2010′s Outstanding Foundation

I’m proud of these folks. They are smart, focused on their cause and for nearly 30 years have helped make Toronto a better place to live and work.

I am speaking of the Toronto Community Foundation and they are this year’s Outstanding Foundation, as honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

The AFP Greater Toronto Chapter Philanthropy Awards are a celebration of the outstanding contribution of time, leadership and financial support made by organizations and individuals, who have set excellence benchmarks in encouraging the spirit of giving.

This is an acknowledgment of the work of the Foundation not only in fundraising but in making philanthropy effective through informed and focused choices.

Community vitality has been our purpose, promise, and passion since 1981, when we started connecting donors to community needs and opportunities. Home to hundreds of endowment funds, we help people invest in Toronto, making it the best place to live, work, learn and grow. We monitor the quality of life in our city, identifying its strengths and weaknesses through our Toronto’s Vital SignsR Report. We provide the leadership and guidance to bring people together from all parts of our community. We exist for Toronto – for now and for always.

Congratulations to a team I am proud to support as a Strategic Volunteer.

The language of non profits

I always considered myself pretty fluent in English. I was a top rated public speaker and considered a strong communicator with an ability to convey technical concepts to non-technical people.

But now I’m in the world of non profits and even though they are speaking English, I’m having difficulty understanding them. The words are so nuanced that a simple term turns offensive. It’s a sector specific language with good intentions but burdened with bureaucracy. It creates walls, barriers to understanding. This is in conflict to the inclusiveness that many non profits seek.

So as I go forward, appreciating the nuances of this new language I am mindful that to be understood by others outside this world, you need to return to the age old concept of Plain Language. Simple terms, easily understood because in the end, communication at a basic level to many is more valuable than precision for a select few.

Why this is a good newsletter

The more you give, the more email you get.  I receive a variety of communications from charities and non-profits and sometimes I get them at the same time.  The other day I happened to get 2 newsletters both from equally worthy causes but one was clearly more appealing than the other.

As the former web goddess who advised clients on formats and approaches to optimize email, I found that of all aspects you could analyze, it was the style and tone of the content that drew me to one newsletter over the other.

The winner was New Circles, a small community based charity, who issued a PDF newsletter, emailed via reception on behalf of the Executive Director.

• The email itself was simple yet gracious in tone, opening with “Please enjoy our Spring Newsletter” and closing with “With thanks and Enjoy!”
• It contained a list of the features in the attached PDF presented as “Articles to note” and then the extra finesse of listing them in a conversational style like “An article to celebrate New Circles’ fifth anniversary; A Holiday Angel report; and A big thank you to anyone who has made a financial or clothing donation since the last newsletter.” Not your typical copy & paste of the titles.
• They also get points for full contact info on the executive director at the bottom of the email which itself was all in a plain text format.

The PDF, although not my favourite format, certainly works for these folks.

• A simple layout, basic black text on white with one colour to highlight, 6 pages in total.
• Snippets at the top of stories, giving a summary, key stats in a call-out box, a variety of authors and perspectives, and a few big, clear pictures.
• Back page holding key acknowledgements (“since the fall newsletter”), a list of clothing donations that they need and a standard ask for donations.

Now all this might sound pretty typical but there’s something about the style of writing, the stories told and the presentation that just makes you want to read it. It’s written for an external audience not just the insiders. It explains the background so you didn’t have to be there to know what or who or why. And all this in a plain language that somehow exudes warmth.

Here’s a link to the PDF new circles SpringNewsletter2010 Mar18 and I challenge the many other causes that send me email to produce something as gracious, informative and audience-centric as this.

Just send your money to….

Magic money

A theme seems to be appearing as I do my research. It’s a common theme among causes and would be entrepreneurs. That somewhere there is a magic person or organization that will just give them money to do what they want to do.

In my experience it’s not the best plan to count on such magic, an angel investor or source of funds that will surface, hear your idea and grab onto it with such passion that the checkbook is out before you’ve uttered your last sentence. It could happen but I’d hedge my bets with hard work, creative thinking and a pragmatic approach.

What’s in it for them?

Money is always hard to find and collect in larger quantities so you need to get creative. And I’d say you need to ask, “what’s in it for them.” Like any business looking for sales, how marketable is your offering? Who wants it, how do they want it, how much will they pay for it and do they pay for it directly or bundled in some way that has a greater perceived value?

Create a value prop

The direct link from request to the check may not exist. So how can you package, partner, or bundle to create a value proposition that works? What other assets do you have, either hard assets or people power, that can be converted into a marketable exchange?

This is the kind of analysis active businesses are based on.

• It takes some self exploration.
• It requires deep understanding of your target market.
• It requires some creative partnering and packaging.
• It takes time to communicate and build awareness.
• It takes commitment to build the relationship that will be mutually fulfilling.

It’s a complex and creative approach but will probably be more fruitful than asking someone to just send their money to…