Nonprofit – Page 4 – Nonprofit Chapin

Story Time: Not Just for Babies

November 25, 2013nonprofitchapin

Thrilled to share that my third guest blog post, Story Time: Not Just for Babies, was published last week on Nancy Schwartz’s Getting Attention! Helping Nonprofits Succeed through Effective Marketing. I had a great time writing about the importance of telling stories in nonprofit marketing. People aren’t moved by numbers or data, they are moved by relating to someone. I don’t discount the importance of data and the integral role it should play in nonprofit marketing. But to get someone to act, they must feel. And to get someone to feel, they must understand.

Check it out!

-N.C.

What a Successful Nonprofit Looks Like

September 30, 2013nonprofitchapin1 Comment

There are many ways to define success for a nonprofit. At the heart of a nonprofit’s operations are, of course, its mission. How many people are being cured? How many trees are being saved? Kids being taught? Lives being changed?

There are so many more components to the success of a nonprofit. Lately, there has been great discussion in the sector surrounding overhead costs. Aptly called the overhead myth, this conversation points out the narrow-minded nature of assuming that overhead costs don’t equate to productivity. Of course we can all agree that super high overhead costs that are out of control are inappropriate, we should also all agree that some administrative costs are essential for nonprofit organizations to run efficiently and effectively. In order for an organization to succeed, it must have good systems and processes, no matter whether nonprofit or for-profit. It’s a balancing act. I whole-heartedly agree.

I recently came across this blog post on Philanthropy News Digest (a service of the Foundation Center) that takes the argument to the next level. The author states that while it is important for us to continue the overhead myth conversation, it’s essential to also consider what she calls “nonprofit resiliency.” She makes the bold statements that not only must nonprofits do good work and have efficient operations, but they also must take risks and develop innovative new approaches. I absolutely love the suggestions and points she makes in the post, and I strongly recommend it.

“While nonprofits bear responsibility for communicating their true, comprehensive financial resource needs, funders can lead by encouraging business models that reliably cover full costs and supporting capital structures that are sufficiently liquid. Our sector’s ability to truly solve pressing social challenges hangs in the balance.” – Rebecca Thomas, Nonprofit Finance Fund

-N.C.

Forgiving Ourselves as Millennials in the Nonprofit Sector

August 5, 2013nonprofitchapin

I’m currently participating in a six week series on Metta, or loving-kindness meditation. Lately we’ve been focusing on self-love and last week we reviewed the very important concept of forgiving yourself.

This is such an important thing to remember in the workplace too. As Millennials in the nonprofit sector, we have a trend to be too hard on ourselves. We know the good we want to do in the world and the potential our energy, skills, and insight brings to the table. We want to change the world and we know we can.

So when we slip up, we get very frustrated and mad at ourselves. We worry about how it looks to our colleagues – looking like we don’t know what we’re doing might be the worst thing we can imagine. Our professional reputation is extremely important to us. We feel it dictates our entire future. It defines us.

The truth is, everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are what make us human and teach us how to deal with issues as they come up. Getting through a slip up can cause you to learn so much and be a better person. It can teach you resilience and professionalism. It can teach you how to be a better employee and a better manager.

So, this is a call that we must forgive ourselves. Forgive ourselves for any mistakes we have made at work. Ten years from now, none of this will matter. Will it matter ten months from now? Ten days from now? Likely not. Forgive yourself and let go of the past. It will liberate you to move forward with your work in a brand new way. Don’t worry: you’re still changing the world.

-N.C.

A New Type of Business

July 22, 2013nonprofitchapin

Last week, Delaware signed into law the creation of a new corporate form called the public benefit corporation. Delaware is the 19th state to enact such legislation. Public benefit corporations are sort of like nonprofit/for profit hybrids: they allow business leaders to consider public interest and societal impact in addition to profit. Well-known public benefit corporations include Patagonia, Method Soap, and Warby Parker.

While many other states have already adopted this legislation, Delaware is critical because of its unique guidelines for incorporation, for businesses or nonprofits. In layman’s terms, they are more loose than other states. And because of that, more than half of all U.S. public companies are incorporated in Delaware.

I am thrilled with the movement toward this type of thinking. I think we all need to think outside the box about structure and mission of for profit corporations, nonprofits, government, and anything in between. In fact, I want us to think even more broadly about what that in between could be. I’m not just talking collaboration, but I’m talking about new types of corporations that can really make a difference. There are such creative ways to think about the difference that a corporation can make, whether it involve profit or not. And I think public benefit corporations are a great way to start.

