Relish THIS: The Nonprofit Marketing Podcast

Big Brothers Big Sisters has been around for over 100 years, and my guest today had a LOT of great history to share. 

Mike Fye is the Director of Corporate Sponsorships at BBBS Colorado. They are doing some fantastic things to mentor kids and help them navigate the world.

Not only that, Mike understands how to craft content to help fill in the whole picture of what BBBS does, and explain how they need more support than just volunteering as a Big Brother or Big Sister. Many nonprofits miss this kind of opportunity to get the word out there and diversify their support. 

Mike explained how every nonprofit has the opportunity to create a variety of ways to engage. Doing so will help you bring people into the fold and escalate their engagement as their comfort with—and understanding of—your organization grows.

Lots of good stuff in this episode. Have fun!

Links: 

biglittlecolorado.org

ASK

Building a strong community takes community effort. Ask yourself, "Can I become a mentor?" and if not, consider who you know who could and how else you can contribute to someone's life.

Fabulous episode today with Tim Kugler, the Executive Director of Gunnison Valley Trails Association.

This show made me think about relationships and how quickly they develop when you look for common ground. You see, Tim and I have quite a bit of overlap. I grew up in Gunnison, where Tim’s organization is based, and I’m as passionate about the outdoors as he is. I also get up to a lot of the same shenanigans as he does, and coincidentally I serve on the Board of the Nederland Area Trails Organization (nedtrails.org) that does some of the same work.

If you drew our lives as a Venn Diagram—one of those illustrations that uses circles to show the relationships between things—you’d see a really robust intersection between Tim and me. That intersection between you and someone else, or between your organization and your members, is the “sweet spot” that drives a real opportunity for relationship-building. 

Looking for these types of overlaps can contribute markedly to how you build trust and get people excited about your programs.

As you can imagine, Tim and I had a great conversation. Hope you enjoy the show.

LINK:

gunnisontrails.org

ASK:

Donate 1 day to public lands and trails stewardship.

How can you keep your stakeholders engaged?

On today's episode I speak with Gillian Winbourn, the Executive Director of Together We Count, a unique organization that creates and motivates coalitions to help with the Census every 10 years. 

The cyclical nature of the Census means long periods of almost no interest from the public—punctuated relatively short bursts of interest and action. So Together We Count has some really interesting challenges around inspiring stakeholders and keeping them interested throughout the years.

These challenges present a really good opportunity to look at how organizations with similar, but far less extreme, periods of "downtime" can keep stakeholders engaged. 

What's your outreach plan? How can you keep your audience engaged when your organization may be taking a break?

There are some answers to be found in this episode. Hope you enjoy it.

Links: 

Togetherwecount.org

ASK: 

Pay attention during the redistricting process and get active to voice your opinion to your Representatives. Keep a look out for the American Community Survey and be sure to fill it out if you receive it.

My guest today is Tim Sarrantonio, Head of Partnerships and Business at NeonOne.

Tim is a veritable font of knowledge about the nonprofit space and NeonOne is a really amazing resource for nonprofits looking to supercharge their ability to reach, connect with, and engage their stakeholders. (Just like I wrote about in my book, Mission Uncomfortable, available at missionuncomfortablebook.com.)

We’re releasing this episode a bit early because there’s some great stuff included which I think can benefit every nonprofit. You’ll learn how to help track where your organization is investing its time, energy, and money, so you can ensure you’re getting a solid ROI on all your efforts.

Tim and I talked a lot about data and tech, but don't let this scare you... Every nonprofit can benefit from using NeonOne to understand their numbers and figure out ways to improve performance. 

This is an information-packed episode. Check it out!

LINK: 

Neonone.com

ASK: 

Check out NeonOne. Perform a tech audit on your organization to see how much you are spending and what that's getting for you. Engage with Giving Day – go there and find a new nonprofit you can support.

Culture is an important ingredient in every business—and it’s an area that sometimes gets overlooked in the nonprofit space. After all, nonprofits are steeped in the culture of philanthropy and altruism, right?

There's more to creating a great culture than just assuming all of your stakeholders will be aligned because you give back.

Today's show features a team of young go-getters from the Apollo Foundation. This group of high schoolers saw an opportunity to help bring education to those in need around the world. So they founded their organization to improve access to STEM curricula in under-developed and economically disadvantaged areas.

Our discussion covered a wide range of topics. Then we narrowed our focus later in the show to discuss ways to develop a culture for your organization, in order to ensure that your team is all driving toward the same mission.

Values, vision, and mission are key ingredients for every organization, and taking the time to discuss and develop these foundational elements can make or break your business.

Links: 

Apollo Foundation – website

Ishan Vanjara – email | LinkedIn
Aarush Sharma – email | LinkedIn
Akshat Agarwal – email | LinkedIn
Yash Abhyankar – email | LinkedIn
Abhinav Mukherjee – email | LinkedIn
Rian Sengupta – email | LinkedIn

Ask: 

1. Just go for it!
2. Check-in on people you care about.
3. Go for your passions.
4. Be the first to fix the problems you see.

I had a super-fun conversation on Relish This today with Bill Woolf, Founder and President of Space Force Association.

