Author Archive
Reality Bytes: This Thing Called ‘Blog’
Posted by Jennifer Furla in Fundraising in a Recession, Technology on September 25th, 2009
Fall’s here. School’s begun, as have fall sports and Scouts, and a full roster of fall educational programs and speaking engagements for our firm. But just as the fall breezes have ushered in a flurry of activity, they also seem to have swept out my resolve to keep up with our blog.
Right now, blogging and social media are “to do’s” on my schedule. I think of them as a great way to capture and share thoughts — and Lord knows I have a lot to say — but, different from the ‘digital natives’ some 20 years younger, it’s not a natural habit for me.
I wonder how many of you share this same dilemma? Things heat up each fall in the nonprofit world. This fall, with a little more confidence in the economy and our nonprofits’ unique ability to “absorb” economic shocks, the level of activity is a welcome relief.
But what does that do to our resolve to blog, tweet — and more importantly phone, visit and thank — our donors and supporters? Time management 101 says don’t neglect the important but not urgent. Until it becomes a natural habit, blogging and all this social media must continue to be an item on my to do list. Important, but not urgent. But, important they are.
So, I’m laying it out there. Announcing to the world — or at least our blogging community — a renewed commitment to tend to this thing called “blog” as my own little personal reminder to keep up with the important, but not urgent.
Tweet-Tweet … hey … Blog-Blog
Posted by Jennifer Furla in Donor Cultivation, Nonprofit Marketing, Technology on July 28th, 2009
A friend had just returned from Dell Social Media Boot Camp and was sharing some ideas. She’s smart, stays current with the latest marketing trends, and sits on some high-profile nonprofit boards. When My Friend speaks, I listen. We talked about how nonprofits want to engage in social media, but are largely behind the curve in their ability to “drive the discussion,” and unsure of who is their market, message, or how to use the tools to connect with donors.
Not so with one organization My Friend serves as a board member. This well-run performing arts organization that hosts national productions “under the stars” is blogging and twittering to patrons about everything from upcoming performances, to special ticket opportunities, to pre-show dining opportunities weather, parking and road closures. They have a “Behind the Curtain” show on YouTube with an engaging 3-minute piece that tells the theater’s history and takes you onstage to learn about how shows are produced.
How do they do it, you ask? For the ??-something’s for whom Tweet-Tweet, Blog-Blog conjures up more of a familiar Donna Summer tune than a way to connect with friends and associates, that is the challenge.
This group smartly invited a couple of local philanthropists to invest in an internship program where two 20-somethings tweet and blog ’round the clock. They bought a couple of mini web cams to produce the material that populates their YouTube channel page. They invite patrons and donors to “Connect with Us” on their website (right above “Support Us”), have their mission posted on YouTube and Tweet Twitpics of concerts so absent fans can catch a glimpse of the action: Jacks Manniequin just stepped onstage. Not too late to catch the show. .. Next up, The Fray.
OK, so you’re not a performing arts organization with a mission and programs that relate easily to Twittering. We all have missions that we care about deeply and a whole host of issues surrounding those missions. You have something to say. And if you have a laptop and the Internet, you have the tools to engage in the conversation. How are you doing that?
Comment and let us know how you are (or aren’t) using social media to further your mission and connect with donors.
Linking Your Needs With Their Desires
Posted by Jennifer Furla in Boards & Leadership on July 16th, 2009
“We have a good, committed board, but we just can’t get them to fundraise.”
“Our board is committed and willing, but we need help understanding our role.”
And so goes the perennial dialectic among development professionals and board members: Organizations think they are clear in setting hoped-for objectives and asking for help. Volunteers want to help, but don’t know how to engage.
Does this sound familiar within your organization? What can you do to clear the lines of communication to help volunteers connect with your needs in a way that moves your organization forward?
Are you making general pleas to everyone generally (and no one specifically) for help running a special event, asking for members of solicitation teams, recruiting new leadership, etc., as a regular (and ineffective) part of your volunteer meetings? Or are you asking in a way that allows the volunteer to act?
In fundraising, we know that a personal visit with a specific ask is the most effective way to solicit gifts. Are you thinking about how we use this best practice to help board members, campaign steering committee members and other fundraising volunteers engage?
You might start by considering some excellent pointers from my colleague, Rita Galowich of Fund Inc., on ways to more effectively work with board members and other volunteers. Here’s a link to her article, Maximizing Your Board Members’ Time.
Kansas Citians Among Most Generous
Posted by Jennifer Furla in Capacity Building, Fundraising in a Recession, Giving USA, JBA News & Notes on July 14th, 2009
Giving in Kansas City report
Released July 9 to an audience of more than 300 Kansas City-area nonprofit professionals, and in special sessions with grantmakers, board volunteers and philanthropists, Giving in Kansas City 2008 gives us statistical support for what many of us have suspected all along: Kansas Citians are a very generous lot.
So much so that household giving outpaces national averages by a range of 50% to as much as two times greater for various demographics. And, across all income levels, Kansas Citians give more per household than others across the nation.
Benchmarked against Giving USA, the authoritative source for tracking philanthropic giving in America for more than half a century, and researched by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, Giving in Kansas City received tremendous attention in local media. Visit our site, as well as the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation and Kansas City’s Nonprofit Connect to download a copy of the report, the July 9 presentation on Giving in Kansas City and Giving USA, and to connect to links to KCUR’s coverage on Up to Date with Steve Kraske and front-page coverage in The Kansas City Star.
Starting July 15, the Kansas City nonprofit community can register to attend one of six sessions co-sponsored by JB&A and Nonprofit Connect, along with the Community Foundation, this Fall to look at specific sector data and to share our collective experience with fundraising and how we are reponding to challenges in the current economy.