Connection Café

I want to be like J-Hud

Fri, 25 May 2012 14:27:22 -0500

Author: Guest Blogger

You’re probably wondering why I’m referencing Jennifer Hudson (J-Hud) in a post about inspiring and motivating event participants, so let me explain. I had an epiphany the other day. Fundraising is like weight loss. We all want it and we want it immediately. But, just like weight loss, achieving fundraising success requires planning and hard work. Even though there are lots of short cuts on the market, to help you lose weight fast, they never seem to live up to their promises.

So, what does this have to do with event participants? The weight loss industry does a great job motivating and inspiring individuals to buy their products. We spend more than $58 billion dollars a year on weight loss products and services. I have to admit that I contributed to that total.

For the last few years Jennifer Hudson has been WeightWatchers' spokesperson. The team has created several inspiring commercials, but I think they got it right with the first one. The campaign was built around a simple and powerful statement: I Can. The commercial features J-Hud saying “before WeightWatchers my world was can’t…, but on WeightWatchers I can”. This is an awesome message. My life was I can’t, but now I’m empowered and my life is I can. This is exactly what we need to do for event participants.

In the nonprofit events world, we’re great at sharing mission information or providing fundraising tips like how to raise $500 in a week. Let’s add another tactic into the mix and take a cue from our weight loss friends. In your next email or newsletter, include a story about an individual’s or teams’ fundraising success. Motivate your participants by sharing stories about what their peers are doing. Turn them from I can’t to I can. Plus, this is a great way to recognize your participants. They’ll be excited to be featured in your email and you might motivate them to do more.

How are you motivating your participants? Are you currently sharing peer success stories?

If you’re interested check out the commercial. It’s a great message.

Amy Braiterman, principal strategy consultant at Blackbaud, supports customers with their P2P fundraising programs with a process she refers to as “data-driven strategy.” Amy’s data driven strategy analyzes how effective event participants are using online fundraising tools and takes those results to develop an event fundraising plan.

Check out Amy’s Blog: www.FriendsAskingAmy.com

Innovate. Advocate. Engage.

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:05:46 -0500

Author: Blair Naylor

Hot off the press! Convio's new quarterly magazine has hit the virtual stands! NP Engage is our new publication slated to release each quarter featuring nonprofit trends, highlights of our latest and greatest thought leadership pieces, popular blog articles and more! The first edition covers the importance of constituent engagement and nurturing your relationship with your supporters.

Our second edition will have a new look to go with our new Blackbaud colors! So stay tuned for the NP Engage volume 2 in Mid-July!

Check out the first edition of NP Engage now!

The Imperfect Storm

Wed, 23 May 2012 13:21:53 -0500

Author: Guest Blogger

This post was written by Marc Chardon and Hal Williams. It was orginally featured on The Huffington Post, May 18, 2012.

The storm, for nonprofit organizations, is fully brewed. The demand for services is up; contributions have barely regained their pre-recession levels; government funding is way off; and expenses are rising. We are tempted to call this a perfect storm.

This turmoil, however, is actually imperfect. Although it's tempting to blame the economic downturn for all that ails nonprofits and charitable giving, the reality is that the current uncertainty is the new normal.

There are five key shifts affecting the environment for nonprofits that have co-mingled with the economy to create the potential for continued rough times if organizations don't change:

Donors are dramatically changing what they want from philanthropy. The fundraising appeals that used to bring in record donations no longer work, even in a stronger economy. Smart nonprofits want the check writer, not just the check.

Contributors increasingly shift from funding programs to investing in results. They are less interested in how many are served, than in how many are improved. Soon, information on nonprofit effectiveness will trump information on efficiency and even sustainability.

Many donors have moved from a desire to support multiple groups working on a single issue to investing more in the specific organization that produces the strongest result. Blending in for nonprofits is now less useful than standing out.

Donors want to see data, not just hear a few stories. Donors want to see data showing impact beyond the few stories that can be told. They will use the same business sense that they used to make their money in deciding how to give it away.

Execution of programs no longer defines the results. The shift is from the program to the participants and how these individuals make progress toward improving their lives and conditions. A great predictor of success lays in the extent to which a person engages in his or her own achievement.

