Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine Vol 5 No 1

Performance P m e Nonprofit WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Vol. 5 No. 1 Magazine 360

Ray Buchanan Is your social side showing?

Doug Brown

Maddie Pillow

Hugh Ballou

Juliet Clark

John Maxwell

Lynn Sanders

Jeff Magee

Three Tips To maximize nonprofiT direcT mail

If you’re a nonprofit, you know how critical direct mail is to fundraising. Here are three tips from the experts on how to maximize your efforts.

direct mail is the #1 motivator for donations.

Your house list is gold.

do more than ask for money.

W ith so many “free” marketing channels out there, it might be tempting to transition much of your fundraising to electronic media. However, direct mail remains the strongest, most effective way for nonprofits to solicit donations. According to YouGov 1 , 21% of people gave to a nonprofit last year because of a print solicitation. This is compared to 12% who gave through mass media, 6% through social media, and 10% through email. To keep donations flowing, don’t stop the direct mail!

T reated right, most people who donate to an organization will do so again. That’s why your house list is the most important list you have. Keep this list clean, up to date, and treat your donors like the most important people in the world — because they are. What about prospecting? Purchasing a relevant direct mail list is an important way to bring in new people who might be interested in your mission, but it will not be your primary source of donations. Prospecting helps to expand your donor base, but your house list is the primary source of your fundraising dollars.

W hen it comes to a person’s likelihood to donate, the most important factor is his or her personal connection to the organization. To increase donations, use direct mail to build real, lasting relationships with donors over time. • Make sure your donors understand your mission and where their money will be used. • Write to donors by name and personalize your messaging based on the specific areas or projects to which they have donated. • Provide pictures or stories about the specific ways their donations are being used. If people are donating to an ongoing project, keep them in the loop on the progress.

Print is the most effective way for nonprofits to solicit donations.

Treat your donors like the most important people in the world.

Make sure donors understand where their money will be used.

1 YouGov “Giving Report” (2013)

photography and illustrations ©iStock 2014.

People want to help, and they enjoy being part of efforts to do good for the world around them. Use direct mail to make them feel part of your mission, and they will open their wallets to continue to be part of it.

Performance m e SynerVision's Nonprofit Professional WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Magazine

Contents

Vol. 5 No. 1 $12.95

Jeffrey Magee Co-Publisher Jeff@ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com Hugh Ballou Co-Publisher Hugh@SynerVisionLeadership.org Todd Greer Managing Editor Todd@SynerVisionLeadership.org Sandy Birkenmaier Acquisitions Editor Sandy@SynerVisionLeadership.org Betsy Westhafer Content Editor Betsy@SynerVisionLeadership.org Claudia Hiatt Communications Manager Claudia@SynerVisionLeadership.org

Cynthia M. Adams

8

Lynn B. Sanders

23

Using Social Media to Build a Grants Committee

Accelerate Your Impact with LIVE Streaming Videos

Doug Brown

10

Madeline Pillow

24

The 12 Steps of Social Selling

Telling the Stories of Our Organizations

John C. Maxwell Get Connected

12

Dave Kerpen

25

Ways Social Media is Perfect for Nonprofits

Ray Buchanan This is Possible

13

Jackie Lapin

26

12 Things a Speaker Requires

Juliet Clark

16

Community Crickets Engaging Your Facebook Group

Jeffrey Magee

28

Leveraging Social Media & Viral Marketing for Lead Generation

Ximena Hartsock

17

5 Best Practices in Social Media Advertising

Mark S A Smith

30

Single Copy Order or Online Digital Subscriptions, visit NonprofitPerformance.org Advertising

Deploying Social Media Content without Killing Yourself

Roberta Gilbert

18

Thinking Systems in the Virtual World

Hugh Ballou

32

Social Media is Social Building Relationships Online

info@SynerVisionLeadership.org SynerVisionLeadership.org ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com

Clark Greer

19

Getting the Most out of Social Media

Tina Myles

33

Addressing Employee Turnover and Retention

Follow us...

Shama Hyder

20

Increase Your Nonprofit’s Impact with Social Media

Point & Counterpoint

34

Dialogues on Social Media

Nonprofit Professional Performance Magazine and Professional Performance Magazine are quarterly magazines. Each is published as a digital subscription publication and as a hard copy edition. The views expressed in the ar- ticles and advertisements are those of the con- tributing writers and advertisers, and may not be the views of the management and staff of the publication. The magazine assumes no li- ability for the contributions in this magazine and all content is intended as developmental in nature. SynerVisionisa501(c)(3)nonprofitorganization, and this publication serves its mission.

Carl Setterlund

22

Engaging Your Audience on Social Media

SynerVision’s Nonprofit Performance Magazine is an affiliated publication of ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com.

