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Corporate philanthropy: He loves me — He loves me NOT

Board development, Fundraising, resource development, volunteers

Last week I facilitated a panel discussion about corporate philanthropy at a Boys & Girls Club regional conference in Milwaukee. Serving on that panel was a CEO, COO and CFO from two companies in the Fortune 500 and another company from the Fortune 1000. I personally had a great time interviewing those gentlemen, but later that evening I caught some of the news coverage about the Occupy Wall Street protests. Needless to say, it was a confusing day for me that represented quite a dichotomy.

When I feel this way, I typically like to retreat back to listing off simple facts and try to find some truth and clarity. Here are a few of those facts running through my head this morning:

  • Of the $300 billion given to charities every year, approximately 5-percent comes from corporations and more than 75% comes from individuals
  • There are CEOs who are committed to corporate responsibility and making our world a better place to live as seen in this YouTube video from the 2011 Board of Boards CEO conference.
  • There are individuals who are afraid of corporations and banks as you can see in this YouTube video of a 20-year-old Wall Street protester.
  • While corporations are legal structures without emotions, there are countless numbers of people behind the corporate veil who are living, breathing and compassionate.

From a charitable giving and non-profit perspective, I am always amazed at how aggressive we go after corporate sponsorship and donations even though the statistics don’t seem to justify that strategy. After giving this some thought, I’ve concluded the following two things:

  1. Non-profit volunteer solicitors must feel more uncomfortable talking to individuals about making a donation than even I thought possible.
  2. Non-profit volunteers exhibit this sense of “entitlement” when talking to corporations about charitable giving. (e.g. corporations “owe” this charitable money to our non-profit organizations because we shop at their stores every day and give them our hard-earned money).

If my two conclusions are “on the mark,” then non-profit leaders have a problem on their hands, and I assure you that things are not going to end well. Regardless of how much we cross our fingers and wish, these two things will NOT change: 1) corporations will not suddenly find more money to give away (go back and listen to the CEO conference video very carefully) and 2) individuals will always be the at the heart of a successful charitable giving program.

Please don’t misunderstand what I am saying here. Don’t stop engaging corporate America . . . continue writing grants, asking for contributions and sponsorships, and building partnerships. However, you need to keep perspective and your eyes on the prize. Listen carefully to this corporate philanthropy manager and I suspect you will come to the realization that your corporate philanthropy strategy can drive the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING to your resource development plans — increased individual giving and support.

Non-profit leaders need to pick themselves up off the ground, put the daisy down and stop singing songs related to: “She loves me, she loves me not“. We need to start LEADING and understand that corporate leaders need to make tough decisions around their limited charitable giving budgets. CEOs want to see return on investment, but even more so, they want their non-profit partners to help them engage their employees and advance their brand.

Additionally, non-profit leaders need to double down on training and working with their fundraising volunteers. We need to help these people get over their fear associated with soliciting individuals. We also need to help them let go of their entitlement attitudes around corporate philanthropy. These two things won’t happen without your leadership, and this paradigm shift must occur if your non-profit organization is going to get healthy during these tough economic times.

So, please feel free to go down to the Wall Street protests in your community, pick-up a sign and march to your heart’s content. It is quintessentially American to do so if you feel that way about the state of our economy and corporate America. However, you ALSO need to figure out how to build bridges to your corporate partners that will enable you to walk their employees (and your future donors) across that bridge and towards your organization’s mission.

Here is 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

Screw a donor and you screw all of us!

Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Here is a scenario for you . . . a somewhat famous actor dies and his family decides to make a memorial contribution to the deceased’s college alma mater and establish a scholarship fund. In setting up the fund, the family outlines their wishes that the annual scholarship be awarded to someone with an interest in poetry who exhibits an economic need.

What do you do? Honor the family’s wishes or use the scholarship however you see fit?

In this scenario, the college awarded the scholarship to someone disinterested in the arts who came from a family who could’ve written one check for their daughter’s enter four-year undergraduate education. Would you believe this is a real life story that just happened?

When I heard the story from the deceased’s living relatives, my heart shattered into a million small pieces. This was their beloved’s legacy. The family had a philanthropic wish and the resource development people weren’t up to the task of making that dream come true.

This is what gives resource development folks a bad name regardless of what non-profit sector you work in. The reality is this family is now less likely to respond to anyone’s charitable giving appeal. Even more damaging is this family is wandering the countryside telling anyone who will listen (and I was one of those people) that fundraising professionals are crooks and the equivalent of unethical used car salespeople.

I know many of you are currently thinking this would never happen in your organization . . . but are you sure? Are you on every solicitation call with your volunteers? In my experience, many social service non-profit organizations don’t possess the written policies or use the appropriate gift agreement forms to document restrictions. While organizational capacity is often to blame, the reality is that many volunteer solicitors are also not well-trained to recognize gift restrictions and aren’t trained to know what to do when they encounter one.

