New Year’s Resolution Suggestions for Nonprofits

I am not one for establishing New Year’s resolutions usually, but it is the traditional time to evaluate what we’ve learned over the past year and set some goals for the coming one.  When coaching nonprofit professionals and volunteers, I encourage setting short term, well defined goals in “bite-sized chunks,” to encourage completion and inspire momentum.  I think the same strategy, employed on a organization-wide basis can have the same effect.  With that in mind, here are a few suggestions based on what I have seen over the past six years of consulting for several dozen small to medium-sized nonprofits.

Expand the pool of people saying “Thank you.” If you, as executive director or development officer, are one of the only people in your organization saying thank you to your donors, you’re missing an opportunity to engage your colleagues and volunteers in an enriching and inspiring experience.  Spend a portion of each board and fund development committee meeting talking about who is giving to your organization.  Pass out notecards for board members to write personal thank yous to new donors.  Schedule a telephone “thank-a-thon” and enlist board members, volunteers and fellow staff to call donors on a regular basis.  Provide snacks, scripts and brief donor histories for two hours immediately after the work day and watch your donors’ relationships with your organization develop. If you think your organization does an adequate job of thanking it’s donors, think again. There is always room for improvement.  This is an area where nonprofits have set the bar depressingly low.  Your hand-written thank you, or short phone call, will go a long way toward making your organization truly stand out in the field.

Pursue additional training. Whether your organization compensates you for your professional development or not, you should stay abreast of updates in the field of fundraising, marketing and communications.  Join a professional organization for networking with your peers. Participate in webinars and local training seminars.  Whether you’re new to the field of fundraising or consider yourself a “lifer” you gain inspiration, ideas and knowledge that can bolster your performance and your energy level.

Implement three new marketing strategies. In Uncharitable: How Restraints on Nonprofits Undermine their Potential, author Dan Pallotta argues that one of the reasons nonprofits aren’t recognized for their work is because they don’t advertise.  This in turns leads to low brand recognition that can hamper major fundraising initiatives.  Of course, nonprofits cannot implement big budget advertising, but consider free marketing alternatives: put together a speakers’ bureau and pursue speaking engagements at local civic clubs.  Blog regularly. Solicit the help of a talented writer to interview your constituency (donors and those who benefit from your services) and post vignettes that highlight why you do what you do and who supports you.

Evaluate your social media strategy. Did you spend 2011 pushing information out into the cloud rather than pulling in information from your supporters?  Spend some time looking at nonprofits who have been successful in generating a conversation and take steps to emulate them.  One of the best blogs on social media for nonprofits is Heather Mansfield’s Nonprofit Tech 2.0 (http://nonprofitorgs.wordpress.com/).  She frequently calls out successful social media strategies in use by nonprofits, and offers inexpensive webinars about utilizing social media.  There are also local groups that provide training. Boise Tweet Up is an informal group that (somewhat irregularly) facilitates local social networking events in the Treasure Valley. They’re on Twitter (@boise_tweetup) and have a group on Facebook. What social media do you use and how is it working for you?  Develop specific social media goals for 2012.

Reorient your board and staff to the process of fundraising. This should be a regular process as staff, board and volunteers turn over, and established staff and board can always use a refresher about the function of fundraising and how they factor into it.  I once heard my own assistant tell one of her colleagues that she wasn’t sure what my job as Development Director was, but I “sure took people out to lunch a lot.”  At a board meeting for the same organization, a board member told me that he was assured in the nomination process that his role as a board member would not include fundraising.  In this case, there was room for reorientation for the staff, the board AND the nominating committee.  Your colleagues, volunteers and others should understand the fundraising process and the role they could each play in that process according to their particular skill set. Consider bringing in an outside trainer to facilitate this process.  Make it lively, fun and invigorating, with lots of discussion, brainstorming and encouragement.  End with specific action items for everyone involved.

What are your organizational goals for 2012?  I’d love to hear them.