Marketing for Nonprofits

Flying

2013-06-14T03:52:00.001-04:00

I'm terrified of flying.

Anyone who knows me well, knows this about me.

It's embarrassing.

For the day and hour and minutes leading up to launch, I dissemble.

I have diarrhea. My palms sweat. My breath goes bad.

My heart races. I yawn and yawn. For all intents and purposes, I feel like I'm falling apart.

I literally forget all that I know about being safe.

I can't reach out. I can't connect. I can't remember who I am.

I go inside this very small, dark place where I wait and breathe and hold my belly to make sure that I AM still.

Leadership is like this sometimes .

It is painful and scary and vulnerable-making.

As Pema Chodron says, "It brings you to your edge."

It makes you weep. It makes you lonely. It makes you FEEL your smallest self. It can also makes you soar.

Here's the deep irony.

I work for a global organization.

Literally and metaphorical my job demands flight.

I have to be in two places at once.

I have to imagine and experience the world across borders.

I have to take off and touch down in foreign places.

Uncomfortable.

This is a post about the POWER of being uncomfortable. About living life on the edge. Of taking risk. Of dissembling. Of touching the dark places.

If you lead well, if you care deeply about any project, person, or place, you will experience terror.

You will find your edges and in the darkness you will not meet rainbows and fairies.

And yet there is POWER in experiencing your most fragile, fearful self. In noticing and honoring just how weak you can be.

From this experience, you can die a little.

You can find the truth of your own humanity. You can connect with all of the other sentient beings out there who suffer just like you. And you can enter into a deeper, kinder relationship with yourself and others.

Come fly with me. Come lead with me. Come find out who you really are.

Lose the Lipstick: Your Brand is More Than a Cosmetic

2013-06-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

I have the privilege of speaking again this year to the fabulous fundraisers at Women in Development of Northeastern NY.

Our topic? Branding.

Branding causes undo confusion in the nonprofit sector.

My experience is that when you start talking about branding people assume that you've wandered off into the wilderness of marketing, technology, and design.

Worse. They assume the conversation is beyond them.

"We know our website is out of date but we just don't have thousands of dollars to fix it."
"We'd like to create more video and use more pictures to describe our work but communicating is not our strong suit."
"We know our logo stinks but what can you do?"

These are the conversations that ensue and unfortunately, they miss the point because they focus solely on brand IDENTITY.

While presentation IS an important component of branding, the TRUTH is that your brand is NOT and NEVER WAS simply a cosmetic.

As my frolleague (friend and colleague) Larry Checco, author of Branding for Success and Aha! Moments in Brand Management says,

"Your brand is no less than your organization’s DNA, not a cosmetic you apply to your organization to make it look pretty. It’s a true reflection of who you are and what you do. You can spend millions of dollars on marketing, and say anything you like about yourself. But if you don’t live up to your ‘brand’ in everything you say and do, then all you have is sizzle and no steak, and it won't take long for your target audiences to see the smoke and realize there's no meat.”

In other words, your brand is your organization's REPUTATION.

It's what people say about you and your organization behind closed doors.

You may have a slick website but are you making a real impact in the world?

You may throw beautiful events but do you treat your employees, patrons, and volunteers well?

This is what people want to know and remember!

When we have conversations about branding for nonprofits, these are the questions that we have to answer BEFORE we change our fonts!

Great nonprofits think carefully (and spend money) to COMMUNICATE their impact and value. But they also view branding as an exercise that starts from the inside out and involves soul searching.

Want to develop a great brand that garners more resources, relationships, and "real estate?"

Answer these questions first!

What does our organization do better than anyone else?
What is our impact in the world?
Why should anyone else care?

Then add the lipstick.

Jocelyn

To Video or Not to Video?

2013-06-04T10:47:00.002-04:00

Video, video, video! We love it. We can't get enough of it. Most important, we know that video can be a powerful tool for MOVING our stakeholders to ACTION for our causes.

Then why don't nonprofits use video more and make it the centerpiece of our marketing communications strategies?

Thanks to the kind folks at See3, YouTube, and Edelman, you can find the answer to this question and more in Into Focus: The First-Ever Benchmark Report and Guide for Nonprofit Video. It's FREE!

Here are the key takeaways:

Nonprofits believe that video is important, and getting more important every day.
Organizations want to make more video, but aren't allocating the funds to do so.
It's hard to measure the ROI of video and that may be one reason that we don't use it more.
We have to change our cultures to embrace the importance of video. In the same way that we had to be convinced to adopt online tools (like websites!) for marketing communications, we now need the buy-in to adopt video.

My addition: We need to know what we want our videos to DO! See the great, graphic above from the report. I hope you'll check it out!

Want some inspiration?

Watch the video below we did to thank our donors at The Global Fund for Children and share your best videos in the comments!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

You Can't Efficiency Your Way to Greatness and Other Stuff I Learned This Week From Some Killer Fundraisers

2013-05-11T10:56:00.001-04:00

I had the privilege of spending Thursday with my fundraising and marketing peeps at Engage 2013: A Case Study Conference in Philly. (Thanks, Margaret!)

It is always inspiring and validating to be with other practitioners in the field who are facing similar obstacles to fundraising growth. And I was thrilled to meet (if briefly) Roger Craver!

OK, enough of the crowing...

I was particularly impressed with the case study by the fantastic folks at Human Rights Campaign (HRC). Regardless of your politics, HRC is undeniably a fundraising and marketing powerhouse. According to their 2012 annual report. They grew annual income by 57% in 10 years - from $29M in 2000 to $46M in 2012. (See below.) As ALL fundraisers know, this is no small feat.

Here's how:

1) They are fundraising for a movement not organization. - While listening to the HRC fundraisers, it is clear that they are truly invested in equality for all people, i.e. they are deeply invested in a CAUSE and this is what drives their work. They don't talk about raising money for programming or operations (typical npo speak); they talk about raising money to fund a MOVEMENT. This is not a semantic dispute. My take is that when you are truly passionate about moving a CAUSE vs. funding an ORGANIZATION, you work harder, engage in tough debate, and take more risks because you have real change at stake. You also have a much more passion when engaging donors.

