Welcome to the Nonprofit Partnership E-News

In this Issue

	August, 2008
	Give Volunteers Interesting Work to Do, Then Support Them
	First Resource for Human Resources
	Monitoring Your Own Brand
	Making the Most of Your Powerpoint
	October 29: Save the Date for the 8th Annual Nonprofit Day
	For Your 2009 Submissions to the Erie Community Foundation...
	Less is More: Reduce Your Mission Statement to a Haiku

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August, 2008

Give Volunteers Interesting Work to Do, Then Support Them

A new report on nonprofit volunteer experiences that has been released by the Corporation for National and Community Service finds that almost 40% of the volunteers who helped nonprofits in 2006 did not return in 2007, citing marginal work that was poorly planned, poorly overseen, and often lacking connection to the mission of the organization. Among the report’s other findings are:
• The volunteer rate for midsize cities (Erie!) was 30% from 2004 to 2007, three points higher than the rate for large cities.
• Volunteers will travel long distances to their assignments, and busy working people volunteer more readily than those with more leisure time.
• Over one-third of those volunteering in 2007 gave more than 100 hours.

So here’s a thought: if this year’s funding cuts force the elimination of a position, consider filling the position at a significant level with a volunteer, but support that volunteer with supervision, professional development, and whatever benefits the organization can offer. Volunteer work, for it to be successful, must be seen as needing to be supported by all the infrastructure of a paid staff position. Whether its young people or boomers that you’re seeking to integrate into the fabric of your work, support them with the basics and all the extras you can muster – it just may be the answer you’re seeking.

Source: “Volunteers Fail to Return to Many Charities, A New Study Finds”, Chronicle of Philanthropy, August 7, 2008. For more on volunteering trends in the U.S., go to http://philanthropy.com/extras
 

First Resource for Human Resources

The Nonprofit Partnership has worked with J.L. Nick and Associates to develop a new information resource for member organizations who have questions about any areas of human resource management: hiring, firing, compensation management, performance evaluation, and the like. Because many of our members often manage employees without an in-house human resource professional, decisions are often made without knowledge of the latest laws, trends, or best practices. For insight on these and all things HR, consider First Resource, a free telephone consultation service.

To find out more about how it works and what it offers, join us for a roll-out meeting on

Tuesday, September 16, 2008 from 9 to 11 a.m. at
Bayfront Center for Maritime Studies, 40 Holland St., Erie, PA

RSVP to Amy Eisenberg at 454-8800 or tnp@thenonprofitpartnership.org
 

Monitoring Your Own Brand

Remember – it’s not what you think about your organization that matters – it’s what the general public thinks, they are the keepers of your organizational brand. Accordingly, it makes sense to check in on your publics every so often to see if what they think about you is also what you think about you. Here are a few cost-effective, easy=to=take on ways to accomplish this task:

• Simple surveys. By mail, e-mail, or over the reception counter at the office, simple surveys of your various audiences and stakeholders should include questions on:
o How they currently perceive the organization
o What else they would like to know about who you are and what you do
o What key words they associate with your organization
o What general kinds of messages they think you brand needs to convey

• Informal focus groups. Bring small groups together for informal discussions with food, and offer a small stipend or gift card if you can. Elicit the same responses as the written surveys – the discussion will bring out more detail.

• Seek the feedback by systematically asking for it in all your contacts at meetings, conferences, lunches, and your work around town.

Periodically auditing your external audiences helps to ensure that you are sending them the right messages using the right language and that you are in tune with your brand.

Source: Larry Checco, Branding Bytes, Vol. 1 No. 7 @ www.guidestar.org
 

Making the Most of Your Powerpoint

Powerpoint is an ideal tool to make your case and sell your ideas to an audience in a compelling way. It is not simply a repackaging of text on paper. For a great presentation, try the following:

1. Make yourself cue cards that you hold in your hand. Don’t put them on the screen.
2. Make slides that reinforce these words, not repeat them.
3. Create a written document that you leave behind after the presentation.
4. Create a feedback cycle by inviting further communication through contact information you provide.

For the best presentations:

• Put no more than six words on a slide.
• No cheesy illustrations. Use stock photos.
• No dissolves, spins, or other wild transitions
• Your handout should not be printouts of your slides.

The goal is to use your presentation to trigger an emotional reaction in the audience that converts them to your cause.

Source: Seth Godin, Free Prize Inside, 2004, pp. 102-107.

October 29: Save the Date for the 8th Annual Nonprofit Day

If you’re interested in more on the two topics above (brand audits and powerpoints), we’ll see you at this year’s Northwest Pennsylvania Nonprofit Day on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at the Bayfront Convention Center in Erie. They will be two of 20 practical and engaging workshops in management, governance, marketing, and fundraising.

Watch for details in early September.
 

For Your 2009 Submissions to the Erie Community Foundation...

There are two things you need to do this fall to prepare for your 2009 application for a grant from the Erie Community Foundation:

1) Audited financials (or their equivalent based on the budget size of the organization) should be finalized within 120 days of the end of your fiscal year and submitted with your grant application.

If your total organizational revenues are less than $50,000, you may submit Internally Prepared financials.

If your total organizational revenues are between $50,000 and $100,000, you may submit Compiled financials.

2)  Nonprofit organizations are requird to register annually with the Bureau of Charitable Organizations within the PA Department of State, not more than 135 days following the end of your fiscal year (November 12 for June 30 year ends.)  A copy of your BCO registration letter must be submitted with your grant request.

Less is More: Reduce Your Mission Statement to a Haiku

Try this at an upcoming Board meeting. Since mission statements are both the cornerstones of external communication and internal vision, and because they represent the reduction of a complex vision into a few carefully chosen words, they are similar to a Japanese haiku, poems that capture concrete images with metaphysical implications in just 17 syllables.

Poetry is reductionism at its most powerful, cutting away everything from an image except the content of the most carefully chosen words, leaving its complexity intact. Get your Board to work in small groups to produce and share a series of haikus out of your mission statement. As you do it, share the results with us at The Nonprofit Partnership. Here’s hoping this brings you a new and artful appreciation of nonprofit work. Here’s an NPP haiku to get you started:

Built capacity
Learned, applied skills
Nonprofits get strong.