I’m hiring!

See the full posting >

I’m looking for a part-time associate, 2-3 days/week, to support the work of 27 Shift. I’m not looking for a ‘social media guru’ or a ‘communications specialist’ or an ‘organizational superstar’. I’m looking for a generalist.

Is this you?

• You are pretty good at a lot of things, are curious to learn new things and find ways to do things better, and have high standards of yourself and others.
• You pay fine attention to detail and are a creative thinker
• You need limited direction and I can trust you to deliver.
• You can lead in times of ambiguity, and can balance not asking too many questions with asking the right questions.
• You communicate yourself effectively in person and online.
• You are familiar with the nonprofit sector and/or higher education.

This is a part-time role, suitable for a part-time student, a parent, or someone who is looking for flexibility in their work life.

Type of work

• Writing (blog posts, reports, internal business documents)
• Communications (web content, business marcom materials)
• Editing* (I hate editing my own work so this is important. You could have helped me write this job posting.)
• Research (interviews, web-based, data analysis)
• Design (web, newsletters, presentation, graphics)
• Planning/organizing (supporting project management, events, administration)
• Being a sounding board for ideas
• Generating ideas of your own

This is not an admin job. While yes, there might be a bit of tedious work, most of it will be engaging and interesting. There is no office, no set hours. You do the work when, where, and in the ways that you can be most productive and satisfied.

See the full posting >

Does your use of technology make you stick out or stand out?

When technology is used for volunteer engagement, the results are not always fantastic. Here are 6 ways technology can make or break your volunteer engagement.

Technology that sticks out

Collecting information

Asking volunteers to fill out actual forms. Paper, Word documents, PDFs. Print and mail, print and scan, save and send back. These scream INEFFICIENT! Even if you don’t require printing, the way most people create forms in Word, they end up looking pretty funny when filled in and require fiddling. They also indicate that there’s probably going to be a staff member at the other end doing a lot of menial cutting and pasting or data entry. The only time paper forms are OK is when volunteers face economic barriers and don’t have access to computer or internet. But most public library facilities serve this purpose – usually internet is free, but printing is not and scanning doesn’t exist.

Solution: Online surveys. Whether as part of a more robust database system or free tools like Google Forms (a part of Google Docs), Survey Monkey, Wufoo, or FluidSurveys, collect your data so that the volunteer and the administrator don’t have to hassle with administrivia. Instead, they can work with data that has been entered directly by the individual. AND often you can integrate your forms with other software you use.

Volunteer administration systems

Some organizations buy into intense software to coordinate and schedule volunteers. They may simplify things on the back end for the coordinator, but are often headaches for the volunteer–especially in the application stage. If a person is considering volunteering or just wants to learn more about opportunities with an organization, sending them through a 10 page volunteer administration system and asking them every question the organization could ever think of needing the answer to (from t-shirt size to 5 references to the names of any planned future children) for them only to find out on page 9 that there are only two distinct volunteer roles, neither of which is interesting to the volunteer or neither of which has openings — not OK. This is not an effective way to welcome a supporter into the organization.

Solution: Mix the admin with the personal. Have the initial application form (ahem, online survey) be short. Name, contact information, what triggered their interest in the organization, if any particular role is of interest to them. Done. Then, follow up by email or phone. Within the week. 24 hours even better – catch them while their interest is hot.

Social media

You know those Twitter accounts that only promote fundraising events? Or how about those Facebook pages that haven’t had new content for a year? If a volunteer starts following an organization via social media, bad social media skills can be a turnoff.

Solution: Don’t use social media if your organization is not going to invest in it. Turning to the youngest person in your office and asking them to do it off the corner of their desk is not OK. And if you do invest in it, be sure to involve someone that has a talent for marketing and engagement strategy. Just because a young person has personally used social media doesn’t mean they have the experience to implement a campaign or plan around it.

Technology that stands out

Social media

Just as social media can make an organization stick out, it can also make them stand out. Not for promoting, but for engagement. Social media is used best as a communication tool with people that are already involved with your organization. When getting contact information from volunteers, also find out if they’re on Twitter. Mention them in your Tweets or on your Facebook page by thanking a group of volunteers, or spreading interesting information they’ve shared.

