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13 Jan

Posted at 21:05h in Blog, Fundraising by
vanessa chase picGuest Post by Vanessa Chase - The Storytelling Nonprofit Storytelling is becoming a regular part of fundraising programs and for good reasons. It is a powerful tool that helps organizations emotionally connect donors to their impact. According to a recent NPR story, anecdotally telling someone how they can help one person means they are more likely to make after. But sometimes storytelling can be easier said than done. If you work in fundraising or communications, you may not have direct access to your organization’s amazing stories or worse, there may be a silo in your way. I’ve talked to countless nonprofit professionals in the last few years who have faced these problems and I can certainly relate from my own experiences. Another common barrier to storytelling is interviewing, which can seem like a daunting task if you’ve never done it before. You may feel nervous. The interviewee may be nervous. It can be a recipe for an awkward interview.

11 Dec

Posted at 17:23h in Blog, Uncategorised by
If you don't have a microphone/webcam on your work computer you can join us by phone line. Think of it as 1) you sign in by video  then 2) you call into the hangout by phone. Here are the instructions. 1) Click the google hangout link and you will be connected to the call. We can't see you (you don't have a webcam) and we can't hear you (because you don't have a microphone - we're going to connect you by phone in a minute). 2) Click the "invite people" button (you're inviting yourself via phone) instructions    

27 Nov

Posted at 19:43h in Blog, Uncategorised by
Every year I do a list of “aha” moments from congress . (See my blog post from a few years back.) But this year, I’ve changed up my tune. I’m sharing the five implementable moments from congress – things that I can incorporate right away into my daily work that will change my way of working. It's impossible to be in every session at Congress. There's too many! If you are interested in hearing what the "collective brain trust of fundraising mojo" had to say about their favorite parts of congress, JOIN ME on a Google Hangout on December 11th, from 1-2pm EST. Send me an email at [email protected] or follow this link  and I'll put you on the reminder list for the webinar. Now, back to my "do-now" discoveries from Congress.

13 Nov

Posted at 17:51h in Blog, Uncategorised by
help!I have had the most amazing week! I received a book in the mail from a friend from far away. Do you know Brené Brown the author and sociologist? The book I received was Daring Greatly. Haven’t heard of her? Stop what you’re doing and watch this video NOW. Brene’s work is all about letting yourself be vulnerable-  to let yourself “be seen” by others, messy parts and all. (Here’s my blog post about providing board members with a space so they can be vulnerable with each other.) I think as fundraisers – especially in isolated, small shops – we think we can figure things out, get to the end of the appeal letter, the to do list, and the board retreat documents if we just work harder, put in more hours and cram one more thing onto our already busy work week. Fundraisers are not good at letting themselves be vulnerable (and I am including myself in this bucket!) We are crappy at saying “I need help.” And if we get to the point of needing help, we have no idea who to turn to because by then we’ve cut ourselves off from the very community that might be able to help…because we’ve been too busy. We need to change this.

31 Oct

Posted at 17:19h in Blog, Inspirational by
giving tuesday 29 days. That’s all that’s left between now, and Tuesday December 2nd - #GivingTuesdayCA.  Why should you, as a busy not-for-profit professional, care? Well, for starters, anything that moves up the start of the giving season is a good thing in my books. Rather than waiting till the holiday season to “talk giving” with your wonderful donors, you can give them a date and a time to celebrate the “opening of giving season!” Time-strapped and story-short? Do not despair! This is the best part about #GivingTuesdayCA. It is not meant to keep you up at night giving you ulcers, it is meant to underpin or enhance your EXISTING strategies that you have put in place for annual giving. Here’s three not-for-profit profiles, and three engagement strategies to incorporate WITHOUT  a ton of effort. Scroll down to the profile that best describes you, and read through the plan.

08 Oct

Posted at 14:53h in Blog, Uncategorised by
Studying for my CFRE exam has forced me to reflect on the differences between amateur fundraisers, and professional fundraisers. There is a place for everyone - and we need both – but it’s worth enumerating the not-so-subtle differences between the two. This list will help many small to mid-size charities clarify fundraising motivations to the board. Many Board members consider themselves fundraisers. The question is: are they amateurs, or professionals?

30 Sep

Posted at 18:31h in Blog, Uncategorised by
This article originally appeared in Hillborn Charity e-news. tweet cottage pic7 women, one cottage, a shared vision to support small charities through pro bono work, and an undisclosed number of wine bottles. And so #TweetCottage2014 begins! This annual retreat, now in its third year of existence is hosted at the cottage of Leah Eustace, Chief Idea Goddess at Good Works, but the origins of tweet cottage are firmly rooted in the desire for fundraising consultants (and full time employees) to support their community through pro bono work. You can read more about last year’s #TweetCottage here. Fundamentals in 4 hours? The “talk on the dock” this year centred on one main theme: the lack of basic knowledge around fundraising best practices from small shops. “It’s two years in a row now that we find #TweetCottage applicants are craving fundamental fundraising knowledge,” explains Leah. “They don’t know what a fundraising plan is, what’s included and how to build one.  How do we tackle this as a group of women meeting for 4 hours over a long weekend in August?”

15 Sep

Posted at 18:27h in Blog, Fundraising by
soar like an eagleOne of my most frustrating moments as a consultant came when I was working with programming staff, trying to collect some stories – stories that I needed in order to fundraise. I was working with excellent programming people:  they were good at their jobs and dedicated to the mission of the organization. Wow – was it ever challenging to get stories “from the field!” To understand people’s actions, you need to understand their perspectives.
  • Programming staff: rewarded for executing programming, project focused, well connected with their volunteers and their community, action-oriented (at least the good ones!)
  • Development staff: rewarded for getting personal, spending time with donors, telling compelling stories, and raising money by connecting emotionally with individuals.

06 Aug

Posted at 03:26h in Blog, Uncategorised by
death starVolunteer task forces are a great way to change your organization’s “Death Star” practices. Grab a group of your volunteers and “task” them with addressing ONE area of the organization that is not working. Who should you invite on your task force journey? Keep the group small to make sure everyone is able to participate - somewhere between 4 and 6 people. Include at least one staff member who can give context to your discussions. With the right mandate, task forces can be empowered to really clean things up. Task forces are attractive to new volunteers because they are:

Finite – They involve a specific number of meetings, and a short-term commitment;

Specific – Volunteers have the opportunity to “get closer” to the organization without having to sit on a board.

Outcome-driven – There is nothing like that feeling of getting something done to charge up a volunteer.