Everyone knows about Giving Tuesday, but it’s not the only giving day out there. At this point, a lot of organizations are running their own giving days that have become a part of their regular giving and fundraising programs. Today’s guests, Kelly Cortes of St. Joseph’s College, New York, and Jeffrey Starrett, of Pine Crest School, join the podcast today to talk about how their organizations gave implemented these giving days and what lessons they’ve learned from their giving days.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
5 Tips for Successful Online Giving Days
Quotes:
“We try to raise about a third of our money in one day now.” –Jeffrey Starrett
“This year, our office, and we’re an office of nine, we did all the texting.” –Jeffrey Starrett
“If we have 90-year-old donors that we have to stay in touch with, we do still do a direct mail campaign and we can keep that piece of it there for them so they can still give in a traditional envelope on giving day.” –Kelly Cortes
Sometimes, change is hard – especially when it seems that there isn’t enough money or other resources to accomplish your organization’s mission. However, by adopting the right mindset, social change leaders can begin to attract more support. That’s where today’s guest comes in.
Nell Edgington is the president of Social Velocity, a management consulting firm for nonprofit organizations, and the author of Reinventing Social Change: Embrace Abundance to Create a Healthier and More Equitable World. She joins the podcast today to discuss moving from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset and what that looks like for social good organizations. Listen in to hear what Nell has to say about why there’s a scarcity mindset in social good organizations, what to do to move to an abundance mindset, and how social change leaders can bring others along into their abundance mindset.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Reinventing Social Change: Embrace Abundance to Create a Healthier and More Equitable World
Quotes:
“A scarcity mindset is essentially believing that there’s not enough.”
“That scarcity mindset is itself that’s holding these nonprofit leaders back.”
“A broken system isn’t going to change itself.”
Over the past year, a lot of experts have joined the show to talk about the different ways that social good organizations can respond in the age of COVID-19 to continue their missions and impact. Now that we are almost a year in, what have we learned and how can we retain the new donors we’ve had give to our organizations?
Today, Melissa Bank Stepno, Director of Analytics & Business Consulting Services at Blackbaud, joins the podcast to talk about some lessons we’ve learned from organizations that have been successful with engaging new donors during the pandemic. Listen in to hear Melissa speak with Steve MacLaughlin about why retention matters so much right now, how to successfully leverage personas, what organizations are doing differently from a data and analytic standpoint, and how to cut through the noise and better communicate with donors.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Supporters in Sight Part 4: A Look at Direct Marketing Personas
The sgENGAGE Podcast Episode 144: Leveraging Personas for Fundraising During COVID-19
Quotes:
“In some ways, 2020 gave us acquisition by happenstance.”
“Those of us who do appreciate the arts want to make sure that when the world returns to whatever our new normal looks like, those organizations that we supported in the past are still there.”
“I do think I’ve seen a lot of organizations who didn’t have good data and analytics practices realize how critical it is this past year.”
Interpersonal and communications skills are essential skills that are vitally important for achieving success in the workplace. But what are the most important interpersonal skills for the way that most of us are working now? And what are the best practices for communication, especially virtual communication? Today’s episode answers those questions.
Today, you’ll hear from Anne Converse Willkomm, Assistant Dean of the Graduate College at Drexel University, talks about interpersonal skills for today’s changing workplace. Listen in to learn about the five most important interpersonal skills, how they’re related to each other, and how you can build strong communication with colleagues and others.
Topics Discussed in This Episode:
Resources:
Drexel University Professional Services Blog
Working in a Changing World eBook
Rethinking Change webinar series
Quotes:
“To be successful in today’s workplace, social professionals like yourselves really need to develop and enhance your interpersonal skills.”
“When we’re open-minded, we can see things more clearly from another perspective – which is really empathy – which often means we can turn something negative into an opportunity.”
“Without empathy, people’s voices are not heard. Resentment can build, dysfunction can set in, and then there’s a loss of productivity.”