Here are just a few tips you might consider in order to become more donor-centered and avoid giving our entire profession a bad name:

  1. Engage a resource development audit using an external consultant and ask them as part of that project to keep an eye open for gaps in your written gift acceptance, gift acknowledgement, and resource development policies and procedures. If these documents don’t exist, then engage donors and volunteers to help you write them.
  2. Organize an annual focus group of LYBUNT donors and explore reasons for their inactivity. You might be surprised at what you find.
  3. Develop a donor’s bill of rights and post it to your website. Connect this to a whistleblower policy so that donors can bypass those who “did them wrong” when they call and try to get some justice.
  4. Include in your annual campaign kickoff a training segment designed to teach volunteers how to recognize when a donor is trying to “restrict” their contribution and how to respond to/deal with such a request.

Stewardship begins before a gift is even received. You should have written policies and procedures in place to guide how gifts will be accepted, acknowledged and to ensure the contribution is spent as the donor wishes. Finally, stewardship is about reporting back to the donor in a meaningful way that shows you care about the donor.

If we don’t clean-up our profession, then we’ll find ourselves channeling this song from the Osmond family more and more.

Are you confident in your organization’s written policies? If so, please share a link in the comment box below so everyone can compare. Do you train your volunteers in what to do or say when confronted with a donor who wants to make a restricted gift? When do you conduct that training? How do you instruct them to handle the situation. Please use the comment box and share your thoughts, practices and stories because we can all learn from each other.

Here is 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

Attention Tweeps: Twitter me this!?!

Fundraising

I just returned from the Boys & Girls Club conference and I’m back in the blog saddle again. Wow, I missed all of you! I hope you enjoyed reading Nathan Hand’s 5-part series last week on Twitter. I really think he is a wickedly smart resource development professional and blogger who we will all hear a lot from in the future. As for today’s post, I want to put a bow on everything Nathan wrote about last week by answering this simple question:

What should my non-profit Tweet about now that I know how to do it?

I think Nathan did a nice job last week of describing Twitter as a cocktail party, and my best advice is to Tweet about similar sorts of things you might chat about at such party. Please don’t gossip or tell the world what you just had for lunch. Perhaps, it would be best for us to look at a real life example from my hometown — United Way of Elgin. The following are just a few Tweets they posted in the last few weeks:

You can see from these three examples, that my United Way does a nice job of: 1) promoting causes that align with one of the issues in their impact agenda (e.g. education), 2) pay tribute to and provide a sense of “connectivity” and “family” between volunteers and donors (e.g. the passing of Steve Munson), and 3) support other non-profits with whom they collaborate and are aligned (e.g. YWCA Elgin).

United Way of Elgin — otherwise known as @UnitedWayElgin in the Twitterverse — is not perfect. They could do a better job of Tweeting more content on a daily basis and refining their voice and online personality. However, they certainly are further ahead of the curve than most other non-profits in my community. They are learning as they experiment and refuse to be left behind on the information super-highway.

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is still very new and evolving. I’ve seen non-profits use Twitter for prospect cultivation, donor solicitation, and stewardship. Everyone seems to be using this social media platform in different ways, and I think we can all learn from each other. Here are just a few tips I have for those of you who were inspired to jump into Twitter by Nathan’s 5-part Twitter series last week:

  1. Try to read posts about Twitter best practices for non-profit organizations once per week (simply use Google). Click here to read a good article I found this morning when I searched teh following key words: “Twitter nonprofit best practices”.
  2. Some of the best advice I ever received was from following Beth Kanter, who once suggested actively “listen” for awhile before starting to Tweet. So, open your account . . . follow a handful of other organizations you think do a good job with Twitter . . . and take good notes on what you like and dislike.
  3. Speaking of Beth Kanter, subscribe to a blog or two that specializes in social media or Twitter. You will learn a lot in a very short period of time . . . and it is FREE!!!
  4. Be strategic with your organization’s social media strategy. What will you use Facebook for? Twitter? LinkedIn? YouTube? Each social network can serve a different function in your ePhilanthropy strategy. I wouldn’t waste time duplicating information on each of these platforms. Take time to develop individual strategies for each niche. Perhaps, Twitter is where you cultivate new prospective donors AND Facebook is where you steward existing donors (aka Friends) AND your website is where you drive people for online solicitation purposes. I don’t know . . . but I suggest you figure it out.

My best advice is don’t get too carried away (like you can see when clicking on this funny YouTube video) with social media technology. If you get totally consumed by “cutting edge technology” before the market figures out best practices, then you run the risk of bleeding to death. However, it makes sense to set-up your account, start listening, and experiment so that you aren’t left behind in the cyber-dust.

