Relish THIS: The Nonprofit Marketing Podcast

How do you make a donation go further? 

In today’s episode, I talk to Jessica Bachus about her organization, Kenzi’s Causes. We have a great chat about all the things they do to help get presents to kids. She does amazing work all over Colorado and excels at getting in contact with communities who need their services and the communities who can support their services, all while managing budgets and prioritizing services over spending money on marketing that isn’t effective for them. 

We did a deep dive into how people like to give THINGS vs. money but how much farther a connected organization can take a monetary donation and extend it out to provide more support for more people. 

 I hope you enjoy this episode, there is a lot of good information here! 

Links: 

https://kenziscauses.org/

Blog Post: Too Many Hats

Book: Who Not How

Action:

Look at your situation and see where you are able to make a donation. Time, money, or gently used items. Just give.

Does your nonprofit have a profit center? It's great when you can drive toward your budget goals through donations, grants, and other "standard" nonprofit means of creating revenue. But are you missing an opportunity to deliver even more to your beneficiaries by not creating a way to charge for what you do?

Today's guest is Tamra Ryan, CEO of the Women's Bean Project.

This amazing organization was founded back in the 80s on an idea and $500. They turned that investment (with which they bought beans) into a thriving organization that helps employment-challenged women gain and retain employment.

Their products can be found in retail stores across the nation and that portion of their organization is run like a for-profit business. The magic happens behind the scenes where they employ and train women who otherwise would live outside of the workforce – bouncing in and out of gainful employment, and often the prison system.

This is a really great episode where we discuss setting up systems and processes to help run your nonprofit like a business and how to put some new thinking to the services your organization provides to see where other revenue streams can be activated.

Enjoy the show!

Links:
Women's Bean Project

Action item:
Make some bean soup and have a meal with those you love.

With a 60 plus year track record of delivering some REAL value to science teachers nation-wide, I was a little nervous about how I was going to bring any juice to the table during this conversation.

This week, I spoke with Rob Smariga, Director of Operations and Finance and BSCS Science Learning. These guys have a long track record of transforming science learning education through research-driven innovation It turned out to be a REALLY great show where we discussed all sorts of interesting ways they have upped their game and expanded their reach through the somewhat forced move to virtual engagement with both their team and their stakeholders.

The big ah ha came toward the end of our conversation when we started talking about value exchange and how one doesn't have to come at the opportunity to assist and build a relationship head on. Simply approaching outreach from a position of altruism where you can share your expertise that may be mission-tangential can produce real opportunities to engage. (This portion of our discussion begins at about 42:00).

We also talked quite a bit about simply creating brand awareness through offers to present at virtual conferences (again, not necessarily focused on selling, but more on helping) and how pay-per-click (PPC) advertising isn't just about the clicks (starts about 36-minutes in).

I really hope you enjoy this show. It was a delightful conversation.

Show notes and links:
BSCS Science Learning

Action Ask:
Pay it forward. Help someone else be more successful in life. Lift someone else up.

Keeping your constituents engaged is a challenge in any environment. In today's episode of Relish This I spoke with Howie Hutchinson about how his organization, Hope Kids, has continued to facilitate events for families with kids suffering from potentially life-threatening illnesses and keep these important support mechanisms active.

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode relates to the challenges nonprofits face keeping stakeholders engaged even when they feel like they perhaps can't be. Ultimately, people really like to feel like they are contributing to a greater good and many of us do this through our ability to support nonprofits financially. But what happens when an economic downturn lessens our ability to serve through monetary contributions? Howie and I tap into some ideas on other ways to allow people to serve even when they can't contribute financially. (Jump to 52:35 to hear this portion of our conversation).

Howie and his team do some really great work. I hope you enjoy the episode.

Show notes and links:
HopeKids

Action Ask:
The next time you have the opportunity to interact with someone who might seem "different" take the time to treat them the same as you would anyone else. 

On this episode of Relish This, I had a great conversation with Eileen O'Rourke, the Executive Director of GoFarm Colorado.

One of the biggest takeaways from this episode is how to rethink your relationship with donors, particularly in a year when trends have changed.

