the question.” Or jump over to “johnponders~ about life at work mostly“.

Sorry for the glitch. See you on Monday for “Mondays with Marissa”.

Here’s to your healthy (and better connectivity)!

~Erik

And the Oscar goes to . . . Take Three

March 1, 2012 DonorDreams Uncategorized

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve had to endure listening to someone rant about how dysfunctional non-profit organizations are compared to their for-profit counterparts, then I’d be a very rich man. Sure there are countless non-profits out there who struggle to survive. They stretch their resources so thin that it is a miracle whenever they achieve their program outcomes or community impact. However, this isn’t ways the case. In fact, there are very large non-profit organizations that no one really recognizes as “non-profit,” and they even do some very big and amazing things.

Nearly 40 million people witnessed one such example last Sunday night when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences produced a little known show that is informally known worldwide as “The Oscars”. That’s right . . . <gasp> that major production was put on by a “non-profit organization”.

So, as it typically does, my curiosity got the best of me and I found myself on Guidestar.org looking up the Academy’s 990 tax return for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. I thought I’d share a few interesting observations with you from my nosing around:

The organization’s total revenue according to its last tax return was $86,847,054 with expenses of $67,324,191.
Interestingly, they don’t have any traditional resource development program in place. Of course, it is the $81,344,127 they generate from their world-famous television show that brings in the bulk of their revenue. I was disappointed that I didn’t find a clever little special event fundraiser idea or a new twist on an annual campaign, but I guess I’m not surprised.
I was guessing that their board of directors would’ve been full of famous movie stars with deep pockets. While I wasn’t surprised to find Tom Hanks listed as First Vice President or Annette Bening and Henry Winkler listed as Governors, the list didn’t sparkle and struck me more as a group of earnest professionals from every walk of Hollywood.

For me, the act of looking up the Academy’s 990s helped me draw two conclusions:

I bet there are very functional (and sometimes large) non-profit organizations that we interact with on a daily basis. I wonder how many benchmarking opportunities exist out there?
I keep forgetting how wonderful Guidestar.org really is. I know that the 990 tax returns provide too little information, but even a little bit of transparency can feel refreshing.

What other large non-profit organizations have you seen that deserve spotlighting? Have you ever contacted another non-profit (or even a for-profit) and engaged in a benchmarking project designed to help your agency improve and reach for the stars? If so, let us know how that turned out for you. Finally, how do you find yourself using Guidestar (e.g. finding similar agencies for benchmarking purposes, compensation survey review, etc)?

Please scroll down and share some of your questions, thoughts or observations in the comment box below. 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

It’s a party! Unique non-profit special event fundraisers: Part 3

February 23, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, Uncategorized

Welcome to non-profit special event season. At least that is the case where I live. So, my partner and I have been making the rounds, and I thought I’d share some of the more unique special event ideas I’ve seen throughout the week. Today, we’re talking about TWO very special and unique special events put on by the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands (Omaha, NE). Tomorrow we’ll wrap up all of this event mania with a post on how to replicate some of these unique ideas from the last few days back home at your agency.

A Chair Affair

For 10 years, the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester has built a unique special event fundraiser they call “A Chair Affair”. While I have never attended, I’ve heard lots and lots about it from staff and volunteers throughout the years. In a nut shell, local (and even not-so-local artists) decorate a wide variety of chairs, and the Club invites donors to bid on them in both silent and live auction formats. Click here to check out some of this year’s interesting selections.

As I have done the last few days with other special events, I’m going to offer my observations on what I see in a “just the facts ma’am” format:

I see a sold out event and hear lots of chatter and enthusiasm!
The Club uses technology to promote this fundraiser. It is on their agency website. The event has a stand alone website with lots and lots of information. They use Facebook to promote this as well.
There appears to be many revenue streams woven throughout this event including: sponsorship opportunities, tiered ticket sales for VIP vs general admission, and different auction formats including silent, almost-silent and live)
There appears to be a FUN theme, and this year’s theme revolves around a Masquerade Ball concept. There is unique event logo every year that matches the theme.