How is your organization using Twitter? Facebook? LinkedIn? YouTube? What response have you received from donors and volunteers? Has anyone used these social media tools to help add more connectivity between your annual campaign volunteers or manage your campaign? Please use the comment box to weigh-in with your thoughts because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

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

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 5: Engaging Correctly

Fundraising

Good morning everyone! This week I am privileged to be attending Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Midwest Leadership Conference in Milwaukee, WI. With all hustle and bustle associated with attending a conference, I decided to find a “guest blogger” to take over for me this week. It wasn’t a difficult search. As a subscriber to the Nonprofit Nate blog on WordPress, I have become a huge fan of Nathan Hand and was thrilled when he agreed to step in for me. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Nate agreed to post all week on the subject of Twitter and how non-profit organizations can/should use that social media network. So, the following is a little bit more about Nathan and today’s post. Enjoy . . . and I’ll see you next week. Here is to your health! ~Erik Anderson, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

Nathan Hand is an AmeriCorps alumnus, holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, a Masters in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University. Nathan is Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization helping homeless children in Indianapolis. He writes at www.nonprofitnate.com sharing thoughts for nonprofiteers and helping visitors navigate the world of giving. For more, follow Nathan on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to his blog!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 5: Engaging Correctly

You made it! You understand Twitter, you’ve signed up, tweeted and set up your Twitter management system. In the last of our week-long series, it’s time to make magic happen and talk with strangers. That sounded much better in my head.

Technicals

There are two ways to talk to a particular person or entity. One is doing it publicly – for all to see on Twitter. It’s called a ‘reply’ and looks like this “@carknow Thanks for reading my blog, see you soon!”.  The other way is private, called a Direct Message or DM.  You can DM (or reply) by clicking the appropriate button on their tweet (in hootsuite) or in their profile (the info box about them that pops up when you click on their name in hootsuite).  In your tweeting bar in Hootsuite, DMs will start with a lowercase ‘d’. (Note: you can tweet via text but the commands may be different, be careful.) Hootsuite also has a ‘reply all’ feature in the drop down of their tweet so you can reply all to several people if more than one are included in a conversation.

The culture of Twitterville

In college I had the great opportunity to spend some time in Ghana, Africa. In Ghanian culture, you don’t cross your legs (because it blocks the traditional good spirits from flowing) and you don’t use your left hand to shake hands or pass food (because in rural villages you wipe with that hand – yes, just what you’re thinking).  Breaking these cultural norms offend people, make you look stupid and ruin your chances of a healthy relationship with the locals. Same goes for Twitterville.

The best suggestion I have is to remember our cocktail party analogy from day 1. You’re walking into a room with millions ofpeople. You have no idea who’s watching, no idea who you’ll meet and no idea what you’re doing there (though you’ve got a good start).

So, don’t be rude, over-share, brag, interrupt, beg, curse, etc.

Do – be honest, open, genuine, fun, funny, make connections, offer wisdom, spread good karma, compliment, make introductions, remember no one’s an expert and be responsive.

You’ll quickly learn that many people don’t follow the rules/norms above. Like it or not, you have a personal brand and you can either keep that in mind and work to improve/protect it, or not. For more on branding yourself, check this out.

Increasing engagement

Your network is measured by quality, not quantity. However, there are some things you can do to increase the likeliness that your tweets are seen and increase both the size and quality of your network.

1. Participate in twitter chats.

It’s when 10-100 people set a day/time to discuss a particular topic. For a HUGE list of over 500 chats, check out this Twitter Chat Calendar and do a search for keywords or topics of interest.

2. Thank people.

For mentions or retweets (RTs). Not only are they paying attention to you, but they’re doing it publicly and some of their followers may start following you.

3. Give kudos.

‘Follow Friday’ is a Twitterville cultural norm that happens mostly on Fridays. You’ll see hashtags #followfriday or #FF and it’s basically a public endorsement of a handle or group of handles. There are two ways to do it.  You can either list a bunch of people that you suggest others follow. Or, you can list one person and share why people should follow them and/or what topics they’re knowledgeable of.

4. Pay it forward. Give Klout.

Klout is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a measure of someone’s online influence. In reality, a company started measuring it, Twitter now includes it in your profile. It’s based on some super-top-secret algorithm of followers, retweets, regularity, etc. You can go to Klout’s website to learn more BUT you can actually give Klout to other people (also via their site).  Spend some time paying it forward and ‘giving’ influence points to someone who’s helped you, educated you, connected you, informed you, etc.  Like karma, it’ll come back in its own way.

There you have it – it you made it this far through the series, you should be off to a great start! Tweet away and have a ball. Keep me posted on your progress and share what you learned. We’re all here to learn from each other.

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 4: Managing Twitterville

Fundraising

Good morning everyone! This week I am privileged to be attending Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Midwest Leadership Conference in Milwaukee, WI. With all hustle and bustle associated with attending a conference, I decided to find a “guest blogger” to take over for me this week. It wasn’t a difficult search. As a subscriber to the Nonprofit Nate blog on WordPress, I have become a huge fan of Nathan Hand and was thrilled when he agreed to step in for me. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Nate agreed to post all week on the subject of Twitter and how non-profit organizations can/should use that social media network. So, the following is a little bit more about Nathan and today’s post. Enjoy . . . and I’ll see you next week. Here is to your health! ~Erik Anderson, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

Nathan Hand is an AmeriCorps alumnus, holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, a Masters in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University. Nathan is Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization helping homeless children in Indianapolis. He writes at www.nonprofitnate.com sharing thoughts for nonprofiteers and helping visitors navigate the world of giving. For more, follow Nathan on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to his blog!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 4: Managing Twitterville?

