The ENGAGE Podcast

Pro bono volunteering can be a strategic resource for social change, benefiting companies, social good organizations, and individuals. But what makes pro-bono relationships work for all partners, and how can your company or social good organization set up a pro bono program that has an impact? 

In today’s episode, recorded live at bbcon 2019, we explore the construct of successful pro-bono partnerships. Danielle Holly, CEO of Common Impact, joined host Rachel Hutchisson to talk about how organizations can make pro-bono volunteering work. Listen in to hear Danielle’s insights on the benefits of pro-bono, what organizations need to be thinking about when shaping a pro-bono program, and how to measure the success of a pro-bono partnership from both sides of the partnership. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How pro-bono can be a strategic resource for social change
• Shaping pro-bono partnerships
• Pro-bono volunteer tools for nonprofits
• The benefits of pro-bono for companies and employees
• Finding the right connections between companies and nonprofits
• Why it’s important to avoid pro bono partnerships that are poor fits
• How to lay the groundwork at the beginning of a successful engagement
• How to measure success on both sides
• Examples of companies that successfully plan pro-bono projects

Resources:

Danielle Holly

Read more from Danielle Holly on Pro-Bono Volunteering

Capacity Commons

Quotes:  

“At its core, skills-based is about translating any talent, expertise, superpower, whether that’s carpentry or painting or marketing, to a need that a social change organization has.”

“There are very few skillsets, very few projects that don’t translate between sectors.”

“As a company, ensuring that you are committed to an honest, trusted partnership is something that we always say you need to come out of the gate with.”

Companies are under increasing pressure to be socially conscious, if not socially active. But what’s the best way to do this authentically? How can you make sure that your purpose and your business strategies are aligned in a way that resonates with employees, customers and other stakeholders? 

In today’s interview with Sarah Chapman, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Deloitte Canada, we discuss how businesses and organizations are following the trend of being more socially active. Listen in to hear Sarah talks with host Rachel Hutchisson about how Deloitte Canada has increasingly incorporated purpose into their strategy, and her advice for how other companies can do the same.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How Deloitte Canada is reacting to the trend of businesses being socially conscious and active
• What Deloitte Canada is seeing across companies it works with in its Corporate Purpose practice, and how it’s advising them to incorporate purpose
• Deloitte Canada’s “Tomorrow, Together” strategy and how employees, customers and stakeholders have responded
• Impacts that Sarah is particularly proud of
• Advice for companies that want to align purpose with business strategy

Resources:

Sarah Chapman

Webinar: The Evolution of CSR: How to Align Your Charity with Corporate Initiatives

Quotes: 

“At the end of the day, what it’s really about is standing for something and proving it in everything you say and do.” –Sarah Chapman

“What I’m actually advising clients now is taking a more center of the business approach.”

“Don’t wait for the perfect moments. Go and sort of get some quick wins.”

Smokey Bear, Friends Don’t Let Friends Drive Drunk, Keep America Beautiful, The Crash Test Dummies…the Ad Council is well known for these and many other successful public service ad campaigns.  We sat down with them to peek behind the curtain and get tips that all social good organizations can leverage.

In this episode of the sgENGAGE Podcast, recorded in front of a live audience at bbcon 2019, Anthony Signorelli, SVP of Corporate Partnerships at the Ad Council, talks with host Rachel Hutchisson about how the organization creates its iconic campaigns. Listen to this interview to learn about the key elements for creating a successful campaign, the research that the Ad Council does before launching a campaign, and how organizations with smaller budgets and limited resources can effectively spread their message.  

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Key elements of successful ad campaigns
• How research factors into the work the Ad Council does
• How the Ad Council works with partners to understand and leverage metrics
• An example of a particularly successful Ad Council campaign and why it was so successful
• Tips for how organizations with smaller budgets and limited resources can run successful campaigns
• How the Ad Council is now able to help more organizations get started with its Ad Council Edge consultancy
• How organizations can get involved with the Ad Council’s new She Can STEM campaign 

Resources:

Anthony Signorelli

She Can STEM

See Anthony speak at bbcon with the bbcon 2019 virtual pass

Quotes: 

“I do love really bringing together lots of different people and lots of different organizations.”

“In order to be effective, it’s really important to focus on a single-minded message.”

“If you don’t know what you’re trying to achieve, you’ll never get there.”

As a 100-year-old organization, Save the Children is one of the most well-known nonprofits in the world. But as with any longstanding organization, they have needed to balance tradition with evolving to meet new challenges and needs.

This episode of the sgENGAGE Podcast, recorded live at bbcon 2019, features a conversation between Catherine LaCour, chief marketing officer at Blackbaud, and Janti Soeripto, COO & president of Save the Children U.S.. Listen in to learn about how Save the Children U.S., as a long-established organization, is adjusting to changing expectations and new challenges to keep their brand relevant while remaining effective and true to their mission. Janti has provides great insight about how their engagement strategy has evolved and how technology is helping them achieve their mission.

Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• Staying true and relevant to brand and mission in a changing environment
• How engagement strategy evolves in response to new expectations
• Leading with storytelling
• Strategies for offering an increased response with fewer resources
• Approaches for more effectively engaging donors
• How technology helps Save the Children in their mission
• What collaboration looks like for Save the Children

Resources:

 Janti Soeripto

Watch Janti speak at bbcon with the bbcon 2019 virtual pass.See Janti's presentation at bbcon with the bbcon 2019 virtual pass.

Quotes: 

“The relationships with local communities in the countries where we work, that is the most critical part of really getting sustainable change. And that takes decades to build it.”

“We really need to meet people where they are.”

“We need people to be really engaged and we need people to fight for the rights that we hold dear.”

How has grassroots advocacy changed in the past few years? And what are the current grassroots advocacy trends that your organization should be leveraging to have greater success?

Today’s episode, recorded at bbcon 2019, features Jeb Ory, co-founder and CEO at Phone2Action and Zach Ragbourn, director of digital communications at National Parks Conservation Association. Listen in to hear Jeb and Zach speak with host Steve MacLaughlin about how to influence legislators, how digital advances have changed advocacy, and how to think about youth advocacy.  

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Changes in the grassroots advocacy space in the past few years
• What influences legislators from an advocacy standpoint
• Strengths of storytelling and personalization 
• How digital has changed advocacy
• How to think about youth advocacy
• How to make advocacy and communication sustainable

Resources:

Jeb Ory

Zach Ragbourn

Modern Advocacy Requires Modern Tools

Quotes:  

“It’s now common and acceptable for people to share what they feel about issues online, on social media.” –Jeb Ory

“We’re turning a corner toward greater personalization and a greater need for emotional storytelling, both to and from advocates, to move the needle.” –Zach Ragbourn

“What it all comes down to is listening, honestly.” –Zach Ragbourn

Innovation is a big buzzword today, but what does it actually mean for social good organizations to innovate? And how can leaders create an atmosphere that allows for innovation?

Today’s episode, recorded at bbcon 2019 in Nashville features Kyla Shawyer of DSIL, an agency that works with organizations to innovate through systems changes and human-centered design. Listen in to hear Kyla talk with host Steve MacLaughlin about how the working environment has changed for leaders, what liberating structures means and why it’s important, and how to take more risks to achieve innovation. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How the working environment has changed in terms of what’s expected from leaders
• Engagement in established vs new organizations
• Statistics on worker engagement
• Liberating structures
• How to take risks in risk-averse environments
• Fear of failure in leadership
• The power of hierarchy
• The role of feedback

Resources:

• Kyla Shawyer
• Access Kyla Shawyer’s bbcon session “Liberating Structures for Innovation” with the bbcon Virtual Pass (https://bbconference.com/virtual-pass/) 

Quotes: 

“I think leadership is about creating an environment where people can flourish.”

“About 16% of full-time employees are actively disengaged in what they do.”

“Innovations can sometimes be as much about stopping doing something as starting it.”

The 8th annual #GivingTuesday is coming up soon on December 3,2019.  #GivingTuesday represents an opportunity for everyone to give back in a variety of ways, and companies are increasingly realizing how important it is to get involved in this global movement. Listen in to today’s episode for tips on how your company can leverage its people and core competencies to engage on #GivingTuesday.

In this super-sized episode, Blackbaud’s Rachel Hutchisson talks to both Gary Levante, senior vice president of Corporate Responsibility & Culture at Berkshire Bank and Icema Gibbs, director of Corporate Social Responsibility at JetBlue. Gary and Icema share how their respective companies celebrate #GivingTuesday and how the day connects to the rest of their CSR programs and overall business strategy. They also give advice for how other companies can make a mark on this global day of giving. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Why it’s important for companies to step up on Giving Tuesday
• How to evaluate #GivingTuesday success
• How #GivingTuesday relates to Berkshire Bank’s core purpose
• What Berkshire Bank employees do to celebrate #GivingTuesday
• Why it’s so important to leverage social media on #GivingTuesday
• Gary’s tips for small-to-midsize companies who want to participate in this year’s #GivingTuesday
• Last year’s JetBlue #GivingTuesday initiative, Destination Good
• How JetBlue employees engage on Giving Tuesday
• Spreading out the giving spirit over the whole year
• Measuring the impact of giving and volunteering programs
• Icema’s advice for how to leverage your company’s core competencies to make an impact on #GivingTuesday

Resources:

Gary Levante

Icema Gibbs

#GivingTuesday Toolkit and Resources

Quotes:  

“When I think of the real power of social media it’s to have a conversation with your customers with your community members with your partners about why activities like giving Tuesday are important.” --Gary Levante

“Our crew members are giving back not only through financial contributions, but really giving back in ways of really highlighting what’s important to them in their communities.” --Icema Gibbs

“We realized that we have to be able to talk about not only the outcomes, but the impact. What we did was fine, but how did we help somebody? What was the impact?” --Icema Gibbs

Coming up with strategies for fundraising can be difficult. However, if there’s a culture in place that promotes and encourages giving as a norm, an important chunk of the work is already done. That’s why it’s so important to create a culture of philanthropy, especially in social good organizations.