© 2017 Professional Performance Magazine. All rights reserved

4 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine

Editor’s Corner

Social Media Issue This issue of Nonprofit Performance 360 Magazine is about social media. Yes, most of us do social media; however, is it beneficial to the organization or does our social media presence cause problems? The brand image of the organization we lead is represented by everyone in the organization. In the news, we continually see reports about employees of well-established companies (I’m particularly thinking about the airlines now) who have committed “brand slaughter” and damaged the brand of the company. Our presence on social media can be beneficial, or it can damage our nonprofit’s brand image and cut off potential support that is needed for the organization to thrive. The articles in this issue point to best practices in setting up and managing social media. We mostly post announcements about events, and ask for donations and volunteers, but do we engage our followers in meaningful conversations about values, principles and, especially, the impact of our work in the communities we serve? This magazine is in its fifth year of presenting relevant themes for nonprofit leaders to read and to grow their skills. We have articles with the how-to perspective, and we also have articles sharing success stories. Many people learn more from one type of story or the other, and some like both. Let us hear from you about potential authors for future issues. eMail us at support@synervisionleadership.org, and we can start a conversation. You can also follow us on social media and give us feedback on our social media presence. We learn together and continue to learn. Lifelong learning is my goal. What’s your goal?

Hugh Ballou

The Official Guide to All Things Nonprofit Nonprofit Performance Magazine brings impact which spreads hope and direction to those who are changing their communities and the world. This magazine is a great resource for nonprofit executives and religious leaders. • Learn from key thought leaders who can assist you in propelling your organization to reach its potential • Read in-depth stories written by those who have found success at the front line of the social benefit journey • Learn about the impact of community, communication, and collaboration in your organization

Performance P e Nonprofit WHAT YOU NEED TO SUCCEED! Vol. 4No. 2 Magazine 360

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6 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine

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Next Issue Highlights

Public-Private Partnerships What happens when your corporate sponsors begin to grow weary in their funding? Pitching for donations in an ever growing crowd of nonprofits isn’t easy. Is there a better way to fund your budget? In the next issue of Nonprofit Performance Magazine , we’ll examine the rise of the partnership between nonprofits and for profits in working to tackle the issues of our community. If you have an article of interest to nonprofit leaders or would recommend someone who has a great article, please send the information to articles@synervisionleadership.org.

SynerVision Leadership .org I 7

Grants Corner

CYNTHIA M. ADAMS

Using Social Media to Build a Grants Committee

Social media mastery can raise a nonprofit organization’s social profile, public awareness, and image, but it does not necessarily raise money. Any organization, even in today’s internet-savvy world, needs a strong grant seeking committee. Here are some suggestions for starting a committee or ensuring your plan is securely in place. Take a page from crowd sourcing to help you establish a solid grants committee to help identify, write, submit, and manage grant requests. It is a mistake to think that the committee itself needs to be small, or that the individuals who volunteer for this committee need to be deeply involved in your organization.You want to identify people who are looking for an opportunity to enhance their skills, be it in research, writing, editing, or even layout and design. It can be a real boon to use social media, such as LinkedIn, to help recruit committee members. There are three layers to the recruitment process. 1. Identify the specific skills needed to submit strong grant requests. 2. Find the right individuals with these particular skill sets. 3. Define each committee member’s responsibilities. Here are the roles that I find most helpful for grant committee members.

The Researcher is the person who will build your case for support, your statement of need, so this person must be somewhat analytical. They will need to make connections between facts and figures. Their main job is to demonstrate the need for the funder to support your request. The Writer takes all of the information you feed them, from the data gathered by the Researcher, to a draft program description you may have given them, and turns it into a compelling request for support. I like to have two or three people in this position so that I am not asking any one person for too much of their time. You want only one voice reflected in any grant request, though, so never combine writers on a job. The Data Researcher and Analyst is someone really good at using data to develop charts and graphs or any visual that will strengthen the statement of need or overall request.This person often works directly with the Researcher and may even be the same person. The Copy Editor proofreads the entire proposal before it is submitted to make sure it is grammatically clean, accurate, and readable. The Accountant helps develop the budget. They should be able to read through the narrative of the proposed project and get a pretty good idea of what budget items need

to be included in the proposal. This person can be particularly helpful, as they can help with the budget narrative as well as develop the budget. The Graphic Designer takes the draft proposal and makes it look great. For example, they may use the budget to create a pie chart reflecting expenditures, which will be included at the top of the budget page so that individuals who are visual learners can understand the budget at a glance. TheEvaluator helps you design the evaluation component of the proposed project.They will also be able to help you identify measurable outcomes and the measurement tools to determine those outcomes. The Attachments Coordinator is someone highly organized who will review all of the grant guidelines and pull together all of the documents you will attach to the grant request. Their job also includes assembling the final package for submission. After identifying the different positions that you need to fill (you may not want or need all of those I just listed), you need to write a short job description for each committee position. For example, the Researcher needs to have a good working knowledge of how to do targeted research using the Internet. This person needs to be able to uncover and pull the information needed to build a strong

