Saturday, January 31, 2015

Nonprofits for Partnerships
NGOs, you are known and respected for fighting the good fight. You have staked your reputations on that motto. However, sooner or later the time will come when you will look for a partner. Don’t worry, you’re not betraying your principles. However, as you look for partners, your NGO may also be scrutinized. It may shock you to know but business consultants have advised industries to search for reputable NGOs with which they can partner on behalf of special causes.
Nicole Rycroft wrote in “10 Tips for Creating Successful NGO-Brand Partnership” wrote that you and your NGO colleagues are well-positioned to help leading brands develop innovative solutions that deliver a competitive edge. “Of course, as with any business partnership or personal relationship, take time to assess your options before getting involved with an NGO,” Rycroft wrote.
She continued: “Climate change, environmental destruction, endangered species, toxins and pollution are not new issues, but more than ever they are part of boardroom conversations and customer considerations. Navigating day-to-day business challenges can be difficult enough, so when crossing an intersection of environmental change, calling on NGO experts who understand your industry and the complexities of the issue can position your company ahead of the curve.”
Businesses appreciate the value that NGOs bring to this relationship. Rycroft said such a connection improves a company’s social license and reputational capital. Partnering with an NGO expands the business’ capacity with experts, who know who can help launch initiatives or accelerate projects beyond the competition. NGOs also have established networks and noteworthy track records that can help extend a company’s impact and reach dramatically.
Be aware of this. You won’t be cheating or betraying your cause. Promote your NGO to all stakeholders locally and globally and you could be surprised how your mission may benefit.

NGOs must Create Clear Image of Work
NGOs should define their message in order to present a clear, distinct image of themselves and their missions. That’s why is it important for your management to devote time to creating a distinctive brand, a practical mission, visible image. Just take a moment and reflect on all of the major nonprofits that you’ve dealt with recall their brand, mission and image. You can easily see them in your mind. This seems simple, but many organizations are unfortunately trying to be all things to all people. That is impossible and dangerous to your success. Define who you are, and what it is that you do (a support organization, community-based or policy and lobbying organization?) and establish your core values, the honesty and ethics that shape you.
Just as the private sector – businesses – spends billions telling us why they are different than their competitors, so should you identify what are the key factors that differentiate your NGO from others.


Contact me for more ideas and guidance.

Friday, January 30, 2015

How to Compose Readable Emails
Many of us have seen the warm, romantic movie “You’ve Got Mail.” My wife enjoys it so much she watches it a few times a week. Beyond the romance, the film can offer practical advice about how to take advantage of email even in marketing situations. Remember that marketing means that you are reaching out to stakeholders that know you and those that don’t know you. But in both cases you have to explain to them what you’re doing, why it’s beneficial and why you would like their help. According to Laura Noll, who wrote “7 Things 1998 Can Teach You about Email Marketing,” just as Kathleen and Joe did in the movie, take time to tell a story about your NGO – though not one that is too long. “While your content should likely vary a bit from their topics, the idea is the same. Tell a great story. Provide a smidge of entertainment amidst your message to keep your readers interested and engaged,” Noll wrote. And just like the romantic couple, be persistent in a non-obtrusive way in promoting your NGO and return to your points in subsequent emails.

Educational NGOs should take note of this story from today’s Wall Street Journal. Colleges and universities received a record $37.5 billion in donations in 2014, headed by enormous gifts to Harvard University, Stanford University and other already-wealthy schools. The new high, a 10.8% jump from the prior year, was due in part to stock-market increases that boosted capital gifts, as well as a jump in donations of art, according to an annual survey by the nonprofit Council for Aid to Education. Harvard topped the list with $1.16 billion in donations in the fiscal year ended June 30, the report said. That figure doesn’t include a record $350 million gift to the university’s School of Public Health, announced in September. Your NGO’s educational endeavor may not receive millions, but that shouldn’t dissuade your from contacting the widest range of foundations and other institutions for support because in many cases even a few thousand dollars could save your project.


