3 Things Nonprofits Should Consider with Social Media

There will always be a constant quest to spread the word, market your brand and recruit volunteers at little to no cost. Luckily, social media provides a cost-efficient and well-branded option for nonprofits to boost their visibility.

Not sure where to start? Try these tips:

1. Target your volunteers.
For a nonprofit, volunteers are your biggest asset. Social media can be one of the best tools to engage your volunteers and inspire them to be your ambassadors on the Web.

Example: Highlight a volunteer each month that has really gone above and beyond. Post their picture and story on Facebook for others to see. Recognition goes a long way and truly keeps the momentum going.

2. Share results.
For a donor, sponsor or volunteer, one of the biggest motivators to keep contributing to the non-profit is to quantify their impact. Do not be afraid to share growth numbers and goals for the next year. Providing something tangible lets people know where they are helping and where there are additional needs.

Example: Post on Twitter with the number of people who were helped last year by your organization and then share plans for next year. Ask people to retweet your message. (More than 9K volunteers give their time to @DallasHabitat each year. That’s $1.8M in value! RT if you want to help next year!)

3.  Try something new. The social media realm is always changing, and every day a new forum, feature or application is introduced. While I would not recommend jumping on the bandwagon for every new site developed, you should not be afraid to experiment with new options. The key to social media is making it relevant, valuable and consistent for your audience. The social space is meant to be fun and engaging, so don’t be afraid to play around with it and show your brand’s personality.

Example: Instagram is a very powerful social media tool that has continued to attract new users. If your organization already takes photos and posts them to Facebook or Twitter, then try out Instagram, a visual-rich storyboard of curated content. Instagram is also another way to build a following within the site itself. Nothing is more inspiring than a great visual, so why not take advantage of a free platform to reinforce your brand?
Valerie Hanneken
Account Executive
MarketWave

4 Ways to Get Ahead at Work

Katy Spicer, CNM's Director of
Sales and Marketing

Office dynamics have always fascinated me.

Did you know that we spend approximately 30% of our lives at work? If the average person in the USA lives to be 80, then that gives us about 26.5 years to observe human behavior in a professional environment; much like Sir David Attenborough patiently stalking lemurs in their natural habitat…

Anyway, I digress.

What fascinates me most is how some people get ahead at work and some don’t. Often, these are people with comparable skills and experience. So what separates the doves from the dodos? These things:

1. Visibility
If a tree falls in the forest and there’s nobody around to hear it, does it still make a sound? NO! If you’re doing great work that no one knows about (especially your boss), then you’re missing a golden opportunity. Perception truly is everything and the people who don’t hide their light under bushels are the ones who get ahead.

Looking for ways to get noticed? Try the following:

   - Speak up in meetings.

   - Network outside the office: attend conferences, events and other
     activities relevant to your organization’s mission.

   - Keep your boss updated on your achievements.

   - Regularly bring ideas to the table.

   - Be a team-player who’s willing to take on new challenges.

   - Ask for more responsibilities; whether it’s taking on a project nobody
     else wants or leading a new initiative.

2. Likability
As Glinda The Good Witch sang in the musical Wicked: “It's not about aptitude, it's the way you're viewed, so it's very shrewd to be, very very popular like ME!” Do people dread having to work with you or are you seen as the organization’s “go-to” person? Either way will make a big difference to your career.

3. Versatility
Most nonprofit professionals are required to wear many hats. While I’m not advocating that you become Jack/Jackie of all trades, master at none; I do think it’s wise to broaden your skill-set.

Cross-train with different departments at your organization and make full use of professional development opportunities, even if they at first seem irrelevant to your job (I think most of us could benefit from a tech or finance class or two). Be a life-long learner and your name will be on the tip of your bosses tongue when promotion time rolls around.

4. ExpertiseI know it sounds like I’m contradicting myself, but in addition to having a broad skill-set, it also behooves you to be an expert at something. And that something doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to your current job. For example, you could be a development director who’s also a whizz at social media. You might be the CFO but you might also be a fantastic public speaker and teacher. Find out what your niche is and then make it known.