Please join me in congratulating this organization’s new Chief Professional Officer, Jodi Millerbernd, and her amazing event volunteers for a decade of creativity and a SELL OUT event set to go off without a hitch this Saturday!

Stock Market Challenge™

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands (Omaha, NE) runs a special event called the Stock Market Challenge™ . I will leave the explanation of this event to the Club:

“The Stock Market Challenge™ is an electric ride through the ticker tape of the stock-exchange floor! It is the most high-tech and chaotic event offered to non-profits, and is the only fundraiser that doubles as an educator for students, who will gain more insight and understanding regarding the fluctuations of the Market by participating.”

Again, here is what I see:

Not surprisingly, this Club uses technology to create a buzz and promote participation. It’s on their website. They produced a YouTube video to promote participation and give corporate sponsors marketing impressions. Knowing this Club, I’m sure they tweeted it, talked about it on Facebook, and were very innovative with their social media approach.
As with all of the events we’ve looked at this week, there appears to me multiple revenue streams tied into the event (e.g sponsorships, price of admission, etc).
There is a myriad of sponsorship levels with tiered benefits tied to marketing, room placement, and advantages in the stock market game.
The biggest and most refreshing thing I see with this event is that it is seamlessly woven into the fabric of this organization’s MISSION! Club kids are assigned to corporate teams. Kids learn about the stock market. Donors get to interact with the kids. Donors get to help teach kids a thing or two about investment.

It doesn’t get much more mission-focused that this. Congratulations to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands for amazing outside-the-box thinking on this unique special event!

So, this week I’m trying something different. Rather than spell out what I think the “lessons learned” and “best practices” (or not so best practices) are around special event fundraising, I thought I’d turn that opportunity over to you. What struck you as interesting? What takeaway lessons do you see? What best practices were used? Did anything about this event make you nervous? If you’re intimidated and don’t want to critique a fellow agency, please feel free to share best practices (or lessons learned) that your non-profit agency uses during the implementation of your events?

Please scroll down and use the comment box found below to answer any and all of the these questions.

Here’s to your health!

To Pin or Not to Pin. Is Pinterest Right for Your Non-Profit?

February 20, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, Mondays with Marissa, technology, Uncategorized

There’s a new kid on the crowded social media block, and she’s turning heads. By coming in ahead of YouTube, Reddit, Google+, LinkedIn and MySpace in website referral traffic at the start of this month – Pinterest has certainly arrived.

But just because it’s popular, is it right for your non-profit agency? Let’s find out.

What is Pinterest?

Pinterest is the cyberspace equivalent to the cork bulletin board hanging on the wall in your office.

Upon signing into Pinterest, you will see a collection of photos that other “pinners” (people who you’ve chosen to follow) have pinned to their boards. You can “repin” a photo, adding it to one of your boards. When a user clicks on one of the photos in a pin, they are directed to the website from where the image originated. For example, if you see a photo of the most delicious chocolate cake you’ve ever seen and would like to make it for an upcoming party, you can repin the image of chocolate cake to your “Party All the Time” board so you can refer back to it later. Additionally, original content can be added to a board by clicking the “pin it” bookmarklet.

Currently the pins that seem to be the most popular include recipes, outfit collections and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) projects. However, businesses are getting involved. Recently, it has been observed that Pinterest is driving web traffic to retail sites.

The majority of users on Pinterest are females between the ages of 25 and 44. On all other social media sites, the average user is a male between the ages of 18 and 24. An older demographic usually means there is more disposable income available even in these hard economic times – which is good for retail.

If the for-profit world can benefit from Pinterest and see an increase in traffic, why not the non-profit world? After all, the more people who visit your website, the more potential donors or volunteers you can reach. Right?

