 |
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
With Blackbaud Sphere Grow™,
you can grow support for your organization right from your
website. Blackbaud Sphere Grow is an affordable and
easy-to-update content management system that includes a
powerful email marketing toolset, and the industry's leading
online 'athon and personal fundraising platform.
>>Get
free
tips on maximizing your online fundraising efforts.
|
In This Edition:
News Update:
Tips of the
Week:
|
ADVERTISEMENT
Please forward NPT Weekly to
your colleagues so that they can also subscribe.
 Tell-a-friend! |
|
Separated By A Common
Language
Tweeting on Twitter is the
latest way to connect. But, if you’re not careful, you
could use the wrong shorthand and really foul things
up.
It can be confusing. Learning
the vocabulary is half the battle with Twitter. Here are some
Twitter terms to get you started:
-
Tweet
– A message sent in 140-characters or
fewer
-
Retweet
– Sending someone else’s message to your network.
Standard Twitter etiquette calls for copying the message and
adding ‘RT’ before the name of the person who
originally posted the Tweet. For example, if a message began
with ' @MHrywna RT @PaulClolery,’ it means user @MHrywna
copied user @PaulClolery. But the ‘RT’ tells users
that @PaulClolery posted the original Tweet.
-
Followers
– People who chose to receive your updates on
their page
-
Hashtag -
The (#) symbol placed in front of a word important to the Tweet,
which then links to a search for that specific word. For
example, #nonprofit will hyperlink to all other posts made
using the term #nonprofit. It’s a great way to connect
with people who are talking about the same topics.
Some other tips:
-
With Twitter, brevity is
king. URLs you want to post can eat away at your 140-character
Tweet allowance. Look for sites that can shorten your URL, such
as Bit.ly or TinyURL.com.
-
Be personal. If people wanted
to hear from your organization, they would read the Web site.
Allow your Twitter to have some personality.
-
Don’t add .COM. When
you want to direct people to your Twitter page, such as in your
email signature. It should read www.twitter.com/YourUserName. There is no .COM after your user name.
|
|
|
|
Management ...
Understanding challenges
must come first
The pressures in nonprofit management
are intensifying, not easing. Getting a clear understanding of
the challenges can be helpful to managers in the
sector.
In the chapter “Managing for
Performance and Integrity,” which appears in the book
“Wise Decision -Making in Uncertain Times,”
published by the Foundation Center, Debra J. Mesch of Indiana
University-Purdue University and James McClelland of Goodwin
Industries of Central Indiana outline the most frequent
challenges facing those who are managing for performance and
integrity.
The challenges are:
- Developing stakeholder understanding
and acceptance. There can be diverse and complex dynamics behind
outcomes measurements that could vary across and within
organizations and programs.
- Documenting performance and
measuring success. Nonprofits often must choose between
rewarding what is easily measured or not rewarding performance
at all.
- Allocating resources and obtaining
funding. A performance-management system that involves measuring
outcomes can be complicated and costly.
- Implementing effective reward
systems. The challenge is to balance the importance of
identification of outcomes as a way to secure funding with a
focus on ensuring that outcome measurement is used to change and
improve practice in a way that is consistent with mission of the
organization.
- Reporting and technology issues.
Sometimes the barriers are organizational, as well as
technical.
|
|
Your Career ...
Knowing when it’s
time to move on
Are you at home on Sunday
nights, unwilling to go to bed because when you wake it will be
another dreaded Monday? If your job is beating you down, it may
be time for a change.
But with the economy and
constant news of layoffs, it might be time to take a step back
and decide if a job move is right for you, according to Laura
Fredricks, fundraising consultant and author of “The Ask:
How to Ask Anyone for Any Amount for Any
Purpose.”
Fredricks encouraged people to
rate how happy, or unhappy, they are at their current job
– and make sure personal issues aren’t to blame.
Fredricks gave some examples of when it’s a good time to
move on at the recent Fundraising Day in New York, sponsored by
the Association for Fundraising Professionals of Greater New
York.
Examples of when it's a good time to
go:
- You have taken several steps to
professionally communicate to your boss that you want to learn
something that will advance your work -- and nothing happened.
Your boss should be interested in your professional development,
especially when it will benefit the organization.
- Your creative and team-focused ideas aren't
acknowledged. You might not hit every idea out of the ballpark,
but your ideas should at least be discussed.
- You are working in a silo. Some
organizational departments don't like to share information and
stagnant operations. It can make you feel even more
stuck.
- Your boss doesn't share information about
the board or top donors. Your boss should be on your
team.
- You asked for more direction or help, with
no results. As long as you are not asking for assistance on
every project, you should be able to find some help from
colleagues.
- You are not formally evaluated. How are you
supposed to know what is expected of you if you aren't told?
Evaluation from time-to-time helps you chart the right direction
in your career.
- You lose confidence in the organization's
leadership or your boss.
- You believe that you can no longer "sell"
the organization's mission. Nonprofit missions are full of heart
and emotion. If you can't muster feelings for your mission, it
will show in the work you are doing.
- You do not “gel” with your
co-workers. This isn’t about in-soles. You need to feel
some camaraderie to undertake your nonprofit
projects.
|
|
Risk Management ...
Know when risk is a
good thing
Decisions, decisions. They have got to be
made, but with decisions come consequences, and sometimes they
are so horrible to contemplate that we wind up doing nothing.
Being risk-averse can actually be risky, however.
Eugene A. Scanlan of eScanlan Company of
Bethesda, Md., and Robin Dillon-Merrill of the McDonough School
of Business of Georgetown University, in their chapter
“Risky Business: Understanding and Managing Risk in the
Nonprofit Sector,” which is one of the chapters in the
book “Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times,”
published by the Foundation Center, advise that an obsession on
risk aversion can cripple, rather than help,
organizations.
They urge:
- Creating successes. Sometimes the risk of
an action might be perceived as high when the actual risk is
low. Awareness of actual or most likely outcomes can be used to
create success.
- Using influencers. They cite Malcolm
Gladwell's "The Tipping Point" to show how "influencers" can
help create rapid, nonlinear and widespread societal or
organizational change. There are "connectors" who know
everybody, "mavens" who have vast information and "salesmen" who
can convince others to take action.
- Changing the rules. Sometimes changing the
rules can help change the attitude of nonprofit leadership about
the need to make major decisions.
- Using simulation and role-playing
techniques. These can change perceptions of the risks
involved.
- Using decision tools to structure complex
decisions. Many methodological tools exist to help
decision-makers think about organizing their
decisions.
|
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
Looking for a
career opportunity with a nonprofit?
Check out the
most comprehensive study of salaries and benefits ever conducted
for nonprofits in the new Nonprofit Times 2009
Nonprofit Organizations Compensation & Benefits
Report today! Click
here. | |
|
Don't Forget Us!
Changing positions? Or have you moved to
another organization? Then, make sure you still get NPT's family
of enewsletters by simply updating your
profile.
Copyright @ 2009 The NonProfit Times.
To read our Privacy Policy click here.
To forward NPT Weekly to your colleagues so
they can also subscribe click
here.
| | |
|
|