Katy Spicer
Director of Sales and Marketing
Center for Nonprofit Management

In God We Trust; All Others Must Bring Data

“In God we trust; all others must bring data.”  I first heard this quote that is generally attributed to Dr. W. E. Deming, about fifteen years ago when the organization I was working for launched a quality initiative.  As a for profit company in a very mature market, the only way to sustain profitability was through continuous process improvements:   the “better, faster, cheaper” model of performance.  This quote has resonated with me ever since because it so richly depicts the link between data and trust.

While trust is important for any organization, it is essential in the nonprofit sector.  As the Center’s wonderful President, Cynthia Nunn, often states in board trainings, we are the caretakers of agencies that are held, in trust, for the citizens of the state of Texas.  That responsibility should not be taken lightly!

The question for us becomes, how can we communicate to our stakeholders (and the citizens of our fair state) how we are effectively using the funding and resources that we are given to achieve our mission?  Every day we see the examples of the differences we make in our communities and in the lives of those we serve.  And, hopefully, we are able to tell powerful stories from those examples.  However, while powerful, these individual stories often only tell the breadth of the impact our agencies have.  The depth to which we make an impact can only be described using aggregate data.

As funding for our programs and services becomes more limited, the demand for us to illustrate how we are delivering on our mission is increasing.  The public, grantors and foundations are no longer willing to listen to the individual stories alone.  They want to know how their monies and resources are being used and they want to see data that supports our assertions that we are making a difference in our community.  They want to trust that we are making an impact.

Unfortunately, data collection and analysis is not always something nonprofits have excelled in.  But, it is a skill set that we will need to obtain and to enhance.  We need to leverage the knowledge and skills of each other in order to communicate individually and collectively the importance of the nonprofit sector.

To that end, the Center for Nonprofit Management would like to host quarterly meetings for individuals who are tasked with data analysis to see if we can support one another in developing this competency in North Texas.  If this is something that you might be interested in participating in, please contact education@cnmdallas.org.

Susan Frear, SPHR, CQM/OE
Director of Education
Center for Nonprofit Management

Beyond the Acknowledgment Letter

Recruiting new donors can cost up to 10 times more than retaining existing ones! Therefore, multi-dimensional stewardship programs are not only cost-effective investments of your organization’s time and resources, they are also easier to implement than you might think. Here are a few quick tips to help you keep your donors around longer and increase their annual gifts.

A personal connection means more to someone than a pen.

We’ve all heard it a thousand times…people give to people. So introduce them to your people! This summer, our intern used a flip camera to put together two videos for our donors – a video "Thank You" message and a short "Happy Birthday" video. Both videos feature our dancers, staff, students, parents and Board members. They certainly aren’t fancy, but they communicate our mission in a way that a letter or brochure can’t.

We also try to keep track of important life events for our donors. If we hear news about a wedding, baby, illness, promotion, etc., we circulate a card around the office and each DBDT staff member writes a quick message. They obviously care about our organization, so we want them to know we care about them, too!

“Behind-the-Scenes” events are another great way to grow that personal connection. We host three, free afternoon performances each year here in our studios. But perhaps you could invite your donors to your offices to hear testimonials from some of your clients. Or if you provide training or seminars, invite them to a session. The closer they get to your mission, the stronger that connection will be.

Acknowledgment is an ongoing process. The organization that keeps on thanking gets the donors who keep on giving.

We all know the drill…phone call within 24 hours, tax letter within 48. But what about the other 363 days of the year? Keeping your donor connected to the organization and demonstrating the impact of their gift throughout the year will go a long way in keeping those renewal rates in your favor.

Most organizations are accustomed to providing our corporate and foundation funders with the required year-end grant reports. But, just like individuals, corporations and foundations need to feel the love year-round, too! Following each of our performance series and major educational initiatives, we provide our donors with a program wrap-up. We include promotional materials and press for the event, the number and demographics of the people served, pictures, and a short letter of summary and thanks.

Newsletters and e-blasts are also great tools in demonstrating their dollars at work. Our Executive Director often forwards press releases to our donors, thanking them for their support and all the ways their gift helps our organization grow. Just make sure to keep them short, sweet, and upbeat.

Few people will turn down a public recognition.

Finding creative ways to publicly acknowledge your donors can be a great retention (and acquisition!) tool. Last year, we designed a banner to be displayed at all of our performances and at our studios featuring the personal signatures of our $100 and up donors. The response to this was amazing! Now when you come to our performances, you will often see people standing by the banner, looking for their John Hancock.

