Allowing Donors To Be Creative

Okay, so I haven’t posted in “like forever” as my daughter would put it.  Part of that challenge of getting to it.  I just lost all sense of creativity and drive. 

But that’s not the point today.  

Quite a while back, I posted about allowing your donors to tell your story.  Finding ways to facilitate that provide opportunity for them to advocate for you.  Here is an example of what I am talking about:

I am developing a great appreciation for the development of the “friends asking friends” concept and the power that brings to spreading the message.  As I continue to work with individual donors, I hear more and more frequently the desire to let others know about their passion.  

Spread the word.

Back to Basics

Okay, this should be easy.  Simple attention to detail.  But how often do we skip a simple step and end up looking like complete morons?

I received a postcard in the mail today here at work.  In fact, we received 10 of them.  A consulting company marketing themselves as a grant writing and funding consulting service.  But they blundered.  They had our address attached to 10 different individuals and companies.  I assume that something went wrong in their mailmerge process.  But apparently nobody thought to do any quality checking on their mailing.  Or on their data entry earlier.  Not a good way to build confidence.  Or a customer base.

ROI – Does it exist?

Business people are used to talking about Return on Investment.  And many times we try to apply some measurement of ROI in the non-profit world as well.  I would contend that within the development arena, ROI is particularly challenging to measure.  Some efforts produce an easy to measure statistic.  Others – not so much.

Take direct mail for instance.  95% of ROI can be measured easily.  Costs spent on the mailing vs donations returned.  The other 5 % might be goodwill, name recognition, or just plain informing.  Of course, if done badly, this 5% might be negative and actually hurt the organization. 

What about donor events?  Vastly expensive in both direct expenditures and staff impact.  Especially if the organization makes every attempt to run lean.  But how do you measure ROI?  Do you absorb the costs knowing that your donors have been impacted (hopefully positively) by the event?  Is the information that you have shared with them enough?  Does the fact that this group of donors has received a special invitation to a special event serve as enough motivation to keep their engagement with the organization?

Now I realize that donor events come in all flavors of size and purpose.  But I just want to throw out some thinking surrounding this development activity. 

I would contend that maybe ROI for donor events is not truly measurable.  But the events themselves can be powerful connectors for donors.  So in that sense, they shouldn’t be ignored entirely.

Just a thought.

A Reflection On “Idol Gives Back”

I imagine this week’s show will be discussed ad naseum throughout the blogosphere today and tomorrow.  Oh well.  Thought I would add my two cents.

While I am impressed with the effort that is put forth into highlighting the plight of so many in Africa and here in the US, I still can’t help but wonder how the mix of celebrity “pitchmen/women” truly feel about the situation.  I suspect that combining one year’s income from 3 or 4 of them would outstrip the GDP of one country in Africa.  And yet they continue to appeal to “common” America to open up the purse strings and give.  Just seems a little disingenuous to me. 

Which leads me to a question.  Is it the cause, the pitch, or the show that leads people to give?  In development we often quote the phrase, “People give to people not to projects.”  But how does that play out in this case?  Are people giving because of the images they see on tv or because of the celebrity pitch?

Which leads to another question.  How do we in the non-profit world truly feel about the celebrity pitch?  A number of organizations use them to great effect.  But where do we draw the line and say, “Put up or shut up!”  Where is the break even point between the value of their giving and the value of their name associated with a cause? 

Okay, I am done ranting for the day. 

Project SharePoint – A Follow-up

Sharepoint has turned out to be a great tool for us.  We are now about 5 months into heavy use of it and it is serving as a great consolidator of information.  We are able to keep our various project information up-to-date and in an easy to access location.  The group calendar functions have been an added bonus.  The one drawback that we have at the moment (due to a technical situation) is that the calendars are not linking withour personal calendars on Outlook.  I have been told that will be rectified soon with a future update to our Microsoft Office software.

First Response

Your switchboard.  Your receptionist.  The first visible/audible face/voice that a person interacts with when contacting your organization.  (For purposes of this post I am not going to deal with response center issues.)  How many of us in the non-profit world give much thought to that donor/constituent experience.  I think we often default into two camps – the first being technology driven (let’s install systems with automated attendants) and the second being lowest common denominator thinking (let’s just get an entry level person to answer the phone).

We had a unique opportunity presented to us to reposition the switchboard/receptionist team from under the facilities department to the donor care department.  Needless to say, we jumped on it.  Our focus is to provide a top flight experience for any caller or visitor to the organization.  Now, I will admit that for many organizations budget does play a role in determining the strategy that is taken.  But I would make the argument that this is one area that you can’t afford to cut corners.  An individual who calls the organization to ask a question, make a gift, talk to a counselor, etc. and receives poor treatment will not be inclined to call again.  And it doesn’t have to be a rude response on the phone.  It can be a simple sigh as the call is answered, a confusing jumble of menu options, or a heavy accent that can turn someone away.

