The ENGAGE Podcast

It’s easy to think of data as something that’s entirely neutral, but like most things, data is open to interpretation. It can be affected by human choices and by human biases, and often social good organizations don’t realize that they are working with biased data that ultimately affects how they achieve their mission.

Today’s guests are Vanice Dunn, director of equity, and Lane Trisko, director of digital and data strategy at Provoc. Vanice and Lane talked with Roz Lemieux, director of Blackbaud Labs, about their work helping social good organizations identify and remove bias in their data, and how data bias ultimately contributes to institutional racism. Listen in to hear what they have to say about what data bias looks like, common mistakes to be aware of, and strategies for overcoming data bias.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What data bias is and how it presents
• What it means to lead with an equity-first approach
• How data bias contributes to inequity and institutional racism
• Common issues that cause data bias
• Strategies organizations can take to ensure their data is more equitable

Resources:

Lane Trisko

Vanice Dunn

Provoc

Quotes:

“I think that people have this misconception that if they approach with a data first approach or if they’re rooting their work in data that they’ve got it covered.” –Vanice Dunn

 “What you carry around as your own unconscious bias or your assumptions is going to find its way into those decisions.” –Lane Trisko

“Being more strategic and rooting out bias in the way that you allocate those resources that will be allocated regardless is in service of the mission that your nonprofit exists for.” –Vanice Dunn

You’ve probably heard a lot about persona-based marketing. But do you really know what it is? What are personas, how do you develop them, and what do you do with them? And should your organization even be worrying about incorporating personas into its marketing efforts? (hint…probably)

Rachel Clemens, chief marketing officer of branding and digital marketing agency Mighty Citizen, joins the podcast to talk about persona-based marketing can amplify a mission-driven organization’s marketing efforts. Listen to the episode to hear more about what function a persona serves, how organizations can identify the audiences they should create personas for, and how persona-based marketing differs from segmentation.

Bonus - you’ll also learn how your mission-driven organization can win $25,000 in free communications services from Mighty Citizen.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The definition of persona-based marketing
• How to get started incorporating personas into your marketing efforts
• How to identify what personas your organization should prioritize creating
• How Mighty Citizen uses personas into its own work
• The differences between segmentation and persona-based marketing
• Examples of organizations running great multichannel marketing campaigns
• Resources for learning more about persona-driven marketing

Resources:

Rachel Clemens

Mighty Citizen Fundraising Campaign Metrics Template

Mighty Citizen Marketing Campaign Template

The Mighty Big Grant contest

The Next Generation of American Giving

Quotes:

“The purpose of them is to learn to see a person as an actual person that’s looking at your org, not as someone you’re just trying to sell to or talk to or get a donation from.”

“You’ll know you’ve interviewed enough people when you start to anticipate their responses to your questions.”

“We always say research kills opinions.”

Things are changing in the world of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Employee volunteerism is on the rise, and a variety of new trends in employee giving programs are taking hold. Today’s guest, Dustin Joost, VP of Sales and Marketing at YourCause (a Blackbaud company), joins the podcast to talk more about these trends and what they say about the state of CSR today.

Dustin discusses ins and outs of the newly published “2019 CSR Industry Review.” Listen in to hear about major report findings, what’s driving the rise in corporate volunteerism, and which statistics Dustin found surprising and exciting.  

 Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• The major trends highlighted in the report
• Why employee volunteerism has been on the rise
• How companies are engaging new employees in CSR
• Strategies companies can employ to help drive donations to employee giving programs
• The rise of peer-to-peer fundraising within corporations

Resources: 

Dustin Joost

2019 CSR Industry Review

Quotes: 

“Really what we’re trying to do is build the largest network of do-gooders to go out and make a meaningful impact in the world.”

“Some of the most impactful companies that we’ve seen are able to tie their community relations efforts into that first-day experience.”

“Peer-to-peer personalizes what fundraising means.”

How does unconscious bias interfere with the hiring process? It may be different than you think. Listen to this episode to learn more about how unconscious bias affects the workplace and how it can be overcome to create diverse and inclusive workplaces.

Today’s guest is Paula Brantner, president of PB Works Solutions, LLC and senior advisor to Workplace Fairness, a nonprofit organization working to promote and preserve employee rights that maintains the most comprehensive online resource for free information about workers' rights. Listen to the episode to hear what Paula has to say about strategies that organizations can use to reduce unconscious bias in the hiring process, tactics for reaching out to and recruiting diverse candidates, and the benefits of a more diverse workplace.

 Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Paula’s background and how she got involved in diversity and bias issues
• What unconscious bias is and how it interferes with the hiring process
• Strategies that organizations can use to eliminate unconscious bias and reach more diverse candidates
• Tools and training that can help hiring managers identify implicit bias
• Patterns that Paula sees when it comes to diversity issues in hiring
• Benefits of working to remove unconscious bias and be more inclusive

Resources: 

Paula Brantner

Workplace Fairness

Project Implicit

Quotes:

“I really started paying attention to diversity and bias issues when I realized that a lot of times it’s very difficult to bring a lawsuit when you’ve encountered these in the workplace.”

“You may think you don’t discriminate, but these forces may be working in your brain based on your life experience even before you take any action against them.”

“When you actually get to the point of sorting and interviewing particular candidates, make sure you have a diverse group of people looking at the resumes.”

Cheryl Contee, CEO of Do Big Things and author of the upcoming book “Mechanical Bull: How You Can Achieve Success,” joins the podcast to talk about digital innovation and how it can be used to increase stakeholder and supporter engagement. Listen to the episode to hear Cheryl and guest host Roz Lemiuex, Director of Blackbaud Labs, discuss what innovations can be used to help increase engagement, why online influencers are powerful, and how organizations can balance efficiency with innovation.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Examples of innovative campaigns Cheryl has seen
• The power of online influencers and micro-influencers
• Where should organizations start with digital ads
• Why technology is a helpful tool but not necessarily a solution
• How organizations are making space to take risks and innovate while remaining efficient
• New technology and tactics emerging in 2019
• What has surprised Cheryl while working on campaigns over the past year

Resources:

Cheryl Contee on Twitter

Do Big Things

Video interview: Cheryl talks about how Leveraging Video Content with No Budget

Quotes:

 “New power really does rely on reaching out to the new power players, and the new power players are online influencers.”

“What people do trust are their friends, their families, and the influencers who matter to them, particularly micro-influencers.”

“This is a time now when organizations need to be follower-led.”

How can fundraising professionals, especially those working for smaller organizations, improve their own fundraising skills? And what can organizations do better to attract and retain fundraising talent? 

To help explore this question, Jason Lewis, author of “The War for Fundraising Talent: And How Small Shops Can Win,” joins the podcast to talk about his ideas about arms-length fundraising, creating value for donors, and how organizations can empower fundraisers in ways that set them up for success and job satisfaction. 

Topics Discussed in This Episode: 

• The problems with arms-length fundraising
• Industrial versus artisanal approaches to fundraising
• Creating value and expecting more from donors
• Why a passion for the cause isn’t enough when it comes to fundraising
• Recommendations for identifying candidates who are a good fit for fundraising in the interview or recruiting process
• How employers can reduce burnout and turnover of fundraising talent 

Resources: 

Jason Lewis

Lewis Fundraising

The War for Fundraising Talent: And How Small Shops Can Win

Quotes: 

“Your local Starbucks knows how much initial volume they want to come through the door to purchase that first cup of coffee, and they’re going to spend quite a serious amount of money to get that first consumer, that first person to purchase that first cup of coffee.” 

“At some point, we have to recognize that generally speaking, what we expect of them is more every time we reach out to them.” 

“Passion can play out in a very harmonious way, but it can also play out in a very problematic way.”

Many nonprofit organizations struggle with communications. A lot of times, this problem is caused by too many complications in their strategy.

This episode’s guest is Michael Beall, Principal Consultant and Communications Practice Leader at Accordant Philanthropy. Listen to the episode to learn what Michael has to say about how organizations can uncomplicate their communications strategy by prioritizing communications to different audiences, how budget fears affect communications, and how to test messaging to see what resonates with different donors.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• How organizations often overcomplicate their communications
• How organizations’ priorities shift when communicating with different audiences over time
• How mixing messages rather than focusing on one audience at a time can overcomplicate messaging
• What prevents organizations from doing their best work with a focused audience
• Delivering active and passive content to donors in a face-to-face context
• How to test messaging to see what resonates with donors

Resources:

Michael Beall

Article: Uncomplicate Your Communications Strategy

Webinar Series: Resources for Creating an Atmosphere of Engagement

Quotes:

“I think a simple exercise to do is to really list those potential priorities, those different audiences, and just assign who’s number one, who’s number two, who’s number three.”

