January 2016 – Management Library

January 31, 2016May 29, 2022

Communicating Electronically

Communicating electronically is widely used for businesses, education, heath, and individuals. All businesses big or small use mobile, networking, or virtual devices to communicate. It is one of our most important and popular tools. We use our smart phones, tablets, or any other devices every second of every day. We use these devices at work, at home, while shopping or on a trip, while waiting, etc. We need these devices to be informed of different events surrounding us. Whether it’s to be notified of emails, status reports from work or a sale at a store, getting a coupon, these devices help to keep us informed and keep us on our toes. For monitoring our health, these devices, e.g., tell us when to stand up and stretch, or provide health records when needed. Communicating electronically keeps us up-to-date on all matters through internet access to data.

Benefits of communicating electronically for the individual.

Education – helps us to instruct individuals. Educational websites and educational publishing is now easily accomplished. Also, training mediums through videos and interactive learning is easily accessible and can be used at an individual’s own pace.
Knowledge management – helps us to manage and share content and also provides information services through channels such as content management systems. Knowledge is easily shared and maintained electronically.
Notifications – helps us to communicate easier through text and voice activated messages. It is no longer necessary to know how to type nor write if, e.g., all you need is your voice to speak into a smart phones to communicate messages.
Traveling – helps us to travel more easily through the aid of GPS systems or smart cars.
Health – helps us to stay healthier by letting us use healthcare apps and medical devices to monitor patient care and share information on our health. We can electronically access and share our health records when needed, know how far we’ve walked, display our pulse rate, etc.
Organization – helps us to remain organized and on schedule through various business applications and can even help us keep track of items, devices, people, notes, pets, etc.
Tasks – helps us remember scheduled appointments and tasks that need to be taken care of.
Contacts – helps us to maintain communication with our favorite people (clients, friends, family, Drs., etc.).
Entertainment – helps us to access and provide easier recreation, such as movies, shows, games, etc. It also helps us to easily take photos and to share them to whomever we want.

Benefits of communicating electronically for businesses.

Keeps businesses up-to-date on all matters such as statuses, gathering data, brainstorming, solving problems, trends, new procedures, etc.
Provides easier collaboration and engagement by helping us to maintain our global contacts trough telecommunications, video conferencing, etc.
Provides easier marketing to new and current clients through digital advertising.
Keeps businesses up-to-date on business matters through video and audio conferences.
Eases maintenance and viewing of data.
Eases assistance and productivity capabilities by providing support anytime and anywhere.

If you have more ideas or thoughts about communicating using electronic devices, please leave a comment.

January 28, 2016June 13, 2022

Security Predictions for the Year Ahead

A-young-woman-thinking-and-making-plans-with-her-laptop

Be aware of the risks and be prepared to counter them

Knowing the major risk factors that your organization faces is a must if you wish to properly prepare for and prevent crises. The trend of cyber threats creating major risks for all of us shows no sign of slowing, and in fact is likely to pick up as more and more hackers hit targets for both financial gain and to push various agendas.

The security experts at Watchguard assembled a list of predictions for what we’ll see in 2016, and we’d like to pass it on to you:

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is vice president for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

– See more at: https://staging.management.org/blogs/crisis-management/2016/01/12/infographic-business-communications-in-2016/#sthash.0jT37INV.dpuf

January 27, 2016February 16, 2023

A Planning Study Over A Feasibility Study, Every Time

A business team coming with a plan for work

For the last 60-70 years, a Feasibility Study has been “required” before planning and/or implementing any major fundraising effort, and its basic concept and structure hasn’t changed in all that time; and, it is my contention that the Feasibility Study is not only obsolete, it’s counter-productive.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t first determine the feasibility of acquiring leadership for and attaining the goals of a major fundraising effort.

Of course we must interview prominent members of the community, prior donors and prospective leaders/example-setters. Of course we want to determine if success is likely, even probable. Of course we want to begin the education and cultivation of those who will be campaign leaders and major donors.

But feasibility studies are designed to ask interviewees if they think the goal is feasible, if they think there are any individuals who could lead a campaign to its goal, if the “community” will support the effort. A typical question is, “With your knowledge of the community, do you think/believe that ‘this’ goal can be achieved?”

If you’re asking people if they think you can succeed, you give them the impression that you might not. Why plant the seed of doubt? In fundraising, a “Study to determine Feasibility” is really bad psychology.

Never ask if an interviewee thinks the goal is attainable? Avoid asking “if,” but rather work to create the impression that success is a given. Get people to buy into that success, then you’re more likely to succeed.

