Quality Service Marketing

New Book Preview: Share of Mind, Share of Heart - Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits

One of the reasons I love working with nonprofits is that they are so mission-focused. When you’re passionate about your mission, it’s easier to feel good about your work. But having a noble mission doesn’t guarantee organizational success!

Effectively managing a nonprofit on a daily basis is a challenge that involves:

• planning and delivering mission-based programs in response to constituent needs
• securing scarce resources and funding to meet ever-increasing needs
• developing and maintaining good relationships with the board, staff and volunteers
• ensuring governance compliance, etc. 

These are just a few of many critical tasks facing nonprofit professionals. With so many responsibilities, it’s easy for nonprofit leaders and managers to get caught up in operational issues and lose sight of what matters – and what matters is the tremendous impact every employee and volunteer has on the organization’s brand.

This is why I wrote Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits – to help nonprofits better engage their employees and volunteers. The book is scheduled for release this June, but here’s a sneak peak at what’s inside. 

Part 1: Nonprofit Marketing and Engagement

Ch. 1. Understanding Nonprofit Marketing and Your Brand

Ch. 2. Why Nonprofit Marketing Needs to be Different but the Same

Ch. 3. Taking Care of the People Who Most Impact Your Brand

Part 2: Marketing Tools of Engagement

Ch. 4. Introduction to Internal Marketing Tools of Engagement

Ch. 5. Connecting to the Organization

Ch. 6. Connecting to Customers

Ch. 7. Connecting to Other Employees and Volunteers

Part 3: Facilitating Your Nonprofit Engagement

Ch. 8. Keeping People Engaged

Ch. 9. Making It Happen – Your Internal Marketing Plan.

Special Pre-Release Offer: Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits will be published this June, and I'm pleased to offer a special discount of 20% off the retail price before the book's actual release. Click here to reserve your copy now!

 

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 2

Upon learning about my new book, Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits, my friend was puzzled. “I don’t get it,” he said, “especially when nonprofits are so mission-driven. Aren’t the people who work there more engaged than those who work in the for-profit sector?”

My friend’s presumption about nonprofit engagement is a common one. Regardless of whether an organization is profit-driven or mission-driven, the quality of workplace engagement depends on the organizational culture and how its people are treated. Nonprofits can’t claim any advantage based on employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission. 

As nonprofit employee and consultant Jinna Halperin wrote in Voices from the Field: Nonprofit Workplace Culture – Why it Matters so Much to Us:

“All nonprofits are dysfunctional in some way or another and figuring out where to hang your hat requires one to assess whether the level and type of dysfunction is personally tolerable …

“I am no longer driven only by the mission of the organization. Having so many issues about which I feel passionate and on which I have worked, I have come to believe that employment happiness at nonprofits is more about how one is treated and whether one’s contribution is respected …”

An inspiring mission may attract talent employees and volunteers to an organization, but it takes much more to get them to stay. People need to feel they matter as much as their work. 

Note: To get a look inside my new book on nonprofit engagement, stay tuned for next week’s post.

 

Why Nonprofits Need Engagement-Part 1

My love of nonprofits started in my teens when I volunteered to work at a summer camp for intellectually disabled children. Since then, I’ve served a variety of nonprofit organizations in a range of roles that include frontline volunteer, committee member, advisory member, board member, board chair, and in a professional capacity as a marketing & organizational advisor.

Here’s what I’ve learned based on my personal and professional experience:

1. Mission matters – it provides organizational focus and intention. It also brings together the people who share a passion for the mission and want to do something about it.

2. The people behind the mission also matter – the employees and volunteers who carry out the mission through their dedication and commitment.

3. People’s passion for the mission should not be taken for granted – employees’ and volunteers’ passion for the mission does not guarantee their continued commitment to an organization.

These valuable insights are the basis for my new book that I’m excited to introduce here. I wrote Share of Mind, Share of Heart – Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits to help nonprofit leaders, executives and managers better engage the employees and volunteers who carry out their organization’s mission.

My book will be published shortly. In the meantime, I’ll share more about nonprofit engagement and my new book in the next two posts. 

Volunteers Know What Matters

The recent PR firestorm involving two well-known women’s health organizations (I’m not going to rehash the situation here) reminded me of an experience I had in my early years of nonprofit consulting.

I was asked to facilitate a special meeting between two nonprofits involved in helping people with cancer – one was an established organization, the other was a relatively new start-up. The existing nonprofit felt threatened by the new group. In my meetings with senior staff from the existing nonprofit, some people admitted they wanted the new organization to just "go away" – they were concerned about competing for donor and volunteer support. Fortunately, they accepted the new group’s invitation to sit down together and explore how they could both serve the community.