Concerns

Let’s start with the fact that Pinterest has only been around for 6 months. While it seems that Pinterest’s momentum could take it far, I wouldn’t blame you if you took a wait-and-see approach.

Much like Google+ when it first started, Pinterest is currently an “invite-only” community, which is a double-edged sword regarding your reach. However, with 10.4 million registered users, chances are you’re already connected to an active pinner. Of course, even if you can’t identify a pinner in your social network, you can request an account directly from the site.

Another recent concern raised by some is the issue of copyright laws. For example, the photos on Pinterest are usually the property of someone else. So, make sure you are properly pinning by linking to a website or giving credit where credit is due. You can read more about this debate here.

Should your non-profit agency jump on the Pinterest bandwagon?

In my humble opinion, the simple answer is yes, at least in one of the following ways:

Claim your name. Whenever a new social media site comes along I make sure I sign up for it before another Marissa Garza can claim the username or space on that site. Do I use every site I sign up for? No, but the important thing is that I am in control of it if I choose to participate.
Become an expert. Pinterest allows you to curate resources into different boards. Remember that each pin has a website associated with it. Websites come up in search results. So, if a person is conducting a search on non-profits with your type of mission, and you have an entire board set-up with ideas focused on your mission and agency’s services, then Google might just point that person to your Pinterest account.
See what people are saying. If you visit pinterest.com/source/website, you can see if people have pinned things from your website. You can then connect with users on the site by either commenting on one of their pins or following their boards.
Yet another way to fundraise. Last week Erik talked about how non-profits can incorporate selling into their fundraising plans. John Haydon recently blogged on a number of different ideas on how non-profits can use Pinterest. One example included adding a “$” symbol in the description of a pin, which results in it automatically being included in the “gifts” section of the site.

That being said, I know that time is limited for many non-profit staff. Joining and cultivating a community on Pinterest takes dedicated time. As with any social media site, make sure you have integrated this site into your written ePhilanthropy and online fundraising plan (e.g. who is going to make posts, how often posts will occur, etc).

While Pinterest may be a great resource with lots of potential, it might not be the right time to implement involvement. If you can’t fully commit to being involved in Pinterest at this time, but feel like you would have an audience there, make sure that you add a “Pin It” button to your website. If you can’t pin things yourself, you might as well take advantage of Pinterest’s popularity and make it easy for visitors to your website to pin things for you. (Note: you may have to create an account to do so.)

What do you think? Will Pinterest be a part of your social media strategy? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Further Reading:
42 Creative Pinterest Ideas for Nonprofits
Nice Uses of Pinterest for Nonprofits
Example of a Pinterest Users Non-Profits/Charities/Social Causes board

It is time to call your Congressman!

January 17, 2012 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Dear DonorDreams subscriber:

On Monday, Marissa Garza used her “Mondays with Marissa” column on DonorDreams to post an article titled “How Can SOPA/PIPA Affect Non-Profits?” to educate all of us about the impact these two pieces of legislation could have on our agencies.

Regardless of whether or not you believe this is a big deal for the non-profit sector, I can’t help but come to the conclusion that censorship in any form that is directed at anyone is an assault on all of us. Jeremy Bentham said it best:

“As to the evil which results from a censorship, it is impossible to measure it, for it is impossible to tell where it ends.”
(Source: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/censorship.html#ixzz1jmTNdzMy)

As many of you know, countless internet sites are participating in a day long blackout on Wednesday, January 18, 2012 to protest this legislation and educate the public about the dangers of passing it. DonorDreams blog will be one of those sites who participates. So, you will not be receiving an email delivering any DonorDreams content in the morning.

Regardless of whether or not you support this legislation, please take a moment out of your day to learn more about it by visiting americancensorship.org. If you don’t believe that you’ll get unbiased information from this site, then please Google the search words “SOPA” and “PIPA” and sift through a number of different links.

Here’s to your health!

The Age of Austerity: Don’t cut your nose off to spite your face!