Nonprofits cannot ride out this storm. They have to find a way to succeed within it. Put differently, we are not interested in how groups manage in tough times. Too often, that is about staying afloat. We are focused, instead, on how these groups thrive in a new reality, which is defined as both having a destination and reaching it.

So we begin the conversation, and we hope you'll join in. In the posts that follow, we'll dive deeper into our take on how to navigate the imperfect storm, organizing our thoughts as a response to the five shifts noted above. In all cases, our responses share one premise: that loosening up is better than hunkering down.

Marc Chardon is CEO of Blackbaud, Inc., a global software and services provider for nonprofits.

Hal Williams is the former CEO of The Rensselaerville Institute and currently an Outcome Guide who has helped foundations and nonprofits both large and small use an outcome-based approach.

Keep your eyes on the KPIs

Wed, 23 May 2012 06:17:15 -0500

Author: Alissa Ruehl

Last month I pointed out a few of the ways you can use Google analytics, or other web analytics tools, to gain a better understanding of your audience. The next step is to keep track of changes to audience and audience behavior. Your audience can change over time, or change behaviors as they adapt to new technology. Adjustments to your website can affect your visitor behavior as well.

One great way to keep track of these elements without getting bogged down in all of the data in a web analytics tool is to set goals around online Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These are simply measurable data points that give insight into your online success. Some common examples are:

Number of visitors
Visit frequency
Time spent on site
Page views per visitor
Percent of new visits and percent of repeat visits
Percent of visits from your target geography
Mailing list signups
Event registrations
Donations

Sometimes you will want to make your KPIs more granular. Rather than simply “donations” you might choose to track general donations and donations to a special fun separately, giving you 2 different donation KPIs.

You will always want to focus on more than KPI, because one data point will never tell you the whole picture. However, too many will just be overwhelming. Typically, you’ll want to get started with 4-6 KPIs.

For each data point you will want to ask yourself “How does this affect my organization’s success?” If there is a clear connection, for example “an increase in visitors means more people are reading about this issue we want to generate awareness around”, then you have found a good metric. Sometimes you might find your answer references another data point, like “more visitors means more people will sign up for our event.” In that case you should skip straight to the important metric and use event signups as a KPI instead.

Finally, create a process to track your KPIs, starting with your initial benchmark and then focusing on any movements up and down over time. Monthly reporting is sufficient for most organizations, although some prefer weekly. Another alternative is to track before and after snapshots when any major events happen, such as changes to the website, an acquisition campaign, or a direct mail drop intended to drive traffic to the website.

Industry benchmarks around your KPIs can be helpful for understanding what you need to improve, but the best insight comes from looking at the changes over time of your own KPIs, both in the short term and over quarters and years.

5 Election Planning Tips

Tue, 22 May 2012 06:16:58 -0500

Author: Amber Wobschall

Unless you've been on a long term digital detox, you have likely noticed it's an election year. Although we are more than 6 months away from the general election, many campaigns are in full swing. Below are a few tips for your electoral organizing efforts.

1. Get some counseling. While you made need some therapy after the elections, you’ll definitely want legal counsel before you start. First, last and many times in between, check with your legal counsel about what is and is not permissible for your organization when it comes to the elections. There are also a lot of great resources to get you started from the Bolder Advocacy Initiative of the Alliance for Justice. Check out their resources to help you navigate the rules of electoral activity here.

2. Consider your impact. Yes, 2012 is a presidential election year. And yes, the media will be blanketed in coverage of the race. But there will also be initiatives, referendums, school boards members, state legislators, and more on the ballot. These will also have lasting impact and receive state and local media and blog coverage. Consider where and how your organization might have an impact or be a key player.

3. Make it mobile and social. Do you have a resource that might help your constituents on election day? Whether it is a polling site locator, candidate guide or any other type of resource that is good to reference on election day, do your best to make it mobile friendly. People will be waiting in line at the polls, checking facebook or twitter on the bus or train and you want your information to be quick and easy to read.

4. Make the most of your resources. Making a voter guide? Send it in the mail, highlight it multiple times in e-mail (if you have capacity, customize your content based on districts), add it to your volunteer orientation kit, tweet a tidbit and link to the full guide, bring it to your major donor meetings, have it with you when you table, schedule time for volunteers to hand it out at a public event.