Ok, so you understand the concept, you’ve signed up and you’ve tweeted! Congratulations. Now comes the fun part. A backstage pass, behind the scenes look at my own personal Twitter management system. The 4th in this week’s series, we’re going to make sense of the neighborhood that is Twitterville.

Remember the bazillion messages we talked about in the first post? We’re going to get you set up on Hootsuite so you can filter all those tweets and only see what you want, when you want to see it – so that you can get to the holy grail of social media – appropriately engaging with the right people and not being so overwhelmed with info that you loose sight of its value.

Understanding streams

First, it’s important to understand that I only use Hootsuite for Twitter.  You can connect all sorts of social media outlets to it but I haven’t…yet.  That said, here’s how I think of streams. Take a colander from the kitchen and put it under a running faucet.  The water goes from one faucet stream to 10-100 smaller streams of water. Same concept in twitter streams – you’re using keywords and searches to separate tweets you want to see from those you don’t. As a bonus, you can lump similar streams into tabs – think of tabs as overarching categories. Hootsuite has made it pretty easy to technically set up a stream, the harder part is thinking through what all you want to see.

Read through these examples and we’ll work on your shortly.  I get a little stream/tab happy and to be honest, can’t keep up with the ones towards the end…but here’s what I have…

My tabs and streams

Tab 1 – Mine still has the default name of ‘Featured’.  I use this tab for hashtags (remember, index/topics) at conferences or when I’m using Hootsuite on my iPhone – because it’s all about the quickest access on the fly. Currently on that tab I have streams for #afpmeet, #fundchat, #SMindyNP, #ynpn, #11ntc #ynpchat and #ynpn.

Tab 2 – My second tab is titled with my Twitter name and follows (in order) my home feed, mentions, a search stream for @nathan_hand (I use this as a fail-safe/backup for mentions because hootsuite can sometimes miss mentions and it’s embarrasing/rude to not respond to peeps!), #fundchat, #bin2011, #millennialchat, #givingshow, Direct Message Inbox, Direct Message Outbox, Sent tweets.

I manage several other Twitter accounts – each account gets its own tab along with relevant streams.

Tab 3 – Titled @indysow and includes streams for Home, Mentions, search for @indysow (fail-safe), Direct Message Inbox, Direct Message outbox, Sent Tweets, Pending Tweets, and a list of those that tutor for us – ambassadors of sorts.

Tab 4 – Titled @AFPIndiana and includes streams for Home, Mentions, search for @AFPIndiana, Direct Message Inbox, Direct Message outbox, Sent Tweets, Pending Tweets and #afpmeet.

Tab 5 – Titled @Backpackattack and includes streams for Home, Mentions, search for @Backpackattack, Direct Message Inbox, Direct Message outbox, Sent Tweets, Pending Tweets

The remaining tabs are for particular subjects/topics that include streams for ‘sub-topics’.  For better or worse, I only use searches and keywords.

Tab 6 – Titled indysow – for topics related to that entity that show tweets we might care about. Streams are @indysow, “School on Wheels” (a search for our org name in quotes so it grabs those exact words), homeless, homelessness, homeless indianapolis, homeless children, homeless education, homeless youth, donate homeless, donate homelessness.

Tab 7 – Titled ‘fundraising’ – streams are fundraising, major gift, annual fund, planned giving, fundraising indiana

Tab 8 – Titled ‘nonprofit’ – streams for nonprofit, nonprofit management, nonprofit marketing, nonprofit leadership, not for profit

Tab 9 – Titled ‘marketing – streams for nonprofit marketing, social marketing, nonprofit email marketing, cause marketing

Tab 10, 11 & 12 are for ‘philanthropy’, ‘Indianapolis’ and ‘Leadership’ with streams for related sub-topics.

The advantages to tabs and streams are abundant. If you follow more than 20 or so people, the ‘home’ stream is difficult to keep up with – especially if those you follow are prolific tweeters.  Let’s work on your set-up.

(UPDATE: At the request of @Maggie_Stevens – here’s a screenshot of my hootsuite dashboard)

Your tabs and streams

Grab a blank piece of paper and map out the keywords and topics you want to follow, personally and professionally.  Use the bio you wrote as guidance.  Let’s say you wrote “Dir Digital Communications for Seattle Agency for the Aging. Husband, Dad, aspiring BBQ judge, runner, photographer and organic chef.”  I’d suggest,

Tab “Work” w/ streams – digital communication, social media, nonprofit email, aging, elder care, elderly, over 60

Tab “BBQ” w/ streams – BBQ, bar-b-que, BBQ judge, BBQ judging, food contest, BBQ festival, BBQ expert

Tab “Run” w/ streams – running, run, runners, marathon, fitness, 26.2, distance running

Tab “photo” w/ streams – photography, digital photography, photo composition, digital camera

Tab “chef” w/ streams – foodie, organic, chef, food network, hell’s kitchen, chef show

Use paper or a white board and map this stuff out before you set it up. The reality is that you’ve got to start somewhere. As you engage further on Twitter, you’ll learn the different hashtags and terms people use to discuss all these.  You may start out following words, and later you’ll have streams and tabs of hashtags.

