Particularly helpful were the “Solutions Salons” roundtables where each of us were able to share a vexing social media problem and receive immediate feedback from our peers. The conference was held at Microsoft’s beautiful Conference Center in Redmond which offers giant coolers of free sodas. Free sodas are very tempting to those who work for and with nonprofits as evidenced here.  Read a full recap of the day using storify.com, courtesy of Mixtape Communications‘ Zan McColloch-Lussier.

Another great presentation I was lucky enough to be part of recently was Maria Ross of Red Slice explaining the “Seven Deadly Sins of Branding” at the Association for Women in Communications luncheon. Maria succinctly explained the steps of building a brand identity in understandable terms. Repeat after me, “A logo is not a brand. A brand is your promise to your community.”

Have to started planning for 2012? TCG has some helpful presentations coming up in the next few weeks. If you happen to be in Medford next week, check out TCG’s Natalie Lamberjack and James Plourde presenting “Developing Annual and Long-Range Fundraising Plans” as part of our ongoing partnership with the Nonprofit Association of Oregon. We’re excited to have a full day to explore this topic with our Southern Oregon friends.

Aggie Sweeney will present on “Trends in Giving: What Can We Expect in Our Community?” for the North Sound Development Association on November 15th. She will  share national, regional, and local leading indicators for giving and the direction it is expected to take through 2012, highlighting key findings from the Giving USA 2011 report, the most recent Philanthropy 400 and High Net Worth Donor studies, and mix that with knowledge of our local community to help us see what ahead.

As part of WVDO’s ongoing Development Series (of which we are the sponsor), Aggie and James will present a two-part presentation (November 17 and December 1) on launching successful campaigns. Click here to register!

What have you attended lately? What should we mark our calendars for next? Share, please!

The common assumption is that fundraising is a field full of naturally gregarious types who thrive on social interaction 24/7. While there are many fundraisers in this category, the truth is there are many of us who deeply enjoy our interactions with colleagues, donors, board members, and volunteers, but also draw our energy from being alone to reflect.

For introverts (and sometimes extroverts, too), the thought of speaking to a large audience can be distressing. However, we are in a profession where we are regularly called upon to speak to large groups of donors, sponsors, community groups, or the media. While we may appear comfortable, it requires extra effort for introverted fundraisers to step into that space where we draw energy from the external environment (audience) instead of from within ourselves.

I’m currently enrolled in a Persuasive Communications class with Michael Shadow as part of the Masters of Nonprofit Leadership program at Seattle University.  He has been a speech consultant to United States presidents, corporate CEOs, and nonprofit sector leaders.  As someone who aspires to excel in an extroverted world despite my natural introverted tendencies, I hang on to his every word.

The bottom line is this: If we can harness the power of persuasive speech, where we fall on the introvert/extrovert spectrum is irrelevant. You can be confident the audience won’t discover your secret introverted personality because the speech will be well-delivered.

Here are some nuggets I’ve gleaned during class on how to “speak audience,” courtesy of Michael Shadow.

1. Don’t begin a speech with thanks or praise. Acquire and focus the attention through a story, example, quotation or lyrics.
2. Share universal stories. People need to perceive themselves within the stories you share during your speech in order to stay interested.
3. Don’t get lost in your notes. Leave the bottom third of each page blank so you can quickly glance down to prompt your next point instead of reading to the bottom of the page – this pulls your head down and distracts both you and the audience.
4. This is a speech, not an essay. Include only one idea per line and then leave a space and move to the next thought. It’s easier to remember your thoughts if you organize them in this way.
5. Prepare, prepare, prepare. Begin with your ultimate goal for the speech and work backwards. Think about who is in the audience, how they see themselves, and what their image is of you. The speech isn’t about you; it’s about meeting the needs of the audience.