5. Check the mail. Vote by mail is required in WA and OR. Be sure to adjust your communication calendar in these states to reflect the ballot in hands date and deadline for return. In addition, many states offer the option to vote absentee with no excuse and mail in options continue to grow, especially in CA, CO and HI. Keep these folks in mind while drafting your GOTV plans as well.

Prepared for Change

Mon, 21 May 2012 10:13:37 -0500

Author: Danielle Johnson-Vermenton

As we join the Blackbaud team, many things are staying constant. For example, our continued commitment to our clients. However other things are naturally changing and will continue to evolve as we form our new team. These last few weeks I’ve taken time to pause and reflect. How am I prepared for change? Can I be nimble and adjust?

When thinking about your organization are you prepared for the unexpected? Do you have a change management plan? Too often development and marketing professionals are focused on getting the gift, pitching the story, making a call, but we need to step back and assess our readiness for change.

Are staff cross trained? Is the Online Philanthropy Manager the only one who knows how to create and send an email? How are statistics being pulled for Foundation reports?
Are policies and procedures written down? Who knows the coding structure in your donor database? What is the procedure for acknowledgement letters?
Is the annual plan written down? Is there a chart that outlines drop dates for print publications? Launch dates for online campaigns?
How is donor stewardship handled? Is there a matrix that lists giving levels and activities?
What is the communication plan for a major change in leadership? If the Vice President of Development leaves, how will that be communicated? What donors will need to be contacted immediately?

So many questions, but if you spend time now outlining the plans, procedures and details you will be prepared and save time when change does happen. And saving time on details like this will ultimately save money, create stability and enable you to concentrate on the mission.

Communication Plans for P2P Events

Fri, 18 May 2012 06:00:54 -0500

Author: Robyn Mendez

When I joined Convio after 5 years as an event fundraiser, I was first introduced to the Communication Calendar while working with the Event360 and Komen 3-Day Events. It was amazing… and I wished that I’d known about this tool while I was still managing all the communications for my special events!

What’s a Communication Plan?

A Communication Plan is a document containing of all the communications organized by communication channel that your organization (or your fundraising event) is planning to send out during a specified timeframe. This document often lives in a spreadsheet and should be used as guide that is edited or updated as you approach specific milestones. My recommendation (especially for special event communication planning) is that you include all your communication channels in your plan including Print Communications like Save the Date cards or team captain packets, traditional media channels like print advertising or press releases, online channels like email or website and also Social Media channels like Facebook or Twitter.

Check out two sample communication plans in our recently published Social Media Kick Start Guide for P2P Events.

4 Reasons Why Communication Planning is AWESOME

Right Message / Right Time - It ensures that you are communicating and reinforcing the most important messages at the most important times. Avoid the “How’s the weather?” Facebook post the week of your event and talk about things that are more important to your event’s overall success.
Reinforce Important Points - It helps you identify areas where you could repurpose content across different communication channels. Marketers often say that a person needs to hear something 7 times before they act on that information. Repurposing content across different channels helps you reinforce the messages, providing message consistency and improving the chances your calls to action will be acted upon.
Work Smarter - It helps you identify opportunities where you could draft communications early. Things get more hectic as Event Day approaches; these busy times are often when the most important communications should be going out to your participants. Do yourself a favor by drafting as many of these communications in advance as possible. You can always make quick last minute tweaks prior to sending. This is especially true for website updates, emails and blog posts. Social media management tools, like Hootsuite or TweetDeck, can help you schedule those updates in advance.
What’s Going To Work? TEAM WORK! Recruit volunteers or committee members to help out. Having a clearly documented plan helps you better communicate your expectations and allows you to delegate responsibilities to the trustworthy staff or volunteers within your organization. Be conscious however of how many individuals are involved. It doesn’t take long before you have too many cooks in the kitchen.

