I met Jaki Bent from the U.K. at the Experts Industry Association Meeting.  She is the founder of If Everyone Cares, a new nonprofit based in the U.K.  I was impressed with her vision and enthusiasm for this exciting new endeavor.  Check it out!

Here is what she had to say about If Everyone Cares:

From their website:

“Many people in life are frustrated with all of the things that they think they are unable to do.

If Everyone Cares wants to turn the tide and help people to focus on all of the things that they can do to help others and of all the great things that are going on in the world.

Some of our initial aims and goals are:

• To provide a way to unite those who need help with those who wantto help
• Create a Global Database of every Project and Volunteer Opportunity
• To have every Non-Profit, Charity, Community Project or similar organization pinpointed on Google Earth (or similar) – This way we can:
  • Support those people/communities who need help
  • Know where to go if help is needed
  • See what works and gain inspiration to set up similar projects in our own communities
• Create a simple yet comprehensive resource pack for anyone who wishes to start their own community-based project
• Highlight some of the amazing projects that go on all over the world thereby making them visible to those who are able to help or may need help”
• and more…

To learn more and to find out how you can support this effort, go to If Everyone Cares or “Like” them on Facebook.

How did you recruit volunteers for your nonprofit organization?
HARO had this media request today (Help a Reporter)

Name: K.S. Lundbloom New free e-book: “Finding Volunteers for Your Nonprofit”

Category: General

Email: query-1m2c@helpareporter.net
Media Outlet: New free e-book: “Finding Volunteers for Your Nonprofit”
Deadline: 7:00 PM EST – 22 October

Query: This free e-book will focus on providing sound advice to new non-profit organizations that need to recruit more volunteers.

What resources have you used to develop your email campaigns to increase the number of volunteers in your organization? Have you reached out to colleges and universities by email? If so, did you develop your own email list? Posters? Flyers? Describe the resources you used to develop that list. What other methods were successful in recruiting volunteers? What are the most common mistakes when recruiting? You will be quoted in the article if you wish. This free e-book will be made available to nonprofit organizations worldwide. Thank you!

Requirements:
Any one that has been or is currently involved with a nonprofit organization and has experience with email campaigns or recruiting volunteers. Region is worldwide.

What is HARO?

“From The New York Times, to ABC News, to HuffingtonPost.com and everyone in between, nearly 30,000 members of the media have quoted HARO sources in their stories. Everyone’s an expert at something. Sharing your expertise may land you that big media opportunity you’ve been looking for.”

The past couple weeks I facilitated (as a consultant with JBS International) small group discussions in four cities designed to gather stakeholder input – part of a series of 15 Community Dialogues being hosted around the country by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) as part of their 5 year strategic planning process.

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act outlines 6 priority areas in which the service and volunteerism programs funded by CNCS (AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps VISTA, Senior Corps, and Learn and Serve America) will be focused moving forward – Education, Healthy Futures, (Economic) Opportunity, Veterans, Disaster Preparedness, and Clean Energy.  In each area, CNCS has identified draft key objectives that are felt to be areas in which targeted service and volunteerism can truly move the needle and make a significant contribution.

(Chart from CNCS Strategic Plan Fact Sheet.)

The small group discussion processes I have been facilitating seek input on whether the key objectives for success in 5 years seem sound, if there are other key objectives that should also be considered, and what stakeholders view as the challenges and opportunities available for programming in these areas.

Stakeholders invited to participate include a broad range of organizations – representatives of state service commissions, CNCS state offices, National Service programs, corporations, foundations, local and state government officials, community-based organizations, and faith-based organizations.  It has been very interesting to me to hear the differences in need and perspective based on regional differences and local needs as groups engage in the dialogue and I am processing the collected data.

I have been impressed with the quality of input the invited stakeholders have offered, the openness in which Patrick Corvington – CNCS CEO, Board members, and senior staff have received the input, and the real time revisions of the preliminary key objectives the agency is doing based on the input they are receiving.  Well done all around!

If you would like to provide input on any of these focus areas, CNCS has set up a website to collect public feedback.  Click here to go to that site.  CNCS is also hosting a series of webinars also designed to collect stakeholder input.  The dates of the webinars are:

• Education: Tuesday, July 13 at 2:30pm EDT
• Opportunity: Wednesday, July 14 at 1:30pm EDT
• Clean Energy: Thursday, July 22 at 2:00pm EDT
• Healthy Futures: Tuesday, July 27 at 1:30pm EDT
• Veterans: Thursday, July 29 at 1:30pm EDT
• Disaster Preparedness: Wednesday, August 4th at 1pm EDT

For information about how to access the webinars, click here.