Collaborative on-line documents

As a jury member for this year’s Vancouver Timeraiser, I was surprised how many applicant organizations didn’t have any positions that could be done from home. Really? I’ve worked with teams of people pulling together research on women and politics or articles on millennial engagement with ZERO in-person contact. The ones I use most frequently are Google Docs (and spreadsheets, and forms) and Wikis. You can change the settings so that anyone can edit and see the document, or only those you invite.

Myth: You need a Gmail account to use Google Docs.
Fact: Nope, you just need a Google account. You can create one using any email address.

None at all

I don’t mean you don’t actually use technology – just that volunteers don’t even notice it because everything is so smooth. Kind of like government – we don’t notice it when it’s working well.

Do an audit of your volunteer engagement processes – recruitment, screening, training, scheduling, working, rewarding, coordinating, communicating – to determine how technology is helping or hindering engagement at each step. Better yet, create a high impact volunteer role for a volunteer do an audit.

How do you use technology to effectively engage volunteers? Have you ever been frustrated by an organization’s use of technology (or lack thereof)?

NLN has a great line-up of events coming this fall. Speed Networking, Appreciative Inquiry, Be a Star Performer (I’ll be co-presenting). So much value for becoming an NLN member. See you at all three!

Vancouver Timeraiser

Thursday, September 22
Part volunteer fair. Part art silent auction. All cocktail party. Connect with great people and great organizations at this hip event. I served on the jury to select the organizations, so I know there are a wide variety of causes and opportunities. See you there!

SFU Volunteer and Community Engagement Fair

Wednesday and Thursday, September 28-29 
If you’re an SFU student, connect with a wide variety of community organizations. Community organizations, get your vibrant staff and volunteers out and connect with keen university students! Join the president’s reception on the Wednesday while you’re there.

From Jack:

To young Canadians: All my life I have worked to make things better. Hope and optimism have defined my political career, and I continue to be hopeful and optimistic about Canada. Young people have been a great source of inspiration for me. I have met and talked with so many of you about your dreams, your frustrations, and your ideas for change. More and more, you are engaging in politics because you want to change things for the better. Many of you have placed your trust in our party. As my time in political life draws to a close I want to share with you my belief in your power to change this country and this world. There are great challenges before you, from the overwhelming nature of climate change to the unfairness of an economy that excludes so many from our collective wealth, and the changes necessary to build a more inclusive and generous Canada. I believe in you. Your energy, your vision, your passion for justice are exactly what this country needs today. You need to be at the heart of our economy, our political life, and our plans for the present and the future.

While young people get turned off by petty partisan politics and disengage except for the simplest act of voting (and often not even that), partisan politics is the system we’ve currently got. There are many ways to impact this system (examples from the outside are those like Leadnow, Apathy is Boring, and Canadian Women Voters Congress).

Today, I challenge you to make change from the inside. This may seem daunting — getting involved with a political party.

But the very first step is easy. Sign up on a party’s website to volunteer (your postal code will likely get your email directed to your local riding), and see where it goes. No commitment necessary. You don’t need to be a member. You can change your mind later.  Heck, sign up for more than one and see what the people are like. Shop around.

Federal Parties

• Bloc Québécois | Forum jeunesse du Bloc Québécois (domain registration expired)
• Conservative Party of Canada | CPC Energy
• Green Party of Canada | Young Greens
• Liberal Party of Canada | Young Liberals of Canada
• Canada’s NDP | New Democratic Youth (based provincially)

BC Parties

• Green Party of BC | (Young Greens in BC are a wing of federal Young Greens)
• BC Liberals | BC Young Liberals
• BC NDP | BC Young New Democrats

Vancouver Parties

• Coalition of Progressive Electors (COPE)
• Green Party of Vancouver
• Vancouver Non Partisan Association (NPA)
• Vision Vancouver

I made this step earlier this year. Sent my contact information on a Saturday. Was contacted Monday morning. Met the candidate’s office manager on Wednesday. Met the candidate and a host of other volunteers shortly after. I’m still not a member. Still unsure how far I’ll go with this. But I’m better educated for it, and I’m adding to a slowly building critical mass of strong, educated, passionate and positive voice in Canadian politics. Like Jack did.

Please do it. You may surprise yourself.