8 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine

The Managerial Leadership Bible Second Edition Learning the Strategic , Organizational and Tactical Skills Everyone Needs Today

statement of need. Their job is to find and understand demographic research, the results of census surveys, etc. Distilling that data into usable information to help you build your case for support is extremely helpful. The Researcher’s job can often be combined with the Data Researcher. The Data Researcher needs to be someone who can identify, review, and suggest ways to use specific data to help strengthen your request. Someone who can take the results of a survey, for example, and turn them into a strong graphic for use in a proposal, is exactly what you want. Or perhaps someone who can look at a national chart, let’s say about childhood learning, and then take local or regional statistics and build a new chart that compares your regional stats with national stats: that person is a winner. It will definitely catch the grantmaker’s attention because you are providing new information that they haven’t seen anywhere else. Once the job descriptions are written and you begin circulating them via social media, you will start to get responses. Be careful that you don’t jump on a candidate too early. Give this recruitment process some time. You want to engage individuals who are committed to learning more about your organization, as well as building their own skills. I offer a Power of 3 set of webinars each spring via GrantStation. The first in that series is how to build a stellar grant seeking committee. If you’d like to learn more, please join us! Cynthia Adams, President and CEO of GrantStation, has spent the past 40 years helping nonprofits raise the money needed for their good work. GrantStation exists because grantseeking requires a thorough understanding of the variety and scope of grantmakers and sound knowledge of the philanthropic playing field. Her life’s work is to level that playing field, creating an opportunity for all nonprofit organizations to access the wealth of grant opportunities across the U.S. and

This comprehensive handbook is your personal mini management seminar on identifying organizational excellence – and then Achieving It! World renowned executive trainer and consultant, Jeffrey Magee, helps you recognize the management approaches that work best, and then model your own strategies and tactics after these success stories. Packed with action plans and templates, this edition is designed to help you start driving ROI from its techniques right now. You’ll learn how to choose your optimal style and approach for every individual and team interaction, stimulating maximum performance from everyone around you. Categories includes: • Defining a mission statement for a new view of success • Analyzing your players for team success • Developing your “Winning Habit” paradigm • Converting negativity to positive outcomes • Speed reading personalities, negotiating win-win outcomes and building alliances • Creating your winning management game plan • Avoiding the deadly leadership sins that destroy performance • And, many others... Now with 60% new content focused on today’s management challenges, teams and employees, this edition is more valuable than ever. It will be the indispensable resource for new and established supervisors, managers and leaders – especially those rising from frontline management to executive roles. • Mastering 9 tactical steps to high impact leadership • Interviewing, hiring and promoting the right talent

Purchase your copy today! www.jeffreymagee.com/book.php

throughout the world. www.grantstation.com

SynerVision Leadership .org I 9

DOUG BROWN Strategy

The 12 Steps of Social Selling

Muricella (not her real name) was lucky to get out of Venezuela alive. She is the beautiful dark haired, green-eyed 23-year-old only daughter of a doctor who is a local politician in their barrio in Caracas. Her father, and Muricella by association, is a member of Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, or MUD. MUD is a broad coalition of parties and ideologies opposed to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and President Maduro is not fond of his opposition. Muricella left Venezuela on a crowded bus bound for Columbia with her shoes stuffed full of what she thought were thousands of dollars’ worth of Venezuelan Bolívars, all the cash her formerly- affluent family could put together. When she got to Cali, she tried to buy an airplane ticket to Salt Lake City. She quickly found out that all of her Bolívars were not quite enough for a one-way ticket to find refuge with her aunt in the United States. But with the help of some kind strangers, she was able to get her ticket, and be on her way. Two days later, 6 days from the time she left the care of her father in Caracas, Muricella was tired and weak, barely able to walk. She had blurry vision, and was unable to hold food down. That is how we found her when she arrived on a cold Tuesday in January at the door of the Hope Clinic. Let me back up a bit.

The Hope Clinic The Hope Clinic (www.utahhopeclinic.org) provides basic healthcare to the uninsured and under served in Salt Lake City. I volunteer there a day or two each a week. Since I have no medical training, I do what I can: I translate for Spanish speakers and do filing. The Hope Clinic runs on donations of time, money, medicine, and facilities. But it is really like any other business. It has to find new resources every month to continue in its mission. I am currently connected with 24,571 people through my various social media accounts. Virtually all of my business comes from this pool of people. When I need goods or services, I source it from my connection pool. When I need to sell something, I find my customers in that same pool. If I need to raise money for a cause, or find volunteers to fill a pressing need, I find those resources there in my connections pool. Although my wife and I run every aspect of our own business, and I am responsible for sales, I don’t remember the last time I made a cold call. Instead, both of our businesses, as well as the Hope Clinic, are funded and run on the concept of Social Selling. Social Selling Social selling is about building and leveraging your social networks to find the right prospects, build trusted relationships and, ultimately, achieve your sales or fundraising goals. This social selling

