The Law of the Harvest

I was at a foundation event a few weeks ago, meeting new people and was introduced to a young man who is early in his career, very talented, and obviously a doer. We chatted briefly about what he wanted to be doing and I said something to the effect of him taking the next few years to build up his experience and credibility. His reply caught me off guard.

"Hell to the no! I am not waiting that long. I am making it happen now."

I smiled a knowing smile. I know in my own life, there are far too many instances where I thought I could speed things up a bit, take a short cut, or even skip to the end and hope that the results would be just as good as if I had worked hard the entire time. And I know that each time I've ended up short of the goal.

There is a universal truth called the Law of the Harvest -- masterfully articulated by Stephen Covey, it says two key things: you reap what you sow, and it takes time to cultivate meaningful results. The easy example is the person who wants to lose weight and goes on a crash diet only to gain the weight again a few weeks later versus the person who commits themselves to a changed diet and lifestyle of exercise who earns their weight loss. Or the student who skips classes, crams the night before an exam, hoping to do well on the test versus the person who attends all the classes, regularly reviews their notes, and gets a good night's sleep the night before the test.

How many times have I said, "Hell to the no!" and decided to jump to the end result only to find my victory shallow and short lived...too many.

I think many of today's non profits and cause-related organizations are dealing with the Law of the Harvest in two ways. First, they are constantly battling the expectations of their communities to get to a solution and achieve results all the while knowing that the most effective and permanent solutions are ones that require the long view. Second, these same organizations often operate with a mindset that they can skip certain steps, cut corners, and achieve amazing results.

When it comes to marketing causes, all too often I see organizations skipping the essentials: Customer segmentation, brand positioning, core messaging, and strategy. Rather, these organizations toss out into the marketplace brochures, flyers, advertisements, and donor requests hoping to increase their ability to do more and get more. Most likely, they'll see an increase in need but not in resources.

If your cause is the field you're planting in, and the impact you want to see in the world are the seeds you sow, do you honestly believe that you can skip the growing season, skip the weeding, skip the watering, skip the fertilizing, skip the pest control -- and still reap amazing results? I didn't think so.

As you work in your business, I encourage you to take time to work ON your business. Build out those fundamentals and properly plant/prepare/and work the field of your cause. Pay attention to the Law of the Harvest ensuring that you'll reap what you've sown, and that your harvest is as full as possible.

- David Kinard, PCM

Rethinking about Reorganizing

Silos block us from thinking in a coordinated fashion about our customers, says author Ranjay Gulati. I had the pleasure of talking with him about his new book Reorganize for Resilience. It's one part common sense and 99 parts practical advice on how to break down silos and focus on integrated solutions that drive customer value.

Specifically, Gulati writes about five levers we can pull to reorganize ourselves for resilience:

1. Coordination
2. Cooperation
3. Clout
4. Capabilities
5. Connections

Gulati also said in my interview with him that sometimes customers can't always articulate what they want, but that is where our creative efforts should be. I was struck by this statement in terms of how non profits work to solve problems for people who are often so overcome by their situations that articulation of solutions is beyond their capabilities. The irony, however, is this invaluable skill employed on behalf of the populations served is often lacking when it comes to funders. Funding organizations and peoples have problems too that need to be solved -- albeit different ones. Helping them to articulate their needs in terms of ROI for support is essential in driving up participation and dollar amounts.

What donor problems have you uncovered? What have been your solutions? Did you have to breakdown any organizational silos in your non profit or the donating org to get a solution in place?

-- David Kinard, PCM

The Fall of Fundraising

I may be the only non profit marketer who is thinking this right now, but I think fall is a horrible time to do fundraising. To be more clear, rather I think it's a horrible idea to wait until fall to do fundraising. In fact, I think it's downright wasteful, irresponsible, and fails to appreciate the relational aspects of generating support for an organization.

As marketers, we know that it would be silly of us to be quiet for nine months of the year and then try to make all our annual sales quota in the last three months. We also know that in order to get consumers to buy our products or services, we need to constantly remind them of our value, our uniqueness, and the big damn difference we can make in their lives or businesses.

