The Bamboo Project Blog

When Funding Priorities Change

An article in this morning's Marin Independent Journal about the impact of Marin Community Foundation funding cuts led me to this article on the Foundation's recent decision to change their funding priorities:

The foundation announced in June that its board of trustees had decided to split its giving equally between sustaining and initiating grants. As a result, nonprofit organizations that serve some of Marin's neediest residents will have to reconfigure their operations or face the possibility of losing millions of dollars in funding.

The change will result in a shift of more than $35 million from sustaining grants to fund new initiatives over the next four years. The foundation gave nearly $26 million to Marin organizations during the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Among the reasons they cite for their decision are the proliferation of nonprofits with similar missions and programs and the desire to have a bigger impact. Not surprisingly, this policy change has upset a lot of people from the nonprofit community. But I see it as a change that is actually moving in the right direction.

One of my all-time favorite books is Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies. In it, the authors argue that in visionary organizations, there is a tension between the need to preserve the core and stimulate progress.

Preserving the core means that an organization is very clear about its organizational mission and values and sticks to the strategic and tactical decisions that support their core organizational culture. A strong core gives everyone in the organization a sense of purpose and clear guidance for making decisions and taking action.

While preserving the core is important, there's also a need to stimulate progress. Organizations will not grow and flourish if they do not continue to take new action in light of changing circumstances. Recognizing that there's a tendency to stick with the "tried and true" even when the world is changing around you, the most visionary organizations have developed policies for themselves that force their organizations to change and adapt. 3M, for example, requires that a percentage of its business each year must come from new products and services. They will never completely rely on what they've done in the past--no matter how successful--because they know that eventually this will spell their demise.

From what I can see, the Marin Community Foundation is attempting to put this strategy into practice within the nonprofit/social sector environment. They recognize that their continued funding of existing programs will ensure the continuation of the same old same old and discourage innovation or change. They want to be more strategic in their support and to drive greater innovation and collaboration. This is a bold move, one that other foundations and nonprofits themselves should consider. Ongoing change is a fact of life. Developing strategies and policies that encourage the change cycle can have great benefits and create an environment that allows changes to be more strategic and coordinated. I'll be curious to see how things turn out.

Michele

 

Potential Donor Looking for Nonprofit Wish List

Sarah of Freedom for IP is looking for a way to create a "nonprofit wish list" similar to an Amazon Wish List that allows her to:

• Create a list that she could give to friends, family, etc. where they could donate money to support one of her favorite nonprofits, in lieu of giving her gifts. She's interested in unrestricted giving (and aren't all nonprofits looking for those opportunities?) so existing sites like Changing the Present aren't cutting it for her.

• Combine this nonprofit wish list with her list of the "material stuff" she would also like to receive.

A few Chip-In Widgets might get her toward her first goal, but I think a little API magic is required to get her toward her second one. Lacking that expertise, I'm opening this up to the nonprofit community to consider, because I'll tell you what--the first person who figures this one out may have a pretty killer app on their hands.

Michele

Fidelity Report On Giving Offers Some Insights for Nonprofits

While I'm neither an expert on fundraising or marketing, I end up touching both at least a little in my work. So I was intrigued by a report from Fidelity indicating that Boomers are on track to give 20% more than the average donor in 2006. This amounts to an average donation of $6,000, which to many nonprofits is NOT chump change.

Other key findings include:

• "The 78 million Baby Boomers in the United States are on track to give approximately $100 billion to charity in 2006, a 25 percent increase over last year's estimated $79 billion in charitable donations by the Boomer generation."

• "While the greatest share of working donors (43 percent overall, and 47 percent of Baby Boomers) believe they will have to cut back their giving amounts after they retire, only 20 percent of retirees (age 60 and over) actually had to do so, and another 32 percent were able to donate more."

• "The Gift Fund's research also shows that more than half (52 percent) of younger donors (ages 25-39) are taking the time to carefully plan their giving each year. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of this group plan to give more of their paycheck to charity over their lifetimes than their parents did. Correspondingly, parental discussions on charitable giving were most common among younger donors, with almost half (46 percent) saying their parents spoke about it with them at least annually. And not surprisingly, younger donors report that their giving behavior is impacted most often by their parents (26 percent)."