The SFA is helping to build awareness around the importance of having a strong, protective presence as more and more starts to happen outside of earth's atmosphere.

Bill and I talked about ways to engage people early in their exploration into the realm of space, and how each phase of the audience engagement cycle is important if you want to take people from interested to fully engaged with your organization.

I particularly enjoyed our chat about developing forums or other avenues that foster community and conversations. By encouraging engagement and keeping an open dialogue, you can build relationships and better provide value, information and—most importantly—solutions to your stakeholders’ needs. 

Hope you enjoy. 

Links:
https://ussfa.org/
thespacegal.com

Ask: 
Educate yourself - don't get your Space Force information from Netflix!

How do you stand out in a sea of communication? 

On this week’s episode of Relish This, I had a fun conversation with Emily Taylor. She’s the Principal of Teeny Big, an organization that focuses on turning lackluster partners into passionate supporters. 

Emily works a lot with the Audience Engagement Cycle—or what they call a Pathway—to connect with stakeholders and create deeper, more meaningful connections and stakeholder engagement. 

Our conversation centered around escalating engagement. We discussed how to create intentional messaging to attract and connect with specific stakeholders. The goal, of course, is to get people to take that “next step” and ultimately, become life-long supporters. 

The key is in relationship-building. To really forge a strong, lasting connection, ensure that you aren’t just blasting people with donation requests or constantly asking for volunteers to help. Get a feel for your audience and how engaged they are. 

Testing a variety of content and scheduling in regular check-ins with your stakeholders is important to creating consistent engagement. 

This was a great episode, and I hope you enjoy it. 

Link: 

teenybig.com

ASK: 

Think of audience engagement as a path rather than just an interaction point.

How are you enriching your stakeholders’ experience? 

On this week’s episode of Relish This, we talk to Keegan Guizard. Keenan is on the Board of the  College Skateboarding Educational Foundation, an organization that helps get skaters college scholarships. 

You’d be forgiven for thinking there was no real-world application for pushing your boundaries in competitive and adventure sports. But when you look at what you can learn when you test the limits of your abilities, it’s easy to see how it’s not much different from the process of getting a degree, running an organization, or being an entrepreneur. 

The biggest takeaway from our chat was the idea of pushing your organization’s limits and creating “experiences” that drive donor engagement—instead of just falling back on “things.” 

What if you could set up a fundraising event (like in a TapKat sweepstakes, auction, etc.) where donors could win an “experience”—like a skateboarding session at a private park with a famous skater? You’d see a LOT more engagement than if you just raffled off a skateboard. 

Want to really take this idea to the next level? Supercharge engagement and donations by creating this opportunity as something designed for the donors’ kids. Then you’ll have a real winning auction item.

I hope you enjoy this episode. 

Links: 

collegeskateboards.com

FB @collegeskateboards

IG @csef

Ask:

Donate

Be nice to each other

Take some time to check out people skateboarding to really appreciate and understand what is going on while someone is trying to get good at the sport.

My guest today is Eric Magers, the Executive Director of Seaside Sustainability and the Founder and CEO of the National STEM Honor Society. (I think it's fair to say that he has A LOT going on.) 

Eric focuses on creating multiple ways for people to “get into” these organizations and give. By tapping into multiple motivations—like training, accreditation, and philanthropic behavior— and weaving them together, you can make it easier for people to get excited and become more directly engaged. This will enhance your ability to bring people in and stay financially healthy. 

Eric and I had a great conversation that focused on exactly how his organization layers both motivations and revenue streams. We also discussed how to leverage virtual opportunities to expand outreach and engage stakeholders. 

And, like Relish Studio, both of Eric’s organizations are part of the 1% for the Planet program. It is always great to chat with like-minded leaders who are also interested in improving the climate! 

Hope you enjoy! 

Links:
Seaside Sustainability
National STEM Honor Society

Ask:
Never underestimate your power.
Make change happen and tell people about it!
Know where you spend your money to support green organizations.
Think globally/act locally.

Good marketing is all about relationship-building, isn’t it?

On today’s episode, I had the opportunity to talk to Elaine Brewer, one of the founders of Humble Warrior Wellness Center, who reminded me that’s exactly what marketing is about. 

The Wellness Center helps veterans and first responders with their mental and physical health, by offering resources, services, and classes. 

Interestingly, Elaine’s organization just launched—so they’re addressing some daunting challenges. In a nutshell, they’re trying to raise money, navigate the pandemic, and build relationships and connections all at once. That’s been creating some real concerns about what to do first. 

Our conversation focused primarily on creating strong connections with stakeholders and learning to lean on those authentic connections before you go for a big ask. 

This led to a discussion about tactics—for example, how to find connections using Sales Navigator or break up projects into smaller bite-sized pieces. We also talked about ways to leverage different channels of communication and resources, like starting a podcast to get your message out there and build an enthusiastic and engaged audience. 

Elaine is doing some important work. and we’re excited to follow her journey. 

Hope you enjoy the show!

Links:
Humble Warrior Wellness Center
Energize Colorado
Colorado Nonprofit Association

Ask:
Take care of yourself and don't be afraid to reach out.