January 11, 2012 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Yesterday’s blog post introduced the idea that the non-profit sector might be entering into “The Age of Austerity” thanks in part to projected decreases in government funding. Today, we continue exploration of this topic by looking at what types of budget cuts are occurring and processes for responsible cutting.

First, I decided to ask my non-profit Tweeps on Twitter where they were making cuts and why certain things were off-limits. Needless to say, people were all over the place, and there was no consensus except around two things:

100 percent of respondents said they would start with cutting administration and management expenses.
100 percent of respondents also said they would start with facility maintenance cuts.

After an informal survey of my Tweeps, I did a little research using my best friend “Mr. Google,” where I found a recent article from the Wisconsin State Journal titled “‘New normal’: Nonprofits struggling with budget cuts“. Not surprisingly, a much more scientific survey than my informal Twitter poll found that approximately one-third of respondents plan on cutting or reducing programs services. This number is up from where it was in 2009, when 29 percent of respondents said they were cutting or reducing programs.

I suspect there are many non-profits who started cutting what they saw as “non-essential services” a few years ago. Now that there isn’t any more “fat to cut,” it is time to start cutting muscle.

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that more and more non-profits are getting to the brink of collapse, failure and contraction. We see signs of it in the Wisconsin State Journal article where they point out that smaller agencies have no cash reserves. We saw it in the Guidestar report that I referenced in yesterday’s blog post. I even wrote about it during my new year predictions blog series at the end of 2011 — “2012 Non-Profit Trends and Predictions: Contraction Continues“.

So, how should a non-profit organization go about making these tough decisions? Here are just a few tips:

Always go back to your mission and ask: “how will this cut impact our ability to fulfill our mission?” Obviously, you would prioritize your cuts so the ones that affect mission the most are some of the last cuts you’d ever consider making.
Are there things you can do to save money that are less painful than others? (e.g. Can you stretch a project (and its costs) out over a longer period of time? Can you re-bid certain services such as insurance or building maintenance?)
Stop trying to hide these discussions from key donors. Invite your biggest supporters into the discussion so they can better understand how and why certain decisions are being made. For those not at the table, develop a communications plan to inform them of why certain cuts were made (not just that they were made). No one likes a surprise — especially donors. Remember, this is a way to get lots of smart people, who care about your mission from different backgrounds, around the table and focused on your problem. Please don’t approach this with a hidden agenda to secure more money from your supporters. They are surely able to see through this, and it’ll feel disingenuous.

The bottom line is that non-profits who find themselves cutting services run the risk of harming their program outcomes and community impact. Once this happens and donors see it, fundraising dollars will start drying up, and you know what they say about being on a “slippery slope”. Next thing you know, you’re at the bottom of that hill and you’re going out of business.

Of course, there is a another road to take. Stop exclusively focusing on cuts-cuts-cuts and start focusing on engaging donors and fundraising activities. I’m not suggesting that you stop cutting. There are most likely smart cuts your agency can make, but I’m suggesting you do so while implementing an aggressive resource development plan.

In my research, I found an amazing white paper written by David Maddox of John Wiley & Sons which was reprinted with permission by The Grantsmanship Center. The paper was titled “Strategic Budget Cutting“. It really is an amazing resource with great ideas and process. I encourage you to check it out!

Is your agency in cost cutting mode? What are you cutting and what aren’t you cutting? It is easy to say “use your mission statement to filter these decisions,” but how have you effectively done that? If you are both cutting and trying to do more fundraising, have you had much success? Please use the comment box below and weigh-in with your thoughts because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

The Age of Austerity: What does that look like for non-profits?

