We’ve been living in a pandemic for nearly a year now. I think it’s safe to say, we are all ready for a little more normalcy. One is for in person events to be a normal occurrence again. But if your state, county, city or organization isn’t ready for that step the next best thing is a virtual one. Nonprofits need to continue serving their mission in the community. Strategic planning sessions with boards and committees is a common occurrence for the leadership and help continue to direct new initiatives of the organization. This year, planning sessions may be on a computer screen instead of a board room. Here are a few helpful reminders and tips on how to have a successful virtual planning session with your volunteers.

1. Send a Calendar Invite AND a Follow Up Reminder
   It is so helpful to send one (maybe two) gentle reminders about an upcoming virtual meeting. For some, each day may still be in flux with personal and professional life adjustments due to the pandemic and the economy. So make it simple to add it to a calendar or find the link to join the meeting. Send a text instead of an email if that helps too.
   
2. Build in Time for Virtual Small Talk
   It is very possible that your volunteers have only emailed or texted each other. It might be the first time they’ve “seen” each other in a long while. So allow time for a little catch up with their volunteer buddies. It could set the mood in a positive direction and get your board volunteers ready to work.
   
3. Start the Session With a Mission Moment
   Setting the tone for the meeting can be as easy as story telling. Take just a minute or three to talk about what the organization had done to positively impact the community, recently. Start with, Skippy the dog that was saved from puppy mill and has found a new home with a sweet 4 year old boy. Or the family who needed a little help with clothes and food last year. Or the smiles on the faces of the school children who watched, virtually, while the Orchestra played Holiday songs. Whatever the reason your organization does what it does, bring it to life in a story.
   
   Leverage the technology you are using for the planning session and show pictures of Skippy and his journey to that 4 year old boy. Invite the family to the virtual meeting to talk about how important that hand up was last year. Play the video of the kids watching and dancing to the music of the holidays. Showing your volunteers WHY the nonprofit exists will set the tone and the urgency to continue the mission of the organization.
   
4. Use an Ice Breaker (But Don’t Call It That)
   The word “icebreaker” always brings a collective groan to members of any meeting. So don’t use it! They are still important and are a good tool just change it’s name. I like to use short personality quizzes. I recently used a “What’s Your Fundraising Personality?” quiz. Everyone enjoyed learning a little more about themselves and the others on the board. This type of exercise brings a group closer together and can help define the strengths and opportunities for growth of the group.
   
5. Don’t Forget to Include a Break
   I am of the opinion that if you are planning to have a virtual meeting longer than 1.5 hours, you should include a break. Not a long one, just enough to fill a water bottle, stretch your legs and maybe check priority emails. Your volunteers will appreciate it and will come back refreshed and ready to start again.
   
   And if you need 7 to 8 hours of planning to do with your group, consider breaking it up into two 4 hour virtual days.
   
6. Use Virtual Break Out Rooms and Polling
   I love the Zoom feature of breakout rooms for large and small virtual meetings. The benefits are the same as when an in person meeting breaks up a committee/board into smaller groups so does the virtual breakout rooms. It provides those who are overwhelmed by a large group an opportunity to be heard in a less than intimidating environment. It deters from group think and thereby allowing creativity to flourish.
   
   The facilitator or host of the virtual call can also join any of the breakout rooms. Which is helpful if the small group has a question or gets stuck in their discussion. The host can also assign rooms to certain volunteers on the call or the platform with randomly assign volunteers to a room. This is a great feature if you want to allow specific people to gather separately, like providing time for committees to meet during the planning session. Or mixing up the groups randomly to help foster transparency and less siloes of knowledge.
   
7. Use an Outside Facilitator
   When the staff of the organization or the full board can participate fully in the planning of the nonprofit, it makes for a better plan. All parties feel they are on the same same boat all rowing together. Moving toward the same objective, together. Using a facilitator gives everyone in the organization a chance to participate as an attendee working hard on the plan for the organization. Not working hard to create the environment and no how to allow for others to work hard on the plan for the organization. That burden is on the outside facilitator.

If you’d like more ideas on how to facilitate your next strategic planning session email me or call Griffin Fundraising and Marketing for a free consultation.

This year has been tough. You’ve learned to adapt and roll with the punches. You’ve gone virtual. Maybe your organization had to go from a staff of 5 to a staff of 2. No matter what, you haven’t done the hard work on your own. So we all have a larger list of people to show gratitude more than any other year.

We should all know that donors should be thanked. But what about other people in your “tribe”? The others that made the hard days bearable and celebrated the good ones. If you don’t know where to start, we made a list. Just below the list are some easy, inexpensive ideas on how to say thanks!

1. Board Members (current and past)
2. Volunteers- anyone who’s done anything over the last 18 months
3. Donors! – Do you have a stewardship plan for them?
4. Paid staff
5. Your staff’s family- this year’s been tough on them too
6. Your boss
7. Your co-workers
8. Your non-profit partners- helping you do the important work.
9. Those you have learned from- be it mentors, speakers, a peer, etc.
10. Social Workers
11. Custodial Staff
12. Sanitation Workers
13. Delivery Workers
14. Food Service Staff
15. Your circle of supporters
16. YOU! – You have done an amazing job this year!

How could you show your appreciation? Does it need to be low cost? Easy to implement? Here are a few to think about…

1. If an in person thank you isn’t possible, call or set up a video call.
2. Record a video on your phone of your leadership saying thank you and add it to your newsletter. You could even segment to your staff, donors, volunteers, etc., and send them a special email.
3. A thank you card sent in the mail is always acceptable. I found this cool company that takes the card game up a notch. LovePop has some really unique cards that will be sure to put a smile on the person’s face.
4. Say thank you to your staff or volunteers in public at volunteer and staff meetings.
5. Connect your mission to the way you say thank you to your communities. If your in the visual arts for kids, have the participants create the cards. If you care for animals make sure you have a cat and a dog in your thank you video.

Thank you for taking the time for reading this and looking for ways to thank people who have been part of the 2020 journey.

Quick Video on LovePop Cards

I was sitting in on yet another virtual meeting a few weeks ago with two panelists who are working in nonprofit fundraising. The topic? You guessed it. The impact of fundraising during a pandemic. The panel was going over the shift in programs, communications and administration and the rapid change that’s had to happen. What stuck with me was that one organization was running so quickly to shift and change to abide by guidelines that they almost forgot to involve and do outreach to their Board of Directors.

At the time I remember being snarky in thinking, “What’s new?” But it got me thinking. Any time, but especially in a crisis, local to the organization or world-wide, continuously keeping your board involved and engaged will lead to higher rates of success. Nonprofits of any size have board members who are passionate and willing to support their cause. Other than staff, they represent the closest constituents to your organization so they should be well informed on how the nonprofit is moving forward through these uncertain times. So remember to include them when it seems appropriate.

Fundraising is not just about asking for money but starting and maintaining relationships with those who also care about the same cause. Here are three social distancing ways you can include your Board of Directors in fundraising:

1. Educate your board of directors on how the organization has been impacted by the pandemic. Has the need for your services increased? Or decreased? Are you an essential nonprofit? Have you started new programs/services because of an increased demand? How has the pandemic impacted your ability to staff your nonprofit? Do you have anecdotes and stories you can share with the board the shows the impact? The answers and others form the new case for support for your organization’s sustainability through 2020.
2. Once you have educated them on the new case for support ask them to be part of spreading the word. Donors, volunteers and online followers simply need to know that you are still providing services, still building programs for education or animal welfare or arts and culture, etc. The balance is to make it easy to do at home or socially distant. Here are some ideas based on non-profit sectors:
   1. Environmental/Parks: Ask Board Members to create a “how to” video on how to safely use parks in their area with the new CDC rules.
   2. Animals: Create videos of board members with their animals from home playing fetch, with a cat toy or on a horse.
   3. Arts & Culture: Ask a board member to teach dance, or create art in a video to promote any virtual programs.
   4. Health: Ask a board member to create a video of them making personal protective equipment.
3. Ask board members to send out thank you cards to donors. There is always time to thank someone for their time, talent and/or treasure. So make it more personal by providing your board members with thank you cards, a list of addresses and stamps to send a personalized greeting from a fellow donor/volunteer.

All of these ideas aren’t just for when the world is facing a very contagious virus and we are all quarantined. Try them out now and see how your organization can implement them in other ways.

Do you have other ideas Board of Directors can do to help promote and advocate for their nonprofit? Tell us about it on Facebook.

Happy belated 2015! In the new year, we’ve been reflecting about clients, their supporters and those whose mission focuses on healthy lifestyles. One of our best experiences was working with the Louisville Sports Commission and the National Senior Games. The National Senior Games is a sports competition held every two years for seniors from North America. With more than 10,000 competitors and 20,000 spectators, it the largest multi-sports event specifically devoted to adults ages 50 and older.

The custom made Louisville Senior Games logo.

The Louisville Sports Commission was bidding on hosting the competition in 2007. To host an event of this size the entire community has to be a part of supporting it. So the Commission asked for a planning study to be completed. They wanted evidence that organizations, businesses and foundations in the city and region would support an event that would raise the awareness of healthy living.

The planning study, successfully completed by GF&M, reflected community support, and identified volunteer leadership, sporting venues, along with potential sources of financial support to move the project forward.

The Sports Commission contracted with GF&M to conduct a campaign for the Games. With leadership from the Louisville Host Committee, we were successful in generating over $4 million in local and national support for the Louisville Games. In fact, GF&M’s role with the Senior Games extended beyond Louisville. We created a multi-year sponsorship for Humana and Astrazenaca both of which are still supporting the Senior Games today.

In 2001 GF&M had the honor of working with this fabulous group of volunteers during the Intel ISEF hosted in San Jose, California. Our role was to support the fundraising and event management of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). This host committee worked tirelessly to create one of the best Intel ISEF’s ever.

‘We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.’ – Winston Churchill

Intel ISEF 2001 Host Committee

#TBT 2003 Independence Festival

Way back in 2003 the city was really starting to come together. That’s the year the city of Louisville and Jefferson County were merged into a single consolidated city-county government with the official name of Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government. The official short form of the name is Louisville Metro.

That was the year the board of Waterfront Development Corporation (WDC) engaged the services of Griffin Fundraising and Marketing to help them define the feasibility of their “big dream” for the park and one of their largest events at the time, the Independence Festival.

The Independence Festival (Festival) began in 1989, ten years before the opening of 55 acres we all know today as the core of the park. By 2003, fourteen years later, the Festival became the seventh largest event in the region with an attendance of over one hundred thousand. It was one day of family fun, recreation, music and fireworks. As a free event, the Festival was a meeting place for the entire community to celebrate our independence.

In 2003, the board had a vision for the Festival to further enhance the quality and appeal of the event to both the diverse local audience and the regional tourists.  To roll out that vision and “big dream” to city and regional leaders, Griffin Fundraising and Marketing was tapped to conduct a Planning Study for the Waterfront Independence Festival. From that planning study major changes and suggestions were given to help make the board’s big dream a reality. It was from that planning study that the two day Independence Festival was created. A corporate sponsorship plan was also identified and rolled out to the community. It was in 2003 that the long time presenting sponsor of the Festival was named. From 2003 to 2013 the Independence Festival was an opportunity for every part of the community and region to celebrate the history, government, and traditions of the United States. It is our hope that community support will again allow the city to do just that on our waterfront in 2015. 

AVTT replica of Vietnam War Memorial

For 2014, a national group has provided a gift to celebrate the history, government and traditions of the United States this Independence Day. The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association, a client of GF&M’s, is holding its national reunion in downtown Louisville this weekend. As part of their programming, they have brought the American Veteran Traveling Tribute’s 80% replica of the famous Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. from July 2nd to July 6th on the South Great Lawn in Waterfront Park. Additionally, the Reunion is setting up a static display of helicopters used in the Vietnam War near the river on part of the North Great Lawn in Waterfront Park that is open to the public on the 3rd and 4th. A Combat Assault Re-enactment starts at 4 pm on the 4th. This promises to be a very special 4th of July evening indeed!