Contact me for more ideas and guidance.

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Devise Marketing Plan and Issue Receipts
Every institution – large or small, local or global, commercial, private, non-governmental and governmental – should have a comprehensive marketing plan that will outline its vision, mission and steps to fulfill its objectives. The organization should brand itself and activities in the minds of its audience. A successful marketing plan will serve as a roadmap for the organization’s management to expand outreach, grow members and supporters that will subscribe to your ideas, contribute funds, and dramatically improve the success of your organization.

Fundraising is important for NGOs and consequently so is keeping records. Contributors – large and small – should have receipts for their contributions. If your organization issues receipts after each donation, then you may not have to send anything at the end of the year. Donors have a record. However, it’s not a bad idea to send them another receipt at this time of the year. According to Sumac.com, an end-of-year statement is a simple letter that again thanks donors for their generosity and reminds them what they donated during the year. It is also a subtle reminder of your existence and your worthy mission. It’s really easy to produce and it’s just one more opportunity to indicate that you’ll return to them with another request in the current year.
A year-end statement can be as simple as this:
Dear (name),
We are so grateful for your support for our projects throughout 2014.
Here is a summary of your generous contributions:
(optionally, list details of each donation)
Total contributions for 2014 = (amount)
Thank you!
Here’s to continuing to make great things happen in 2015. We hope that you will be as generous this year.
Sincerely,
(signature of someone with authority)


Contact me for more ideas and guidance.
Promote your NGO with Storytelling
Continuing my discussion of branding and fundraising, another useful strategy for promoting your NGO, according to “Mobile for Good: A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits,” is storytelling. Communicating stories of your nonprofit is the most powerful means of inspiring your donors and supporters, according to fundraising experts. When done well, storytelling will evoke emotions ranging from empathy to anger that will stimulate your donors and supporters to favor your mission and take action on behalf of your nonprofit. In fact, statistics show that 56% of individuals who follow nonprofits on mobile and social networks take further action, the number one action being making a donation, after they have read a compelling story published by a nonprofit. Telling a good story requires thorough knowledge of your NGOs mission, a creative mind, excellent writing skills, simplicity and clarity, and the ability to edit and brand images.

Speaking generally, fundraising requires a plan. After you’ve begun to promote your nonprofit, consider how you will approach fundraising. Fundraising plans serve the same purpose for civil society that business plans fulfill for public and private for-profit companies. If your charitable organization isn’t able to function effectively without engaging in successful efforts to raise money – and which NGO can function without funds, then it’s essential your team to create and use a formal plan document that can be used to plan and guide your fundraising activities.


Contact me for more ideas and guidance.

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Branding Tips for NGOs
Non-governmental organizations or not-for-profit groups, you should focus on building your brands – your images – in order to market or promote your vision, credibility, value, and impact of your work. The more you promote yourselves, the more people will know about your great work. Otherwise, you are limiting the reach of your organization. In marketing your brand, you should also be accountable to your donors and other relevant stakeholders. By reaching out with a comprehensive range of outreach tools, you are assuring potential donors that your NGO is a solid and reliable organization.

NGOs, you should remember that your impact is not limited to the work that you have assumed. Collectively, you are highly regarded on many levels. The UN Department of Public Information has observed that non-governmental organizations are essential to bringing the work of the United Nations to people in all corners of the globe – to the hometowns. Of particular importance is the need to reach out to grassroots organizations and marginalized communities on matters of critical importance to the ordinary citizen. The relationship between DPI and NGOs has grown stronger and more important. Furthermore, Member States continue to recognize the benefits of NGO participation locally, regionally and internationally. NGO global involvement in international issues, consultations, policy making and conferences is much more visible, accepted and recognized. If you haven’t done so yet, look into the work of UN DPI/NGO.


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Fundraising Tips for NGOs
Fundraising is an NGO’s worst nightmare but a very essential activity. When to launch it? How to start it? How to conduct it? NGOs need to fundraise or else they’ll be forced to close their doors. I recently read these useful observations for NGOs in a web article called “Mobile for Good: A How-To Fundraising Guide for Nonprofits.”