The founders of B Lab expressed their belief in this legislation very nicely:

“The benefit corporation legal structure is a new and useful tool for everyone. For policy makers and the public interest, it combats the plague of short termism. For business leaders, it helps attract the best talent and turn customers into evangelists. For customers, it offers greater transparency to protect against pretenders. For employees, it promises higher quality jobs where they can bring their whole selves to work every day. And for investors, it mitigates risk, reduces transaction costs, creates additional rights to hold management accountable, and accelerates the growth of a big market opportunity to meet the needs of people who want to invest to both make money and make a difference.”

Couldn’t agree more.

-N.C.

Using Social Media in Your Strategy

June 17, 2013nonprofitchapin3 Comments

Between the creation of the idea of “slacktivism” and the general questioning of the importance of social media in creating movements or change, there are a lot of people claiming that a Like on Facebook or a tweet on Twitter don’t mean much. “Clicking a mouse is so easy. Does it do anything concrete?” they question. Last week I came across this great piece on the role that social media can play in creating social change called Can a “Like” Save a Life? on the Stanford Social Innovation Review blog.

The author outlines the ways that social media contributes to the larger good, by pointing out the unique things that social media platforms can offer to further nonprofit organizations. My favorite of her points was the power of influencers. No matter what the cause is, if you get the right people talking about it on social media, it’s gold. It’s just the same as offline communications.

I encourage you to read the piece. The takeaway I came away with was that online efforts should be one component of your marketing strategy. It’s not the solution to everything but it’s still important for you to incorporate. Whether you like it or not, many of our activity is happening online, so nonprofits better be there, too.

-N.C.

Lois Lerner, Say Something!

May 28, 2013nonprofitchapin

I hope you’ve been following the recent controversy between the IRS and conservative nonprofits (if you haven’t, there’s a good round up of coverage here). There’s discussion around the fact that some conservative groups seeking 501(c)(4) status were more closely screened because they had the words tea party, patriot, or conservative in their names. The IRS has said that these words were used solely to identify organizations that might have more political advocacy activities, which is given higher scrutiny. Many are outraged, calling this discrimination, and several IRS officials have been forced to resign by President Obama.

Clearly, something happened here. Maybe it’s because I like to see the good in people, but there’s a big chance this is all a misunderstanding. Whatever it is, Lois Lerner, the director of exempt organizations for the IRS, was asked to testify last week before a House committee. To the detriment of the entire sector, she asserted her Fifth Amendment rights and stayed silent. Check out this great opinion piece that the New York Times ran: Remaining Silent on the I.R.S.

I have to say I agree with everything that’s said there. We all know how the nonprofit sector is only highlighted when there is some sort of controversy to discuss. As the opinion piece mentions, it is quite likely that nothing went on. But Lerner should play ball and eat a little crow for the good of the sector. Explain what happened, own up to it, and it’ll all be over. Instead, by staying silent, she’s keeping it even more of a mystery, and drawing it out to be whatever is in the media’s imagination.

This can be said for any professional challenge. Even if you make a big mistake, talking it through with your boss is always the way to go. Open communication is always better than none at all, especially when you represent the nonprofit sector to the world.

-N.C.

I Won’t Support My Grandma’s Nonprofit

May 14, 2013nonprofitchapin

I’m thrilled to share my second guest blog post with Nancy Schwartz’s Getting Attention! Helping Nonprofits Succeed Through Effective Marketing. The post, entitled I Won’t Support My Grandma’s Nonprofit, is all about the importance of innovation in nonprofit organizations. It can be very tough to innovate in any realm, as it’s easy to slip into the “tried and true” cycle of repeating what’s done in the past. Nonprofits have even more obstacles to innovation, with their accountability to the public in different ways than the for profit sector (proving success is not as simple as a bottom line with nonprofits). However, nonprofits are the ones that should be innovating the most because they are solving the biggest problems and doing the most important work.

Whoever heard of a movement, revolution, or even new invention that was a product of the status quo? If you’re solving social problems that haven’t been figured out before, what makes you think you can get to the solution without doing something new?

Check out the blog post here and think about the ways your organization is (or isn’t) innovating.

-N.C.

Reactions to Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk

March 25, 2013nonprofitchapin1 Comment

Nationally acclaimed fundraiser and nonprofit sector guru Dan Pallotta recently did a TED Talk entitled The way we think about charity is dead wrong – you can watch it here. There has been a lot of chatter about the Talk amongst the sector and people have started to ask my opinion of it, so I finally took the chance to sit down and watch the 18 minutes.