Think about it.

Blogging Employees

One of the challenges that organizations face with the growth in social media and the blogosphere is the issue of employees blogging about their work.  I had an interesting discussion with a staff person from an international non-profit.  This person raised the issue from a security perspective.  There is a certain amount of risk in allowing an individual to blog about their work from a country that may have security issues.  The knee jerk reaction was to create a policy that would govern what blogging was allowed, what wasn’t, or would cut it off altogether.  I think after some discussion, I was able to share some insights about the value of training rather than policy and the value to the organization to have staff tell the “real-time” story of what is being accomplished.  Here are some points to consider:

1. The personal voice of a staff member can have huge impact to their immediate circle and beyond.
2. Be cognizant of the potential danger for staff who live in risky areas of the world.  Communicate that danger to those who are headed to those areas of the world.
3. Train your team members to communicate clearly.
4. Consider providing a centralized avenue for blogging with minimal controls.
5. Be clear about what is not acceptable. 
6. Recognize that short of termination, you really can’t stop the blogging. 
7. Remember, that for many, blogging may be cathartic and a way of releasing the stress of the work place.

I hope that helps.

The Wired Advocate – A Follow-up

Overcoming inertia in a nonprofit can be particularly difficult.  This stems from many sources but is most often expressed in the sentiment, “We’ve always done it this way.”  As a good friend of mine often says, “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over expecting different results.” 

Starting small with some test runs can be a great way to get past the initial ‘disbelief’ that making use of new tools will have value for the organization.  Here are some thoughts to consider:

1. Recognize that you will likely make a mistake along the way.  The initial run may not be perfect.  That’s okay.  Learn from it, remember it, move on.
2. At the same time, remember that quality is still important.  You can’t have a poor appearance and expect great results.
3. Determine what you want to measure to determine success.  Dollars raised may not be the correct measurement.  Especially with your first few attempts.
4. Remember, your audience is going to be different (probably) than your organizational website.  That’s why you are doing this.  Expanding your reach.
5. Because of #5, don’t just repeat your website.  Provide something different, in a different tone, different appearance, etc.
6. “Build it and they will come” is not necessarily true.  You will need to promote your applications.  Expand  your reach.  Think outside of the box.

Plan on building slowly.  Once you have established your metrics, go wider.  Determining who in the organization will be ‘responsible’ for the ongoing development and management of the interaction will come with experience.  Successful 2.0 applications will likely develop conversations with your constituency.  You need to be prepared to respond so somebody should be the designated communicator.

Hope that helps.

The Wired Advocate

Michelle Martin over at Bamboo Project has written a great post about the “Wired Fundraiser.” 

Point #2 – Not Every Wired Fundraiser Is A Champion – is important to note.  However, I would add a correlary that additional storytelling in the marketplace is a good thing.  No matter if one person or 50 people hear it.  And the advantage to the ’wired process’ is its cost effectiveness.  In the end, what has it truly cost the organization to have someone tell the story for them? 

She hits the nail on the head with point 4.  Smart Charities Embrace the Wired Fundraiser.  Many charities struggle with the issue of control of the message.  It is difficult to lay your message in the hands of others and let them tell your story.  But done correctly, this can be a huge gain for your organization, more than offsetting any potential minimal damage that might be done.

Check it out.

I’m Back

Okay, haven’t posted in a while (make that a long while) but that isn’t to say nothing is happening.  Been busy with Combined Federal Campaign event activity, travels, and general life stuff.

Just a note about something I learned during the CFC time period.  I went to an event in Houston to hand out material to Houston municipal employees.  Really poor event.  Outside, 90+ degrees, no shade, poorly attended, etc.  Maybe met about 60 – 90 people.  However, the flight home may have been worth it all. 

I sat next to a gentleman who was genuinely curious about what we do and how.  Somewhat familiar with our organization but only certain aspects.  As I talked with him a very valuable lesson was driven home – You had better know your mission and a good bit about what you do.  Especially if your organization has a wide reach as mine does.  And better yet, you should be prepared with something that will grab the heart of your listener.  Typically, I don’t talk to people when I travel on airplanes.  I like to withdraw and relax.  Especially after a long day of meeting people.  However this was an opportunity that was placed in my path for a reason.

I don’t know what will come of that discussion.  I was able to send him some follow-up information about one of our projects and since he is a person of influence he may be able to carry that out to others.

Always be prepared to tell your story.