10 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine

technique enables better lead generation and forms the basis of a prospecting process that totally eliminates the need for cold calling, because people do business with people that they KNOW, LIKE, and TRUST. Building relationships with new prospects is the very best way to turn them into new clients or donors. Think about some of the new business, clients, or donors you’ve recently picked up. Surely some (if not all) of your new business has come from referrals. And, most likely, those successful relationships did not happen overnight, but have probably come from people that you’ve been in contact with for a number of months, or even years. In a very real way, your network is your net worth . Your valuable relationships are at work for you every day, slowly moving people deeper and deeper into your know, like, and trust circle. What if you could accelerate this process with thousands of new prospects? Online social networks allow you to do just that, but you have to use them correctly. You can’t just jump into the middle of a relationship. The 12 Steps of Intimacy I am certainly not an expert in dating or romantic relationships. But I do want to quickly review the 12 steps of personal intimacy, which are related to business relationships. Even if you are not familiar with the notion of there being 12 steps to intimacy, the concept will no doubt ring a bell with you as you think about your romantic experiences. In finding a partner, we all go through almost the exact escalating series of steps, and we refine our selection of partners by eliminating some portion of the people with whom we choose to escalate from one step to the next. These 12 steps represent the normal escalation of physical intimacy, and they are innately understood by almost everyone in every culture. The 12 steps of intimacy are these. 1. Eye to Body. A glance reveals much about a person: sex, size, shape, age, personality, and status. 2. Eye to Eye. When strangers exchange glances, their most natural reaction is to look away. If their eyes meet again, they may smile, which signals that they might like to become better acquainted. 3. Voice to Voice. Their initial conversations may be trivial as two people learn about each other’s opinions, pastimes, activities, habits, hobbies, likes, and dislikes.

4. Hand to Hand. The first instance of physical contact between the couple is usually a non-romantic occasion such as when one helps the other out of a chair. Continued and prolonged hand-to- hand contact will eventually become an evidence of the couple’s romantic interest. 5. Arm around Shoulders. This embrace is still noncommittal. It is a buddy-type position in which the couple is side by side. This contact reveals a relationship that is more than a close friendship, but not necessarily love or intimacy. 6. Hand toWaist. Because this is something two uninvolved people would not ordinarily do, it is clearly romantic and a clear escalation of touching. 7. Face to Face. This level of contact involves kissing and gazing into one another’s eyes. 8. Hand to Head. The extension of face-to- face contact is tenderly touching the face. Adults in our culture rarely touch one another’s face unless they are becoming romantically involved. 9-12. The Final Steps. The last four levels or steps of physical involvement are distinctly sexual. And they have a definite order of ascending intimacy. Think of the old and crude analogy of 1 st base, 2 nd base, 3 rd base, and Home Run. You’re Out of Order! What happens if these steps are taken out of order? At best, it is awkward; at worst, it is criminal. To move from step to step on this list, both partners must consent and actively participate in each escalation of the shared intimacy. If either partner is not willing to proceed to the next step of intimacy, such denial seldom causes problems or hurt feelings. For example, think of the young man walking his date to the door, hand on her back.When the couple turns to face each other, he might try for a goodnight kiss, and be denied. While this may sting his ego a bit, the denial is unlikely to cause any real hurt or harm to either. On the other hand, if, soon after meeting, and without following any of the steps to increase shared intimacy, a man grabs a woman by the face, and proceeds to plant a big sloppy kiss on her lips, the would-be partner might rightly feel like she had just been physically assaulted. Think of all of the recent news concerning public figures who have been accused of

sexual harassment or worse. In reality, most have done nothing that an intimate couple would not normally do. They have just skipped the steps that take a couple down the consensual and natural path of intimacy. Al Franken was forced out of the U.S. Senate because he forced an unwelcome kiss, and simulated intimate over-the-clothes touching in a photo with a sleeping co-worker. What he did was wrong, and rightly occasioned drastic consequences. The point is that those same actions, if taken with a willing partner who had shared a consensual escalation of the steps of intimacy, would not only be normal, but be welcomed and reciprocated. The 12 Steps of Social Selling So what is the point of reviewing the steps of personal intimacy? I want you to start thinking about your social networking relationships as requiring an orderly and consensual progression in much the same way as your romantic relationships. How many times have you connected with someone on Facebook or LinkedIn, only to receive a sales offer from them right away? What was your reaction? I’ll bet you didn’t buy. Or how about an unsolicited email from someone you don’t know?That is so annoying that we have actually made (ineffective) laws against it. How do you feel when someone unknown to you knocks on your door or rings your phone, trying to sell you something? Just like in a romantic setting, trying to get to Step 12 without engaging and getting consent at every step along the way is not only unlikely to succeed, it is MORE than likely to backfire and ruin any potential of a relationship. There is a natural order to both personal and online social relationships. Don’t take shortcuts.They feel unnatural, they are at best awkward, and will all ultimately fail. Here are my 12 Steps of Social Selling. 1. Establish Your Professional Brand. Just as a glance reveals much about a person in the steps of personal intimacy, you may get no more than a one-chance-glance to attract social connections. You need to make sure that you’re easy to find and that all the info you put into your social profiles is both consistent and representative of the persona that you want to portray. Remember that like attracts like; in this context, that means portray yourself as a peer to the people that you want to connect with.

