Volunteer Screening Blog

You don’t have to be a media or marketing maven to create a buzz around your non-profit. It does take some time, a little creativity and a willingness to try new things. No matter if your charity is saving animals, kids or trees, you can engage your audience and attract new supporters through a few well-thought-out activities.

Here are four ideas for creating buzz:

• Adopt a school. Partnering with an elementary, middle or high school is a great way to introduce young people to volunteering. At the same time, you’re educating a new generation about your charity’s work. And the kids are likely to tell their families and friends about it. It could take time to find a school willing to create a partnership, but it could be well worth the effort!
• Create a contest. Contests are a great way to create a buzz. Just solicit a donation from a business or supporter. Fun experiences, like a river rafting trip or hot-air balloon ride, or a product or service that ties into your mission, are all great ideas for contest prizes. If you’re an art museum, give away a painting. If you’re a youth services organization, have the kids create a sculpture. If you’re saving the environment, a great contest prize is a ready-to-plant raised vegetable garden. You can either sell raffle tickets or solicit entries on Facebook and other social media outlets.
• Enroll in classes and seminars. Your local community college, technical school or university probably offers free or low-cost classes in technology, web design, social media or marketing – or dozens of other business-related topics. You’re likely to meet other business people and business owners that will soon learn about your non-profit. If you don’t have time to attend classes, look for half-day or one-day seminars that will both teach you valuable skills and expose your charity to a new audience. And if you cannot find the time to attend, send a co-worker, or even a volunteer.
• Produce a simple event. Not a fundraiser—fundraisers are to raise funds. Other events can simply create buzz. For example, if you have a new building, hold an open house. If you’ve recently acquired a donation, find local groups who might be interested, and invite them to check it out. Or, contact an expert in any given field and ask them to give a presentation. Invite the public or make it a private event. Just reach out and inform people about your organization.

Creating buzz simply takes a little time, some creativity, and willingness to ask people for help. It can be a great way to spread the word about your non-profit!

Keeping your non-profit organization’s website current and fresh is easier than ever. Even if you don’t have an updatable content management system, you can still write blog posts about events, post photos of activities and fundraisers, and keep your supporters engaged by keeping them informed.

Your blog is like a baby. It cannot be neglected. It needs regular care and feeding. And yes, it takes work to raise it properly. But it’s worth the effort.

Here are some tips to make your NPO’s blog easier to update and more successful:

1. Promote it. If you’re not already on Twitter and Facebook, what are you waiting for? Posting updates on Twitter and Facebook about your new blog posts instantly sends traffic there. And that’s why you’re writing your blog, correct?
2. Feed it. Do not neglect the blog! It’s too easy to let it go—especially if you haven’t written a post lately. But blogs are very forgiving—like a good friend, you can pick up the conversation as if you haven’t really gone away.
3. Focus on your audience. What information do they want to know? What news or photos will they be interested in? What have you learned recently that they might enjoy hearing about? Delivering good content is about figuring out what your audience wants and then giving it to them.
4. Don’t do it alone. Do you have a volunteer who is a good writer? Or a marketing person? Ask them to guest blog for you. Or give a staffer a chance to be creative. As long as the writer is enthusiastic about your non-profit’s mission, you really can’t go wrong. And really, don’t you have other things to do?
5. Mix text and visual content. Break up the long blocks of text with photos. Throw in a video now and then.
6. Keep it newsy. Google your NPO’s category—not under the “web search,” but under the “news search.” You’ll find all kinds of news you can write about.
7. Include keywords. The blog is about informing and engaging your audience, yes—but it’s also a great way to help them find you. Include the keywords that describe your organization or the topic of the post so that when someone Googles that word, your blog comes up in the results.

Today we’re sharing a potpourri of easy-to-remember tips to keep in mind when creating nonprofit fundraising communications pieces: emails, newsletters, direct mail or blog posts.

Be Interesting: People will read your communications piece—if it interests them. Make it easily scannable, with bold headlines and pull quotes to draw the reader in.

Don’t Focus on Features: Focus on benefits. It’s an old sales technique that really works. You can say “we distributed 500 pounds of food last week,” but it’s more effective to relate a fact with a benefit: “we helped 35 elementary school kids stay alert and improve their test scores by providing a good breakfast.”

Aim for Variety: Mix up your message with some facts and figures, some from-the-heart stories, and some straight-up appeals.

Tell Them What You Want: Don’t send out a communication without a call to action. You don’t want people to say “So what?” after reviewing your message.

