Thursday May 22- How are you?

Hi !

🍺  How does a beer sound Norm? I dunno Coach. I usually finish em before they get a word in: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• Stressed out

• You CAN fundraise today. You CAN grow today!

• Learn from the good: An awesome fundraiser… who’s only 11 years old

• Great post: 10 tips to navigate economic uncertainty

• Strategy Insider: Getting the REAL info

• Pop up chat: Get your most pressing questions answered!

• At least try to hide the AI

The solution to last week’s Triple E (enews easter egg): The names of the seven dwarves. An easy one 🙂 

This week’s pain point is going to be a little different. This week I want to talk about YOU.

🍻 What’s shakin Norm? All four cheeks and a couple of chins Coach: Your stress level 

Last month’s survey confirmed what many of you are going through. Stress, angst, anxiety, worried about today and the future.

A lot of uncertainty out there right now and unfortunately many organizations are frozen in place and not sure how to move forward.

So before I continue, please watch this video. It’s not only calming but is also a metaphor for one of the ways your nonprofit can grow and thrive.

When’s the best time to plant a tree? A few years ago.
When’s the second best time? Today.

Every 5-7 years the economy goes into a recession. We’ve been there before. Which means we know what works and what to do to GROW even during tough financial times.

Sitting on your tush and doing nothing? Sending out emergency asks every Monday and Thursday? Cutting the budget to the bare bones? Praying that funder X reups this year?

That’s not how you thrive. That’s how you- maybe- survive.

Way back in 2007

I was a nonprofit CEO (and head fundraiser at the same time. Small shops FTW!) from 2007-2009. A really scary global financial crisis. Banks collapsed, the Madoff scheme, Bear Stearns went from a global behemoth to trading for a penny on the stock exchange.

People literally left their homes in the middle of the night never to return because they couldn’t afford the mortgage.

A hell of a time to become a CEO. I learned a lot during those years, the do’s and dont’s. I made mistakes and learned from those as well.

The most important learning: Stay in growth mode and stay away from poverty/scarcity mindset. Keep working towards thrival. Because survival mode not only sucks but it can be contagious. Everyone feels it, breathes it and gets stuck under its enormous weight.

Which is why I’m going to say something which will cause some (many?) of you to think I’ve totally lost it. But here goes:

NOW is a GREAT time to build and grow.

Today. And tomorrow.

🍺 It’s a little early for a beer isn’t it? So float a cornflake in it: The time to grow is now

Over the last few weeks I’ve spoken to ten nonprofit leaders. I won’t say I had to talk them “off the ledge” but I will say that their level of stress with the current financial climate is very very high.

But once we decided to look at the situation for what it is, we began talking about today and tomorrow. What does the nonprofit have to do to thrive?

When you begin talking in a positive tone and they see that it’s not all doom and gloom, suddenly there’s a shift. When you solve problems, alleviate pain points, start planning properly to move forward, good things happen.

Example: Last Sunday I had a one hour chat with a CEO. Their organization is about to start their big campaign of the year and they were worried about it succeeding. We talked thru the campaign, made sure they were following best practices and planned for success.

Two things happened:

1. In a meeting a day later, the CEO spoke with one of their major donors. That donor gave 20% more than their usual annual gift.

2. The campaign? Raised 17% more than the target.

This is not magic and it’s not luck. I want to remind you of something important:

No matter how bad it is out there, people still want to give!!! People want to do good in the world and they want to experience the joy of philanthropy. 🥳 

Next week I’m going to go in depth on one very specific way to help your fundraising efforts grow and succeed. But if right now you feel stuck in the mud and you’re not sure where to start, here ya go:

1. Breathe. Your supporters want to help. They want to be involved. They want to change their community for the better. You CAN surpass your goals.

2. Keep communicating! The absolute worse thing you can do now is go silent! Let people know how their gift is making an impact. Share stories, impact data, testimonials, pictures, videos, blog posts, social media posts. You get the idea. When people see how their dollars are being put to good use, the next time you ask, they’ll be more in a mood to give.

3. Keep fundraising! There’s no reason to stop asking (unless someone specifically asked not to be solicited for the next X amount of time). People may not be able to give right now- and that’s ok. But when they can they’ll give as generously as they can, assuming you’ve made them feel good with reporting and great gratitude (a lot more on that next week!).

