Synopsis

Today’s Ask Ivan question comes from Christina, who works for a nonprofit organization in the United States.

I was advised to reach out to you to get guidance on how to be more effective as a public charity in BNI. At first, I didn’t know where I fit because I don’t have a tangible product or service that would directly benefit others in the chapter. Could you please provide some guidance on how I can be more effective in using BNI to support our mission?

Nonprofits can be very effective and very successful in BNI. Here are ten benefits of BNI membership for nonprofits.

* Referrals to other companies doing charitable work to create strategic alliances.* Referrals to the charity’s thrift shop or other product or service (if there is one).* Invitations to special events.* Volunteers for special projects.* Referrals for possible board members.* Referrals for speaking engagements.* Don’t just look for donations.* Referrals for good employees.* Fine-tune your message.* Introductions to local leaders.

Read Dr. Misner’s article about difficult-to-refer businesses on Entrepreneur.com.

Add your own suggestions for how nonprofits can use BNI in the comments below.

Brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube.

Complete Transcript of Episode 511 –

Priscilla:
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Official BNI Podcast, brought to you by the Networking for Success Channel on YouTube, which features Dr. Ivan Miser and many other networking experts. I am Priscilla Rice, and I am coming to you from Live Oak Recording Studio in Berkeley, California. I am joined on the phone today by the Founder and the Chief Visionary Officer of BNI, Dr. Ivan Misner. Hello, Ivan, how are you and where are you today?

Ivan:
I am in the New England area on business. I have a very interesting topic today. It is part of the Ask Ivan series. It is a question that was asked to me recently by Christina. Christina is with a nonprofit organization in the United States. Here is her question for me, “I have been with BNI for almost two years now and I was advised to reach out to you by multiple members to get guidance on how to be more effective as a public charity in BNI. At first, I din’t know where I fit because I didn’t have a tangible product or service that would directly benefit the others in the chapter. Could you please provide some guidance on how I can be more effective in using BNI as part of our mission?” Christina does work with community outreach, community services, family services.

You know, the title of this is, “Do Nonprofits Work in BNI?” so the short answer to the title is absolutely, positively. Nonprofits can be very effective and very successful in BNI, but that doesn’t answer Christina’s question. Let me give you some suggestions, Christina, and for everyone out there who is in a nonprofit organization, take notes. Listen to this and if you have ideas that I don’t come up with, please post them here on my podcast of some things that have worked for you.

So I gave it some thought. I knew that nonprofits could work extremely well in BNI. I game some thought to it, but I asked our resident expert and my personal resident expert on charitable work and foundations is my wife. But what is really interesting and what a lot of people don’t know is Elizabeth joined BNI in 198...