Get to the Point: Journalists know that the most recent, most important stuff needs to go first. Don’t fall into a trap of leading up to your important points—put them front and center to grab the reader before your piece ends up in the recycle bin.

Keep your Audience in Mind: Try to narrow down to whom you’re really speaking. A broadly-written piece will appeal to exactly nobody.

Don’t Ignore the Envelope: Adding a headline or appeal to the outer envelope gives the recipient a reason to open it.

Update Your Website: This may seem to have nothing to do with a communications appeal, but think about this: if you’ve done your job and grabbed the reader, they will likely head to your website. If it’s out of date or doesn’t “match” the appeal they just received, you’ll have a disconnect that could end what might have been a beautiful relationship.

Good marketing can really help your nonprofit organization (NPO) stand out from the crowd. And standing out can mean the difference between bringing in donations and struggling.

Over the past year or so, many charity organizations have found new supporters, reached out to their communities, and signed up volunteers through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These are two fantastic ways to create a sense of community around your NPO, and to spread the word about events, accomplishments and needs.

But while Twitter and Facebook can reach far and wide, they are not the only ways NPO marketers should be engaging with their supporters and fans. Email is still a great communication tool that perhaps has been put aside in favor of the quick and easy updates on Facebook and Twitter.

4 Reasons to Keep Email in the Non-Profit Marketing Mix

1. Email is more personal. When a supporter or volunteer receives a well-crafted email message, they pay attention. It’s important to find ways to create that one-on-one connection with your target audience. Email is also perceived as more professional than Facebook postings or Tweets.
2. Email lasts. When a professionally-produced email message, like a newsletter or update, is your means of communication, it can easily be reproduced or archived on your website. A tweet is not forever. And some email recipients will keep your message around for awhile—you can’t say that about the fast-moving information stream of Facebook and Twitter.
3. Email fosters two-way conversation. When a supporter opens the email and has a question, they can hit “reply” and start typing. They can keep their communication off the internet and private. Many of your volunteers and fans will appreciate such privacy.
4. Email allows you to use and grow a valuable asset—your NPO’s email list. Why develop connections with people if you’re not going to leverage them? When people give you permission to send email by signing up on a list at an event, it’s because they actually want to hear from your nonprofit organization through email!

When budgets are still cut to the bone, and donor dollars are more precious than ever, how can non profit managers produce a good return for their marketing efforts? Whether you use social marketing, email marketing or direct mail marketing, the first thing to remember is that your mission and message must be relevant to your audience.

Don’t assume that the same message delivered the same way will always work for your audience. For one thing, it is changing: supporters will shed their loyalty to a non profit organization (NPO) quickly under the influence of others. Consumers today want to know they’re part of something bigger before committing to parting with their money. That can mean checking the online reviews of a hotel before making a reservation, or supporting a charity because all their Facebook friends are. If other people approve of something, they’re more likely to make a commitment.

Relevance is providing consistent messaging that strikes a chord with the reader. It’s about delivering a message in a pre-approved manner. It’s about being where your supporters are.

Relevance means knowing what your supporters need and developing a message that addresses those needs:

• Supporter #1 needs to feel like they’re making a difference in their community. Your job is to provide the true stories of how your organization is doing it.
• Supporter # 2 needs to know that when they donating money to your nonprofit, most of the dollars go to programs, not overhead. A simple statement on your website, mailer or email message will fill the need.
• Supporter #3 is unable to give money, but would love to volunteer—you should meet that need with information that welcomes them to give their time to your NPO.
• Supporter #4 needs to be able to trust your organization. Provide facts that communicate longevity, program success, awards and honors won, and real accomplishments.
• Supporter #5 needs authenticity. If times are dire at your NPO, say so. Don’t make things sound rosy one month, and horrible the next. Consistent, honest communication will go a long way to building trust.

When your supporters are taking more time than ever to decide how to spend their charity dollars, remember that remaining relevant is one of the most important things you can do.

There are more ways to solicit donations, recruit volunteers and spread the word about your organization than ever before. While non-profit organizations are still holding walk-a-thons and bake sales—although the latter has been in decline, due to food allergies and liability issues—the emergence of social marketing and online networking means it’s far easier to reach much wider audiences.

Online fundraising tools like GlobalGiving and ChipIn make it easy for charities to solicit donations right on their websites. No custom programming needed! Facebook and Twitter allow non-profits to gain followers and friends to help publicize their events and needs in a flash. Facebook even helps with Causes, which allows fundraisers to ask for donations from their friends and contacts. It’s good for finding volunteers, too.

