Big Wow Service

In the world of grant writing, we strive to impress. Programs and services described with compelling words backed up by impressive numbers. It is a fact of fund-raising life if you're going to make your organization stand out from all the others.

But what is your mission? What is your priority? What service do you really offer?

According to Richard Foster, "service is not a list of things that we do...it is a way of living." While rereading his excellent book, Celebration of Discipline, I came across a sub section on service in the marketplace. He provided a short list of services that each of us can perform on a daily basis. They are the services of:

• Hiddenness
• Small things
• Guarding reputations
• Being served
• Common courtesy
• Hospitality
• Listening
• Sharing the word of Life

Foster is talking about how individuals can serve. But individuals make up organizations. There is a common denominator of these services that apply to any nonprofit organization.

The service of hiddenness is certainly counterintuitive to our PR driven world. We're all about getting the word out far and wide, loud and clear. But acts of service and generosity don't always have to be material for the next newsletter. Word gets around slowly and quietly that good things happen. If you're just in it for the short term and need kudos before moving on to your next gig to "help" people, you won't understand that concept. But if you're satisfied with making quiet, long-term impacts, you probably know how to spell the word "anonymous."

"There are no small roles. There are only small actors." That's an old show business saying. The world of acting is known for its big egos. The service of small things is another one that probably doesn't make sense to the loud and proud. But details matter. Heaven is indeed in the details.

The service of hospitality seems to pervade most of the nonprofit world. With just a few exceptions in Dallas, I've been amazed at how many people in the nonprofit world are willing to spend time answering questions, giving advice, and listening. That welcome feeling is what makes competitors into partners for the common good.

The service of listening is one more service that's often taken for granted. We have two ears and one mouth. There's your ideal ratio of listening to talking. The nonprofits that hear what their clients need; that hear what their donors want to do; that hear what their staffs can do are the ones that are making the biggest difference.

Yes, there must be adequate funds to perform programs and services. The highly touted, big wow service draws a lot of good attention. But to get it right from top to bottom, you literally must have service in your heart.

Art and Science or Art and Process?

Art and science. Combining the creative right brain and the logical left brain. According to Jim Collins, maybe we need to call it "Art and Process."

In the April '09 issue of Inc., the magazine for entrepreneurs, Collins says that creating better processes is more important than building a better "mousetrap." That's something I learned the hard way in my first sales job.

Way back in the day, I started peddling computer systems for a little know CAD company out of New York. They had a great, innovative system for designing and laying out printed circuit boards. But our business practices - our processes - made it tough to work with customers. It was another "learning experience" for me.

A year later, I began work for a CAD / CAE company out of California. They had a pretty good mousetrap, but they really understood how to make it easy for the user. Their business practices were very customer friendly. They got their processes right. Lots of happy, productive customers meant that seven years later, I lead the nation in sales for that company.

Are you trying to build a perfect mousetrap at your nonprofit? Or are you more focused on making what you already have work really well?

There's always room for growth, but sometimes you've got to go with what you've got and make all those wheels spin together. It really helps if everyone is spinning their wheels in the same direction for the same ultimate goal.

Not entirely unlike cyclists in a paceline. Imagine - working together for the common good. Going further and faster with less effort. What a quaint idea.

If you're personally spinning those wheels, it's often hard to see beyond the crowd. If you're a director or manager of any type, you really need to look at the entire group relationship - and its relationships with other groups.

Creating better processes is not just an exercise in logic. It probably means digesting lots of data and finding a way to visualize it simply. Use your left brain to gather the data and your right brain to display it. Now you've got your whole brain working to improve your processes.

Imagine coordinating air traffic around the world. You have to deal with people, weather, machinery, and even the rising and setting sun. Thanks to a God's eye view from a NOAA satellite, here is global air traffic over a 24 hour period.



Your problems may be a little less complex. But if you can get a good view from 150 feet or 150 miles, you can really develop a sense of what you're trying to solve. That video from space is a thing of incredible beauty with an amazing display of dynamic information. It puts it all in perspective. The right and left sides of the brain are working as one.

Can you put your nonprofit and your partners in perspective? Do the processes in your organization need a healthy dose of BOTH art and science to make them all work well together?

Seize the Day with Free Publicity

Do you have enough of the public's mindshare? If everyone already knows all about your organization and you're way ahead on donations this year, go ahead and skip this blog.

Spend your time filling out your brackets for March Madness. (That's the college basketball playoffs for those of you who don't know why a lot of guys are taking longer lunch hours this Thursday and Friday.)

If you're struggling to get the word out, stay with me. This blog is not for those of you who have stumbled into free publicity due to involvement with a ponzi scheme or a board member fighting extradition from Antigua. This blog is for the rest of us.

Emmy award winning reporter Jeff Crilley has written a helpful, easy-to-read book entitled Free Publicity. This guy knows what he's talking about. And he's willing to come talk to you about it! He has a heart for nonprofits.

Jeff spoke to a group of us at the Dallas Public Library last month. In a short, entertaining, and informative 90 minutes he listed five key points that every organization needs to keep in mind.

1. Look for opportunities to speak in public about your cause. Every Rotary, Kiawanas, and Lions club has someone eagerly trying to fill those weekly speaking slots. In a big town, there are lots of choices.
2. Keep on networking. Even in a big town, word gets around. Make sure its a good word.
3. Develop terrific customer service. Keep your employees happy. They will keep your customers - aka clients, donors, volunteers, board members - happy. That word will get out.
   
4. Work with the media. Get to know the journalists who have an eye or ear for a story about people and nonprofits. People like stories about people. Learn how to help reporters on slow news days. Stage a special event on a government holiday.
5. The buzz. This is the most important point of the five. It's all about the buzz. Creating it and keeping it alive is vital. If your organization lives - thrives - with honor and integrity and a level of customer service that Southwest Airlines will envy, the word everywhere will be about your organization.