Next week, I travel to Indianapolis to facilitate another Community Dialogue.  Later in August, I will also be in Detroit, Flint, and New Orleans for their Community Dialogues.  Makes for a busy summer…and I love doing this work!

The time is now to re-tool business and nonprofit relationships to make them more win-win and sustainable.  Therefore, I am conducting an online survey of nonprofit staff and/or board members about their experience with business partnerships.  I’d love to know more about what your organization’s experience has been – the success and challenges – as I am developing new materials to help nonprofits and businesses engage together more effectively.

Also, if you are open to being interviewed and featured on my blog, www.BusinessGivingStrategies.com, please provide your name and contact information at the end of the short survey.  If you complete the survey, I will be sure you get a copy of the final report as well as a downloadable eBook on ways to engage with businesses as a thank you.

To take the survey, go to: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AVN23WCEL.

THANKS FOR YOUR TIME AND SHARING YOUR EXPERIENCE!!

Designing Strategic Partnerships with Businesses
This is Your Personal VIP Invitation
Thursday, March 11, 2010
3:00 – 4:00 pm Eastern

If you are like most nonprofit leaders, you probably are very concerned these days about the impact of a tough economy on your ability to get needed resources for your organization or program. You see the need mushrooming in your community every day…and you see the companies around you starting to tighten their philanthropic belt. So what to do?

No matter how good your program or organization may be, if you can’t clearly make the case for why a business should support YOUR nonprofit organization over all the others also seeking their support, you are bound to fail. You need to know the right formula for approaching businesses to create win-win partnerships to secure the resources you so desperately need.

In this call, Susan Hyatt reveals how to move past the old school “beg for donations” and checkbook philanthropy mentality to present your organization, NOT as needy, but as a valuable partner – offering to share your assets (such as networks, publications, special events, etc.) with companies that choose to partner and share their resources with you. If you want to strengthen your “ask” and improve your success rate, you definitely need to attend this FREE teleseminar to:

• Learn about 4 current trends in the business world that affect giving practices;
• Discover the 4 critical needs of businesses that you can help address through a partnership;
• Learn the 10 biggest mistakes nonprofits make when seeking business support – so you don’t make them!
• And much more!

Get ready for an hour of information and insights that will change the tone and success of your business partnerships forever.

More Information about Susan Hyatt:

Susan Hyatt is the author of The Nonprofit Toolkit: Designing Strategic Partnerships with Businesses. She is a nationally-known consultant, trainer, and speaker and the founder of Business Nonprofit CONNECTIONS, Inc., which is dedicated to helping nonprofits and businesses partner more effectively for real impact on pressing social issues. Working with nonprofit organizations domestically and internationally for more than 20 years, Susan continually pushes the envelope to find NEW ways to address issues of nonprofit sustainability through strategic business partnerships.

Susan has conducted training in 49 states for over 10,000 nonprofit leaders and their board members on such topics as strategic business partnerships, performance measurement and evaluation, and using data effectively to gain stakeholder support. Susan has conducted interviews with more than 50 business leaders as part of the research for her forthcoming book, Strategic Business Philanthropy: How Smart Companies Do Good AND Do Well.” She has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, The Akron Times Beacon, and the Denver Business Journal. Her insights and articles regularly appear in her email newsletter, CONNECTIONS, which reaches business and nonprofit leaders worldwide.

REGISTER HERE FOR THIS FREE TELESEMINAR!

You will receive all the call information sent to the email you submitted. Please check your spam box if you do not receive the email within a few minutes.

Back by popular demand! RECESSION PROOF RESOURCES: How SMART Nonprofits Partner with Businesses – a nonprofit teleseminar program.

If you are concerned about the impact of a tight economy on your ability to get needed resources for your nonprofit, join me for my four-part nonprofit teleseminar series, RECESSION PROOF RESOURCES: How SMART Nonprofits Partner with Businesses, on Tuesdays in March (9, 16, 23, and 30) from 12:00-1:30 pm ET. Get ready for six hours of information and insights that will change the tone and success of your business partnerships forever!

For more information and to sign up, go to: http://tinyurl.com/yg9u6z9

Please pass the word to nonprofit leaders you know who could benefit from this important information!!

As a thank you for reading my blog, I would like to offer you a $50 discount on the RECESSION PROOF teleseminar program – enter RPR-5 when registering to receive the discount! Hope you will be able to join me!!