Five observations from this beginner’s mind:

1. Consultants and fundraisers are alike in one key way – we’re optimists. We have to be because the forces of negativity, especially given the economic climate we find ourselves in, are too daunting otherwise. We need to continue to believe that the world still needs our services – in many respects now more than ever.
2. The one question that each nonprofit must answer is this: How are you making the world a better place? It’s not about a new building or a larger endowment. Those are tools to accomplish your mission, and that mission must point to a world, a neighborhood, a community that is better off after the money is raised than it was before.
3. Confidence is everything. The Collins Group is the master of the Campaign Feasibility Study – surveying a nonprofit’s philanthropic landscape and determining whether it can raise a pre-determined dollar amount. A CFS is part science and part art, but mostly it is a confidence builder. A well-done CFS helps the entire organization move forward with self-assurance.
4. An outsider’s view is critical. In the fund development game, if the donors (i.e. the people with the money) aren’t in sync with a nonprofit’s latest initiative, all the passion in the world won’t get the job done. By working with a wide variety of nonprofits and their donors in the Northwest, my colleagues at The Collins Group have a great sense of which way the winds are blowing and how to best position your campaign for success with the people who matter: the donors.
5. A great campaign requires great volunteers. No one else carries the gravitas of a well-spoken, well-intended volunteer. Professional fundraisers are crucial to a nonprofit’s success, and they are paid to like their causes. Volunteers aren’t. That makes all the difference in the world.

I may be new at The Collins Group, but I’ve been a professional fundraiser (and an employer of fund development consultants) for close to 20 years. Seeing my new colleagues in action is a privilege and an education in how to help an organization get from here to there. I look forward to engaging more fully in the work in the weeks and months ahead, hopefully with my “beginner’s mind” fully engaged.

Congratulations to Stuart Grover, TCG Chairman Emeritus, for receiving the Cooperative Achievement Award from the Group Health Cooperative this past Saturday. The Cooperative Achievement Award is given each year to a consumer or group of consumers whose efforts impact the health of Group Health members, the community, or the Cooperative in a new exemplary fashion.

Stuart is currently serving as chair of the Standing Nominating Committee (SNC) and serves on the Group Health Foundation Board. As chair, he has fostered a committee environment based on mutual respect and trust. He worked with committee members, staff,  and Group Health leadership to drive improvements while fulfilling the SNC’s responsibilities to attract and vet applicants with skills and experience needed by Group Health trustees. Prior to his service as chair he was a member of the SNC  from 2007-2008. In addition, Stuart has shared his extensive fundraising experience with the Group Health Foundation Board, first in 1980s, and then again from 2005-2011.

GHC states and we concur, “His expert leadership and governance experience, his great listening skills, and willingness to share his real-life experience have improved the abilities of every group on which he has served.”

James comes to us from Pacific Lutheran University where he helmed the development team as Director of Campaign and Strategy and led a $128 million capital campaign, and later served as Acting Vice President.  Prior to PLU, James spearheaded successful fundraising campaigns at Charles Wright Academy and Franciscan Health System (both former Collins Group clients).

Originally from Bristol, Connecticut, a younger James graduated from Southern Connecticut State University and jumped on a Greyhound bus to the Northwest. After an excruciating week (Chicago is not halfway between Connecticut and Tacoma, he unhappily discovered), he arrived in Tacoma, where he continues to live today. James also holds Masters degrees in Journalism from the University of Oregon and in Transforming Spirituality from Seattle University.

James looks forward to the sense of exploration and openness that comes from a taking consulting point of view and to using his years of in-house experience to find new ways of approaching his work with TCG.

Welcome to the firm, James!