Dozens of other sites have popped up to help non-profits publicize their missions and raise money. But before you jump in the social marketing pool, the first thing to do is ask yourself a couple of questions on behalf of your NPO:

1. How Well do I Know my Organization?
2. How Well can I Communicate my Organization’s Brand?

Before you take advantage of the remarkable tools that now exist for marketing through social media (in other words, social marketing), make sure you’re ready. That means knowing your organization inside and out—and communicating the brand quickly and clearly.

Do you Know Yourself?
You may think no one knows your non-profit better than you. But can you put it into meaningful words? Can you express your best-fit client, your ultimate goal and your organization’s place in your community? What are the strengths of the organization, and where do you need help? What skills are you looking for in volunteers? Knowing your organization backwards and forwards makes it easier to make connections with people who can make a difference to your organization.

Communicating the Brand
Think in terms of what your organization does to change something that’s wrong in the world—that’s the brand. It’s what drives the organization, what makes it different from others—and what would be lost if it didn’t exist. Every person involved must speak about the brand in the same way in order for it to be most effective. A well-written tagline helps.

Once you know the organization and the brand, then set up a Twitter account, write blog posts, share them on Facebook and send targeted emails. Social marketing is all about educating your volunteers, fans, supporters and followers about what you’re doing and how they can help you affect change.

How quickly are web searchers finding your Non Profit Organization (NPO)? What terms are they searching under? How does Google rank websites, anyway?

Every one has experienced the frustration of typing in a few key words and not finding the site we were hoping to find. Or, of typing in key words for our own organizations and seeing everyone’s site but ours on Google’s results page.

Google’s algorithms rank websites using all kinds of information; and while there are no magic bullets that will rocket your non profit organization’s site to the top of the rankings, there are easy ways to make it easier for Google’s spiders to find it (spiders are little robots sent out 24/7 to see what’s happening on the web and report back to Google).

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a way of modifying your site to make it more spider-friendly. There are thousands of theories and myths around SEO. There are also a bunch of generally-accepted principles that actually work.

Keywords are extremely important. Keywords are the phrases or single terms that searchers use to find a site. They can be broad or targeted; for example, “women’s services” is broad, while “domestic violence help for women” is more targeted. Type in a typical search for your organization and see how you rank. Add your region, city, or state to further narrow the search to your organization.

Keywords that your targeted audience will likely use to find your organization’s website should be included:

• In title, keyword, and description tags your web developer can add;
• In headlines and body copy throughout the site.

Content should be updated regularly. A good way to achieve this is to have a Content Management System (CMS) site. Most new websites are built on this type of platform, which allows site owners or administrators to make simple site changes, based on a template. No more asking your web designer or developer to make all of your changes!

Another way to achieve the goal of fresh content is to incorporate a news page and/or blog into your site. News, photos, and videos of events and other important matters will keep visitors interested and returning to your site. Updated content will also help your Google rankings.

Ask for backlinks, which are links on other sites to yours. The best backlinks include your keywords. For example, a partner agency, like United Way, might include a link to a “domestic violence prevention organization” using that phrase as the link text, rather than the name of the organization. All backlinks are helpful to website rankings, but this type of text link from a respected organization is extremely valuable. So, ask everyone you can to link to your site!

These are just a few easy ways you can help your non profit organization’s website improve its Google rankings. Try them, give the spiders a week or two to find the changes, and see how it ranks. Keep implementing the changes and you should see improvement!

There is a nonprofit marketing revolution afoot. It’s about ridding marketing communications of robotic jargon and complicated language in favor of engaging in conversations—like humans do.

Take a look at your non profit organization’s marketing materials: from the website and online forms, to the newsletter and email messaging. How many instances of words like “paradigm,” “accountability,” “impact,” “leverage,” “mission-critical,” and “synergy” do you find? Do you ask interested website visitors for their personal information, or do you demand it?

Overused terms like “paradigm” don’t have much meaning when readers just gloss over them. And category-specific jargon might be confusing to some readers—and turn them right off. Real humans don’t talk in jargon—and after all, when you’re promoting your non profit organization, you are talking to real humans.

It’s important to keep marketing content simple and friendly. Pretend that your brochure, website, volunteer application, or newsletter is a person—with a personality, a distinct voice, and a professional, straightforward vocabulary.

Share information as a friendly neighbor would—and keep that “friendly neighbor” tone in mind. Don’t assume your audience knows what your organization does, how long it’s been around, or who is on the executive team and board of directors.