Want to create a Major Gifts Program, a Bequest Program, a Special Event, a Recognition Program, a Capital Campaign ??

The most important information you’d want to have is whether your (prospective) constituents/donors will agree with what you want to do, and what would motivate those folks to want to support and/or participate in your activity.

The best way to get the best answers to those questions would be to ask. And, the best way to ask would be by means of a “Planning Study.”

That the “Study” is for “Planning” purposes suggests that you’ve not committed to taking a particular action and/or to creating a specific kind of program – even though you may have!!

When you ask someone to participate in this kind of “Study,” you are asking for their advice and saying that what you do (or don’t do) will be impacted by what they say (or don’t say).

Unlike the obsolete “feasibility study,” with all its “baggage,” a “Planning Study” asks in-depth questions about a broad range of subjects. Then, based on the study’s findings, a nonprofit will be able to proceed with programs/activities it knows will be supported by its constituents.

And, by the way, the reason the “Planning Study” is “almost always the first step” is because it is a strong means of cultivating the folks you hope will be your leaders and donors … when you do whatever it is that you’re “planning” to do.

When you ask someone’s advice, they’re more likely to look upon you favorably … because you were smart enough to know to ask them ☺

To quote an old fundraising saying: “If you want advice, ask for money; if you want money, ask for advice.” And a “Planning Study” is a great way to ask for advice.

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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
This posting is a sample of what’s in the Third book in the series –
“Guidance for the New Nonprofit, Executive Director and Board Member”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
To keep this resource alive, we need your
questions/problems to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you’re reading this on-line, and would like to comment/expand on the above piece, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.” If you’re reading this as an email, and you want to comment on the above piece, email Comments to offer your thoughts. Your comments, with appropriate attribution, could be the basis of a new posting.

January 20, 2016February 28, 2022

Ensuring A Nonprofit’s Future – With Major Gifts

Most non-profits don’t live on grants from corporations, foundations and governments, or from event generated income.

Roughly 80% of contributed dollars come from individual donors or their estates. And the common wisdom is that at least 80% of that amount — or about two-thirds of all contributed dollars – come as major gifts from individuals.

Planning-for-the-future, therefore, involves identifying potential sources of funding sufficient to ensure continuation or expansion of the programs that satisfy the needs of the people and the communities being served.

Worded another way, “Ensuring future funding requires minimizing the risk of losing a large percentage of your income.”

A major gift program is easier to design/implement and more cost effective than direct mail and the vast majority of events. Major gifts are also a more reliable source of long-term charitable funding than all others.

So, what is a Major Gift ?

Many Non-Profit Organizations (incorrectly) use the term “Major Gifts” to refer to those that are larger than the usual range of gifts that arrive in the mail. Typically, $1,000 is the magic number.

But, unless an organization’s budget and/or the amount to be raised via the fundraising process is unusually small, gifts of $1,000 won’t significantly aid in pursuing financial goals.

A Major Gift is not based upon exceeding a specific dollar figure, but requires:

1• Amounts that will significantly help to attain fundraising goals
    — 1% or more of the goal would be significant. If your goal is
    $1,000,000, at $1,000 each, you’d need 1,000 gifts; and, unless
    you have the prospect base with that many donors who have given
    at that level in the past, that’s not very likely. Realistically, for a goal
    of that size, gifts of $10,000 and up are necessary.

2• That prospects be cultivated and solicited on a face-to-face basis.
    Consistent with the concept/practice of “development,” in order to get
    donors to want to make “major” gifts, there must be a relationship
    between the donor and the person doing the asking. And that person
    must also be one of the people, in not the person, doing the cultivating
    and educating of the prospective donor.

3• Ask amounts that are well thought out and well researched.
    When asking for ANY gift to a non-profit, it should always be for a
    specific dollar figure. For a major gift, it should be a figure based
    on the donor’s ability to give. And, you should always be able to
    give the donor a good reason “why that amount” … including how
    making that gift will satisfy his/her needs.

4• The development and implementation of an individual plan,
or strategy for getting each potential donor to the point where s/he is
ready to make the gift you want him/her to make.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
This posting is a sample of what’s in book three of the series – Major Gifts

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We’ve been posting these pieces for the last five years,
and we’re now at a point where, to keep this resource alive,
we need your questions/problems to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

January 16, 2016January 27, 2022

Pro bono, online program to learn strategic planning facilitation

A woman taking notes from an online program

The Consultants Development Institute is offering a complete, online series to teach how to facilitate strategic planning for any type of organization. The series Facilitating Strategic Planning includes a pro bono Audit Track with unlimited enrollment.