2) They ignore fundraising ratios - There is LOTS of conversation these days and an awesome TED talk (Thanks, Dan Pallotta!) on the problem of using overhead ratios as the key (or only) metric for organizational success. Like all nonprofits, HRC struggled with the question of how to grow their fundraising machine and impact while keeping administrative costs low. Their answer: "Ignore the white noise of charity watchdogs." Instead, focus on YOUR movement building goals and staff and spend to that. In a BOLD move, their board approved a $1M spend of reserves to grow their fundraising capacity. This enabled the organization to acquire lots of new advocates and donors and get ready for success.

3) They treat their employees and vendors well. - It's well known that turnover in fundraising is DISMAL. According to Campbell and Company, the average tenure of a Chief Development Officer (CDO) is 18 months. YIKES! It's obvious that this is BAD for business. First, you can't win a movement in 18 months. Second, turnover in key relationship-building positions means that donors inevitably get lost in the mix. HRC has focused on bucking this trend by doing STAY interviews. They figure out what motivates employees and execute against that. They also treat their vendors as employees (two of the vendors on the panel were former employees of the organization) by inviting them to regular summits to discuss movement strategy, goals and challenges and to brainstorm and course correct.

Every nonprofits WANTS to grow its impact and influence and change the world but few are willing to do the heavy lifting and take out-of-the-box ACTION to make it happen. Many of us go small and stay on the hamster wheel hoping that doing more of the same will create change. News flash: It won't.

My favorite quote of the day: "You can't efficiency your way to greatness."

As the HRC case study shows, you also can't create big change without thinking big and taking bold action.

Thanks to HRC for providing an excellent example of what IS possible if we lead better, follow our instincts and do something different!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

Be a Heretic. Choose a Cause You Love. Lead.

2013-03-02T11:44:00.002-05:00

Here is another inspiring TED talk for you.

I LOVE Seth Godin's humor and his call to DO SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD.

I am trying to do this at The Global Fund for Children because I truly believe that ALL children deserve the right to be safe, healthy, happy, and productive, regardless of where they are born. Don't you?

According to Godin, there are 4 things you need to do if you truly want to do make a difference in this life.

Find something worth changing aka challenge the status quo.
Find others who care as deeply about the issue/idea as you do (aka true believers) and CARE about them.
Make it EASY for others to propagate the idea.
Commit to your cause and commit to your tribe.

Now, GO FORTH and LEAD!

Jocelyn

Watch This Video if You Want to Be Happier and Enjoy a Good Laugh!

2013-02-24T18:24:00.001-05:00

I'm so happy to know that there is research-based evidence to suggest that being positive and happy is not only possible but an advantage to living a better life for yourself and others.

I hope you will watch "The Happy Secret to Better Work" by Shaun Achor above, check out the infographic below, and PRACTICE being more positive in life and work.

Enjoy!

Jocelyn

The Happy Secret to Better Work infographic

This is a Sweet Contest. How Do You Share Your Heart?

2013-02-18T12:39:00.000-05:00

The post below is by Jamie Millard and the folks at CaringBridge.org.

Whether it’s a heartfelt note before your first day at a new job or a declaration of love written in the clouds, people express their love and support for one another in big and small ways every day. This February, CaringBridge, the caring social network that keeps families and loved ones connected during any type of health event, invites people to submit those touching acts of compassion during the “Share Your Heart” contest.

Watch the sweet video above and enter the “Share Your Heart” contest.

Visit heart.CaringBridge.org to upload a photo, video or a written description of up to 50 words of how you share your heart with those you love and support.

Any act of caring big or small is welcome. It could be a video hug for a sweetie, a photo of the flowers you gave to the neighbor, plastering someone’s room with cutout hearts or any other way to spread love in the world.

During the contest, visitors to heart.CaringBridge.org can vote on their favorite entry. People can also share their submissions with family and friends inviting them to vote. The entry with the most votes wins two iPad minis—helping the winner stay connected with their loved one online.

Additionally, everyone who shares their heart on heart.CaringBridge.org will be entered in a random drawing to win one of 10 gift certificates from Pear Tree Greetings, an online greeting card company that helps people celebrate life’s sharable moments.

The contest opens February 11. People can submit their acts of love and caring by March 1 and voting will be open through March 6.

Happy caring and sharing!

J

Be a Better Relationship Builder - Learn to ATTUNE

2013-02-17T11:35:00.000-05:00

I came home from work on Friday and walked into a landmine.

The atmosphere in my home was thick with emotional smog.

My daughter and husband both looked at me with what appeared to be mixture of intense frustration and despair.

My first thought was, UGH! REALLY? I don't want to deal with this on a Friday night. I wonder if they noticed me. Maybe I can just slip out the door and come back in an hour. :)

My second thought (because I just finished reading Dan Pink's new book (Yes, I'm in love!)) was how can I best ATTUNE to this situation and these two precious people so that I can PERSUADE them to have a change of heart and we can all enjoy the evening?

So I took a deep breath and said, "Hello. I love you. Can I help?" And it helped!

The fact that I know that I have two choices in this situation and in all conflict ridden and awkward moments is cool! Instead of automatically reacting, I can take a breath, assess the atmosphere when I walk into a room or meeting, attune to the people present, and BE CURIOUS.

ATTUNEMENT is something we can all learn. And it is a POWERFUL skill for those of us who want to build successful relationships with our partners, children, bosses, colleagues, employees, DONORS, neighbors, volunteers - EVERYONE!

According to Pink there are three steps to honing your ability to ATTUNE to others and increase your ability to persuade. See below.

Happy relationship building!

Jocelyn

Step 1: Practice being powerLESS. It may sound counter intuitive, but when you walk into a room full of new folks, assume a level of humility. Be curious and smaller. This will help you to read the context and act accordingly.

"When you have fewer resources...you're going to be more attuned to the context around you. Think of this first principle of attunement as persuasion jujitsu: using an apparent weakness as an actual strength. Start your encounters with the assumption that you're in a position of lower power. The will help you see the other side's perspective more accurately, which in turn, will help you move them."

