Bright Nonprofit

Nonprofit organizations obviously have a mission they follow. Sometimes they are lofty ones and other times they are vague and verbous. But the point of your mission is to focus your organization so you can do more. Or as Liana Downey puts it, in the title of her book, "Mission Control - How Nonprofits and Governments can Focus, Achieve More and Change the World."

In this podcast, Liana guides us through the process of defining our mission and refocusing our efforts so we can develop a strategy that really helps achieve our organizations mission. She also goes over the signs and symptoms of "mission creep" and how to reverse the trend of a mission out of control.

If you are a nonprofit leader then this podcast has the information you need to develop a strong mission focused organization.

Resources

The Book: Mission Control

Consulting: Liana Downey and Associates

Building your nonprofit board of directors is some of the most important work you should. A strong board can help lead an organization to success and create credibility within the community your serve. And no one knows this as well as Laura Otten, Ph.D. from the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University.

In this episode Laura talks with us on how to develop our board of directors. She points out the importance of having a systematic recruiting approach that involves reaching out to your community to find the professionals you need.

She also talks about establishing a committee to help ensure the board gets regular training, is prepared for transition and remains involved in your mission. Some boards just use a nominating committee during election time, but Laura encourages the formation of a development committee to oversee and plan the growth of the board.

There is a strategy to board development and this podcast will help outline a course for your own board development.

Oh and one more thing. For those who are Founders, ED's and Directors all-in-one... prepare for some sobering, but hopefully welcoming, advice.

Resources

Website for the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University - lasallenonprofitcenter.org

Email: [email protected]

Social Media Links: Linkedin | Facebook | Twitter

It is one thing to have a great idea to serve your community, it is another to go out and actively market your services. Making initial contacts with potential funders, donors, sponsors and partners is integral to the success of any nonprofit. But for many this type of outreach is an intimidating process that is out of our comfort zone.

Joel Geier, founder of Keep Integrating Developmental Sports (KIDS), shares with us how he uses his passion and belief to open doors to new opportunities. He has developed an outreach program that is on steroids – all before his organization even has its official 501.c.3 status.

Joel also talks about the process of getting his M.S. in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and how that has helped him start his new nonprofit. So, prepare to be inspired and energized. Joel is on high-octane and has a lot to share.

RESOURCES

Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Twitter: @kids_nation Facebook: facebook.com/KIDS4kidsNation/ Website: Kids4kidsnation.org

Do you have a website? Do you post to a blog? Do you use a newsletter? How about social media? Are you connected to Google Analytics? If you said “yes” to anyone of these, then you are already using some of the tools for Inbound Marketing. Now you just have to put it in to a system. In this podcast I talk with Keith Selvin from HubSpot about how to use Inbound Marketing for your nonprofit.

The best way to explain this is to tell you what it isn’t. It is not sending out mass mailing, posting flyers or buying radio commercials. That is outbound marketing. That is telling everyone – ninety-percent of whom don’t care – about your nonprofit. It is not very efficient and not easy to track.

Inbound Marketing attracts visitors who are interested in your nonprofit and funnels them through to the services or resources you want them to find. You attract them with blog posts, newsletters, social media posts and videos. They find your content, like your content and then follow this stream of content until your end result is achieved.

OK, that is a simplified version. Here is the bottom line… I am paraphrasing Keith… would you rather have 1,000 visitors to your website, but only two donate to your cause? Or would you rather have 100 visitors to your website and 10 donate to your cause?

I want you to look over this graphic. This is the flow chart of inbound marketing. This will give you a good idea on how inbound marketing works.

Now, as you listen to this podcast, follow along on this graphic and see how you can turn strangers into donors.

Keith mentioned a whole bunch of tools. Here are links to what he talked about. Most of them are FREE.

On last resource for you. This image is a the Inbound Marketing funnel. Use this to visualize how to move your followers through the inbound process.

Hubspot Academy: Free courses! Start with the FREE Inbound Marketing Certification.

Leadin: a tool you can use to track you Inbound marketing. And there is a FREE version.

The HubSpot Blog: awesome resource full of great and usable information.

Do you have a website? Do you post to a blog? Do you use a newsletter? How about social media? Are you connected to Google Analytics? If you said "yes" to anyone of these, then you are already using some of the tools for Inbound Marketing. Now you just have to put it in to a system. In this podcast I talk with Keith Selvin from HubSpot about how to use Inbound Marketing for your nonprofit.

The best way to explain this is to tell you what it isn't. It is not sending out mass mailing, posting flyers or buying radio commercials. That is outbound marketing. That is telling everyone - ninety-percent of whom don't care - about your nonprofit. It is not very efficient and not easy to track.

Inbound Marketing attracts visitors who are interested in your nonprofit and funnels them through to the services or resources you want them to find. You attract them with blog posts, newsletters, social media posts and videos. They find your content, like your content and then follow this stream of content until your end result is achieved.

OK, that is a simplified version. Here is the bottom line... I am paraphrasing Keith... would you rather have 1,000 visitors to your website, but only two donate to your cause? Or would you rather have 100 visitors to your website and 10 donate to your cause?

I want you to look over this graphic. This is the flow chart of inbound marketing. This will give you a good idea on how inbound marketing works.

Now, as you listen to this podcast, follow along on this graphic and see how you can turn strangers into donors.