Can’t we all just get along?

I remember my feelings of trepidation as I prepared for the joint meeting - I was a facilitator, not a peace-keeper! But my fears dissolved after I interviewed a number of volunteers from both organizations. Their message was clear and consistent: “We don’t care who we work for as volunteers, we just want to eradicate cancer! So find a way to work out your differences.“ 

That was the message I shared with the two organizations at the outset of their meeting-of-the-minds. Their volunteers provided the critical reminder that purpose supersedes politics.

Both organizations took the message to heart. I’m happy to report that meeting was held more than 20 years ago, and both organizations continue to co-exist and collaborate in their efforts to serve people with cancer.

Special Note: National Volunteer Week is coming up soon: April 15-21, 2012. Special thanks to all volunteers who help make a difference in our world! 

 

 

Employee Engagement Resources and More

As a frequent speaker on engaging employees and customers through internal marketing, I’m often asked for my recommendations on engagement resources. I’m happy to share several of my favorites here - including books, e-books, networks, and newsletters.    

Employee Engagement                                   

One of the best sources of information and ideas comes from the members of the Employee Engagement Network (EEN), founded and hosted by David Zinger. Under "Free EE Resources" on EEN's website you'll find a number of helpful e-books on “Engaging Questions“ … “Primers for Engaging Conversations” … “Employee Engagement Advice for Managers” … and the first in a series of 50-word case studies on engagement. 

In addition, I highly recommend the following three books:

Re-Engage: How America’s Best Places to Work Inspire Extra Effort in Extraordinary Times by Leigh Branham and Mark Hirschfeld. This book draws on extensive data from the “Best Places to Work” research to identify and apply the drivers of employee engagement in today’s challenging times. You can sign up for Leigh Branham’s free quarterly newsletter, Keeping the People for more information and articles on employee engagement and retention.

The Art of Engagement: Briding the Gap Between People and Possibilities by Jim Haudan. This book provides a framework for connecting organizational strategy and execution based on the root causes of engagement and disengagement.

The annual Zappos Culture Book describes what employee engagement at Zappos is all about as written by its employees.  

Enterprise Engagement

Enterprise engagement encompasses the need to engage everyone involved in a business: employees, customers, and channel partners. The Enterprise Engagement Alliance website features articles on this topic and a schedule of educational programs, including webinars and on-site programs.

I need to mention the Zappos Culture Book again here as it includes content reflective of Zappos’ engagement with its partners, vendors and customers.

Volunteer Engagement

While researching my new book on internal marketing for nonprofits, I found Energize, Inc., Susan Ellis’s website for leaders of volunteers, to be a tremendous resource. I also recommend her book, From the Top Down: The Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement.

In  addition, you can download a free copy of my e-book on volunteer engagement.

Your Turn

What engagement resources have you found helpful? I’d love your input on expanding this list.

What Can Nonprofit Leaders Do to Keep Volunteers and Employees Engaged?

I’ve heard from numerous nonprofit professionals and volunteers in response to my recent posts on “When Passion for the Mission Isn’t Enough.” The following comments are representative of the feedback I received. I wanted to share them with you to stimulate discussion and ideas on how to better engage employees and volunteers.

One volunteer shared her current take on volunteer disengagement:

“Volunteers are readily distracted by the demands of paying jobs, which in this day and age are onerous and leave little time for charity. If they don’t feel appreciated, and feel like they have no power in the volunteer environment, they will bolt.”

Even nonprofits that foster an engaging workplace are concerned about operating in economic and political uncertainty. An executive director described her frustration:

“When I get together with other nonprofit executive directors, we all look at a dismal funding future, and wonder how long we can hang on. Personally, I will continue to work to do the most with what we have, as long as we are funded, but I do sense an exhaustion in my peers. While our board is wonderful about contacting legislators, I can’t help but think that they would be more engaged if we weren’t regularly threatened with a cut-off of funds.”

The challenge of striving to meet growing mission-related needs with scarce resources has long existed in the nonprofit sector. But employees, volunteers and board members have grown weary of being asked to “do more with less” and “work smarter, not harder.” Sadly, the risk of burnout is greater than ever.

How Are You Coping?

We can all dream of finding a magic lamp with a genie who can take care of funding and resource issues (if only!). Seriously though, how are your dealing with the situation?

I welcome your ideas on what works to keep your volunteers and employees engaged these days.

