1. What'd you say?
Don’t let your great message share the fate of so many would-be novelists
whose best work doesn’t get published because they don’t know how
to tell agents about it.
Indeed, Sherry
Minton, director of direct response for the American Heart Association
in Dallas, asserted that the “real impact of your message is
not in what you say, but how you say it.”
Minton presented
a few of her ideas to bridge this gap during a recent conference
in Washington, D.C.
- Key visual
and verbal skills must be mastered to deliver powerful presentations.
A few examples are your stance, gestures, facial expressions, and
voice.
- People’s
response usually depends 55 percent on body language and expressions,
38 percent to vocal inflection and 7 percent to what is said. The
most common sense advice is reminiscent of a high school public
speaking class, but is nonetheless important to master.
- Increase your
presentation’s power by standing straight, weight evenly
balanced, hands and arms at your side, shoulders squared to the
crowd, and up slightly on the balls of your feet.
- Avoid swaying
hips, shuffling feet, leaning tower, moving target.
- Gestures help
emphasize main points, allow the crowd to follow along, and involve
them. Gestures should have a flair of spontaneity, involve the
whole body, be broad and sweeping, and vary.
- Avoid gestures
such as the stern parent, the soldier at parade rest, and overusing
the same gestures or meaningless ones.
- As for facial
expressions, maintain an overall pleasant countenance, make sure
what your mouth says matches your expression, and practice in front
of a mirror. Think of yourself as an actor.
- Your voice
inflection is also important. People listen four times faster than
most people speak. Use it to project enthusiasm and excitement,
improve recall, and imply that you are bright and more interesting.
- There are several
ways to deal with stage fright. Try visualizing the presentation,
practice, breathing, focusing on relaxation, release tension, keep
eye contact with the audience, and move.
 2. Annual Reports - Making them an important read
Every year nonprofits face the challenge of producing an annual report that
is informative and still accessible while meeting government regulations and
allowing for budgetary constraints.
In her book, “Publishing
The Nonprofit Annual Report: Tips, Traps, and Tricks of the Trade,” Caroline
Taylor outlines some of the ideas she has gained about reports. Taylor
has been director of publications for the World Wildlife Fund since
1993 and a consultant on annual reports. Taylor offers these tips
to anyone putting together an annual report:
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it accessible
to general readers.
- Tell the truth.
- Make an impact
visually.
Taylor considers
an annual report a necessity for any nonprofit, regardless of size,
because it can fulfill legal requirements, express the vision of
the CEO, and serve as a fundraising tool, financial disclosure document,
image builder and archival record.
The key players
in an annual report are the CEO, the content expert(s), the writer
(either in house or freelance), the editor, the development office,
the designer, the printer and the mailer.
The key elements
of the report are the cover, the executive message, the mission statement,
the review of operations, the management analysis, financial statements,
lists (such as the organizational chart), a “How to Help” section
for prospective members or donors, and the visual elements.
ing a recent conference
in Washington, D.C.
- Key visual
and verbal skills must be mastered to deliver powerful presentations.
A few examples are your stance, gestures, facial expressions, and
voice.
- People’s
response usually depends 55 percent on body language and expressions,
38 percent to vocal inflection and 7 percent to what is said. The
most common sense advice is reminiscent of a high school public
speaking class, but is nonetheless important to master.
- Increase your
presentation’s power by standing straight, weight evenly
balanced, hands and arms at your side, shoulders squared to the
crowd, and up slightly on the balls of your feet.
- Avoid swaying
hips, shuffling feet, leaning tower, moving target.
- Gestures help
emphasize main points, allow the crowd to follow along, and involve
them. Gestures should have a flair of spontaneity, involve the
whole body, be broad and sweeping, and vary.
- Avoid gestures
such as the stern parent, the soldier at parade rest, and overusing
the same gestures or meaningless ones.
- As for facial
expressions, maintain an overall pleasant countenance, make sure
what your mouth says matches your expression, and practice in front
of a mirror. Think of yourself as an actor.
- Your voice
inflection is also important. People listen four times faster than
most people speak. Use it to project enthusiasm and excitement,
improve recall, and imply that you are bright and more interesting.
- There are several
ways to deal with stage fright. Try visualizing the presentation,
practice, breathing, focusing on relaxation, release tension, keep
eye contact with the audience, and move.
3. Keep your emails to the point
Email can be a tool to energize staff and cultivate donors for nonprofits,
as long as it is used wisely. Sandra A. Adams, ACFRE, senior vice president
for external affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association, offered
10 simple rules for email writing at a recent conference on fundraising.
