Author: whatifconcepts

Empowering those that inspire so they can excel at the work that matters.

They

“They have you doing a lot of jobs at once,” I remarked to the young man who was attempting to simultaneously work the register and dole out rewards to customers redeeming their game coupons.  It struck me that “they” was an umbrella statement to cover some anonymous figure who I believed to represent management or authority.  They was faceless.  I have come to expect a they for airlines, hotel chains, large box stores, telephone solicitations and such.  I am more alarmed when the concept of they trickles down to small organizations.  If the concept of they embeds itself into a micro-enterprise, the coalition of those dedicated to a shared purpose is lost along with trust and authenticity.  


When we describe management or authority as ‘they’ then the most powerful point of interface fades away, the human connection.  When we no longer connect with a person then we jettison emotion.  I have yet to met an organization that could make an emotional connection (can Apple Co. really love you), however I have encountered a lot of people working for great causes that fostered a personal relationship.  There is no they when the team has names, stories, and time to build connections with those it serves.

Are You Part of the No Coalition?
Credit

What else do we need to know so we can say ‘yes’ was the question from the back of the room.  Heads turned and the most silent of the meeting’s participants had just thrown us all out of the proverbial express boat to the island of No.  It was a brillant question and it completely energized the staff and supporters of the proposal.  Seconds later sheets of paper were filled with ideas from an immediate brainstorming session.  Obstacles and objections were identified as well as strengths and new points of confluence with on-going initiatives.  With one question the meeting had come to life, ideas were being shared, engagement was soaring, and camaraderie was building.  It is easy to identify one way to say no.  The real talent is discovering strategies that let you say yes.


Seth Godin’s post illustrates the defused power of no with perfection.  I am glad to have seen the collation of no battled in the arena of institutional habits.

Secure Funding

The topic of fundraising receives proportionally less time than is actually committed by organizations on the typical nonprofit board meeting agenda.  Most causes certainly report on their development/fundraising efforts but what does not get discussed is the amount of time the enterprise attributes to the effort of securing funding on a daily basis.  What if our enterprises ran like a Kickstart campaigns?  You complete a form, uploaded an introductory video, outlined your purpose and business plan and let the market place determine your viability?  If you campaign reaches its goal, you are funded and proceed; if not you work on obtaining other sources of financial backing.  The freedom that the Kickstarter model offers is tantalizing.  You make a heavy investment in fundraising upfront but then have the financial security to move forward with your project, instead of making little steps in-between runs to solicit contributions.  Nonprofits, politicians, artists, researchers, educators, and doctors should all be able to focus the majority of their time on their craft.  Of course connecting with those who invested in your dream (and their dream) is vital but it should not keep one from practicing your talent.  


How would your cause operate if you knew your revenue stream was secure for a year?  What would it bring into focus that is currently blurry?

101 Social Media

Melanie Mathos and Chad Norman presented at #SXSW. A couple highlights from their book 101 Social Media Tactics for Nonprofits

  • Nonprofit membership to YouTube allows you at add annotations to videos and direct people to links that are outside of Google/YouTube sphere (no allowed to individual users).
  • Add FourSquare check-in locations and details related to your programs or services.  This is great for causes that have not headquarters or are range over a variety of locations.  Consider the impact a land trust with many preserves.
  • More causes are using Pinterest to link images to the organization’s website and blogs.
  • Develop a social media dashboard using Google Analytics.
  • Publish photo from your nonprofit under Flickr: Creative Commons to gain additional marketing reach.
I have the book on order and look forward to more useful strategies.

Day Two of Great SXSW Ideas

A few highlights from today’s journey among the best new ideas that intersected my journey around Austin.


Session with Vice-President Al Gore and Sean Parker (think Napster, Causes on Facebook, or the character played by Justin Timberlake in the film The Social Network).  (#goreparker)

  • Being “liked” by somebody online is not the same level of engagement as connecting with someone offline who is willing to action for your cause.
  • There are 800,000 meaningful political offices held in the United States.  If we want to alter the current discourse we need to realize the reach is far deeper than Washington, DC.
  • Current TV has been the leader in running user generated advertisements
  • The internet has been very successful as taking money and market share from traditional businesses
  • 30% of the broadband network activity during high usage periods is directed towards services such as Netflix.  This is an example of the mismatch between evolving and traditional media.
Dean Kamen (think Segway) spoke about Invention and Innovation (#SXdkamen)
  • Be hands on with innovation.  We do not lecture about football for nine months and then go on the field to play.  We need to be hands on and project based with education.
  • Dean co-founded FIRST which aims to make science and math competitions bigger than the Super Bowl.  This years competition has 22,000 teams.
  • The sustainability of humans is a race between technological advancement and catastrophe
  • If we could provide clean water to the 1.6 billion humans who currently have none we would solve 50% of the world wide treatable diseases.
  • Dean has partnered with Coca-Cola to instal his clean water machines in places with no clean water.  Coke wants to be the stewards of clean water and they have the most advance world wide distribution system.
  • In a free society you get what you celebrate.  Celebrate what you want.
Just a few excellent points among many yesterday.