NuVisions :: Company Blog

January 16, 2010

Is your mission statement as dull as your organization? Is it doing what it’s meant to do?

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: community development, Fundraising, marketing, mission statements, non profit, nonprofit organizations, Social Media — admin @ 12:59 pm

I recently had the privilege of working with an amazing organization who’s goal is to give our unemployed a new career and help clean up our declining neighborhoods by working within the community to educate, train and find work for unemployed individuals in the construction trades. Constructive Community Builders is a licensed school of construction, training individuals in the pre apprenticeship construction trades. As part of their training, the students go out into their communities and help rebuild the blighted neighborhoods. They are working with Michigan Works in the eight cities of promise and their Leave No Worker Behind Program to find unemployed individuals who want to learn the construction trades, but they can only provide tuition for 3-5 students per year. The wait list is growing each day with people who want to sign up but can’t afford the $5,000 tuition so they have to wait until funds come in. This organization is operating on a zero budget with a massive amount of debt and little hope for getting back on track due to the poor management by the previous director. They’ve tapped their funding sources dry but they still believe they can make a difference and are pushing forward. Their drive and determination is amazing!

For 5 years this organization has given it’s all to the community. Recently, I’ve been in their offices when people off the streets have come in desperate for work, food or basic necessities and I’ve watched as the new non-paid volunteer Executive Director, who is in a wheel chair give his last dollar out of his own pocket to help someone out apologizing in the process for not being able to do more.

I’ve taken a look at their organization to see how I could help them raise funds as well as raise their public image and found that most people were confused by what it is they are doing. I took a look at their mission statement and found that it was a total mess. Very unclear and it rambled on and on about all the different things they wanted to do to help their community. They want to help in so many different ways that they put it all in their mission statement. A big mistake. You can have the best program out there but if a funder takes a look at your organization to see how you can fit into their funding options and cannot decide what it is you are all about then chances are they will go on to the next organization on their list. Many foundations look at your organizations mission statement as part of the grant requirements. I’ve seen it where that is all they look at to start with. If you don’t mesh with their types of funding they move on to the next.

Mission statements should be short, clear and concise. It should be a one to two sentence explanation of what your organization is all about. I’ve seen it time and time again; organizations thinking their mission statement has to be the all encompassing banner of the organization when in reality it needs to be the most straight forward part of the organization. Under a goals section you explain in more details the HOW of how your organization is going to fulfill the mission statement. This section can be as long as a page but should not read like a business plan. :) You’re organization is not dull nor should your mission statement. Make it stand out among the crowd.

Mission statements should be revised according to the growth of an organization to make sure the over all goals are the same. Changing a mission statement to fit a growing organization is crucial to keeping your organization flowing in the right direction.

I suggest to all my clients to take a look at the mission statements of Google, Microsoft, and any other major company out there to see how they do it. This is Googles mission statement. “To organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” It always amazes them to see how much shorter and easy to understand they are.

So for this weeks tip I want to press upon each organization to take a look at their mission statement. Sit down with our boards and key management team and go over your organizations goals for the next 3 months. Revise your mission statement to reflect changes in your organization but keep true to your organization at the same time. If you feel you don’t need to change the statement then maybe changing the goals is in order.

I’m here to give any help and advice when and if your organization needs it. You can contact me via email at erin@nuvisionscg.com

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August 26, 2009

Let’s play The 20 Questions Game!

Filed under: Fundraising, Uncategorized — Tags: community, fund development, Fundraising, grant writing, inbound marketing, lead generation, marketing, nonprofit, NuVisions Consulting Group, Social Media, social networking, strategic planning — Erin @ 1:30 pm

I am a huge fan of playing the 20 Questions game. I loved playing it when I was a child. I find it very relaxing. It’s like being a detective; asking the probing questions till you get the answer you need. Honing your skills each time you play so you can answer the riddle with the least amount of questions used. I’ve worked with organizations who come to me looking for the solution to their funding dry spell without having done the ground work. I love teaching organizations how to come up with their plan. It’s fun to me. If you think about your organizations funding needs in terms of the 20 Questions Game you will find the task of writing your plan enjoyable.

There are many different questions that can go through an organizations mind when they need an infusion of funding and it can make everything seem overwhelming. The best strategy would be to have a set strategic plan in place BEFORE your organization becomes desperate for funds. Strategic plans are fluid documents and should be updated often. You can use a strategic plan for every aspect of a organization or company. I recommend updating you Fund Development Strategic Plan after each major event or fundraising drive. Like the 20 Questions Game with each new question there can arise new alternatives to implementation. Updating your set of questions will help keep the process flowing smoothly. If you find that your organization does not have a strategic plan in place or that it is out of date some of the tips below will be helpful.

