Messaging on a Mission

You've probably heard a thousand times that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a valuable and essential digital marketing tool. But do you know how it works and how your organization can reap its benefits? In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we dive into the importance of SEO and how to implement best practices to make your brand more discoverable than ever online. Key Takeaways Who your audiences are, where you can find them, and how to get your brand in front of them are the aspects of digital marketing that everyone in charge of an organization should know about. Do your research to understand who your audiences are and the best way to reach them. Keyword, search phrase, or query is whatever you're searching on Google. It can be as many words or as few words as you like. The longer the keyword is, the better it is, but the fewer people search for it. Knowing the right things to do, how to get started, where to go, and staying up to date with SEO best practices are the challenges small organizations have when they think about SEO. There are several digital marketing strategies to get traffic to a website. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is advertising running paid ads, while SEO (organic, free listings) is a way to get free traffic. Not-for-profit organizations should spend some time thinking about SEO optimization to avoid missing out on potential eyeballs that could be seeing their organizations and learning more about them. When thinking about SEM, determine how much you're willing to spend to make a profit. Then play around and test it all out to see what works. Push more money into that and pull money away from what's not working. Some of the best practices to implement when optimizing your website for SEO include: (1) adding more text to every page on your website, (2) writing for the readers and not for Google, (3) keeping the content original, (4) including keywords naturally, (5) getting quality backlinks, and (6) improving visibility by placing your content at the top of the page Be patient, and don't try to be deceptive. Digital marketing takes time, so don't expect immediate results. Also, be very careful with backlinks. Build backlinks from sites related to you and avoid building the wrong type of backlinks, as they can harm your SEO. To get backlinks, invest in an SEO tool, research your competitors, find the ones that are authoritative and relevant to your brand and figure out what they do to get the backlinks. If you've got a list of places where you'd love them to link to your site, reach out to them. You need Google Analytics to know how traffic behaves on your website and what happens after it leaves and gets to your website. However, since google algorithm updates change constantly, you may need to click and look everywhere on Google Analytics to learn about all the information you need. About Our Guest Brandon Leibowitz is the founder of SEO Optimizer - a digital marketing company that focuses on helping small and mid-sized businesses get more online traffic, which converts into clients, sales, leads, etc. He got his start in digital marketing in 2007 after graduating from college with a degree in Business Marketing. since the past 14 years, he has been helping websites rank higher on Google using SEO strategies. I am certain that he has plenty of expertise in the business world that we can apply to any organization, whether they are for profit or not for profit.   Useful Links https://seooptimizers.com/ https://seooptimizers.com/gift

Kim Sorrell discusses her book, Love Is, which is about her year-long quest to figure out the true meaning of love. She talks about that journey and what she's learned about leading with love and incorporating it into your message.    Episode Guest(s): Kim Sorrelle is an entrepreneur, director of a humanitarian organization, a popular speaker, and the author of two books. Her first book, Cry Until You Laugh is about her breast cancer experience and her husband's battle with pancreatic cancer after being diagnosed four months apart. Her second book, Love Is, chronicles her year-long quest to figure out the true meaning of love, a sometimes funny, sometimes scary, always enlightening journey that led to life-changing discoveries found mainly on the streets of Haiti.    Key Takeaways: Love is walking, talking, breathing, living, and giving. It is all-encompassing. It is part of your being. It is your being. So when you understand that love is so much more than a feeling that you get, I think that's when you can start to understand what love truly is. Instead of WWJD (What Would Jesus Do), what if it was WWLD (What Would Love Do?), then you might come up with a different answer than what you think because love is 100% authentic. To get love into your message, focus on people, not the numbers. The numbers don't mean much if there's no love involved. For your message to sound authentic, you and your organization need to be authentic. When you love, authentically, when you truly care about people. When messaging during the holidays, first look at your own space in your own life and what holidays mean to you, and where those triggers are that maybe you can get rid of. Then think of your campaign and what you want to project. What is the message that you want to deliver? Everybody's looking for dollars, but you want the right dollars. If you do it the right way, they come. It is a struggle, but making it real and being love, showing love in your message, separates you really from the past. Useful Links: Company website: https://www.kimsorrelle.com Email: kim@kimsorrelle.com   https://www.facebook.com/Kim-Sorrelle-392015434145527 https://www.linkedin.com/in/kim-langlois-sorrelle-11079523/ https://www.instagram.com/kimsorrelle/?hl=en https://twitter.com/Kim_Sorrelle https://www.facebook.com/ksorrelle https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa097sxQXqa9Oafbay9FCiw   Book(s):      Love Is https://www.amazon.com/Love-Yearlong-Experiment-Living-Corinthians/dp/0825446740/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1640388089&sr=8-2   Cry Until You Laugh https://www.amazon.com/s?k=cry+until+you+laugh+kim+sorrelle&crid=33PTBPU1QIXXV&sprefix=cry+unti%2Caps%2C104&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_1_8

For many, the topic of today's episode ranks right up there with having a root canal, attending a party filled with multiple exes, or fighting city hall. Yet, speaking in public about the work of your organization is one of the most powerful tools for getting your message out in the world.  Our guest today gives us lots of concrete steps we can take to get better at public speaking.   Episode Guest(s): Brenden Kumarasamy is the founder of MasterTalk; he coaches ambitious executives & entrepreneurs to become the top 1% of communicators in their industry. He also has a popular YouTube channel called MasterTalk, with the goal of providing free access to communication tools for everyone in the world.   Key Takeaways: Origin of the fear of public speaking. For most of us, school presentations are where we learn to speak in a formal setting, but we see it as a chore rather than a means of communication.   How to become comfortable speaking in public:  You must understand that you cannot eliminate fear completely when it comes to presentations; instead, it is a dichotomy to manage. When you prioritize the message you want to convey over the fear you have, the whole process becomes easier.   Communication exercises to improve your game: Pick a random word and create a presentation out of thin air. This helps you to think fast on your feet.   Think about a question you think the world would ask you about your expertise. Make a list of about ten of your loved ones and send them a video of you appreciating them.   Reasons Introverts are better at communication than they realize: They are better at pausing. They are great listeners. They are accessible.   Advice for people who aren't comfortable with being the center of attention: Practice having small conversations and getting instant feedback from people; this will help you build up toward being with a bigger audience.   Speaking to a camera is a lot different than speaking to an audience in person. You don't have the energy from the audience when you're presenting online, nor is there a need to alternate eye contact with the audience. You have to consciously keep your energy up to grab the attention of your listeners online.   Finally, prepare yourself every day by answering random questions; doing this helps you solve the problem of content and gives you time to focus on delivery.     Useful Links: Company website: mastertalk.ca Email: kumarasamy.brenden@gmail.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/brendenkumarasamy YouTube: youtube.com/c/mastertalks

Crises occur when they're least expected, which is why crisis communications are necessary for every organization. Although life would be so much easier if emergencies arrived with a fair warning, you and your organization would be better off having an effective plan to help avoid catastrophe and permanent reputation damage. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, David Oates, a renowned Crisis PR expert, sheds light on how individuals and organizations can avoid potential PR disasters and reveals the best things to do during pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis situations.   Episode Guest(s): David Oates has  more than 25 years of strategic public relations experience dealing with a wide array of adverse public events. Starting as a U.S. Navy Public Affairs Officer and later as a corporate Chief Marketing Officer and non-profit President, he excels in expertly addressing a myriad of crises spanning military, government, corporate, charity, and start-up environments. His crisis communications experiences include handling employee and executive misconduct, cybersecurity attacks, product recalls, mass layoffs, large-scale accidents, criminal investigations, and civil litigation matters.   Dave has authored three Amazon e-books and co-produced two LinkedIn Learning courses: Crisis Communication for HR and HR Communication in Today's Fluid Workplace. He is an accredited PR specialist (APR) who received his MBA from San Diego State University in 2004 and his bachelor's degree from the University of Maryland in 1991.   Key Takeaways: The biggest common mistakes organizations or individuals make during a crisis are: (1) being the last person to know when somebody's chattering about you online; (2) providing an inadequate response, such as responding angrily, overly emotionally, or not responding at all; (3) not following up. Two cardinal rules in any crisis communication response are empathy and following up with action. Don't expect one statement, tweet, post, or press release is going to solve the matter. Oftentimes, there's an element of truth in an accusation. You and your organization may become less credible, and restoring your reputation will become challenging when you don't address the element of truth in the accusation. However, with empathetic responses and regular follow-ups, you can quickly rectify the misunderstanding or repair a lot of damage. Respond proactively during a pre-crisis state if the damage will hurt more when you hold back information or delay your response. During a crisis, deal with any negative media mentions immediately and consistently, as the damage it causes will only increase as time lapses. Your employees can make or break anything you say publicly. Prioritize them during a crisis and convey the same empathetic and action-oriented message to empower them, as they can become powerful messengers for you. If you're guilty as charged, own up to your mistake, be empathetic, take actions to fix the error, and avoid reoccurrence because you won't get to have a second chance to restore your reputation. Lawsuits may come regardless of whether you state an apology or not. However, apologizing will reduce your legal liability risk more often than not. When you have to respond to a crisis but can't disclose certain information for legal or security reasons, tell them why you can't and what you're doing to support the event. Always be prepared for a crisis. To do this: (1) figure out your top inherent risks and develop communication scenarios that align with your disaster recovery plans; (2) delegate responsibilities and minimize miscommunication; (3) train people who will be involved in the crisis management process; (4) occasionally go through disaster recovery drills and make crisis communications part of that. Learn from the crisis, and make necessary adjustments to avoid recurrence. Monitor media outlets for potential risks so you won't be the last to know when your reputation is being called to question online.   Useful Links: http://www.publicrelationssecurity.com   https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidoates/

