Five Ways to Use Marketing to Grow Your Non-Profit

 

As a non-profit, you are likely to have a small or even non-existent marketing budget. After all, your goal is to gain new donors and members, not to get “paying customers.”

However, if you think like a marketer, you may find more effective ways to convey your image, increase awareness for your cause, inspire confidence in your organization, and build relationships.

 

Here are five strategies all non-profits can use, even with tight resources and low budgets.

1.    Build your brand. Your brand tells the world who you are, what you stand for, what your personality is, and how you are different from your competition. All your communications, including your logo, your brochures, emails, social media interactions, and phone conversations, should reinforce your brand. Consistency is key. Your print materials do not need to be fancy—if they are too slick, people may wonder about how you are spending their dollars.  

2. Create your “elevator pitch.” Your elevator pitch is a 30-second explanation of what you do and how you are unique. Everyone, including your officers, volunteers and members, should be able to deliver your elevator pitch.

3. Publicize your stories. Send interesting stories about your activities and good works, about special members, or about events to local newspapers and television stations. These help get the word out about your organization without using advertising dollars.

4. Use social media.  Social media tools are generally “free” (except for the time it takes to feed them), and they are designed to allow people without a technical background to create a presence. To build and maintain your network of supporters and members, you should consider building a Facebook page, a Linkedin page, and a blog. See what your competition is doing. There are many creative ways to promote your cause.

5. Establish your content calendar. With all these ways to share your organization’s message, and most likely, with a distributed network of volunteers supporting you, you need to make sure that you are not bombarding the world with your message one week and then falling silent for the next six weeks. Create a content calendar to manage and balance your communications. A content calendar is a schedule of what is being distributed, where, when, and by whom. Consistency builds both trust and anticipation in your audience.

These are all helpful ideas, but how and where do you find resources to implement them? In addition to your volunteer members, consider recruiting college students or high school students, who may be interested to work as interns for school or volunteer credit.

Rollins wants to see you succeed and grow, and we are here to provide support for the health of your organization as well as your members.

Photo Credit: GinneRobot via PhotoPin cc

New York State Pay Cap for NonProfit Executives: Are You Affected?

If you are a nonprofit, you should be aware that Governor Cuomo signed into effect new compensation limits for executives of New York State-funded nonprofit organizations. There are two pieces to the legislation:

· $199,000 Annual Compensation Cap for “covered  executives” at “covered providers”.

· At least 75% of state-authorized payments for

compensation costs must be used to provide direct care or services. This percent increases by 5% annually until it reaches 85% in 2015.

Is your business affected?

You are affected if your nonprofit receives more than $500,000 and 30% of its funding through New York State. A “covered executive” includes anyone who is a director, trustee, managing partner, or officer of a covered provider, as well as any employee with compensation of $199,000 or more. In addition, executives of related organizations that provide administrative/ program services are considered “covered executives.” There are exceptions—see below. Make sure you speak to your accountant to find out how this affects your business.

How is “compensation” calculated?

The cap applies to total compensation, including salary, bonuses, direct and indirect benefits.  There are two exclusions:

· The value of any benefits provided to all the organization’s employees.

· Compensation paid to the executive for program services outside of his or her managerial or policy-making duties.

Are there exceptions?

Executives at organizations that receive significant funds from the federal government and private donors may not be affected by this order. This includes hospital executives, who can be compensated above the $199,000 cap with private funds.

Also, covered providers can request exceptions to the $199,000 cap as long as they demonstrate that the executive’s pay is 75% or less of compensation for comparable providers’ compensation. In this case, the exception needs to be approved by the Board or governing body, with two independent members on board. Waivers allowing higher payments are limited to one reporting period and require approval from the New York State funding source.

What does this mean your non-profit organization?

Speak to your accountant for guidance on complying with this regulation. According to Rob Cordero, CPA, Senior Manager at O’Connor Davies, LLP; “A proactive and systematic approach should be adopted by all nonprofit entities receiving New York State funds and/or State-authorized payments. A thorough review of executive compensation including a comparative pay study is essential for all entities with executives earning compensation and benefits which exceeds $199,000.”