In that Audit Track, you get free access to all of the courses, tools, assignments and discussion forums with faculty and other participants — everything to learn how to customize and facilitate strategic planning for any type of organization.

Faculty members in CDI have extensive experience in teaching strategic planning and in online education. We have 30 students nearing the end of the series and feedback has been quite positive. Students include both experienced and inexperienced facilitators.

CDI’s mission is to provide highly affordable and accessible consultant training, especially to people and organizations in need. So we want to offer the series especially to service organizations and professionals that focus on very under-served areas and people.

I invite you to take a look at the series’ website to learn more. If you are interested, you can enroll in the pro bono Audit Track and experience the series for yourself. The enrollment period ends January 31, 2016.

Please tell others who might benefit from this pro bono service to provide highly accessible strategic planning training for organizations around the world.

Carter McNamara, CDI Faculty

January 14, 2016February 21, 2023

State of Social Enterprise 2016 (Crowd-sourced!)

two-happy-men-working-together-new-business-project

Compiled by Rolfe Larson and Janine Vanderburg

With President Obama’s recent State of the Union address, this seems to be a good time to assess the State of Social Enterprise (SE). We decided to crowd-source this one primarily through the npEnterprise Forum (npE), the 10,000+ circulation, non-commercial, moderated online forum for all things SE.

Structure As Strategy, Not Moral Choice

Back in the day, socially-minded people formed nonprofits while entrepreneurial-minded people founded for-profits. Today, “there’s a continuum of options between pure-play charity and pure-play business,” commented Jim Fruchterman. For more, see Jim’s favorite essay on this: “For Love or Lucre” in the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Not surprisingly, millennials are driving this trend, since they often “care more about results than what kind of organization something is,” commented Hildy Gottlieb.

More Mergers

One way to have more impact is to get married. Hannah Pechan reported an uptick in SE mergers in Nashville in 2015, and Tom McLaughlin noted that a similar trend is evolving nationally in the nonprofit sector. Tom also commented: “I suspect we are on the verge of consolidations in most areas of the country, although it will take a while to peak in different geographies. Strong cultural and demographic factors are behind a lot of this.”

Impact Investing Is The Talk, But Does It Really Walk?

Impact investing will continue to expand in 2016, with more financial institutions, foundations and high-net-worth individuals investing in companies based on impact. That’s great, but many of us feel it’s missing something. Jan Cohen points out that while many SEs can often get funds for hard start-up costs such as equipment, most struggle to “get the funds they need for consulting and start-up salaries,” even with a good business plan.

Kevin Lynch notes in the Huffington Post that the impact of impact investing may be an illusion. When push comes to shove, will Goldman Sachs really choose impact over financial return? And will this illusion deter philanthropic investments? He writes: “a philanthropic dollar in a nonprofit SE produces an internal financial return that can be recycled again and again to multiply impact. An impact investment dollar demands an eventual exit for itself … regardless of whether any true impact was created in the first place.”

We All Need To Confront Racism

Lessons from Ferguson and Black Lives Matter are not only for the police and government to worry about. Suzanne Smith points out that with “communities across the country being confronted with racism and discrimination,” all of us working on social issues need to confront racial justice issues within our own organizations. Here’s her blog on this topic, which includes practical steps for things like purchasing, hiring and programming.

Mapping The Sector

A 2016 priority for the Social Enterprise Alliance is to develop a map and census of the SE sector, to provide greater clarity, cohesiveness and attention to the sector. That’s an excellent priority, one that will build on previous efforts to count noses. Back in the last century, Community Wealth Ventures developed a directory of nonprofits with business ventures. About five years ago, Pacific Community Ventures invited SEs in any sector to register in the Great Social Enterprise Census. More recently, RLA created the Social Impact App that provides access to 1000s of SEs online and on your phone. And finally, looking internationally, SEFORIS in Europe just finished interviewing more than 1000 directors of SEs from China, Russia and the EU. We’re looking forward to the advances that will come from SEA’s work in this area in 2016.

What do you think?

Please write to us with your suggestions and comments on where social enterprise is going, or should be going, in 2016. Send your thoughts to Rolfe@RolfeLarson.com and we’ll publish them in a future edition of the npEnterprise Forum!

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Janine Vanderburg and Rolfe Larson are Denver-based consultants who partner on social enterprise projects, and also serve together on the board of SEA’s Colorado chapter. They each have 30+ years experience helping organizations achieve greater impact and financial sustainability. Recently they launched a new suite of affordable SE consulting products called the Social Enterprise Navigator Series.