So you understand Twitter, you’re set up, you’ve tweeted and now you’re managing tweets and info. Tomorrow is the big, last and most important. Engaging!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 3: Actually Tweeting

Fundraising

Good morning everyone! This week I am privileged to be attending Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Midwest Leadership Conference in Milwaukee, WI. With all hustle and bustle associated with attending a conference, I decided to find a “guest blogger” to take over for me this week. It wasn’t a difficult search. As a subscriber to the Nonprofit Nate blog on WordPress, I have become a huge fan of Nathan Hand and was thrilled when he agreed to step in for me. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Nate agreed to post all week on the subject of Twitter and how non-profit organizations can/should use that social media network. So, the following is a little bit more about Nathan and today’s post. Enjoy . . . and I’ll see you next week. Here is to your health! ~Erik Anderson, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

Nathan Hand is an AmeriCorps alumnus, holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, a Masters in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University. Nathan is Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization helping homeless children in Indianapolis. He writes at www.nonprofitnate.com sharing thoughts for nonprofiteers and helping visitors navigate the world of giving. For more, follow Nathan on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to his blog!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 3: Actually Tweeting

Welcome back! This is the 3rd in this week-long series. Come back each day, subscribe via RSS or get posts via email (see right). Unlike the others, this is participatory and may take a few minutes for you to do. Ready?

Are you sitting down? This is gonna rock your world.  We’re not going to use Twitter to tweet. What?!?! Say it out loud to yourself.

“I will not use Twitter to tweet.”

That’s right. While the folks at Twitter are really smart, there are better ways to actually tweet than using Twitter.com.  What you need to do is go to Hootsuite.com right now and set up an account and connect your Twitter account.  Don’t worry, it takes a few seconds and is super-easy. Go ahead, I’ll wait….

Welcome back. Good job! I’ll explain the streams, columns and other stuff later. First up…

The tweeting box

1. Compose a message – this is where you type in what you’re going to say. Let’s practice. Type “I’m learning how to tweet from @nathan_hand“.  (while a bit self-serving, there’s no harm done by actually typing this – but if you’d rather just type “I’m new to twitter!” that’s ok too.)  See the little ’140′ count down as you type? This helps you keep track of how many characters you have left.

2. Add a link – let’s say you’re referencing this post.  Copy the website address in your URL bar above (the www.blahblahblah) and paste it in the spot where it says ‘Add a link’. Then click ‘shrink’. It immediately creates a new link that fits within your 140 characters. Smart huh?

3. Click ‘SEND’. Go ahead, take a big dramatic breath and click SEND! Done? You did it! You just tweeted! Give yourself a pat on the back, high five or toast to your technological prowress – well done! Ready for more?

4. Scheduling posts – this is one of my favorite features. You can schedule a message to be sent at a later date.  Let’s say you just read 4 amazing articles all about _____(insert your hobby here) and you want to share them.  The reality is that if you share them all at once, and then don’t share anything for a few days, your account may be seen as a bit spastic. Instead, schedule them over the course of the next couple hours or days. That way you don’t look like a hibernating tweeter who just comes out to see the sunlight and reads once every few days.

5. Drafts, attachments and location – I seldom use these but you may find them helpful.  There’s nothing wrong with exploring and testing – see what works for you!

Anatomy of a tweet

Let’s take a look at a sample tweet that you might see.

  1. Hardlynormal is the name of the person/entity tweeting – you can usually click on it (or their avatar/photo) to learn more about them.
  2. The time shown is when they sent the message (duh) but it also shares which tool they use. This line is clickable and takes you to the actual status update on twitter.com
  3. See the RT? That stands for retweet. It means that @MitzvahCircle (another person/entity) actually sent this message out and then @hardlynormal chose to forward it, or retweet it out to his followers.
  4. See the #kindness and #hope? These are called hashtags.  Hashtags are a way of indexing twitter. We’ll learn later that you can follow particular words or hashtags in order to watch or take part in conversations about that word/topic.  If you click on the hashtag #hope – you’ll see all the latest tweets referencing #hope. Cool huh?

Oh my gosh! You’re tweeting! Reach your left arm straight out, then over to the right, then touch your right shoulder-blade with it. Then reach your right arm out, then over to your left and touch your left shoulder blade. Now give yourself a hug. Congrats.

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 2: Signing Up

Fundraising

Good morning everyone! This week I am privileged to be attending Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Midwest Leadership Conference in Milwaukee, WI. With all hustle and bustle associated with attending a conference, I decided to find a “guest blogger” to take over for me this week. It wasn’t a difficult search. As a subscriber to the Nonprofit Nate blog on WordPress, I have become a huge fan of Nathan Hand and was thrilled when he agreed to step in for me. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Nate agreed to post all week on the subject of Twitter and how non-profit organizations can/should use that social media network. So, the following is a little bit more about Nathan and today’s post. Enjoy . . . and I’ll see you next week. Here is to your health! ~Erik Anderson, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

Nathan Hand is an AmeriCorps alumnus, holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, a Masters in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University. Nathan is Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization helping homeless children in Indianapolis. He writes at www.nonprofitnate.com sharing thoughts for nonprofiteers and helping visitors navigate the world of giving. For more, follow Nathan on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to his blog!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 2: Signing Up

So you’ve heard enough about Twitter and you’re ready to at least sign-up and see what it’s all about.  No, I’m not going to do it for you but here are some tips to get off on the right foot.

