Author: Trina Isakson

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

CBC drags charities through the mud…again

CBC, yet again, is reporting the apparently exorbitant salaries made by charity staff.

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?

Categories
Personal and travel

A week of vegan

For people who aren’t vegan, our diet can be a bit of a mystery. So for my own curiosity and that of others, I recorded what I ate for a week.

Disclaimer: I would say my diet is about 95% vegan. If unexpected cheese comes on a salad, I’ll scrape it off but might end up eating a few bits. I’m a cookie monster, so will often eat cookies at meetings, etc., even though I know there are likely eggs in them. In general, I find it’s hard to say I’m 100% anything in my life.

If I’ve included ingredients, it’s because I made it myself (all from memory, I might have forgot something). Much of the stuff I eat are things I make in bulk and freeze for later.

I’ve laid it all out here. No lies. (For example, you will shortly learn I like chocolate).

Sunday

  • Banana muffin (bananas, whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, oil, apple sauce, turbinado sugar, molasses, baking soda, salt)
  • Kirkland’s veggie burger (not vegan, contains cheese) on a store-bought white bun (at our street block party BBQ)
  • San Pelligrino Limonata
  • Leftover mac and “cheese” (whole wheat macaroni, potato, carrot, onion, shallots, cashews, whole wheat bread crumbs, vegan margarine, lemon juice, garlic, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper)
  • Steamed broccolini with vegan margarine
  • Chocolate coconut ice cream with sliced banana
  • Hot chocolate (soy milk, turbinado sugar, cocoa)

Monday

  • Banana muffin
  • Fruit shake (strawberries, vanilla soyogurt, banana, blueberries, almond milk, cashew butter, ground flax seeds)
  • Bread (whole wheat flour, unbleached flour, water, agave nectar, yeast), sunflower spread (sunflowers, roaster red peppers, potato, onion, tahini, agave nectar, flax seeds, nutritional yeast, garlic, paprika, basil, chili flakes – all in a food processor; as you can see it was a bit of an experiment), ½ avocado
  • Toast with vegan margarine and my mom’s berry jam

Tuesday (busy – out most of the day)

  • More fruit shake
  • Veggie sandwich (wheat-free bread, avocado, red pepper, tomato cucumber) plus store-bought “veggie straws” and chocolate chip cookies (at a friend’s home)
  • More veggie sandwiches, this time with cheese, plus some grazing on strawberries and cherry tomatoes (at a community event)
  • Toast and sunflower spread
  • Hot chocolate

Wednesday (busy – out most of the day)

  • Banana muffin
  • More fruit shake
  • Sunflower spread sandwich
  • Avocado spring rolls (at a restaurant post-board meeting)
  • Two glasses of wine
  • Hot chocolate

Thursday

  • Toast with PB and banana
  • Ginger ale
  • Steamed sausage (vital wheat gluten, navy beans, soya sauce, cranberries, spices)
  • Steamed broccoli
  • Bowl of strawberries
  • Ice cream and sliced banana
  • Popcorn with melted vegan margarine, salt, and nutritional yeast
  • Peppermint tea

Friday

  • Banana muffin
  • Toast with sunflower spread and tomatoes
  • Kiwifruit
  • Broccoli
  • Veggie burger (black beans, rice, olives, tomato paste, basil) on toast with sliced tomato, lettuce, ketchup and Dijon mustard
  • Brownie (white flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa, turbinado sugar, water, apple sauce, oil, baking powder, salt, vanilla) and icecream
  • Another piece of brownie
  • And another

Saturday

  • Little pieces of brownie
  • Crepes (white flour, chickpea flour, water, oil), strawberries, syrup
  • Coleslaw (cabbage, carrots, celery, leek, rice vinegar, soy sauce, peanut butter, oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger)
  • More coleslaw
  • Sushi (rice, rice vinegar, sugar, nori, wild rice tempeh, spices, bok choy, carrot, mango, Bragg’s liquid amino) – made by lovely couchsurfers from Florida
  • Green tea
  • Brownie and ice cream

I usually eat more beans than I did this week. And I usually eat fewer fruits and veggies.

Anything crazy weird in there? Curious about a recipe?

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Upcoming events: Volunteers and technology; what the next gen wants from nonprofits

I’ll be speaking in three different places next month – hope to see you at one or more!

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

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Recap > AFP Vancouver: Leveraging Social Media to Facilitate Fundraising Efforts

AFP Vancouver’s monthly breakfast meeting brought together four panelists (contact information below) experienced in social media, mobile giving, and other digital communications strategies.

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

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

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Upcoming events: 4/26 Social change film school open house; 5/03 Change Through Food Systems

Two interesting events coming up for people that like to make important connections for social change. I can’t make it to the first, but hope to find out more about their program and what they can offer the nonprofit sector. The second I help organize, so maybe see you there? We’re already registered to capacity, but you can add yourself to the wait list.

Pull Focus Open House

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

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
Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

3 reasons why I’m a National Volunteer Week skeptic

So this week coming to an end is National Volunteer Week.

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.

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Incomplete Thought #3: Which comes first: next generation voting, or civility in politics?

Next generation voter turnout rates are bad in Canada at all level of elections – student government to federal government.

I think this is for a combination of many reasons. Some logistical: it’s a bit of a pain for university students who live and/or spend the majority of their time NOT in their home riding. Some apathetical: there doesn’t seem to be a direct impact on their lives, and their one vote wouldn’t change anything. Some related to frustration: being so disgusted with the decorum of politics that voting for anyone makes their skin crawl.

Note to politicians

Ads target

Because youth don’t come out to vote like other age groups, the youth vote isn’t targeted (and if it is, it would seem that all the next generation cares about is marijuana and tuition). Sure it might be pandered too, but not properly courted. I used to argue that in order to attract the youth vote, politicians needed to make politics more civil, more engaging. But now, I think I’m with Rick Mercer. Youth need to turnout to vote first. Eventually, the pandering will follow.

It is the conventional wisdom of all political parties that young people will not vote. And the parties, they like it that way.

So please, if you are between the age of 18 and 25, and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around, do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all over the world are dying to do. Vote.



So which should come first? Young voters turning out? Or civil, engaging, relevant politics? Who owes what to whom?

Discuss.

The Incomplete Thought Series is, well, a series of incomplete thoughts. These are thoughts I have not researched, but which have popped into my head and am interested in discussing. Your incomplete or complete thoughts are encouraged.