But since it's fundraising, let's ignore the simple laws of relationships and marketing and postpone everything until the last minute; 'cause that is the way we've always done it, right?!?!

Don't get me wrong, there's a good reason for our current practice in that many giving organizations will begin evaluating their budgets and see what they have left in terms of dollars to spend. Some may even be looking for some tax benefits. And still others are preparing for the following year so it makes sense to get on their radar screen now. BUT, way too many non profit marketers try to do ALL parts of their fundraising in these last three months. Again, not a good idea.

I will freely admit that I am not an expert in fundraising. Yes, I've generated monies for the organizations I've been involved in, but not to the extent that professional development people have. But I am an expert marketer and I do understand human nature -- and one key element to keep in mind is that fundraising begins at the moment your organization is first introduced to someone and continues until either you close your doors or that person's will is finally executed. Fundraising is a way of being, a way of communicating, a golden thread that must be woven through every communication and interaction with your community. This is not to say that you're always asking for money. On the contrary, what it means is that you're always giving your community reasons for them to see the value in supporting your mission.

Perhaps this fall, as you begin writing your annual ask letter and start your push through the end of 2009, you'll also begin a parallel path of looking at how you can retool your organization's interactions and communications with your community to create reasons for funding, create opportunities to demonstrate value, and communicate your big damn difference in such a way that people come to you with open wallets before you even ask them.

-- David Kinard, PCM

Use Integration Instead of Interruption

My professional friend Katya Andresen recently had a visitor -- a door-to-door canvasser for Save the Children. She writes in her blog about his visit, and that she ended up giving him a pledge worth $336. Katya writes:

"...what I really wanted to know was why they were doing fundraising via canvassing. He said because it worked wonderfully. Most of Save’s child sponsors sign up via canvassers, apparently. Save is focused on this approach, scaling back TV ads and other broad-brush, less effective means of getting recurring, monthly gifts...."

I was surprised to read that they've found success in this form of highly-interruptive marketing. With so much focus these days on permission-based marketing, to hear that door-to-door fundraising is working makes me wonder what's going on. But after a bit of thought, it all made sense to me.

Of course Save was not getting any ROI from their TV ads and other "broad-brush" efforts -- it is precisely because they were so generic in nature that their impact was so low. The failure of Save, or any other nonprofit/cause related organization, to see any return from their marketing efforts is due to a lack of integration in their marketing mix.

Right time, right message, right person, through the right medium -- that's the challenge and opportunity we all face in getting out the good word of our organizations. And, when we fail to do that effectively, and resort to interruptive marketing tactics like door-to-door canvassing, of course we'll see an uptick in responses. And just because it's a worthy nonprofit doing the canvassing doesn't make it right.

I'd challenge Save the Children to rethink their approach and find a permission-based model to work from.

What do you think?

-- David Kinard, PCM

[image credit: Save the Children]

Non Profit e-Marketing

In yesterday's radio program I had a great conversation with Allison Van Diest, a senior product marketing manager for Blackbaud (they’re a company that for the past 27 years has created software solutions to support the needs of schools, universities, healthcare, human services, cultural groups, and even faith-based communities). We talked about event registration, email strategies, Web site analytics, online communication strategies, and even fundraising -- and what non profits need to know.

Specifically, online donors are a key growth segment for nonprofit organizations. With the average online donor giving more initially and having a higher lifetime value than conventional donors, the importance of online giving as a revenue stream is growing. In fact, if I heard correctly, the average online donation is $60 for those sites with just a "Donate Here" button. But for those that integrate technology into their broader fundraing communications the average donation skyrockets to more than $120.

What strikes me in today's troubling economic times is that only 6% of non profits say that fundraising is their top driver, and only 36% expect to increase their efforts in this area. With an exptected $11 billion raised in 2008, up from $7 billion in 2007, and the proven micro-donation precedents set by last year's presidential campaigns, this should be a top priority across the board (pun intended).

You can listen to the interview with Allison here.

-- David Kinard, PCM