The Power of Thank You Letters

Thu, 17 May 2012 06:40:38 -0500

Author: Jonathan Weldon

There have been a number of posts recently about the power and importance of donor thank you letters. Some have come from my incredible colleagues here on the Connection Cafe, especially Rachel Muir's "7 Ways to Say Thanks" and Cheryl Black's "Girl Scout Cookies" posts, and I have to mention yet another great article by the Agitator team reminding imploring people to test, test, test even when it comes to the thank you, but when I received this thank you update email from Charity Water, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

While I received an email thanking me at that time, their purpose was a simple update on a gift I made about 6 months prior to their Water Forward campaign. In case you're wondering, Charity Water "invested (my) money with local partners, Relief Society of Tigray (REST) and Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Ethiopia and Pump Aid in Malawi, to build and rehabilitate freshwater wells and spring protections for people in need." To top it off, they let me know that once the projects are complete, they'll send a project report similar to this one informing me on the final outcome.

Color me impressed.

It reminded me of an experience I had when I was a high-schooler raising money for a community service trip to Ecuador with Amigos de las Americas. I was responsible for raising the vast majority of the total cost of the projects, so I took to letter writing, car washing, lawn mowing, baby sitting, just about whatever I could (legally) do to raise money as a 15-16 year old kid. When it was all said and done, I had a ton of thank you letters to write. I took to the seemingly overwhelming task, and if I remember correctly, finished just before the trip started.

Once home, my parents suggested that I write yet another thank you letter to update the supporters about all the latrines that were built, the toothbrushes that were distributed and all of the other accomplishments that their donation made possible. I responded as any typical teenager would by saying I didn't have enough time and did everything I could to avoid it. After a few weeks (months?) passed, my mom responded by giving me the most memorable birthday gift of my life: a box of monogrammed stationary. It made the point and I turned around those thank you letters as quickly as possible.

So I'd be remiss if I didn't take this opportunity to thank Charity Water for doing such a great job with their donor stewardship program and showing all of us how it's done. Rather than a box of monogrammed stationery, another donation is likely to materialize in their future.

5 Easy ways to end up in a budget hole

Wed, 16 May 2012 06:35:23 -0500

Author: Miriam Kagan

Budgets. The mere mention of them can cause entire departments to suddenly come down with the flu. It can sometimes feel like we are on one endless budget cycle—one that starts 6 months in advance (hey, we need a draft lots of folks can provide input on), goes through 900,000 revisions and scenarios, and then at some point, leads into potentially monthly reforecasts when cash flow doesn't line up to within 3% of initial forecast... No wonder everyone gets so sick!

Many of us may be in budget season as we speak. It's now almost the exception to the rule that someone actually lives on a calendar year. Trying to keep track of clients’ fiscal years can be a fun mental exercise for some of us consultants to stay alert…

But I digress. The thing about budgets is that as they keep getting more complicated—integrated programs, cross-department planning, multiple vendors, hundreds of affiliates with revenue share to be accounted for, and all sorts of big unknowns like “the economy”, can make for one complicated spreadsheet (with multiple tabs mind you). And that's just version 1, scenario 1, baseline growth rate, pilot affiliate roll up.

As we swim in the complexities, I thought it might be useful to point to some of the less complicated details that can be easy to overlook, but, when not accounted for, can make a pretty big impact to the bottom line, especially the expense side of things, that, frankly, no one wants to have to explain to the Board. If you're going to have to build a 97 page deck, you don't want it to be because:

You guestimated your expected performance next year. Sure, sometimes a guestimate is all you have to work with, like when starting up a brand new program from scratch, but, that should never be your go to if you have a program with past performance indicators and are able to understand your file composition. Know your file, forecast its performance, and understand its dynamics.
This is what can provide you a realistic expectation of future performance. Ok, so maybe this first point is not a small detail, but rather key to a good budget.
You are planning to do testing in direct mail and didn't account for the cost. Considering throwing in a calendar with that label package you mail? Even if you only mail that to a 50,000 test panel, at the added cost of say $.50 a calendar in a test quantity, and then bigger envelopes, etc, etc, art, etc etc, did you budget that extra $25K you are going to need? The test may be totally worth it, and you could even come out with more cash in hand, but if you didn't plan for it, you're going to have to find that testing money somewhere….Also:

Evaluate and plan for an overall increase in the cost of paper, etc, as necessary. The years of cut throat production prices just to stay in business seem to behind us.
Speaking of which, if you've got a DM winner from last year you plan to roll out with but it's a more expensive package, don't forget to budget in that extra few pennies per piece