I interviewed thought leaders from 50 companies for my new book, Business Giving Strategies, due out this fall.  One questions which I asked everyone during the interviews was if they had experienced any challenges working with nonprofit organizations and if so, what were they.  The following is a list of ten of the challenges that I compiled for you from what I heard.

1.   Nonprofits are often not receptive to engaging in creative programs with higher levels of business involvement – beyond just asking for checks.   – Niki Leodankis, Kimpton Hotels

2.   Many nonprofits can’t succinctly describe what they do – their mission or message.  They can’t get to the point and spend too much time describing their program models.   Many don’t follow the submission instructions for grant applications.  – Amy Hall, EILEEN FISHER

3.   Nonprofits often don’t give us back any information on the impact of the support we provided.   – Gregor Barnum, Seventh Generation

4.   Many nonprofits are risk-averse.  They are playing not to lose rather than playing to win.  Such risk-aversion has a negative impact on innovation.   – John Sage, Pura Vida Coffee

5.   There can be profound cultural difference between nonprofits and businesses in how work is approached.  Nonprofits sometimes have trouble understanding business demands.   – Seth Goldman, Honest Tea

6.   Timing and organizational culture difference can be challenging.  The business focus on business often is hard for nonprofits to understand as is the fast pace of business and the push to meet quotas.  Also, both partners may have stereotypical beliefs about each other which can get in the way.   – Mary T’Chach, AVEDA

7.   Many nonprofits are not savvy about marketing their partnership with a business to their supporters and the community at large.  While one business motivation to engage in relationships with nonprofits is to enhance their visibility and marketing efforts, nonprofit partnerships don’t necessarily lead to a direct sales opportunity.   – Seth Goldman, Honest Tea

8.   Nonprofits may not have the patience required to build the relationship with a business.  You need to start slow.  – Rodney North, Equal Exchange

9.   Getting nonprofits to understand where the company is coming from and differing definitions of deadlines.  – Clayton Adams, State Farm

10.   So few nonprofits take inventory of their power.  For example, their supporter networks and communication tools are one nonprofit asset of value to businesses.  Mentioning your business in their newsletter, on their website, a thank you at a board meeting or bring their board to your restaurant for a meeting can all be ways to help you get increased exposure.  -Jessica Newman, Rock Bottom Foundation

And…don’t forget  to say thank you to your business partners!  - Leslie Sheridan, The Added Edge

I got a call out of the blue this week from “NK”, a now 24 year old man, who was my “Junior Partner” through Denver Partners, a local mentoring nonprofit, for 3 years starting when he was seven.  I had not heard from him in 12 years and was thrilled he made the effort to reconnect with me.  I can’t even begin to tell you the dysfunction of his life and family at that time but we spent 3-10 hours a week doing a whole range of things that I knew at the time we both benefitted from – just hanging out and cooking dinner together to taking him for his first meal in a restaurant where you tip the waitress, to fishing for carp in my apartment complex pond.  It was just after my divorce and we had a lot of fun together – filled a hole for both of us.  I have so many happy memories and tough moments interwoven from my time with him.

During our call, I was moved to tears hearing him talk with such joy and nostalgia about some of the little things we did together – many of which I had totally forgotten or really had felt had been no big deal to me at the time – and how it has influenced his path.  For one example, I used to let him play with my computer and he told me that had truly tweaked his interest and he started studying on his own and he now does graphic design and websites as a hobby business.

He shared about his life now and I was so proud of him. He was a bit afraid to tell me he was a truck driver and hadn’t gone to college and it was great to ask whether he was happy and let him know that is what matters most – not the piece of paper.

I was sad to hear his older sister ended up going down the exotic dancer, drug and alcohol route and they don’t even know where she is now or whether she is even alive.  NK was in a mental health juvenile facility for a while and I used to visit him there – so he could so easily have gone the route of his sister but he did not.  And I had some small part in helping him choose another path, I now know.

The whole conversation was such a wonderful reminder that whenever we share of ourselves, we ARE making a difference.  We never know when a small kindness that may seem miniscule to us in the moment can truly impact another person’s life in ways we may never get to know. I know I truly did make a difference with NK and I am grateful for his being in my life.  It inspires me to stay open and be as generous with my time and sharing of myself as I can be – it does not require dollars.  Sometimes the biggest gifts we can give have no dollar signs attached to them.

What can you do this year to give of yourself and make a deep, lasting difference in someone’s life?