The idea of the annual report fills people with yawns, dread, and thoughts about practically anything else. It doesn't have to be that way! In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, an expert explains why the annual report can not only be a powerful tool for telling your story and building your brand, but it can also supply your organization with great content to last you throughout the year!   Episode Guest(s): Katharine Ramsden has helped leading organizations and their leadership teams tell their stories for over 30 years. Her career began as a research analyst at a consulting firm and, after earning a master's degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism, her career continued with positions in public relations, corporate communications, and executive communications for three Wall Street firms. Following eight years as managing director of a boutique marketing research and communications consulting practice, she joined Thomson Reuters, where she served in a range of senior corporate communications, executive communications, thought leadership, and publishing roles for nearly a decade. Most recently, she has been an independent consultant serving a variety of clients in corporate, academic, and nonprofit organizations. Her award-winning work has spanned annual reports, speechwriting, and the creation of thought leadership vehicles (white papers, publications) to build and enhance the reputation of organizations and their executives. In addition to her master's degree from Columbia, she has a bachelor of arts in European studies from Mount Holyoke College.   Key Takeaways: The best annual reports show, not tell. For example, use compelling infographics. Tell real stories, by incorporating real people who are impacted or involved in the work. Use any combination of testimonials, case studies, client stories, or video interviews. Highlight your mission and goals. Make the connection for your audience by weaving your mission and goals throughout the report. Professional, custom photography and design elements and videography matter. Stock photography has its merits, and it can be cheaper, but custom imagery paints a more compelling and engaging branded experience. Release your annual report in line with your calendar of events. The best digital annual reports are virtual brand ambassadors. When your annual report is interesting, tells your story, and is user-friendly, it has the added benefit of adding validity to your overall brand credibility. Less is more. Copy should be well written, with tight short paragraphs, well divided by headlines. Do not over-emphasize your leadership and the board. Rather, focus on the work, the people who do the work, the people who benefit from the work. Don't miss the opportunity to use and reuse annual report content across all your channels and throughout the year. Rather than thinking of it as a one-and-done, think about it as an opportunity to create content that can go the distance for you. It's more efficient, it's less expensive, and it's way more effective.   Useful Links: Katharine Ramsden https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharineramsden/ Great examples of annual reports https://www.digdeep.org/annual-report-2021 https://annualreports.machildrensalliance.org/

For organizations to thrive, they have to have intergenerational teams and constituents. With that, however, can come to some unexpected communication challenges. Understanding how to speak to everyone based on their specific needs is the hallmark of good communication. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we hear about ways to make intergenerational communication clear and effective.   Episode Guest(s): Peter Yawitz (peteryawitz.com) is the President of Clear Communication (clearcommunication.net) and founder, host, author, and advice columnist at Advice from Someone Else's Dad (someoneelsesdad.com). He has been a communication coach, consultant, teacher, and facilitator for global organizations for over 30 years. For ten years before that, he was an eager young employee in fast-paced American workplaces wishing for advice on how to make smart work decisions and fit in. Today, he trains C-suite executives, managers, juniors, and teams around the world, helping them understand how to communicate, manage upward and sideways in a company, and navigate the personalities, priorities, and peculiarities of their workplaces.   The second edition of his award-winning book Flip-Flops and Microwaved Fish: Navigating the Dos and Don'ts of Workplace Culture (Greenleaf Book Group) was released and contained every piece of practical advice imaginable about how to communicate in a hybrid workplace. He won the Bronze Medal at the Axiom Book Awards and was a finalist at the Foreward Indies.   A native New Yorker, he received an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Peter also won the 2005 Nightlight Award for Outstanding Musical Comedy Performance from the New York City cabaret, jazz, and comedy critics and the Backstage Magazine Bistro Award for comedy writing.

Writing Intentionally   Episode Summary: Writing is an essential aspect of our lives since we learned our ABCs. We write every day; whether we're drafting a document for our colleagues at work, writing an email to a client, or texting a loved one on Instagram, it is a unique skill.   However, it should be done purposefully. How do you pass your message with clarity if you're writing for a group of people? This episode of Messaging on a Mission reveals insights from Erin Lebacqz – an expert in writing intentionally. She sheds light on how people can communicate clearly and gain confidence through their writing.   Episode Guest(s): Erin Lebacqz helps people write with clarity, confidence, and emotional intelligence. Erin's curriculum and book, High-Value Writing, captures Erin's 25 years of experience working with business and academic writers worldwide. Her interactive sessions engage learners in purposeful discussions that respect learners' desire for intellectual growth while also providing practical strategies they can immediately apply in the workplace.   Erin has trained and taught in the United States and Asia in the finance, manufacturing, trades, non-profit, higher education, healthcare, and public sectors. Clients have included the U.S. Forest Service, the European Commission, UC Davis, DeGorontalo Independent Media Outlet in Indonesia, Wuhan University in China, CalHR, city and county governments throughout California, and international customs agencies.   Erin developed her expertise in both the theory and practice of learning through twenty years of instructional and administrative service in public higher education in California, New Mexico, and abroad. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations from UC San Diego, a Secondary Education Teaching Credential with an emphasis on intercultural and multilingual learning from San Jose State University, and a Master of Arts degree in Professional Writing from the University of New Mexico. She is a certified ICBI Intercultural Global Coach and a Master Trainer in workplace ESL using ELTS' Peace Corps-endorsed Color Vowel Chart system and has won awards such as Inspirational Teacher of the Year. Erin is functionally bilingual in Spanish/English.   Key Takeaways: Writing is situational. Your writing should be based on the reader and the situation, not on some random rules and norms.   There is not one correct way to write. You should implement different writing for different scenarios or circumstances.   You can have more impact on your voice when you write confidently and flexibly. Be the authority over your writing and analyze the situation to determine the purpose.   When you're writing to someone, you've got your reader or listener receiving your words in two ways with two different types of meaning. First, they'll get the informational meaning, and secondly, the emotional meaning.   If you're writing to a large group of people, your writing should be clear, simple, and concise to remove ambiguity.   If your point might be contentious or unpleasant to the recipient, try longer, emotional writing to convey they message. You should opt for shorter, more concise writing when addressing other matters.       Useful Links: Erin Lebacqz - High-Value Writing - https://www.highvaluewriting.com/ https://www.instagram.com/leebacks/?hl=en https://www.cpshr.us/consultants/erin-lebacqz

When we think of the messages we send out in the world, we always think about the words. But how often do we think of photography? Not enough. Your message is more than what you say with vowels and consonants. It's also about the story you tell, the emotions you show, and the authenticity you create with photography. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission we speak with renown photographer Joel Benjamin on how to think about photography when telling your story.   Episode Guest(s): Joel Benjamin is a commercial and editorial photographer, known for his bright, authentic and energetic images and ideas.   A former advertising creative director, Joel has been shooting for over 25 years and has a busy studio in the Fort Point section of Boston.  Joel draws on his sense of style, color and honesty to compose striking images that capture the essence of the people and things he is shooting. Known for his ability to make everyone he works with comfortable, Joel works in a relaxed and collaborative way, ensuring images that tell a story and capture a moment.   His clients run the range from Drizly to Sara Campbell fashion from Biogen to Brown University.   Key Takeaways:   Compile a library of ideas to help inform current and future campaigns and keep everyone visually on the same page.   Always start with a shot list. If you budget eight minutes per shot, that can give you a sense of how long the day will run as well as help you prioritize.   At events, get all your photos done in the first few hours. No need to pay a photographer for the last hour, because one wants to see what happens toward the end!   If you use employees in your photoshoots, you must have them sign release forms, because employees move on and they don't always leave their goodwill behind.    If you have to use stock, seek out smaller stock agencies or really find a style of photography that you like and really pursue that, such as natural daylight.   When selecting from a group of similar shots, first weed out the ones that are not usable, then look for something special in the ones that are. Remember that there is rarely just one shot that will work better than all the others. Don't worry about finding the perfect one every time.   During headshots, involve the subjects with the photographer's work so they feel part of the process and are more at ease with the photographer's work.   When looking for a photographer (if it's not our guest Joel!), ask other people recommendations, look at websites and Instagram accounts.  It's always good to have a meeting or phone call with the photographer to make sure you're all on the same page.   During a photoshoot, be open to where the day takes you.  Maybe there's going to be things more brilliant you haven't thought of, and that's really always a joy for everybody when you end up with something way more than you anticipated.   Useful Links: Joel Benjamin https://joelbenjamin.com https://www.instagram.com/joelbphoto/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-benjamin-4734614/

It's impossible to go it alone; especially when your organization is lean and your to-do lists are fat! Enter “the consultant.” How do mission-driven organizations find the right one though? Today's guest is the co-founder of Nonprofit.ist an online community that connects consultants with the mission-driven organizations they can help.    Episode Guest(s): Heather Yandow is a collaborative co-conspirator and creative thinker with over 20 years of experience in the nonprofit world.   Inspired by issues that touch her heart and organizations invested in relationships, Heather gets joy out of helping groups move forward from chaos to clarity. Phrases like “adaptive leadership” and “change management” are sure to get her mind churning.   Before Heather joined Third Space in 2010, she was the Director of Development and Communications with the NC Conservation Network, a statewide network of over 100 organizations focused on protecting North Carolina's environment and public health.   With a personal motto of “just do it,” Heather identifies problems and dreams up actionable solutions. This talent has led to many projects: Heather is the founder of Nonprofit.ist, an online resource that helps pair nonprofits with the right consultants; a co-founder of Beehive Collective, a Raleigh-based giving circle; and the creator of the Individual Donor Benchmark Report. Key Takeaways: Reasons for hiring a consultant: (1) you're dealing with a question that's outside your expertise; (2) you have a persistent challenge that won't go away; and (3) even though you may have the skillset on your staff, you want an outside person to come in and help.   A clear understanding of your challenge and a clear understanding and agreement inside the organization of what kind of person you want to work with helps you find the right person.   Types of engagements: (1) an expert to come in and tell you how it should be done; (2) a facilitator who's going to help the organization have good conversations that are going to lead you down a pathway to answer; (3) a very technical person that you can just hand everything off to and not worry about it.   RFPs do NOT give more people access to the work. Only larger-staff consultants typically have time to fill out RFPs. Instead, consider RFCs (request for conversations).    However, the good part of RFPs is that they include (1) a written understanding of what your challenges are, and what your parameters are; (2) a clear description of the problem and a clear description of what success looks like; (3) some thoughts about timing or at least a timeline, and (4) a budget associated with it.   When consultants are pushed on you by a Board member: Inform them that your policy is to at least two or three different organizations about this potential work. Have clarity around your process and framework for making the decision. For example, “We need someone who is a good fit, with X qualifications and Y kind of experience.”    For consultants: Figure out where you really want to be working. How are you going to say no or not right now? Or it's not your work, how will you introduce them to someone else? Useful Links: Nonrofit.ist Six Excuses for Ignoring Your Messaging Strategy

