Social Sector

Focus Group

Does your cause spend a significant amount of time thinking about how it is perceived by the community?  Are there decisions that you need to make that have no data or commentary to provide guidance?

Consider running a focus group.  Invite in one or a series of small groups that are representative of a key constituency you want to hear from.  Hire a facilitator or find a person of neutral standing to run a couple 60 minute session.  Send an invitation, provide the respondents with a brief synopsis of the intended outcome.  In advance, select the key questions or areas of concentration, most likely no more than three.  Provide the attendees with a space that feels conducive to a conversation and allow the facilitator to engage the participants in a conversation about the selected topics.  Provide an additional feedback mechanism (electronic or hard copy) for anyone who may have additional observations to share once the group’s session concludes.  Of course, thank the attendees and keep them in the loop.  How did their input help the organization advance its purpose and mission?  Anyone who is willing to participate has a motivation that needs to be reasonably honored.

I predict that you will gain tremendous insight and it will fill-in some of the uncharted gaps that exist on your strategic map.

Scavenger Hunt
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Have you played a round of my favorite social sector games?  “Let’s collect a representative from every major corporation in town to sit on our board!”  The game can be played yearly, quarterly, or monthly and you cause wins once you require a team of governance consultants to work for a year sorting out the mess that has been created.  Once the experts wrap-up their engagement they have enough material to write a book just about your enterprise.

I am not a fan of filling the board with individuals who primary attribute is their link to a major corporation.  Harvard professor and governance expert Richard Chait suggests that you should love your board members for something other than their money first, otherwise you may as well call them an ATM.  If your Nomination Committee leads with the question, “who do we know at the Nameless Corporation,” alarm bells should sound.  You may as well start advertising for a new school bus driver by suggesting anyone who owns a green safety vest is qualified.  

Here is the flaw in the formula.  Corporations are geared towards granting funds to organizations that provide a social benefit and whose message can be directly incorporated into the company’s marketing strategy.  The company’s communication experts have a significant say in how most corporate foundations award their grants.  These organizations create philanthropic budgets to distribute their funds.  The practice of awarding a board seat to the ‘Namless Corporation’ in return for an annual contribution is purely transactional.  You train a business to act based on their needs and not take into consideration the cause’s needs.  The corporation rarely asks your enterprise which attributes and talents are most needed on the board, they select an individual from their ranks that will serve as their proxy and oversee the impact of their contribution.  That said, the financial commitment from the company is usually capped and there is little chance of developing a relationship with an individual where your cause can understand the motivations and emotional drivers that lead to philanthropic investment.


People give to other people.  Individuals develop emotional connections.  They can take a journey with a cause that allows them to form their own experiences and points of confluence.  Corporations may represent a critical source of funding but they cannot replace the human dynamic.  There are many amazing individuals with highly desired talents that serve the socials sector extremely effectively and some happen to work for prominent corporations.  If you love your board members for their individual purpose and talents first and foremost, you may just find they have many hidden treasures to offer.


Good luck on your search.

State of the Why

“We are part of the American family. We believe that in a country where every race and faith and point of view can be found, we are still bound together as one people; that we share common hopes and a common creed; that the dreams of a little girl in Tucson are not so different than those of our own children, and that they all deserve the chance to be fulfilled.  That, too, is what sets us apart as a nation.
Now, by itself, this simple recognition won’t usher in a new era of cooperation. What comes of this moment is up to us. What comes of this moment will be determined not by whether we can sit together tonight, but whether we can work together tomorrow.  I believe we can. I believe we must. That’s what the people who sent us here expect of us. With their votes, they’ve determined that governing will now be a shared responsibility between parties. New laws will only pass with support from Democrats and Republicans. We will move forward together, or not at all — for the challenges we face are bigger than party, and bigger than politics.”

Barack Obama, 2011 State of the Union

The President of the United States used the concept from Simon Sinek’s, Start with Why to set the stage for last night’s State of Union.  By capturing those who share the belief of a shared vision and dream he defines the purpose of the United States.  Then he introduces the ‘how’ (cooperation, shared responsibility) before presenting the ‘what’ (education, green energy, fiscal policies).  The State of the Union represented a highly visible example of communicating from the inside-out instead of the outside-in.

Looking for volunteers that are motivated?  Perhaps stuffing gift bags for the upcoming gala is not the highest use of your generous volunteer’s skills, the one who happens to be a CPA and could provide assistance to your enterprise with a pending balance sheet project.  How are you engaging the architect, school teacher, warehouse manger, or author who are fans of your cause?  There is no prefect model.  Each person requires being treated and engaged differently- which makes developing a genuine volunteering relationship so time consuming and challenging.  But given the chance to have 15 highly capable individuals providing essential focused tasked versus 100 people running an assembly line production, I think one can make a reasonable argument for engaging the 15 individuals and their talents.


Organizations like Catchafire.org are focused on finding the ideal pairing of mission related work with individual expertise.  One blogger referred to Cathafire as the eHarmony of the volunteer network.

Words of Change
It’s a lot easier for an organization to adopt new words than it is to actually change anything.
 When you look at your current strategic or long range plan and compare it to your last version, did your cause create real change or simple wordsmith concepts from the past?  It is exciting to talk about striking out into the wilderness and journey towards a significant landmark.  It is another thing to sleep alone in the middle of a forest and listen to strange sounds outside your tent.  If you are not experiencing moments that jolt you from the day-to-day routine, you may not be on the journey you wrote about.  Real change takes more than words.

No Coupons Needed

What is the value of withholding a benefit from a customer or member of your enterprise because they do not have the appropriate coupon?  An offer is extended to those who have a pre-existing relationship with an organization and then the success of the transaction hinges on a the client having the action code at their immediate disposal when they are ready to interact with your cause.  Frustration and dissappointment are always present when any part of the system falters.  Why not extend the offer and opportunity to anyone who meets a specific criteria?

Costco allows only members to shop in its warehouse.  Then why not extend the discount on an item to anyone who purchases the product within the determined time frame and quantity.  Perhaps Costco’s motivation revolves around hoping not everyone will redeem the coupon and their business model is focused on acting like a commodity instead of building a relationship with its customers.

The next time you offer a buy one ticket get another for free promotion, try designing the entry point to be simple.  If you are sending out usernames and passwords (that can be distributed to non-members and friends in an instant), consider setting clear parameters and letting your community engage with you immediately. 

In and age of Groupons, Woots and livingsocial offers, the competition for easy-to-use discounts are ubiquitous.  It is incumbent on us to provide a transparent and efficient process.  Engage, do not enrage your customers and fans.

The Ultimate Live Auction Item?

If you hold a fundraising gala with an auction component invariably you encounter unique items that are difficult to value.  Common examples include fine bottles of wine, a vehicle, or luxury trip.  All seem like solid winners at first glance.  What could go wrong?  Imagine three magnums of library wine worth $5,000 being auctioned for $500.  Who makes the call to the winery to share the news.  Or having the winning bidder of the car contact your organization the next day and express their desire to have the car in a different color, additional features added, and delivered many states away.  The luxury trip that includes airfare and a stay in a major European city suddenly consumes days of staff time as they work desperately to book the hotel and flights during the height of tourist season when the winning bidder decides travel during the blackout dates.  Are you going to say ‘no’ to the donor who contributed ten thousand dollars?

A couple questions I have found helpful when evaluating an auction lot that may appeal to a limited market.

