A Thought on Slowing Down … While Advancing the Mission

Web 2.0, social media, client relations management systems, interactive media, direct mail, e-mail blasts, viral marketing, and on and on and on.

The world demands ever-increasing velocity, and nonprofits are no exception. They’re working like hell — sometimes successfully, sometimes not — to keep up with the changing times and apply new strategies and tactics to the timeless issue: connecting with their publics in a meaningful way to advance their missions. And as soon as they master the latest innovation, it seems, something new comes bouncing around the corner, rendering obsolete that which was nifty and cutting-edge and effective just last month.

So here’s a vote for going old-school in this one area:

Write a note.

Write one to your best prospect.

Your best donor.

Your board chair.

Your most dedicated volunteer.

Your development director.

Put pen to paper and tell her why you’re grateful for her involvement. Send along a magazine story that made you think of her. Explain an exciting initiative that you’d like her to be part of. Reinforce your mission and why her contributions are so vital to making it happen.

Sure, it takes time, and no, it doesn’t have the flash of a wicked cool website. But it cuts through the clutter and tells the person you’re writing to — tells her intimately — that she matters to you and to your organization. If that doesn’t help you reach someone you need to be reaching regularly, your quarterly newsletter sure won’t. | 501(c)