We have also used GOBOS at our events to feature the names and signatures of our donors. These are often used for corporate logos, but we found that individual donors like to see their name in lights, too!

Your social media channels also offer a great opportunity to acknowledge your donors (with their permission, of course). Let your Facebook and Twitter community know when you land that big grant!

Think about hosting a Donor Appreciation event. This is a great way to get your entire giving community in the same room. We host an annual awards ceremony and present any donor who makes a gift of $1,000 or more with a small plaque. The turnout from individuals, corporations, and foundations has been great!

People who give to tangible things want you to deliver tangible results.

63% of individual donor respondents said the thing that influences them the most to increase the value of their gifts is receiving measurable results of their previous gift at work. Donors want to know…HOW DID THEIR GIFT HELP? With the shrinking number of corporate dollars and increasing competition for institutional funding, most organizations are used to having to translate their mission into numbers. But individuals want your digits, too!

This year, we put together a “DBDT by the Numbers” stewardship piece. It crunches everything we do – from the number of full-time dancers we employ to the number of children served by our in-school residencies – into numbers. Quantifying your impact…and how that grows with each gift…is a simple but effective message.

Hello and thank you for your gift…

We all know that a personal phone call can make a donor feel pretty special. But one thing to think about is finding the right caller for the job. Find out the donor’s connection to the organization, what aspect of the mission resonates with them most, and then identify the appropriate staff or Board member to make the call.  

Always ask WHY…and WHO.

One of the easiest things you can do to improve donor retention is to simply ask WHY THEY GIVE. Not only will this help inform your future solicitations, it will also create another opportunity to make that personal connection. You can even make this a part of your acknowledgment phone call script. Also, think about doing a donor survey or focus group. The more you know about them, the more they’ll want to know about you.

For every six new donors obtained, nonprofit organizations lose five. But, lucky for us, we are used to finding creative, cost-effective solutions that will advance our missions. We also have a great resource in the Center for Nonprofit Management who encourages collaboration and idea-sharing in the DFW nonprofit community. Thank you to Lauren Sifferman and the entire CNM team for inviting Dallas Black Dance Theatre to lead this morning’s 501 Club. I am always so impressed with the incredible talent, passion, and resourcefulness of this city’s nonprofit leaders. The more opportunities we have to learn from each other, the better this city will be. So, it’s only appropriate that I end this blog post with a very big THANK YOU!!! 

Ashley Pirsig                                                  
Individual Giving & Stewardship Manager      
Dallas Black Dance Theatre   

5 Steps to Being Charming

We all know people who are charming. They make you feel like a million bucks - as though you made their day; that you're the most important person in the room. They come off as sincere and genuine and are just so dang likeable. It's quite sickening, really.

So how to emulate these super-human beings? for us mere mortals, there are actually 5 steps we can immediately take to start us on the road to charmingville.

1. Smile. It sounds basic but it's amazing how many people DON'T do it! Smile and the world smiles with you, frown and you look like a miserable so-and-so who no one wants to talk to. Friendly people put others at ease. Fact.

2. Make eye contact. Another seemingly obvious step, however, again a step that many people fail to take. If you don't look people in the eye when you meet them it makes you appear shifty. Look someone directly in the eye and you can't fail to exude confidence and make a positive impression.

3. Have something to say. Read the news, scour Twitter, squirrel away interesting trivia, sign-up for breaking news alerts - For heavens sake, do some prep work. Very few charming people were born that way; most have to work at it. It's no good showing up at an event expecting others to engage you, YOU must do the engaging. Always have a witty ice breaker up your sleeve as a vehicle with which to enter a conversation.

4. Act like a host/hostess. Take it upon yourself to draw people out of their shell by asking questions. Eveyone loves to talk about themselves so you should have a wealth of material. Pretend that every event you attend is a party that you are hosting and behave accordingly. You wouldn't mope around your own party staring into your drink and ignoring everyone, would you? No! Then take the initiative and start putting the focus on others.

5. Always follow-up. Charming people are also genuine people (you can't be one without the other) and most do a really great job of following up with a quick note or e-mail after they meet someone new. It's all very well dazzling everyone with your newfound charm, but if you don't follow-up and make a connection then the exercise is essentially meaningless. After all, a great reason to be charming is so you can be a better ambassador for your organization.

Katy Spicer
Director of Sales and Marketing
Center for Nonprofit Management