If you’ve often feel like you aren’t making your point when speaking with others, Edith Yeung of Dream Think Act has some clues for checking their reactions and how they may be hearing you.

Borrow a page from the retail industry. If you really want to view your organization from a donor’s eyes, be one. I call with a general inquiry, join or donate to an organization and sign up on the mailing list when I do a communications audit for an organization. There’s no more basic and telling way to check out the donor experience and see how close or far you are from living up to your mission and values statement in your day-to-day operations. You may also find some missed opportunities and mixed messages in your materials and interactions along the way.

This statistic was so interesting I can’t resist repeating it. If you’re a fan of using myths vs. facts to tell your story about a cause or issue, you might want to think again. A recent study from the University of Michigan showed that more often than not, readers confused the information upon recall and the facts in the message were lost. Once this happens, it’s even more difficult to turn it around. In the study, volunteers read a brochure that listed myths and facts about a health issue. After 30 minutes, they misremembered 28 percent of the false statements as true. Three days later, this increased to 40 per cent. To make it worse repeating misinformation to clarify actually tended to backfire. This has implications particularly if you are using these kinds of messages as part of a long-term campaign.

The event schedule is starting up again. Are you ready? Events are a great way to raise your organization’s profile and the energy and interest of your donors and associates. They are also labour intensive and a drain on precious staff and volunteer resources. By the time the event comes, you may be tempted to turn on your auto pilot, hide in the corner looking busy, or sip a few glasses of wine before you get the courage to try your Elaine from Seinfeld dance impression.

Please don’t. Here are some tips on how to make the most of your event:

View the event as an opportunity to forge connections. Assign a team of people who will be responsible for this.

Review the attendance list beforehand and get to know as much as you can about the people attending, particularly your prospects and special guests. For example, profession, involvement with your and other organizations, interests.

Assign a host for each of your important prospects. The host’s role is to greet the guest at the door, ensure they are comfortable, and make introductions. Look comfortable doing this: standing in a long line at the door is intimidating for guests as they arrive.

During the event, your goal is not to probe and pester, it is to make them feel welcome, and to introduce them to other donors, board members and staff who share their interests. Do not shadow them, introduce them and move on. Check in again later.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. No matter how wonderful the buffet looks, remember you are there to work and this is not the time for you and your coworkers to catch up over dinner and drinks. You can do that later.

Look the part. You want to represent your organization in as positive and professional a light as possible. Avoid the bar, eat sparingly, mind your manners and carry dental floss and a Tide to Go stain pen.

After the event, ideally the same day, regroup and make note of any new information gathered and any new contacts gained. Ensure this is added to your database. It surprises me how much of this information can be forgotten and lost.

Take the time to celebrate your success - after it’s over. Some of the best team-building occurs on a high from an event well done. Have a special lunch the next day.

Follow up soon after the event if anyone expressed interest in volunteering or getting involved with something specific. Strike while the iron is hot!

Ensure your contact list is up to date and the past attendees are the first invited next time around.

A popular article in many magazines and newspapers is a peek inside a celebrity’s purse. It’s always fun to see what people carry around in the name of being prepared. I’ve often thought it would be equally revealing to look inside the filing cabinets and desks of top professionals.

I have a tried and true list of staple items I’ve used when I start a new job or project. I follow this list faithfully and it has not let me down. It works equally well in government, private and non-profit sectors. Spend some time developing these items before you need them, and your life will become easier. You or someone else in your organization needs to have this information available to be able to respond quickly when you get a media call, need to whip together a promotional package for an event or project, develop a proposal or speak at a conference. Here’s my list of must-haves:

A key messages document - short 1-3 sentence statements on topics like mission, operations, key projects or services, history, recognition or honours, support in the community

Biographies - one-page biographies of the executive members, senior personnel, board members

Head shots - professional quality headshots of key personnel and well as board chairperson

Organization profiles - short (less than 200 words) and full-page profile on the organization, program and services and geographic area served

Fact sheet - a bulleted list of relevant statistics and historical information about the organization and key projects

Logos - organization logos, in black and white and colour, in a variety of formats, e.g. lower resolution .jpg for web use or online, higher resolution like .eps or .tif for print

Photos - a selection of good quality photos that illustrate the mission in action, with a corresponding caption and identification of people, if applicable

Lists -  gather and update periodically lists of media, political representatives in your area, public service announcements and free community billboards

Testimonials - maintain a file of compliments and thanks

Allies and competitors - have a basic understanding of your partners and allied organizations, as well as your competitors

Contact lists - email, telephone, addresses for staff and board members. Print it out for the days your server goes down! This is guaranteed to happen when you need to get into your database in a hurry.