The second in this week-long series, come back each day, subscribe via RSS or get posts via email (see right).

Your handle

Your handle is your ‘Twitter name’.  Pretend you’re a trucker. It’s what people will know you by, what they’ll click on to learn more about you and what you’ll be associated as.  You can technically change it later but it’s better not to.  10-4 good buddy.

  • Keep it real & simple – many people (myself included) select their name, see @nathan_hand.  Or some combination of their name, title, identity or descriptor. See @profsaxton, @charityideas, etc.
    Don’t use trucker language…or ’10-4′ or ‘over and out’ on Twitter.
  • Keep it short – remember that tweets are only 140 characters. The shorter your name, the more space you (and others) will have to converse.
  • Keep it clean & appropriate – people will come to know you by this. Would you want your Grandma yelling @BgKahuna in church? Maybe if you’re @BgKahuna.
  • Keep it transferable – Including your work or location can make it difficult when/if you ever change jobs or locations.  Then again, it can make you more relevant or help people understand more about you.  For example, if @NicoleWTHR ever switches stations or cities, she may need to change her name.  However, those that come across her tweets are more likely to understand she’s connected to a TV station than if she was @NicoleMisencik.

Your avatar

No, I’m not talking about the 12 ft tall blue Na’vi creatures from James Cameron’s 2009 blockbuster. Your ‘avatar’ is the little picture that exemplifies you on Twitter.  Brands usually use their logo. Some people use professional headshots, others crop family photos or create cartoon versions of themselves.  I really don’t think this matters a lot. HOWEVER, make sure you use it. Otherwise Twitter puts a big ugly egg there until you do – and you’ll be known as an egg-head – not to mention it’s very impersonal (the opposite of social). Remember, the pics are small, so don’t use a full-body image or group shot – you want your head/shoulders so people know what you look like or what you stand for.

Your bio

This is where the magic happens. The purpose of your Twitter bio is to let other people know who you are and why they might want to follow you. If you’re a squirrel expert or are only going to tweet about fireworks, it’s probably a good idea to say that. What makes you interesting? You’re looking for quality followers, not quantity, so be real and honest. Here’s one of my favorite posts on Twitter bios.

Your location

This is simple.  You can put the city, state you’re in. Maybe the area of the country/world you spend most of your time in. You can use it to make a statement, or just follow the norms for once. Maybe you want to be creepy and put “Psst! Right behind you!” You only have a few spaces so think hard and wordsmith wisely.

Your settings

Most of them are easy but there are a couple I think are important. Like any social media, you want to be (somewhat) responsive – meaning if a week goes by and you haven’t responded to someone who tweeted you – you’re not following the Twitter customs. So, under ‘Mobile’, set up mobile alerts for when you’re mentioned or sent a Direct Message (DM – I’ll explain soon).  That way you’ll receive a message if someone’s trying to contact you via Twitter…and you’re not lame-o. Also, go to ‘Notifications’ and determine when you want emails.  I prefer the ‘less is more’ approach to emails – you can uncheck all the boxes because we’re gonna use Hootsuite and mobile to handle it – not email.

Now you’re ready. Open Twitter in another window or tab and refer to this post as you sign up! Tomorrow – we’ll TWEET!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 1: Why Twitter?

Fundraising

Good morning everyone! This week I am privileged to be attending Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Midwest Leadership Conference in Milwaukee, WI. With all hustle and bustle associated with attending a conference, I decided to find a “guest blogger” to take over for me this week. It wasn’t a difficult search. As a subscriber to the Nonprofit Nate blog on WordPress, I have become a huge fan of Nathan Hand and was thrilled when he agreed to step in for me. The cherry on top of this sundae is that Nate agreed to post all week on the subject of Twitter and how non-profit organizations can/should use that social media network. So, the following is a little bit more about Nathan and today’s post. Enjoy . . . and I’ll see you next week. Here is to your health!    ~Erik Anderson, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

Nathan Hand is an AmeriCorps alumnus, holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Georgetown University, a Masters in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from DePauw University. Nathan is Vice President of Development at School on Wheels, an organization helping homeless children in Indianapolis. He writes at www.nonprofitnate.com sharing thoughts for nonprofiteers and helping visitors navigate the world of giving. For more, follow Nathan on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to his blog!

Twitter Bootcamp Lesson 1: Why Twitter?

If I have to explain the importance of Twitter one more time I’m going to vomit in my mouth and swallow it, fighting through the sore throat it creates.  Just kidding. I love it. I love it so much I thought I’d share the first in a five-part series this week. Designed to help you understand it, sign up correctly and do it right – come back each day, subscribe via RSS or get posts via email (see right).  Already tweeting? Convert your friends or add something to the conversation…smartypants.