Twitter:

• Tweet late in the day and late in the week
• Think about followers in the Eastern time zone—50% of tweets originate from the East Coast
• Tweet as often as possible—followers are used to a barrage of info, and if they don’t like what they see they’ll just skip that tweet
• Have you heard about www.tweetwhen.com?  If you plug in your Twitter handle you’ll get a neat graph showing your most retweetable days and times

Facebook:

• Post on weekends—many employers block Facebook at work, so you’ll have a more captive audience on the weekend
• Don’t overwhelm your fans!  Posting every other day is best
• Update your pages around midday—your followers will cruise their Facebooks over their lunch hours

Email:

• Did you know 80% of people don’t have separate personal and work inboxes?
• Email open rates are highest on the weekend, when people have more time to pore over emails
• Open rates are also high early in the morning—who doesn’t prefer sifting through email when armed with coffee and a bagel?
• Don’t be afraid of unsubscribers: you didn’t want them anyway!
• Take the time to woo your new subscribers with a personal email welcoming them to your list—they’ll appreciate it and stick around longer

Blogging:

• Blog early in the morning (around 6am) or mid-morning (around 10am)—most people read blogs when they sit down for coffee or lunch
• Consider a blog survey to find out when people read your blog and what they’d like to read more about—they’ll appreciate being asked, and you’ll get some really valuable feedback
• Blog more–there’s no benefit to blogging less often

In case you’re having a panic attack about having to wake up at 6am to post your blogs each day, fear not!  You can schedule your communications ahead of time so they hit your subscribers at exactly the time they’ll be likeliest to read it.

If you’d like to view the full Hubspot webinar, you can check it out here.

In sum, and against everything I thought I knew about web timing: “Tweet late, Facebook on weekends, email early, blog around lunchtime.”

It’s a pretty standard 12-question, 10-15 minute phone exit interview, designed to gather client feedback so we can improve our services. But it’s the 12^th question that often tells me the most. That question is “Is there anything that we haven’t covered today that you would like to talk about?” The typical answer is, “No, that was really thorough… (then there’s a pause and I think, wait for it) – well, I would like to say…”

There’s two ways that this exchange can go. One, they reiterate a particular point they made earlier in the interview. This is what they feel the strongest about, so I listen carefully. Two, they tell me something that bugged them that they weren’t going to mention because it felt silly/petty/inconsequential, but since I asked, now they’ll share it. Some people praise to the stars, others grouse. Some don’t see how their experience could have been better, others are happy to give me a very specific list on how we could have done better. I listen, I write it down, and I share it with my colleagues. We learn, we improve, and we bring it back to you.

So next time you are talking with a donor, at the end of the conversation, ask her if there’s anything else she’d like to talk about, anything you haven’t discussed, but might be on her mind. And then, wait for it.

We can serve as a:

• Confidant – a safe and understanding ear for a CEO, Development Director, or board member to talk to about the organization’s challenges and their own challenges in dealing with the organization
• Translator – interpreting visionary ideas so that they will inspire both insiders and outsiders in the community
• Coach – working one-on-one to prepare someone for every contingency that may come up in the day-to-day reality of nonprofit leadership
• Change agent – a neutral outsider who can work at multiple levels within an organization to facilitate lasting institutional change

Just like many of you, I love bringing in the big gifts, but at the end of the day, the other aspects of being a fundraising consultant – building relationships and affecting change – turn out to be just as satisfying, if not more.

1.  Will significant change be required in order to achieve your fundraising goals? Counsel can be extremely helpful when trying to shift staff, systems, or a board of directors in new directions, particularly when time is of the essence due to budgetary requirements or other strategic needs. Even the most accomplished fundraising professional can benefit from additional support to plan for and implement fundraising goals that are beyond “business as usual.”

2.  Does your organization have the bandwidth to absorb counsel? In other words, are staff and volunteers prepared to make the financial and time investments that are required for success? With consulting, you get what you pay for. The most effective fundraising counsel is outcomes-based, which means you should begin with a frank conversation up front about what actions are required by both you and your consulting team to accomplish your goals.

3.  Would you be better off hiring permanent staff?  Like Mary Poppins, a fundraising consultant will eventually leave you, but a good one will make sure you are in a position to take care of yourself long after they are gone. Some tasks, such as cultivating new donors, making an ask, or closing a gift are better done by permanent staff or committed volunteers. Counsel may coach you or even go along on these calls, but someone who’s sticking around needs to be involved as well.  

My friend nodded and considered what I said.  She’ll think about it and talk with her executive director and board chair to decide what they really need – or don’t.