Seems like there might be some opportunities for Boomer and Gen X marketing here.

Michele

Monthly Fundraising--Nonprofit of the Month Club

Via Escape from Cubicle Nation, I found Monthly Socks, a "sock of the month" club that allows you to sign up and receive socks on a monthly basis. Since it's Christmas and these kinds of "Thing of the Month" packages make great gifts, it got me to thinking . . .

What about  nonprofits banding together for a sort of "donation of the month" club?  Let's say I'm buying a gift for my Aunt Sally who has everything. She loves the environment, so rather than buying her a gift she doesn't need, I could buy an "Environmental Package." Each month, a different environmental nonprofit would receive a donation in Aunt Sally's name and Aunt Sally might get an e-mail update, a video or some other piece of information about the cause that lets her know how this month's donation is being used.

Or I could buy a "Children's Package" that might include a donation to 12 different nonprofits that serve children. Or a "local package" that let's me support 12 different  nonprofits from my local area. There could be "Arts" packages or "Helping Women" packages. You could even have a complete "mix and match" package that would let individuals select 12 individual nonprofits from any category they wanted.

It wouldn't have to be 12 nonprofits. Three, four or six nonprofits could also be organized with each nonprofit getting 2, 3 or 4 donations per year. The point is setting up a more consistent package that gets people in the habit of giving without having to solicit the funds as frequently and without donors feeling like you're "hounding" them.

Offering the broad kinds of possibilities I'm suggesting are probably more appropriate for an organization like Network for Good to set up. They would be in the best position to set up a variety of different cause-related groups because they are working with a broad range of nonprofits.  But there's nothing to stop nonprofits that share a common mission or customer base from self-organizing and marketing the idea on their own.

I can picture, for example, local nonprofits that help victims of domestic violence banding together to create a ""Break the Cycle" club. Donors' monthly donations might first go to a domestic violence shelter, then to a job training program for victims of domestic violence, then to an organization that works specifically with the children and then to an organization that counsels and works with perpetrators. This seems to me to be a wonderful synergy that could benefit all the organizations, both in terms of advocacy and getting their message out, as well as in increasing their fundraising efforts.

If anyone's aware of something like this going on already, let me know--I'd be curious to see how it's working. I think it's an idea with some interesting possibilities and the technology is making it ever easier to automate this cycle of giving.

Michele

What Are Our REAL Obstacles?

"Lack of money is no obstacle. Lack of an idea is an obstacle."

--Ken Hakuta

I have this quote written on a Post-It, adhered to my laptop as a daily reminder to me of where the real barriers lie. Working with nonprofts, it's easy for me to slip into believing that if only we had more money we could do X. But while I appreciate that lack of resources is a barrier, I always have to remember that it's not an insurmountable one.

If you think about it, some of the best, most creative work gets done when we have to operate within constraints. Haiku, for example, has a very rigid form--three lines, 5 syllables in the first, 7 in the second, 5 in the third. Yet you are expected to say so much in those few syllables. Sounds like working at a nonprofit--do much with little.

Surprisingly, creativity can not only survive, it thrives on constraints. Constraints provide focus to problems. They allow us to be clear about what is and isn't there and that can give shape to our solutions.  But we have to be willing to see lack of resources as only a constraint, not as an insurmountable obstacle. We have to be willing to be creative within those constraints rather than throwing up our hands in despair.

I thought about all this as I read an article last night by Seth Godin on "Flipping the Funnel." In the article, Seth shares several very creative ideas about using de.licio.us, blogs and Squidoo with your "fan base" to market your nonprofit and do some fundraising. These strategies cost next to nothing, but they do require you to think differently about how you relate to your fans. (His thoughts about using Squidoo are particularly interesting and I want to do some additional thinking and research about that as a viable strategy for raising money and engaging your donor base. You can also read more about using Squidoo for nonprofits here and here.) 