It’s 18 minutes worth watching, just so you can know what the hype is about, but from a nonprofit insider standpoint, it’s (mostly) nothing new. Dan details five ways the nonprofit sector is kept small: because of closed minded thinking about compensation, marketing, risk, time, and profit in the sector. I would say that none of these five points are anything I want to jump up and down about except the third one – risk – definitely something that the sector needs to switch its aversion to if it wants to get anything meaningful done.

The second part of the talk resonated more with me as a big issue that we should all stand up and pay attention to. He detailed the misconception that “overhead” is not part of the “cause,” and the fact that this misconception is ultimately forcing charities to not spend money on overhead and not expand and innovate in ways that are necessary to address such huge problems as the ones we are trying to solve.

Spot on, and I especially believe this as a fundraiser. Any activity that works toward the mission of a nonprofit: whether it is purchasing meals for the homeless, paying for lights at a shelter, or paying the salary of the marketing professional, should be considered part of the “cause.” The arbitrary designation of some of these expenses as more “worthy” than others of donations is ridiculous. In order to make real change in the world, we need to support all aspects of a nonprofit’s operation, whether it is directly touching a client or not.

I hope people come away from this Talk with that message at the very least. The next time you make a donation to a nonprofit, remember that they are the experts and know best where your support is the most needed. Give an unrestricted gift – you will do more for the nonprofit than you know.

“Don’t ask about the rate of [a charity’s] overhead, ask about the scale of their dreams.” – Dan Pallotta

-N.C.

UnderDeveloped

February 11, 2013nonprofitchapin2 Comments

I am thrilled to share a phenomenal report about the challenges faced by nonprofits surrounding fundraising. If you work in development or are a senior level employee at a nonprofit, you must read this! UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising is a joint project of CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund that surveyed development directors and executive directors across the nation to understand their relationship to each other and to fundraising. The report includes insightful numbers on high turnover rates, skills and abilities around fundraising, and an entire section about nurturing a culture of philanthropy in organizations.

I believe the biggest takeaway from this report is that we must reframe what it means to raise money – whether that be by development directors, executive directors, or line staff. We need to have an honest conversation about money, what it means to all of us in society, and what it means to nonprofit organizations. Money, as I’ve mentioned in this blog before, is an incredibly taboo subject. People aren’t comfortable talking about finances in a really open way. It is not deemed to be an acceptable conversation topic. This is a problem when that is what fundraisers are supposed to do – talk about money all day. What does this mean for the success – or lack thereof – of fundraisers?

We need to get to a place where we all understand that money is necessary for nonprofits to provide the services they do, and without donors and their generosity, there would be none. We need to be comfortable to share that with outsiders when we are talking about our programs. We need each other – nonprofits need funds to run, and donors need causes to support and believe in. In the end, we will all win.

Please, read this important report and share it with everyone you know! It can have a great impact for people in need.

-N.C.

Stressed Out? Here’s What To Do About It

January 14, 2013nonprofitchapin2 Comments

As our world becomes more and more fast paced, the role of stress in our lives is increasing. We are expected to get better results, faster, and more easily. This expectation carries over into the nonprofit sector. Funders, donors, and clients are expecting quality services to be readily available, effective, and easy to use. Nonprofit employees would want nothing less, and have similar lofty expectations and goals for their own work and themselves. They are passionate about their work and the people they serve, so naturally they want to deliver their services in the most efficient way possible and help as many people as they can. They work hard to achieve success and they take a lot of pride in their work. Unfortunately, when expectations get out of control, there’s a very bad consequence: stress.

I recently took a course in Nonprofit Human Resource Management for my Masters in Nonprofit Administration program at University of San Francisco and did my final paper on the ways that Human Resources departments can address the problem of the role of stress in the lives of nonprofit employees. I first administered an informal survey (to my delight, I received 158 responses!), and the paper reviews some of my very interesting findings from this.

At the end of the paper there’s an addendum that is a short takeaway for Human Resources departments to take.

I wanted to share this paper and addendum on this blog because I see you all, my readers, as my community, supporters, and champions of the sector. You have seen that this is a topic I care deeply about, not just for my personal sanity but also for the health and sustainability of the nonprofit sector. We need to address this problem!

Click here to see my paper, and please let me know if anything great comes of it!

Enjoy!

-N.C.