January 10, 2012 DonorDreams Uncategorized

I love to wake up on Sunday morning and watch the news shows. This past Sunday my favorite show — Meet the Press — hosted one of the Presidential debates for the Republican field. During that debate, one of the journalists or candidates used the phrase “Age of Austerity” in regards to government spending and programs.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes phrases just get stuck in my head, and I gnaw on them like a dog with a bone. This is what happened when I heard “Age of Austerity”. At first, I spent a lot of time processing what that looks like for government (e.g. more taxes to pay off accrued debt and reduction in services like police, fire and garbage). However, my mind quickly wandered to the non-profit sector and the questions started to snowball:

Could the non-profit sector be entering into an “Age of Austerity”?
What could this end up looking like for non-profits?
What could the societal consequences be when so many people rely upon non-profits to “fill the holes” in our social safety net (especially when government austerity likely means creating more holes in that safety net).
How many non-profits will tighten their belts to the point of going out of business because they can’t achieve their mission? And how many non-profits will look at merger opportunities?
Where will the cuts come from? Heck, most non-profits already stretch their resources too thin.

I believe that we might be on the brink of this “Age of Austerity” where donors demand more services, outcomes and impact with smaller and fewer contributions to pay for that demand. Consider the following few data points from Guidestar’s recent non-profit survey:

One-fifth [of survey respondents] projected decreases in operating budget for 2012 …

About half of survey respondents are facing declines in revenue from sources other than contributions (which includes government funding) or had less than three months of operating expenses in reserve. Similar percentages reported that their organizations rely on a limited number of funders, and more than half (52 percent), reported declining or flat philanthropic contributions.

Lots and lots of questions! LOL — Welcome to my world. However, the following question is the one that I’ve been stuck on for a few days:

Are some austerity measures better than others when trying to fulfill
your non-profit organization’s mission and achieve community impact?

I believe the answer is probably obvious — YES. However, I don’t believe there is any consensus around what cuts are better than others. For example, should an agency pull back on certain programs and focus more intentionally on core programming? Eliminate middle management and flatten the organization chart? Change executive leadership and hire a less experienced/less costly who might have more upside in the long-term? Reduce the size of the fundraising department?

In an effort to find some clarity, I’m going to ask my Tweeps and other social media friends to weigh-in with their thoughts. I’ll report back tomorrow on what I find out. Of course, you are very much encouraged to use the comment box (see below) and share your thoughts.

Here’s to your health!

2012 Non-Profit Trends and Predictions: Contraction Continues

December 28, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

This week I’m looking back upon 2011 for major trends, and then looking forward to 2012 with an eye towards making a few predictions. Today, we are looking at non-profit failures, mergers, acquisitions, and strategic alliances.

I have heard rumblings for years that the non-profit sector is about to experience a wave of mergers. This conversation always involves facts like:

There are approximately 1.5 million non-profit corporations in existence of which three-quarters are classified as “charitable”
Every year brings another 20,000 to 60,000 new non-profit agencies in existence (depending on what source you read)
Almost 25-percent of non-profits allegedly report $25,000 in annual revenue and are obviously very small (and the vast majority operate with annual budgets of less than $3 million . . . in fact most are smaller than $1 million)
Every year 30,000 to 60,000 non-profit organizations go out of business

In 2008, Paul Light predicted that the new economic challenges would result in more than 100,000 non-profit organizations failing over a two year period. Two years later Caroline Preston wrote a follow-up article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy and investigated whether or not this prediction actually came true. As you can imagine, the answer was difficult to ascertain, but in the end the conclusion seemed to be a resounding — “YES“.

With so many friends working in the non-profit sector, I’ve tried to stay on top of where they perceive their agencies to be with regard to financial solvency, and I must admit that I see too many indicators pointing to:

2012 continuing (and likely escalating) the trend
of non-profit failures, mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances.