Step 2: Use your head as much as your heart. When you walk into a meeting be empathic but also use your head, especially if heat is in the air. Ask yourself, what is the dynamic going on here? How does this person/group define success? What do they value about this interaction? Who is in charge? These questions will help you to develop an informed assessment of the situation.

Step 3: Mimic Strategically. When you meet a new donor or stranger, do what they do - not in an overt or obnoxious way - but to show that you are reaching for them and want to understand their point of view. This will help you to demonstrate your willingness to be in synch.

"You have to be able to somehow get in synch with people, to connect with them, whether you're with a grandmother or the recent graduate of an MBA program...This might sound strange but I call it the ability to chameleon."

Bonus - Make the invisible, visible. Notice who is NOT in the room and bring them into the conversation. (See what Amazon does below to ensure that the CUSTOMER is included in every meeting.) Wouldn't it be great if we always left an open chair for our donors? Brilliant.

"Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, has accomplished a great deal in his 48 years. He’s reshaped the retail business. He’s become one of the 30 wealthiest people on the planet. And, with far less fanfare, he’s come up with one of the best attunement practices I’ve encountered.

Amazon, like most organizations, has lots of meetings. But at the important ones, alongside the chairs in which his executives, marketing mavens, and software jockeys take their places, Bezos includes one more chair that remains empty. It’s there to remind those assembled who’s really the most important person in the room: the customer.

The empty chair has become legendary in Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. Seeing it encourages meeting attendees to take the perspective of that invisible but essential person. What’s going through her mind? What are her desires and concerns? What would she think of the ideas we’re putting forward?

Try this in your own world. If you’re crafting a presentation, the empty chair can represent the audience and its interests. If you’re gathering material for a sales call, it can help generate possible objections and questions the other party might raise. If you’re preparing a lesson plan, an empty chair can remind you to see things from your students’ perspective.

Attuning yourself to others – exiting your own perspective and entering theirs – is essential to moving others. One smart, easy, and effective way to get inside people’s heads is to climb into their chairs. You have to be able to step into another person's shoes. You have to see the world from their perspective."

*The quotes above are from To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Dan Pink. You should buy it!

Can You Pitch Like Pixar?

2013-02-16T18:25:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time it was really hard to reach the poorest and most vulnerable children in the developing world.

Every day, donors poured money into big international aid organizations and governments but their money never got to the children who needed it most and children, families, and communities suffered.

Until one day, donors invested in a new model of giving called Grassroots Philanthropy, which involves finding, supporting, and strengthening the best organizations and leaders already on the ground doing the hard work of serving the vulnerable children in their communities.

Because of that, millions of children now have the resources they need to grow, learn, and thrive.

Because of that, donors now have a way to make a MEANINGFUL difference in the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable children

Because of that, donors can ensure that their giving achieves maximum impact and goes where it is needed most.

Until finally, it became clear that Grassroots Philanthropy is the ONLY way to invest your time, talent, and treasure if you REALLY want to change the future of children around the world.

---

I wrote this "Pixar pitch" after reading Dan Pink's newest book - To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.

What do you think?

Does it work?

Does it make you want to invest in my organization The Global Fund for Children?

Until reading, To Sell is Human, I didn't realize that there is a very powerful, persuasive, and predictable way of pitching stories that if done well it can sell millions!

Take a look at Pink's ideas for pitching your organization, cause, or passion and let me know what you think.

Does it make you a better fundraiser?

Jocelyn

Is Fundraising a Fail? New National Study Paints a Pretty Dim Picture of Nonprofit Fundraising

2013-01-27T18:41:00.002-05:00

"‘The most significant regret I have in looking over my 15 years as a leader of two big philanthropies is that while we thought a lot about sustainability at the Open Society Foundations and at the Atlantic Philanthropies, we rarely made grants to strengthen organizations’ fundraising in a way that encouraged innovation and democratization."

- Gara La Marche

CompassPoint and The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund released a national study last week, which presents a pretty dim picture of nonprofit fundraising. Underdeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising, shows an industry in crisis with:

too few qualified fundraising professionals;
long vacancies for Development Directors at many nonprofits;
lack of appropriate fundraising infrastructure; and,
lack of a fundraising culture at many nonprofits.

Yikes!

Fundraising is HARD. This is not news.

What is news is that there are trends across charities that point to real difficulties in nonprofit fundraising as an industry, i.e. this is not an organization-specific problem. (You are not alone!)

What is also news is that there are marked differences between high and low performing nonprofits.

If you are struggling with fundraising at your organization (and who isn't?), there are things you can do to improve outcomes for yourself and your organization. See, in particular, pages 21 - 27 of the report.

Also, check out my thoughts below on what the industry needs to do to ensure that all fundraisers and the organizations and causes WE love have the money and donors WE need to succeed!

1) Show fundraisers some respect. - In the same way that sales is vital to the success of any for-profit enterprise, fundraising is vital to the success of all nonprofits. No money. No programs. It's that simple. However, in many organizations, fundraising is not given it's due both from a compensation and leadership perspective. This is VERY short sighted. In my view, fundraisers should be the highest paid people on staff, especially since they cannot receive commissions for their work - a common practice in for-profit sales. Money isn't everything but if you want A-Talent on your fundraising team, be prepared to pay and let these folks lead.

2) Don't give fundraisers unrealistic goals. - Goals for fundraising are often set by the finance department and this is a BIG problem. Sure, bills have to be paid but setting goals by determining your Expense Line is a bad practice because fundraising is about more than cash. It's about building and stewarding relationships over the long haul and relationship management CANNOT be measured by financial metrics.

"Nearly one third of development directors in this study reported that they have been charged with unrealistic performance goals. All experts agree that goal-setting should be a collaborative effort inclusive of the development director from the start. Moreover, performance expectations defined in financial terms alone deny the reality of what it takes to get givers, not just gifts, as Kim Klein reminds us. Expectations might include, among other dimensions of performance, the development and maintenance of the development department, cultivation and stewardship of relationships, staff and board relationship-building, and contribution to the vision, strategy and overall leadership of an organization."