Understanding the concept

Before you dive in and sign up, it’s important to frame your understanding of Twitter.  My favorite analogy is a global cocktail party.  Imagine a giant room full of all sorts of people, from all sorts of places, conversing about all sorts of topics…without the house wine or mini quiches.  The room’s at a constant buzz. People are bouncing from table to table, some are laughing, some are in serious conversation, some are teaching things, some are looking for business, some are bragging about themselves and some are quietly taking it all in. Oh, and it’s happening 24/7.  The only difference is that it’s online.  Twitter is bazillions of short messages being fired off from all around the planet at all hours of the day.

Just like a normal cocktail party – the truth is you probably don’t give two naked squirrels about most of what’s being said.  The trick to finding value in Twitter is cutting through the bazillions of messages and finding the few that you actually care about. The beautiful thing is that there are super-easy tools that help you do that – I’ll get there soon, bear with me.

A megaphone back-flip

Why is Twitter important? Besides being able to share/hear/learn from people in a crazy-awesome quiche-free environment, it changes the global communication dynamic.  What do I mean?  In traditional marketing 30 years ago, a company put up a billboard or created a commercial to craft the message it wants people to hear and think about a product (think Mad Men).  It was large, mega-phonal, one-way communication.  If United airlines lost your luggage, you’d complain to your friends and family and just maybe a couple of them wouldn’t book United the next time they flew.  The reality? United did not care.  (que tear and sniffle) They didn’t have to. They had millions of other customers and loosing one or two to your vengeful word of mouth rampage didn’t matter to them…at all. They’d produce a commercial or put up a billboard and quickly replace you with new customers spending new dollars.

With Twitter (as with Facebook, YouTube, social media, etc.) the dynamic has changed.  Individuals can see/measure the power of their network and amplify their message.  Most importantly, they can have as much or MORE influence and power than a company or brand using traditional marketing. See the infamous “United breaks guitars” video and case study.

What Twitter is not

Twitter is not a bad word. It’s not a waste of time. It’s not only for young-ens. It’s not the cool kids’ table. It’s not only for athletes, Ashton Kutcher or Ryan Secrest. It’s not too confusing or too much trouble. It doesn’t take away from your priorities and it’s not hard. At the same time, just like sushi or rollerblading, Twitter’s not for everyone.  At the end of this series, if it’s not for you – that’s ok. I just ask that you give it your best. I think you’ll like it.

Ready for Twitter 102-105? Come back each day, subscribe via RSS or get posts via email (click here to visit Nonprofit Nate and sign-up ).  Tweetcha later.

The Sounds of Annual Campaign Planning: Part 5

Fundraising, Planning, volunteers

Today is my fifth and final blog post dedicated to the 2012 annual campaign planning process, and as I did with the previous four posts I’m putting it to music just for the fun of it. Today’s post focuses on the project management components of your plan.

Cue the music . . . click here for your first musical selection then start reading.  🙂

Getting your volunteers around a table to talk about big picture things — like your annual campaign goal, volunteer recruitment strategies, and policies — really just amount to dreaming and wishing. The magic really happens when the discussion is finally had around: ‘who’ is doing ‘what’ and ‘where’ are they doing it, and by ‘when’ it needs to get done.

For me, the old expression “How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time!” comes to mind.

When fundraising staff roughs out a project management task list and hands it over to volunteers, I’ve never seen a happy ending associated with this strategy. Think of it this way — how can one person know what everyone else is capable and willing to do? Isn’t there an old expression about “ass-uming”???

This is an opportunity to engage people around getting stuff done, and it doesn’t have to be very complicated. Here is what my “To Do List” for a staff person might be for facilitating this part of the annual campaign planning process:

  1. Download a project management task list template from the internet or construct a simple one in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. Or use Microsoft Project to organize things.
  2. Look at the campaign in its entirety and start breaking it out into small bite size tasks. The smaller, the better! Add those tasks to your punch list template.
  3. Organize a meeting of your annual campaign volunteers and go the extra mile to find a date/time that works for as close to 100% of the team. Trust Madonna when it comes to this step.
  4. Send the draft task list out to volunteers well in advance of the meeting. Ask everyone to review the tasks and come prepared to talk about when they think certain tasks can realistically be accomplished and who needs to be asked to do which tasks. Most importantly, ask them to think about which tasks they really want to personally volunteer to do.
  5. At the meeting, start by facilitating a discussion around timeframes and deadlines for individual tasks. Always keep in mind that some tasks are more critical than others. For example, the solicitation materials need to be designed and printed before volunteer solicitors can make any solicitations. A Gantt Chart might be useful as part of this exercise, or it might be something you assemble afterward to ensure the committee’s first draft works.
  6. After roughing out timeframes, ask everyone to roll up their sleeves and facilitate a discussion around: ‘who wants to do what?’ This discussion might involve people jumping in to personally grab certain tasks. It might turn into a discussion focused on who else needs to be recruited or asked to sit around the table. Regardless, these are good conversations because it represents the sound of “engagement”.

If there is silence during this last step (cue Simon & Garfunkel), then you just learned something else. You found out that your campaign is in danger of failing. The good news is that you discovered this way before launching your campaign, and there is still time to recruit more volunteers and get it together. Whatever you do, DON’T try to force the meeting because the it will end up looking like the one facilitated by this kid on YouTube. More importantly, the engagement you thought you just gained will all be fake and worth nothing during the campaign if you strong-arm people into doing something they don’t want to do.