At Rollins, we strive to keep you apprised of the latest changes that could affect your nonprofit organization and the people you help through your important work.

photo credit: JMR_Photography via photopin cc

4 Budgeting Strategies for Nonprofits

I wanted to share four important budgeting strategies that I came across that will help in your goal to save money and time. These strategies will also help to advancing your mission in these tough financial times.

Typical budget cycles

Many organizations have an annual budgeting cycle, consisting of a “board approved budget”. These often have 3-4 month cycles and are unfortunately not always completed before the beginning of the fiscal year. It may be better to undergo a mid-year, quarterly, or even more frequent budget review, either a formal or informal process to assess progress against the budget and if any mid-course corrections need to be made.

Revenue and expense

When we look at the budgeting cycle, there are really two key components, the revenue and expense elements. Depending on the type of funding that the organization receives; contributions, grant and project based, or fee-for-service, several specific drivers exist in the revenue budgeting process.

Expense budgeting limitations depend on whether the expenses are for labor or other uses. A difficulty that many organizations face is properly targeting expenses to certain programs, departments or both. All the data that is collected from revenue and expenses is usually tracked in a fundraising, financial, human resources/payroll or operational system; but how does it get into the budgeting system? Integrating information between the systems could improve efficiency and produce more reliable budget information.

Budgeting approaches

In organizations that have a centralized approach to budgeting, Microsoft Excel spreadsheets often work well. However, for organizations taking  a more decentralized approach where the budget is prepared at the program level through several layers of management in different locations, more secure access and consolidations as well as a workflow system that tracks routings and approvals may be better.

Budgeting software

Finding the right solution for your organization can provide the processes and tools necessary to monitor and manage your operations to help accomplish your goals. The benefits a comprehensive budgeting solution provides include:

• Effectively aligning organizational strategy with the execution of operations
• Shortening planning cycles and allowing executives to focus on managing core goals
• Freeing up time and money to explore new areas of growth
• Delivering timely and accurate information to enhance decision making
• Providing powerful analytical capabilities and the ability to rapidly consolidate information
• Eliminating reliance on spreadsheets and associated formula errors

There are a multitude of budgeting solutions available for organizations of all sizes and at many different price points. However, not all solutions will be the right fit for every organization.

I would love some feedback, please take a minute to post a comment or email me with any thoughts or suggestions for future blog posts

5 Perspectives - Why Serving On A Nonprofit Board Makes Sense

I recently moderated a panel in front of nearly 100 nonprofit and business leaders. Our goal was to encourage skills based volunteerism by serving as a board member of a nonprofit organization.

We told them:

• Why they should do it
• How to start the process
• The impact they will have on the organization and community at large
• And what they will get out of it.

With me on the panel were 4 fabulous business and nonprofit leaders. Together we gave our perspectives on board service.

Alisa Kesten, Executive Director of The Volunteer Center
Deborah Bagatta-Bowles, CEO of YWCA of Central & Northern Westchester
Rick Rakow, Board Chair of The Food bank of Westchester
Timothy Donohue, Board Chair of Westchester Coalition of the Hungry and Homeless

In the end, more than 20 people expressed interest in serving on a board. It is now the job the The Volunteer Center to find nonprofit organizations for these dedicated skills based volunteers.

We took away the following:

1. Board service is a win-win for both you and the organization
2. This is one of the best ways to grow professionally
3. You circle of influence will grow dramatically. And you will make lifelong friends.
4. Board members often start as front line volunteers
5. The more you give of yourself, the more you get back
6. Getting young people on a board is another way to plug them into the community and potentially keep them here longer.
7. New York State ranks dead last in the USA in terms of adults who say they have volunteered in any capacity during the past year.
8. Board members should make a financial give/get pledge. Even if only $100.
9. Prepare a personal resume when looking for a board seat that highlights your skills.
10. Request a clear understanding from the organization of their expectations.

