Thank You

Doesn’t that feel good? “Thank you” are two words most of us don’t hear often enough. I read a lot about the importance of thanking donors in a fundraising context. And, there’s been a lot written about rewarding and motivating volunteers. What about advocacy? This note from a friend of mine got me thinking …

“(I was) reading yet another newsletter from some random 'green' organization urging me to walk more, take the bus, change my light bulbs, insulate my house, etc., when I've already done or are doing much of that. Nowhere did it say 'thank you.'”

When it comes to changing behavior, we are often so passionate about our mission and so anxious to give advice that we don’t take the time to say thanks. In order to spur action, we often lean heavily on creating a sense of urgency. But, it’s easy to go too far and create a sense of guilt or overwhelm that results in inaction.

Chances are anyone who is interested in your mission is already taking some sort of action. Even the act of reading what you write is worthy of thanks. Thanking donors is generally accepted as a good way to motivate them to give more money. Likewise, wouldn’t thanking advocates motivate them to do even more? Get creative about ways that your supporters can take credit for what they’re already doing and be motivated to do more. If the same creativity that goes into thanking and recognizing monetary donors went toward letter writers or recyclers we might see change happen more rapidly.

Thanks for listening.

“If you can’t tweet what you do, the problem is not Twitter.”

That quote was delivered by Allison Fine last night at a presentation by Fine and Beth Kanter about their new book The Networked Nonprofit.

Her point was that nonprofits should keep it simple. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Concentrate on what you do best and partner for the rest.

I had occasion to quote her at today’s Marketers Making a Difference meeting. Our featured nonprofit had been telling us about themselves for about 15 minutes and we still didn’t know what they did. So we spent the rest of our time helping them craft a new mission statement.

By the end of the meeting they had a vastly improved one-sentence mission statement and a short list of key concepts to flush it out. They were thrilled with the progress but also frustrated that they were still struggling with how to describe themselves after a year of working on it.

Sometimes a group of strangers can be better at describing what you do than you are (especially if they’re all marketers). Still, speaking with your target market is even better. I suggested they continue to refine the mission statement until they were comfortable with it and then run it by a few teachers (their target market).

The truth is, short and simple is not always easy and it takes time and effort. Can you tweet what you do?