What struck me the most about all of this was the fact that Seth understands the notion of constraints, while still refusing to be bound by them. He sees constraints as merely challenges to overcome, challenges that he welcomes to some extent. These obstacles have not held him back, they've merely forced him to figure out a better way around them.

I wonder what would happen to us if we were able to see our lack of resources as opportunities to shape creative ideas? What if we moved from thinking that lack of resources was our problem to thinking that our roadblocks may lie in a lack of creative thinking?

Michele

Beth's ChipIn Fundraising Experiment

Beth is guest-blogging at Katya's place about raising funds using the ChipIn! widget and is going to be sharing the results of her experiment as she goes along. As you can see, she's  raising money for a project near and dear to her heart:

When we adopted our beautiful children, we also adopted their birth country.  We have embraced Khmer culture and we also feel a responsibility to give something back to the country, particularly to seriously disadvantaged children in Cambodia.  Soon after coming home with our first child nearly seven years ago, I volunteered for the Sharing Foundation, an ngo that works directly with local officials, orphanages, and NGOs in Cambodia to identify and carry out projects which improve the lives of children.  I now serve on the board.

There’s lots of could tell you about TSF and I encourage you to visit the web site so you can get an sense of the scope of the good work this organization does.  One of its focus areas is education. Over 1,300 children in Cambodia receive educational support every day as a result of The Sharing Foundation initiatives.  The Foundation has increasingly focused its efforts on ways to create and improve educational opportunities for Cambodian children of all ages, including public school projects, pre-school, Khmer literacy, English language instruction, high school and college sponsorships, and vocational training.  These projects present what might be the only means for the most disadvantaged children to life themselves, as well as their families, out of poverty conditions, become self-reliant and lead more productive, hopeful lives.

The Foundation is now its second year of college sponsorships.  Last year, our family stepped forward to sponsor Leng Soparath, an orphan from Kampong Speu orphanage.  For a gift of $750 annually, TSF is able to cover her college fees and living expenses. (It is a stretch for us ... we’re not rich but this could make such a difference in the life of one young person) In addition to money, we provide emotional support and encouragement through regular letters and photographs that we exchange.  Our letters are hand-carried to Cambodia by Sharing Foundation’s 76-year old founder, Dr. Nancy Hendrie.  Watch the video for more information.

As part of the project, Beth is also asking for ideas on how she can get the word out and make her fundraising efforts successful. Several people have already shared some great thoughts in the comments section of the post and I encourage you to head over and offer your own ideas. Some things off the top of my head:

• The most obvious thing--I'm chipping in. Definitely have to put my money where my mouth is.

• As you can see, The Bamboo Project is adding Beth's widget to our page for the duration of the campaign. You can add the widget to your site by going here.  Also be sure to check out Beth's video here.

• Since it's around the holidays, chipping in on someone's behalf seems like an easy idea and something that other bloggers can spread through their blogs, in addition to posting the widget.  Could also be a great project for a Girl Scout Troup, book club or church group to sponsor Leng Soparath.

• I do a lot of work with Job Corps and one of the programs I've set up with my clients is a social entrepreneurship project where students are raising money for a good cause. I've found that even though Job Corps students are often the object of "charity" because they come from disadvantaged backgrounds, they love the idea of being able to give something back to someone else in need, so I'll be suggesting this to my clients as a possible project. Maybe other bloggers have some of the same things going on and could spread the word that way.

• Seth had a good idea about using social networking and college students to get them to embrace the cause. To build on that I wonder if there wouldn't be a way to get a graphic artist to put together some quick digital art that could be downloaded from Beth's site as MySpace or FaceBook badges, t-shirt decals, etc. like The Bridge has done.

Just a few thoughts. . . I'll add more if they come to me. In the meantime, why don't you head on over to ChipIn!

Michele

The Bridge--Web 2.0 Fundraising and Marketing in Action

Get this video and more at  MySpace.com

Last night I was playing with StumbleUpon when I found  The Bridge. The Bridge is a project of The Glue Network , which bills itself as"a cooperative, transparent online community of passionate purpose-driven people" whose tagline is "love requires action."