Some ideas are easy to communicate. Others are not as easily embraced. Our guest for this episode of Messaging on a Mission is Paul Rodney Turner, founder of Food for Life Global, the world's largest vegan food relief with 211 projects in 60 countries serving up to 2 million meals daily. We hear about his journey from monk to the leader of a global nonprofit (as well as billiards champion). Plus, we learn his views on the energetic connection between all living things—and how that connection can help us end world hunger.   Episode Guest(s): As the founder of Food for Life Global, Paul Rodney Turner is a vegan social entrepreneur trying to make the world a better place. He has more than 35 years of experience in Food Security, Food & Nutrition, World Hunger, and the Nonprofit Sector. Other credits include writing books, spending time as a former monk, winning billiards championships, and running animal sanctuaries.    Food For Life Global is the world's largest vegan food relief with 211 projects in 60  countries serving up to 2 million meals daily. In fact, Food for Life Global has served over 7.9 billion meals to date and on average can feed someone a completely freshly cooked meal for around 50 cents. They are the most cost-effective hunger-relief organization in the world, which just happens to be vegan.   Key Takeaways: There's plenty of food in the world. In fact, the world can produce, the world can feed something like two to three times the population, but they didn't ask the big question of why is there. I felt like we did have the answer. The reason is that we don't see ourselves as a global family.   The solution is that if we see ourselves as a global family, then problems like world hunger will disappear. Maybe not overnight, but very fast. That is the solution to all the problems in the world.   To help someone see your point of view, treat them as if there were a friend you are encouraging them to see things from a different perspective.   Use other topics to illustrate your own.   Factory farming or animal agriculture is the biggest contributor to global warming to environmental degradation.   Live your own life, not someone else's.   Useful Links: Food for Life Global https://ffl.org   Food Yoga https://smile.amazon.com/Food-Yoga-Nourishing-Body-Mind/dp/0985045116/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1FNYGSOSMTL3E&keywords=paul+rodney+turner&qid=1656444533&sprefix=paul+rodney+turner%2Caps%2C105&sr=8-4   The YOGA of POOL: Secrets to Becoming a Champion in Billiards and in Life https://smile.amazon.com/YOGA-POOL-becoming-Champion-Billiards/dp/0985045108/ref=sr_1_2?crid=26MVELR5I6PG4&keywords=yoga+for+billiards&qid=1656444432&sprefix=yoga+for+billards%2Caps%2C95&sr=8-2    

This episode of Messaging on a Mission, is a conversation on copywriting! Spencer Brenneman Lead Copywriter Anthon Greer sits down with Douglas Spencer to talk about why he loves copywriting, what it can do, and how to start, even when you have a block.   Episode Guest(s): Anthony Greer specializes in content writing and brand messaging development. By listening to what you're saying (and not saying), he creates content worth remembering and tells stories worth repeating. By creating engaging, optimized, on-brand content, Anthony helps you captivate your audience and convey the awesome work that you do. Anthony has a background in journalism and started his own business, AG Creative Publishing, in 2014. He's a published author, a board game lover, and a coffee addict. He earned a Bachelor's in Business Management.     Key Takeaways: Hiring a copywriter. Before hiring a copywriter, get crystal clear on why you need one. What do you want them to deliver?   Writer's Block. First, either switch to working or something different. If that's not an option, just start writing. Even if you never use it, it's important to create momentum.   DYI Copywriting. Start with why it's important to say what it is you have to say. Then think about your audience. Consider creating personas, imagined details about an audience member's life, such as what they do, how old they are, what they do in their spare time, etc. Then write to that person.   Know who you are. Make certain that whatever you write is in line with who you are as an organization. At every opportunity reinforce what it is you do exactly, why you do it, and how you do it differently than everyone else.   Stay consistent. From the tone of your writing to the language you use to describe your world, stay consistent. Don't have a serious tone in one piece, and a completely frivolous one in the next. Don't call the people you serve clients and patients. Pick one, etc.,   Always have a call to action. Make it clear what you want people to do with the information you're sharing, even if it's to reach out and ask questions.   Less is more. I cannot overstate that enough. Stay focused on “the one thing” your writing sets out to accomplish. No one has an attention span anymore and not having a focus is a sure way to get people to hit delete, or whatever the equivalent is.     Useful Links: Anthony Greer www.anthony-greer.com anthonyegreer@gmail.com LinkedIn   Check out this project Anthony worked on with Spencer Brenneman: spencerbrenneman.com/case-studies/massachusetts-childrens-alliance/

We're doing something a bit different this week! No guest, just host Douglas Spencer talking about some of the most common ways that messages fail the organizations they're created to support. You'll hear about specific actions you can take to see if your message is up to the task of supporting your important work.     Episode Guest(s): Douglas Spencer is president of Spencer Brenneman, LLC, which helps lo mission-driven organizations reframe their focus and remaster their messages to thrive in any environment. In 2021, Douglas launched the podcast, Messaging on a Mission. In it, he talks to leaders of nonprofits, social enterprises, and associations about their journeys and the messages they're using to thrive. He is also the author of Do They Care? The one question all brands should ask themselves, continually, a book that shows leaders how they can create meaningful connections with everyone important to their organization's success.    Key Takeaways: Four ways your message can fail you: It is out of date, too jargony, too broad, or doesn't have a clear purpose.    Messages must reflect the personality of the organization, make sense to everyone, differentiate your work and connect to a high purpose.    In fundraising and business development, try:  Benchmarking  Research A/B Testing  Messaging Audit   For talent management, try:  Employee surveys Messaging Audit Exit Interviews Useful Links: douglas@spencerbrenneman.com https://spencerbrenneman.com/

The relationship between data and your message is an important one. If your message cannot reach the right people, what good is it? And how do mission-driven organizations ensure that their message is reaching the right audience? By carefully managing the data behind the people most important to your success. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we talk to Isaac Shalev about the kind of technology considerations nonprofits need to keep top of mind when developing both their messaging and their technology strategies.   Episode Guest(s): Isaac Shalev is the founder and President of Sage70, Inc., a boutique consultancy devoted to making data work for nonprofits. Isaac has over twenty years of experience in the nonprofit sector, where he has developed a reputation for helping organizations get clarity on their thorniest problems in data and technology. Sage70's past clients include the US Golf Association, The LA Phil, Mount Holyoke College, UJA-Federation of NY, The Trust for Public Land, and IEEE.      Key Takeaways: Email marketing platforms must connect that back to donor databases in order to segment correctly and create the best messages for the best person at the right time. (Some platforms do both.)   Consider all the other places integrations are needed, such as where the money comes into the organization (e.g., website forms).   Not all nonprofit organizations have the same needs. It's different by sector and there are bespoke tools and different vendors serving those different markets. It is a good idea to see what similar organizations are using.   When budgeting for your CRM, keep in mind how people's jobs may change as a result.   Consider reporting needs when selecting a system. Do the canned reports ask the questions you need to have answered? If not, is the customization or extra staff time worth it?   People want to be spoken to in a way that feels authentic to them. That's a big ask of a database. It's an even bigger ask at a policy level. What are our policies? You can't have database and database structures that have any consistency or do the job you want them to do without policy. To define that, to say, what are we trying to achieve?   One of the places from which organizations can start is by asking themselves about their process for updating biographical information.   Taxonomies of your crucial attributes are an important step in managing your contact data effectively.   The 80/20 rule for your work. What are those small number of attributes or data points or behaviors that are important to us to track because they explain 80% of why a person wants to support your organization?   “If you take an inefficient process and you automate it, you will magnify its inefficiency. If you take an efficient process and automate it, then you will get a lot more scale,” paraphrased from Bill Gates.   State laws apply to the residents of the state, not necessarily the sender's state.   Organizations must have a data breach policy in place.   It's not a great idea to collect a lot of data and have no clear way to use it. It's not a good idea from a data management perspective, but it's also not clear from a data privacy perspective that you'd want that.     Useful Links: Isaac Shalev isaac@sage70.com sage70.com  

According to Forbes (https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-charities/?sh=1b5c50295f50), the top two charities in the United States are United Way Worldwide and Feeding America. The United Way started slowly over time as more and more “federated giving” organizations came together. Feeding America had a faster, but still slower start as one man's volunteerism took on a life of its own.    Not all organizations start slowly. Many are borne out of a specific need. Such is the case with The Kindness Project, which we'll hear about today. Grassroots organizations, in my mind, demonstrate the best in humanity: people stepping up to the plate to help others in the moment. However, with everyone and everything happening sometimes in split seconds, the message could easily get distorted.    Episode Guest(s): Alex Bromberg founded the original group that became the Kindness Collaborative in March of 2020. Long before that, he'd been involved in activism dating back to 2000. In 2009 he formed "The Liberty Project" which focused on shedding divisive labels and teaching people to work together toward key/shared concepts of individual liberty and social equality. After witnessing the amazing organic action of all the regular people throughout the community who had stepped up to help one another in the original group, Alex teamed up first with Darcie Nuttall, and then the other founders, to establish the Kindness Collaborative. Their goal of creating a way to channel all the kindness and compassion of the community and organizing it into a major force of good has been realized in the movement it has created.   Useful Links: The Kindness Collaborative  https://www.facebook.com/groups/kindnesscollaborative http://kindnesscolab.org/

Inclusion decisions are made when everyone those decisions impact are included in the process. Today's episode focuses on inclusive decision-making and—perhaps just as importantly—the conversations that enable it.   Episode Guest(s): Mer (pronounced “mair”) Joyce is the Founder and Principal of Do Big Good, a Seattle-based firm that trains and facilitates inclusive decisions. Mer has committed her life to social change innovation. She was New Media Operations Manager on President Obama's 2008 campaign, led the creation of the 2010 book, and managed a first-of-its-kind activism data set as a fellow of the National Science Foundation. Mer has collaborated with nonprofits, foundations, think tanks, and firms in North America, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, including the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard, the Open Government Partnership, Microsoft, and Google. Her graduate studies in Public Policy and Communication and undergraduate studies in History and Africana Studies were at the Harvard Kennedy School, the University of Washington, Vassar, and the University of Ghana. Having also lived in Morocco, Chile, and India, Mer now lives in Seattle, where she enjoys biking and intentional communities.    Key Takeaways:   Inclusivity is about voices, not faces. Just because someone has a face that matches an excluded community doesn't mean you are hearing their voice.   An absence of trust from people who are brought into a room for the first time is an obstacle to inclusion because they may not share their true opinions.   It's very important to make certain that you are transparent with your motivation.   Think of inclusive decision making through the lens of “trust dials.”   Types of decisions needed include: Fixed: Already created and cannot be altered by stakeholders; Flexible: Already created, but can still be altered according to stakeholder input; and Formable: Not yet created and need to be created with stakeholders.   When seeking feedback and input, remember to close that communication loop and say, “thank you for coming to this session. This is how we integrated your suggestions into our [fill in the blank].”   Structure the decision-making process in a way that gives power over the outcome or over the agreement, such that the outcome could look different because of what people say.    Inclusive decision-making starts well ahead of the decisions. It starts with building relationships.   Useful Links: Mer Joyce, mer@dobiggood.com   Do Big Good Website Do Big Good YouTube Channel Do Big Good on Facebook