continued on page 36

SynerVision Leadership .org I 11

Executive Office

JOHN C. MAXWELL

Get Connected

I was pretty good at getting into trouble when I was growing up. I wasn’t a bad kid, but I had a high energy level and a creative mind, which often led me into mischief. Once, when my fourth-grade teacher was playing the piano with her back to the class, I talked my classmates into sneaking out of the room. Mrs. Tacy didn’t know we were gone until she finished her song and turned around. That kind of behavior might have caused teachers to write me off as a troublemaker. But Mrs. Tacy saw my potential and loved me in spite of my orneriness in class. She was my favorite teacher, and she truly made a difference in my life. As a leader, I’m attracted to people who make a difference. These people are greater on the inside than on the outside.They think differently: their minds are like crockpots, not microwaves. Their words inspire, probe, challenge, and move others. They encourage, expand, engage, and empower me to become better. As leaders, we should all strive to make a difference at work, in our communities, and with our families. Beyond that, if we want to be truly successful, we need to have at least a few difference-makers on our teams.That’s easier said than done. You can’t always tell by looking at someone if she has what it takes to contribute something significant. It’s not about giftedness. I have known some extremely talented people who never accomplished much because they were lazy, undisciplined, and self-centered. And it’s not

The unhappy voice of discontentment that says, “I don’t like things as they are.” Great leaders create change because of the internal voice that proclaims, “Things could be better. Things should be better. And there’s something I could do to make them better.” The successful voice of somebody who’s climbed the mountain and says, “There’s room at the top. Come on up. You don’t have to stay down there!” 3. Make-a-difference people are connected to others who want to make a difference. Like attracts like. People who want to make a difference spend time with others who want to make a difference. People who don’t care about making a difference hang around with those who don’t care about making a difference. If you want to be a difference-maker, connect with a good leader, a powerful vision, and other people who want to make a difference, and then get busy. As Mrs. Tacy proved, no matter who you are or what you do, you have plenty of opportunities to make a difference in your world. Dr. John C. Maxwell is an internationally recognized leadership expert, speaker, coach, and author. His organizations EQUIP and the John Maxwell Company have trained more than 5 million leaders worldwide. A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week best-selling author, Maxwell has written three million-seller books: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership , Developing the Leader Within You , and The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader . JohnMaxwell.com

about position or title. An impressive résumé doesn’t mean he will make a difference on your team. The thing that sets difference-makers apart from everyone else is that they’re connected. This goes much deeper than name-dropping. Here are three key ways that difference- makers are connected. 1. Make-a-difference people are connected to the leader. They don’t wait for this connection to happen by itself. They take the initiative, because they understand that everything rises and falls on leadership. To be successful, get close to a leader who makes good things happen. It doesn’t have to be your boss; it could be someone in a totally different profession. Just hook up with a leader who makes a difference and soon you will be making a difference, too. 2. Make-a-difference people are connected to the vision. John Sculley said, “The future belongs to those who see possibilities before they become obvious.” Vision isn’t just something you see; it’s something you hear. What should you be listening for? Let’s start with three voices. The inner voice that pulls you above the mundane and says, “You were born for something better than this. You were created to do something great.”

12 I Nonprofit Performance Magazine

RAY BUCHANAN Featured Contributor

This is Possible

I have a vision of a world without hunger, and I want that vision to become a reality in my lifetime. Rise Against Hunger was founded on that vision and that desire. The vision of a world without hunger has been the focus of my entire adult life. I awaken every morning to that vision, and that’s the vision that is before me when I go to bed at night. I am fine with that. In fact, I think that is exactly as it should be; but not just for me, for everyone on this planet fortunate enough to experience and live with the joy of food security. Rise Against Hunger began operations as Stop Hunger Now on January 2, 1998 in a two-room office above Rapid Printing Office Supplies in Bedford, Virginia. Our staff consisted of Pat Streeter, my Administrative Assistant, and me. We had a budget of a quarter of a million dollars and a mandate to feed the hungry in crisis situations around the world. I never doubted my ability to help feed the hungry. I knew that was what I was called to do.The difficult part was making that happen in the most efficient and effective manner.My international relief experience was extremely limited. I was as knowledgeable about domestic hunger and poverty issues as anyone, but how would that translate internationally? How could a new organization, especially a tiny one like Rise Against Hunger, make a real impact on hungry people around the world? In the three months leading up to our opening, I had not ceased thinking about those questions. Failure was not an option.