Put a likable face on your non profit organization. Staff, volunteer, and management photos make you look real—and human. And when posing the board of directors for their annual photo shoot, put them outside in more casual outfits instead of around a big table with their hands folded.

Instead of demanding information on your online forms, ask for it. Forms can be friendly! Rather than Name/Address/Phone/Email for registration forms, use language like:

• Introduce yourself!
• Where would you like emails sent?
• Can we call you?
• Where should we send news?

When you think of your audience as humans, and your marketing materials as people you’re asking to communicate for you, it only makes sense to use human language to do the job!

Whether you have a big, volunteer-heavy fundraising event coming up, or just want to handle your regular supporter outreach duties more efficiently, you can save money and time by using easy-to use, free online tools.

1. Email is a friendly, most-often acceptable method of staying in touch with volunteers and supporters. Sure, some folks do not want unwanted emails clogging their inboxes—that’s why you always want to include an opt-out option in every email. You might be surprised how often a well-written, informative email from your organization will be opened by most of your email list. More important, emails are easy to forward and share—so you get more bang for your effort!

Make sure you capture emails from interested donors, supporters, and volunteers at every opportunity to build a solid email list.

2. Re-think expensive printing projects. Do you need to pay for the design, printing, and mailing of event announcements? If you wish to impress recipients with a nicely-done invitation to a big event, then consider skipping additional mailings. Will an email blast do for a save-the-date request and RSVP reminders?

3. Avoid another expensive mailing project next time you want to solicit donations for a special project or year-end campaign by allowing donors to give through your website. Replace the typical mailed letter and response envelope with a nicely-designed email containing a link to an online “Donate Now” button. There are dozens of online donation services available to nonprofits and charities. Just do a Google search and get started!

4. Promote it yourself! Garner support for your cause across town, throughout your region, and even around the world through online media and social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and GroupMembersOnly are fantastic ways to create a buzz while creating community and informing potential supporters, donors, volunteers and clients who may not know about your organization. All are user-friendly, easy to set up and maintain, and not as time consuming as you may have heard. The effort you put towards social network promotion may surprise you!

Using free online tools to promote your event or fundraise for your nonprofit organization can save you time and tons of money!

As promised, we continue to offer some best practices tips for volunteer managers. Increase efficiency and stay organized with tips from both the for-profit business sector and other nonprofit organizations.

1. Develop a Volunteer Acquisition Plan: Plans help you keep on goal; your volunteer recruitment efforts will be much more effective if you plan carefully. First, determine how many volunteers you need for each project, ongoing tasks, and events you have in a typical period—one month, six months, one year. Then decide the level of experience you need from your volunteers. Do you need special training, like food service, catering, accounting, truck driving, or traffic control? Or is the project something that is suitable for a family with small children?

Next, make a list of former volunteers, current supporters, and even your friends and business contacts who possess the desired training or expertise. Contact them and ask for their help. Be sure to clearly define your needs, expectations, and their time commitment.

2. Protect your Organization from Legal Harm: As a volunteer manager, you must be as aware of employment laws as any human resource manager. If you lack training in this area, research training opportunities or enlist the help of an HR Law professional for guidance. Some of the applicable federal land state laws are the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (which covers volunteer background screening and credit checks), and anti-discrimination legislation like Equal Employment Opportunity.

Keep staff, served populations and other volunteers safe and your organization out of legal trouble by carefully screening all volunteers. Review insurance policies annually to be sure volunteers are covered when working for your organization. Don’t wait until after a volunteer suffers an injury to find out you are under-insured.

3. Keep Excellent Records: Many organizations are required to track volunteer time. If you are not required, it is still a good idea to do so. Whether you obtain specialized computer software to help, or use simple spreadsheets, it’s vital to keep track of volunteer contact information, interests and abilities, projects assigned and completed, and notes regarding successes and challenges. These notes  will come in handy when conducting evaluations or when your organization is required to report to state or federal officials. If you are challenged for time to track volunteer activity, assign the task to a volunteer.

4. Be Flexible: The ability to switch hats, courses of action, and gears is a valuable one for volunteer managers. If a volunteer is having trouble with a project, losing interest in the organization, or not working out as well as you’d hoped, be ready to communicate, evaluate, and act accordingly. If your volunteer recruitment plan isn’t working as well as you need it to, double your efforts, ask a mentor for help, or simply change your approach. Try spreading the word with social media or free online ads like Craigslist.

Borrowing good management practices from others is an easy way to implement procedures that really work—and can save you valuable time!