This is not a recipe for long term success. Instead:

• Recruit and orient your volunteers, and staff, carefully and with consideration for the skills and attributes you need. A live body or bum in the chair is not a recruitment goal! A volunteer or staff mismatch only leads to dissatisfaction.
• Once you have the right people on the bus, give them what they need to work and feel great -- tools, information and leadership!
• Keep them informed and engaged, making sure they know how they fit and how their efforts are appreciated.
• And last but not least, listen to them...communication is intended to be two-way!

Cooks Creek Ukrainian Catholic Church in a rural area of Manitoba enjoys a historical legacy of volunteer support, generations of loyal parishioners and a wondrous grotto built decades ago to recreate the famous site at Lourdes, France. Located in a sparsely populated area, it is an ongoing challenge to maintain. As a religious organization, the parish is not eligible for many of the corporate and foundation giving programs.

Someone had an "outside of the box" idea - to take advantage of the unique site, rural area considered horse country, and build an event around it. The parish has held three medieval festivals with one year breaks in between. Complete with costumes, childrens' activites, equestrian and traditional combat events, it attracts people who would not otherwise donate. The organizers are also smart about upsizing, offering graduated levels of tickets which come with added benefits. Bravo.

The cost of service should always decline over time – in other words, it should cost you less over time to do the things you do, well. You should not have to reinvent the wheel – your routine activity should be like a fine tuned and efficient, precision machine! This allows you to do more with your existing resources.

Your market position defines your options – if you’re a big fish in a small pond, you will make the biggest splash. But if you’re a minnow swimming with sharks, you’ll get swallowed. In other words, focus on your strengths, and find yourself a pond that fits you if your efforts are falling flat.

Your client and funding pool does not stand still – recognize that your donors, as well  as the people who benefit from your services, have needs and interests that change over time. As a nonprofit, you are wise to be ahead of both. For example, if demographics are changing the face of your organization’s clientele, you either have to bring along your existing donors whose priorities may remain elsewhere, or find new donors who are interested in your emerging areas.

Simplicity gets results – once again, simplicity rules – trying to be all things to all people never works!

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There are many simple things you can do, right now, without any formal training, strategy or large output of resources to adopt this mindset and put it into action:

o Be a leader - your job is to facilitate and inspire matches

o Sell to the “right” people - focus your attention on the people whose interests and values fit your organization

o Make it easy for others to spread the word - explain what you offer and how to get involved, clearly!

o Have a clear “ask” - be specific - what and how

o Invite feedback and use it!

o Say thank you!

These simple tips are do-able; use them as checkpoints to guide you.

• The 10 Have-Tos for Successful Taglines. Put your nonprofit marketing into high gear.
• The 7 Deadly Sins. Examples of what not to do.
• What Makes a Winning Tagline. Winners of the 2008 Nonprofit Tagline Awards.
• Over 1,000 Nonprofit Tagline Examples. Put them to work for tagline brainstorming.

You'll have to wait until the entire report is released in September but in the meantime, Nancy has selected the following as outstanding taglines.

Arts & Culture: Where Actors Find Their Space —NYC Theatre Spaces

This clearinghouse for NYC rehearsal and performance spaces uses a double entendre to go beyond a description of its services and highlight the value of its work.

Civic Benefit: Stand Up for a Child —CASA of Southwest Missouri

CASA’s tagline provokes anger, compassion and a desire to help, in just five words.

Education: Stay Close...Go Far. —East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

This simple yet distinctive tagline from East Stroudsburg cuts through the clutter. Its straightforward character mirrors that of the school.

Environment & Animals: Helping Preserve the Places You Cherish —LandChoices

LandChoices’ tagline thoroughly communicates the value of its work while evoking one’s most precious memories of walks in the woods, wildflower meadows and childhood camping trips. There’s a real emotional connection here.

Grantmaking: Make the most of your giving. —The Greater Cincinnati Foundation

This clear tagline articulates the value of the foundation for donors considering an alternative way to give.

Health & Sciences: Improving Life, One Breath at a Time —American Lung Association

This unexpected focus on the breath—a core element of life—gets attention, and understanding.