Goal setting for fundraising should ALWAYS start with an analysis of your donor database, be done FROM THE BOTTOM UP, and include Non-Financial Metrics.
To set REALISTIC fundraising goals, ask these questions.

How many donors do we have?
What is our median gift?
How much attrition can we expect in our donor base this year, i.e. who will NOT give?
How many new donors can we expect to acquire?
What is our capacity to steward and close new and old gifts?
What is our fundraising cycle?

By building your goals and budget FROM THE GROUND UP (Yes, I'm saying it again!) you will have a much more realistic sense of what your organization can raise at this time, in this economic climate. You will also generate BUY-IN from your fundraising staff, since they are the ones setting the targets!

3) Fix the fundraising system. - Ask any fundraiser how they feel about their fundraising systems and you'll get an eye roll.

Most of the fundraiser I know HATE (I'm not being hyperbolic here) their databases. This is partly due to the fact that nonprofits are under capitalized when it comes to technology and IT. It also reflects the woeful lack of competition in the market for affordable nonprofit databases/CRM.

I'm not sure how to fix the sector's fundraising systems but it's important to acknowledge the vital roll that your fundraising structure plays in your fundraising success! It's nearly impossible to build a seamless fundraising operation without tools that INTEGRATE, provide STRONG ANALYTICS and REPORTING, and AUTOMATE repetitive but necessary tasks.

Better systems would alleviate a lot of frustration in most development shops. They would also allow for more time to FUNDRAISE.

4) Incentivize fundraising performance. - One of the real differences between for-profit sales and nonprofit fundraising is that incentives are not always aligned with performance. For example, in a for-profit context, you can incentivize acquisition or prospecting by paying higher commissions on new deals. In a for-profit, you can also push revenue by providing healthy year-end bonuses. Fundraisers don't have the same incentive structure, i.e. often there is no upside (or downside) for performance and this is another problem for our field. I'd like to see more nonprofits use creative, albeit ethical, incentives to reward fundraisers based on performance.

4) Create a fundraising budget. - It takes money to make money. Again this is true in for-profits too. The challenge is that in many nonprofits, 90% of the budget for fundraising is tied up in staff salaries. This is maddening. Fundraisers need marketing dollars to tell people about their organizations, travel budgets to visit donors, technology budgets to build solid operations (see 3 above). Without these investments it is very difficult to scale your fundraising operation.

5) Make fundraising a team sport. - In the same way that you don't expect a single Program Manager to plan, manage, execute, analyze and report on your nonprofit program, you cannot expect one person to do Development. Fundraising is a team sport. Develop a culture and PROCESS where everyone can take part in pitching the organization, finding and stewarding donors, and "making the ask."

"The development director’s success is inextricably linked to staff, executive director, and board success. One of the tenets of a culture of philanthropy is deep and passionate engagement across the organization, which translates into shared accountability for the organization achieving its fundraising goals. Executive directors should consider setting clear expectations for staff other than the development director—identifying specific activities in which all can participate. One simple mechanism to reinforce accountability is to include development goals in the annual performance evaluation process for staff. Just as important, boards of directors—with strong leadership and modeling from the chair—should include fund development goal-setting as part of their own annual work planning and monitor their own performance regularly.

Again, fundraising is not easy but it is vitally important to the success of ALL nonprofits.
By identifying critical challenges facing most nonprofits and offering solutions for improving the nonprofit fundraising, we can enhance results for our field.

I hope that you will read the report, discuss it with your colleagues, and start improving your fundraising operation today.

Warmest regards,

Jocelyn

On Greatness

2013-01-20T16:18:00.002-05:00

As we head into Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I can't help but think of all the martyrs and saints in our lives who inspire us to GREATNESS. Who live boldly in spite of personal sacrifice and threats. Who stretch to serve others. Who feel that this one wild and precious life is and should be more than a personal project.

Skeptics are fond of saying that we can't all be bold or great.

"We can't all be Ghandi, Mother Teresa, John Kennedy, or MLK," they say.

I disagree.

I believe that greatness is everywhere.

It's in every feeding ministry where people are breaking bread. It's in every park where loving parents and grandparents are looking after treasured children. It's in every home where adults care for aging parents or pets.

Whenever and wherever people are serving and loving others (and themselves) - greatness is imminent.

If you are lucky, history and culture may conspire to make you famous but greatness just takes the right action and perspective.

Be great.

Surround yourself with people who inspire you to be big, honest, and free.

Forgive and cleanse old wounds.

Play with children.

Ask for help and give it in return.

Stretch your heart and mind and remember that there are always many sides to one story. Stay curious.

We need our prophets and sages to show us the way. But we also need regular human beings, like you and me to live boldly.

Peace,

Jocelyn

To Being a Warrior

2013-01-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year to you and yours!

I am wishing you much peace, love, and joy in 2013.

Here is my aspiration for you (and me) for next year and always. It is from The Places That Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times by Pema Chodron, one amazing woman who inspires me.

Warmest regards,

Jocelyn

"May the roots of suffering diminish.
May warfare, violence, neglect, indifference, and addictions also decrease.
May the wisdom and compassion of all beings increase, now and into the future.
May we clearly see all the barriers we erect between ourselves and others to be as insubstantial as our dreams.
May we appreciate the great perfection of all phenomena.
May we continue to open our HEARTS and our MINDS, in order to work ceaselessly for the benefit of all beings.
May we go to the places that scare us.
May we lead the life of a warrior."

Without Great Execution, Strategy is Just Good Intentions

2012-12-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

A strategy - whether in companies or life - is created through hundreds of everyday decisions about how you spend your time, energy, and money. With every moment of your time, every decision about how you spend your energy and your money, you are making a statement about what really matters to you. You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it's effectively implemented.

- How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clay Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon

I can't put down - How Will You Measure Your Life? - the fantastic, new book by Harvard professor, Clay Christensen, James Allworth and Karen Dillon.

This quick and engaging read is a important addition to the self-help and business literature. And has my juices flowing!