"The Glue Network connects nonprofit organizations, brands, bands, musicians, fans, athletes, artists and young people all over the world who want to and can make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate. The Glue Network changes the way people give of themselves, their talents and their resources."

The Bridge is The Glue Network's  plan to build a virtual bridge around the world that connects 24,092 people (the number of miles around the world) who care about helping others. When you add a mile, one of several Bay Area companies will donate $1 on your behalf to the cause you've selected from the 12 Bridge-sponsored charities. The nonprofits represent a range of issues, from providing education to women to cleaning up the environment.

What's interesting to me about the project is their extensive use of new media and social networking and their clear understanding of how Web 2.0 changes the charitable giving landscape. Some key features:

• The Bridge project tells a simple, compelling story--we want to build a metaphorical bridge around the world and you can help. People get the idea of adding a mile and of personalizing that mile. They love the oddity of 24,092 miles (notice how many sites are using random numbers, like 43Folders and  9 Rules?) . These are the kinds of quirky details that attract attention and appeal to the Web 2.0 generation.

• Companies give on your behalf. I add a mile, but it's Adobe or one of several other companies that actually gives the money. My role is to spread the word to as many people as possible.

• The entire concept is about social collaboration and personal expression--two important aspects of the Web 2.0 culture. When I add my mile, I get a chance to say who I am and what I believe in by identifying my causes, telling my story and uploading photos and video that talk about how I intend to make a difference in the world. I can also e-mail my friends to get them to join, as well as find other people who are supporting the cause.

• They are giving away tons of free stuff. You can download Bridge wallpaper, mp3 files,  videos (see the one above), MySpace wallpaper and IM icons. These serve the dual purpose of providing free marketing, as well as making people feel like they received something cool for their effort and that they belong to a movement with a special community identity. You can also see The Bridge has a good understanding of their target donor market--young people. Not only do they help participants decorate their own MySpace page, they also have one of their own. And the videos they've created (such as the one above) are built specifically for integration with MySpace.

• The focus is on issues people want to resolve, rather than on particular charities. This is critical, because I think that most people have a particular cause or idea they want to support and if your nonprofit happens to do that, great. In many cases they are less interested in the particular organization and more interested in having a particular outcome.

• Choice rules here--Part of what attracts users to the site is the opportunity to select the charity to which they want to give. In one location they can access 12 different nonprofits that represent 12 different areas of concern. This is a major tenet of the new era--give donors the opportunity to express themselves by giving them a choice in who they support.

• The images, colors and overall design of the site are clean and well-done. If choice and personal expression is King, then it is good design that is Queen in this new world. Tired, stodgy and "institutional" won't cut it anymore. We expect the Target "design for all" approach.

So what are the implications for your nonprofit? Clearly collaboration and social connection must be at the core of your strategic thinking. Your goal must be to create a community of people who want to support your cause and you do this by providing them with tools and resources that give them a common identity and an easy way to spread the word.

You'll be in an even stronger position if you collaborate with complementary nonprofits to give people choices about who they want to support. Choice is critical and if you make it easy for donors to choose, they'll reward you handsomely. Furthermore, in your marketing messages, you need to focus on the issues your organization resolves, rather than on your specific nonprofit.  People respond to wanting to solve particular world problems with your organization as a conduit for doing that.

You should also look at how you can develop creative, compelling ideas that communicate a particular story and that are expressed simply and using well-designed visual images. This is where you really need to begin developing and drawing on a network of creative volunteers who can help. Retiring baby boomers want to give back and this is exactly the kind of work they enjoy doing. Stuffing envelopes and answering phones is fine, but engage them in a juicy creative project like this and you'll get something amazing in return.

You may also want to start considering how to "think small," taking the "latte approach" to giving. People and companies are willing to have smaller more frequent bites taken out of their wallet--the idea of little luxuries is a major marketing concept these days. But this requires you to come up with creative ideas at more frequent intervals. Rather than running one or two major fundraisers a year, it may be better to consider ways to run several smaller opportunities, such as this one.