If you ensure you have these items you’ll never be caught unprepared. The next time an unexpected opportunity comes up, you can spend your time making the most of it instead of doing the eleventh hour dash.

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this statement, I’d be independently wealthy: We need better communications. Everyone says it, everyone knows it, but hardly anyone does it. I think there are many reasons why this is so: different understandings of the term, mismanaged expectations, or unclear goals and objectives, to name a few. When you get right down to it, communications is a broad concept. There is the act of communicating, and there is the profession of communicating. Everyone communicates but not all are communicators, professional or otherwise. As a profession, communications is a broad field with many areas of specialized skills.

What communications isn’t, is a band aid for organizational issues, lack of strategic direction or focus. When I am told by management or staff that better communications is the missing piece they feel is needed in order to be successful at X, Y, or Z, I know from experience that this is usually the sign of a larger issue or challenge that needs to be addressed, and then communicated. Here are a few common scenarios I hear often:

• Staff aren’t excited or supportive of a new, positive initiative
• Board members seem disconnected from the workings of the organization
• Long-term volunteers or staff are becoming disinterested, and are leaving
• Despite an open door policy, no one comes forward to discuss concerns
• Media never cover happenings or news about the organization
• The organization isn’t recognized in the community
• They (insert group here) don’t understand our issues
• Donations are down and we think it’s because we don’t have a high enough profile
• Members aren’t renewing and we don’t know why

There are many valid reasons why any of the above situations occur. But most often, it is not a single cause that is the issue. So trying to solve one generally leads to another. Good communications, if done well, is integrated into the core of the organization and is consistent throughout all functions and activities. But the need never ends or is completed. Think of it as a series of decisions and interactions. Multiply it by the power of the individual and the perceptions, motivations and interests of each person and you can imagine why achieving communications nirvana is a continually moving target.

I fundamentally believe that all organizations need these pieces for each corner of the puzzle: a clearly articulated vision and strategic plan, realistic and meaningful goals that can be interpreted at the individual level by each person in the organization, a comprehensive and two-way internal communications program, and an annual communications plan that specifies both internal and external communications objectives and activities that directly support the organization’s broader strategy. Only then can you begin to fill in the pieces.

This week’s Carnival is hosted by Jeff Brooks at Donor Power who invited comments on what’s good and bad about fundraising. Check out the results.

I remember vividly the first time I realized the power of fundraising and the moment I knew that I wanted to use my communications talents for good and not evil. I also remember the reaction I received from colleagues and friends when I said I wanted to pursue fundraising as a career path. What are you, nuts? was the most common response.

As a communications professional for more than 20 years, I think I can offer an informed opinion on why the fundraising profession gets about the same popularity ranking as a auditor or funeral director: it’s in the language. We make it sound about as appealing as a root canal or other medical procedure.

Take the following examples:

Solicitation - sounds like something you don’t want to be caught doing. Illegal.

Cultivation - most definitely agricultural.

Donor - what you do with blood or organs.

Constituency - determines where you vote and who your political representative is.

Development and advancement - better, but vague.

Donor pyramid - sounds like a get rich quick marketing scheme.

Case statement - what your lawyer does in court after you solicit.

I think it’s time for a rebranding, don’t you?

Do a good deed today to honour lives lost and nations forever joined by the tragedy of September 11 and enter it on the My Good Deeds website. So far it has received 357,196 pledges. Today I volunteered my time with a non-profit organization, and made a first-time donation to a charity of my choice.

In the spirit of giving, I will also offer a free copy of Robin Hood Marketing, the book by Katya Andresen of Network for Good to a random subscriber to who is signed up for my monthly e-newsletter or to receive email updates from this blog.  Katya offers no nonsense marketing advice, stolen from the riches of the corporate marketing world to promote your just causes. She is on the mark.

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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.