Although we all believe—and know—that reinventing the wheel is bad, we all do it none-the-less. Why is that? Most often it's because we don't think we have enough time to stop and think about our work more broadly. The content we produce certainly falls into that category. So in addition to having a well-thought-out messaging strategy, our guest today gives us clear steps on how to repurpose content smartly and efficiently.   Episode Guest(s): Stephanie Cory, CAP®, CFRE, is Principal of Stephanie Cory Consulting. She has dedicated her career to the nonprofit sector for nearly 20 years. She has served as an executive director for a health advocacy organization as well as held development and program management roles for organizations serving seniors and people with disabilities. She expanded programming, strengthened infrastructure, and grew fundraising revenue in these roles. Stephanie is an adjunct faculty member for Villanova University's College of Professional Studies where she teaches fundraising. She is also is a BoardSource Certified Governance Consultant and a Licensed Standards for Excellence® Consultant. Stephanie authored a chapter on boards and fundraising for the second edition of The Handbook of Board Governance, which was published by John Wiley & Sons in 2020.   Key Takeaways: The goal is to think about what makes your organization unique and what do you want to put out there? What, what do you want to talk about?   Decide your content's tone of voice: Are you serious and research-focused? Are you lighthearted and friendly? Certainly grant applications are a different animal, but your website should and your fundraising appeals should reflect who you are.   Introduce board members to all the programs, but let them find the ones that resonated the most with them and go in depth on those. They can talk about them with a better sense of understanding.   With board members and employees, try to engender an understanding and appreciation for social media. Help them understand how it works and why it's important to the organization. Then, provide them with content to share.   Ensure a robust new board member training program from the beginning and include instructions on how to (and not to) reuse the content you produce.   Consider having a content library beyond grants, but be certain to not simply repeat content verbatim each time.   For new executive directors, think about what content responsibilities you can outsource and which you cannot.     Useful Links: stephanie@stephaniecory.com LinkedIn.com/in/stephaniecory/ StephanieCory.com The Handbook of Board Governance

Despite the fact that data show being asked by someone to support an organization is one of the most effective ways to fundraise, many nonprofit board members are not comfortable asking their communities for support. This episode of Messaging on a Mission looks at why as well as how to change that.   Episode Guest(s): Scottie Seawell is Principal Consultant and Co-founder of Leading and Governing Associates, a governance education and leadership consulting practice working with public purpose governing boards – nonprofit and elected – on public engagement, public values decision-making, strategic planning, and navigation, and organizational capacity building. Scottie works with folks of all political stripes to effectively engage their communities and with each other. She has worked at the federal, state, and local levels in policy areas focused on children, families, and education. She believes passionately in the power of a well-educated citizenry, engaged in democratic processes and representative governance, to build a better future for all.     Key Takeaways: Organizations often do not recruit new board members with this expectation. It's more than a monthly or quarterly meeting. They cannot assume that potential board members have that kind of experience.   When considering a board position, one should also ask questions about expectations.   Help board members by having them foster the invitation and someone else—ideally another volunteer, not a staff member—do the ask.   The board chair should have an intentional conversation with the board and leadership staff to say, “Here's our situation financially. Here's why it's important that we raise money, in order to do what we say we want to do in order to meet our mission or advance on our vision of how our community should look or we want it to look from there.”   Provide them with the coaching and tools they would need to become effective fundraising board members.   “There's just a lot more handholding that needs to do in prep that needs to happen before you can kind of expect a board member to really understand and feel the confidence that they could help you in this way.”   Organizations have to want and have an intention about the community and how they want to engage with it.   A  public values framework is useful in helping people listen with intention, to what somebody else is saying is important to them.   Useful Links: Scottie Seawell, fseawell@leadingandgoverning.com   @leadingandgoverning @preservingthepublic @scottieseawell   https://www.leadingandgoverning.com  

Discussing mental health has never been easy, especially in the workplace. After two years living under the weight of a deadly pandemic, it's more important than ever. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission we speak with Workplace Mental Health Strategist Michelle Dickinson about how organizations create and promote psychological safety within their workplaces.     Episode Guest(s): Michelle E. Dickinson is a Workplace Mental Health Strategist and passionate mental health advocate. She is also a TEDx speaker and a published author of a memoir entitled​ Breaking Into My Life​. Michelle goes first and sees herself as the bridge that helps people get comfortable with their mental health so that they reach out and get the support they need before they hit a crisis. She makes it ok to not be ok and thrives on making a real difference in the lives of others – especially around their wellbeing.    After years of playing the role of child-caregiver to her bipolar mother, Michelle embarked on her own healing journey of self-discovery. She went on to spend years working to eradicate the mental health stigma within her own workplace by elevating empathy and compassion, causing more open conversations, and leading real change in how mental illness is understood. She was instrumental in building the largest and fastest-growing employee mental health resource group while at her fortune 500 company.    She also knows first-hand what it feels like to struggle with a mental illness after experiencing my own depression due to her divorce. This has provided her with a rich perspective.    She partners with innovative organizations that really care about their people to recenter their staff through her powerful people leader resilience programs that provide tangible daily strategies to preserve well-being. She believes that every organization can have a culture of compassion. Her signature Resilience workshop has made a positive impact on thousands of employees throughout COVID-19.   Key Takeaways:   The pandemic and social isolation are negatively impacting employee mental health, creativity, problem-solving, and productivity.   Organizations can eliminate the stigma by normalizing the mental health and wellbeing conversation within the workplace.   It is incumbent upon organizational leaders to drive the conversation around mental health in the workplace.  Useful Links: www.careforyourpeople.com  www.michelleedickinson.com www.breakingintomylife.com    Mental Health Series “Michelle's Conversations that Matter” on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6Yaq3AqLUebGmfZoRdB4Q   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-e-dickinson-mm-%F0%9F%A7%A0%E2%99%A5%EF%B8%8F-7882013/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/mdickinson13 Free chapter of her book: http://breakingintomylife.com/excerpt/ From the Center for Disease Control:   Helplines If you are in crisis, get immediate help:   Call 911 National Suicide Prevention Lifelineexternal icon: 1-800-273-TALK (8255) for English, 1-888-628-9454 for Spanish, or Lifeline Crisis Chat Crisis Text Line: Text SIGNS to 741741 for 24/7, anonymous, free crisis counseling Disaster Distress Helpline: CALL or TEXT 1-800-985-5990 (press 2 for Spanish)  

Is it possible to create an ethical digital landscape? Katrina German of EthicalDigital.ca believes so. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, she outlines how her organization is using research and strategy to create an internet that is respectful and kind. From increasing the number of women in technology-focused venture capital to expanding the number of indigenous women pursuing technology careers, she and her colleagues have a plan.   Episode Guest(s): Katrina German is an award-winning entrepreneur specializing in communications, technology, and digital strategy. As the CEO and founder of EthicalDigital.ca, she and her team are changing the trajectory of the internet through digital strategy, research, and big action. Katrina is in the CBC Future 40 Under 40, has won the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Entrepreneurship, Startup Canada Prairie Award for Innovation, represented Canada at the G20 YEA Summit in Berlin, Germany, and has won the prestigious international Women in Tech award for "Women in Communications". Katrina is a strong believer in measured results, radical creativity, and using technology to improve workflow.   Key Takeaways: We should be holding Facebook accountable to those same levels that we're holding other corporations to be ensuring that what they're doing and the activities that they're participating in are actually enhancing our society because they have such a strong role right now that's just beyond than anybody could have ever imagined.   Look at the Facebook issue not just from the perspective of public wellbeing, but also from a corporate law perspective. Hold the board of directors responsible for making certain their product is not harming people.   EthicalDigital.ca is doing a large research study with the diversity Institute at a Ryerson university to talk about what are the barriers for women entering into venture capital.   They are also working on a certification program for ethical digital marketing.   For ways to support a more ethical digital experience: Think about the kind of content you are putting out there. Are you creating unhealthy feelings of FOMO (fear of missing out)? Instead of posting just about yourself, post about others who are doing important work.   Try to inspire people, not scare them.   Turn off your phone notifications and only check your phone when you have time.     Useful Links:   ethicaldigital.ca   katrina@ethical.ca  

Most leaders of organizations—especially small ones, startups, not-for-profits— know that digital marketing is critical to an organization's success. Still, its complexity and perceived expense hold leaders back from taking advantage of the channel. This episode of Messaging on a Mission dives into how and why digital marketing is a must-have for any organization with a message on a mission.   Episode Guest(s): Jeff Kelly is the Strategy Director at Butterflyly, a fundraising and digital marketing agency for nonprofits. We are a small passionate team on a mission to help nonprofits grow in the face of unique fundraising challenges and rapidly changing marketing strategies. Jeff graduated from a corporate technology career to start Butterflyly and away from work he is a husband, father, big picture systems thinker, beekeeper, blueberry farmer, and shipping-container home owner.     Key Takeaways: Digital marketing is certainly more important than it has ever been given that so much of our relationship building right now is online and remote and between people who are not physically in the same room together.   Digital marketing tools—your website, your social media, your advertising—can help you reach your strategic objectives, to reach your annual goals, to reach your fundraising targets.   Advertising is a huge area of opportunity for nonprofits. Advertising as a channel can build awareness, tell a story, bring people to an event, seek registrations, or build an audience or an email list. It can build relationships with an audience of people that have been at a particular event.   Know your audience: who they are, where they are, what's important to them, and how they want to communicate.   When we talk about marketing and what's the biggest gap and how can organizations be moving forward in this space, if you're unsure who your audience is and how to communicate with them, that is potentially the biggest problem your organization is going to face.   Think about what the donor or follower wants to accomplish by following or giving to the organization.   What works for any one organization is different than the next. If you are trying to reach a young audience and you are not on social media, you are going to fail to reach that audience. You don't need to be on every platform. If your audience is not on Twitter, don't spend any time on Twitter.   Email is ending its usefulness as a communication tool. It's never going to go away, but it's not near as effective as it used to be.   Be consistent with how frequently you post content to the platforms your audience is active on.   There is a lot of benefit from posting on consistent days of the week, consistent types of messages, and content consistent.     Useful Links: Butterflyly, https://butterflyly.com/   jeff@butterflyly.com     Messaging on a Mission episode on sponsorships: https://spencerbrenneman.com/messaging-on-a-mission/e19-associations/  