Deciding on the next step:
Where to go from here? Should you put together a full panel and map out a strategic plan? How many people can you spare to organize and run a fundraiser? Do you have a youth group or volunteers who would help? Should you sell a product to raise the funds desired? Will selling a product raise the funds we need? What has worked in the past? Will it work in the future? The is the market like in your area? These are some of the questions that need to be answered and should take time and careful consideration.

The most important 2 questions that need to be answered are:
How much money do we need to raise?

This question is the basis for the whole plan. Without knowing the amount that needs to be raised you wont get anywhere. Â If you need to raise a small amount then you might want to look into small candy sales, door to door pop bottle drive and the like. If you need to raise amounts over say $5,000 then you will need to develop a larger donor base and or, create an amazing event. These are not the only options. There are thousands of options out there but you need to use one that will work for YOUR organization. What worked for one might not be a match for yours.

From there you need to decide:

How soon do we need these funds?

The question of how soon are funds needed should be done at least 6 months in advance. I don’t know how many times I’ve met with potential clients looking for a quick fix to their shortage of funds. By the time they get to me they are so desperate for funds because they haven’t done their homework that they can’t even afford to hire a fundraiser. Now my policy is not to turn anyone away due to lack of funds. It makes it more exhilarating to teach them the tools they need to succeed and sit back and watch them fly. It’s the best feeling in the world to watch the light go off in their eyes when they see the results of what I’ve taught them.

Again this is just the beginning. Mull over the first two questions and when you’ve gotten to a point where you can answer them completely move on to the next set of questions. If you would like a sample strategic planning questions guide or If you would like additional help developing the right strategic plan fill out the contact form above and I would love to sit down with you to go over options. This is a process. Don’t rush it. Like my mom always said, “If you did it right the first time you wouldn’t be in the spot you are now having to take more time to do it over.”

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July 8, 2009

How Nonprofit Organizations Use Social Marketing to Raise Awareness of Their Causes

Filed under: Social Media — Erin @ 9:19 am

These days, it can seem increasingly challenging for nonprofit organizations to attract and maintain the attention of the public. Now more than ever, consumers are flooded with a variety of messages, from countless online and print ads, to promotions broadcast at full volume on the television and radio. Despite how difficult it may seem to effectively communicate to groups who are saturated with information, nonprofit organizations can raise awareness among their target audiences by using social marketing.

As a relatively new addition to the world of marketing and advertising, social marketing is one of the best tools a nonprofit organization can use to create and distribute a message regarding their cause. Knowing how to use social marketing to effect change begins with understanding its techniques and how best to apply them to your organization.

What is Social Marketing and how can it work for my organization?

Social marketing is a systematic approach to presenting your message to the public with the goal of inspiring certain behavioral changes among your target audience. Originating in the 1970s, social marketing uses many techniques and principles that traditional marketers of commercial goods and services have used successfully for decades. These concepts include creating a product with value that is offered at reasonable price, and which is advertised through channels that effectively reach a desired consumer group. In marketing terms these ideas are often are broken down into the terms â€œproduct,â€ â€œprice,â€ â€œplaces,â€ and â€œpromote.â€

The key concept of social marketing is to influence people to act. Such desired change in behavior can be viewed as the product that your organization is looking to market. To achieve successful results, your nonprofit must craft a message that convinces your audience of the benefits of taking action, as well as the risks associated with failing to modify their behavior. These ideas can be viewed as the price of your product.

Raising awareness among your audience begins with understanding your target population, such as identifying their current views on a particular issue and knowing how they receive their information. With this data, your organization can advise your audience of how or where to apply their change in behavior (places) through a campaign that uses the most appropriate and effective methods of communication (promotion).

One example of how a nonprofit successfully used social marketing to raise awareness is a Southern California organization that wanted to increase the number of uninsured residents receiving annual screenings for preventative cancers. To help create an effective product, the group began by conducting surveys and focus groups that sought to identify the following important factors: the rate of people currently undergoing yearly screenings; the awareness among the target population about the importance of cancer prevention; and how this group receives their information regarding health and health care.

Based on these findings, the nonprofit organization created a language-sensitive message on Facebook that addressed the importance of cancer prevention through screenings, as well as information on how the key audience could schedule cancer screenings in their areas. This message was advertised in other mediums that were widely accessed by their key population and in areas considered to be high-traffic among their target audience, such as YouTube and MySpace.

The following year, this Southern California nonprofit reported an increase in the number of uninsured residents receiving screenings. Undoubtedly, the success of their campaign was due in large part to their use of a system of social marketing to create their product, establish and communicate its price, and to effectively reach their target audience.

There areÂ over 150Â channels to explore when starting a social marketing campaign.Â Here at NuVisions we make sure your organization is on the ones that will benefit you the most. Contact us today to take advantage of our expertise. Social Marketing makes an excellent volunteer activity. Get your staff involved, and really bring your nonprofit into the public eye.

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