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“What does your nonprofit do?”

June 26, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

“So, what does your nonprofit do?”

Picture this: you’re having a conversation (at a party or business networking event), and you mention that you work at your nonprofit organization, Good Cause Inc.

“Oh, that’s interesting,” someone in the room says. “What is Good Cause Inc.? What does your organization do?”

This is a golden opportunity, and you know it. How often do we all struggle to get new people interested in our organization and its work? And here is someone spontaneously asking, “So, what do you do?”

How to waste your golden opportunity

Just for a moment, you have the other person’s attention. Even if they’re just being polite, they have offered to listen. But not for long. If you don’t tell them something that interests them right away, they’ll discover they have to go refill their plate–preferably in another room!

Here’s how NOT to answer “What do you do?”

Don’t recite your mission statement. Even the best mission statement (like the one that Joanne Fritz teaches you to write) has two drawbacks.

  1. It’s written mainly to guide people inside the organization, and…
  2. It’s a “statement.” That makes it a conversation-stopper–when a conversation is exactly what you want to start.

Don’t try to give an all-inclusive definition. No one is taking notes so they can complain later that the way you explained it didn’t fit the whole picture. (Honestly, at first they’re not paying that much attention!)

If you get the person who asked you the question interested, then you can go on and expand on what you said to catch their interest.

Don’t give a list of your programs. Your programs are not what you do–they are how you do it. That’s not what the person asked you.

If you want their interest, you will tell them what you do…and why they should care.

So, when you’re asked about your nonprofit organization, what should you say instead?

The Nonprofit Elevator Pitch

elevator pitchAn “elevator pitch” is a short summary of what’s attractive about your organization.

It’s brief enough that you could share all of it with someone you just met in the time you’d spend riding together in an elevator. But in just a couple of sentences, it makes the person you’re talking to say, “Tell me more!”

What can you say that will provoke that kind of interest? You can focus on results. Not “measurable outcomes” (the way you would for a grant proposal), but clear benefits you provide to real people, described in ordinary language.

Let me share a couple of examples with you.

Example #1: Communicate! Consulting

It’s true, Communicate! Consulting is a small business and not a nonprofit. But I face the same challenge that you do when people ask me what I do. I have to find a way to win people’s interest, quickly.

Imagine you’re in a room with me when somebody asks me what I do. I could say, “I’m a donor communications consultant.” And then we’d both watch their eyes glaze over.

So instead, I focus on results. I answer:

I help nonprofit organizations to make loyal friends.  We find the best ways to communicate with the donors who  will support them year in and year out, so the organizations can keep on doing their good work.

That gets my conversation partner thinking. And it usually leads to a discussion of why nonprofits need donations from individuals, and why loyalty matters…and yes, what services I offer.

But talking literally about “what I do”  comes later–once the person who’s asking me questions can imagine their favorite nonprofit being better off because they referred the organization to me.


Your nonprofit organization can do what my business does. You can introduce the people you meet to the great things that happen when they support your organization. You can get them to imagine those great results. And the conversation will go on from there.


Example #2: the networking nonprofit

I’d like to introduce you to Social Capital Inc., an organization that’s dedicated to strengthening the social fabric. SCI thinks building relationships and social networks is the key to making everything good happen: for a young person seeking a job, a nonprofit looking for donors, or a community trying to come together for the common good.

That’s a mouthful, isn’t it? The leaders of the organization realized they needed a better way of answering the “what do you do” question. They came to me for advice.

Here’s the elevator pitch I’ve suggested to them:

Did you know there’s one magic ingredient that makes communities, nonprofit organizations, AND young people stronger?

That key ingredient is the network of relationships that each of them can count on. Some people and some communities already have a strong set of relationships with people who can help. Others don’t, yet.

Social Capital Inc. stirs more of that magic ingredient—relationships—into the mix. Because all of us want to see young people become leaders, and good causes attract support, and whole communities bond together and achieve their goals. Right?

Pitch and catch: creating conversation

You may have noticed that the example above is a little longer than your standard “elevator pitch.” It also begins and ends with questions. That’s something I recommend.

Because having an elevator pitch is better than searching for words, but it’s not the best you can do. When someone asks you, “What does your nonprofit do?”, what you really want is not to “pitch” someone but have a conversation with them. It’s like pitch and catch. It goes both ways.