(cross posted at www.27shift.com)

Background

As a director of the Canadian Women Voters Congress, I am interested in knowing more about the context of our work helping women achieve success in politics and leadership. We have a visioning day coming up, and part of that will focus on the direction of our educational programming. However, the board will be in a much better position to decide on that direction if we know the breadth of programs offered in Canada that support women’s involvement in the political process. So we wondered: what are other organizations and initiatives doing in this area?

And from there a Research Associate role was created. We’ve interviewed and hired a talented pair of women from the Ottawa and Vancouver areas to lead the project and are still interviewing more for potential involvement. These high impact volunteers are essential to our growth as a strong organization.

The challenge

Vantage Point, a Canadian nonprofit capacity building organization, has been pushing high impact volunteering for years. But the uptake has been challenging. Many organizations are unwilling? unable? unaware? Sometimes reenvisioning the ways an organization has engaged volunteers from its inception is difficult.

Using “I Wonder”

I suggest having a note pad nearby your desk. An actual note pad. A Google Doc. Something to keep track of questions that unexpectedly or otherwise pop into your head. Things you wonder about.

• I wonder if there’s an easier/better way to do _________.
• eg use technology, public speak, process donations
• I wonder what our stakeholders think about _________.
• eg our brand, our events, our strategic priorities
• I wonder how effective _________ is.
• eg our advertising, our volunteer recognition, our mentorship program
• I wonder what other organizations are doing in this area.
• eg the breadth of programs offered in Canada that support women’s involvement in the political process

These are the questions that high impact volunteers can help you answer.

What questions could a high-impact volunteer help you answer? How have you engaged high-impact volunteers to answer them?

Full article here >

An analysis of tax filings by The Canadian Press has found salaries often run well into six figures, raising questions about how money raised in the name of charity is being spent.

My comment:

Poverty. Homelessness. Cancer. Illiteracy. Addiction. Global warming.

These a BIG problems. Complex problems. Not so easy to solve. These problems need strategic thinkers with great leadership skills, innovative minds, and talent for change management.

If the public seriously wants solutions to these difficult issues, they should understand that it would irresponsible to pay low wages to nonprofit staff. While these leaders do charitable work, they are not charity cases themselves who should have a hand out for a meagre salary. They are intelligent professionals with talent in the area of social, environmental, and economic change and should be compensated appropriately. This is not easy work. Just because something (or someone) comes cheap, doesn’t mean it is in the best interest of the organization and its funders and donors.

Why is it that the public feels it’s OK for a person responsible for marketing sugary cereals to young children to make hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars, but not for a person helping ensure young children have a good, health, active and safe start to life?

Absolutely, people should critically think about where their money goes. But that should not just be true of charity. I would hope people hold every company to the same stringent standards and therefore raise the bar for transparency and accountability among all sectors – charity and nonprofit, government and business.

Your thoughts?

NET TUESDAY – MANAGING VOLUNTEERS WITH SOFTWARE AND SOFT SKILLS

Complete details here >

Tuesday, July 5 | 5:30pm | 306 Abbott St (upstairs) | FREE
Join me and Elijah van der Giessen (of Net Tuesday and David Suzuki Foundation) as we share strategies about the use of technology for effective volunteer engagement.

NEXT GENERATION ENGAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Complete details here >

This two-part series will introduce you to data and research on what the next generation wants from nonprofits, help you identify how your organization is currently performing, and encourage next steps you can take to achieve your goals. Sample topics include volunteer opportunities, new donors, staff retention, and social media.

No more guessing: Data and research on what the next generation wants from nonprofits

Wed, July 13 | 8:45am – 10:30am | 1183 Melville St.
$40, including light breakfast

Future engagement: Assessing your current practices and taking the next step to effective next generation engagement

Wed, July 27 | 8:45am – 10:30am | 1183 Melville St.
$40, including light breakfast

While the questions asked of the panel might suggest otherwise, a general theme of the responses from the panel was “social media is just one part of a more complete fundraising and engagement strategy”. Here is a summary of the responses of the panelists on tips for using social media and mobile giving as a fundraising tool. (Notes in brackets are my own additions).

Why use social media as a fundraising tool?

• Integrated into offline efforts and personal connections; it’s a piece of a whole
• It’s only a tool; there needs to be a strategy behind it
• Provides opportunities to listen to and engage with a community of supporters
• Help supporters share your message with their networks
• Get your org into the hands of as many as possible
• Get more earned media
• Get more volunteers
• Use it for calls to action

What are tangible actions on Facebook to raise money?

