NFP Treats: Goodies From Around the Web

Here are some goodies I've come across in NFP circles over the past few days...

Facebook

*Does Facebook have a positive impact on Fundraising?  Recent reseach by Idealware  suggests its hit-and-miss. Here's the article by Nonprofit Quarterly 

*Back when you started out with social media, did you accidentally set up a facebook profile for your organization, instead of a page? Beth Kanter shares some resources that tell you how to fix it

Volunteers

*Do you want to really engage your volunteers? Of course you do! Leaderquest's Jack Shand proposes ten straightforward steps for effective volunteer engagement

Millenials

*Are Millennials And Associations The Oil And Water Of Today?  According to Jeff Hurt, young folks sure instigating change where the association world is concerned

Crisis-Management

*Is a crisis threatening to cause real damage to your organization?  Here are five guidelines to help you  do some effective damage control

Have a great weekend!

Treats of the Week

It's been a busy week with the launch of our most recent NFP Pulse Survey on Revenue Streams, but I did manage to dig up quite a few great reads for you on the #nonprofit web.

Click to read more ...

What Keeps You Awake At Night Part 4: Engagement Equity Erosion - What the Heck is it and How Can Nonprofits Avoid it Through Volunteerism?

According to our recent NFP Pulse on volunteerism, volunteer levels are steady or are on the rise for many NPO's across Canada. Speaking with ED’s from across Canada on the trends and issues that are affecting their associations confirmed this trend.

So what’s the problem, you might well ask?

Well, a few of the ED’s I spoke to have admitted to having developed the opposite challenge:  As one individual aptly put it, “we have volunteers coming out the yin yang.” 

Why?  Volunteers benefit from experience, networking and the ability to actively roll up their sleeves and help their NFP achieve its’ goals.  It let's them be "part of the group" and helps them to feel engaged with the organization and what it is doing. 

In many professional and trade associations in particular, the networking benefits are an even greater draw.  The fact that many employers pay membership dues and allow employees to belong to and be active through volunteering in professional or trade associations doesn’t hurt, either.

So the issue in this context is, in fact, too many volunteers and not enough opportunities.

In some ways, this is a great problem to have, but there are inherent challenges as well. Specifically, the individuals I spoke with are having a hard time finding the best possible people to fill the roles that need to be filled without alienating the other would-be volunteers and potentially eroding their desire to engage with the association. 

In other words, they are risking having would-be volunteers feel "left out" and/or unimportant...a big no-no in the nonprofit world.

If you wanted to be fancy about it, one might call this phenomenon Engagement Equity Erosion...Yes, I thought of it myself ;).  What I mean by this is that engagement is a asset that can be built up or diminished over time depending on the choices and actions made by an organization.

One of the ED’s I spoke with is addressing this challenge by asking would-be volunteers to undergo an application process which allows for individuals to be matched to the opportunities best suited to their experience and goals. Another individual emphasized the importance of putting extremely specific terms of reference when advertising a given opportunity to encourage a would-be applicants to weed themselves out...

But I'm not convinced that taking these steps will prevent engagement equity erosion from occuring. 

Are you? I would love to hear from anyone out there that has run into a similar issue:

Engagement is at the core of the value proposition for most associations – How do you avoid engagement equity erosion through volunteerism in your nonprofit?

Photo thanks to charamelody on Flickr

Volunteerism in a Changing World: How is Your NFP Adapting?

Volunteerism is an evolving phenomenon that is having a significant impact on associations and charities alike.  Whether they manage your organization at the board or committee level, support your staff, or carry out your mission through their day-to-day activities, volunteers are clearly the lifeblood of the not-for-profit sector.

We received a lot of great topic suggestions for our upcoming NFP Pulse but a surprising number of you asked for a survey on volunteerism.  Specifically, you wanted to know what other NFP’s are doing in the way of volunteer recruitment and retention in an era where changing demographics, priorities and lifestyles are conflicting in many ways with the traditional way in which people have volunteered in the past.

The March edition of the Not-for-Profit Pulse will be launched next week and we hope you will take the opportunity to participate.  Your input will be used to help you and other NFP's to better understand how associations and charities are positionning themselves to succeed in light of this evolving trend. 

More information about the NFP Pulse can be found here. As always, participants will be provided with a free copy of the results as a thanks for their participation. 

Stay tuned, more info to come soon!