- Before creating
an email, ask yourself: is the message really necessary; who needs
to read it; do I need a response, and, if so, when?
- In responding
to an email, select "sender only" instead of "all
recipients" whenever possible.
- Use the subject
line to convey what the message is about, in six words or fewer.
- If you have
a deadline, say so in the subject line.
- Keep it short.
- . To mark high
priority, use URGENT in the subject line. Sparingly.
- If the sole
purpose is to be funny, ask yourself if it is worth taking up people's
time. If so, put "humor" in the subject line.
- Use only common
abbreviations -- very common when dealing with people outside the
organization. Remember, familiarity with email shorthand, such
as LOL for laugh out loud, may be generational.
- Remember that
spellcheck is your friend.
- Create a signature
block to use with all your messages.
4. You don't need to do stand-up
Does the prospect of delivering an oral presentation before a live audience
fill you with dread? Like it or not, you may have to open your mouth at some
time, and not for the miniature bagels and pastry.
Despite the fact
that much fundraising emphasis is placed on written work, personal
presentations may also come into play. Speaking at a nonprofit conference,
Sherry Minton, director of direct response for the American Heart
Association, offered a few tips on making a powerful presentation.
- Stand straight
with the feet apart and weight evenly balanced, hands at the sides
and shoulders squared to the audience.
- Use gestures
that are spontaneous, involve the whole body, are broad and sweeping,
have variety and are consistent. Be careful of overused or meaningless
gestures.
- For facial
expressions, maintain an overall pleasant countenance, make sure
what you are saying with your face matches what you are saying
with your tongue, and learn to be an actor by practicing in front
of a mirror.
- Remember to
use your voice to project enthusiasm and excitement.
- To handle stage
fright, visualize your presentation, practice, do breathing exercises,
focus on relaxing, release your tension, move around and work on
eye contact with the audience.
5. Ephilanthropy - Communicate online
Email can
be a useful tool in creating a total fundraising organization as long
as it is used intelligently. This advice was offered by Sandra A. Adams
ACFRE, a senior vice president of external affairs for the National
Parks Conservation Association, who spoke at an international conference
on fundraising.
When using email
to help create that organization, Adams said to remember who is involved:
- Development
staff: Share information with them on donors, weekly income reports,
program budgets, campaign updates and notes from donor visits.
- Other staff:
They announce major gifts, regular updates on progress toward campaign
goals, give advance notice of events, recruit help with mailings
and other tasks, report on donor contacts, write quick bios of
new staff members. They should be thanked for help with donor outreach
and soliciting input.
- CEO: Does call
reminders, visit reports and makes copies of (some) messages to
the board.
- Board: Gets
regular reports from the CEO, announces major gifts, committee
meeting details, agendas, minutes, upcoming events, quick thank-you
notes (followed by mail for gifts and important services), draft
messages to be sent to prospects and polls.
- Donors: Instant
acknowledges of online gifts, makes quick program updates for major
donors, solicitations and advice on Web site issues.
In all of this,
the tone should be professional, cordial and businesslike.
6. Email Policy - Instant distraction from messaging
It's much
easier these days for a worker to spend a whole morning instant messaging
a long-lost third cousin, while appearing to be doing research on the
Internet. Because of this, nonprofits need to develop guidelines for
how employees use its communication system.
The Foundation
for Information Technology Education (FITE) created guidelines for
rules, procedures and employee responsibilities for using company
supplied communication technologies.
For example, the
proper use of emails sent or received via a nonprofit's system.
Here are some basic guidelines the IT Resource Center in Chicago set by modifying
the FITE's document for itself.
- Purpose: The
purpose of company-supplied communications resources is to conduct
and support company business.
- Ownership: Equipment
and messages are company property.
- Usage: All communications
originating from the company and identifiable as such are to be
treated as business documents.
- Security and
Privacy: Personal passwords; staff are expected to maintain their
company network and account passwords to deter unauthorized access
to company systems through public areas of the company or by remote
access.
- Non-business
Communication: Incidental and occasional personal use of company
equipment is permitted. Such messages become the property of the
business and are subject to the same conditions.
7. Plan how to express your goals
Anyone can
say that communication is important in any organization, but an important
part of communications is having a plan for it. Barbara H. Mulville
of Southcoast Health System in New Bedford, Mass., shared her ideas
about such a plan at an international conference on fundraising.
