Category: For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Fundraising through engaged staff

Take a Hike reflection
Image credit: Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation

One of my favourite charities, Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation, was fortunate to be on the receiving side of Clara Hughes’ Winter Olympics bronze medal bonus.

Ten thousand unexpected dollars.

And then her sponsor, Bell Canada, matched her donation. That’s now $20,000.

And with the news stories on the donation, thousands of more dollars came in.

This wasn’t the result of some long-term relationship building between the ED and Hughes. It didn’t require shmoozing, prospecting, donor analysis or any other hard work of a fund development team.

It started because one of the Take a Hike program’s teachers embodied Take a Hike. He had met Clara Hughes’ partner randomly while on a remote kayaking trip on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. Friendships developed, and Take a Hike came to mind when Hughes was looking to make a difference by contributing any bonus she might win along with a medal.

The teacher didn’t have a script. He wasn’t trained in fund development. He knows his work and the impact it makes in the lives of youth and feels confident sharing.

The lesson

I think it’s often easy for fundraising to be relegated to the ED and fund development staff. That way you can contain messages and hit key talking points. Because you can’t trust the program staff to always say the right thing, you might only let them connect to fundraising when a tour of their workspace needs to be done to show donors how the charity is serving <insert disadvantaged group here>. Or maybe you only call on them when you need statistics to report back to funders or donors to show that your efforts are successful.

I think that most people, no matter where they work in an organization, like to know how their work contributes to the bigger picture. The mission of the organization. To what end your charity exists. Staff are more than just their job titles, and very likely have interests and abilities beyond their job descriptions.

So let them in on the big picture. Connect them with opportunities to contribute to the mission more directly through committees, communication, or other work.

Be sure your staff are engaged with your mission. The payoffs could be huge.

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

World Water Day 2010: Supporting local organizations

World Water Day

What is World Water Day?

A international day of observance designated by the UN General Assembly that came out of the1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro. It’s held March 22 of every year. Water is required for life, so the protection of water = the protection of life.

Things to do today

  1. Sign the Tap Water Pledge with Metro Vancouver
  2. World Water Day panel
    Hosted by Tides Canada
    Monday, March 22 |  6-9pm
    UBC Robson Square, HSBC Room

    $5.00 admission

    This event is co-sponsored by: Connecting Environmental Professionals as well as Amnesty International, Oxfam Canada, Program on Water Governance, The Council of Canadians, and The Water Team.

How can I support World Water Day locally?

A variety of local organizations support the protection of water through research about, advocacy for, and protection of water. Ocean water, wetlands, watersheds, and the ecosystems that rely on safe water. Donate, volunteer, or be an advocate!

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

FREE webinars: Canadian charities and the tax man

Imagine Canada is offering a FREE Charity Tax Tuesdays Webinar Series. Two have already happened, but you can view them online. Two others are coming up before the end of March.

For more details, visit http://charitytax.imaginecanada.ca/

Charity Tax Tools is a set of resources built around a free comprehensive information website with easy-to-understand content developed by Imagine Canada that will provide your charity with timely information and tools to ensure you have the resources to meet Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requirements.

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Nonprofit career tips by and for UBC students

Along with my colleague Roselynn Verwoord, fellow Next Leaders Network steering committee member, I presented on the topic of careers in the nonprofit sector at the latest University of British Columbia Student Leadership Conference (SLC 2010). As a UBC alum, I’ve presented at this conference before – I really enjoy meeting keen students interested in career development and the nonprofit sector.

The top tip I enjoy sharing with students is how a degree does not define you. You do. I demonstrate this by sharing my main post-university jobs (high school teacher, nonprofit gala event manager, and promoter of student engaged citizenship and community-university engagement) and asking what they think my undergrad degree was in. Chemistry and Biology are generally not the first guesses.

The workshop participants brainstormed different tips and resources related to finding employment in the nonprofit sector. They came up with a pile of suggestions in a really tight period of time – many that were new to me. Learning happens in every direction.