Every year new communicators join the workforce—which is desperately needed. But what are the college communication curricula that are preparing them for the world we have today and the world we'll have tomorrow? This episode looks at what today's students are learning and how are they preparing for careers in communications.   Episode Guest(s): Dr. Cody Clemens' primary research and teaching foci are in Health, Organizational, Relational, and Gender Communication. His scholarly work has appeared in the Journal of Communication Pedagogy, Health Communication, Ohio Communication Journal, The Forensic of Pi Kappa Delta, and Carolinas Communication Annual. He also published a book chapter in The Handbook of Communication Training (Routledge) with his co-authors on Belbin Team Roles. His doctoral dissertation research focused on the experiences and identities of individuals living with the chronic autoimmune disease, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. Dr. Clemens actively presents and participates at the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry Conference, the International Association of Autoethnography and Narrative Inquiry Conference, the National Communication Association Conference, and the Ohio Communication Association Conference.   For his research and service, he has been awarded numerous awards from institutions like Bowling Green State University and the National Communication Association's Training & Development Division. He is currently the Vice President for the Ohio Communication Association, and he serves as a reviewer for the Ohio Communication Journal, Journal of Autoethnography, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Women & Language.   He has Ph.D. in Health & Organizational Communication from Bowling Green State University, an MA in Corporate Communication, Duquesne University; and a BA-Organizational Communication & Public Relations, from Marietta College where he serves as an Assistant Professor. And, he and I are both members of the MCAA Board of Directors.   In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his many horses, and his dog, Betty.     Key Takeaways:   Careers in communication can play a key role in promoting important public health initiatives.   We should approach different generation cohorts because they have different expectations for media consumption, different levels of digital literacy, and digital access.   Communication curricula should include helping students in ways such as standing up for themselves and what they believe in, knowing the difference between credible and identifying non-critical research, and ethical and unethical behavior.   They also need to help create powerful leaders, writers, readers, and impactful communicators.   Future college communication curricula should focus on the developing strategic digital world. However, they should not lose sight of core elements like interpersonal communication, ethics, and being good colleagues and team members.   Managing new communication graduates requires listening, mentorship programs, challenges, and socialization opportunities.       Useful Links:   Dr. Cody Clemens cmc004@marietta.edu   https://www.linkedin.com/in/codymclemens/   Marietta College https://marietta.org   Connect Four Panel Discussion on the Marietta College Communication Department https://youtu.be/tQVSBP71beQ

POSTSCRIPT: This episode of Messaging on a Mission was recorded in November of 2021, slightly more than a month before our guest's untimely death from a heart attack. We are airing the episode to honor his memory and share his insights with those who can benefit from them.    For most organizations, the end of the calendar year is when you do a fundraising push. People can get that last bit of tax benefit before they file their returns. Now is the time organizations are interpreting the results of that end-of-year campaign. In this episode, we look at:    What you can learn from a campaign that exceeded expectations?   Ascertaining what went wrong when they didn't.    Trends in annual giving campaigns, and    Some best practices around continued engagement throughout the new year.  Episode Guest Christopher Marrion was a senior not-for-profit executive with more than two decades of experience as a leader in cultural organizations. Before his passing in December of 2021, he was the Vice President of Advancement for the Hanover Theatre and Conservatory, a historic theatre and presenter in Worcester, MA.    Prior to joining THTC, Chris served as the Assistant Dean for Development and Alumni Relations at his graduate school alma mater, the Boston University College of Fine Arts. Chris served for eight years under Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma as Deputy Director of Silkroad, where his responsibilities included strategic planning, program assessment, and fundraising for concert tours, recordings, and commissions by the Silk Road Ensemble, a multi-year education initiative in NYC public schools, and a collaboration with the Harvard Business School to promote innovative cultural enterprise. Additional experience includes Boston Lyric Opera (Director of Development), Boston Children's Hospital (Major Gifts Officer), and AIDS Action Committee (Director of Individual Giving).   Chris studied at the New England Conservatory of Music (BM) and the Boston University College of Fine Arts (MM). Prior to entering the development field, he was a freelance musician active in the U.S. and Europe.   To remember Chris, please consider a donation to the Hanover Theater & Conservatory (thehanovertheater.org), AIDS Action (AAC.org), or a charity that is important to you. Key Takeaways: Fundraising is both art and science.   What you learn relies a lot on what you intended to learn before you started.    Base your decisions on what you know about donor behavior and their history to identify who might be the most likely people to respond to this campaign.    Don't be afraid to try something different.    No matter what the short-term results are, remember to consider the lifetime value of the donor.    From a data perspective, it's important to have a baseline.    Major gifts offer an opportunity to write a short story.   If something hasn't worked often, the first thing to do is go back and ask, was it the right? Was it the right message? Was it powerful enough to really explain what we do?   Always keep your audience first.    Have your baseline data in place before you start. Know what segments didn't perform well, what didn't do as well as expected, and why didn't an experiment pay off. Then you can figure out what to do next.  Useful Links:   The Hanover Theatre & Conservatory for the Performing Arts https://thehanovertheatre.org/   AIDS Action Committee https://aidsaction.org  

Your organization makes an impact. Clearly, or you would not do what you do. However, why doesn't anyone know about your impact? There are a lot of reasons why and that's exactly what we cover in today's episode of Messaging on a Mission. Fundraising expert Megan Amundson walks us through why should create a culture of impact and how, both internally and externally.    Episode Guest(s): Megan Amundson helps nonprofit organizations raise more money from individual donors by training and coaching leaders to develop fundraising skills and confidence and implement best practices. She helps small and medium-sized organizations make small changes to their fundraising program that have big results. All while using the organization's current capacity.     Megan has spent almost 20 years in the nonprofit sector holding many different roles, including Executive Director, board member, and major gift officer. She brings unique experience to her clients, helping them build more sophisticated fundraising programs with limited resources.    Key Takeaways: Two main reasons people do not continue to give to your organization: they weren't thanked properly and/or they cannot see the impact their gifts have had.    Organizations should talk about impact 4x a year.    You should be talking about impact four times a year — literally just so people don't forget about you.    Impact messages are not reports: They are bite-sized stories about something impressive and impactful that you did.   For long-term goals, tell stories about the continuing activities designed to eventually meet that goal.    Your stakeholders actually want to know (a) that you have a big vision (b) that you're fighting for it that you're strategic, that you're smart. Tell them frequently.  Useful Links:   Megan Amundson mailto:megan@meganamundson.com   https://www.meganamundson.com/impact

In the first year of Messaging on a Mission, we produced 22 episodes, all of which were designed to help you think about your messaging strategy differently. We think they were all pretty good, but nonetheless, this episode covers conversations with:   Grace Moreno   Darren LaShelle   Kim Vanni   Tom King   Liz Page   Jamie Brogioli    Brian Forest    Michael Tate   Sharon McIntosh    Matt Montgomery    Our thanks to all of these guests and the many others who helped us create Messaging on a Mission this year.  Podcast Host: Messaging on a Mission is produced and hosted by Douglas Spencer Douglas is founder and president at Spencer Brenneman, LLC. He has more than 30 years of branding and marketing experience, working with professionals from around the world in verticals such as financial and professional services, tech, higher education, healthcare, and not-for-profits. Before starting Spencer Brenneman, he was Vice President, Global Head of Brand Management for Thomson Reuters. In that role, he guided the migration of the multiple Thomson and Reuters businesses to form the then-new Thomson Reuters brand.   In 2020, after experiencing nearly a lifetime of both challenge and privilege, Douglas shifted the company's focus exclusively to supporting the work of mission-driven organizations. By applying his experience and the talents of his virtual team, he knew he could help those who were helping us all.   A lifelong volunteer, including two years as chairman of a $100 million community health center and research institute, Douglas is intimately aware of the challenges facing mission-driven organizations. That first-hand experience helps Spencer Brenneman adapt the latest private-sector strategies to help not-for-profits, social enterprises, and B Corps sharpen their focus and create messaging that secures all the support they need to flourish in any environment.   Douglas graduated from Marietta College with a bachelor of arts in journalism and now serves on the college's alumni association board of directors.  Key Takeaways: Head over to Apple Podcasts, search for Messaging on a Mission, and rate us!  Useful Links: https://spencerbrenneman.com

Episode Summary: International fundraising has its own challenges—not the least of which is getting people “here” to care about “there.” In today's episode, we speak with the Founder and CEO of Project Alianza, Kristin Van Busum. Project Alianza is closing the education gap in rural Central America by building safe schools and providing literacy programs and scholarships. We are a women-led organization that has provided education to over 13000 children. Kristin speaks with Messaging on a Mission Host Douglas Spencer about the challenges of creating a message that inspires people in the United States to join her organization's quest to help people in Central America.    Episode Guest(s): Kristin Van Busum is the founder and CEO of Project Alianza. She has over ten years of experience as a scholar and an advocate for resilient communities. She has worked in New York City on public health initiatives to prevent obesity, helped families in need in Mexico secure stable housing, and provided counseling to incarcerated women in Indiana. Prior to founding Project Alianza, she served as Manager of Health Advisory Services at RAND Corporation, a global policy think tank. Kristin has earned degrees from Butler University and New York University and is a Fulbright Scholar.   Key Takeaways: The focus was once on the wealth disparities between rich and poor nations. However, now the differences between rural and urban are more pronounced.    Helping people abroad and at home are not mutually exclusive.    Tap into a common belief, such as all children should feel safe when they go to school.    Develop a genuine, first-hand understanding of the foreign culture you are helping to not only connect most effectively with the people there but to tell their stories more authentically as well.    Understanding psychological barriers is critically important.    Focus on work that is led by community leaders, not people from the United States.    Think of messaging as a working document.    Always have a system for managing money and being transparent with your money and your impact.  Useful Links:   Kristin Van Busum kristin@projectalianza.org   Project Alianza www.projectalianza.org