Checkthecharity.com uses public records submitted by the nonprofit and the solicitors they hire to help Coloradans decide which charitable groups to support.  The website states it is “A public-private partnership to promote Colorado charities and to inform and protect donors.”  I first heard about this new site reading the Denver Post on Friday 11/23/2009 as a business brief caught my eye, “Charity-checking website available.”

The checkthecharity.com website provides links to four other sites:

1.  Colorado Nonprofit Association – Strengthening Nonprofits and Charitable Giving.  This link takes you to a site titled, Generous Colorado.  This site offers a User’s Guide with valuable information for potential donors including: Find Nonprofits or Causes, Sites that Accept Donations, Wise Giving, Get Involved, For Kids, About Us (the Colorado Generosity Project and the Colorado Nonprofit Association), and Generous Colorado Blog.

2.  Colorado Attorney General Colorado Department of Law – Consumer Protection for Donors.  This link takes you to a state-sponsored site within consumer protection that deals specifically with charities.  Among the information provided are tips for donors.

3.  Denver Post’s Season to Share –  This link provides consumers the opportunity to leverage their resources with a provided match.   “We need your support now more than ever. Together we can make a difference.  All donations are matched at 50 cents on the dollar by the McCormick Foundation.  100% of your donation (plus the match) goes directly to local charities serving those in need. The Denver Post and the McCormick Foundation pay all administrative and promotional expenses.”

4.  Colorado Secretary of State - Review Charity Financials and other Required Filings.  ”Charities that solicit contributions in Colorado and their professional fundraisers are required to register online with the Secretary of State. The Charities and Fundraisers Registration program provides complete public access to these registration documents. The purpose of publicizing this information is to help donors make informed decisions regarding which charitable causes should be supported, to help maintain public trust in charities, and to help charities make informed decisions about contracting with paid solicitors.”

This is a great portal to lots of valuable information – check it out!!  A common concern I often hear especially from small business people is where do I start to find a legitimate nonprofit to support in the areas of concern to us?  How do I know what to look for and which ones are “good”?  This new site helps a lot.  Having worked with thousands of nonprofits over 20+ years, I have some food for thought as well so will blog about some things I recommend you consider later this week.  So stayed tuned!

The July 24-30, 2009 edition of the Denver Business Journal (page A7) had an article by Bob Mook, “Nonprofits hope to win big with high-stakes raffles.”  The article describes how many nonprofits are trying what he terms a go-for-broke fundraising strategy in these tough economic times through the use of high-stakes raffles. 

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Metro Denver is organizing the Rocky Mountain Home Raffle.  Participants can win a ski home in Keystone, a loft in LoDo, or $1 million cash.  Tickets are $100 each and the number of tickets to be sold is limited to 27,500.  For a limited time, they are offering a buy a 3-pack of tickets for $275 or a 10-pack of tickets for $800 and SAVE.  To date, however, they have sold only 3,500 tickets but the grand prize drawing is not until late September so they remain hoeful they will sell out.  Early ticket purchasers are put in early drawings to collect prizes ranging from $1, 000 to $20,000, as well.  Guess you need to keep your fingers crossed NOT to win one of those as it probably decreases your chances of cashing in on the BIG prize!

The website states, “Your $100 helps Boys & Girls Clubs to build caring, responsible citizens and create a positive place, full of hope and opportunity, for every child and …enters you in the raffle to win a stunning dream home or $1,000,000 CASH. The Grand Prize Winner selects either the $1,000,000 Ski Home, the $1,000,000 Denver Loft or $1,000,000 CASH. Thousands of dollars in additional cash prizes will be awarded in Special Early and Multiple Ticket-Buyer Drawings. Your odds of winning a prize are at least 1 in 200, depending on the number of tickets sold.”

Even if all 27,500 tickets are sold in the 10 packs – that would mean $2.2 million raised.  Not sure how much of that has to go out in expenses but that is a nice chunk of change to work with, nonetheless.   And the odds of 1 in 200 seem much better than the Colorado Lottery!  My friend bought a ten pack and I bought myself a ticket, as well – why don’t you join us and support the Boys and Girls Clubs?  You can put three additional names on each ticket purchased, so this could be a nice gift for employee recognition purposes – maybe to honor their volunetering in the community!

The DBJ articles also gives tips for nonprofits considering running raffles of their own on the legalities involved.  I knew running a raffle required a special license but I did not know the organization needs to have been in operation 5 years to be eligible.  So be sure to do your research before jumping into the deep end of the pool!