4. Pick up the phone! Now is a time to STRENGTHEN, not weaken, your connection with supporters and volunteers and foundation funders and corporate partners. There are people out there who believe in your mission, advocate for your cause, partner with you to create positive and lasting change. They need to hear from you and yes- you can be honest if things look a little dire right now. Don’t be afraid to share the good and the not so good.

Which leads me to this:

Donor retention is down but it doesn’t have to be that way for you. Plant the seed today so that tomorrow your organizational tree will grow. And thrive.

P.S. One other reason why now’s a good time to fundraise. A whole mess of nonprofits have either stopped fundraising "(“we don’t wanna bother our donors”) or they’re sending out a barrage of emergency asks, which could annoy some people. Both of those can be taken advantage of if you play your cards right.

🍻 What’s happenin Norm? It’s a dog eat dog world Sammy and I’m wearing milk bone underwear: Learn from the good- Awesome kid

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

I think that kids often get overlooked when it comes to fundraising. We tend to concentrate on those with disposable income.

But kids can do amazing things- if your organization encourages it. I love this story about Bella who has participated a few times in the American Heart Association’s Kids Heart Challenge. She’s done different types of fundraisers and raises at least $1,000 a year.

Amazing!

But that’s not all: The American Heart Association wants kids and schools to sign up to conduct fundraisers. They very smartly have this page on their site to provide ALL the details. That’s how ya do it!

🍺 What’s goin down Mr. Peterson? My cheeks on this barstool: 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. 10 tips to navigate economic uncertainty (Get Fully Funded)

2. 3 ways to make your direct mail outer envelope stand out (Good Works)

3. 6 ways to find new donors (Causevox)

4. How to gather and incorporate donor feedback (Building Better Boards)

5. 3 signs your donor stewardship efforts are underperforming… and how to fix them (Spave)

🍻  What’s goin on Mr. Peterson? Let’s talk about what’s going in Mr. Peterson: Strategy Insider- Deep Dive

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.

Interviews and surveys are two of my favorite methods for analyzing an organization’s processes and fundraising and marketing efforts.

I will share a comprehensive survey with Board members, staff, volunteers and some supporters/donors to begin to understand how they view the organization and its activities.

I then follow that up with one on one, off the record interviews. Interviews allow me to ask the questions I need (based on their survey responses), listen and then ask a follow up question if needed. Off the record because people feel a little more relaxed saying what they really think and not worrying about how their colleagues will react to their comments. I get the honest truth.

My goal? I am trying to understand if people believe the organization is…

• fulfilling its mission

• having the impact it wants

• meeting its goals

• maximizing its fundraising and marketing efforts

• missing pieces (whether they be staff, giving options, platforms to engage on)

I collect all the answers, the feedback, the praise, the frustrations and use them to help build the overall strategy. If there’s criticism of the current program that I include in my deep dive analysis, no one knows who it came from.

Wanna learn what’s really going on within an organization? Talk to people! Sure, some may have an ax to grind but speak to enough people and you’ll get the truth.

So far I’ve shared with you my deep dive into fundraising, marketing, platforms and interviews. Next week I’ll be discussing my competitive landscape analysis.

🍺 What are ya up to Norm? My ideal weight if I were eleven feet tall: Pop up chat for subscribers only

I know that right now is a very tough time for many of you. In order to help, I am opening a straight talk chat next Tuesday (May 27th) via Zoom for subscribers only.

Share your most pressing organizational, fundraising and marketing challenges and I’ll do my best to answer and provide expert advice. This chat will NOT be recorded. I am going to be as honest and as candid as I can. My goal is real talk while simultaneously showing you how not only to weather the storm but also grow.

It is free to join. Reply to this email if you’d like to participate. Please note that I need a minimum amount of participants before this goes live. Email me so I can be sure we have max people getting max solutions to their challenges and pain points!

🍻  Hey Mr. Peterson. There’s a cold one waitin for ya. I know and if she calls I’m not here: At least try to hide it!

Tell me you use ChatGPT to compose emails without telling me you use ChatGPT to compose emails.

Back at it next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. Sadly, no music was playing this week. I was trying to get the enews done in between a visit from the chair doctor (seriously), reading a 56 page T&C and filling out forms for some new offerings I’ll be sharing next month. A lot going on. I need some rest.