Speeches are one of the most powerful forms of communication available to us as we send our message out on a mission. They have the power to inspire, educate, and console. In this episode, we speak with a former U.S. Senate and White House speechwriter about not just speeches, but what they can teach us about our entire messaging approach.    Episode Guest(s): Brian Forest is a seasoned speechwriting, messaging, and public affairs veteran who has worked on nearly every major policy issue of the last decade. He has years of experience providing strategic messaging counsel to leaders at the highest levels of business and government—from Fortune 100 CEOs to several of Time's 100 Most Influential People including congressional leaders, presidents, and prime ministers.    Forest, a longtime senior Senate leadership aide, has crafted messages and strategies that shaped national conversations and helped secure important bipartisan legislative achievements. He also led strategic messaging for a major Washington trade association where he managed public affairs campaigns and provided executive communications support to senior leaders and CEOs. He previously worked in a variety of roles spanning campaigns, journalism, academia, international institutions, state government, the White House, and PR agencies such as Edelman.   He has worked on thousands of remarks and opinion pieces over his career including high-profile national addresses, State of the Union responses, and op-eds that have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, USA Today, and nearly every other major newspaper. Key Takeaways: Break ideas down into their constituent pieces. Talk to the experts themselves, and ask them laymans' questions. Summarize what you heard in your own voice and then verify.    Carefully approach the person who will deliver the speech about the emotional tone of the piece. If they are hesitant to show emotion or authenticity, ask them why.    Shoot for speeches that sound genuine. Authenticity is important because people want to believe you.    Finding a new piece of a story within one that people already know, that's what makes a speech or a story interesting.     The beginning, middle, and end structure doesn't always have to go sequentially. Start in the middle or at the end, for example.  Useful Links:   Arboreal Communications www.arborealcommunications.com   Brian Forest  brian@arborealcommunications.com   Top 100 Speeches of the 20th Century https://stacker.com/stories/3422/100-greatest-speeches-20th-century

Technology is such an integral part of our lives for everything we do. How we share our message with the world is no different. In a minute we'll hear from a brilliant woman who will walk us through the key issues.   Episode Guest(s): Trina L. Martin is a technologist, international speaker, best-selling author, podcaster, and a proud retired US Naval Officer. Through her experience in technology management and consulting including 20+ years of work as a computer programmer and 10 years as a cyber intelligence analyst, Trina has seen how minor miscommunications at work can lead to major problems.   She now works with small and medium-sized organizations to help them use secure communication technology solutions to elevate their operations. She is also a coach and mentor to women of color in tech who want to pursue and excel in leadership positions. Trina also provides corporate training to help companies hire and retain women of color in tech.   She has a Bachelor of Science from the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University and an MBA from Western International University.   Key Takeaways: Cybersecurity should be a priority for organizations of all sizes.   Before bringing in a technology consultant, sit down and think about what you want to be able to do? What systems do I need? Have your list of requirements of what you need ready to go.   Organizations cannot afford to not think about their technology: Retention, engagement, even supporter/client acquisition will suffer if your technology does not work with and for you.     Useful Links:   Trina L. Martin https://TrinaLmartin.com trina@trinalmartin.com  

Most corporations no longer limit their community support to sponsorships. However, if constructed carefully, these sponsorships could be important sources of visibility and engagement. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we talk to an expert in bridging the gap between associations/non-profits and the for-profit partners who support them.   Episode Guest(s): Bruce Rosenthal has advanced corporate partnership programs for more than 20 years. He is a strategic advisor, consultant, and educator to associations and not-for- profit organizations, creating corporate partnership programs that increase revenue, add member value, and foster sustainability.   He demonstrates leadership in identifying and cultivating sponsorship and partnership best practices, opportunities, and solutions as Convener of the Partnership Professionals Network (PPN), a national sponsorship/partnership organization.   As VP of Corporate Partnerships for a national association, Bruce directed a successful corporate partnership program. He innovated the program by revising the positioning, benefits, packaging, collateral, etc. to keep pace with changes in the economy and the marketplace.   Bruce does presentations at national and state conferences, and on webinars – in addition to writing articles and blog posts. Rosenthal understands the “ins and outs” of association structures, governance, and programs—so he's the perfect guest for this episode.   Key Takeaways: Move from the transactional to the transformational with your corporate relationships.   Engage sponsors in a conversation around what they want to achieve with their sponsorship. Do let them feel like an ATM machine.   Find that sweet spot of what the members need, what the companies need, and then by extension, the association comes out the winner.   Focus on the substance and the partnership and the exchange of information.   Partner with corporations around member research.   Creating more engaging partnerships with companies usually means sponsor fees are higher, which means that more engagement with fewer sponsors can still bring in the same if not more support.   Find ways to align your members' or attendees' goals with the sponsor's goals.       Useful Links: https://BruceRosenthal.associates https://partnership professionals.network https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucerosenthal46/

One of the best ways to use content effectively is to repurpose it. So, that's what we're doing with this episode of Messaging on a Mission. The same content will also air in an episode of the Relish This! podcast! Relish This! Host Stu Swineford and Messaging on a Mission Host Douglas Spencer talk about all the opportunities content marketing presents mission-driven organizations.   Key Takeaways:   For the best search engine optimization (SEO), start with the audience in mind and make sure that you're writing for them, that you're creating valuable information and valuable materials.   Content has to be dynamic, it has to be useful and it has to speak to your audiences in new ways.   Set content goals that are realistic and achievable.   Creating community is critical: before and after the first transaction.   Get someone to help you step outside of your world and figure out your organization's value proposition. That is also an investment in your content because it allows you to stay on message.   One tip to find content: Take a second and pause and think about one thing about your work that you know but not everyone else might understand.   Your employees, no matter what you do, have to have the same messaging with each other and with the people that they interact with, that you do in your more traditional marketing. Why? Because consistency is massively important.     Useful Links: Relish Studio, https://relishstudio.com/ Stu Swineford, stu@relishstudio.com   Spencer Brenneman, https://spencerbrenneman.com Douglas Spencer, douglas@spencerbrenneman.com

Change! That's something with which we're all intimately familiar these days. Sometimes change is something that is forced upon us and sometimes it's something that we drive. When working through a strategic planning process it's important to remember that communication to all stakeholders is critical. Organizational effectiveness consultant Carol Hamilton walks us through how and why. Episode Guest(s): Carol Hamilton is an organization effectiveness consultant who helps nonprofits become more strategic and innovative for greater mission impact. She facilitates strategic planning, (online and in-person), helps organizations prepare for executive transitions, and provides training. A strategic thinker, Carol works with teams and organizations to envision and frame their future strategic direction. Practical in her approach, she helps organizations think through who is key to creating their future, how to gather insights from these stakeholders, consider the big picture, imagine new possibilities, come to an agreement on their future goals, and create an initial action plan to get started. She takes a human-centered and appreciative approach in her work. Carol has more than 25 years of experience in the nonprofit and association sectors working with organizations with a range of missions. Carol trains frequently on leadership, strategy, and innovation topics and is the host of the “Mission:Impact” podcast. She graduated from Swarthmore College and has her Masters in Organization Development from American University. She is a nonprofit Standards for Excellence Licensed Consultant and trained with BoardSource. She is also part of a consultant collective focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, All In Consulting. Key Takeaways: Be clear about how input is going to be used, what's going to happen with all the information that is shared, and then remember that at the end of the process, to actually circle back and synthesize all the input that the organization has received. Involving people all the way through the process gives them a sense of agency that mitigates them feeling as if change is being done to them. It's a good idea to not only go through the process to identify the priorities, but also identifying a process for looking at those later, checking in with them, refreshing them. Strategic plans should have the flexibility to accommodate unforeseen changes. Have a set of criteria ready for situations the strategic plan could not have anticipated. For example, the La Piana Consult's Strategy Screen makes explicit the criteria that your organization will use to choose a particular strategy or course of action. Continually communicate to people where you are in the process. Three-five years is the best range for a strategic plan. Useful Links: Mission: Impact podcast  All in Consulting  The Strategy Screen 

Using video has always been a powerful tool for sharing compelling messages. Since the advent of camera phones, short-form social media apps like Tik Tok, and a global pandemic that kept people inside, it's gotten even more powerful. In the episode, we speak with Tyler Pyburn, co-founder of 5 Tool Productions, a video and content marketing company about what's most important in using video to craft compelling stories, what most folks get wrong, and how to get the most out of the content you create.  Episode Guest(s): Tyler Pyburn. Tyler Pyburn is a co-owner of 5 Tool Productions.  A team of creative storytellers that uses video to inspire, disrupt and create lasting impact for brands and organizations. He's a former sports anchor that traded in the news desk for the corporate world which brought him to the realization that brands have more untold stories than anyone. Tyler has BA in Television from Curry College. Key Takeaways: Always start with your end audience in mind. What is it that they want to hear and learn?  Focus on exciting, engaging, and educating them.  Unsure of how to create the content? Sit down and interview your subjects.  Keep it simple.  Always grab your audience right away. Competition for eyeballs is fierce.  Don't talk at them, talk to them, talk with them. Try to talk to them as if you were sitting across from them at a bar and simply explaining something that happens that day.  In 2020, the word was “pivot.” In 2021, it's “hybrid.” Create content for its primary purpose then find other places in your marketing efforts to put it to work too.  Video cannot make you thinner or more tan.  Useful Links: Tyler Pyburn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/tylerpyburn/ tyler@5toolproductions.com 5toolproductions.com      Samples:  Spaulding Rehab, Story of strength Spaulding Rehab, Coming back from Covid  Joe Andruzzi Foundation, The Weinstein Family Boston University 1839 Society  

Stories—personal, memorable, and moving—have the capacity to change people's minds, touch their hearts, and excite their brains. But what makes for a good story? This episode features Sophie Wadsworth, who coaches leaders to be better storytellers. She and host Douglas Spencer look at what a good story requires and how to find it within yourself or others. Douglas also takes a stab at storytelling himself.    Key Takeaways: Stories have to have relatability, conflict or tension, and resolution or change.   They should also have specificity and detail about you—the speaker or writer. Stories that capture how you feel will connect with the audience.  More detail the better, because listeners have not experienced the story. You already have. It's important to share those details.  Vulnerability in storytelling creates both connection and credibility. Start with finding a safe space to explore and share.  Everyone has a story to tell. Even the most simple stories can help you connect with others.  Anything eccentric or strange, actually maybe relatable.  Jot down anecdotes and stories as they happen and save them for future use!  Stories help you affect change while simply being yourself.  “We're so complex; we're mysteries to ourselves; we're difficult to each other. And then storytelling reminds us we're all the same.” Brad Pitt   Episode Guest(s): Sophie Wadsworth is an executive coach, writer, and nonprofit consultant. She has a passion for helping mission-focused leaders tell their personal and organizational stories. Sophie has worked as an adjunct professor of English and, for over fifteen years, served as a nonprofit executive and public speaker. Drawing on her leadership and storytelling expertise, she coaches leaders to develop their stories and craft inspiring communications for keynote audiences, community stakeholders, and prospective funders. Clients who work with her come away feeling confident in their ability to deliver a presentation that inspires and changes hearts and minds. Sophie is the author of a collection of poems, Letters from Siberia, and was recently chosen as a storyteller for WGBH's Stories from the Stage, an award-winning WORLD channel series.  She has a bachelor of arts in history (with honors) from Trinity College-Hartford and a master of arts in English from The University of New Mexico. Sophie lives with her family in Greater Boston and counts her ten-year-old son as one of her best storytelling mentors.   Useful Links: Sophie Wadsworth https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophie-wadsworth-99368073/ swadsworth@gmail.com 

