Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
People & Culture
The Power of One
Sep 12th
Every board I’ve worked with has board members who are more involved and board members who are less involved. Some of your board members are doers and others are not. If you have a smaller board of 5 to 10 people, then you probably have a board that is almost full of doers. If you have a board of 25+, then you probably know which board members are doers, which ones are only there for the meetings, and which ones you are surprised if you ever see.
Every development person loves the doers on their board. I’m not talking about the doer that gets in the way and is always pushing their own agenda. I’m talking about the doer who wants to help out and is always the first person to volunteer. Finding a way to sustain that kind of engagement is important. You want your board members and volunteers to have a good experience; those that are doers you want to have an even better experience so they will keep helping. Do not overwhelm these people with a thousand different projects and a dozen different action items that is a guaranteed way to burn a volunteer out and keep them from volunteering again.
Give your doers one big task at a time to accomplish. If you must, give them two or three; but don’t give them any more tasks than that. When you give someone just one task you will find that the task gets done quicker and more comprehensively. The less tasks the higher likelihood they will be accomplished. Fewer tasks also mean you have an opportunity to thank and praise your volunteers more often for their essential work. This creates a cycle of good experiences where volunteers know you appreciate the work that they are doing and feel a since of pride that you can count on them to get the work done.
Open Ended Questions
Aug 29th
People like to talk. Generally people would choose a good conversation over a bad conversation anytime. People also like to talk about themselves. If you can find the subject that someone likes to discuss and get them started talking about it, you will find that they start to like you more quickly. Talking about their family or kids, maybe a hobby they are passionate about, or a fun trip they have planned can really get people talking.
This is true when you are talking about your organization or about other topics as well. People will respond based on the kind of room you give them with the question. For example, if you ask someone what time it is, they will almost certainly say “five o’clock”, or whatever time it is. If you get someone that really like to talk you might even get a follow-up comment like, “…the end of the day just will not come fast enough,” or something like that. If you ask someone what their favorite time of day is, they might tell you, “five o’clock because that’s when work is done and I get to go have happy hour with my friends.” They still might tell you “five o’clock, but after that you will get a totally different response. It is very unlikely that they will just tell you “five o’clock”. Implied as part of the question is the “why” and people will talk about their answer more when you ask them why.
Take time to ask questions that are open ended and encourage someone to share a little bit more about themselves or the topic you are trying to get to. If you ask a yes or no question, that is often all you are going to get.
You Have Influence
Aug 8th
Everyone has influence of some kind whether it is over your friends and family or over business and community leaders. The longer you work in your community the more people that you have an opportunity to meet and get to know. As you begin to build your reputation and build your relationship with these people, you will find that all of a sudden you start to have some influence with them.
As a junior staff member I did not understand that. This message is largely for junior staffers and those newer to development work. I was impressed and amazed at the generosity and kindness of board and community members with which I worked. As I’ve done more volunteering and worked in different organizations I’ve started to realize that many of these individuals are people that I can call on if I have a question or if I need help.
Regardless of your position at your organization, you have communities of people in your life that are watching you and eager to participate in something meaningful that you are doing. Don’t take those relationships for granted. Stay in touch, see if you can find ways to be of help in their lives. Don’t be afraid to ask them for help or ask if they would be interested in being involved in projects that you are doing. People love to help people and if you build good relationships, people will like to help you. Be cautious as to how often and in what ways you ask – but don’t be afraid to ask.
Related posts:
Constituencies
Aug 1st
According to Giving USA in 2010, more than $290 billion was given of that 73% or $211 billion came from individuals and only 5% came from businesses.
It constantly surprises me how much time organizations spend with grants and businesses when there is so much more money in individual giving. As you can see from Giving USA and any other giving report is that the amount of money that is annually donated as a result of individual personal giving vastly exceeds the amount of money from businesses or foundations.
Business and Foundation fundraising is an important part of fund development but it can also be one of the most difficult areas to be successful. Businesses and Foundations have annual budget cycles and systems and guidelines that they must adhere to and the competition is much fiercer for a smaller pool of money. Individuals can give when and as often as they see fit.
Concentrate more of our time on talking with individuals about giving and often much of the business and foundation giving follows suit based on the connections you develop with individuals. Some Businesses and Foundations act as the way an individual give their money.
I’m always surprised with how much time is spent focusing on business giving. I believe it is because people are afraid to ask for money. When you ask for money from a business often you are not asking someone directly for their money. Why do you think people tend to focus so much on business & foundation fundraising?
Related posts:
- Embedded Philanthropy: A New Age of Giving
- Business Giving vs Individual Giving
- Competition or Collaborative
- (Red)volution
- America’s Giving Challenge #2
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