This is not profound. These are not hidden secrets. It's all common sense. But often we need reminders and encouragement about what we can do. Jeff Crilley is out there to help. Buy his book. Give him a call. Send him an email at RealNewsPR. Watch him on YouTube.

Help yourself. Good publicity is available to everyone. And the price is right.

On second thought, if you are fighting bad publicity, this blog is probably for you as well. Maybe especially for you.

Carpe diem!

Hope to Fill Your Glass

On Christmas night just a few weeks ago, Ray Suarez asked: "When will the muscles in the back of your neck relax?"

During the 25 December edition of The Newshour on PBS, Suarez was talking to three exceptional leaders in the nonprofit world. The panel was composed of the development manager of the Salvation Army, the editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the president of the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving Alliance. It could not have been a better summary of the challenges facing nonprofits during the current economic crisis.

You're best served by reading the transcript of this excellent interview. What follows is my summary and a few comments.

The glass is half full: it's a bad time for all charities, but social services giving for people in need has increased a little - just not enough to meet the growing demands.

The glass is half empty: If you're not involved with social services, hang on. The arts, the environment, and other parts of the public sector are incredibly important, but they will be in line behind the basic needs of people.

Charities lag the economy. The economy lags the market. The market has yet to turn around although there are small hints of new life. This means there's a "long row to hoe" during this new economy.

That row may last longer than many charities can stand. There are only so many ways to become more efficient and creative. Assuming the only people left on your bus are the right people, it is going to be a short bus ride if you cannot afford gas and tires.

People and foundations are prioritizing their giving. Corporations are barely thinking of giving. Nonprofits must prioritize their spending. Tension is increasing between donors and service providers.

It's tough to ignore the passion of the servant's heart, but the reality is either:
a) don't cut back on services and close the doors this summer or
b) scale back and try to make it to the end of the year. Depending upon how long the row is, you may well get to do it all over again next year.

Faith is an important element here. Yes, God will provide and can stop a locomotive. But He gave you the brains to get off the tracks before the train comes. Now is a time, not just for prayer, but for some thought leadership.

Forward thinking nonprofits will be looking for more partners, collaborators, volunteers, and even mergers. Is it all about you and your nonprofit - or is it really about who or what you serve? As with every crisis, there are opportunities.

Can some administrative services be combined with other nonprofits in your sector or geography? Is there someone willing to create an administrative outsourcing business for nonprofits? At what cost? Who can help peer organizations get past egos and come together to serve the common good?

The response to Suarez's question was that it's time to shift nonprofit thinking to the "new normal" (my words). There is an immediate need for survival. You must manage through this week and this month.

But the row may take many months to hoe. What are your plans for the new economy that does emerge next year - or the year after next? Are you ready to consolidate? to share resources? to share responsibilities?

The new economy is the new normal. There is help for the asking. Is it time to add some partners to your paceline?

There are answers to all these questions. There is hope - it is not a new concept.

Best Nonprofits

We have lots of lists of best companies and best places to work. Fortune offers their 100 best companies at which to work.

AARP offers their list of best employers for workers over 50.

Christianity Today offers their list of the 40 best Christian places to work.

Fast Company offers their list of 45 social entrepreneurs who are changing the world.

Why don't we have a list of the best nonprofits at which to work? or volunteer? You can show how effective (to some degree) your nonprofit is at charity evaluators like Guidestar and Charity Navigator.

But how do you tout your nonprofit as one of the best places to work? How do you stand out from all the rest? Not to short change the need to be effective (see my thoughts on Due Diligence), but why not have another way to distinguish yourself from the others?

This helps you not only attract smart, competent people for the staff, but makes it a whole lot easier to attract and keep great volunteers. Success breeds success.

The best places to work are the ones that consistently outperform their rivals. The Great Place to Work Institute shows that graphically in the for profit world. I'm pretty sure the same principle applies to nonprofits.

So how do you do it?? How do you make your nonprofit the best place to work? Maybe those are more lessons to be learned from the for profit world.

Stay tuned.

Fruit of the Nonprofit

It's been right under my nose all this time, and I just now saw it. I love nonprofits. Actually I love good nonprofits and find myself wanting to gently weed our garden of the bad nonprofits.

What does it take to make a good nonprofit? A lot of seeds are planted to grow nonprofits. Some turn out much better than others. They bear fruit. How do you get that good fruit? The answer was in the Bible right under my nose.

Pull out that dusty old Bible of yours and check out Galatians 5:22-23. Don't worry, you don't have to be a believer or even a spiritual kind of person to read this (it does help if you're literate).

That passage says that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." To me, these are the common denominators for good nonprofits:

Love - is your organization motivated by genuine love for your cause?

Joy - do the key leaders exhibit a steady, contented joy, even during trying times?

Peace - do staff and volunteers feel a sense of peace as they tackle the mission?

Longsuffering - can you wait patiently knowing you're doing the right thing and wait for people and programs to grow steadily and strongly?

Kindness - do the people of the organization really care about who or what they serve?

Goodness - does everyone really want what's best for its constituents...even if it means stepping back to allow others to do a better job?

Faithfulness - are we keeping our commitments to the mission?

Gentleness - is our strength under control? can we speak loving truth?

Self-control - do we have the discipline to stay within budget and make progress towards our goals?

Not a bad checklist, huh? I'd like to take credit for coming up with this, but a guy name Paul wrote it around 50 A.D. (amazingly, there's a few original copies around, I think). Also, John Maxwell in his Leadership Bible uses the same characteristics to describe leaders.

Fruit is a good thing, isn't it?