Instead of offering anecdotes on how to live your best life, or become a better leader, Christensen, et al. share and apply proven business theories, such as resource allocation process and directive and emergent strategy to help us guide and predict outcomes in both our professional and PERSONAL lives.

I LOVED the quote above from Chapter 4 - Your Strategy Is Not What You Say It Is - because I have long believed that execution (what you DO and how you DO it) trumps strategy (what you SAY you're doing) any day!

We ALL have good intentions.

"I want my children to be healthy, happy and productive."

"I want to help people who are struggling and in need."

"I want to make a real difference with my career."

"I want to be a great mentor and leader."

The problem is, intentions are meaningless unless you CONSISTENTLY put your weight (time, talent and treasure) behind them.

The real question is, how can we be people who align strategy (intention) with execution (action) to ensure that we live good lives?

Here are my reflections, based on the book.

Watch where your resources flow, especially time. Like taking an audit of your financials, spend a month monitoring how you spend your time. What do you do with that extra 1/2 hour? How do you spend your weekends? Who/what gets the bulk of your attention? After this audit, decide if you are spending your time in the right way and make adjustments as needed.
Focus on the small stuff - So many decisions we make seem small and tactical (because they ARE!). Therefore, it's easy to miss the fact that the small stuff adds up over time. Skipping a night of reading to your kids. Cancelling a dinner date with your partner. Working late. Not recognizing an employee's contribution. In isolation, none of these actions will make or break your future, but over time the small stuff ads up and forms a pattern of behavior that is hard to change. Don't neglect the small stuff. Be INTENTIONAL about these interactions.
Think long vs. short-term - Make decisions (and ACT) based on your long-term strategy not just to achieve short-term pleasure or gain. Stay focused on where you want to land 5, 10 or 20 years from now vs. next month. This is hard to do! It's easy to eat a delicious, nutty, creamy chocolate bar now :) vs. stay on a healthy eating plan to ensure long-term fitness. It's easy to skip a tough meeting and avoid conflict now vs. continuing to work through tough issues and build an enduring, collegial relationship. While it takes discipline to prioritize a long-term gain over a short-term fix, having a long-term outlook is crucial to both personal and professional success.

To succeed in life means more than having good intentions, it means employing a daily discipline of activities and interactions to drive your future forward. Don't just preach about your plans and wax on about your strategy. ACT in alignment with who you want to be and where you want to go. This is the stuff of success!

Cheers!

jocelyn

Upgrade Your Sales aka Fundraising Skills This Year: Read Dan Pink's New Book!

2012-12-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

The first marketing book up for me in 2013 is To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel Pink.

Pink is a great writer and thinker. Maybe you have already experienced his genius in Drive or A Whole New Mind?

I'm interested in learning more about how we can get better at influencing vs. pitching donors and making them feel passionate about our causes.

To learn more about the book, watch the trailer above or download the introduction by subscribing to his e-newsletter via his site.

Here's to honing our sales and fundraising skills this year in order to keep the donors we already have and bring new ones into the family!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

I Miss You and Great Holiday Gift for You: A FREE Book!

2012-12-22T09:24:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends,

I apologize for being MIA lately. I miss you!

I have an AMAZING new job leading and fundraising again and have been busy with year-end and this (SHAMELESS PLUG) amazing appeal.

I intend to get back on the blogging bandwagon NOW. Look for weekly posts from me on Leadership, Fundraising and/or Nonprofit Marketing.

Today's killer find is this fantastic offer from Debbie Weil, author of The Corporate Blogging Book.

As you can read below, she's giving away her book for $0.00 or FREE! You can download it now or order it on Amazon and read it online.

Go ahead. Download it. I'll wait...

I read CBB many years ago but it's still one of my favorites on the who, what, why, when and how of blogging. If you are thinking about starting a blog for your nonprofit next year (and you should be if you have the bandwith), read Debbie's book over the holidays.

A small gift for you

The best holiday gift I can offer is that you enjoy the pause between Christmas and New Year's (whether or not you officially celebrate). It's a time for reflection and small wins.

But I also want to give you a small gift to enjoy on your Kindle (or other device). The updated edition of The Corporate Blogging Book is $0.00 on Amazon for the next few days.

Click here to download my 218-page book for $0.00.

In other book news, I'm crazy for Authentic Leadership (another oldie but goodie) by Bill George of Harvard Business School and former CEO of Medtronic. You'll have to buy this one but it's worth it!

Leading a team and serving others is the hardest and most joyful calling I can imagine. George shows us how to do it profitably with passion, perseverance and humility. I hope you will check it out!

Finally, this great poem, What Constitutes Success? by Bessie Anderson Stanley, touches my heart and is my mantra for 2013. What's yours?

"To laugh often and love much:
to win the respect of intelligent persons and the affection of children;
to earn the approbation of honest citizens and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty;
to find the best in others;
to give of one's self;
to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition;
to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation;
to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived - this is to have succeeded."

Much love to you and yours this holiday season!

Jocelyn

Want to Grow Your Email List for FREE? Enter AdLead the Way Today!

2012-10-24T12:55:00.001-04:00

Acquisition, or finding new donors, volunteers, or advocacy supporters for your cause, is not easy (or inexpensive) but it is something you must do if you want your nonprofit to grow and stay healthy.

There are myriad ways to prospect for new donors, including snail mail, events, banner ads and now MOBILE.

Lucky for you, the folks at Pontiflex launched a new contest, called AdLead the Way to help nonprofits build their email lists via mobile ad campaigns.

Enter today to win 1,000 new email signups for FREE!

Deadline to enter is November 15.

Here is how it works:

Head on over to the contest website.
Submit a mobile signup ad from your group. See below for examples of signup ads from other nonprofits. (You can also submit your creative by emailing info@adleads.com!)

That's it!

The three nonprofits with the best creative will each win a free mobile ad campaign for 1,000 email signups. Winners will be announced on November 27!

Good luck!

Jocelyn

Lose Your Gut! Get Serious About Measurement.

2012-10-18T12:59:00.004-04:00

This is not a post about how to lose ten pounds in two weeks. You'll have to head over to Jillian Michaels to learn more about that. Instead, it's a post about abandoning your heart and using your head to run your nonprofit.

Yes, I said it. You have to use your head to run a nonprofit.

While PASSION and HEART should drive your communications and fundraising, everything you do should also be backed by data and analytics - the HEAD STUFF. And this means creating a "data-informed" or measurement-based culture.

In their fabulous new book, Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World, Beth Kanter and Katie Delahaye Paine put it this way,

"Getting started on the path to becoming a data-informed nonprofit is a matter of having some important internal conversations. It is not just about having new inspiration about measurement or working with new tools; it means thinking differently about the organization and how it works...Measurement is a formal discipline, governed by rules and processes established by academics and researchers...No matter what your program or campaign - be it an event, a Facebook page, a messaging campaign, or a donor outreach program - there are seven basic steps for doing good measurement and getting valid and actionable results."

They then continue with an illumination of a seven-step measurement process.

Amen!

I'm tired of hearing that nonprofits are all mission and no measurement. And I'm frustrated that the sector gets a bad rep because we "don't run like businesses."

But when I speak to nonprofit leaders, I'm often dismayed by the lack of rigor they apply to their programs.

Me: Why did you start this program?
Ans: We got a grant.

Me: What is the goal?
Ans: Oh, we don't really have a goal, we just want to help in the community.

Me: How much does the program cost?
Ans: It's FREE! We have volunteers who do all the work.

Me: How do you measure success?
Ans: I'm not sure what you mean.

This is not a rant (well maybe it is) but if we really want to run high-performing organizations that can scale and achieve results, we've simply got to get better at measurement, i.e. defining our goals, audiences, benchmarks, metrics and costs and EVALUATING our success or lack thereof. We also need to STOP doing activities and programs that don't work!

Measurement helps us get out of our hearts and into our heads. It can positively transform the way we work. See A Dozen Reasons that Measurement is Powerful by Kanter and Paine below.

If you're looking for a silver bullet, if you want to improve your results TODAY, begin a culture shift at your nonprofit. Marry your passion for your work with measurement. And stop relying on your gut alone to drive decisions. You should also read Measuring the Networked Nonprofit: Using Data to Change the World.

Then go out and do what you do best with your head and your heart!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

A Dozen Reasons that Measurement is Powerful

It gives you feedback so you know you are headed in the right direction (or not!)
It stimulates ideas on what to do next.
It helps you document results, so, for instance, you can show your boss that you're not "just wasting time on Facebook."
It gives you a credible way to report back to funders and stakeholders.
It helps you learn what tools and techniques work best.
It saves you time, because you're not wasting it on efforts that don't get results.
It attracts success by helping you plan for it. And it tells you when you achieve it.
It helps you raise more money.
It helps you work smarter.
It fuels your passion for your work.
It generates excitement for your mission.
It helps you change the world.

Learn How to Tell Your Organization's Story: Register Today for a FREE Webinar

2012-10-16T10:31:00.000-04:00

My frolleauges at Care2 are hosting a FREE webinar this Thursday, October 18th at 2:00pm ET featuring Jonah Sachs, CEO of Free Range Studios and author of Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell (and Live) the Best Stories Will Rule the Future. (This is one of the best books of 2012!)

If you need help telling your organization's story (and who doesn't?), register now!

In this webinar you will learn:

What the story wars are and why you need to join the fray!
The 5 deadly sins of marketing and how to avoid them
3 steps for engaging in "empowerment marketing," including identifying your organizational values, telling the truth and being interesting
How to create your own Story Strategy Map

Learn more and register today!

Jocelyn

Don't Talk Trash, Use Every Communication to Connect and 8 Other Lessons for Becoming a Better Leader Today!

2012-10-12T13:19:00.000-04:00

I had the privilege of reviewing Deirdre Maloney's second book - Tough Truths: The Ten Leadership Lessons We Don't Talk About. (She's a powerhouse!) You can also read another review of the book on Forbes.

It's a short monograph that you can read on the train to work next week and I hope you will because it's chock full of great (if painful!) advice on how to improve your leadership skills TODAY.

Here are my favorite truths. Buy the book to read the rest.

Truth 10: Great Leaders Insist on Excellent, Pristine Communication

If you're one of those folks (you know who you are!) who write one word emails with no salutation or close, don't sign your correspondence, are short in meetings, etc. - Stop Now. Communication must become your strong suit if you are going to become a great leader. Why? Because it is your opportunity to CONNECT with others!

Treat every communication as special. Say "hello" to the recipient via email, phone or in person. Ask about a recent trip or vacation. Say "thank you." As a leader, you have tons of work to squeeze into a short day. Still, don't underestimate or squander the "small" interactions. Instead, use these moments as precious opportunities to connect with others. It will leave a lasting and positive impression.

Truth 8: Great Leaders Never, Ever Talk Trash

If you're a processor, like me, this may be one of the hardest truths to embody, learn, and PRACTICE. Still, you must start (or should I say stop) today - don't talk trash!

We all know folks (including ourselves!) who talk about others. Who bond with others by trashing their colleagues, bosses, board members, etc. It's a UNIVERSAL but BAD practice (have you seen a reality show lately?) because it makes you/me/us appear untrustworthy and leaks bad energy out in the world. This is not helpful for anyone. As Deirdre says,

"Talking trash makes you a trash talker. If you've done it once, you've done it twice... and you will become known for it. People won't trust you, won't go one level deeper with you. Perhaps worst of all, they'll respect you less." (Ouch!)

Aspire today to be impeccable with your speech. Learn to be silent. Count to ten. Breathe. Not talking can feel awkward, especially if you're an extrovert, but it can also be a relief to know that you don't have to comment on EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. Plus, it's a good to pause and reflect before speaking. It will make you a better communicator (see Truth 10 above), a better role model for your team, and add more positive energy to the world!

Truth 4: Every Single Person, Even the Greatest Leader Out There, is Afraid

Leadership is NOT about getting and doing everything right. It's about getting better every day. And we only do this when we stretch our wings and take risks, which is scary.