January 13, 2016February 14, 2023

Does Your Organization Have a REAL Director of Development?

Ideally, from day one, an organization should have someone who knows/understands the NPO, its mission, its leadership, and its hopes and aspirations. This person like the Director of Development should have the experience and skills to help the NPO plan for next week and next year.

This person should have input at all levels, should be able to guide/train the board members and the CEO, and should be able to bring to staff awareness and understanding of how they affect the development process.

A large organization, with a large development staff, must have someone to coordinate the various programs and be sure that they support, not conflict with, or duplicate each other. Sadly, the vast majority of new/nascent NPOs don’t have the money to hire a person with the requisite experience and capabilities.

Smaller organizations that live on grants need a grants officer. If much of an NPO’s income is from events, then an event coordinator is needed. If one person can do both, all the better.

To hire a staff person to focus on one or two activities, and give that person the title of Director of Development, is to lie to that person, to that person’s next employer, and to the board and staff of the NPO doing the hiring.

You’re kidding yourself if you think that by hiring a person and giving them that title you’re actually getting all the experience/expertise that comes with a real director of development.

The director of development is a critical hire for an organization. The right person can greatly help ensure an organization’s future….

So many non-profit organizations are hiring Directors of Development without really knowing/understanding what “development” is supposed to be about and how a DOD is supposed to function.

The misunderstanding is the belief that “Director of Development” equates to “income generator.” So many NPOs hire DODs with the belief that they’re getting someone who will raise the needed funds; and, the sad thing is that so many NPOs hire DODs so that organizational leadership (board and other senior staff) won’t have to be involved in (or even think about) fundraising.

Hire a person to raise the money, and the amount of money that can be raised is limited by the time/effort that one person is willing/able to give to the process.

Hire a person to create and/or direct a development program and there’s no theoretical limit to how much money can be raised … considering the person’s level of experience and expertise.

A Director of Development creates and/or plans for and directs a development program … an effort that incorporates many (if not all) of the elements of the development process: mass solicitation (mail or telephone), grants (government, foundation, and corporate), events, major gifts, bequests, donor cultivation, etc….

How many organizations do you know of that have a Director of Development who isn’t !!??

If you’re reading this online, and would like to comment/expand on the above piece, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.” If you’re reading this as an email, and you want to comment on the above piece, email Comments to offer your thoughts. Your comments, with appropriate attribution, could be the basis of a new posting.

January 12, 2016May 29, 2022

How to Foster Communication that is Honest, Clear and Direct

A man receives an honest message on smart phone

How are you at speaking directly and clearly? Some of us like to “sugar coat” the truth so we don’t hurt anyone’s feelings. Others are “too blunt” to the point of harshness. If you fall in one camp or the other, finding a balanced approach might be a better way to go.

Pay attention to your communication for a few days, and listen for hedging with understatement, misdirection, or apology. If you hear these behaviors, you might be too soft. If you hear accusations, forceful tone or language, or lots of “you” messages, you might be too tough. To find and maintain that middle ground that is honest, direct, and clear (but short on aggression) consider the following before you speak.
Consider your intent. What is the purpose of this communication? Is it small talk with peers? Is it corrective in nature? Is it brainstorming? What do you want to get out of this communication? A disciplined but intimidated direct report? Or better understanding and cooperation within your team? Setting your intention ahead of the conversion is a powerful tool for driving your communication behavior.
Master your timing. If your direct report comes in late, or makes a mistake, you might be tempted to address it immediately. But should you? Who else—customers or coworkers—will overhear your criticism? Better wait for a private moment. Also, what about your emotions? If you are frustrated, that will impair your ability to speak in a fair, impartial way. However, if you tend to be “too nice” or postpone uncomfortable conversations, you might want to make a rule for yourself to deal with issues within the same business day.
Weigh your words. Words like “always” and “never” beg to be argued with. Critical words like “careless” or “incompetent” will raise defensiveness. Consider searching for wording that is truthful yet neutral. And if you tend to be too nice and indirect, consider—and rehearse if needed—direct words such as, “this report needs to be corrected today.”
Be aware of your body language. Watch for incongruent body language. If you are a person who smiles all the time, people may find it hard to take you seriously. Conversely, if your face or body language often looks angry or disapproving, your words may be taken as more negative than you mean them to. Strive for a neutral tone, face and body language.
Tune into listening skills. If you want to build communication rather than just bark out orders, it would be helpful to hone and employ your best listening skills. Ask open-ended questions to hear the other person’s point of view. Listen to what they have to say, how they say it, and what they don’t say.
Maintain consistency. If you want your communication brand to be “honest and direct,” you will need to continually think before you speak, choose direct words, and tell the truth. Doing these things now and then won’t build your brand, but may just confuse those you deal with, since they don’t know from day to day what to expect from you.