Measuring Our Impact Rise Against Hunger has been independently audited every single year of our operation. We do that as a matter of course, as a basic business practice. An annual audit allows us to be both transparent and accountable to all those who generously support our efforts on behalf of the poor and hungry. It also helps the organization measure our impact. At the end of 1998, when we were audited for the first time, the report we received was a clear declaration of the success we had achieved in our first year. That first audit report showed that Rise Against Hunger had distributed over $2,900,000 in relief aid in 1998. The audit also showed that we had distributed aid to 18 different countries. Our audit for 2017 showed that we had impacted 1,404,110 lives (56.2% youth, 35% school, child, and youth development, and 11.6% children under age 5) in 36 countries. We packaged 72,100,000 meals, engaged 392,264 volunteers worldwide, distributed $26,100,000 in in-kind donations, and provided $6,000,000 in crisis assistance. It also showed that 85.5% of donations were invested directly into programs. Keeping Our Philosophy Simple The philosophical foundation of the organization was just as simple as the early goals. I took the lessons I had learned from the Marine Corps and from my 18 years as Founder and Codirector of the Society of St. Andrew, and applied them to Rise Against Hunger.

We had to succeed. And it was incumbent on me to ensure that success. What I did have was a solid knowledge of hunger and poverty, almost 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world, and an unshakable faith that I was doing what I was called to do. When Rise Against Hunger opened its doors in 1998, I had already set our goals for the first year. I had also established a rudimentary philosophical framework in which we would operate. My goals for our first year were simple. In fact, I had only two goals. Mr. John Hewitt committed to provide $250,000 to Rise Against Hunger for international hunger relief. Although that sounds like a large amount of money, the reality is that in terms of international relief, it isn’t. My first goal for 1998 was to double John’s gift. I wanted Rise Against Hunger to distribute at least $500,000 in international relief in our first year. I thought that raising half a million dollars should be possible. My second goal was for Rise Against Hunger to have worked in a minimum of five or six countries by the end of that first year. I didn’t want to focus on only a single country. From the start, I envisioned Rise Against Hunger as a truly global force. I felt that if we could work in a half-dozen countries during our first year, it would establish that global perspective for the future of the organization.

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First, Rise Against Hunger would always be operated at the highest professional standards. We would be open and transparent. We would operate as a business, as opposed to a ministry. We would always be accountable. That meant, for example, being independently audited every year and fulfilling the promises and pledges made to our partners and donors. Second, we would always seek to partner with other reputable relief organizations wherever, whenever, and however possible. We were not out to establish a Rise Against Hunger kingdom and to have offices in all the countries where we provided aid. We didn’t need to reinvent the wheel in every country where we helped feed the hungry. We would use the power of partnering to have the greatest possible impact on hunger. A third founding principle for us was that Rise Against Hunger would be a fast responder in times of crisis. I wanted us to respond immediately in crisis situations. And from our first days, we have continued to have the freedom and the flexibility to do just that. This, again, was a direct product of my time in the Marines and my personal philosophy of ready…FIRE!...aim. I have always been a strong proponent that action first is normally the best response in most crisis situations. The time for planning is before the crisis. And finally, I believed from the very start that we needed to have first-hand knowledge of the situations and people with which we were working. We needed to know and respond to the true needs of those we were attempting to help around the world. That meant staff should be in the field as much as possible. First, it was the best way to ensure that we were providing the required help our partners requested. And just as importantly, it was also the only way we could give honest and accurate reports to our supporters and donors. Partnership is the Key The first international trip I took for Rise Against Hunger became a model for the growth and expansion of our global hunger efforts. Every trip I took outside the United States was to find the areas of greatest need, locate and identify potential partner organizations, and begin establishing reliable networks to effectively get food and other necessary resources to those most in need. The results of our early efforts provided an important lesson for us. Our partnership model had benefits we had never even considered. We learned the critical importance of having solid, well established partnerships in place before attempting to

respond to disasters, and that also became integrated into our standard operating procedures. From the start, partnering has been part of the Rise Against Hunger DNA and I wouldn’t have it any other way. This philosophy has been a cornerstone in the success of our organization. There was never any difficulty in locating organizations desiring to partner with Rise Against Hunger. In every country I visited, there were far more opportunities to do good work and to make a real difference than there were time and resources to take advantage of them. The real question has always focused on selecting the right partners. Which of the myriad of opportunities before us would give us the best chance to feed the greatest number of hungry people? Which organization seeking to partner with us would be able to leverage our aid to have the largest impact? Which groups would prove to be the most reliable? Who would be the most trustworthy and most accountable? I have often been asked how Rise Against Hunger selects its partners. This has evolved across the years as we have continued to grow and expand, and our programs have changed, but I can still say that the real foundation of all of our partnerships is relational. We work with people we know. We have a relationship with our partner organizations that helps us know that the people we are working with are doing what they claim to do. We trust the reliability of our partners because we know them. They aren’t just names to us. They are friends and colleagues with whom we have eaten meals and spent time and have seen at their best, and often at their worst.

We make it a point to visit the programs with which we work. Rise Against Hunger staff, board members, and volunteers all spend time on the ground with our partners.We do regular site visits to monitor and assess the work of our partners. In fact, monitoring and evaluation, or M&E as we call it, is an area of responsibility at Rise Against Hunger that receives more attention with each passing year. It’s a continuous process that we never stop trying to improve. Creating a Global Movement During the 40 years I have walked with the hungry, I have had the unique privilege of helping start three different hunger organizations. Each of them, The Society of St. Andrew, The Foods Resource Bank, and Stop Hunger Now (now Rise Against Hunger), all continue to demonstrate that working together is the key to ending hunger. Each of these organizations is playing a vital role at eradicating hunger, and each has a part of my heart. Rise Against Hunger, however, remains the clearest demonstration of the power of creating a global movement to end hunger in our lifetime. We really can achieve a just world where not one single child must suffer from the unnecessary evil of hunger. Since we began, we have fed millions of children, empowering them to get an education that will help break the chains of poverty. We have responded with life-saving food and aid to dozens of global emergencies and crisis situations. We have gone beyond relief services to help move communities toward being more self-reliant and self-sufficient. With offices now in 20 cities around the United States and affiliates in South Africa, Malaysia, the Philippines, Italy, and India, we are truly part of a global movement to end

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We have just launched the #2030ispossible campaign to demonstrate the glorious possibility of ending hunger by 2030. Together we can create a world without hunger. Rise Against Hunger is celebrating 20 years of helping to end hunger around the world, and I am just as excited now as I was the first day we opened the doors. Since we began in 1998, Rise Against Hunger has facilitated the packaging of over 380 million highly nutritious meals for the world’s hungry. These meals are comprised of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables, and 23 essential vitamins and minerals. But that’s far from all we do. In response to the United Nations Sustainable Goal #2, ending hunger by 2030, Rise Against Hunger has developed four Pathways to End Hunger: 1. We Respond to Emergencies by distributing food and aid to victims of natural and manmade disasters and crises. 2. We Empower Communities by increasing self-sufficiency through promotion of agricultural development, business skills training, and market access. 3. We Nourish Lives by supporting nutrition- based safety net programs that provide education, training, and opportunities.

4. We Grow the Movement by building awareness and the will to end hunger by encouraging volunteerism and advocacy. I cannot imagine anything that’s as important, as meaningful, as powerful, or as much fun as working together to end hunger in our lifetime. In the words of the Spanish poet Federico García Lorca: “ The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world.” Rise Against Hunger is going to make it happen. It is possible. #2030ispossible . Working together, we are going to eradicate hunger in our lifetime. What could be better than that? Ray Buchanan, United Methodist minister, author, and former Marine, founded Rise Against Hunger (formerly Stop Hunger Now), an international hunger relief organization that distributes food and life-changing aid to the world’s most vulnerable, mobilizing the necessary resources to end hunger by 2030 through the collaboration of volunteers and organizations. Ray teaches in the Nonprofit Leadership Program at University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg, VA and is active with several local and international nonprofit boards. www.riseagainsthunger.org

hunger in our lifetime. In 2017, for example, Rise Against Hunger engaged over 400,000 volunteers around the globe, packaging over 72 million high-protein meals for the hungry. Meal packing events were held in 36 countries and distributed to implementing partner organizations in 72 countries.

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JULIET CLARK

Community Crickets EngagingYour Facebook Group

It’s all the rage! Start a Facebook group, and watch your donations and participation explode. Social media experts have treated community-building the same way they initially treated Facebook business pages.They will tell you that massive numbers translate into social proof. The problem with that theory is that social proof doesn’t always translate into responses. Every day, coaches teach their clients to start a Facebook group and drive traffic to it with Facebook ads. The result of that strategy is a large group of disengaged people, who may or may not be the organization’s ideal client. Let’s face it: a small group of ideal clients who are engaged and involved is much better for a nonprofit than a larger number of disengaged people who do not get involved. Filling a community is an intentional exer- cise. Here are some of the ways you can su- percharge your community to provide value, build relationships, and generate donations and volunteers. 1. Ask Questions Before Approving Group Admission. Facebook provides three questions with written answers that can be structured before approval. Utilize those questions to find out more about the person asking to be a part of your group. This is a good place to find out what your potential participant is looking for, what obstacles are coming up for them, and if are they looking for solutions.