Managers need to
confer with marketing and public relations departments to adopt a
set of philosophies:
- Communication
is the bedrock of all winning relationships.
- An institution
needs total organizational commitment to communications.
- Togetherness
is important. Philanthropy and marketing/PR need to know each other's
moves.
- Communications
is omnipresent in our lives. Every day people are trying to get
our attention, and most often we're tuning them out.
- The person we
are trying to communicate with will be more receptive if we deliver
our message the way that person wants to receive it.
- Goals need to
be set in an open, honest environment -- development goals, communication
goals, institutional priorities.
- Learn what marketing/PR
pros already know: Every touch is a "sales" opportunity.
- Together, take
control of your institutional messages.
- Look at the
big picture -- how far your message will reach.
In addition, there
are other guidelines for good communication: Teamwork, knowing your
audience, analyzing your data, crafting your message, implementing
the plan and measuring results.
8. Communication - No secret endowments
Secret endowment fundraising does not succeed, says Charles C.
Schumacher in his book Building Your Endowment , published by
the Fund Raising School of the Indiana University Center on Philanthropy.
An organization
must inform as many people as possible that it is building an endowment.
In marketing and communication, it is important to recognize redundancy
as a virtue.
Among the aspects
and ideas for marketing and communicating about endowment fundraising:
-
Identifying
likely donors. Look into the current donor database and decide
who is a prospective donor to the endowment and who else might
be approached.
-
Targeting individuals.
Characteristics include individuals with a long history of giving
to the organization, are age 50 or older, have a link of some
kind to the organization, have given to other organizations'
endowments, have no heirs, have been retired for a period of
time or are current donors (the most likely), past donors, current
board members or past board members.
-
Targeting corporations
and foundations. Careful research will be required. For the most
part, foundations consider themselves to be endowments and therefore
decline to give to other nonprofit endowments. A corporation
with a long history of giving to an organization and has a relationship
with it, however, is a prospective donor.
9. Making your opinion known Via Op-Eds
Many nonprofits
deal with the media on a regular basis. Others, usually smaller groups,
may not deal with the media at all or very infrequently. In either
case, clear communication and a smooth relationship with news outlets
can be helpful to an organization.
In his book Making
The News: A Guide for Activists and Nonprofits, Jason Salzman
recommends establishing a relationship with journalists. This can
have many benefits, including the fact that journalists will look,
and report, favorably on organizations that they trust and see
as worthwhile.
Further, they
will contact organizations they consider to be reliable first.
In addition, Salzman
favors getting to know a newspaper's editorial writers and columnists.
Most people don't read editorials, but community leaders, policy
makers and other people involved in government do, and getting their
attention early and in a positive way can be helpful.
Also, editorial
writers are often the high-ranking members of a newsroom, the ones
with the most clout.
Salzman offers
tips for initiating contact with editorial page staff:
-
Familiarize
yourself with the newspaper's positions on issues.
-
Find the email
address of the writer who specializes in your issue.
-
Once you have
identified the person you want, briefly explain your position
in a short email. Ask what kind of communication that person
would prefer to receive.
- If you do not
receive a response in a few days, call. Be persistent.
10. Write
so a donor can scan your newsletter
To make its donor
newsletter an effective fundraising tool, an organization must produce
one that will actually be read. At the Association of Fundraising
Professionals annual conference in Baltimore, the advice for a donor
newsletter was to give it "scanability."
An appearance of
being easy to read quickly rather than being burdensome. Build it
for browsers. To take advantage of a reader's quickly moving eye,
compilers of a newsletter should do the following:
- Put the important
stuff first. They may not read through less important material
to hit the big thing.
- Write real headlines.
The purpose of headlines is to summarize the story so the reader
can decide whether the person is interested. Length in a headline
is all right. Unless your headline is "Titanic Sinks" stay away
from extremely brief headlines.
- Use provocative
subheads to break long stories into smaller and less intimidating
units. Give the reader several points of entry into a story.
- Keep most paragraphs
short. Long paragraphs look dense and forbidding.
- Use lots of
bullet lists (like this one).
- Never run a
photo or graphic without a caption. One format is to use one sentence
to say what is in a picture and a second to explain the context.
- Use major graphics
to direct the eye around the printed page.
- Columns between
40 and 60 characters wide scan most quickly.
- Single-space
your lines. Double-spacing can hamper smooth reading.
- Indent paragraphs.
- Stay away from
exotic fonts and don't use ALL CAPITALS.
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