Looking for Jobs and Volunteer Roles

Networking and Mentorship

  • Arts Tri-Mentoring/Engineering Tri-Mentoring
  • Joining Clubs/Student Associations (e.g Emerging Leaders Group)
  • Sharing experience with other volunteers
  • Me Inc. – Commerce Conference (external networking)
  • Parents and family friends
  • Volunteer in residence
  • Professors
  • Friends of friends
  • Mailing Lists/talking to people at fairs
  • Make use of relevant LinkedIn groups (Non Profit & Philanthropic Job Board) and Twitter contacts (via Andrea)
  • Research ideal potential employers and conduct an informational interview (check out a WLU informational interviewing booklet) (via Andrea)

Resumes, Cover Letter and Interviews

  • Research company before interview
  • Career services (for help)
  • Hook for cover letter – be interesting
  • Be specific to job description
  • Be unique, passionate (to certain extent)
  • Interviews –
  • be down to earth
  • practice potential q’s
  • confidence
  • Don’t’ answer questions in conventional way
  • Situation, task, action, result, transfer (technique for answering interview q’s)
  • Reveal your transferable skills
  • Be honest

Learning and Workshops

  • Mentoring Programs
  • Involvement Showcase (CSI)
  • Green Book
  • SLC 2010
  • Google
  • Events UBC Site
  • Career Days
  • Community workshops
  • Company workshops
  • Clubs
  • Go Global (Exchange)
  • Read
  • Community centers/resources
  • Research seminars
  • Research the rules are for the part of the sector in which you’re looking (do you need a specific degree?) (via mjfrombuffalo)

Things NOT to Do

  • Don’t pick something you don’t find interesting
  • Don’t lie about your passion
  • Don’t be inconsistent in your approach (e.g. volunteer work can be just as important as paid work)
  • Don’t have ANY visible content online that’s questionable. Always manage your online personal/professional brand. (via Andrea)
  • Bashing – don’t criticize another organization
  • Don’t name drop
  • No assumptions
  • Don’t ask about wages (to begin with, anyway)
  • Don’t be in it for the money
  • Don’t burn bridges
  • Don’t do it just for the sake of your resume

What a fantastic list! You can find more ideas for young nonprofit professionals in Metro Vancouver here, including common mistakes made by new-to-nonprofit job seekers.

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Haiti: Lessons in racialized language

This post is part of the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance‘s response to the situation in Haiti. We encourage other Millennials to get informed and get involved.

It happened after Hurricane Katrina, too. No obvious Canadian example is coming to mind, but I’m sure one (or many) exists.

I’m speaking of the racialized language that media and public commentary use to describe the actions of black people in the midst of a devastating catastrophe.

Take the verb “loot”. Media are using it to describe what is happening as Haitians access food, water, and other materials necessary for survival.

Some recent examples from my local paper:

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines looting as:

1 a : to plunder or sack in war b : to rob especially on a large scale and usually by violence or corruption
2 : to seize and carry away by force especially in war

Firstly, this isn’t war. Inciting language relating situations to war is a strategy used to increase approval of war-like tactics, often by governments – “war on drugs” and “war on terror” are two recent examples. I personally don’t want to see war-like tactics used on a devastated country without the infrastructure to defend itself.

Secondly, survival isn’t criminal. I hope that you and I would share an instinct to protect our own lives and those of people close to us by accessing basic supplies needed for life. I don’t know exactly what’s happening on the ground in Haiti. I’m really grateful I don’t have to experience and I hope I never do. But I’d be pretty pissed if anyone described my survival instinct criminal.

Some related headlines that criminalize the situation in Haiti:

Post-Katrina behaviour was similarly criminalized. Sarah Kauffman notes that “for the first days after the hurricane, news outlets focused on what we now know to be greatly exaggerated individual acts of crime and violence (Dwyer and Drew, 2005).” In addition to magnifying the actions of a few, language used was blatantly race-based. The loot vs. find photo controversy demonstrated that black and white people exhibiting the exact same behaviour were reported on differently by the media.

Fellow Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance member Rosetta Thurman shared some discussion about this on Friday…

Criminalized languageand more…

Criminalized language 2

So, what do we do about it?

My small part was a workshop on interpersonal communication I facilitated on Friday to a group of youth volunteers from a local hospital, many of whom intend to enter the health field as doctors, etc. I facilitate a similar one in my work at SFU (developed by the lovely Wendy Norman) as part of a Passport to Leadership series of workshop.

While the workshop starts off fairly predictably (e.g. importance of listening) I soon veer into the intersection of power and words. How language and word choice can further marginalize people who face barriers. How intent doesn’t matter when perception of word choice is harmful. We did an exercise where I gave them fairly controversial statements and asked them what assumptions were made by the speaker, how power was embedded in the words, who benefits if people agree with the statement, and if a positive intention might exist behind the statement.

These youth are going to be on the front lines, dealing with a diverse public coming to them in vulnerable situations. Interpersonal communication isn’t just about being nice and listening closely. It’s about checking your language and critically examining that of others.

Like the media currently isn’t as it criminalizes black people.

Other Haiti-relevant posts by the Nonprofit Millennial Bloggers Alliance:

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

Haiti earthquake donation options for Canadians

Canadians can donate to Canadian organizations in order to support emergency relief and recovery efforts in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.

Please give money, not in-kind donations of clothing and supplies. Professionals with experienced nonprofit organizations know what’s needed best and how/if supplies can be distributed. Give money. If you want to donate something other than money, Aeroplan miles to an organizaton like Medecins sans Frontieres is another option.

Also, please consider making undesignated donations (donations given to the general organization, not to one specific campaign) to organizations like the Red Cross and Medecins sans Frontieres, as they know best where to direct needed funds.

Donate Now

By text

  • Bell, Rogers, Telus: Text HAITI to 45678 to donate $5 to The Salvation Army Haiti Earthquake Disaster Relief Fund
  • Rogers and Fido: Text HELP to 1291 to donate $5 to Partners In Health: Haiti and other Haitian relief organizations
  • Most carriers:  Text HAITI to 30333 to donate $5 to support Plan Canada’s emergency relief efforts

Online

The Canadian government will match donations to eligible organizations. As reported by the CBC:

The federal government is earmarking up to $50 million to match Canadians’ donations to charities aiding relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti.

Minister of International Co-operation Bev Oda said Thursday morning the government will match the contributions of individuals to eligible Canadian charitable organizations in support of humanitarian and recovery efforts in response to the earthquake, up to a total of $50 million.

The money contributed would be managed through the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, run by the Canadian International Development Agency, said Oda.

Categories
For nonprofit leaders and social innovators

How NOT to do corporate social responsiblity

Thumbs Down
Image Credit: zaveqna

I got an email today from a company looking to support nonprofit organizations.

Their first question of me:

Do you have suggestions about how I could go about finding non-profit groups in British Columbia that are looking for new funding sources?

Uh, toss a rock and you’re likely to hit one.

Their (not-so-mindblowing) plan is for nonprofit organizations to promote this companies members, and when the nonprofit’s supporters frequent these businesses, the nonprofit gets 3% of the value of the transaction. However, in order to get the 3%, the supporter would have had to print off and bring in a special form or make a booking with the companies through a special website.

Here was my response to their inquiry. Was it even worth a response?

Hi <name>,

I would say all nonprofit organizations in the province are looking for new funding sources. If there is a nonprofit in your community that you think is worthwhile, ask them.

However, having reviewed your site, I would not recommend this program to nonprofit organizations, as efforts directed to promoting the <member businesses> (which only give a return of $15 per person per year as per your estimates) would not be as valuable as efforts directed to promoting the organization itself, resulting in donations directly to the organization.

While supporting the nonprofit sector could be commended, requiring specific actions like printing a form from the website or booking through a unique website will likely result in people bypassing the fundraising requirements – resulting in business for your members, but not money for the nonprofit. If you want to truly support community organizations, don’t add strings. When you do [add strings], it’s a very thinly disguised effort to just make money for your own company.

Trina