Thursday June 12- WWYD part 2

Hi !

😎  We’ve had some complaints about con men: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• I almost lost it all

• Planning for when 💩  hits the fan

• Learn from the good: An Impact Report you should read and learn from

• Must read article: Would you donate to you?

• Strategy Insider: Getting to know the Board

• The only podcast worth listening to

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from two weeks ago: The theme song to The Jeffersons. It’s not only a great TV show but the argument could be made that the theme song is in the top 5 TV themes of alltime. Fun trivia note: The theme song was written and sung by Ja’Net Dubois, who played Willona Woods on the sitcom Good Times.

Thank you to everyone who read this story and sent me their thoughts about how they’d deal with the situation. A ton of great answers!

I also wanna share that I was surprised. Last week’s survey asked if your organization has a crisis comms plan. 40% of you answered “yes” which was way higher than I thought it would be. That’s great!

When the 💩  hits the fan, you have to be ready. Because if you’re not and your working assumption is “we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” it’ll already be too late. Let’s get going with part two of the pain point: How to deal with a public facing crisis. 

🇻🇳 You were in Nam? So were we. Where were you: I almost lost it all

It was one week before the gala event, the biggest fundraiser of the year for the institution I worked at. I was in charge of fundraising which included managing all aspects of the dinner- honorees, journal ads, catering, hall, table seating charts etc.

And while we’re at it, let’s add that this was the first fundraising event I was doing for the organization. Meaning everyone had a lot riding on this.

I get a phone call from an alumnus of the institution asking me why I haven’t put out a statement to alumni. My response? “About what?” “You don’t know? Go to this news site and check.”

And there it was. A story about an incident at the institution. (Important to note: As far as I know, all charges were dropped.) Not great seeing as it’s ONE WEEK BEFORE THE GALA EVENT!

In a panic I called the head of the institution. Their response? Not a big deal. It’ll be out of the news by tomorrow morning. We shouldn’t do anything.

Those of you who emailed me that honesty and transparency are critical in a crisis, you’re shaking your head. I did the same. I told them we had to get a statement out to all alumni immediately before people pulled out of attending the event and stopped giving.

I composed an email to send to everyone, including the gala event honorees, from the heads of the institution. The situation was explained as best as possible (there was an ongoing investigation so there were things I couldn’t say). I promised to keep everyone in the loop.

I did receive a lot of responses from alumni and I answered them all. We lost 24 hours to the news cycle but alumni were glad to hear directly from someone in charge, rather than just relying on news reports.

One week later the gala event set a new record for number of attendees and money raised.

The lesson for me: I did NOT have a crisis comms plan at the ready. Post event I composed one. Because you never know when you’ll need it.

I learned the hard way. But you don’t have to.

🪖 I was with the Green Berets, special unit battalion’s commando airborne tactics: What to do in a crisis

I sought expert advice to share with you. I asked Rosemary Ostmann of Rosecomm to help.

RoseComm is a boutique strategic communications firm that specializes in helping clients- including nonprofits- tell their stories in ways that resonate with their target audiences.

Rosemary is a top comms expert and given her vast experience and knowledge, she knows how to successfully navigate complex crises with precision, authenticity and empathy. I love learning from her smarts!

Side note: I had the chance to work with Rosemary to help a nonprofit client. Rosemary was AWESOME!!! In fact, as part of what she did, Rosemary worked very hard to get the client onto the Kelly Clarkson show… where the client won the Good Neighbor of the Year award!  

When a crisis hits, what are the first three things to do in a crisis? Rosemary has the answer in this video:

Definite 👍️ and 👏 !

When a crisis hits, you won’t want it to get out. It could embarrass everyone associated with your nonprofit. But it is gonna get out and if you’re not prepared…

Watch the above video. Learn from Rosemary.

Then I suggest getting prepared. Put together crisis comms guidelines. Within that, be prepared to quickly answer some of the W questions.

• Who will be the spokesperson for the organization

• What you can and can’t say (transparency is critical but your lawyer will advise you what you can’t say or discuss)

• Where will you post a statement (website? Email? Social media? Press release?)

• How you’ll take action to deal with the situation

I didn’t have a plan. I’m lucky it didn’t blow up in my face.

This doesn’t have to be a pain point. A crisis doesn’t have to cause your organization more headaches than it already has.

Prepare your crisis comms plan today. Because shrugging is not an acceptable response. (See the story halfway thru. Ugh.)

🍊 I was Agent Orange, that was my name: Learn from the good- Impact: It’s all about YOU, the donor

In this section I will share with you something good being done by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV) is dedicated to empowering underserved small business owners, particularly women, people of color and low-income individuals to achieve financial security and economic prosperity through small business ownership.

Last week their CEO sent the below email:

Lemme tell you what’s great about this email:

1. Attention grabbing header image

2. Sent to everyone, not just donors (I’m not a donor)

3. See how many times I underlined the word “you” or “your.” This email was very donor centric, as it should be

4. Sent by the CEO, who signs the email

But that’s actually not what I want to highlight!

I hate annual reports. You know, the ones with seven letters, a quick story, some budget graphs and 16 pages listing every donor who’s given since the Ford Administration.

Snoozefest.

I am a huge fan of Impact Reports, an annual gratitude report to supporters. A short letter from the ED, plenty of stories, testimonials, quotes (social proof), full of “you”- gratitude to the donor, data visualizations showing impact and more thank yous.

WEV’s impact report is great!

• Lots of good pictures, quotes and stories

• Colorful so it grabs attention

• Plenty of whitespace so readers can breathe and take it all in

• Impact data

• Their solutions to the challenge being faced by beneficiaries

• A great end page with pictures of all the staff

I highly recommend clicking below to read the Impact Report and learning from it.

As they suggest at the bottom of their email, you can read the Impact Report in English or in Spanish. That’s another smart thing they did with this report!

👀 I can see! I can see!: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Would you donate to your organization? MUST READ! (Clairification)

2. 3 tips to reengage lapsed donors (Convergent Nonprofit Solutions)

3. More white space please! (Mod Lab)

4. The 48 hour gratitude rule (Nonprofit Fundraising)

5. A guide to accepting in kind donations (Greater Giving)

🚶‍♂️ I got legs! I can walk!: Strategy Insider- What are they doing in there?

In this section I’m going to share with you how I build strategies for nonprofits. Each week I’ll share another piece and over the coming months you’ll see how everything fits together.

The Board.

You know, the people who make decisions about how much you have to raise this year based on numbers picked out of a hat.

(And yes, I’m joking. Well, mostly. We all have horror stories…)

Fact is the Board plays a CRITICAL role in ensuring the short and long-term health of your organization. They give their time, effort and knowledge to help your organization grow and thrive.

Which is why, when I’m doing my deep dive, I get to know the Board.

Here are just some of the things I’m looking at:

• Board bylaws and policies

• Onboarding manuals and procedures

• How the Board functions as a Board (does everyone know their role? Does the Board accomplish what it sets out to? Is the Board helping the nonprofit grow or just the opposite?)

• How familiar are they with the organization’s mission, beneficiaries, programs and services

• Do they open doors and tell others about the organization?

• Are they working with the ED or constantly butting heads?

In short, I need to know that the Board is doing its job and not making the life of staff more difficult than it already is.

So far I’ve shared with you my deep dive into fundraising, marketing, platforms, interviews, competition and the Board. Next week I’ll be discussing grants.

🙏  This is too much. I can’t believe it. You’re beautiful: The greatest podcast

I’m Ephraim and I fully endorse this tweet. Also, I’d subscribe to this podcast faster than you can say Statler and Waldorf.

Back at it next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. I had Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know” playing on an endless loop while I worked on the enews. What. A. Voice!