Are You Ready for the Nonprofit Fundraising Season?

Nonprofit friends and colleagues... 

The year end fundraising frenzy, is right around the corner.  We know digital fundraising continues to grow in popularity, but the goal is an integrated campaign that also includes traditional appeals, such as direct mail .  Do you have a communication strategy in place to ensure the timing and impact of your fundraising efforts achieve their objective?   Here are some great tips and guidelines : 

Click to Read Full Article: http://blog.mambomedia.com/-start-your-year-end-fundraising-strategy

Nature + Mindfulness: An Antidote For Stress In The Non-Profit World

You have heard me say it before in other blogs… Nature teaches, Nature calms, Nature soothes the soul, etcetera, etcetera.   And I’m going to say it again, because it’s true… when you immerse yourself in nature, TIME STOPS!

And isn’t this the key to mindfullness, the “hot” new philosophy that preaches living in the moment to minimize stress.  Even police departments are teaching this technique to their officers.  But, trying to not worry about the past, what I should have done or trying not to worry about the future is dang hard. Mindfullness is challenging for even when you focus ---those pesky thoughts percolate up.

This past summer, I went camping at a primitive and remote site, off a dirt road that ran parallel to a beautiful coastal river.  We noticed a small opening in the underbrush and pulled over. We broke through the foliage and followed the overgrown path and were delighted to find ourselves in a little oasis. A hidden campground, fire pit included.  

It was a magical place with space for the tent under trees with delicate webs of moss.  A secret place with the river just 100 yards away singing a melody that would put us to sleep at night.  We set up camp, pulled out our camp chairs and sat quietly among the trees.   The miracle was not that we discovered this enchanted spot, but that for three days my brain stopped its daily litany of worries, concerns, and issues to be resolved. I listened, explored, hiked and laughed in the moment of the experience, within the green and lush carpet of nature.  Three days of mindfullness with nary a thought of work, the kids, the future.  I was on pause, allowing myself to smell, touch, see and hear the deep and forgotten songs that filled my mind, leaving no room for worry or stress

Nature made mindfullness easy. I was able to shut off the clatter of my brain, and absorb nature, leaving no room for disruptive thoughts.  I cherished this feeling, tucked it into my memory and returned home, tranquil, slower in pace and refreshed… without stress. 

10 Essentials for Marketing Your Nonprofit

You are proud of your nonprofit – it’s been around a while and although you face challenges, overall you remain stable and strong.  But sometimes you wonder if you're  current in this digital age we live in.  After all, it's very easy to get lost in all the advances of the world – particularly when it comes around to connecting with Millennials.  You hear about a new social media platform, a new metrics tool and a new marketing method, and ask yourself  if you should try some of these out. 

Well, I’m here to tell you,  it is still "old school" wisdom that prevails if you want to be an effective marketer. These are the ideas that have been around since Barnum & Bailey times and perfected through the "Mad Men" era.

When we get caught up in the non-stop, unrelenting hype (and yes even for marketing communications veterans like us), I sometimes need to close my office door, put my cell phone on mute and re-read this manifesto for the gazillionth time. Without fail, it grounds me and gets me back to my purpose as a results-driven communicator. ( Isn’t that what you want for your non-profit?)

1. Know Thy Stakeholder. To market effectively, you must completely understand your organization's funders, supporters and prospects. Because if you don't know their needs, how can you possibly market the benefits of their supporting your organization. 

So ask a lot of questions. Do market research if necessary. You will discover so many viable and cost-efficient solutions to help you research and promote on the web. Find out what kind of outcomes are important to your stakeholders? Changing behavior? Educating your target audience? Engaging the community? All of the aforementioned? These questions and their answers are often revealed through a marketing planning process that gets everyone on the same page.

Bottom line: You cannot expect to succeed if you don't know how your stakeholders will gauge success.

2. Be Certain About Your Strengths. This requires brutal honesty. Know without a doubt what makes your organization invincible. Evaluate its strengths. Evaluate them as if you were a prospective funder or donor. Is your mission significantly different than others in your niche? Do you have a loyal and unwavering base? Do you have you victories in achieving important outcomes? If unsure, an easy way is to ask current supporters what they find most appealing about your staff and organization.

3. Be Certain About Your Weaknesses. More brutal honesty is required here. Realize where you are not as effective as you want to be. What are you doing to change that perception? Nothing can lead to a less than stellar reputation by not knowing where your weaknesses lie and what you're doing to overcome them.

4. Understand the Organizations You Compete Against for Grant Dollars. Don't fear your competitors. Respect them. Understand where they are strong and why. By knowing what your fellow nonprofits stand for, it will be easier to brand what you and your organization stand for in your market. And it should definitely be a voice and narrative no one else owns.