Graphic design plays an integral role in any messaging strategy—but many organizations continue to get it wrong. Kim Vanni, Senior Art Director for Spencer Brenneman, joins this episode of Messaging on a Mission to talk through the best ways to ensure that graphic design supports your work in the most effective way possible.  Key Takeaways: Design is like a puzzle, made up of various pieces, like the organization's mission, its audience, and what it's trying to accomplish.  The messaging strategy doesn't just apply words, talking points, to a voice. How a brand actually looks is integral to the messaging strategy.  Less is more. Find the one piece of content that is crucial for people to take away with them. The more information there is, the less people will absorb.  There's so much visual stimulation now that design needs white space that gives your audience some room to breathe. Branding does not equal your logo.  Ask of your design, “How is it fulfilling your message? How do you think your audience is going to see it?” Episode Guest(s): Kim Vanni the Senior Art Director at Spencer Brenneman. Brilliantly both left- and right-brained and, coupled with her years of experience, she delivers visual elements in line with the strategy's end goals.    For more than a decade, Kim worked in a variety of roles within Thomson Financial and Thomson Reuters, from serving as a one-woman design powerhouse to supervising a team of creatives and marketers based in both the U.S. and U.K. Specialties include complete brand visual identity solutions, print and digital design, photography direction, and editing. In addition to working with Spencer Brenneman, Kim shares her skills and expertise with a number of non-profit organizations and local/town governments. She has a bachelor of arts from the University of Houston. Useful Links: Kim Vanni, kim@spencerbrenneman.com

In 2019, foundations contributed $75 billion to the philanthropic ecosystem, making them a crucial player in affecting positive change. How they talk about their work is therefore incredibly important. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we talk about the challenges and opportunities foundations have for their messaging strategies.    Key Takeaways: A lack of focus is one of the most significant challenges foundations face It's more than just writing checks. The best foundations are also partners with their beneficiaries  The most significant mistake foundations make in their messaging is over-thinking the stories they have to tell.  What's well known to the foundation may not be well-known to the rest of the world, which is why they may have more stories to tell than they realize.  For your message to resonate, it is best to present in the context of existing conversations if possible, e.g., the pandemic, the political landscape, or racial equality.  Non-profits should craft Foundation-specific messages when looking for partnerships.    Episode Guest(s): Matt Wilder is a communications and media strategist with a passion for telling great stories. With deep roots in the education, government, and non-profit sectors, Matt has crafted and executed communications plans that educated and inspired stakeholders and also moved constituencies to rewrite the narrative, challenge the status quo and move forward together.   Notably, Matt recently led the communications efforts for the historic ‘Yes on 3' campaign, which successfully upheld the Massachusetts law protecting transgender people from discrimination in public places, the first-ever statewide vote on transgender rights in United States history.   Before creating his consultancy, Matt served as chief of staff and communications director to the Massachusetts secretary of education in the administration of Governor Deval Patrick. Before state service, Matt served in the administration of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino as the chief spokesperson for the Boston Public Schools and as an advisor to Superintendent Carol Johnson.    Prior to his public service, Matt was a television news producer at Boston's acclaimed ABC affiliate, WCVB-TV, Channel 5. He is a graduate of Suffolk University in Boston.   Useful Links: https://wilderstrategies.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthew-wilder-9360517/ https://twitter.com/MWilderBoston

Remember the black-tie gala? There's a part of those evenings that can either be painful or hugely entertaining, productive, and moving. Michael Tate, auctioneer and fundraising consultant has mastered how to do the latter. In this episode, we learn about how and why auctioneers must communicate—on the fly—on three different levels: strategically (who is the organization and what is their overall message); emotionally (how's the room feeling, are they getting it?); and tactically (who's raising their hand to give money!).    Episode Guest(s): A San Francisco resident since 1998, Michael is an inspired and inspiring auctioneer with a demeanor that endears him to a wide array of audiences. He is unabashedly passionate in his commitment to helping nonprofits achieve their goals. For nearly a decade, he has worked with more than fifty local, national, and international nonprofit organizations to maximize their gala fundraising efforts.    He has a bachelor of arts from Brown University and a law degree from the University of Virginia.    Useful Links: Michael Tate: michaeltateauctions@gmail.com www.facebook.com/michaeltateauctions   San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus: www.sfgmc.org/

From Baby Boomers to Gen Xers, Millennials to Gen Zs, there are a lot of different generations consuming a lot of different messages? But, does messaging to different age groups require different approaches? This episode of Messaging on a Mission features master communicator, Guy Felixbrodt, who doesn't seem to think so. He believes that to keep the message consistent, you should turn to emotion. Talk to people based on how the message will make them feel.  Episode Guest(s): Guy Felixbrodt is a social entrepreneur, educator, and juggler of many trades, literally. Guy believes deeply that volunteering and giving back is the only way to address privilege and make the world a better place, which is why he loves sharing about it. Guy lives in New York State and has worked with teenagers almost all his life. He's an avid nature lover, earther, TriArtist, and has published a Hebrew book of poetry.   Key Takeaways: Talk to a 3-year-old the same way you would talk to an 83-year-old. To keep the message consistent, you should turn to emotion. Talk to people based on how the message will make them feel.    Useful Links: J-Teen Leadership: https://jteenleadership.org/   Guy Felixbrodt Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebodymc/ Email: BodyMCGuy@gmail.com  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheBodymc-952700674908959

Market research provides a critical foundation for any messaging strategy. So often, we all  assume that we know what our constituents are thinking based on our years of experience. Often, we are mistaken. That's where market research comes in.  Nothing beats market research for getting actionable data. Data that inform how you decide to present yourself to the world. As with most things, market research can be as straightforward or as complex as you like. If the thought of a full-on market research study overwhelms you, don't worry. You're not alone.  This episode focuses on market research. In it you'll hear from Matthew O'Sullivan, an expert on the subject, on the best uses of both qualitative and quantitative research. Plus, you'll hear from Tom King, the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Children's Alliance. He will share with you the real-world impact that research has had on his organization's work and its message.  Episode Guest(s): Tom King Since 2006, Tom King has served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Children's Alliance. Tom got his passion for the CAC movement when he served as the child forensic interviewer for Hampden County District Attorney back in 1997. Tom holds a certificate from the Institute for Nonprofit Management & Leadership at the Boston University School of Management, in addition to a Master of Social Work degree from the Smith College School of Social Work, and a BA in Psychology from the College of the Holy Cross. Matthew O'Sullivan Matthew O'Sullivan is a marketing research consultant with 18 years of experience working in industries as diverse as consumer goods, financial services, communications, logistics and technology, with particular experience in business-to-business research. His particular specialty is research design, and fashioning questions in such a way as to gain maximum insight from customers' valuable time. Matthew's most recent agency role was as Research Director at GfK in London, where he managed research accounts for large global companies in financial services. He holds a master's degree from Oxford University and an undergraduate degree from Cambridge University. Key Takeaways: Qualitative research is exploratory and is best for when you really want to gather views in people's own words. Quantitative research is used when you want to apply a numerical value to people's views.  The fundamental question when deciding between qualitative and quantitative is “How are you going to collect the data? Mistake number one is forgetting the questions need to be unambiguous. Market research can also invigorate staff and drive important discussions.  Useful Links: Massachusetts Children's Alliance machildrensalliance.org facebook.com/machildrensalliance twitter.com/maca_news Matthew O'Sullivan linkedin.com/in/matthew-o-sullivan-306a8b38/

One of the many challenges facing any media outlet is keeping up with the constantly changing media landscape in the United States. Broadcasters, or as they're called now, legacy media, have had a tough time, in general, trying to stay ahead of the trends. Layer on top of that the competition they face from one another, regardless of geography, and you have a unique messaging challenge. In order to differentiate itself from other outlets and non-traditional media, learn how Northern California Public Media found a way to differentiate itself using content—specifically in the form of the Center for Environmental Reporting.    Episode Guest(s): Darren LaShelle is an Emmy award-winning Executive Producer for the science and technology TV series "Plugged-In." He has written and produced documentaries, studio-based and magazine series, commercials, public service announcements, promotional material, and news production.    Currently, he is the President & CEO for Northern California Public Media in the San Francisco Bay Area. Darren also acts as Executive Producer for all media projects developed within the organization. As well, he is the Executive Producer of a number of nationally broadcast documentary programs on public television. At California Public Media, he oversees TV programs and series, radio news and productions, Web site design and implementation, and organizational marketing.    He has a Bachelor of Arts in Radio/TV from Marietta College.   Key Takeaways: Differentiation lets you tell a more compelling, cohesive story  Differentiation lets you simplify your message It's important to keep in mind where and how your audience is consuming your content Useful Links: https://norcalpublicmedia.org/ https://www.youtube.com/user/KRCBtv https://www.linkedin.com/company/krcb-television/ https://www.facebook.com/NorCalPublicMedia https://marietta.edu   If you have guests you would like to suggest, email us at admin@spencerbrenneman.com or leave us a message at +1-774-214-9933.