Nonprofit Boards: When Passion for the Mission Isn't Enough

My recent posts on nonprofit employee and volunteer disengagement struck a chord. The feedback I received tells me there are a lot of frustrated people who work in the nonprofit sector. (Check out Rosetta Thurman’s blog post and guest post, “Why Do Nonprofits Treat Their Employees Like Crap” published earlier this year.)

Among volunteers, I also heard from nonprofit board members who are disenchanted. What distinguishes board members from their fellow volunteers is the board’s primary responsibility for the organization – board members provide governance, fiduciary oversight, and strategic direction; boards are also responsible for hiring and evaluating a nonprofit’s chief staff person. However, these higher levels of responsibility do not guarantee full and long-lasting engagement! Board members are also at risk of disengaging from a nonprofit and withdrawing their organizational leadership and support.

Un-engaging

I heard from several current and former board members who serve(d) in a variety of nonprofits about their experiences. Here’s what they shared.

• Under-utilized. Like most volunteers, board members get involved to make a difference and give back in some way. A board member told me that while she enjoys her board service, she’s frustrated because she would like the board to do more than just serve as a “high level rubber stamp.”
• Unevenly engaged. One nonprofit asks each member of its board of directors to sign a letter of agreement that they’ll “actively participate” in their board roles. What that term means has not been clarified, so board participation ranges from “showing up at meetings” to “just call me when you need my help” to “being fully prepared for board meetings and carrying out committee assignments.”
• Unevenly recognized. A long-time director who helped with fundraising, served on the CEO search committee, and was actively involved in planning and participating in several special events, received the same recognition plaque as another board member who only attended board meetings and an occasional event.
• Unwilling to rock-the-boat. A new board member of another nonprofit got fed up with the board’s ‘passive’ culture that was reinforced by the CEO. This board member commented, “A board which is kept out of touch with the daily operations and what truly drives the organization cannot be effective.”

What’s a board member to do?

No matter how much due diligence and research you do before becoming involved with a nonprofit, you may not find any disconnects or dissonance until after you start your board service. Unanticipated changes to the organization’s culture and operation may also occur as a result of staff, volunteer, and leadership turnover. Regardless of the situation, if you find yourself becoming disenchanted and disengaged it’s time to perform a reality check. Talk with board members you respect to determine if the situation is just frustrating to you or if others share your feelings; i.e., is it an individual board member problem or a problem board?

• If others share your concern: discuss how best to address the situation. An invaluable tool for any board is an ongoing self-evaluation that assesses board and organizational effectiveness, including board-staff engagement.
• If it’s solely your concern: ask yourself whether or not it makes sense to continue your board service. Do you feel strongly enough about the mission that you’re willing to adjust your expectations to continue to serve? Or is there another way you can support the mission without being on the board?

If you’re discouraged to the point that you can no longer tolerate the situation, then gracefully resign and regroup. Give yourself a breather … and if you’re still interested in volunteering, find another worthwhile organization that’s a better fit with your talent and passion.

Volunteers: When Passion for the Mission Isn't Enough

Like nonprofit employees, volunteers can also exit when they get frustrated and fed up. The reasons for disengagement are similar, and while it might seem easier for volunteers to leave a nonprofit since they’re not held to an employment contract, that doesn’t mean it’s any less painful when they’re passionate about the mission. As Sally Helgesen described, “Volunteers … work not for money but because they want to give back, make a difference, change the world. They work because they want to matter. Volunteers can, and will, quit the moment they feel undervalued.”

This would be a great place to work if it weren’t for the [expletive] volunteers!

Example #1. A nonprofit board member described frustration with an executive director’s lack of respect for volunteers. “It makes me feel that my personal contributions of time and talent are not valued, even though I am a top donor. The executive is stuck in a rut, verbally… [focusing] on perceived staff board shortfalls. Why have I stayed?… I am passionate about the organization’s mission and continue to hope that eventually… with the staff changeover, we’ll be able to use the enthusiasm and ideas [to make a difference] that the Board has proposed.”

Example #2. In response to increasing volunteer disengagement, a member-based organization set up a volunteer engagement task force comprised of volunteers and senior staff. Under the task force’s direction, a survey was conducted of current and past volunteer leaders to gain better understanding of volunteer perceptions and expectations. Resulting recommendations called for more intentional volunteer management and oversight. Staff responded by developing a volunteer philosophy and creating a volunteer leader advocacy position to implement a volunteer engagement and recognition plan – all done without volunteer input!