Skills based volunteering is so critical to nonprofits. The fact that New York State is dead last out of the USA shows we have a lot of work to do here in our community.

I would love some feedback, please take a minute to post a comment or email me with any thoughts or suggestions for future blog posts

5 Insights on Nonprofit Volunteers

This month I am pleased to provide an interview with Alisa who has been the Executive Director of The Volunteer Center for two years after serving on the board for 5 years. I have been a board member for two years and look forward to my continued work with Alisa. As you will see below the goal of The Volunteer Center is to promote volunteerism. This is such a critical component to so many nonprofits.

Last year Volunteer Center inspired more than 18,000 people to give back to nonprofits. Over 246,000 volunteer service hours were devoted to 500 nonprofits volunteer power which translated into economic value of $7.5 million.

Alisa H. Kesten
Executive Director
914-948-4452
Alisa@volunteer-center.org
LinkedIn
Twitter 

 

Tell me a little bit about The Volunteer Center?

The Volunteer Center is a one-stop resource for all things volunteer. For over 60 years, we have encouraged adults to serve, youth to build character, families to bond, young professionals to excel as leaders, mature adults to stay engaged and businesses to address community needs. Through our online database at www.volunteer-center.org  we match volunteers to meaningful opportunities every day. At this moment we have 631 active volunteers in the database – something to suit anyone’s interest and availability. That same database, HandsOn Connect, also serve as tool for volunteer management for nonprofit organizations.

What specific support do you offer nonprofits in regards to Volunteers?

We currently work with more than 500 local nonprofit organizations. They range in size from those that have no paid staff at all to some with hundreds of employees, including a full time Volunteer Coordinator. So our range of support varies from finding a few volunteers for a one day project, to fulfilling an ongoing skills-based role, to helping arrange for a full day of service with 100+ volunteers, and everything in between. We help nonprofits determine where and how they can use volunteers. Then we drive volunteers to these organizations through social media, community-wide days of service, outreach activities in the community, one-on-one, managed corporate days of service, etc.

We also provide professional development for nonprofit staff whose job it is to manage and recruit volunteers. We are currently providing training on how to utilize HandsOn Connect. We also manage The Westchester Association for Volunteer Administration (WAVA), the local professional association for mentoring and sharing best practices and solving problems together.

Tell me a little about how you work with for-profits to encourage their employees to volunteer?

For-profit businesses are great partners in our efforts to focus volunteers to address community needs. There are many ways in which we can work with companies of all sizes to support their interests. Here are just a few examples:

• Manage Customized Corporate Days of Service where employees can volunteer all together as a team.
• Engage companies in our two community-wide days of action on MLK Day and 9/11.
• Provide on-site “lunch and learn” sessions where our staff presents an overview of our services that are available to employees and their families.
• Build leadership through Leadership Westchester, a cutting-edge eight month learning program that prepares passionate, knowledgeable and highly-skilled individuals to assume positions of influence and impact, particularly as Board Members at nonprofits.

Why are volunteers so important to nonprofits, and what value do they bring?

As we all know, nonprofits are asked to do more and more with fewer dollars. It is just not possible to fulfill important missions without both skills-based and front-line volunteers. But the secret that is shared by all volunteers is that you get back more than you give. It’s an incredible win-win situation.

How does The Volunteer Center help to develop board members for nonprofits and what value does that bring?

One of our signature programs is Leadership Westchester as described above. I’m quite passionate about it because this was my personal pathway to The Volunteer Center. Graduates spend time honing skills, focusing on areas of deep interest, and learning the basics on what it means to serve on a nonprofit board. Nonprofits should definitely consider Leadership Westchester as a pipeline for qualified candidates to consider for board membership.

Check out our previous post “Managing Volunteers In Your Organization”

I would love some feedback, please take a minute to post a comment or email me with any thoughts or suggestions for future blog posts