Before you start…

• “Dig your well before you need it” – if you are starting now and want to raise money now, you’re too late.
• Need an engagement plan first.
• Website should be the centre of any online campaign; all online outlets should be connected to each other.
• Messages should be consistent across online platforms.
• Once people click through to the website, they should NOT be directed to your home page. It should be easy for them – clear donation page, easy payment options, email follow up written well. Ensure a good user experience.

How to amp up your Facebook success

• It’s possible to create a custom landing page for Facebook Pages. Landing pages results in higher page “likes”. (FBML was referred to, but this is now out of date – landing pages are now built using frames. Check out this post by Beth Kanter for more information on Facebook landing pages).
• Multiple touch points (i.e. supporters follow you by email newsletter, texts, Facebook) leads to increase giving. Need to know donors’ communication preferences.
• Online = smaller gifts because these donors are often on a lower rung on the ladder of engagement.

Specific tips

• Need to share a variety of content and not too much. Max 3/day. (Check out Dan Zarrella for great stats on how to get the most from your social media efforts. He found that once every two days is best.)
• Create urgency. Make specific asks.
• If you show up only to make asks, you may get huge (and public) backlash.
• Reply to comments. Use people’s names. Click through to their profiles to get to know them better (if their profiles are public).
• Share successes and how money is being used.
• Need to have a visibility action plan – be checking account at least 5 days/week, 5 min- 1 hr/day. Timing depends on when your supporters are online.

Other thoughts

• NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) is a great resource on nonprofit use of technology. (Click here for some good reports on nonprofit technology use to see how you stack up.)
• Social media requires staff resources. Those with the biggest fundraising success on Facebook were generally smaller orgs ($1-5million) but had 1-2 full time staff dedicated to social media efforts.

What are tangible actions on Twitter to raise money?

• Twitter is a community. Many people interact/influence exclusively on Twitter.

Specific tips

• Tell. Ask. Share. Engage. Monitor.
• Rebroadcast messages in different ways. Talk at different times of the day, depending on when your demographic might be online.
• Have fun. Be authentic.
• Keep messages to <120 or even <100 characters so that people can easily retweet you without having to shrink your message.
• Use hashtags (eg #elxn41 was used for the recent federal election). Start a conversation, make sure your supporters know to use it, then follow the hashtag to monitor the conversation.
• Do keyword research to monitor conversations. Use word that your audience would use, and not necessarily the jargon you use.
• Use Hootsuite as a tool to monitor all your social media accounts (ie also Facebook too). You can post to multiple accounts and schedule tweets. “Cook once and eat 3 times.”

General uses

• Use it to connect with influencers. (They don’t need to be following you). Journalists are all over Twitter. Find ones that have a concern for the issue/topic you are wanting to raise.
• Use it to make your superfans super happy by highlighting them/their work or sharing prizes.
• Drive traffic to mobile giving campaigns – this has been very effective in disaster response fundraising.Twitter and mobile giving go well together because people are often using Twitter on their phones already.
• Great for listening for breaking news that might be relevant to your work and that you might be able to piggyback onto.

And mobile giving?

How it works

1. There is no text messaging fee to the user for donation texts. These are absorbed by wireless carriers.
2. Carriers charge for the donation (currently now only $5 or $10). Carriers pass on $ to Mobile Giving Foundation Canada (MGFC, a registered charity), which passes on money to the charity.
3. Only charities are currently licensed to do this. Must fill out application with MGFC.
4. Charity works with one of the recommended service providers to arrange the text choice (eg text HAITI to 1234567) and do the techie stuff. (Note: This is where the cost to the charity comes from – paying the service provider. This is NOT the wireless carrier, but a company that arranges mobile giving).
5. When people make a text, the get a reply asking them to confirm their donation by replying “Yes”, after which a “Thank You” text is received. At this point charities can also arrange with the service provider to conclude with a “Reply to sign up to receive further texts from Charity XYZ”. Any further texts to/from the charity will result in standard text message rates being applied to the individual.
6. Individuals can get tax receipts online via a code they request by text. Receipts are given by MGF, not the charity. Donor information (ie phone number, account name) is not currently shared with the charity (unless the “reply to sign up for more” is completed above).