To me, The Bridge represents an exciting new way of creating a community of giving and caring that has a lot of wonderful potential. It requires new approaches and new thinking, but it also represents new opportunities that I think are the future for many nonprofits.

Leveraging Selfishness

A 2005 study by University of Chicago economist, John List, has some interesting implications for non-profits working with donors.

List studied several different fund-raising approaches to identify those that were most effective.  One of the key findings--attractive women were able to raise a lot of money if a man answered the door--is hardly surprising. But he also found that selling raffle tickets was far more effective than soliciting voluntary contributions (i.e., asking for money.). How much more successful? 

• Lotteries raised about 50% more money than asking for contributions.

• Raffles increased participation rates by 100%--in other words, twice as many people bought raffle tickets.
  

• Increased participation meant larger "warm lead" lists to be used the next time the agencies wanted to raise money.

In effect, raffles paid double dividends, raising more money immediately, as well as providing         agencies with larger lead lists for the longer term. Something to consider the next time you're thinking about fundraising. . .

Thanks to Slate for the study.

Tech Tools--Vizu Web Polls

People love polls. Not long-winded customer service surveys, but those quickie little multiple choice or yes/no polls that ask a single provocative or fun question like "Do you think the Democrats will regain control of Congress?" You'll find them all over the web. They are a fixture on social networking sites such as MySpace and on many blogs.

I've recently begun using one free, easy to use tool available from Vizu. (See the poll in the upper right corner of our site--it was created with Vizu).

After signing up for my account (which took about 3 minutes), I was able to move immediately into creating my first poll. Vizu walks you through the process, letting you type in your question and potential answers in any form you want. You select one or more categories for your poll, which you can make available to all Vizu users or only to people you designate through a password protected option. (I haven't used that version so I'm not totally sure how it works).

You can also select the start and end times for your poll and how you want results to show (bar graph anyone?). Once the poll is completed, you can preview it and then post your poll to the Vizu site. They then offer you the option of exporting the poll to your own blog or site, providing multiple choices for HTML code.

TypePad users (I'm one) will find Vizu particularly easy to install. You just click on a button that says "Install TypePad Widget" and then you can select the blog where you want to install the poll. Other users will find it only slightly more complicated--basically a copy/paste to your blog template, although you do have to have some idea of how your template works.The whole thing is incredibly simple and, frankly, a little addictive as I find myself thinking in terms of poll questions now.

Keep in mind that if you make the poll public, it's possible that people who participate in your poll are doing so through Vizu rather than through your site, so it wouldn't be a good way to do a customer survey (SurveyMonkey is a good, cost-effective option for that type of poll). But Vizu offers the opportunity to inform and to have fun, as well as to supplement material on your blog by calling attention to it through your poll.

Good "blog bling" for my money.

Michele

DoGooderTV--YouTube for Non-Profits

Previously we talked about using YouTube to provide a videoshowcase for non-profits. But now via Dollar Philanthropy (a later post is coming on that), I see that C3 has started DoGooderTV, a video social networking site specifically for non-profits.

According to the DoGooderTV site:

DoGooderTV enables nonprofit organizations to present new videos and existing media assets to new audiences. Once site visitors see the compelling stories of nonprofits, DoGooderTV gives them a direct way to donate to the organization, join, volunteer or simply find out more information.

Interested 501C3s may sign up for a free account which provides them with a free web page, 100 MB of space to store their videos and the opportunity for viewers to donate, volunteer, etc. While the link to donations is currently a link back to the organization's site, C3 is in the process of working with a third party provider to have a "Donate Now" button included as part of your web page. This would allow viewers to click on the button and donate immediately, which as we all know, can sometimes be the difference between getting a donation or not getting one.

Read more about DoGooderTV and Carol's interview with C3 CEO Michael Hoffman at Dollar Philanthropy.

UPDATE--As you can see from the comments, Carol has posted a more extensive version of her interview with Michael Hoffman at her site, Driving in Traffic. Part One is up now and Part Two will be coming soon. Check it out.