Rosetta asks: what’s one thing nonprofits could do to improve the sector? My answer is, be ruthless about money and operate with heart. Sound provocative? It’s meant to get your attention. I think more nonprofits could benefit greatly from an immersion in business thinking. After many years working with both sectors, I offer the following observations.

Nonprofits exist to ask for money, so they can do good. Businesses exist to make money, while they do the good that their customers want. See where I’m going?

The most basic transaction is at play: people willingly, sometimes even obsessively, provide money in exchange for something they desire. Where this parallel implodes is that businesses make no secret that they are selling a product or service. Their organizational structure, performance expectations of staff, and all processes that get customers in the door, paying and satisfied support this common goal. If they don’t, the business fails.

Nonprofit leaders have the same skills and resources available to them as their private sector counterparts. In fact, a recent study by the Nonprofit Quarterly showed that nonprofit leaders outperformed for-profit leaders in 14 out of 17 leadership qualities, including persuasiveness, encouraging participation and sharing credit to name a few. Business sector leaders were better at coping with stress, push and pressure and maintaining energy. This doesn’t surprise me - as the report comments, nonprofit executives rely more on personal vs. hierarchical power. A telling finding: nonprofit leaders tend to rate themselves lower.

If more nonprofits harnessed the great leadership qualities their staff possess, while adopting the established best practices of business, imagine what could be achieved. I’ll be offering a free teleseminar on this very topic in a few weeks time. Watch for registration details on this site, or get on my enewsletter list to get your invitation first.

In last month’s newsletter I ran an article on how to come up with more effective communications messages in six easy steps. To walk through the steps, read the full article here. When deciding how to communicate something with your audiences, you have to start with knowing who they are, and match your message accordingly. Here are some reminders of the basics you probably already know, but are well worth revisiting:

Know your audience – You are wasting your time and theirs if you are not positioning your message in a way that will appeal to them. In a world of information overload, this investment of thought and effort will go a long way in keeping your audience interested and connected to your organization.

Know what you want to achieve – Your message has to support your overall goal, but also has to be intended to achieve a specific purpose. Without this direction, you can’t begin to match the message to the audience. With it, your message will be effective and clear.

More emotion, less logic – Don’t bog down your message in facts, data and history. To penetrate your audience’s attention and to achieve your desired result, you need to consider their driving emotion and design your message in keeping with it.

For some unknown reason, I have recurring dreams about turtles. This started about a year ago, and has generated a lot of interesting conversation among my friends and family. I don’t know yet what it means, but it has been fun trying to figure it out (I love this photo by Isado called Turtles in Green Tea).

An obvious parallel in real life could be perseverance, or the moral of the story, slow and steady wins the race. Let me admit I can be impatient — however in my professional capacity, I frequently find myself coaching others to plod determinedly towards their goals. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that most people are easily diverted to new and shiny over old faithful when it comes to their marketing and communications. The problem is, usually, old faithful is what they really need.

If you catch yourself thinking more, better, faster instead of progress, focus and direction, you may be undermining your own success. More and faster is ok if you are moving in a consistent direction. But if you are frequently changing your messages to the outside world (tweaking your tagline, changing your profile etc.), revising the look of your documents, chasing the latest trends, or constantly feeling the need to say something different, you could actually end up like the proverbial hare at the end of the race.

A good rule of thumb is to stick to a few core messages, and repeat, repeat, repeat. It might seem like same old to you, but to your audience, you are providing comfort, connection and familiarity. Rome, nor your brand, can be built in a day.

Nancy at the Getting Attention blog has challenged nonprofit consultants to describe their top three ‘to do’ items for 2008 for their clients. Now before you think I am whining about working too many hours, read further - there is a story here.

Alone and at the top of my list would be creating a culture of philanthropy. Without this, there is nothing else that matters much.

This big wish is the one I hear from my clients and friends in the sector that is the most desired yet elusive. What is it and what would it look like? In my own admittedly poetic terms (as I come down from the natural high of National Philanthropy Day event today), this would mean an organization that is singing from the same songsheet, to an inspiring tune that people love and can’t get out of their heads. Wouldn’t that be top of the charts?

As noted today was the Association of Fundraising Professionals National Philanthropy Day awards presentation in my city. Once again I was humbled by the immense good so many people do, in so many ways and I am thankful to have the opportunity to support their work indirectly. One of the award recipients, Ted Foreman, responded this way when asked why he has made a lifetime of giving back to the community. His response was simple and profound: The givers sleep a lot better than the takers. Creating a culture of philanthropy means creating more givers than takers, and giving them fulfilling and rewarding opportunities and experiences. My To Do is to help create this culture.

Many people pride themselves on going with their gut instincts. A new book Gut Feelings provides evidence that too much analysis may be a bad thing, and may not result in any better decisions. Trusting hunches and intuition are really colloquial terms for what the author Gerd Gigerenzer and his colleagues call "heuristics", defined as fast and efficient cognitive shortcuts in the brain. Personally I am a big believer in instinct - but I feel equally strongly that "chance favours the prepared mind". My topic in this month’s enewsletter gives you tips for planning on the fly, to be able to make sound communications decisions when the opportunities arise.