Guidestar recently published a great document titled: “Late Fall 2011: Nonprofit Fundraising Study“. If you have some time, you need to read this report! While I am usually very skeptical about the validity of survey research, I indulge in it every once in a while. After looking at this report, I am even more convinced now that the non-profit sector is still only at the beginning of a long-term trend involving bankruptcy, mergers, and alliances because:

small non-profits are experiencing more financial stress than before (and I suspect many are finally at their breaking point)
small agencies are experiencing more donor turnover (most likely resulting from poor stewardship efforts)
small organizations have less money in the bank and their reserves are marginal (a bad position to be in if there is another economic shock)
small non-profits report are preparing to downsize staff in 2012 (not a great situation to be in when donors want to see more impact for less money)

Combine some of these generalizations with the government funding contraction trends we’re seeing, and it becomes obvious to me that more failures and mergers awaits us as we travel down the 2012 road. If you want some good reading materials on this subject, you may want to check out the following resources:

Is your non-profit organization living on the edge? Have you ever looked at merger, acquisition, or strategic alliances? If so, what were your considerations in moving forward or not moving forward? If the best time to look at mergers and strategic alliances is BEFORE a crisis, are you starting to look more seriously at these opportunities?

Here’s to your health!

2012 Trends and Predictions: Executive Transition

December 26, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

This week I’m looking back upon 2011 for major trends, and then looking forward to 2012 with an eye towards making a few predictions. Today, we are looking at non-profit executive leadership.

Back on July 22nd, my post at DonorDreams blog was titled “I Quit” and it started off with a look at the Philanthropy Journal’s article titled “Exodus of executive directors expected“. This article cited a study by the Meyer Foundation and CompassPoint Nonprofit Services that reported: 67-percent of non-profit executive directors surveyed said they plan to leave their jobs sometime in the next 5-years.

Ever since writing that blog post, I’ve kept my eyes open for evidence of this trend, and I must admit that I see indicators everywhere pointing to:

2012 will be a year of transition for many non-profit executive directors.

In the fall of 2007, our world changed when the stock market crashed, our banks failed, and our economy sputtered. Most non-profit organizations were operating with a fundraising model (e.g. an annual resource development plan) that worked well for them in their community and within the parameters of our economy. However, when the economy changed, many nonprofit executive directors and fundraising professionals didn’t change their revenue models, and instead they made the decision to “ride out the storm”.

Well, we’re 4-years into this storm and it is becoming clear that the economy isn’t going to snap back to it original shape. “The New Norm” is coming into focus. The Nonprofit Quarterly did a nice job reporting a few weeks ago when they published “Wisconsin Nonprofits in the Economy’s ‘New Normal’“.

So, what does this have anything to do with nonprofit transition and executive leadership? Quite simply this . . . I’ve been watching many of my nonprofit friends “hold their breath” for the last few years waiting for things to snap back to the way they once were. Here is what I’ve specifically seen:

adding another event to bridge revenue gaps
writing grants and promising deliverables they never would’ve done previously (e.g. resulting in mission creep and money chasing)
continuation of plans to rely on government funding streams
laying off program staff and trimming budgets to the bone

During the same period of time, I’ve seen boards of directors failing to evaluate their executive directors and sticking their collective heads in the sand hoping things return to normal before the doors need to be shut.

Let’s get real for just a moment . . . when most boards hired their current executive director years ago, they hired based on skill sets and experiences rooted in the old economy. Now that times have changed, new skill sets and experiences are needed if the organization is going to thrive once again. While it is possible some executive directors have been growing right along side of their non-profit organizations and now possess those skills, I’m quite frankly not seeing that.

It is this observation in addition to the fact that I’m hearing more boards grumble about their executive leadership and many more executive director friends of mine complain about their jobs that leads me to conclude that 2012 will likely bring with it an uptick in resignations and terminations.

The final thing I think will drive this trend is the massive amount of talent currently available in the marketplace. In the past, I can’t count the number of times I heard board members say that changing executive leadership was unthinkable because they didn’t believe they could find anyone better for what they were willing and able to pay. This is obviously no long the case. The job market is awash with tons of talent, and strategic thinking boards will use this unique opportunity to snag talent that they otherwise couldn’t find or afford.

It is this last factor that I believe will likely fuel this potential trend as boards try to realign their people resources and talent with “The New Normal” brought on by a new economic paradigm.