“The interesting thing is that when you poll donors, they tell you the opposite – that they’re overwhelmed by frequency and by noise. And that really, that’s not what they’re looking for.”

“You’ve really got to test it out before you send it out.”

What is digital transformation, and how is it impacting fundraising in the social good community? What does digital transformation mean for those organizations themselves?

To talk about this topic, Brad Little, Managing Director of Consumer Solutions, joins the sgENGAGE Podcast with host Steve MacLaughlin. Listen to the episode to hear what Brad has to say about digital transformation tools, how personal connections matter, and what the rise of crowdfunding means for social good.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

Digital transformation tools

How consumer behavior is starting to transform the nonprofit sector

Why personal connections matter in fundraising

Finding the right way to share stories to the world in a way that inspires people to act

Why crowdfunding is accelerating, and what that means for social good organizations

Resources:

Brad Little

JustGiving

Quotes:

“Many of us would consider digital transformation much broader than trying to do digital things well.”

“Every industry, as we all know, is somewhat disrupted by not just the internet but the phones and access we have in our pockets every day.”

“Some of the work that we’re trying to do is find the way that we can help drive new supporters and net new donations that they maybe wouldn’t have gotten without using various softwares out there in the world that we might be able to produce.”

Why does fundraising matter so much for nonprofit organizations? What is the best way to measure how effective fundraising measures are? What do diversified fundraising programs look like? Today’s guests are joining the podcast to help answer these important questions.

Anne Wallestad is the President and Chief Executive Officer of BoardSource, and Andy Davis is the Director of Education at BoardSource. They join the podcast today to talk about diversified fundraising and metrics for fundraising success. Listen to the episode to hear what Anne and Andy have to say about the essential nature of fundraising for nonprofits, the best way to balance efficiency and risk in fundraising, and how organizations can measure their dependency quotient.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• Why fundraising is essential for nonprofit organizations to survive
• Educating donors about why their donations matter
• Avoiding underinvesting in organizations
• Balancing risk and efficiency
• How organizations can get started measuring dependency quotient
• Understanding where the fundraising portfolio is at
• Having productive conversations about risks and rewards with board members

Resources:

Anne Wallestad, President and Chief Executive Officer, BoardSource
Andy Davis, Director of Education, BoardSource

The Right Mix: How Diverse Income Models Influence Giving

Measuring Fundraising Effectiveness: Why Cost of Fundraising Isn't Enough

Quotes:

“Organizations do have to help donors get to know their organizations, share how their work is having an impact, share how a donors investment would have an impact.” –Anne Wallestad

“If you think about it just in terms of shorthand, cost of fundraising is a measure of efficiency, dependency quotient is a measure of risk.” –Anne Wallestad

“Everyone knows that your weight is a measurement in some way of how healthy a person is. But what if we were told that weight was the only thing that mattered, like sometimes is the case with cost of fundraising?” –Andy Davis

Have you ever read something that totally changes your perspective on a subject? When it comes to fundraising, it’s not uncommon for people in the nonprofit sector to have  set ideas about the process of fundraising, but today’s guest is challenging those perspectives.

Greg Warner is the author of the book Engagement Fundraising: How to Raise More Money for Less in the 21st Century. He joins the podcast today to talk about what prompted him to write the book and what engagement fundraising means for the nonprofit sector. Listen to the episode to hear what Greg has to say about why it’s important to take a more modern approach to fundraising, how to move from relationship fundraising to engagement fundraising, and what the first steps are toward engagement fundraising.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

• What prompted Greg to write his book about engagement fundraising
• Why a more modern approach is needed in many areas of fundraising
• Myths of soliciting donations
• Moving from relationship fundraising to engagement fundraising
• The first step of engagement fundraising                                                                                                                                      

Resources:

Greg Warner

Engagement Fundraising: How to Raise More Money for Less in the 21st Century

Introducing the "Four Selfs" of Engagement Fundraising

The Four Selfs

Quotes:

“Things that the sector believed just were not true, especially from a donor’s perspective, but also from a technology perspective.”

“Engagement fundraising really focuses first and foremost on the consideration process that the donor goes through.”

“It’s not about moving donors, and it shouldn’t be, but that’s what people think. The key to success is to provide value in a way that helps donors move themselves forward in the giving consideration process.”