  • What is the purpose of the auction?
  • Will the lot help achieve the auction’s purpose?
  • Will the auction item generate buzz or a marketing message that will draw significant attention?  Tickets to the last taping of Oprah’s talk show might make your cause the talk of the state.
  • What does the sponsor/contributor of the auction lot need in return?  Marketing, seats to the auction, personal recognition, a chance to speak at the auction, future business transactions, a guaranteed reserve.
  • Is there a reserve (or cost) to the item?  What will the organization net from the lot?  Is the lot worth having the winning bidder contribute a significant sum for the return on investment (i.e. cause pays $40,000 for a vehicle, winning bid is $55,000, net of $15,000 to the organization)?  Is there a more effective way to raise the same amount of money?
  • If the winning bidder of the unique lot does not participate in bidding on other lots and skips contributing to the fund-a-need, does the organization meet its revenue goal?
  • Are there at least two individuals committed to bidding aggressively on a the lot?  One person can tell you that they are willing to bid to a specific ceiling but without competition they are not going to bid against themselves.
  • Does the organization maintain the resources to manage or leverage the requests for exchanges or refunds?  Do you have the appropriate restrictions listed in the auction catalog and a person of standing who can enforce the fine print?

I had the fortune of being involved with a leading charitable auction that was generously supported by a leading luxury car manufacture.  Each year we would announce that the car you see outside the auction tent is the car you get (insert Robin William’s speech about the three wishes as the Genie in Aladdin, “no exception”).  Within seventy-two hours of the auction each year we would receive a call from the winning bidder asking for assistance in trading or altering the features of the vehicle they had won.  We were in the car business with no automobile showroom experience.

May We Borrow Your Name?

I served an organization that printed a customized letterhead listing by name all the board and advisory council members once a year as part of the annual appeal.  As board members we were asked to put a personal note on the letters addressed to friends or acquaintances.  When a contribution were received, we were asked to follow-up with a written thank you note.

What is the impact of seeing individual names on letterhead?  Does it change your giving patterns?  When we see a celebrity that one identifies with is involved in a cause, does that inspire?  Lance Armstrong’s work with the LIVESTRONG Foundation generates national media attention that might otherwise be challenging for the foundation to create on its own merit.  Does your participation on a board provide certainty to your friends and colleagues that effective work is being performed?  Donor recognition walls are a vehicle to publicly recognize the names that make-up our community of supporters.  They celebrate and memorialize the commitments to a campaign and serve as a lasting endorsement of the cause.

Political campaigns are very effective at collecting the names of those who are willing to endorse a candidate.  Having guidance and recommendations makes the process of voting less complicated.  

Where have you seem the names of those who serve used effectively?  When is putting the names of those closest to the organization a powerful motivator.  When do you want your name used to influence the actions of others?

Trying
Try not.  
Do. 
Or do not.  
There is no try.
                                                     – Yoda    
I am not sure that I completely agree Jedi Master Yoda’s sentiment.  Without trying we would not advance into the liminal space that connects our dreams to reality, however I concur that we are often perceived based on doing or not doing.  Our communities judge our causes based on action.  Few resumes that highlight how hard we have tried successfully land a dream job placement.  Rare is the annual report which successfully reflects on a year of trying as the headline.  We celebrate that which we have achieved and can touch, we acknowledge those ideals not fully formed.  
I watched David Russell’s The Fighter recently.  Without trying there would be less to despair or celebrate at the end of the film.  The connection to the characters in the film are deeper because the audiences witnesses each individual’s battle, both literal and figurative.  Trying is noble and builds a following of dedicated fans but ultimately we must achieve victory or defeat, acknowledge momentum gained or lost, and demonstrate change.
Like steel work on a skyscraper there is a subtle balance between that which is fixed in place (do or do not) and that which is suspended by wire waiting to be attached (trying).  Our progress is measured by the iron that has been secured to the main skeleton.  But we cannot overlook that we marvel at the process.  Each beams hoisted and tethered in the sky despite the odds steel in this form is a highly unlikely candidate for flight.
If we communicate that which we do or do not we provide a sense of certainty, a monument for celebration or memorial for reflection.  It is the narratives behind these tangible structures where the stories take on dimension.  It provides us as individuals with an entry-point for alignment and wonderment.  We can resonate and empathize with the notion of trying even if the ultimate accomplishment outstretches our individual talents.
 Do It! Let's Get Off Our Buts