Postage expenses: so, most of us don't live on a calendar year, but postal costs do tend to go up annually…. Even if we stop cowering from the constant threat of an exigent rate case, if you've mailed anything out first class out or first class back you can mostly count on that being more expensive come January 1st. Take a look at your budget—anything going in the mail in the new year with a nice first class stamp on it? Plan for that. A million pieces at an extra $.01/per piece is an extra $10K that has to come from somewhere.
It's not just direct mail. Planning to send out more email? Expand your site? Do something integrate mobile? That's great! Even better if you have the in-house talent to do so, so you're not expecting to have to pay someone. But, have you checked if you are nearing your usage limits? Or the number of pages you get? Are you going to have to buy up? Probably a good thing to budget for before it turns out you can't host that special content area, or email out whatever campaign. And that cool Twitter campaign, possibly using some processor who might charge a higher % than you're used to? Don't forget to discount that from the revenue.
Freemiums: man, are those things expensive in test quantities. Think about your testing themes for the year ahead of time. Planning something big offline? Always consider where you could combine and test online, TM, etc. And not in a “hey, we have a bunch of X leftover lying around, why don't we throw it in over here and see if it works” kind of way (well ok, sometimes we all do that), but wouldn't it be great to say “hey, I could never afford to test this as part of my online sustainer acquisition budget, but since offline is ordering 10,000 of these, the vendor is willing to throw in 200 for online for free!”

Side note: fulfillment costs for freemiums. The expense that if unplanned for, can be the bane of an otherwise successful campaign.

Bonus tip: Always have a slush fund.Stuff happens. Opportunities come along. Or, gaps appear. Someone leaves. A crisis happens. A slush fund may be the difference in the content for that 97 page deck for the Board….

Social Community Impacts Volunteerism

Tue, 15 May 2012 06:30:08 -0500

Author: Guest Blogger

What’s the sure fire way to make certain your constituents continue to volunteer for your cause – ensure they are emotionally invested to the organization. Allowing your volunteers to be able to find other volunteers through your online directory, post messages about their upcoming events, blog about their experiences, and share pictures within your community site, empowers them to be more committed to the cause and yields higher fundraising for your foundation!

Establishing a Discussion Group - When your volunteers can post and reply to messages to events they have an interest in, it facilitates a type of community in which volunteers feel more connected with their peers and committed to the cause. Through Discussion Groups they can coordinate logistics, share creative ideas, discuss marketing and communication strategies to increase attendance and involvement, share their stories, and receive feedback from their peers leading up to, and after the event. Higher engagement of volunteers yields a more significant commitment to the cause and subsequently higher fundraising dollars for the organization.
Creating a Blog within your Community - Why send the traffic back to Word Press and Blogger? You want your volunteers to be able to share their stories of volunteering at a homeless shelter, building homes for their neighbors, and running marathons for great causes within your community. Bring the traffic back to your private online community site that is branded for your organization. This also enhances SEO by allowing new members to search for keywords and having your volunteer’s blogs appear in the search results within your community site. The easier it is for volunteers to be able to share their experiences from the events or their personal story with the organizations, the more likely they are to be engaged and invested in the organizations. Higher emotional investment indubitably yields higher contributions.
Enhanced Volunteer Directory - Volunteers want to network with those whom they will be working with. They want to see their profile pictures, learn more about their bio, job history, volunteer history, and see if went to the same Alma Mater. What better way to do that than to have them search for other volunteers in the communities and events they are involved with, add them as a friend and send them direct messages in advance of the event? This pre-event relationship building, instantly builds stronger connections for the volunteer members and helps foster the sense of community which the organization is trying to instill.
Sharing within a Resource Library - Your Volunteer Champions can upload pertinent documents within the community for the volunteering events which can be easily referenced at any time from the volunteers smartphones and community site. This also builds a knowledge repository and archives of the agenda, project management, logistical, and budgetary plans. The easier it is for volunteers to be able to see the relevant documents pertaining to the events, the more likely they are to be engaged and invested to the organizations.

Angelika Lipkin is the Manager of Strategic Partnerships for Higher Logic, a social media and mobile software company for associations and nonprofits. Angelika specializes in fostering relationship development, developing social media engagement strategies, and consulting organizations on launching private social networks.