One of my favorite activities in nonprofit communications is boiling down messaging to the bare essentials to really get at the heart of the transformative change our clients are making happen. In the nonprofit world, we have a tendency to focus on our organization and how wonderful it is in our external marketing. We assume [...]
Today is a snowy day. Things are moving very slowly on the roads here in St. Paul. It’s a good day to reflect, in between shovels of snow, and look at big picture issues. Like the importance of mission. Too often, tactics take over and drive the process, leaving mission in the dust. While it’s [...]
Within each and every one of us, lies huge creative potential. Think back to the world of make believe you played as a youngster. Some of my fondest memories as a child were pretending I was a boxcar child living in the woods behind my grandma’s house. Some of us have released our creativity, but [...]
As promised at the Wednesday Storytelling for Good workshop, here are a few links to organizations that have found their voice and are inspiring others to join in their movement, through effective storytelling. Who: World Wildlife Fund: “How a Prairie Fire in the Great Northern Planes…” Form: Online story So What? Helps you understand [...]
As children, we are taught to gather around on the floor to listen to stories. For many parents, reading a story is the last thing we do with our little kangaroos before tucking them in for the night. Corporations like Target are master storytellers. They actually create stories within our own minds that tell us [...]
Have you ever thought if people only could understand what our program participants have to overcome, I know they would (INSERT what you need them to do: give, volunteer, advocate)? Perhaps you have loads of data about how your work changes lives or affects systemic change. Do you find yourself conveying information in the same [...]
Every time I talk about it with a group of nonprofit professionals, they nod in agreement. It is a simple principle, yet somehow it seems to get lost rather easily in the hustle and bustle of year-end appeal letters, annual reports and Give to the Max Day e-mails. People care about themselves above all, regardless [...]
I was following the election results as they came last night on Twitter and Facebook, mostly because I was trying to rock my baby to sleep without the disruption of the television. The news of President Obama being elected for a second term hit Twitter before it was announced on the major media outlets. Twitter [...]
HBH is pleased to welcome Ann Schwartz, Executive Director of Aitkin County Habitat for Humanity, as a guest blogger. Unusual to the nonprofit world, I come from a journalism background. I’ve spent over 20+ years working with government officials on all levels – especially the local level. With the upcoming election, government, and its role [...]
Razoo recently posted a fantastic blog on how to use smartphones at presentations. Blogger Joe Waters explains: It used to bug me when I was speaking and I looked out into an audience and saw people on their phones and tablets–until I realized that when I’m the listener I do the very same thing. Now [...]
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