January 12, 2016May 29, 2022

Review: DrumUp for Content Curation and Social Media Management

Guest Author: Vasudha Veeranna

Marketing automation has seen an increased rate of adoption over the last couple of years. While most companies are already using automation software in their sales and CRM processes, social media marketing automation is also seeing an upward trend. With new tools launched ever so often, picking one for your business’ needs isn’t always a very straight-forward decision. That said, some tools are just so simple and easy to use, you almost immediately see their value – case in point, DrumUp.

DrumUp is a neat social media management and content curation tool that can help you significantly cut down the amount of time you invest in platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. The tool, which is currently available as a web app and an android app, uses sophisticated Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning algorithms to recommend and schedule custom content for social media based on your keyword inputs.

Making the most of your social media presence with DrumUp

Setting up your account on DrumUp will only take you a few seconds, really. All you have to do is log in with your Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn account. On the Settings page update all the fields like in the screenshot below:

As you can see, I’ve used a whole bunch of keywords to ensure that I get a wide variety of content suggestions. And since there isn’t a limit on the number of keywords you add, you can do the same to cover any, or all of the topics relevant to your business. Also note that you can set different keywords on each account you link to the tool. When you share content related to varied topics across multiple accounts, you give your audience an incentive to follow you on all of them.

The one feature I love on DrumUp is Negative Keywords. This allows you to filter out all the content you’re sure you don’t want to be sharing. For instance, you could enter names of your competitors in this field if you don’t want to be sharing content that mentions them. You can also use Negative Keywords to filter out generally sensitive topics like religion and politics.

Tip: When I first started using DrumUp, their keyword guide was useful in helping me pick the right keywords for my accounts.

Once you’ve updated all the fields on the Setting page, just head over to the ‘Recommended’ tab where you can see all the content recommendations for a particular account.

To schedule a recommendation for posting simply click on the ‘Schedule’ button, and it’ll get added to the ‘Queue’. The ideal posting time is automatically chosen by the tool to ensure that all your posts get maximum exposure. However, you do have the option to pick any other date/time you think would work better for you. To do this, just click on the calendar icon and pick the date /time of your choice. You can also edit a scheduled post, add blog feeds, and create your own custom posts.

Content discovery made easy with the DrumUp Chrome Plugin

Apart from the web app and android app, DrumUp is also available as an extension for Chrome. I find it super-handy in discovering content related to the stuff I’m already reading. What’s cool is that I can schedule posts straight from the extension. So, rather than just curating posts from the content recommendations within the app, I’m also able to easily discover and schedule content for sharing whenever I’m browsing the Internet.

The app and the extension make a powerful combination, because the app lets me focus on specific keywords and easily find content related to them, and the extension makes sure that I’m not limited by my keywords by allowing me to schedule and share any content I find interesting on the web.

Wrapping up – what’s great and what’s not

All in all, DrumUp’s a great tool if you intend to leverage social media marketing for your personal accounts and/or your business accounts. It has surely helped me grow my following on Twitter, which is my preferred platform. But it works just as well for Facebook and LinkedIn too.

However, there’s no denying that it’s still in its nascent stages of development and it lacks several advanced features that could make it an even more awesome tool. I’d love to see them add analytics so I can track the performance of my posts. It would have also helped if I were able to schedule posts to my groups, which I have a tough time keeping up with. Anyway, I’d still recommend it highly for its ease of use and bang-on content recommendations. And if those are your primary needs, you should definitely try it out.

Author Bio:

Vasudha Veeranna works with Godot Media and specializes in content marketing and social media marketing. Apart from trying out new tools that improve efficiency, she enjoys travel and music.

For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Marketing and Social Media.

January 12, 2016June 13, 2022

[Infographic] Business Communications in 2016

busy-office-worker-talking-phone-working-laptop-holding-cup-tea

Changes in communication methods means switching up crisis plans

As communication methods evolve, so much the strategies and tactics that utilize them. And, so do the emerging threats that develop out of each new service, product, or procedure. Thus, it’s important that those tasked with crisis management are aware of, planning on, and preparing for the “latest and greatest” to hit the mainstream.

Here’s a preview of business communication trends that are expected to rise in 2016, courtesy of RingCentral: