Associations, chambers of commerce and other non-profit organizations, depending on their size and other factors, hire staff in different departments with different areas of expertise.  Because nearly every nonprofit is focused on obtaining many non-financial goals, employees that are not in the profit-generating departments tend not to be focused on the bottom line like you would see in a for-profit company of similar size.  Nonprofit leaders need to acknowledge this issue and then implement a design (culture) within the organization that creates the right incentives and behaviors to succeed financially.

Within organizations, we define this “design” as the culture.  The best way I’ve heard to describe “culture” is to compare our environment to that of fish.  To fish, culture is the water they are swimming in.  In other words, “culture” is all around us and so central to our everyday lives, that we hardly even notice it as an integrated assembly of people, processes, traditions, societal norms and expectations.

Below are a few ideas to implement a design (culture) that keeps all staff focused on the financial bottom line.  In most nonprofits, we’re talking about members, partners, donors or contributors.

•  Include membership retention strategies in each employee’s job description
• Provide an explicit explanation of how each employees’ responsibilities are related to membership/development/fundraising/etc. (This can be best implemented by having the employees come together in teams and draw out the revenue generating process and then identify their role)
• Provide training to all employees on the sales process and have each employee solicit members/donors/contributors as part of the training or professional development process
• Incentivize every employee on the organization’s retention goals (as long as you can directly tie their job responsibilities to these goals- which is more a test of management)
• Create an internal, underground “conspiracy team” that continuously looks for ways to improve the culture to give more of an organization-wide focus on financial results
• Host an optional “lunch & learn” for staff about the development process that is led by the “revenue-generating” team (e.g. membership, development, fundraising, etc)
•  “Keep the main thing the main thing.”  Focus every staff meeting on the financial results so that nobody becomes confused about the most important part of the business.

Of course, when it comes to a discussion about leadership, the first strategy has to be “lead by example.”  Examine what you are doing to contribute to the bottom line and model your behavior, so that others in the organization will follow.

But, beware of the pitfall…

Some organizations make mistakes when they try to “operate like a business.”  You must be very clear about what this means, because it will have a different meaning to every person.  I will talk more about this in a future post…

Associations, chambers of commerce and other non-profit organizations, depending on their size and other factors, hire staff in different departments with different areas of expertise.  Because nearly every nonprofit is focused on obtaining many non-financial goals, employees that are not in the profit-generating departments tend not to be focused on the bottom line like you would see in a for-profit company of similar size.  Nonprofit leaders need to acknowledge this issue and then implement a design (culture) within the organization that creates the right incentives and behaviors to succeed financially.

Within organizations, we define this “design” as the culture.  The best way I’ve heard to describe “culture” is to compare our environment to that of fish.  To fish, culture is the water they are swimming in.  In other words, “culture” is all around us and so central to our everyday lives, that we hardly even notice it as an integrated assembly of people, processes, traditions, societal norms and expectations.

Below are a few ideas to implement a design (culture) that keeps all staff focused on the financial bottom line.  In most nonprofits, we’re talking about members, partners, donors or contributors.

•  Include membership retention strategies in each employee’s job description
• Provide an explicit explanation of how each employees’ responsibilities are related to membership/development/fundraising/etc. (This can be best implemented by having the employees come together in teams and draw out the revenue generating process and then identify their role)
• Provide training to all employees on the sales process and have each employee solicit members/donors/contributors as part of the training or professional development process
• Incentivize every employee on the organization’s retention goals (as long as you can directly tie their job responsibilities to these goals- which is more a test of management)
• Create an internal, underground “conspiracy team” that continuously looks for ways to improve the culture to give more of an organization-wide focus on financial results
• Host an optional “lunch & learn” for staff about the development process that is led by the “revenue-generating” team (e.g. membership, development, fundraising, etc)
•  “Keep the main thing the main thing.”  Focus every staff meeting on the financial results so that nobody becomes confused about the most important part of the business.

Of course, when it comes to a discussion about leadership, the first strategy has to be “lead by example.”  Examine what you are doing to contribute to the bottom line and model your behavior, so that others in the organization will follow.

But, beware of the pitfall…

Some organizations make mistakes when they try to “operate like a business.”  You must be very clear about what this means, because it will have a different meaning to every person.  I will talk more about this in a future post…

E-Newsletter can build relationships.

Thanks to @DaveFiore from DaveMail for some expert tips into making the most of e-newsletters; something nearly all associations use, but few come close to being great.  Since Dave had so much to share, I’ve posted as bullet points below, in no priority order.