5. Stand for Something.  After completing these first business essentials, you should have clearer understanding of what your nonprofit can represent as its core brand  to your donors, supporters and volunteers.  Is it the more experienced and knowledgeable staff? Or the organization with the strongest donor base? Orsimply the only entity working toward your cause and creating successful outcomes? 

Ask the question: what is the emotion and value that your organization alone brings to  your stakeholders? If a clear idea doesn't emerge, sift through your research again.  Regroup with your Board around a strategic planning process. You will undoubtedly find a position your organization can own.

6. Demonstrate Value To Your Stakeholders.  Help them understand that regardless of what your cause is, you provide exceptional value in the work you're doing. Your make every dollar do the work of five or ten. You're making strides each day toward the cause or mission you support. It is your job to develop a voice and narrative about the kind of value your organization delivers and the outcomes you achieve.

7. Be Certain Your People Have the Religion. Once you've developed your position, make sure your staff knows it as well. A consistent image and narrative to stakeholders not only applies to your marketing communications. It also applies to the people working to deliver on that mission. Remember: they are your ambassadors and are marketers too. From top to bottom, every member of your team should understand the differences of your organization and why they matter.

8. Speak with a Consistent Voice. This is an extension of number six. Only it carries over into all your communications. When everything is seen and evaluated---from blog and social posts to white papers and website content---funders, supporters, volunteers and prospects should get the feeling your messaging is consistent.

9. Give Your Stakeholders a Learning Path. Are you educating and informing  your funders, supporters and prospects about what your organization is doing to meets its goals? Don't keep it a mystery. The more they understand the processes you go through to achieve outcomes, the stronger perception they have of your organization.

10. Never Take Things for Granted. You may need to change your strategy, or you may decide to stay the course.   Just remember marketing is not a static process but a dynamic one, which can flex given external or internal variables or an unforeseen event. It could be in the form of a new competitor, world event, economic downturn, departure of a key employee, or some other unforeseen challenge.

Think about the scenarios that might happen to you. Be prepared for how you might proceed given such scenarios. Or find very good counsel that can help you through it all.

- HCollaborative

Practice Namaste in the Workplace

When we bring Namaste with us to the workplace, we bring new results for our clients and new respect among team members.

I‘m fascinated when words from other cultures go global. You know—the ones we Anglos say but don’t fully understand, and can’t exactly translate into English. In previous blogs I’ve touched upon words simpatico (Italian), aloha (native Hawaiian), and pura vida (from native Costa Rican vernacular). Today, let’s go east—way east, in fact, and uncover the meaning of Namaste.

Do you know what Namaste means? Perhaps you’ve seen movies where people bow their heads, bring their palms together and utter Namaste to one another. Or maybe you have been in a yoga class where the instructor offered Namastejust as you were leaving. Perhaps you’ve experienced the beauty of India or Thailand and shared the phrase Namaste with the gracious people of these enchanting places.

Is Namaste a greeting of respect? A hello? Is it a blessing, like “peace be with you”? Actually, it is all of these—and much more. The phrase is probably most commonly heard among Hindus of the Indian subcontinent, and in some Southeast Asian countries. But this information alone does not do it justice.

On a much deeper level, Namaste reflects a philosophy and orientation to life that can’t be conveyedwith a quick translation.  When you break down the origins of the word, it literally means “bowing to you.” People in the West don’t typically bow to others (never mind that bowing conveys honor and hospitality from one person to another). Going even deeper, the word signifies that “I am withdrawing my ego in the presence of another.” That’s a tough sell for an ambitious go-getter of the Western world, striving singularly to make it.

As one Hindu woman told me, Namaste “is a heart connection between people.” When we greet one another with Namaste, we’re saying, “may our minds meet,” a message further communicated by the folded palms above our hearts.

This is a pretty significant cultural message, all wrapped up in just one word. Maybe we need to embrace the concept of Namaste in our work world. But how? Here are a few ideas:

1. Make discussions a mutual win-win, not a situation where only one person can be right. Competing with colleagues just for pride may serve our egos, but it doesn’t serve our clients or our teams.
2. Listen first, and with respect. As the saying goes, there is no such thing as a bad idea.
3. In any relationship, build the other party up. Acknowledge their strengths and what they bring to the table.
4. Default to a collaborative model. Don’t let the idea of collaboration paralyze you. Consider all viewpoints, and make decisions with a group consensus. Some leadership circles call this the “enlightened dictator” model.
5. Don’t sweat the small stuff. After all, if we are all connected, it’s not about the battles, but the harmony.

Namaste!

Project Management is Helped by Watching the Flow of Water

Quick...who sings “Sitting Onthe Dock of the Bay”? If you guessed Otis Redding, you’re right. I loved this song growing up.  My Dad used to play it on an LP record, and I could sing along with him—and with Mr. Redding—at a young age.  The classic tune describes the peaceful power of reflection that occurs at the water’s edge as one sits and watches waves go by and tides roll away.

Last week I took a walk at lunch, and went down to the “dock of the river” at Cathedral Park along the Willamette. I spent some time quietly watching the water go by. At first my mind was scattered, frenetic even, busy thinking about the excitement and chaos of a growing agency and what we need to do next as more clients came on.  

Soon the water put me in my place! Its flow, so present and continuous, is grounding. Unencumbered, undeterred, the water keeps moving—oblivious to boulders that impede. The never-ending journey is a universal message that makes everything else seem small.

And thus the lesson for me, which I’m happy to share with you: busy minds that plan incessantly, and focus only on the minutia, may be missing the totality of the journey.

It’s the end game that matters most. From my strategic planning days, I know that we often reach our goal by following baby steps. The challenge we need to be wary of, especially when things feel sluggish or stopped completely, is that if we get too locked into the details, we’ll forget about the direction we’re going. 

True, rivers can and will meander. Likewise, things will slow down for us. But like the river, we need to stay connected to our destination as we execute on our project plans.

Here are some worksite ideas inspired by Otis Redding, the river’s flow, and my own moment of sittin’ on the dock:

1. Take a walk to a local body of water, then just sit and watch. Consider the water’s flow within the context of a current project or situation.
2. Notice any boulders or barriers you encounter at work. Explore how you can “flow “ around them without feeling stopped, just like the water. Consider also how the tides come and go, and invariably roll away.
3. Keep the destination in mind, and don’t overwork tasks. Make sure the project’s momentum keeps pulling you towards the end goal.

As an extra treat, take three minutes out of your day and enjoy a little Otis.

Thank you Erin Koehler, master illustrator with DOJO AGency.

Diversity Brings Beauty and Strength

A walk through Pier Park… Diversity brings beauty and strength

I decided to take a longer lunch today, and engage in one of my favorite past times-- walking the neighborhoods to experience the sense of place. 

I work in St. Johns, a very old neighborhood in Portland, Oregon.  Still affordable for families, although gentrification is threatening. There are many  small, older homes with sidewalks on every block and and I remembered the joyful games of my youth in Portland -- "Red light, Green light"  and "Mother May I".  Soft, fuzzy memories that made me smile.

I headed down to Pier Park to explore, and soon realized the park went farther back than just the soccer fields off the road.  Then I hit the jackpot.  Beautiful deep shaded woods with paths under green canopies and it was quiet and still.  A wonderful respite. 

Now often when I walk, I let my mind wander, hoping it won’t  stray into the clutter of work issues.  But sometimes I find a theme interrupts my random thoughts and my street walking takes on a certain focus.  Today as I wandered I started thinking about the smorgasbord of trees hidden in this green space.    And I remembered my University of Oregon class on “Trees of Oregon”.   I was so proud of myself when I was able to identify at least 15 of the 20 tree species in the park.  And what beauty the diversity of all those shades of green gave the park.  Conifers and deciduous trees… all part of the palette:  apple green, emerald green, asparagus green, avocado green, Caribbean green (of course one of my favorites) , khaki green, lime green, granny smith green… the list goes on.

The trees were healthy and together created a richness, a vibrancy that an orchard of  just one type of tree would not deliver.  And I thought how here in America we are on the cusp of a multi-cultural country, which will soon bring the same richness of diversity ... new faces, values, idioms, and social practices.  It will offer the American culture so much more creativity, with new opportunities tolearn from one another and cross pollinate, creating resilience and strength.    Communities and businesses will reflect the best from multiple cultures, no longer being locked in a singular homogeneous world, but being open and respectful of one another.  I celebrate and welcome this new horizon. 

Won’t you join me?

Authenticity: Seven Tips to Practice

How many companies do you know that are truly authentic?   The words often appear in mission and vision statements and CEOs talk about it frequently... but how often do companies actualize this principle?  Yet, research shows that Authenticity has a positive impact on the bottom line: 63% of global consumers would buy from a company they consider to be authentic, over and above competitors. 47% would be happy to work for them and 23% would invest in a brand they believe to display authentic qualities.   Here is what the research tells us: ( Source: http://www.cohnwolfe.com/en/authenticbrands)

The top “anchor behaviors” that are important for companies to display to show authenticity and percentage that think it is important.  

1. Communicates honestly about its products and services                                                         91%

2. Communicates honestly about its environmental impact and sustainability resources      87%

3. Acts with integrity at all times                                                                                                     87%

4. Is clear about and is true to its beliefs                                                                                        83%

5. Is open and honest about the partners and suppliers                                                               82%

6. Stands for more than just making money                                                                                  74%

7. Has a relevant and engaging story                                                                                               43%

Source:  http://www.cohnwolfe.com/en/authenticbrands

 Let's practice what we preach and learn to be truly authentic!