Monday, December 10, 2007

NON-PROFIT PRACTICE FORUM, WOMEN'S BAR ASSOCIATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA presents:
"Best Practices: Non-Profit Governance"
Hear from a Non-Profit Expert, Pat Read, Independent Sector's Senior Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs on Dec. 11, 2007 (12:00 - 2:00 P.M.).
ALLIANCE BERNSTEIN, 800 Conn. Ave, N.W., Washington, DC  20001 Limited Seating.
Register now at www.wbadc.org/cde.cfm?event=193419
$25 Non-WBA Members; $15 Members, Students, and Government; Complimentary Sandwiches & Beverages.

The NPT Weekly Update:

Table of Contents

 News Update

Salvation Army Scammers To Serve Time

Tips of the Week:

Branding ...
It's not marketing. It's everything.

Grants ...
8 key principles for grantmakers

Donors ...
The Social Web 2.0 and your organization

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News Update

Salvation Army Scammers To Serve Time 

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Tips of the Week

Branding ...
It's not marketing. It's everything.

Some might claim marketing and branding are one and the same. That isn't the case, according to branding consultant Larry Checco, who called the statement a myth.

"Branding is a reflection of everything associated with your organization," said Checco, president of Washington, D.C.-based Checco Communications. Good branding, he added, is far less about marketing, advertising and public relations, and far more about the quality of leadership and staff, accountable and ethical behavior, and a willingness, ability and commitment to fulfill whatever brand expectations your organization creates.

"In short, good branding is nothing less than your organization's DNA," said Checco.

According to Checco, it's common for organizations to fall victim to the idea that once the organization has an attractive logo and a catchy tagline, it has its brand. Again, that's not the case. "Your logo and tagline are the banners for your brand," said Checco. "Your brand drills much deeper into your organization's core values."

Checco advised not to succumb to the argument that your organization has no branding budget. "Your brand is not cosmetic," said Checco, reiterating that branding is "truly who you are and what you do." He suggested, "If you effectively leverage your current resources, you may not need much of a budget to better brand your organization."

The most devilish of myths, added Checco, is the idea that branding is the responsibility of your organization's communications and/or marketing folks. "Branding is the responsibility of everyone," said Checco, "everyone: from your board members down to your support staff, everyone."

Checco offered the following three keys to good branding:

• Clearly define your brand. Use the right language, broaden your message, and include benefits to the entire community.
• Actively promote your brand. Start with your board, staff and members, and make them educated ambassadors for your brand. Create a hero's journey for those you seek to lead, and make branding a part of your organization's performance review.
• Diligently protect your brand. Hire or recruit well -- affluence and influence are worthless without integrity and wisdom. Know what's at risk, and educate others. Speak truthfully to authority, be transparent with your finances, and know that whether it's legal or not is not the litmus test of what's acceptable. Finally, expectations, expectations, expectations.

Grants ...
8 key principles for grantmakers

As part of its Philanthropy and Public Trust series of publications, the Minnesota Council on Foundations has published its Principles for Grantmakers, adopted by its board in 2006.

The eight principles are:

• Ethics and Law. To sustain public trust by adhering to the highest ethical principles and abiding by all state and federal laws that govern philanthropy.
• Effective Governance. Achieve effective governance by ensuring performance in the stewardship of assets, donor intent, fiduciary responsibility and sound decision-making.
• Mission and goals. Be purposeful in philanthropy by having a clearly stated mission and explicit goals.
• Engaged Learning. To foster continuous learning and reflection by engaging board members, staff, grantees and donors in thoughtful dialogue and education.
• Respectful Relationships. Build constructive relationships with applicants, grantees and donors by ensuring mutual respect, candor, confidentiality and understanding.
• Transparency. Achieve transparency in relationships with the public, applicants, grantees and donors by being clear, consistent and timely in communications with them.
• Diversity. Reflect and engage the diversity of the served communities in varying roles as grantmakers, boards and employers, economic entities and civic participants.
• Self-assessment and Commitment. Uphold the highest standards by regular self-assessment against the stated principles and committing to implement them.
  

Donors ...
The Social Web 2.0 and your organization

It isn't computer play time; it's social networking.
At the recent DMA Nonprofit Conference, Sheeraz Haji, now former president of Convio, Marc Sirkin, chief marketing officer of the International Rescue Committee, and Jo Sullivan, senior vice president of development and communications for the ASPCA, talked about social networking and Web 2.0 as a means of enhancing fundraising.

Using the ASPCA as a model, the presenters noted that Web 2.0 gives direct marketing teams the opportunity to partner with communications in multi-level projects.

There are several considerations about such an effort:

• Measuring success. The measurements are referral traffic and specific conversions (such as a petition for one issue), newsletter signup and donations.
• Best practices. Learn on your own and set up your own profile. Think hard about "identity" management. Don't worry too much about tracking at first. Make life easy: repost existing content/images/video. Include a way to sign up for your e-newsletters.
• Why invest the time, resources and effort? In the year 2000 the Web was a new "channel." By 2007 it had become a "platform." There are paid (advertising) and earned (op-ed and other postings) media opportunities; cultivation opportunities with "meet-ups" and moderated discussions; audio, video, editorial and user-generated content. If the Web site is the face of the organization, the www can make up the rest of the body.

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