• Smart people are afraid of attachments, so don’t send your e-newsletter as an attachment…and, you can’t track open rates, click-throughs, etc
• Always include a text only version
• Open rate is good for tracking trends, but the number is almost assuradley not 100% precise
• Keep e-newsletter to less than 600 pixels wide for best viewing on multiple email clients
• Don’t imbed audio or video in the e-newsletter (you can include a picture that is linked to the video or audio file instead)
• “Snagit” is a service to capture images from websites (to assist with the point above)
• Always make emails come from a person, not “info@mycompany.com“
• Emails to 100′s or 1000′s of recipients should go through “white-listed” servers instead of in-house servers, which will improve open rate
• Emails must have social media follow buttons and a “share” button
• Send emails from the person the recipient is expecting an email from
• Communication staff should learn html code to become more efficient at e-newsletters
• Best format is a simple format (ex: header, 2 columns and a footer)
• Regular mass emails should be sent to test accounts on many different email platforms (an online service does this for you: www.emailonacid.com)
• Always provide a “view in your browser” option (again, test view your e-newsletter in many popular browsers…the differences will amaze you)
• Test subject lines by sending the same e-newsletter to like groups with different subject lines
• Get a “spam score” to help improve how many of your emails make it through filters
• Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of content should be useful to the reader and 20% can be used to promote things you want to promote
• Best day to send e-newsletters is Tuesday and Thursday between 10am – 2pm
• Average open rate is between 18-22%
• Learn what content readers are reading by monitoring click-through rates

E-Newsletter can build relationships.

Thanks to @DaveFiore from DaveMail for some expert tips into making the most of e-newsletters; something nearly all associations use, but few come close to being great.  Since Dave had so much to share, I’ve posted as bullet points below, in no priority order.

• Smart people are afraid of attachments, so don’t send your e-newsletter as an attachment…and, you can’t track open rates, click-throughs, etc
• Always include a text only version
• Open rate is good for tracking trends, but the number is almost assuradley not 100% precise
• Keep e-newsletter to less than 600 pixels wide for best viewing on multiple email clients
• Don’t imbed audio or video in the e-newsletter (you can include a picture that is linked to the video or audio file instead)
• “Snagit” is a service to capture images from websites (to assist with the point above)
• Always make emails come from a person, not “info@mycompany.com“
• Emails to 100′s or 1000′s of recipients should go through “white-listed” servers instead of in-house servers, which will improve open rate
• Emails must have social media follow buttons and a “share” button
• Send emails from the person the recipient is expecting an email from
• Communication staff should learn html code to become more efficient at e-newsletters
• Best format is a simple format (ex: header, 2 columns and a footer)
• Regular mass emails should be sent to test accounts on many different email platforms (an online service does this for you: www.emailonacid.com)
• Always provide a “view in your browser” option (again, test view your e-newsletter in many popular browsers…the differences will amaze you)
• Test subject lines by sending the same e-newsletter to like groups with different subject lines
• Get a “spam score” to help improve how many of your emails make it through filters
• Use the 80/20 rule: 80% of content should be useful to the reader and 20% can be used to promote things you want to promote
• Best day to send e-newsletters is Tuesday and Thursday between 10am – 2pm
• Average open rate is between 18-22%
• Learn what content readers are reading by monitoring click-through rates

Book Review: Business Model Generation

If you are considering anything from starting a new business to offering a new product to re-evaluating the way you do business, you should familiarize yourself with the methods prescribed in this “handbook for entrepreneurs.”  I’ve taken more from this book about business models than any other “how to” written for business people.  

In the non-profit sector, leaders must continually re-assess their current market position and be prepared to respond to a fast-changing market.  However, most nonprofit managers have a specific skill related to one or two functional areas of the organization.  This approach can help bridge the gap, so the the leadership team can quickly address the core components of any nonprofit, from what generates revenue, to key customers, key activities, the cost structure and how value is created.

Find the book on Amazon here.

Book Review: Business Model Generation

If you are considering anything from starting a new business to offering a new product to re-evaluating the way you do business, you should familiarize yourself with the methods prescribed in this “handbook for entrepreneurs.”  I’ve taken more from this book about business models than any other “how to” written for business people.  

In the non-profit sector, leaders must continually re-assess their current market position and be prepared to respond to a fast-changing market.  However, most nonprofit managers have a specific skill related to one or two functional areas of the organization.  This approach can help bridge the gap, so the the leadership team can quickly address the core components of any nonprofit, from what generates revenue, to key customers, key activities, the cost structure and how value is created.

Find the book on Amazon here.