A friend shared this very powerful video with me and I wanted to share it with you. 
It’s a great example of the power of words.

“Vision Is Seeing the Invisible.” — Jonathan Swift

Thanks!

Sandy

Seems like lots of nonprofits are talking about social media these days, but not many are doing it well.  If you are thinking about uing Facebook or Twitter or email campaigns or any other tools, here are some tips for success.

• Know your purpose.  Be very clear about what you want to achieve by using social media.  Too many nonprofits jump into it without clear goals then get frustrated when they don’t raise boatloads of money.  It’s not a “build it and they will come” situation.
• Be warm and friendly in your communications.  Social media is about building relationships and the key to good ones is communication.
• Communicate from one person on staff, not from the organization itself.  We know that there’s a real person actually writing the blog posts or the tweets, so let us see who they are.
• Share interesting stuff.  Leave the boring junk out. 
• Share photos and video.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?

I’m a big believer in finding a good example to go by and I have a good one to share with you. One nonprofit organization that I think is doing a great job of communicating with social media is the Asheville Humane Society.  Now, it’s a given that kittens and puppies are cute and guaranteed to be interesting.  But the folks there do a great job of sharing photos of adoptable animals, animals being adopted, and updates on animals that have passed through their care.  They always have something interesting going on and I just love the photos they share.  Check them out on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Asheville-Humane-Society/48648647067.

I’d love to hear if you have other examples of nonprofits doing socal media or other online communications well.  Leave a comment and share your favorites.

Work rhythms are common. We all fall into ways of doing things that serve us in some way. We host the same special event each year or we submit the same grant application each year. It works for a while, but then attendance starts to drop off or our grant is no longer funded. But it’s a good idea to evaluate your work habits periodically to make sure they still work.

I was talking with a client yesterday and she was telling me about someone in her organization who has become a problem child. Every time others talk about changing things or trying something new, this woman says “that’s not the way we do it.” She’s not willing to hear a new idea. She’s so stuck in the old ways of doing things that she’s starting to impede the progress of the organization. In fact, she clings so tightly to the old ways, that she’s gotten quite negative with others and has lost sight of the mission of the organization. Others are now avoiding interaction with her because of her negativity. It’s become “me vs. them” and she’s determined to win.

I can remember working with a couple of people just like this. In one case, I came back from a conference with new ideas ready to implement, and she did her best to discredit me and squash my enthusiasm. I never could understand why she was so negative, unless she was terrified of change. Either that or she wanted to be the “Star of the Show” and I was stealing her limelight. Either way it was holding the nonprofit back from doing bigger and better things.

So, back to my original question. What happens when you do what you’ve always done? You get what you always got.

If you aren’t happy with the fundraising results (or any results for that matter) you’re getting, then you MUST change what you’re doing. Simple as that.

You have to find a way to get these negative folks on board with moving forward, or they need to be let go. I know that’s harsh, but it’s true. You have way too much important work to do in the world to be held back by someone who has their own agenda.

Have you had experience working with negative people in your nonprofit who were reluctant to change? I’d love to hear your story. Click on the comment link and share.

Missy is one of four cats that live here with us. We adopted her from a local shelter about 10 years ago and she’s a sweetie. She’s the oldest and the smallest of the pack and to help her keep weight on, we feed her canned cat food every afternoon about 4 pm.  She LOVES her “tuna” as we call it and eats every last bite.

Lately, I’ve been watching her and thinking that Missy might have something to teach us about fundraising.

She knows what her goal is. Missy knows what she wants and every afternoon, she waits in her usual spot for her dinner.

She’s hopeful. When anyone walks to the kitchen at any time in the afternoon, Missy goes too, just to see if she might get fed early.

She builds relationship. She gives out lots of love during the day to those who feed her.

She expresses appreciation. She purrs and gives out love to those who help her reach her goal.

This is all good, but sometimes she’s a pest.  In fact, we’ve started calling her “Pesty Cat” because she ALWAYS wants to be fed.  This is a danger for many nonprofit fundraising folks – always showing up with their hand out for money.

If that’s how you approach fundraising, your donors will likely get tired of it.  Make sure that you ask often enough for a gift, but not too often.  It’s a fine line to walk, but one your donors will appreciate if you can get it right. If you want to take it a step further, ask your donors how often and when they’d like to be asked for a gift.  It puts your donor in charge of the relationship and they’ll be much happier.  You’ll likely see your results go up and your expenses go down.  Wondering how to do that?  Survey your donors and simply ask them what they want.

Gotta go – Missy is ready for her dinner!

Congrats to Vic Mende and Lions Volunteer Blind Industries for being one of the winners in the 2010 Nonprofit Tagline Awards!  Vic is a former client of mine and has taken his organization far in fundraising and public relations.  LVBI won in the Employment & Workforce Development: Volunteer Blind Industries—Our Vision Does Not Require Sight

Strong nonprofit taglines provide significant impact at little cost, but few nonprofits are benefitting. A Getting Attention survey found that 7 in 10 organizations rate their taglines as poor or don’t have one at all. That’s the gap Schwartz is aiming to help close with the Awards program.

2010’s 17 winners were selected from 70 were drawn from 2,700 nonprofit taglines entered in the 2010 competition. More than 6,100 nonprofit professionals cast votes in the final selection round! Winning taglines are highlighted in this brief video.

Congrats again to Vic and LVBI!

I interviewed Kivi Leroux Miller today about her new book “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide.”  There were several nuggets of wisdom that popped out of our conversation, and I thought I’d share them with you.

Tell stories.  Learn how to tell a story about a person your organization has helped.  A good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.  The story should be about the person, not about your organization.

Lose the jargon.  Keep all your communications simple and easy to understand.  Your donors don’t know your industry slang and acronyms.

There’s no such thing as the general public when it comes to marketing.  The general public includes everyone.  But you don’t need to reach everyone.  You only need to reach those people who are likely to support you. You must identify the specific groups of supporters who are out there, and craft your message to them.

Be clear about your message.  Don’t try to cram too much into it.  And include a call to action.

When deciding how best to reach your audience, first consider their preferences.  If most of them are hanging out online, then you might be able to completely ditch your print newsletter.  If not, then don’t try to force them online, because it won’t work.

I encourage you to get a copy of “The Nonprofit Marketing Guide.”  It’s easy to read (my copy is already marked up, tagged, and dog-eared!) and is full of practical ideas you can implement right away.  Get yours at Amazon.