On today’s episode, Alia McKee and Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies are here to talk about their report, Inside Out Fundraising: How to Create a Culture of Philanthropy by Treating Systems Instead of Symptoms. Alia and Mark explain what it means to have a culture of philanthropy, the things that get in the way of creating that culture and how organizations can overcome the challenges to doing do. Listen to the episode to learn why culture is an important part of fundraising success and hear the big takeaways from their research. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• The signs Alia and Mark saw that indicated it was time to start talking about culture with their clients
• What it means to create a culture of philanthropy, and why it’s so important
• What Alia and Mark found in their research
• The primary challenges that get in the way of forming a culture of philanthropy
• Implementing “the golden trio” in your organization
• Balancing facts and data with passion for a cause
• What boards can do to take pressure off fundraisers
• How fundraisers can put recommendations from the Inside Out Fundraising report into action 

Resources:

Alia McKee

Mark Rovner

Sea Change Strategies

Inside Out Fundraising: How to Create a Culture of Philanthropy by Treating Systems Instead of Symptoms

Quotes: 

“I think the biggest “aha” was that only one in five fundraisers say their organization has a strong culture of philanthropy.” –Alia McKee 

“Increasingly with channel proliferation, with people being communicated with across multiple channels, you can’t do your own thing without affecting other pieces.” –Mark Rovner

“I think that the first piece needs to be stock-taking.” –Mark Rovner

We all know that it’s important for social good organizations to connect and engage with stakeholders in order to achieve their missions. One of the most effective ways this can be done is through storytelling. But how do you craft your story in a way that gets across your message while emotionally connecting with people? Today’s episode will teach you just that! 

In this episode of the sgENGAGE Podcast, host Christine Newman is joined by two storytelling experts, Jocelyn Wright and Kirk Lilwall of Blackbaud University. Listen in to hear what Jocelyn and Kirk have to say about the different types of stories organizations can tell, how to leverage multimedia communication channels, and key tactics for conducting interviews that will result in the information you need to craft a compelling story. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Why stories are so valuable in getting people to engage with an organization or cause
• Types of stories that are most effective for social good organizations 
• Elements that every good story should have
• Storytelling for diverse audiences
• How to tell a story that moves people without overwhelming them
• Examples of powerful stories from social good organizations
• Telling the stories of protected groups without violating privacy
• How technology has changed the approach and strategy for storytelling 

Resources:

Jocelyn Wright

Kirk Lilwall

Blackbaud University Organizational Best Practices: Multimedia Storytelling 

Blackbaud University

Visual Storytelling for the Modern Nonprofit

 Quotes: 

“The stories that you tell are really going to shape the way that people perceive your organization, how they understand your organization, and also how they understand their relationship with your organization.” –Jocelyn Wright

“We’re all storytellers in our everyday lives. When you send texts, you send emails, you make phone calls, all those things are stories.” –Kirk Lilwall

“Personal stories are something that’s always going to resonate.” –Jocelyn Wright

December 3rd, 2019 marks the 8th annual #GivingTuesday. It has grown every year since its inception and become an important part of the end-of-year giving season. But with so many different organizations taking notice of the success and participating, it’s important to find a way for your organization to stand out. 

Joining host Rachel Hutchisson on the podcast today is Jennifer Dunworth, director of development for the Maryland SPCA, who shares the background on the creative campaign her organization used last year that helped them raise $41,000… $11,000 more than their goal. Listen in to hear what Jennifer has to say about preparing your organization for Giving Tuesday, engaging and exciting your donors, and managing the creative flow from idea to execution.  

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What the Maryland SPCA did last year for #GivingTuesday that gained so much attention
• Being creative and effective in your #GivingTuesday campaign
• Most important steps when preparing a #GivingTuesday campaign
• Keys to getting donors excited
• How encouraging early engagement factored into the overall year-end giving campaign
• Lessons from last year’s campaign that can be applied in the future
• The difficulty of being distinctive 

Resources:

Jennifer Dunworth

#GivingTuesday Toolkit

#GivingTuesday article series

Blackbaud #GivingTuesday Webinar Series

Quotes: 

“As you can imagine, some folks are very vehemently one team or the other, and we want to ensure that we always represent Team Both.”

“Remember that you can get lost in the creative joy and sort of overinvest your time.”

“What popped was not the times that we closeted ourselves in a room and actively, almost forcefully brainstormed – although there was a lot of good stuff from those brainstorms that we used later – it was really the organic conversations.”