Your NGO’s content strategy begins with an analysis of what types of content your nonprofit plans to create and what channels it will use to distribute the content. Afterward, you and your management team must start thinking about the tone of voice of your content: the words that you’ll use, the types of sentences and paragraphs, and even length.

The easiest way to compose your tone of voice is to base it upon the important mission of your NGO and consider what words other, similar NGOs use in their outreach. If your nonprofit focuses on human rights or poverty, for example, then your fundraising tone of voice should be serious, smart, and thought-provoking. If your nonprofit works to protect the environment or animals, then your tone of voice could be informational, resolute, and sometimes even humorous. If you are an arts and culture organization, think about crafting a tone of voice that is creative, clever, and entertaining.

Ask yourself: what are five words that describe the character traits of your mission or organizational culture? Check what other NGOs are using. When you network with them, ask them for their fundraising best practices and then use these words to craft your tone of voice.


Contact me for more ideas and guidance.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Today’s Tips for NGOs
It was a murder of historic proportions. A dozen journalists killed for fulfilling freedom of expression. If you have ever doubted the promotional power of the Twitter hashtag, you can now join the believers. The first tweet, #JeSuisCharlie, went out at 12:52 p.m. Paris time, a few hours after the attacks. By the end of the day it had become a hashtag that accumulated 2.1 million tweets. In the 72 hours that followed the deadly attacks in Paris, over 5 million.
On a different note, the hashtag for the 65th UN DPI/NGO Conference in August 2014, #UNNGO2014, had a reach of nearly 11 million after about 10 days.
As I’ve said, Twitter is too powerful of an outreach tool to be left merely to teenage updates about their parties. Used tactically, Twitter can boost your NGO’s visibility, which boosts results in fundraising success because tweets breed faster than rabbits. Don't overlook Twitter in boosting your outreach.

A useful suggestion about fundraising that I heard about from Brandon Granger: 9.5% of all donations for non-profits come from mobile devices. Perhaps you can benefit from that as well. Remember, the mobile device is no longer for calling the office or your family.


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Outreach Tips for NGOs
As I’ve been explaining, in addition to minding your laudatory missions, don’t forget to regard your NGO as a business that needs to thrive and promote your work.
Face-to-face outreach is best for NGOs and any organization for that matter or networking with your peers as it is called. As you outreach and network, you pick up essential tips about current best practices and how others do what they do. You pick up insights about trends. But thanks to the latest technology, you can also outreach via apps. Think Progress is one of organizations that you can network with via its app. Find it in your regular app source.

Also, NGOs, if you're part of UN DPI, you're tuned in to what is happening at the UN or globally that pertains to your work. If you’re not associated, then I suggest that you download the UN Calendar of Observances app at your regular source to stay in touch.


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Sound Advice for NGOs
Recently, I heard a sound piece of advice for NGOs at a New York metro Better Business Bureau workshop for small businesses and non-profits. Claire Rosenzweig, president, observed in her opening: “We’re all businesses after all.” Indeed. Regardless is you’re a small business or NGO, you are a business. Beyond your laudatory work, you are a business and should behave as such. In addition to seeking funds, you should be developing an all-inclusive outreach plan and a marketing concept to succeed and promote your NGO and mission.
 
NGOs, don’t give teenagers sole use of Twitter for silly updates. In expert hands, social media is a powerful outreach tool to grow your work.

Contact me for advice and guidance.

Outreach should precede fundraising
Welcome to my first post on Boosting Your Outreach. I invite you to return periodically for new tips especially designed for NGOs – and small businesses.

NGOs understandably seek funds to start or continue their laudable work. However, without a track record of accomplishments and a “folder” of tearsheets, articles, photos and events, it will be difficult to attract major contributors. NGOs should develop a comprehensive plan of action that includes marketing, outreach, accomplishments as well as fundraising. Contact me for advice and guidance.