Here’s my Top Ten list of questions to consider if you need to make a good decision quickly:

1. What objective does it serve? There’s a reason why this is number one. If your idea or opportunity does not further at least one larger objective, preferably from your organization’s strategic plan, you probably shouldn’t pursue it.
2. Who is the audience? Secondly, if the audience reached by the opportunity isn’t one that you have defined as a key audience for your organization, it may not make a lot of sense to spend too much time communicating to it. There are many promotional opportunities that fit into this category; they are often nice to haves rather than have to haves.
3. What do you want to achieve? If you determine the opportunity is a good fit to advance a larger objective, and that it reaches the right audience, you’ll want to identify specifically what you intend to achieve. For example, if you have accepted a speaking presentation, your goal might be to use it as a platform to announce a new initiative. Deciding this will help figure out what you’ll need to do to achieve the goal.
4. What’s the payoff? At the end of the day, there has to be a return on your investment. This can be measured in hard results, for example, the number of media calls, new clients or donations, or softer results, like making yourself known to a new organization or community. Events are a great example of this. They are labour intensive and not always a huge money maker, but they can’t be beat for cultivating relationships and raising the profile of a cause or organization.
5. How much will it cost – time plus money? Even “free” opportunities have a real cost. Be sure to factor in staff and volunteer time, as well as budget into your decision making and planning.
6. Is the timing suitable? Sometimes the best opportunity comes at the worst time. The timing should line up with your organization’s timeline. For example, participating in a newspaper supplement that comes out in a season your organization does not offer programs, or when your audiences’ attentions are focused elsewhere, may not provide you with enough return to make the expense worth your while.
7. Who will do the work? Beyond the actual delegation of tasks and deadlines, it’s important to think about who will need to be available and who else might be affected. You will need to identify and plan for this in advance. Examples that create communications mayhem are sending out a news release when the spokesperson isn’t available for interviews or followup, and not having people available or equipped to answer inquiries after a blitz of some sort.
8. How will you define and measure success? Back to number three, take the time to verbalize or document what you will consider as achieving your goal. Without doing this, you can only rely on subjective impressions to measure your success. When your action is complete, make sure you evaluate it and note any lessons learned for the next time.
9. What work have you already done that you can reuse? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Hopefully you’ll have something in your communications tool kit that you can use as a starting point. Nudge nudge wink wink.
10. How can you leverage it after it’s done? Sometimes the value in the opportunity is what it leads to. If you’re going to put a lot of effort into something, seek other opportunities to take it to the next level. A presentation is a good example. Identify other places you can present it, write an article based on it, make it available on your website, and use it as a basis of a cultivation letter with your donors or others important to your organization.

Endorsing and promoting a code of professional conduct sends a valuable message to your staff, volunteers, donors and clients. To work most effectively, it has to be linked to your vision, and must clearly set out what the organization stands for and how staff and board members uphold it. One of my clients takes theirs a step further and asks each new person using their non-profit services to sign a code of conduct that will guide their consumer-service provider relationship. I think this is a brilliant, yet simple, method of demonstrating commitment and vision in action.

I have had the fortunate experience of working with many organizations who understood the value of corporate social responsibility and were able to connect the dots between employee and professional expectations, regulatory compliance, customer service, governance, transparency and community involvement. While the cynics out there can find fault with motivations, the fact of the matter is that many consumers do consider these factors when making decisions. Like your donors, consumers have power.

The Association of Fundraising Professionals recently updated their Code of Ethical Principles and Standards of Professional Practice to recognize the role of businesses, like mine, that support fundraising and the non-profit sector. As a member and a consultant, I am pleased to be able to say that I follow this internationally accepted standard. I especially like the introduction - and am looking forward to seeing the yet-to-be-released guidelines:

Members of AFP are motivated by an inner drive to improve the quality of life through the causes they serve. They serve the ideal of philanthropy, are committed to the preservation and enhancement of volunteerism; and hold stewardship of these concepts as the overriding direction of their professional life.

Like many painstakingly-created policies, the best communications opportunity lies in the explaining! You can build an entire communications plan around how to introduce your policy and where it could be emphasized and reinforced. After spending so much time on establishing it, take the time to properly introduce and continually bring it to life. Your efforts will pay off.

Do you think it’s guilt? Peer pressure? Compassion? Pride? Sorrow? Or is it because you were asked, you had some money available, and you philosophically and emotionally responded? The reasons are as individual as each of us but there are some ground rules worth remembering. As we enter the time of year when  many charities prepare their year-end appeals it’s a good time to get back to basics on motivating donors. What you have done the rest of the year to communicate with your donors goes a lot further to inspire giving than a few well-crafted appeal packages, so hopefully this is not one of the few times that you’ve connected with your donors this year. Direct response gurus can provide statistically proven tips and techniques that will help you take your direct mail to the next level in this science. But first and foremost, your message has to appeal and inspire and your goal is not the cheque but the relationship. Here are some interesting links that may help you with your brainstorming process. 