Don't kid yourself into thinking that some people are fearless. They're not. They just act that way.

Be brave, take heart, and follow Deirdre's advice below.

"Pay attention to the great leaders you know. Know that they are afraid. Watch how they act anyway. Be inspired to do the same."

Leadership is a HARD and rewarding art. While being a leader comes with amazing privileges and opportunities - you can effect more change in the world, you can have a lasting and positive impact in the lives of others, etc. Leadership is NOT a bed of roses. And the process of becoming a great leader takes a lot of work!

Thanks to Deirdre for giving it to us straight and helping us to become better every day so that we can, as she says, "do good, well."

Cheers!

Jocelyn

PASSION: The Secret to Successful Fundraising

2012-10-10T09:18:00.001-04:00

My church launched its annual stewardship campaign last week.

This is a time when every member of our congregation is asked to reflect on our time, talent and treasure and determine how we want to give back. While we're supposed to reflect on the use of all of our resources, stewardship campaigns always turn into fundraising drives, because in the end of the day, churches - like nonprofits - need MONEY to pay for programs, salaries, rent, etc.

Let's not begrudge this fact. Let's simply become better fundraisers!

So how do we ensure that our stewardship and fundraising campaigns are a success?

Add PASSION!

Say it after me. "Fundraising is all about tapping into another person's PASSION for a cause." It doesn't matter what the cause is - feeding the poor, finding alternative sources of energy, or healing broken hearts. PASSION is the underpinning of philanthropy.

Thus, a first step for all fundraisers is to LEARN what makes our donors feel great!

Why are they excited about our work?
What makes their hearts' sing?
What inspires them to be more generous?

In the for-profit sector, we conduct market research to understand what people want, how they want it, when, and why.

We need similar analyses of donor motivation in the charitable sector.

Money for Good: The U.S. Market for Impact Investments and Charitable Gifts from Individual Donors and Investors by Hope Consulting is a great start. Check out this excellent report to learn more about what motivates donors and use this information to segment your database and create relevant communications, activities, and events that inspire more giving.

Here's the point: Don't fly blind when it comes to understanding why your donors give. Instead, ASK about and LISTEN to your donor's concerns and fill your appeals with more PASSION!

Happy Fundraising!

Jocelyn

Make Year-End a "Yes!" Instead of a "Yuck!" Answer These 4 Questions in Every Appeal

2012-10-08T10:22:00.000-04:00

You already know this but Year-end is THE MOST IMPORTANT time for fundraising. It can make or break your annual budget.

According to Blackbaud, 20% of giving happens in December.

According to Network for Good, December giving can be as high as 33%!

How do you ensure that Year-end is a "Yes!" instead of a "Yuck!" Answer these 4 questions in every appeal.

What for?
Why me?
Why now?
Who says?

What for?

It sounds obvious but EVERY appeal you issue (at Year-end and all year long) must describe the purpose of the donation - the more specific the better. People want to know what their donation will DO in the world and how it will effect change.

Why me?

People also want to know why they are being solicited and why they should care about making a donation. This question is not easy to answer because different people have different motivations for giving. For example, some folks are looking for a tax deduction, especially at Year-end, while others are motivated by altruism. You need to approach "Why me?" as an empirical question. Learn about your donors and ask them why they give to some charities vs. others. Then use this data to tailor your appeals and make your Year-end messaging relevant.

Why now?

By it's very nature, Year-end offers a perfect answer to the question - Why Now? Because Year-end is all about a specific time of year - Giving Season! Your donors know that it is Year-end. (They see all the decorations at Target too!) Still, it's OK to remind them.

Who says?

In fundraising, the messenger is often more important than the message. Want to lift response rates? Give donors examples of who else gives and why. Donor's Choose does a great job of this. See below.

"Social proof" helps donors to feel confident about supporting your charity. It also helps them feel like they are part of a generous community!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

Who Inspires You?

2012-10-05T11:23:00.003-04:00

Who inspires you?

Who encourages you to have an open heart, take risks, speak your truth, and keep going...

Inspiration is one of the best qualities in ourselves and others, no? We need it. Especially when working in tough situations and with people who are suffering.

It's HARD to stay positive and enthusiastic and engaged in life. That is why it is so important to seek out others who make us smile, relax, and REMEMBER that even though life is full of struggle it is also so good! It's also why it's important to practice inspiring others!

Here are a few of the women who inspire me. Some I know IRL (in real life). Some I only FEEL I know because their writing and work has touched my heart.

Who inspires you to get up every day and do the life-giving work that you do? I look forward to your comments.

Warmest regards,

Jocelyn

Jackie Coyle, Executive Director of Shepherd's Table - a Silver Spring institution - leads the team to feed 100+ homeless people every night of the year - rain or shine. Her philanthropic spirit, i.e. her love of humankind comes through every time I see or hear her speak.
Sarah Miles, author of Jesus Freak: Feeding, Healing, Raising the Dead and Founder of the Food Pantry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, California, is also a feeder. Under her leadership, the Food Pantry provides fresh, wholesome and FREE food to over 1,000 people every week. I love her irony and her practical wisdom.
Pemo Chodron, author of When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times and many more books and CD's is a Buddhist nun and Director of Gampo Abbey in Nova Scotia. I appreciate her wisdom and teaching on how to transform our suffering into "good medicine" by becoming more compassionate toward ourselves and others.
Finally, I'm inspired by Brene Brown, author of The Gifts of Imperfection and researcher and writer on the power of vulnerability. Her talks on how to live with a WHOLE HEART have touched millions people and remind us that the only way to connect deeply with others is to share all of who we are. I appreciate her vulnerability!

5 Steps for Goal-Setting Success

2012-10-01T13:56:00.002-04:00

I had a fascinating conversation with a friend last week who runs a very successful company.

"I hate setting goals," he said.

"Why?" I replied.

"If I set a goal for 10% annual growth and we hit 8% I'll be disappointed. But 8% growth is nothing to sniff at, especially in this economy. The thing with goals is that they can set you up for failure or success. And how you set goals is as important as the goals you set."

