Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising the Dead

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If you’re  a fundraiser for a nonprofit organization, you have to read Fundraising the Dead, by Sheila Connolly.  How many other chances will you have to see someone in your profession solve a murder mystery?

Nell Pratt is the Director of Development at the Pennsylvania Antiquarian Society. Hours before her big fundraising event, a blueblood Board member informs her that priceless documents from the Board member’s family collection have disappeared from the building. Then, after the gala, Nell discovers the body of the man who worked most on those documents, dead in an upstairs room.

Is it murder? How will Nell get the documents back, and save her job? And is her relationship with her boss, the elegant Charles Elliot Worthington, going to survive the crisis?

The book gives a good idea of how fundraisers spend their work days, and the relationship between staff and major donors. The author has done the work herself. Like me, she speaks nonprofit.

As a mystery, this is a fun read.  If you are looking for a puzzle that will tax your brain, this isn’t it. I figured out who stole the documents halfway through the book, and who committed the murder almost immediately thereafter. But it was a pleasure to follow the relationships between Nell, Board member Marty Terwilliger, and her nephew Special Agent James Morrison (yes, he went down to the wrong side of town). Even your non-fundraising friends will enjoy it.

Have you read any other fiction about nonprofit fundraisers or communicators? Would you please recommend it in the comments section below?

The Joy of LinkedIn Groups

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If you think LinkedIn is only for seeking jobs or recruiting new employees, think again.  LinkedIn Groups is the social part of this social medium.  It’s the most fun you can have while networking, without leaving your desk.

Here’s what you do to enjoy LinkedIn Groups:

  1. Look for groups that share an interest with you and join them.  (For instance, I joined Social Media for Nonprofit Organizations.)
  2. Set up LinkedIn to send you a daily digest of the group by email.
  3. When you get the email, check the titles of the day’s posts.  Click on the ones that pertain to your business or your mission, or sometimes, just the ones that sound intriguing.
  4. Read the post.  Then–important!–read other people’s comments.
  5. Like posts and comments you think are especially good.  (This will show up in the activity feed on LinkedIn, so even people who aren’t in that group will see that you are taking part.)
  6. When you have something to add, write a comment of your own.  Aim to enrich the discussion with information or insights that you know especially well.
  7. When people like your comments or posts, invite them to connect with you on LinkedIn, and continue the conversation.

If you get to the point where you want to host the party instead of just showing up, start your own discussions in that Group.  But make sure you are asking a question that will actually spur discussion!

Results?  By identifying people who share your interests, and by making yourself respected for your expert and helpful advice, you will find potential clients, business partners, employers, and colleagues.  You will also acquire a group of advisors who give you their knowledge for free.

Come join me in LinkedIn Groups, and when you do, say hello!

 

What Are You Trying to Change in 2014?

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So it’s a new year, and you have a list of resolutions in hand. Why did you write them down? Because it’s easier to make changes when you have a clear sense of what you’re trying to change.

That’s true about yourself.  It’s doubly true when you’re trying to change other people.

When your organization communicates with other people–in writing, in person, by video, on social media–are you trying to change their minds or their behavior?

Changing minds is one thing…

If you’re trying to change their minds, it will take patience.  It may take a social marketing campaign, like the kind that made smoking socially unacceptable.  It may take years, like the acceptance of marriage equality.

These are big changes, and if making them happen is your mission, more power to you!

…and changing behavior is another

But many times, all you have to change is their behavior.  They already agree with you: that’s how they got on your list.  They already care about your cause: that’s why they’re opening your emails, or liking your posts, or coming to your events.

You want them to take action.  You want to see them in the streets, or on the phone to their legislators.   You want them to donate food to your pantry or money to your organization.

Changing behavior is not easy.  If it were, we would all keep our New Year’s resolutions and be thin and fit!  But changing specific behaviors is possible, even  in a short period of time.

Are you trying to change your supporters’ behavior or their minds?

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