Eileen has seen a drop off in their "big" donor commitments this year with a shift to more people giving smaller amounts (which, fortunately, has mostly made up the delta). By embracing this trend and coupling this approach with asking for donors to transition to a multi-month commitment, we identified some really great opportunities to not only go with the flow driving donor engagement this year, but increase chances of hitting budget targets and smoothing out cash flow as well.

Have a listen. I think you'll love this episode.

Show notes and links:
GoFarm Colorado

Action Ask:
Donate, explore the importance of local food, and become an advocate.

Amazing, multi-guest show with Addie, Lynn, and Wesley from the Pre-Health Achievement Association.

This crew is doing some really cool things to help underrepresented minorities pursuing careers in the medical field get paired with mentors to help guide them through the pitfalls in the industry.

We chatted about a whole host of opportunities and challenges they are facing from validating and formalizing their organization, to the value of understanding their stakeholders' motivations and behaviors through persona creation, to keeping your constituents engaged before they are paired up as part of a mentor/mentee relationship.

All in all, this team is doing some really great things and I hope you enjoy the show!

Show notes and links:
PHAA
Relish Ideal Client Workbook

Action Asks:
Vote!
Start learning about and doing that thing that has been in the back of your mind.

Today's guest on Relish This is Ford Church, the Executive Director at the Cottonwood Institute.

Ford and his team do some really great work inspiring kids to explore in and connect with nature. Their philosophy is that it's a lot easier to get kids to care about the environment if they have a connection with it.

We had a really great talk about Ford's journey into the outdoor nonprofit world, the great work they do at the Cottonwood Institute, and the challenges they have faced this year when in-person events have been much more challenging to navigate.

We chatted about the different stakeholders Cottonwood engages, how to get into nature even when it seems out of reach, and how to reframe how nonprofits think about marketing in general.

Another really great episode of Relish This! I hope you enjoy it.

Show notes and links:
The Cottonwood Institute
The Surrender Experiment
NOLS
Wilderness First Aid Certification

Action Ask:
Donate to support the Cottonwood Institute. Go vote! Support your favorite nonprofit on Colorado Gives Day.

My guest this week on Relish This is Stacey Sanders, the Executive Director of Elevating Connections. Elevating Connections is a nonprofit here in Colorado that is on a mission to create opportunities that strengthen the connections between youth, families, and their communities.

They do this primarily through events, camps, and other mechanisms that help siblings who have been separated in the foster care system reconnect. It's great stuff.

Stacey and I talked about her program, where they are hoping to go in 2021 to expand their mission to help more kids, and some of the challenges they are facing . As part of that conversation we teased out ideas around escalating engagements, re-framing narratives, and how to reengage stakeholders with some creative marketing ideas.

This was a really fun episode and I hope you enjoy it!

Show notes and links:

• Elevating Connections
• OneCause Events
• Harness Giving
• Canva

Action Ask:
Reach out to someone you have missed to say 'hi' and tell them what you would like to do with them when you can meet up again.

Super fun conversation this week with my guest, Dan Smink from C1-Partners.

Dan is a kickass digital marketer who has a ton of experience both working on nonprofit Boards as well as providing assistance to Colorado nonprofits with their digital marketing activities.

We talked about ways nonprofits can diversify their revenue streams, rethinking  how we talk about fiscal success in the nonprofit space, and what one should consider a healthy marketing budget when in a growth mindset.

One really great part of our conversation centered around how to look at ways to escalate engagements with your audience to transition volunteers to donors, then on to corporate donors (which is where BIG donations start to happen).

I hope you enjoy this episode. I had a ton of fun recording it!

Show notes and links:
C1 Partners

Action Ask:
Pay it forward... especially to those who may not share the same opinion as you about things.

Saam and his team are on a mission to promote global peace through music.

Though their revenues are down this year, they have managed to keep things rolling through pivots to virtual events and getting a bit creative with outreach and fundraising efforts.

We talked through ways to get kids involved with music and tools that can be used to reach audiences at scale, pay-what-you-can options to allow people to assign the value they received for an event or activity, and even how to leverage gaming platforms to host live events.

It was a great conversation and I hope you enjoy the show.

Show notes and links:
World Music Development
Teachable
Leftover Sermon

Action Ask:
Join World Music Development to help promote peace through music

Note: Both Saam and I were recording from remote, mountain locations so the audio on this episode is a little shaky at times.