Did you catch the Wall Street Journal article on Toms Shoes? I wear shoes so I went online to browse the website. I know nothing about podoconiosis. Now I know a lot more about both and the entry point was online shopping.
Are you considering unique ways to blend your cause with the interests of your fans?
“Give the world something it didn’t know it was missing”
Daniel Pink: A Whole New Mind
What need is your organization trying to meet, extinguish, enhance or support? Does the world or even your community know about the need? Have you remembered to show the impact of the need on your community? Does your universe understand what success will look like? Do they understand the consequence of failure?
Is your need overwhelming your community. Seth Godin’s post on philanthropy from last week speaks to the danger of constantly calling fire or wolf. The world may not want to know about your need if it is too painful to consider on a daily basis.
How has your enterprise established a balance between significance, urgency and priority?
Who keeps your cause’s stories? Most organizations keep the required record of minutes, financial documents, corporate filings and IRS Letter of Determination in a secure location. But where do you house the stories about how your organization was founded? Who recalls the how the original board members were added? What critical adversity was overcome? Which community members saw the relevance of the organization’s mission and provided essential funding? What early graduate of the enterprise’s programs has become a remarkable member of the community? How was the idea for a key partnership hatched? Who brought the idea for the fundraising event that was originally dismissed but now a treasured part of the community calendar?
How do keep these important stories accessible and alive? Does your organization stay in-touch with past staff and board members? Is there a volunteer or intern who has a passion for cataloging the organization’s narratives. Have you considered a digital library such as the one used by StoryCorps? As Daniel Blink points out in A Whole New Mind, “the hero’s journey has three main parts: Departure, Initiation, and Return.” Who is transcribing the critical events that form your enterprise’s hero story?
Spring break season so here is a quick way to perform a focus group with only a pencil, piece of paper and a couple minutes.
Direction: Using only seven lines, draw a representation of your nonprofit organization.
What stands out? What did you include? What was left out? Are there people, buildings, programs or symbols? If your board and staff completed this exercise, what would they draw? What would your customers, donors and volunteers design?
Do you postpone lifetime quests? I know I do, it is easier to stay focused on ascending a couple of the lower foothills than climb the biggest peaks. Less risk, closer to home, high probability of success. Quests take time, commitment, planning, resolve, investment and a willingness to cut-off other options. So I put in front of you an opportunity. Four Years. Go. A movement to focus on the period from 2010-2014 to change to course of the next 1,000 years. The opportunity to set-off on and take part on this expedition is just a click away. Your choice, your moment to decide, your role is yet to be determined.
What will 2014 look like? What will your role be over the next four years? A summit flag has been handed to you, which peak will it be planted on?
South By Southwest is the watershed conference in Austin, Texas for the social media world. Just trying to follow the #SXSW hashtag on Twitter was a workout. So what was decided, launched, or panned? It depends on who you talk to and what the possible impact will be on the social media front. A couple of blogs and reviews that I found fascinating.
Daniel Pink wrote Drive. I found it to be one of the most fascinating books on what creates a compelling experience for us as individuals. When you consider engaging and energizing your professional staff, volunteers, donors, members, customers, and community members the thesis Daniel Pink presents is revolutionary. Of course the author and book do a far better job of making the case but here is a TED Talk to give you the fundamentals. Enjoy!
I have returned items to Zappos, CB2 and REI in the past month. These were items that either did not meet my need or in one case was a warranty issue. Each return was efficient, orderly, informative and memorable. The clear question from each vendor is “how many we help you?”
I find these experiences to be a great reminder of how the social sector needs to consider the service of its customers, members and fans. Where there is a problem there is an opportunity to be memorable for your willingness to address the issue and take appropriate actions. I am not sure what credit a team member at a Four Season hotel has when removing an objectionable item off a folio at checkout but rumor has it that they have a significant autonomy. There is no need to see the manger when the employee you are speaking with has the latitude to solve the problem.
