Is LinkedIn helpful?

Like many parts of social media, LinkedIn seems to have it's positive and negative moments for people. I recently have seen some peers in non-profit fundraising post about their challenges with LinkedIn and after reading all of the comments on their posts (by far negative) I thought I would share some of my experiences.

Just to be clear, I'm not an employee of LinkedIn nor am I paid to write positive things about them.

I have been on LinkedIn for many years. Two years ago I decided that I wanted more from LinkedIn and decided to put more effort in it. Before creating strategy around that I decided to clean it up. I wanted to be connected with people I actually knew, people in my field (non-profit development and fundraising) and people in fields I could collaborate with (corporate leaders, recruiters, activists). This took a while as it was before one could delete from the profile. I had to go through each profile and decide if there was relationship or partnership potential there.

All of that time totally paid off. I ended up deleting almost half of all of my connections, quickly realizing that I had too many connections with people I didn't know and couldn't think of how we could benefit each other.

I started fresh. My goals include building relationships with people in my field, those who I can learn from and those who I potentially might want to work with one day. Another goal is to engage with people and businesses who might want to partner with me and the non-profit I work for. By partner I mean that they get something out of the relationship and we get something out of the relationship, not just me as a non-profit wanting them to donate and then see you later. A true partnership. Finally, and this can be inclusive of the partnership part, I want to engage with the community around the children served by my non-profit, specifically who we are as a non-profit and why we need to exist.

In other words being on LinkedIn for me can't be all about me.

Additionally, like all of social media and most things that end up being good for you in regards to goals, I need to work it. Seriously work it. That doesn't mean being on LinkedIn 24/7. It simply means that I need to be proactive if I want results or if I want to feel it's worth my while. On LinkedIn that means adding posts and articles that might benefit my connections and/or my goals, liking peoples posts, engaging with their posts (writing a comment), introducing people and sharing job openings/searches.

In the last two years my LinkedIn experience has totally changed. I hope what I have shared can be helpful to you! My LinkedIn profile is here if you would like to check it out.

Thanks for reading!

Staying focused in LA

I recently celebrated my one year anniversary at the non profit where I head development and communications here in LA. Time flies when you're having fun.

The longer I am in LA, the smaller the city I came from, Denver, feels.

LA is huge. Our agency serves the entire county. That's a county of some ten million people. And 32,000 kids in foster care, the population we serve.

It can become overwhelming if you let it. When those feelings start for me, I go back to basics.

Like passion for mission.

An abused kid is an abused kid, no matter where she lives.

Homelessness is a societal issue everywhere. It's in the news a lot here in LA because the homeless population is very visible. Yet those calling the streets and alleys home are not any better off than homeless people anywhere else.

The non-profit community here is huge, and the corporate philanthropy is not huge. Similar to many other cities.

What has worked in this amazing, magical city for me as a development person and fundraiser are the same things that worked for me back in Denver: relationship building, passion for mission, and donor-centered fundraising.

Whenever I get overwhelmed I jump back into these basic tenets of my work.

In general, many development people and fundraisers for non-profits get overwhelmed. This is why the average time in position is only 14 months. This is why so many of us are looking for jobs.

When I stay focused on my basics, things are good. When I move into other people's negative opinions, lack of passion for mission, or frankly anything that I have no control over, things get messy.

When I stay focused, everyone benefits, including me, the abused kids we served, and all of those who are passionate about serving those kids.

Thanks for reading!

August is almost December in the fundraising world

Yes, it's already August.

August is the time I create our end of year fundraising plan. What does it look like? What would success look like? Who is involved? When does it officially begin?

August is the time to create your end of year fundraising plan. Invite your team for a meeting. Ask everyone to bring their calendars, creativity and ideas.

Sitting down with your elite team of fundraisers and development staff (you choose who this is for you) start plugging in dates. I start further out and work back. For example, when do do I actually want our first direct mail piece of the campaign to land? I write that in and then work back all the way to the date where we first discuss the piece.

Who do I want to be involved in the end of year fundraising? Do we do just one mailing or more? Any events?

#GivingTuesday is right in the middle of my typical campaign so I have begun using that to support my efforts. Any board or other donor holiday parties or gatherings can be helpful too.

Then there all of the face to face meetings with donors, my favorite!

Finally, when everyone else is taking off, the last few days of the year here are spent calling every donor who gave the year prior but has not yet given. It could be several hundred calls. Where I currently work, our office is actually closed the week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Yet the development team is here making calls, answering the phones and making sure we are here for any last minutes donor needs. Then we take the next week off!

How you work your end of year fundraising is all up to you. It can be the most fun part of your year. The main thing is to start planning it now.

Thanks for reading!

A short video

I have been using video a lot ever since buying an I phone two years ago. It's a wonderful way to get a message out quickly and also an incredibly creative way to thank donors.

Today, with the frigid weather in Denver, I decided to make a video asking folks to donate to any agency that serves the homeless.

As my videos go, it is timely, informative, asks folks to take an action, and short.

I decided to make this particular video as I know so many agencies that serve the homeless were taken by surprise with the crazy winter weather that is affecting a good part of country.

Do you use video? Check it out and give it a try.

Thanks for reading. And for watching.

Donor relationships

I have said many times that I love the "R" word, meaning that I love the word "relationship".

It is a word that too often is overlooked by fundraisers and professionals in philanthropy.

And that really needs to stop.

If you are passionate about your organization's mission, get into solid relationship with your donors.

If you want to rock your budget, build relationships with your donors.

If you want to build a source of revenue that that your organization can count on, make sure your donors know that you care about them.

How does one go about this?

Call them. That's right. Next time you get an email from a donor asking a question, call them with the response.

Invite them on a tour of your facilities.

Email them a video thank you note.

Send a personal note.

Send them an impact report, or annual report. When we send these out we add a big "Thank you" on the back with signatures of our team.

These are just a few ideas of many. Start here and I assure you your relationships with donors will change.

Thanks for reading!