6. Use Facebook Live. This is a great tool to allow your group to see the real you, determine your passion level, and evaluate how credible your presence is. Present a short training with actionable results, and your group will love you! Who doesn’t like to see themselves move forward? 7. Engage, Care, Share, and Cheerlead. Communities don’t run on autopilot. People are there because you are a leader. Educate, inspire, and provide value. Above all, be a cheerleader. Keep selling to a minimum. The value for a group leader is obtaining consumer information and watching who is engaged. When you are ready to run an inner circle launch, the engaged group is your best target. A community build is not a magic bullet.This is a relationship-building tool. People who are familiar with your work are more likely to volunteer and donate, and to refer you and your services, when they know you, like you, and trust you. In a digital world, community building allows you to connect with a wide audience and spend time building meaningful relationships. Juliet Clark became an expert in marketing when she tried to sell her book. She self-published and created Super Brand Publishing and became a sought-after speaker teaching tools and actionable steps to begin communicating successfully with prospects. Juliet@SuperBrandPublishing.com

2. Set Clear Expectations and Editorial Days. Having group rules sets expectations for behavior within the group and establishes editorial days. Creating an editorial schedule ensures that you are consistently providing value to your group. 3. Create Original Content. Having a community means that you must provide value to keep them engaged. One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is not consistently creating content. Provide at least one new piece of content a week. This can be a blog, vlog, Facebook live training, or tips. 4. Ask Questions and Utilize Polls. The best way to find out information is to ask a question and begin a conversation. Craft your editorial around questions to stimulate answers. The more answers you receive, the more information you have about your participant. 5. Create List Transitions in Your Pinned Post. Using a tool like the Smart Biz Quiz allows your group members to assess their own skills around your area of expertise. It is also a list-builder and an avenue to drive groupies who are committed to additional involvement with your nonprofit. More strategy sessions mean more contact and more participation. There is also a huge nugget of information in this tool for you! When you review results and begin to see patterns in the answers, you can craft the exact products and services that your followers need.

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XIMENA HARTSOCK

5 Best Practices in Social Media Advertising

Social media has changed the nature of nonprofit advocacy by making advertising more affordable, targeted, and accessible than ever before. However, unlike traditional ads that sell products, nonprofit ads must communicate values. The task is to build community around a common cause and actions that further it. If there is a secret formula to mobilizing advocates on social media, it’s worth cracking. Facebook alone has over 2 billion active monthly users, over a quarter of the world’s population. Twitter has over 328 million active monthly users, and Instagram climbed to 800 million monthly users in 2017. The average person now spends roughly two hours per day on social media. At Phone2Action, my team and I see which nonprofit advocacy campaigns achieve exceptional results and how social ads play into their strategy. Based on those observations and further research, here are five tips for social ads that can increase traction and improve the performance of your campaigns. Choose the right platform It’s tempting to treat social media as if it were one channel, but each network serves a different purpose. Facebook is the most effective platform for generating conversions, campaign actions, and leads. Its targeting tools are unparalleled.

whichever network you choose. You’ll receive better technical support, and the networks offer integrations with Salesforce, Constant Contact, and other platforms you might use to store and distribute content. Use videos and livestreaming whenever possible Video is to other social media advertisements what Mount Rushmore is to the nearby hulks of granite: impossible to miss. When you’re scrolling through social feeds, videos stand out from the flow of indistinguishable photos, images, and taglines. Videos on Facebook have 8.4 times more engagement than any other social channel and drive 135 percent more engagement than photos. On Twitter, videos drive 2.5 times as many replies and 2.8 times as many retweets compared to average tweets. According to research by HubSpot, Instagram videos should be 30 seconds long, Twitter videos should be 45 seconds, and Facebook videos hold the audience’s attention at 1 minute. Since viewers often watch these videos without audio, use subtitles, cartoons, or other visuals to make the meaning clear with or without sound. What nonprofits have in abundance is personal stories, the best material for videos. You don’t need a professional video team to create this content in-house. Most smartphones have high-definition video

However, Twitter is the most effective medium for increasing public awareness of an issue. Facebook is friends, family, and people you target; Twitter is the world. One concise, eye-catching tweet can take the network by storm and spark chains of retweets. Instagram is the rising star of social media advertising, and perhaps the most underutilized network in the nonprofit space. It’s the place to convey a story through images.Now owned by Facebook, Instagram’s engagement rates are 58 percent higher than Facebook’s and 2,000 percent higher than Twitter’s. Instagram is a good choice if you’re trying to create brand awareness with 18- to 30-year-olds. The right channel depends on your audience. For the rising Gen Z (22 years old and younger), focus on Instagram Stories and Snapchat, and keep an eye on emerging tools like Houseparty. Although Houseparty doesn’t facilitate advertising yet, it has become a go-to app for live video chatting and a digital environment where teenagers hang out. Average users spend more time on Houseparty daily than people do on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger combined. Don’t feel pressured to use every channel; meet your audience wherever it is. However, always open a business account with

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