Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine Vol 3 No 2

What Now?The Critical Steps A dedicated headquarters and staff. In 2016,the Foundation moved to a dedicated headquarters in Mapleton, Utah. The team is led by CEO/President and Director Derrin Hill. Prior to taking the helm of the Responsibility Foundation in January 2016, Hill served as Chief Sales Officer for one of the most successful online education companies in the world, Imagine Learning. A new level of management focus. Derrin Hill realized the best way to run the Foundation was to mimic a commercial startup. He had led many successful ventures, and had tremendous success at launching a company in the education software industry, with Imagine Learning eventually bringing in more than 50 percent of the funds spent on educational technologies for English language and literacy learners, and he used that experience for the Responsibility Foundation. Hill has brought significant energy to the Foundation with his principles of lean management, mobile technology, open office spaces, and maintaining a flat organization. Some of these principles are manifested in the following ways: 1. Money mornings (everyone focuses on fundraising efforts each day). 2. Startup mentality. 3. Treating the nonprofit like a for-profit company. 4. A high degree of transparency in all the organization does. 5. A ridiculous amount of communication within the organization, to the board, and to the public. 6. Appeals to the emotional side of the organization’s donors. 7. Boldness in asking contributors for funds. Hill chose his Executive Team with extreme care. The current Executive Team is highly skilled, professionally diverse, fast paced, familiar with startup ventures, flexible in work schedules, and cross-trainer in many functions. This allows the team to work efficiently and quickly. Hill sets the vision and goals, fires the starting pistol, and then allows the team to conquer the world in any way needed. Micromanagement will never find a place at the Responsibility Foundation. An aggressive media outreach campaign. Part of the Responsibility Foundation’s na- tional campaign includes a Kids VoteAThon (a mock Presidential election program which teaches kids about our constitutional rights and privileges, and allows them to choose

their favorite candidate). The organization is partnering with PTA organizations and school associations across the country to in- still in our nation’s young children the impor- tance of responsibility in civic awareness and involvement. This will allow them to learn and understand the issues facing our nation during this critical election season. The media outreach will include many other initiatives involving print, mass media, broadcasting, social media, word of mouth, merchandise, presentations, and celebrity/ political/athletic endorsements. New Age marketing campaigns. Some of the latest marketing methods the Foundation uses include social media, video, high-tech partners, video books, reality TV, and fitness activities like mini marathons. The team is in the process of revamping its website to employ functionality that allows them to add content on a daily basis. For example, the group will soon begin a campaign called Faces of Responsibility. This initiative will allow users to generate videos that will appear on the Foundation’s website. Viewers will vote each week on which face or voice best represents responsibility. Winners will move on to higher levels of voting. We have found that this interaction is especially key for Millennials. Think big, but communicate in ways that are simple. There is something to be said about thinking big. But there is also tremendous importance in simplification of messages. Breaking down information into Twitter-sized pieces of information is critical for many segments of the Foundation’s increasingly diverse audience. How is it going? The Foundation has gained tremendous momentum since hiring Derrin Hill and his newly-created Executive Team. They invite all who may be interested to join their movement at any level as a meaningful way to preserve our freedom through the ages. For more information, you can join or follow the Statue of Responsibility adventure at www.ResponsibilityFoundation.org or #RFoundation2016. Working alongside his father from the age of six, A.J. Rounds became versed in commercial real estate, business acquisitions, insurance, and property management. He has been involved in a variety of industries from infomercials to online grocery. It’s been a wild ride, but A.J. is most excited about his role in marketing and communications while promoting the greatest cause in the country: responsibility.

16 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine