At my wedding rehearsal a couple years ago, the minister asked my groom-now-husband and I if we had any final adjustments to the ceremony. I had just one: “I don’t want to be announced as Mr. & Mrs. Ross Black. I want to be Ross and Cheryl Black.”

 I took Hubby’s last name but then and now I feel very strongly that I have my own name and prefer not to be “Mrs. Husband’s Name.” Everything, from our mortgage to our cutesy return address labels reads “Ross & Cheryl Black”; nothing says “Mr. & Mrs. Ross Black.” Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

When I get mail addressed to “Mrs. Ross Black” I throw it away without even opening it. They clearly don’t know me. Similarly my grandmother used to politely but quickly end any phone call that began with the caller asking for her by her first name. She’s always gone by “Mrs. Husband’s Name.”

Imagine that Grandma or I are your donor. How bummed would you be to learn that you didn’t get to so much as ask us for a donation because you called us by the wrong Mrs.? Wouldn’t that just kill you a little?

It’s just one of the many reasons why you can’t trust your brain or your co-worker’s brain, to house all your donor information. There are simply too many donors (I hope) with too many eccentricities to rely on a human brain. You need a tool to help you manage all those constituents and relationships.

That’s why there’s (enter the heavens opening up, sun shining down between the clouds, other-worldy music playing) the CRM.

Did you really just read that?? Is this woman crazy? While I do admit to being a little nuts at times (my mother would say all the time), on this point you gotta trust me. 

When it comes to becoming an organization focused on delighting constituents (i.e. constituent engagement), implementing and optimizing CRM (a constituent relationship management system), is the easy part if you work at an organization whose culture isn't constituent centric. And chances are that if you work at a nonprofit that's been around 10+ years, has 10+ employees, and 10+ constituents, that's you.

Organizational change and evolution from a business unit, process, and progran-centered culture to one that revolves around the constituent and donor experience is a hot topic, with lots of advice being dispensed from very reputable sources. Consultants like myself are full of helpful advice on just how to do that. “Pivot toward constituent engagement,” we like to tell you. Or, “management must embrace and imbue a constituent centric attitude throughout the organization.” Last time you were at the pharmacy, did you pick up the constituent engagement attitude dispenser in the specialty item aisle?

My point here is not to down my own kind. Rather, I want to acknowledge that the change required by an organization to transform to make meaningful use of CRM is more difficult than we'd often care to admit.

Here are a few observations on ways to start thinking about how to make that change.

• Get executive buy in or you'll be swimming upstream. That is just a cold, hard fact. Does this mean you can't build your own CRM fiefdom? Sure you can. And, you can wait for the benefits of what you've done to be eventually acknowledged.  Once you've shown impact to the bottom line, maybe even the executives will change their mind. But, if you don't have a C-level champion, and one who can get stuff done, you have a long road ahead of you.

So, step 1: figure out who at your organization is in a position to say “we are doing this and that's that.” See what you can to get them on board. Use case studies, board members, major donors, promises of home-baked goods, to champion your cause.

• It takes time for people to change, so keep beating the drum. So you're the executive that's on board with constituent engagement, and you've pronounced “that's that” but your staff seem to be going about their business the usual way. Are you assuming it's because they just 'don't get it’ or maybe because they don't want to change their process?

Could be. But look at your internal structure and ask yourself: how are my employees incentivized? Does our culture and reward structure support collaborating to engage constituents?

Let's say your development director owns offline marketing and your director of communications owns online marketing and online giving. How would you behave if you were the development director with $100K lying around as the fiscal year winds down? Would you give it to the marketing person to use for an online stewardship effort that they could claim the “benefit” of in their bottom line, or would you pre-pay some of your future production costs to make your own future bottom line look better? I bet the answer would depend on how your performance would be measured.

So step 2: Ask yourself: How do we measure staff performance? Do they each have a number to meet? Or, are they collaborating toward an organization-wide goal and everyone wins if the goals are met?

• One department or one program at a time is just fine. Got a particularly stubborn (and maybe influential) detractor? Not in a position to change that equation? That's ok.

So Step 3: Change what you can.

In fact, even if you don't have that problem, you probably don't want to swallow the whole constituent engagement cake whole. Start with digestible bites. That's how we do it when we're working with our customers to move to CRM – in phases.

Maybe you can bring together the events and advocacy folks, and get them to create a combined calendar--sort out the “this name is mine” business (let's say we can all agree that during a legislative session, advocacy wins if someone has to).

Or, bring together your communications and development teams to align offline production schedules with online message planning. Yes, your offline folks need to know 4-6 months in advance. How do you make that happen?

Your daily affirmation:

A final point here, and I want everyone to look in the mirror and repeat this until you believe it:

Unless you've never heard the word CRM, you are not behind yet.

Constituent-engagement is the holy grail of our industry. Yes, there are the leaders and the laggards, but, if you are thinking about it, dreaming about it, trying it, you're in the race. Don't feel like you are lagging behind because everyone else has it figured out. They don't. Even the fancy pants commercial folks don't have it all figured out. For proof, ask one of their CMOs or CTOs about social media interaction attribution (and duck).

Interested to see how fellow nonprofit are measuring up (and rating themselves) in the CRM race? Check out Convio's Integrated Multi-Channel Marketing Report.

Howdy, Connection Cafe readers!

Have you ever wondered who else works at Convio? Behind the mysterious software curtain? I mean... the people who actually engineer our products.  Or those helpful folks who you've only ever spoken to by phone and always wanted to meet?  Well, today is your lucky day.  As a staffer working out of our DC office, I decided to relocate to Texas for a month and spend some time working from Convio's Austin offices (eating breakfast tacos, getting to know my colleagues and such).  Along with our trusty marketing intern, Sara (Hi Sarah!), I put together a little video about two of Convio's behind the scenes superstars.

So pull up a chair, marvel at how good my hair looks, and get to know Convions Chris and Bonnie!

Convio and eleven other organizations recently joined forces to create the first-ever Integrated Marketing Advisory Board (IMAB) for the nonprofit sector. Organizations participating in IMAB with Convio are: Amergent; Avalon Consulting Group; Barton Cotton; CDR Fundraising Group; Donordigital; Grizzard Communications; hjc; Merkle; Russ Reid; SCA Direct; THD.  Now, you may look at that list and say, “Wow, don’t they all compete?” and the answer would be, “Yes, we do”.  But that’s the beauty of this group—we are leaving that at the door and really working together to try and advance what ALL of us feel is a critical factor for success for our nonprofit clients.  And we recognize that the sum of our knowledge is far more powerful than each of us as individual organizations.

As IMAB Chairman Michael Johnston of hjc says, “Integrated marketing is quickly emerging as an essential approach to constituent engagement for nonprofits. With the advent of social media and mobile technologies, more and more donors, volunteers and advocates are using multiple channels to interact with the nonprofits they support. It’s critical for nonprofits to understand those different channels, the relationships across those channels and to engage with their supporters across multiple channels.”

Convio’s recent survey, Integrated Multi-Channel Marketing, supports Michael’s statement. In the survey we found that organization size and integrated marketing sophistication do not correlate, and that leadership focus, the right metrics, processes and technology are essential to success.   

A main component of IMAB is our blog. There my fellow board members and I aim to foster discussion and dialogue across the sector, and provide insights into integrated marketing and outline the tools and channels to get the job done. At the end of the day, we want it to be the go-to resource on integrated marketing for the nonprofit sector.

My first IMAB blog post is the tale of two retailers: one that can’t remember that my husband and I have different last names and one that can. You guess which one my Visa bill is more loyal to. The lesson, as I state in my post, is: “a commitment to building an integrated marketing experience and really understanding your buyers or donors is the best investment you can make in long term marketing return and customer loyalty.”

Read more and start sharing your ideas about integrated marketing by visiting the IMAB blog.

This morning I have the good fortune to be presenting to a sold-out crowd at the Social Media for Nonprofits Conference in NYC. I’m excited – I think it will be the largest audience I’ve presented to and the company I’m in is nothing shy of spectacular.

While I know we’d all love to be hanging out in NYC together, unfortunately it’s just not feasible. As what I hope is the next best thing, I’m sharing the content from a few of my slides for today and a some notes on them.

There’s a frequent misconception about social marketing that if you say something, anything, you are being proactive. Not so my friends! Celebrities, athletes, mere mortals like you and I say stuff on social networks all the time but that doesn’t mean it’s truly proactive. Did we think about it for more than 10 seconds before writing it? Probably not. We’re probably just posting about how delicious that QuickFire on Top Chef looks.

To be really and truly proactive with you social marketing, you need goals, a plan and the tools to do it.

• Goals: Are you trying to increase awareness? Or are you trying to engage new donors? Knowing your end goal, one that supports your overall business plan, is the first step to strategic proactive marketing. Bonus tip: Have a SMART goal.
• Plan: This goes hand-in-hand with your goal. Consider your timeframe and other channels that include complementary content. Create a comprehensive, integrated plan that includes all your channels, milestones and desired results. Remember to plan far enough in advance that web pages, graphics, print materials, etc can actually be produced to support your initiative.
• Tools: Just like direct mail requires paper and postage, good social marketing has its own requirements. Google Analytics, custom Facebook landing pages, updated Twitter and YouTube backgrounds and a social media management tool can all contribute to your success and ability to measure that success.

For more social media goodness, follow #sm4np on Twitter today, check out Convio's social media resource page or explore our social media related Connection Cafe posts.

I don’t know how many of you are old enough to remember Steve Martin in the movie “The Jerk” but there is a really funny scene where he explodes into exuberant jubilation when he realizes his name has “made” the phone book—he dances around and says, “The new phone book is here, I’m somebody now!”. I kind of get that same feeling when we publish the most generous cities list every year. I wait impatiently like a kid on Christmas to see who’s coming out on top.

This year’s winner, Seattle, has a long tradition on our list, but never in the pole position. Ironically, as I was flying earlier this month there was a big article in the Airline magazine about the “philanthropy web” in Seattle—mostly rooted in , yes, you guessed it, former (and a few current) Microsoft employees. So what makes Seattle (and neighboring Bellevue at #9) our big winner?

Well, it isn’t more philanthropic in general. The Washington DC metro area far outpaces them in terms of overall philanthropy (online and otherwise). Salt Lake City, UT outpaces every other city in America with a whopping 68% of households that give.

So what is Seattle’s secret?

It’s one of the most wired cities in America.  And although it fell from its 2009 #1 Wired position to #3 in 2010, it still ranks #1 in two of three categories:

1. It has the highest percentage of homes that are accessing the internet via high speed broadband at 4%
2. It has the highest number of broadband service providers at 13 (apparently they like choice in their broadband providers in Seattle)

In the final category, highest number of wi-fi spots per capita, Seattle ranks 3rd at 7 per person. After losing its #1 ranking in 2009, I am sure they are throwing up new Starbucks locations like crazy.  In order to catch Atlanta in this ranking, they will need to get to 16 wi-fi hot spots per person.  That’s a lot of Starbucks.

While our ranking doesn’t exactly map to America’s Most Wired Cities, there is definitely correlation.  The Washington DC metro area makes both rankings with DC, Alexandria and Arlington on our list, as does the San Francisco Bay Area with Berkeley and San Francisco, also both on our list. These communities may not give more in total, but they definitely give more on line.  Perhaps it’s their “wired” nature?  I suspect these same places also pay more bills online and buy more goods and services over the internet, but I haven’t seen those statistics.

Can’t quite figure out how St. Louis, Missouri snuck in there, but I’ll have to ask Gene Austin, our CEO who hails from there.  I am sure he has a theory on that. 

Getting people to respond to surveys is a hard nut to crack. Surveys, specifically online, get lost in the deluge of work and personal email, texts, Facebook updates, RSS feeds etc. And, honestly the surveyors don’t always give good and simple reasons to participate. People want to know...why is it important and what’s in it for them?

Well, here's a survey you should take as a nonprofit professional and a few good (and simple) reasons why you should participate.

1. You want to know how other organizations fundraising programs performed in 2011.
2. You want to see where your organization stacks up in terms of goals for 2012.
3. You want to know how other organization’s boards are engaged in fundraising.

If you answered YES to any of the questions above, you should take the The 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey conducted by the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC). The report that will come out in early April will give you statistically significant and comprehensive findings that you can leverage to make informed decisions for your organization. Will your organization ever have the budget to conduct a national study to look at how boards are engaged in fundraising? Probably not – so take advantage of a group that will do it for you. The only thing we are asking in return is for you to take survey! The survey is open through January 28 and takes just 10 to 20 minutes.  To make things easy, the questions do not ask for any specific amounts or values.

About the NRC
The NRC and the 2012 Nonprofit Fundraising Survey is a joint project between The National Center for Charitable Statistics, The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Campbell Rinker, Indiana University Center on Philanthropy, Convio, Blackbaud, and Giving USA Foundation. It measures the impact of economic conditions within the community on fundraising efforts for nonprofit organizations and private institutions, compared to previous years. The seven participating organizations each have, at a minimum, a decade of direct experience collecting information from nonprofits concerning charitable receipts, fundraising practices and/or grantmaking activities.

The other morning I was watching Bill Gates on various news programmes talking about his annual State of the World letter. In one interview, he made reference to how good he feels about helping those in need.  A simple point but one that we shouldn’t forget as fundraisers.

A similar point was made at the Institute of Fundraising London Conference last year by fundraising trainer Rob Woods . In his working life he was often asked about how the most successful fundraisers did it? How did they get round that deep rooted embarrassment (especially among us reserved Brits!) about asking someone else, particularly wealthy donors, for money? He cited the example of one top fundraiser who answered that he implicitly believed that it would improve that person’s wellbeing if they donated money, therefore it wasn’t an issue and as a result they were more convincing in their ‘asks’. The donor would feel better, so he was doing them a favour.

I’m sure we can all come up with a few examples where we’ve done something good and got that warm, fuzzy feeling inside. There are many UK TV programmes honing in on that – The Secret Millionaire, DIY SOS, to name just a couple.

Embracing the feel good factor, late last year the Samaritans launched their Feel Good Friday workplace fundraising day which takes place next Friday 3 February, where employees can take part in feel good activities while raising money.

So how can we, as charities, make the most of that warm glow?

• Remind people of how they are helping.  Whether via social media channels, emails, direct mail, show them how their money has been used and how it has made a difference.
• Don’t forget to remind people of the need. It is important to get that balance right between trying to make people feel good and therefore only focusing on the positive, and focusing too exclusively on the need, which makes people feel bad. The former can lead to the donor not feeling needed; the latter to feeling they can’t make a difference.  There’s an interesting blog on this out there by Jeff Brooks.
• Create a good welcome. When people have taken that all-important first step of choosing to support your organisation, make their first experience a positive one. Reassure them they’ve made a good decision and show why they should continue to reinvest. Have a look at the Fundraising Detective blog for their top 5 tips on what makes a good donor welcome pack.
• And remember to say thank you! Sounds so simple but still astonishes me how many times I hear stories of friends who have signed up for direct debits to charities and not even received a simple acknowledgement, leaving them wondering if the payment has even gone through and less keen to renew the following year.

So go on, help spread the glow!

Almost every day I see some sort of “These cities made the top 10 because … they are the greatest places to live, they have the most active lifestyles for singles, they raise the most organic chickens,” and so on. If your city makes one of these lists, that is great and good reason to celebrate! Unless, of course, you live in Austin, TX like I do and are seeing the floods of people moving here because of all the “our city is so great” lists we’ve been making as of late. Oh well, the natural ebb of all things great... it’s hard to keep them a secret in today’s cyber world!

On the complete flip side, if your city made the top 10 because of the “worst places to buy shoes” or “worst places for BBQ,” then it takes on a whole different twist. Typically people in those cities aren’t pounding their chests and shouting “we’re so great” from the rooftops.

So what’s the point? When you’re in a city of great, be proud! If you’re not, do something! 

Today we announced our 4th annual ranking of most generous online U.S. cities. Not surprisingly, the top 10 cities didn’t change much year over year from 2010 to 2011. Economic influences have been consistent over the past couple of years, and the online giving numbers stay true to the course.

However there were a few moves of note: Seattle, WA climbed the ladder three spots to be this year’s #1 and also showing northwest corner pride, Bellevue, WA made it back into the top 10 at #9 after slipping to #11 in 2010. Cambridge, MA fell three to #5 and Minneapolis, MN fell out of the top 10 for the first time into the #14 spot.

Our report ranks the 273 cities with total population of more than 100,000 based on per capita online giving and total amount donated through Convio’s online marketing and fundraising suites. The average gift size remained steady in 2011 compared to 2010 at $65, as more than $435 million was donated by people who reside in these major cities. Signs of consumer confidence rising and bank accounts opening, the donors in these cities increased their total online contributions by more than 11 percent over 2010!

As for the bottom 10 cities, similar to the top, there wasn’t a ton of movement, but one surprise is Newark, NJ that slid 18 spots to #267. Bottoming out? Brownsville, TX. After some upward momentum in 2010, they regained their ‘low man on the totem pole’ ranking for 3 out of the 4 years we’ve been reporting this data.

And here’s my challenge to you. Make a difference! While we’re often limited in having a profound influence on outcomes, nonprofits and causes of all kinds are counting on us for every bit we can contribute, whether it’s our time or our dollars. Make your city proud and be proud, no matter where your city ranked in 2011. It’s a new year and you have an opportunity to upwardly influence your city’s 2012 ranking. And since we’re talking about online giving here, I know where you’re reading this so, you are in a perfect position to get started on the right foot with a right mouse click while the year is still young.

As for Austin, the city of all things great, we didn’t make it into the top 10 most generous online U.S. cities. We came in at #12, 3 spots better than 2010 and certainly not too shabby, but that’s not good enough. I, for one, am going to do something about that!

Where did your city land? Check out the complete large city ranking at: www.convio.com/onlinecities.

Sandy Schmieder

For the first podcast interview of 2012, I'm excited to have a chance to share a conversation I had with Sandy Schmieder, a Senior Project Manager on Convio's Services team. While Sandy has only been at Convio for about a year and a half, she is already one of our most valued project managers and has made huge contributions to our team. She was recently honored at our annual party by receiving a Convio Star award for Client Focus. This award is given each year to Convio employees who have been nominated by their peers and reviewed by the Executive team. Sandy definitely deserves the recognition!

Connection Cafe Podcast 5 - Sandy Schmieder

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