Are you getting tired of your job? Ready to quit? Are you feeling increasing tensions in your board room? How is your non-profit organization re-aligning its resource development model with The New Normal? What skill sets and experiences does a successful executive director and fundraising professional need to thrive and succeed in The New Normal?

Please weigh-in with your thoughts using the comment box below because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Taking a page out of GE’s playbook

November 30, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Have you ever been watching television, trying to zone out during the commercials, when all of a sudden “WHAM!” a powerful advertisement grabs your attention and almost moves you to tears? Come on! I know it has happened to most of you, and I am no exception.

I was most recently the victim of such an occurance last night. I was in my hotel bed watching television and trying to avoid doing work. Out of nowhere came this General Electric (GE) commercial . . . the ad was about cancer survivors who were given the opportunity to meet the GE employees who built the medical machinery that helped save their lives.

If you haven’t seen it, grab a tissue and click here to view the YouTube video of it.

It wasn’t more than 5-seconds after this commercial ended that I had these two thoughts:

This GE commercial is the same thing as a non-profit organization’s “case for support” for their annual campaign pledge drive. The only difference was that it was in video format instead of a written case statement.
Putting cancer survivors in the same room as GE employees was so powerful. It was almost like GE was stewarding their employees by reminding them of how powerful their gift of labor really is to everyday people who are trying to work through personal crisis.

I think the thing that got me most was when the employee at the end of the commercial says: “[It was] one of the most heartwarming events I’ve ever experienced”.

Earlier this week my Monday blog post titled “What gets measured gets done” spoke to the power of benchmarking. Tuesday’s blog post titled “Taking a page out of NPR’s playbook” highlighted National Public Radio (NPR) as a potential benchmarking opportunity for agencies looking for a successful road map to reduce dependency on government funding.

Today’s post continues on this week’s theme of benchmarking; however, the twist is that non-profits can also learn from and benchmark their for-profit cousins. For example, this GE commercial has me wondering:

Does putting employees together with the people who benefit from their efforts improve employee retention? If so, how significant is the retention? Can the same effect be produced if non-profit donors are given more regular access to the people whose lives they changed (e.g. your customers/clients)?
Does creating this commercial and storyline help GE’s sales force more effectively articulate the case to purchase this particular product? If so, how significant is the improvement in sales? Can the same effect be produced in board members and volunteer solicitors who are reluctant to solicit charitable contributions to the annual campaign?

I’ve been hearing way too often from non-profit professionals that donors don’t have time for personal stewardship visits and touches. I’ve also recently had the opportunity to spend lots of time with a number of donors, and they don’t seem to be saying the same thing. What I am hearing donors say is they are sick and tired of one solicitation after another after another. They look forward to events where they can see, hear, and touch the charity’s mission.

I am going to hold onto the visual imagery of how those cancer survivors and GE employees looked when they met for the first time. Am I wrong or was it powerful? They were moved to tears, right? Heck, I was moved to tears. My “fundraiser’s gut feeling” is telling me that there are many valuable take-aways for non-profit organizations from that commercial. I suspect successful non-profits are tapping into that same raw power and emotion when it comes to donors and those folks you serve everyday.

Yes, we can learn a lot from each other as non-profit professionals, but I suspect we are limiting ourself. If we expand our world, we can learn a lot from everywhere we look everyday. Don’t just benchmark organizations that are just like you . . . expand your horizons and look at for-profits that you can benchmark, too.

While benchmarking multinational corporations might not be realistic for many of you, I bet there are a number of small businesses in most of our backyards that will work equally well.

What did you take away from the GE commercial as it relates to your non-profit work? How do you connect your donors to mission in similarly powerful ways that don’t involve more solicitation (e.g. special events don’t count when answering this question)? How does your organization track the effectiveness of those personal and powerful stewardship touches? Have you ever done any benchmarking? Who? And what was the result of your experience?

Please use the comment box below to weigh-in with an answer to any of these questions. Remember, we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!