Alan Sharpe says There’s No Such Thing as a Fundraising Letter

Mal Warwick gives you 23 Reasons Why People Respond to Fundraising Appeals

Ken Burnett looks at the bigger picture in How to be 15 minutes ahead

Early into my college education, I quickly realized that I would never fit the advertising mould. ‘Create a need and fill it’ was always good in theory, but I could never get my arms around it entirely. It seemed a little dishonest. I could accept filling a valid, visible need but often I found myself uncomfortable making the claims that seemed to stretch the truth.

This seed of discomfort snowballed into my number one pet peeve over the subsequent years. After working with several advertising agencies on projects my conclusion is that the advertising theory and tactics that work for consumer products don’t translate to the softer selling of public awareness campaigns or causes. As well, there can be a tendency to go for award-winning creative themes that often produce little results for the client, but garner accolades for the agency. How many times have you recalled a catchy slogan, or funny commercial, but can’t identify the product or company it promoted? If you are looking for outside help, don’t be dazzled by the glitz and glamour of ad speak. Your objectives and connecting with your specific audiences should drive the creative, not the images, or the provocative ideas. Anyone who focuses on look or the wow factor without getting to understand your goals is wasting your time and money. Read what Jeff Brooks at Donor Power blog has to say on this topic.

I have had people ask me how big does an organization have to be to require a formal internal communications program? The flip side of this is "that won’t work for us, we are too small". My answer is always the same: size doesn’t matter.  Internal communications is just as important in an organization of five people in one location, as in an international organization with multiple offices and hundreds of employees. A formal program doesn’t have to be as formidable as it sounds: it can consist of devoting time at each staff meeting to touch base on the organization’s strategic plan or progress on an important goal, inviting two-way dialogue and feedback on pending changes or new ways of doing something, and making sure staff know where to find information and who to go to with questions. The key is ensuring they are plugged in to the strategic direction of the organization and understand how they each fit and contribute. If you’re a small organization, steps toward a formal plan can be as simple as writing down the different opportunities you have to communicate with your staff, and pencilling topics and time frames. It’s also useful to think of best practices as scalable, meaning you can increase or decrease all those big ideas you hear about to get the right-sized solution for your organization.

In the marketing world the saying goes it takes an average of seven contacts before a consumer takes action and is ready to buy, not dissimilar from the cultivation numbers in fundraising (another parallel between the business of selling and the softer selling in the non-profit world). This doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do more, you may just need to do better with less. Here are seven suggestions on making the most of what you have.

1. Email works - If you’re not using an e-newsletter or other email tool to cultivate donors and communicate with your members, you should be. Read more at Despite newer technologies, email is number one.  There is a place for both online communications and print materials. Use your e-newsletter and email list to communicate time sensitive information, to let supporters know a direct mail appeal is coming, and to reinforce the messages in your other materials, for example, content on your website, testimonial stories in your current print newsletter, etc.
2. Website - The website is the place to highlight current campaigns, post inspiring stories, encourage online donations and give readers the self-serve option to choose the information they want. Use your website to feature current articles in your print newsletter or annual report and to expand upon stories in your direct mail piece. Add a sign up box to collect email addresses for your e-newsletter. Sign up forms should be prominently on your website, reinforced in all of your print materials, and collected anywhere you are recording data, e.g. membership renewals, program enrolment etc.
3. Direct mail works - And studies show it works better if you mention your direct mail appeal in your email communication beforehand.
4. Information materials - Admittedly most budgets don’t allow to reprint or update all materials every time a new campaign or initiative is launched. One way around this is to start with a standard format and look that can be carried through all materials. This way, adding a one page or simple folded panel doesn’t need to break the bank.
5. Business card and email signature - The business card and your email signature are communications tools. Make sure your website address and one sentence or less appeal is on yours. If you have an e-newsletter, put the link of your sign up form into your email signature.
6. Stationery - Although not the most glamorous, your letterhead, envelopes, receipts and other stationery items may be seen more often than any other material you produce. Make sure yours are current, include your pertinent coordinates and website, and look similar to your other materials. Add your current campaign theme or other tag.
7. Personal stories work - Gather the wonderful testimonials and personal stories collected from staff and board members. Use them on your website, in your print newsletter, in direct mail, in your brochures, in your annual report and speaking presentations, and in your e-newsletters.

And last but not least, promote your promotions internally. Even in the smallest of organizations, staff who aren’t directly involved in communications or fundraising may not be aware of the current materials and messages. Post them, circulate them, ask for feedback on them. The more people who can explain and advance the cause of your organization, in a consistent voice, the stronger you will be.