Volunteer Talent or Disposable Commodity?

The difference in how your volunteers are treated depends on the tone set by the person in charge. People have to matter as much as the mission.

“Eliciting superior performance from people requires making them feel as if they matter, as if they’re contributing, as if they’re making a difference. ...Only an inspiring, trustworthy, respectful, and inclusive leader can attract and retain volunteers over the long run.” [Source: Sally Helgesen, “Why Mattering Matters,” Shine a Light, Leader to Leader Institute, 2005]

 

You Can't Keep an Engaged Volunteer Down

Hurricane Irene’s recent landfall on the east coast and my current work in volunteer engagement reminded me of a dear friend and fellow volunteer’s extraordinary experience during Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

I was on the board of the American Marketing Association (AMA) as VP of Professional Chapters back then and had the privilege of serving with many dedicated volunteers on the Professional Chapters Council (PCC). An advisory group comprised of past chapter presidents, PCC members provided guidance and tools to help strengthen chapter leadership among AMA’s network of more than 90 chapters in the U.S. and Canada. We also visited chapters to recognize special achievements - presenting chapter excellence awards, anniversary gavels, and new chapter charters.

Who Said Getting There is Half the Fun?

Chris Bonney, a PCC member from Hampton Roads VA, was scheduled to meet with the Triad chapter in Winston-Salem NC on September 22, 1989. Here’s how he described that incredible trip. (Keep in mind, this was before the prevalence of blackberries and i-phones.)

“Neither rain nor wind nor dark of night could prevent me (although they all tried) from attending the 20th anniversary celebration of the Triad Chapter in Winston Salem. It started with my first plane being delayed nearly four hours because of complications related to an earlier accident at La Guardia airport. Accordingly, I missed the only two connections from Charlotte to Winston Salem – not to mention the baby who threw up on my lap as we circled over Charlotte …

"Having too much time and energy devoted to making this meeting, I rented a car in Charlotte and drove the 90 miles to get to the meeting, arriving an hour and a half late. I was determined not to be forever known as ‘that guy from the PCC who never showed up.’ When I arrived at the meeting room (after spending 15 minutes stuck in the elevator in the hotel’s parking garage), I found the chapter president doing the old shadow-pictures-on-the-wall hoping he could hold the group’s interest until I arrived.”

And for the return trip …

That’s what it took for this intrepid volunteer to reach his destination. Chris’s getting home was no easier as Hurricane Hugo was making its destructive way up the eastern seaboard.

“Having been assured by some [expletive] at the airport that the plane would be flying in the morning, I was crazy enough to drive through the hurricane back to Charlotte to catch my plane home. (By this time Hugo was reclassified as a tropical storm but still packing winds of 60-90 mph.) What a joke! Although Charlotte experienced nothing like the tragedy of Charleston, it was still pretty trashed – thousands of tree uprooted and broken in the highways, flooding, power lines down, billboards and signs asunder …

"With no power anywhere, the city was – according to the car radio message from the two radio stations working on emergency generators – virtually closed for business. I drove the car right up on the curb by the front door of the airport to escape the winds. By 8:30 that morning, there had been so much damage to the airport that they hadn’t even been out on the field to check the planes and runways.”

With all flights cancelled, Chris drove home. It took him more than six hours, and he eventually made it home safely. Despite all the delays in traveling, Chris reported that the chapter visit was well worth it.

I found this description of his harrowing travel experience in a special presentation I made several weeks later to recognize Chris for his dedication, determination, courage and commitment to the chapter, PCC, and the AMA.

Thanks, Chris, for what you did back then … and for the memory of it now.

 

What I Did on My Summer (Blog) Vacation

Thank you for your patience during my blog break. What did I accomplish this summer?

Most of my time was spent researching and writing several chapters for my new book on how nonprofits can use internal marketing to engage employees and volunteers. I interviewed colleagues and experts in the field and will connect with more of them this fall.

As part of my research, I read the following books (and I highly recommend them):

• Good to Great and the Social Sectors by Jim Collins
• From the Top Down: the Executive Role in Successful Volunteer Involvement by Susan Ellis
• Leading the Way to Successful Volunteer Involvement by Betty Stallings & Susan Ellis
• Zilch: The Power of Zero in Business by Nancy Lublin. Note: While this book was written to share what for-profits can learn from successful not-for-profits, it also reaffirms the value and impact of the nonprofit sector.

In addition to keeping up with my client work, I managed to get in a few days of vacation and enjoyed spending time with friends and family.

Hope you had a great summer!