Keith mentioned a whole bunch of tools. Here are links to what he talked about. Most of them are FREE.

• Google Analytics - tracks visitors to your website and help you get found in search results. FREE.
• MailChimp - a great tool for generating an email list and publishing a newsletter. FREE.
• Infusion Soft - Customer Relationship Management Software CRM. Great for tracking donors, volunteers and sponsors. (Not free)
• Hubspot CRM - another CRM. FREE.
• Unbounce - creates landing pages for your inbound marketing campaign. (Not free)
• Leadpages - another great landing page creator. (Not free)
• Hootsuite - manage all your social media accounts in one place. FREE.
• WordPress - create your website and look awesome. FREE (see our free course).

On last resource for you. This image is a the Inbound Marketing funnel. Use this to visualize how to move your followers through the inbound process.

Hubspot Academy: Free courses! Start with the FREE Inbound Marketing Certification.

Leadin: a tool you can use to track you Inbound marketing. And there is a FREE version.

The HubSpot Blog: awesome resource full of great and usable information.

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In this podcast I talk with Andrew Schulman (Schulmanconsulting.com). Andrew is a Fiscal Sponsorship Adviser that specializes in working with nonprofit. This is a very broad topic and much of

If you want a quick overview of what fiscal sponsorship is and how it can help you, just read these articles on Andrew's website:

• Fiscal Sponsorship Primer
• Who Can Benefit from Fiscal Sponsorship

• Schulman Consulting, http://www.schulmanconsulting.com
• National Network of Fiscal Sponsors, http://www.fiscalsponsors.org
• Fiscal Sponsorship Directory, http://www.fiscalsponsordirectory.org

We all want our nonprofits to be sustainable. We want a regular source of revenue, program participants, board members and staff. But does having all this mean we are sustainable? In this podcast, Laurie Wolf talks with us about how sustainability is “not a destination, it is a journey”.

Laurie is the CEO of the Foraker Group, and she explains that sustainability begins with “Focus”. And that focus includes your purpose, your mission and you values. Sustainability also includes the right people, partnerships, unrestricted funds and programs/services. You can see the Foraker model of sustainability at: forakergroup.org/index.php/our-business/sustainability-model.

This podcast interview goes into detail about how to move your nonprofit toward a sustainable future.

Foraker Group: Visit their website

The book: Focus on Sustainability

Order book on Amazon

Also mentioned in this podcast:

EasyNonprofitWebsites.com

We all want our nonprofits to be sustainable. We want a regular source of donations, income, program participants, board members and staff. And for many people, achieving all this is their definition of sustainability. But our guest today, Laurie Wolf, would argue that having it all is just the start. Sustainability comes in the maintaining of all of this. And the job of "maintaining" is never done. Or as Laurie puts it, "Sustainability is not a goal, it is a journey".

Laurie is the CEO of the Foraker Group, and she explains that sustainability begins with "Focus". And that focus includes your purpose, your mission and you values. This focus is the foundation you use to add on the other important pieces of sustainability. These pieces include, the right people, partnerships, unrestricted funds and programs/services. You can see the Foraker model of sustainability at: forakergroup.org/index.php/our-business/sustainability-model.

This podcast interview goes into detail about how to set your nonprofit up for a sustainable future. And just remember, sustainability is not the goal, it's the journey.

Foraker Group: Visit their website

The book: Focus on Sustainability

Order book on Amazon

Also mentioned in this podcast:

EasyNonprofitWebsites.com

If you want to get more people to your website then this is the podcast to listen to. There are some simple steps you can take to get and KEEP visitors on your website. Today's guest is Chris Ferdinandi. Chris is the founder of GoMakeThings.com and a web developer who helps nonprofits (specifically animal rescues) improve their web presence, increase their website visitors and ultimately, raise more money online.

Over 50% of people surfing the web are going to visit your nonprofit website on a mobile device. If you site does not work well (or look good) on a cell phone or tablet, then you are giving an unprofessional impression. So being sure you have a "responsive" design is going to help ensure you are giving a professional first impression to ALL of your visitors.

Chris talks about the importance of having a mobile friendly website and how to develop a web strategy for your nonprofit. This goes beyond just having a responsive website. It also means paying attention to your load speed, site architecture (are things easy to find) and accessibility.

Chris's website: GoMakeThings.com

Email Chris at: [email protected]

Image optimization tool: b64.io

Wordpress cache plugin: ZenCache

Free Make your Nonprofit Website course (it's responsive!)

Fast WordPress Hosting with HostGator

Inspiration can occur most anywhere. For Nicolette Holferty it struck while she was knitting a hat for a friend. But getting over the resistance and self-doubt of pursuing her idea seemed to challenge her around each corner. Note… I said “challenge”, not “stop”.

Armed with passion and “The War of Art” – a book she carries with her everywhere – Nicolette pushed through her resistance and her fear, and made a beautifully inspired nonprofit a reality.

This is her story. It may seem simple in the telling, but it is inspiring in the action.

Nicolette’s Website: http://xoxohats.org/

XOXO Hats Facebook: facebook.com/XoxoHatsForStrength

Book: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" target="_blank">The War of Art

Build your Website: Free Website Course

Get Hosting: 60% of HostGator (limited time)

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