Why mobile giving is important

• It reaches a new demographic. They often have never given before. Low barrier. A credit card or cheque isn’t necessary.

Challenges with mobile giving

• Limited amounts to give (only $5 or $10 currently). Information isn’t shared with charities. Costs charged by service providers are prohibitive for smaller campaigns. MGFC is looking to address some of these.
• Because of these issues, mobile might remain limited to mostly disaster response giving. Another technology might leapfrog into prominence by the time these issues are sorted out.
• (One current possibility in print is a combination of QR codes with websites designed for phones.)

Final Thoughts

If all this seems overwhelming, I suggest listening first. I recently set up and gave personal training on a “digital listening” plan with a client to get them started with social media. By following some of your personal favourite nonprofit organizations through Facebook, Twitter, their blogs and e-newsletter, you can quickly get a sense of how others use it, and what seems to be working.

Panelists’ information

Dave.ca Communications (Dave Teixeira)
www.dave.ca
@davedotca

Raised Eyebrow (Lauren Bacon)
www.raisedeyebrow.com
@laurenbacon

Beachcomber Communications (Angela Crocker)
www.beachcombercommunications.com
@angelacrocker

Mobile Giving Foundation (Katherine Winchester)
www.mobilegiving.ca
@mgfcanada

Pull Focus Open House
April 26, 2011 | 7pm

In the spirit of grassroots social change, Pull Focus Film School brings together emerging filmmakers, activists, non-profit practitioners, and media innovators in an environment that encourages conversation, collaboration and creative engagement in social change.

The goal of Pull Focus is to empower students to tell stories they care about while raising awareness about many of the amazing and ambitious efforts that are currently being undertaken within the non-profit community.

Pull Focus celebrates its spring program with an Open House on April 26th at 306 Abbott Street in Gastown. Come experience the ‘social change’ spirit, in tandem with the exciting evolution of the local mediascape.

——

Change Through Food Systems
May 3, 2011 | 6pm

From producer to intermediaries to consumers, how can positive change happen through our food systems? We all play a part – let’s talk it out!

Join us as three unique individuals spark a conversation about food systems and have your turn to make connections to new ideas, people, and passions.

Moderator: Anthony Nicalo @tonynicolo – chef; entrepreneur; building first global map of local food @foodtree

Speakers:

• Arzeena Hamir @arzeena – agrologist; coordinator for the Richmond Food Security Society; engaging diverse communities in the food security conversation
• Herb Barbolet – food activist; researcher; author
• Mijune Pak @followmefoodie – food blogger at Follow Me Foodie; facilitating producers and consumers in conscious engagement with food

My reaction? Meh.

This is why.

Volunteers need constant engagement

If organizations are drawing public (or private) attention to their volunteers and thanking them this week only, I bet they are having a hard time retaining volunteers. It’s like a romantic Valentines Day dinner when your partner is an ass the rest of the year. Doesn’t mean much.

Volunteerism doesn’t need awareness-raising

Volunteerism as a concept does not need promotion. Volunteering for specific organizations might. But drawing volunteers to an organization involves more than good promotion. It requires an organizational culture that is attuned to the changes in the expectations and interests of volunteers. I’ve had the opportunity to speak to outstanding people who are meaningfully engaging volunteers through their work – and they have few problems recruiting volunteers, and rarely need to promote.

Volunteer agencies are bad at PR

Yes, #NWV11 has had some traction on Twitter. But really, as someone who is fairly embedded within the nonprofit and volunteerism culture in Vancouver, BC and Canada, I am often surprised how rarely campaigns promoting a spirit of volunteerism reach me. I’m not saying it’s easy – I had the job of promoting engaged citizenship at SFU and it’s was a slow and tough slog. It’s hard when your target market is broad and diffuse. But these organizations are often preaching to the converted, and even then only a very small circle of the converted.

Instead…

Instead, organizations tasked with the promotion of volunteerism should focus on those doing the volunteer engagement. How can you help them succeed in promoting a spirit of meaningful volunteerism within their organizations?

Let’s shift to a place where citizens are clamoring at our doors because we all are offering engaging opportunities that address the realities of the present. Volunteerism isn’t changing. It has already changed.