The conversation got me thinking.

Goal setting is one of the most critical keys to success both personally and professionally. Any change management book or program from Jenny Craig to Couch to 5K to Finding Your Soul Mate will tell you that having and articulating a concrete goal is critical to success. Still, my friend is right that goal setting, while critical, is not easy. And, in fact, if done poorly it can backfire.

How many times have you given up on your personal goals because they were too aggressive? How many businesses tank because they set and fail to meet unrealistic projections? It's important to realize that goal setting is both science and art. Here are my tips for how to set and ACHIEVE your organizational goals!

Step 1: Understand the Past

Every goal setting exercise should begin with an intimate understanding of the past. What have we done before? How much can we move the needle? When we've raised the bar in the past what good and bad happened? I'm not saying that you have to be wedded to past results or that the past determines your future but you do have to a sense of realistic optimism about what can and cannot be achieved and this comes from having a deep understanding of how the organization has performed in the past and WHY.

Step 2: Involve the People Who Do the Work

In almost every context, the achievement of goals is dependent on many people. Even a "personal" weight loss program is not a singular endeavor. For example, in order to lose weight, you need to change your eating habits and exercise more. This means working with your partner and kids to budget for and buy different foods and make time to get to the gym.

In organizations, goal setting and achievement is even more complex because it involves many people and systems. This is why it is critical to INVOLVE the people responsible for goal achievement in the goal setting process.

For example, before setting your annual fundraising goals, ask your Database Associate what it will mean to increase the size of your database three-fold. How will this affect her workload, processes and the timing of Thank You gifts? Ask your Communications Manager, what it will take to increase traffic to your site and what she needs to do it. Ask your Major Gifts Officer how many more prospects he can successfully steward and close.

These insights, driven by the people who do the work, will help you accomplish three things. First, as a leader, you'll gain a greater understanding of the possibilities and challenges inherent in moving the needle. Second, you'll gain the respect of your team for involving them in the process. Third, you'll help ensure that your team feels OWNERSHIP for achievement of results.

Step 3: Understand and Budget for Critical Dependencies

In addition to understanding how goal setting affects the people in your organization, you must understand the structural changes that will make your goal a fantasy or reality. For example, if you want to launch a new online giving program to diversify and increase giving, you may have to purchase technology to enable donation processing and build ongoing relationships with your new donors. If you want to develop a new event, you'll need to understand expenses for space rental and electronic ticketing.

Step 4: Don't Set it and Forget It

One of the critical mistakes we make when setting goals is setting and then forgetting them. New professional and personal issues arise and we get distracted.

If you want to achieve your goals, you have to be a good goal setter and you also have to be good at EXECUTING and MONITORING your progress. Create milestones on your route to the end of the rainbow. For example, if you want to increase your annual fundraising goal by 10 percent, this means that you'll have to increase your donor base too.

Use these milestones to evaluate progress and be willing to increase or decrease goals based on an audit of your performance.

Remember goals are projections aka guesses. And stuff happens. Projects get delayed, people get sick and go on vacation, etc.. As a leader, you have to be willing and able to change course when plans go awry.

Step 5: Plan for Success

Several years ago, I ran a very successful award program to recognize nonprofits making innovative use of technology. It was so successful that we tripled the number of applicants for the program. This was GREAT and HARD because I didn't plan for success. As a result, the night before the summaries were due to the judges, I was up until midnight processing applications. :(

In addition to setting good goals, remember to plan for success. What will it look like when you double the number of individual donors to your organization? How will you manage your new giving circle? These are great problems to have but they are problems nonetheless.

The bottom line is that goal setting is all about change and change is hard and does not happen in a void. Use the steps above to become a better leader and manager and ensure you hit your targets every time!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

FREE Webinar for You on How and Why You Need to Build Your Email List

2012-09-13T12:23:00.000-04:00

Building a nonprofit is not easy. You need a compelling mission that matters to others, good management and, of course, money.

You also need a market to "sell" to. For nonprofits, this means you have to build a base of prospective donors to engage in your cause.

I've talked about donor acquisition and list building on the blog and in other places.

Today I want to highlight a FREE webinar on Tuesday, September 18 from 2:00 - 3:00 ET from the super smart folks at Copyblogger. It's called From New List to Critical Mass: Grow Your Audience Without Content Marketing.

According to Copyblogger, in this webinar you will learn:

What is a Minimum Viable Audience, and why you want one
The right ingredients to organically grow a healthy opt-in list
How minimum is minimum?
Reading your audience’s mind: the right and wrong way
What the "lean startup" trend can teach you about building an audience

Register today. It's FREE!

Cheers!

Jocelyn

The 5 Steps to Running a Successful Business aka Nonprofit

2012-09-05T21:26:00.000-04:00

Running a nonprofit is no small feat and that is why I appreciate Josh Kaufman's five rules for making your organization a success. (Isn't it lovely when you find an elegant concept that simplifies the complex?!)

According to Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA, every business MUST do the following to be viable. He's talking about for-profits but his ideas apply to any thriving organization, including nonprofits.

Deliver value that OTHER people want. Every successful business provides something - of value - services, products, ideas - to others. The operative word here is OTHER. Value is in the eye of the beholder.
Tell people about this value. Every successful business TELLS people about the value they offer. This is also called Marketing.
Sell this value. Every successful business gets MONEY in exchange for the value they provide. This is called Sales in for-profits and Fundraising in nonprofits.
Deliver this value. Now that you "told me and sold me." You have to deliver! Every successful business does what they say they will do to keep customers and donors happy!
Manage your finances, especially cash! Money is not an end in itself but it is a MEANS to an end. If you want to be able to improve your products and services, enter new markets, raise more money for your programs, capitalize your grantees, and pay your employees, you need cash! Every successful business figures out how to manage money and bring in more cash than goes out!

That's it!

Of course, that's not quite it. Running a business aka a nonprofit is a little more difficult. Still, I agree with Kaufman, that at its core, this is what organization-building is all about. Follow these five steps and you will succeed!

Cheers!

Jocelyn