Human Services: When You Can't Do It Alone —Jewish Family & Children’s Service of Sarasota–Manatee, Inc.

This tagline tells the story succinctly and powerfully: It’s all about getting help when life becomes overwhelming. It makes a strong emotional connection.

International, Foreign Affairs & National Security: Whatever it takes to save a child —U.S. Fund for UNICEF

UNICEF engages hearts and minds with its passionate focus on helping children. Who could turn down a request for a donation?

Jobs & Workforce Development: All Building Starts With a Foundation —Building Future Builders

Voters enjoyed the word play here: It adds depth of understanding without being glib.

Religion & Spiritual Development: Grounded in tradition...Open to the Spirit —Memphis Theological Seminary (MTS)

MTS conveys the two equally important halves of its values and curriculum in a way that makes you think about the connection.

Other

• The Art of Active Aging —EngAGE

EngAGE surprises with the imagery of active aging and the use of the term “art” to describe the way it does its work.

• Because facts matter. —Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP)

This tagline introduces the nature of OCPP’s impact in Oregon and entices the reader or listener to find out more. Its value proposition—the truth—is particularly compelling at a time when facts are frequently disregarded in public debate.

If you are filling in the blanks for your donors, staff or other important audiences, you could be missing opportunities to connect with them in meaningful ways. By assuming what you think is important to them, from your organization's perspective, you could be:

• Overlooking untapped markets 
• Underwhelming important audiences
• Underselling benefits and attributes that they value the most about you.

" Sometimes I'm a cabbagehead.

Sometimes I'm a star.

Always I'm amazed by where

my best ideas are."

I love to read a great variety of books -- and as a mother of a brilliant young reader, I am often delighted by childrens books. The above poem comes from Cabbagehead by Loris Lesynksi.

Creativity needs to be nurtured, through fun, play and whimsy. Any artist or writer can tell you, it cannot be forced. Here are some tips I picked up from Father Luke. I actually do several of these often! That is a benefit of working in a home office.

Be A Kid Again

1. Do a cartwheel.
2. Sing into your hairbrush.
3. Walk barefoot in wet grass.
4. Play a song you like really loud, over and over.
5. Dot all your “i”’s with smiley faces.
6. Read the funnies. Throw the rest of the paper away.
7. Dunk your cookies.
8. Play a game where you make up the rules as you go along.
9. Step carefully over sidewalk cracks.
10. Change into some play clothes.
11. Try to get someone to trade you a better sandwich.
12. Eat ice cream for breakfast.
13. Kiss a frog, just in case.
14. Blow the wrapper off a straw.
15. Have someone read you a story.
16. Find some pretty stones and save them.
17. Wear your favorite shirt with you favorite pants even if they don’t match.
18. Take a running jump over a big puddle.
19. Get someone to buy you something you really don’t need.
20. Hide your vegetables under your napkin.
21. Stay up past your bedtime.
22. Eat dessert first.
23. Fuss a little, then take a nap.
24. Wear red gym shoes.
25. Put way too much sugar on your cereal.
26. Make cool screeching noises every time you turn a corner.
27. Giggle a lot for no reason.
28. Give yourself a gold star for everything you do today.

The most powerful statement in the world will lead nowhere, however, if your value proposition is in direct contrast to your organization's core and culture. Nothing breeds disillusionment among your staff and volunteers (and your donors!) than the rank whiff of disconnect. An organization's culture, sometimes defined as how people behave when they think no one is looking, needs to be authentic and in tune to resonate. Inconsistency is the greatest demoralizer. Organizations that live their values are:

• authentic - act and do as they say they do
• receptive - actively interested in their donors' and staff needs and interests
• giving - focused on the needs of their clients first
• prosperous - attract supporters and partners

What this means to organizations is that the old rules no longer apply. The trusted bag of communications tricks is no longer effective. One industry person commented at a seminar I attended recently that media releases (you may still be calling them news releases) are now considered the lowest life form of public relations. But this is the tool most organizations rely upon to get the word out.

If your communications efforts are at the lower end of the food chain, it's time to think about how you can avoid being gobbled up... more to follow. Watch this space.