So, next Monday, in Part 2 of this three-part series, you’ll learn how to prepare a real dialogue. I’ll show you how you can ask questions, listen to answers, and tell stories–all the things that will make your conversation partner enjoy talking with you about your organization. (Wouldn’t that be fun?)

You don’t have to waste any more opportunities. You can turn them into gold, instead. Check back next Monday.

And in the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. Have you used an elevator pitch for your organization? Should you? What do you think?

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TY Thursday: A First-Time Gift is Not a Wedding Ring

June 22, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

shut up, give me moneySometimes I think nonprofits have an invisible sign above their desks, directed to donors:

“Shut up and give.”

How else do you explain the way we keep on writing donors the way that’s most convenient for us, and not for them?

Or the way we persist in asking them for a new donation before we’ve actually said “thank you” for the old one?

For more shake-your-head proof that we are taking donors for granted–treating them like cash machines and not like human beings–consider this pet peeve from my friend Carol.

A First-Time Gift is Not a Wedding Ring

Carol read last week’s blog and wrote me:

I had an experience of giving generously to an organization and then realizing that my impulse was one of very poor judgment in terms of my financial situation.  Subsequent mail from the organization has basically asked me where I am and to send money in the same amount as soon as possible as the funds are very much needed.  Very poor form! I have been tempted to send a note but have decided that silence is the better option.

From the organization’s point of view, it seems, they’ve been jilted. Carol made them a vow of lifelong devotion, and then she left them at the altar.

But Carol doesn’t see it that way. She made a gift. Did that commit her to making the same gift happily ever after? Certainly not–particularly if she couldn’t really afford it. And she is offended that the organization is holding her to a promise she never made.

I bet you have some Carols on your list of lapsed donors. They, too, have decided “silence is the better option.” You might feel they have abandoned you, but they believe you have a lot of nerve to think they owe you.

How Not to Take Donors for Granted

Fortunately, some of us do understand how to woo our donors. Carol adds:

A different organization with similar goals has been nothing but kind and appreciative. After getting a request following my increased donation amount to another arm of the organization, I noted that I already donate to that program and had just increased the amount.  I received a note to the effect that the mistake had been corrected, with thanks for my being of such support.

This is also a group that initiated a meeting for me with a regional director after I was unable to attend a local event for which I had registered. We had a lovely dinner with pleasant conversation, including an update on several programs–no pressure of any kind, just a learning experience and a getting to know you evening.  One certainly catches more flies with honey and the personal touch.

Taking donors for granted is destroying their good will. Treating your donors right is the best thank-you. What are you doing to make your donors feel they’ve truly been thanked?

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Fundraising Tuesday: Who Are You Calling “We,” Nonprofit?

June 20, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

When it comes to fundraising appeals, we in the nonprofit world are stuck on ourselves.

How can that be, we wonder? We’re not self-centered. We care about our mission. We care about our clients.

We’re not in it for personal gain–or we surely would have chosen another profession! How can it be that we’re constantly writing about ourselves?

Yet take a look at the last appeal letter your agency sent out. Did it contain:

  • Statistics on how many people “we” helped?
  • Explanations of “our” programs?
  • Stories about what “we” did that changed client’s lives?

We, the nonprofit vs. they, the donors

What we’re trying to do with those letters is make a case for the donor’s support. What we’re succeeding at doing–far too often–is making them feel insignificant.

Saying “We need your help” is not convincing when the rest of the letter is about what “we” did without the donor even knowing. Worse, it puts us on opposite sides of the fence: “we” who do, and “you” who admire.

Yes, that organization sounds great, the donor thinks. So what? What’s that got to do with me?

That’s the question your ideal appeal letter must answer.

All of us, together

Think back to the end of 2016. At home, in the mail, you got a ton of letters asking for money. Was there one that made you excited about giving?

If so, I’ll bet it got the little things right. It called you by your name. It referred to your giving history. It packed some punch in the postscript.

But that’s only what it took to get you to read the letter. What made you remember it, and feel excited about it, and want to give?

The letter that makes you feel like you were there in the midst of the action all along.

The letter that says the success stories are your successes.

The appeal letter that makes the donor the hero of the story.

That’s the one that stays in the memory. That’s the letter that donors want to keep, and quote, and show to their friends.

And that’s the letter that your nonprofit organization wants to write.

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