Do you apply the mission of your organization or cause to your personal life? How many times do we say we support something and not really support it?

I got to thinking about this the other day when I decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I thought about a campaign I am working on that promotes better health in women. I decided that taking the stairs was one little way I could support this movement.

I’d like to know the ways you support the causes you believe in. Please post your favorite way to support your causes and charities.

Post from: EveryJoe

Embracing the Mission: How Do You Support Your Cause?

Looking at a sponsorship from the business side of things, it’s important that nonprofits are communicating effectively with their sponsors. A sponsor has a right to know what is going on when it comes to use of logos, their name and/or likeness. An effective nonprofit communications professional is going to get the sponsor’s approval on these every step of the way.

The same can be said for letters or press releases sent out on behalf of the sponsor and nonprofit. Approvals are necessary so the sponsor knows what is being said, where it is being said, etc. As strapped as nonprofits are for staff, it’s important for us to remember to keep the lines of communication open, no matter how busy we are.

Post from: EveryJoe

Keep the Lines of Communication Open with Your Sponsors

After taking a look around the site, it appears to be very similar to other review sites you would find for restaurants and other services vendors. The idea of being able to post “not-so-great” information about nonprofits on this site might make anyone in the sector a little scared, but it shouldn’t.

The great thing about blogs, review sites like GreatNonprofits, and other forums where people can share information via the Web is that the road goes both ways. You can respond to criticism or compliments via these transparent avenues.

For nonprofits to be successful in garnering donations, volunteers, awareness or whatever your mission, it’s important to be transparent. There is an entire generation of potential donors and volunteers who did not exist before the Internet. This transparent tool is not only a tool, but a way of life for them. The nonprofits who want to reach this generation have to be part of it whether we like it or not.

Post from: EveryJoe

Transparency: A Good Thing for Nonprofits

“I could sell [pins] for a couple hundred bucks,” he said. “But I spent thousands to come here. That’s not what it’s about.”

Sounds like a pretty mission-oriented activity to me. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

In Beijing, Collectors Go for Gold, Not Green

Post from: EveryJoe

Notes, Follow-Ups, and Reminders | Nonprofit Tidbits from the Last Week

To make missionary work more meaningful, some churches are taking a different approach. In response to the criticism, a growing number of churches and agencies that put together short-term trips are revamping their programs and establishing new standards.

For the past four years, for example, the Fairfax Presbyterian youths have stayed closer to home, in places such as Welch, West Va.; Lansing, Mich., and Philadelphia. Last week, a team of 44 were in St. Petersburg, Fla., to clean and paint low-income homes, assist the homeless and volunteer at a free health clinic.

This shift gets to the heart of the new emphasis on nonprofit outcomes. As the Post wrote, one Mexican “church was painted six times during one summer by six different groups.” This not simply about making “missionary work more meaningful” for its participants — it’s about ensuring that the work has a truly beneficial impact for those it’s meant to help. Isn’t that what mission means? | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

Changing Missions to Better Fulfill Missions

Post from: EveryJoe

A Reminder of the Inspirational Power of Nonprofit Work

Leveraging existing knowledge, know-how and relationships with other donors can support achieving desired outcomes. Listening, following one’s intuition and being surrounded by professional philanthropic resources will go a long way to ensuring effective social investment.

Ms. Kaufman then blasted the piece  for sounding way too much like something out of a Wall Street prospectus. Disconnected from reality, such verbiage has nothing at all in common with the real people that nonprofits seek to assist, she said.

This is nonprofit, for god’s sake! I thought people got into this field because it WASN’T BUSINESS! Because it’s allegedly something REAL! Something that helps people and doesn’t operate like a well-oiled machine of doom!

If you want to help people, a very basic first step is to BE PEOPLE YOURSELVES. Or else you’re just as bad as the corporate types. Lordy.

A little Googling turned up the source of Ms. Kaufman’s frustration: “Individual giving: making it count — Effective strategies for making a difference,” by Peggy Dulany and Adele Simmons, in the June 2008 issue of Alliance, which calls itself “the world’s leading magazine on philanthropy and social investment.”

As a writer, I’m fully on board with Ms. Kaufman’s desire that we all speak and write in plain language. But in this case, I think her anger is misplaced. The paragraph she quoted reads quite well to me, and is sound advice to nonprofits in a variety of fields. Moreover, that is the language spoken by many, many donors whom those organizations must reach for badly needed funds. And finally, the corporate types aren’t inherently evil, and such thinking does nothing to advance anyone’s cause. For-profit ventures employ millions of people worldwide — they put bread on the table, a roof above, and funding for our moms and dads to enjoy their retirements. They also can be extraordinarily generous friends to the very nonprofits Ms. Kaufman lauds so, um, passionately.

We’re all in this together, right? One sector demonizing the other is sooooo 1993. I mean, “a well-oiled machine of doom”? Lordy. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

A Young Nonprofiteer’s Misplaced Frustration

To use a stock-market analogy, Dia is a low-growth utility. It’s great if you like that sort of thing, but the CEO of such an operation is basically in charge of keeping it ticking over, not reinventing it or trying to make it grow. That’s why I’m worried about pledges “to fortify programming” and the like. It’s almost impossible to break Dia by neglect; the only way to do so is by trying to improve it.

As always, it’s all about the mission. For Dia and its new director (and board) to determine whether and how to take the next step, it must consider seriously whether it would allow it to fulfill its mission more completely. If so, full speed ahead, with the knowledge that sometimes bigger ain’t better. If not, pull back and continue to do what you do so well. | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

Nonprofits Also Face the Growth/Stability Question

I’m not able to dive in, unfortunately, but am thrilled about the Great Blog Off’s nonprofit tie-in, with each participating blog soliciting donations for a charity that supports a mission related the respective channel’s overall focus:

The Business Channel is blogging in support of Accion International. Accion helps small businesses all over the world to become established through small, manageable loans and business advice. The Entertainment Channel is raising money for The Actors Fund, which offers help for people in the entertainment industry when a personal or family crisis threatens their well-being.

So drop by those channels and check out what should be a fascinating day! | 501(c)

Post from: EveryJoe

b5’s Great Blog Off Is Today! Read — and Support a Worthy Nonprofit While You’re At It