This does not discount the important of a Board Chair or CEO following-up with a phone call. But isn’t is easier to ask, “I hope everything met your satisfaction in this matter?” The alternative is, “I see you have spoken to two of our staff members with no resolution, what can I do?” Two different philosophies and the impacts.
Huddled around the Campfire, watching the reflected fire light dance on each others faces, feeling warmth on our feet and hands and seeing stars dance overhead is an iconic image of wilderness travel. It enhances a group experience. One person tells a ghost story and everyone is scared. A marshmallow dropped into the fire while roasting brings a collective sigh. You look around and see the faces of friends and feel great. It is a special time precisely because it is unique. Most of us get this campfire experience only a few times a year if we are lucky. We depart the fire ring and head our different directions in the morning.
When we try to stay for too long we become stagnate. Yet that is what many causes do far too often. They attend a training for the latest fundraising system and implement it tomorrow. When all the other local social sector enterprises take the same approach we all find ourselves back around the same campfire. We recruit the same board members, trying to get them to serve our organization along with three other causes, stretching many of them too thin. One group throws an party during the Oscars and then next year there are parties for the every award show.
Sometimes we need to remember that each cause has a unique approach and personality, otherwise they should have partnered or merged. Gather at the campfire for conferences, breakfast meetings, shared-retreats and community gatherings. Then walk-away and return to the wilderness. Those that stay at the fire ring for too long start to look alike as there clothing and faces become caked with ash and smoke. Bring back your stories from the frontier, take pictures and share never seen before techniques on survival.
Head to open spaces, you will stand out and define your world.
Photo credit: eHow.com
Do you ever feel that fundraising success breads uncontrollable growth? A nonprofit organization reaches a certain level of contributed revenue and decides to send their Executive Director onto the road to raise even more money because it is clearly there to be had, or so they have heard. The Executive Director’s absence means a senior program staff member or administrator needs to assume some of the day-to-day duties, which can be tremendous professional development training for an aspiring Executive Director when done thoughtfully. Now the Executive Director can only reasonably spend so much time focused on advancement so they implore the Director of Development to increase the staff’s time on the road. Money is coming in, connections are being made, new networks are being tapped and everyone feels the momentum. Additional staff are added to cover new regions and handle giving levels that are no longer the domain of the top fundraisers. Leadership levels once thought unobtainable are created. The donor database is exploding with entries and a new website is created to encourage online giving to handle the smaller membership contributions. A new module for the fundraising software priced at twenty-thousand dollars is considered so an even more sophisticated approach can be obtained. Donors are receiving email blasts, customized letters assuring them that their funds have transformed the cause, links to YouTube videos, invitations to special events and a summary of the planned giving opportunities that they might consider in their estate. Mailings are outsourced to large distribution centers, marketing has taken on two consultants, the board just added five new members all of whom made transformational gifts in the last six months and the Executive Director is now a platinum frequent flyer member of a hotel and airline company. The board’s finance committee reviews a draft budget that shows significant increases in administrative costs but the business manager assures them that the revenue they are generating from contributions will clearly be the best return on investment they could ever consider. Graphs are charted, PowerPoint slides prepared and the board votes in favor of an annual budget that makes last year’s bottom line number look like just a line item in this year’s version. The cycle continues, spinning faster with over-the-top galas, regional gatherings with donors who have never visited the enterprise’s headquarters and national conference speaking engagements titled “How to Fundraising With Style.”
In reviewing the organization’s strategic plan one sees modest projections about fundraising growth, conservative staff growth and an initiative to enhance the programs the nonprofit already produces. The Executive Director’s goals speak of doing more with the resources at hand. There is nothing about the meteoric expansion of revenue and expenses.
The big questions becomes, is the organization aligned to take advantage of real-time opportunity that fundamentally enhances the enterprise’s orbit or is all of this growth feed the fundraising beast? Does more money mean more resources and no way of knowing if the organization is really generating meaningful growth. Or has the sensation of forward movement become an addiction to the point that nobody knows who is at the wheel. Has the monster taken over driving and has the organization decided to pay his gas bill?
Image (Vector)
What-if-concepts 