Yes, this activity can be time-consuming, but it is a wise investment. Not only will you get people engaged, but it will become an important accountability tool during the implementation phase of your campaign. If used correctly, your project management task list (created with volunteer input) will help keep the “Procrastination Song” out of volunteer’s heads as they travel down that road with you.  🙂

How does your organization go about creating its project management tools for the annual campaign? Are there certain templates you like more than others? Can you point to those tools online? Do you have a success story or lesson learned around engaging volunteers in this process that you’re willing to share? Please use the comment box below to weigh-in because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

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

The Sounds of Annual Campaign Planning: Part 4

Fundraising, Planning

As most of you already know, I am dedicating all of this week’s blog posts to the 2012 annual campaign planning process, and I’m putting it all to music just for the fun of it. Today’s post focuses on constructing your campaign’s policies.

Cue the music . . . click here for your first musical selection then start reading.  🙂

First, let me admit that I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to skipping the policy writing part of the annual campaign planning process. For some reason, I always saw this exercise as a harmless corner that could be cut without too much damage being done. For this reason, it is important to address this question first: “Why should you write policies pertaining specifically to your annual campaign?”

When in doubt, I always say “Google It!!!” … so I did and found this great little blurb straight out of a U.S. Department of Agriculture manual:

“Policies give direction to plans. They are a road map [that] management can follow to reach goals and attain objectives. Well written policy facilitates delegation of authority to the lowest feasible level . . . “

Let me use an example to help illustrate the importance of this wonderful little blurb and put it into context for a volunteer-driven fundraising campaign. So, let’s say I am sitting with a donor and just asked her to consider making a pledge of $1,000 to our annual campaign. The donor seems agreeable, but has some questions. I handle the first few questions flawlessly, but then we start getting into territory where I don’t have the slightest idea of what the answer might be (e.g. can the gift be paid for in stock, how much time does the donor have to pay-off their pledge, etc). Uh-oh! Maybe I shouldn’t “close the deal” right now because I need to find some answers to this donors questions.

Volunteers are already super reluctant to participate in face-to-face solicitations. One of their many fears is being unable to answer a donor’s question (or providing inaccurate answers to their questions).

From a staff perspective, written policies are your friend because they keep volunteers from calling you every other time with questions about whether or not something can be done. When your volunteer solicitors are empowered with that kind of knowledge, they are more successful at “closing the gift” and have fewer prospects to follow-up with after the original solicitation call.

Overall, writing campaign policies saves both staff and volunteers time and increases a volunteer’s confidence heading into a solicitation call.

Writing policies does not need to be a difficult or time-consuming part of your annual campaign planning process. I encourage staff and campaign volunteers to sit down and make a list of commonly asked questions. I suspect the following questions might be found on most lists:

  • How often can the non-profit send me a pledge reminder (e.g. how many payments can I slice my pledge into)? Or can you bill me on an irregular schedule of May, August, November and December?
  • By when do I need to have my pledge paid?
  • Do you accept stock as a form of payment? Or can I pay my contribution with a credit card?
  • Do you accept in-kind contributions, too? (e.g. cars, computer equipment, etc)
  • Will you send me an acknowledgement letter that I can give to my accountant for tax purposes? How soon will I get that documentation?
  • Will you share my name and contract information with other companies?
  • Can I make this contribution anonymously?
  • I hate receiving all that junk mail from charities . . . can I opt out of those mailings (e.g. newsletter, etc)?
  • I don’t like public recognition, can you keep my name off of donor honor rolls, newsletter recognition and the website?
  • May I designate my annual campaign contribution to a specific program or to a future building fund?

This list can go on and on and on, which can make this step in the planning process look time-consuming. So, I encourage you to not get carried away. If you haven’t ever written campaign policies, then start small. You can always add written policies in the future.

If you already have written resource development policies as part of your organization’s written resource development plan, then you may not have to re-invent the wheel. However, staff and volunteers should still take a moment to review those policies to ensure there isn’t anything missing from an annual campaign perspective.

If you are a “googling fool” like me, it will be a challenge to find samples if you try searching “annual campaign policies”. I suggest searching on phrases such as: “donor recognition policies” or “fundraising policies”. You’ll have a little more success. Or you can just facilitate an organic exercise and ask questions like the ones I pose above.

The biggest thing to remember is: involve your volunteers in this process. This is NOT a staff-only activity. Don’t forget that these written policies exist to help your volunteer solicitors feel more confident and get “The Question Song” out of their head before/during/after a solicitation call. So, excluding them from this process would be counter-productive.

ALSO … don’t forget that only the board of directors has the ability to bring written policies to life. So, whatever the annual campaign committee decides needs to be reviewed and approved by the board.

Does your organization have written policies that help guide your annual campaign? If so, are you willing to share them with others? How did you develop your policies? How and when do you educate volunteer solicitors on these policies before sending them out to talk to donors?

Please use the comment box below to answer some of these questions. As I always say, we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

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