On this day of record consumerism, guilt and excess, take a moment to ponder the above statement: Love is not enough. You can love your donors, honour your staff, respect and cherish your board and volunteers, but like a good marriage, ongoing TLC is required to keep everyone happy, giving and content. So, here are my tips that are guaranteed to work for all of your relationships:

• Don't take the ones you love for granted. Look for ways to connect and build it into your day-to-day life. Schedule it.
• Don't pay attention only when you want something - avoid the fundraising one-night stand. As a side note, this has been my most popular post. If you haven't checked it out, enjoy!
• Listen more than you speak.
• Never assume - you know the saying, it makes an ... out of you and me.
• Be a part of the solution, not the problem - look for ways to pre-empt problems by being the partner you want your partner to be.
• Don't contribute to suspicion and confusion - keep the information and dialogue going.
• Be respectful and courteous. Familiarity need not breed contempt.
• Never go to bed mad - translated in organizational terms, don't leave conflict to fester.
• And most importantly, love is not a selfish act! It's about them, not you.

Wishing you lots of love on Valentine's Day.

 

A North Dakota-based financial services company gave its 500-plus employees a gift that gives back at its annual Christmas party this week. State Bank and Trust will provide each staff member with a gift of up to $1000 on the condition staff "pay it forward" for local individuals or organizations in need. The announcement (complete with Oprah impersonator) generated a lot of buzz within the organization and has already attracted interest from other companies and media internationally.

The idea has merit on several levels:

• creates relationships and profile in the community (and beyond) for the organization
• raises awareness of community needs
• empowers staff (donors) in researching and selecting recipients
• connects staff (donors) with the impact of their gifts
• gives potential for longer term relationships as corporate or individual volunteers or donors
• creates opportunities for leveraging of gifts; some staff members are pooling their donations and seeking matching gifts from other funders
• is relatively simple from an administrative point of view
• opens the door for future PR

The company will publish a report after the deadline concludes in June 2008.

In honour of Halloween, today I share a story of a bizarre act of corporate generosity.  The Hampton Hotels chain based in Memphis, Tennessee recently swooped in to the town of Roland, Manitoba (population 350) to fix its hallowed monument, a 1,500 pound pumpkin. If this sounds odd, imagine how the chairman of the Roland Pumpkin Fair felt when he received a phone call offering assistance in sprucing up the pumpkin and the grounds it sits on: at first he thought it was a prank call and almost hung up. No word on how Hampton Hotels found out about the need, but according to newspaper reports, the Great Roland Pumpkin was the 34th monument it has helped restore in North America since it began the Save-A-Landmark program in 2000. It's worth mentioning, there is only one Hampton Hotel in the entire province of Manitoba, and it is not near the town. All that remains of the five Hampton staff from Memphis who flew in to save the pumpkin from graffiti and the elements is a small plaque that verifies Roland's pumpkin as the largest in the world. The hotel chain's marketing director states "it's about figuring out places that are quirky and fun" moreso that what communities can do for them. A random act of kindness isn't that mysterious after all... please add to my bizarre gifts collection by commenting here!

Dear Non-Profit Organization,

I haven't heard from you in awhile and I admit, it hurts. I find it hard to believe you aren't answering my letters or returning my calls. I thought we got along so well and we seemed to have so much in common. I really hoped our relationship was going to be long term. I don't know how to put this delicately, but it seems like once you got what you wanted, you weren't interested anymore. I know you're busy but I've detected a pattern. I only hear from you when you want more. I feel used.

Sincerely, Your Corporate Donor

In a past life I worked at a major financial services organization. Part of my responsibility was to promote our national program for corporate citizenship. This involved working directly with hundreds of non-profit organizations to fulfil recognition agreements and coordinate joint promotion. It amazed me how difficult it was to do this, when it seemed like it should be so much easier. I was surprised at the opportunities many were missing to let our corporate machine leverage their public and media relations efforts. Here are some sad but true examples.

Top Ten Turn Offs

1. No thank you letter sent - the ultimate sin!
2. If thank you letter is sent, it contains spelling mistakes (including our name!) and appears to be a form letter with no impact statement or relationship to our specific gift.
3. No follow up report or evaluation despite this being a condition of funding, and no other feedback sent. I can't get enough detail from the initial agreement to confidently portray your initiative. Did you actually use the money for the project as described? Did it change? Did you meet the milestone dates? Tell me when, where, why, how so that I can easily and accurately promote your project.
4. Disregard for our approval policy and corporate identity standards. No, you can't change the colour of the logo to fuchsia from green just because it looks better with your graphic design choice. And yes, you were supposed to ask us before you shrunk our logo down to mice type so it would fit on your bracelet. We'd rather pass on having the logo appear (with permission) than have it appear poorly.
5. Lack of notice given. What has become your emergency is not automatically our priority and despite our mutual interests we can't always provide you with answers on your event, news release etc. without the time to process it. If you multiply your request with the hundreds of ongoing projects, as well as proposals under review, please appreciate why we ask for a specified amount of lead time.
6. Worse than lack of notice, is finding out after the fact that you announced our contribution at an event or in a media release. We ask to see your release in advance, not only to make sure it's correct and consistent with our messages, but to make sure we have the opportunity to post on our website, flag any reasons why the date might not be optimal, provide to our own contacts and prepare for any resulting inquiries. And for those organizations who don't have communications expertise in house, we'll help you write it and make it better, because we want it to get picked up as much as you do.
7. The information you provide me is not what I asked for and as a result, I am not likely to use it in my website, staff newsletter, annual report, speaking remarks etc. Variations on this include repeating your initial proposal without giving me impact or outcomes I can use, or providing me with reams of information which I have to spend valuable time sifting through.
8. You send me a CD of awesome photos with no index, identification or captions that tell me what the photo is, when it was taken, who is in it, and if we have permission to use it.
9. You refer me to your communications person who doesn't seem to be on the same page with you and I have to brief her or him on our joint initiative.
10. If we have worked together on a news release or event, you don't send me copies of coverage or provide any feedback on it.

Relationship Rescue

If you see yourself in any of these scenarios, it's not too late. You can still have a chance at a long and mutually rewarding relationship. At the very least, you can still be friends.