If it hasn't happened to you in your career, it probably will. It, of course, is a rebrand. Whether you were on the wrong side of a trademark challenge, you were part of two or more organizations coming together, or you're starting an organization from scratch, you'll need to understand and manage brand implementation. Otherwise, it will manage you.  In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, Douglas Spencer talks with Darren Horwitz, Founder of TenTen, a brand implementation firm that helps organizations plan, build, and manage change. The pair have known each other for quite a while so brace yourself for a fun conversation.  Episode Guest(s): Darren Horwitz is the Founder of TenTen, a brand implementation firm that helps organizations plan, build and manage change. Darren sees implementation planning and brand governance as the key to optimizing any brand, and he has more than two decades' worth of experience doing it.  Prior to founding TenTen, Darren served as Senior Director of Implementation for FutureBrand, where he built the implementation and brand governance concepts that helped some of FutureBrand's largest clients—including American Airlines, Cadillac, Exelon, Pitney Bowes, and USAA—to both deploy and govern their brands at scale. Previously, as Director of Brand Management Systems for Interbrand, Darren helped clients such as Humana, Thomson Reuters, Towers Watson, Wrigley, and MWV. In 2005, Darren was also a founding partner at Pixeljockey LLC, a brand identity production agency. Key Takeaways: Start talking about implementation early on Prioritize what needs to be done now…and what can wait Creatively engage your employees at launch DIY some of the work in-house...but not all of it Think of rebranding as a long-term investment Use a framework of know, believe, live, and advocate! Useful Links: TenTen.works Stanford Social Innovation Review Recovery and growth for social enterprises in a post Covid-19 world: what you need to do

Intellectual property—trademarks, copyrights, patents, etc.—is a topic most organizations don't think about enough. That's especially true for mission-driven organizations. But as we'll learn in this episode, intellectual property should very much be a concern of mission-driven organizations.  Episode Guest(s): Stacey C. Kalamaras is the Founding Partner of Kalamaras Law Office, LLC and is a seasoned trademark, copyright, and advertising attorney with nearly 30 years of branding experience.  She helps startup and emerging businesses creatively identify, register, protect and commercialize their brands both in the U.S. and abroad, having worked for some of the world's most beloved brands in more than 150 countries for clients in diverse industries.  Prior to going to law school, Stacey was a brand manager and advertising director for the consumer-packaged goods industry. These valuable business experiences give Stacey unique insight into understanding her clients' business needs to provide more practical, legal advice. For the past two years, Stacey has been recognized by her peers as a Super Lawyer® for her outstanding knowledge and services in intellectual property law and is a frequent speaker and writer on a variety of trademark topics. Key Takeaways: There are three types of intellectual property: trademarks to project brands, patents to protect ideas, and copyrights to protect words.  The messaging is just as important as the underlying cause. It's important to work with a qualified IP attorney to make sure that you're protecting your organization's brand. Even if your work is localized to a certain geography. There's more to it than that. There are considerations for where you advertising your services, where you collect donations or rally volunteers. Trademark protection ensures that people know how to find you and that there is no confusion with other organizations.  When you own a trademark, you have an affirmative duty to police it. Useful Links: Kalamaras Law Office: www.klolegal.com info@klolegal.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/staceykalamaras/ https://www.instagram.com/legalklo/

For years, with members all around the globe, the MIT Alumni Association produced events both big and small to keep alumni connected to their alma mater. In this episode, we hear from Jamie Brogioli, Director of Alumni and Friends Engagement for the MIT Alumni Association. He walks us through all the stop-on-a-dime twists and turns of shifting a global event program online.  Episode Guest(s): Jamie Brogioli is the Director of Alumni and Friends Engagement at the MIT Alumni Association. He oversees the Association's events and class programs teams and works closely with MIT's fundraising office on a series of events supporting MIT's 6 billion dollar campaign. Jamie just completed his 20th year at the Institute and has worked in a variety of capacities at MIT, managing regional programs, the parents association, and student/alumni relations. Prior to joining MIT, Jamie worked in a variety of community-based organizations supporting fundraising efforts including Silent Spring Institute, Boston Children's Services, AIDS Action Committee, and Project Bread. Key Takeaways: Virtual events give you access to previously unattainable people, both as speakers and guests They can level the playing field Speaking to a live audience is different than speaking to a virtual one, so the messaging has to reflect that Expectations are changing, mainly around showing up; now there's no excuse not to Useful Links: MIT Alumni Association, https://alum.mit.edu/

There's one thing we all had to do in some form or another in 2020—pivot! Nowhere is that more clear than when it comes to holding events, especially when those events are a significant driver of income for your organization. No one did that better than the New England Innocence Project. Led by their Director of Development and Communications, Jordan Salvatoriello, with the help of Liz Page and her team at Liz Page Associates, the 2020 event exceeded both their goals for the event and the amount raised the year before! In this episode of Messaging on a Mission, we learn not only how they did it, but what they expect events to look like post-pandemic!   Episode Guests Liz Page  After ten years as a performing artist with the Oregon Mime Theatre, Liz Page moved to Boston in 1982 and began her development career at the Worcester Art Museum. When the AIDS crisis hit she became a dedicated volunteer at the AIDS ACTION Committee. The Committee soon hired her as its first fundraiser and she launched the AIDS Walk – From All Walks of Life. As Walk Manager for the first 5 years, she led the team that raised consciousness and millions of dollars to fight the epidemic. In 1994, Liz opened Liz Page Associates, a fundraising and special event production company that proudly celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2019. Liz and her staff have built a reputation for producing special events for nonprofits, academic institutions, and corporations that not only meet but exceed significant financial, marketing, and employee engagement goals.  As a volunteer leader Liz has served on the boards of The Shared Heart Initiatives, GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation,) Hospice West, and the Hospice on Mission Hill Project, Women's Statewide Legislative Network, and Fenway Health. Jordan Salvatoriello He is the Director of Development + Communications at the New England Innocence Project. Jordan has 20 years of experience in communications, public relations, fundraising, and community outreach. She is an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a proven history of creating and sharing powerful social justice stories that mobilize communities and create change. Jordan specializes in developing and executing communications and development strategies aimed at increasing public awareness of NEIP's mission to correct and prevent wrongful convictions, tapping vital public support, while also providing a forum for exonerees and their family members to share, heal, and inspire action.   Key Takeaways -Approach going virtual as an opportunity, not a hardship -Don't be afraid to mix pre-recorded and live interaction  -Embrace the innovation that's all around us -Invest in high production values   To hear more details about the triumph that was the 2020 event, listen to Liz and her colleague Amanda Harless on the Joan Garry podcast, Nonprofits are Messy. You'll find a link to that episode in the show notes. Creating 5-star events in the virtual age.  https://blog.joangarry.com/ep-126-creating-5-star-special-events-in-the-virtual-age-with-liz-page-and-amanda-harless/   Useful Links -Joan Garry Podcast, https://blog.joangarry.com/ep-126-creating-5-star-special-events-in-the-virtual-age-with-liz-page-and-amanda-harless/ -Liz Page Associates, https://www.lizpageassociates.com/  -New England Innocence Project -New England Innocence Project, https://www.newenglandinnocence.org/  -Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/newenglandinnocence/ -Twitter, https://twitter.com/NEInnocence -Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/newenglandinnocence/ -LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/company/newenglandinnocence -YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoh4hQbOfJMU6BYBifhnzcg

When we think about messaging, we typically think of what we say about our work to the outside world. Although that's important to be sure, some would argue that what we say internally is just as, if not more, important. In this episode of Messaging on a Mission we hear from Phil Finch, a former VP of communications at a large not-for-profit, Sharon McIntosh, a world-renowned expert in internal communications, and Sara Jackson, executive director of Internal Comms Pro.    Key Takeaways Experience -Internal communications start with the leadership team and the focus with which they run the organization.  -Everyone thinks they can do internal comms. Common Mistakes -Focussing on the channels, not the content -Asking questions of employees too infrequently -Ignoring the leadership team's role -Many people under-communicate. It's really hard to over-communicate in a professional environment. Advice -Employee comms is a continuous process, it's not a one and done. -Two-way communication is critical. Listening is just as important as telling.  -Start small and expand over time as you are able. Five Future of Internal Communications -Superior employee experience, not just words  -Employees expect a consumer-grade experience  -Internal comms professionals as internal digital marketers -Collaboration between functions, such as internal comms and human resources -Messaging internally will require an approach of “intra-preneurship.” Perfection is no longer required.   Useful Links And Then Communications, https://andthencomms.com/ A brief history of Internal Communications, http://blog.tribeinc.com/2015/12/18/a-brief-history-of-internal-communications/ Internal Comms Pro, https://www.internalcommspro.com/   Episode Guests SHARON MCINTOSH. Sharon McIntosh is president of And Then Communications. With more than two decades of communications experience, she has a passion for creating and executing new ideas to drive employee engagement at organizations both great and small. Before starting And Then Communications, she served as PepsiCo's vice president of Global Internal Communications, overseeing the company's efforts to connect with its more than 274,000 employees worldwide. She and her team launched a number of innovative employee initiatives, including the company's first social media training (SMART U), a social tool to share internal news externally, and PepsiCo's award-winning employee ambassador program. Before joining PepsiCo in 2004, Sharon spent a number of years at Sears and Waste Management.    SARA JACKSON  Sara is the Executive Director of The Internal Comms Pro Collective and host of the podcast, Internal Comms Pro: The Podcast. Internal Comms Pro's mission is to collectively raise the value of the internal communications industry. Sara has extensive experience and expertise in internal and external communication and has developed locally- and nationally-recognized engagement programs and partnerships. Prior to starting her own company, Sara worked in both public and private sectors, particularly with the Cincinnati Bengals and the Cincinnati Reds. Sara was recognized as a 40 under 40 award winner, a ranking of the most influential young people in business. Sara resides in Fort Thomas, KY with her two daughters, Gracie and Ella.   PHIL FINCH  Philip Finch is a marketing and communications consultant based in Boston, MA.  Phil has more than 30 years of professional experience helping companies, organizations, and individuals craft award-winning strategies to deliver measurable results. He has worked in several industries including financial services, healthcare, education, technology, and consumer products, where he worked with clients on new product development and introduction, building and growing client relationships through strategic communication programs, and leveraging internet capabilities. For 15 years, Phil was Vice President of Communications at Fenway Health, a healthcare and research organization with a mission to serve the LGBTQAI+ community.  At Fenway, Phil was responsible for a variety of integrated marketing communications functions including, public and media relations, marketing, direct mail, internal and external communications strategies, internet management, and brand development.  He also oversaw the organization's fundraising efforts during a successful $15 million capital campaign. Phil earned a Bachelors Degree from Cornell University and holds a Masters Degree from Emerson College and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in Brussels Belgium.  

Alison Rogers is the Founder and CEO of USEFULL, a safe and convenient, app-based, reusable cup and container system based in Boston. She founded USEFULL to solve her own personal dilemma—she loved to-go food and drink (doesn't it always taste better when someone else makes it?!) but felt guilty by the trail of waste this habit creates. And yes, she has a cabinet full of reusables at home but always forgot them or found lugging them inconvenient.    Alison is a lover of the outdoors at the core, as she loves sailing, biking, and hiking. During these adventures, she all too often finds trash where it does not belong. This frustration was one of the catalysts to drive Alison to found USEFULL. Alison is an experienced management consultant. She also had a fellowship at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She graduated from Mt. Holyoke College. Key Takeaways: Consistency is a constant goal!   Useful Links: Useful Lumberjack Social

From tackling pandemic-induced changes in their offering to addressing the changing demographics of their constituents, The Trustees of Reservations has had their fair share of messaging challenges. Hear their Chief Marketing Officer, Matt Montgomery, talk us through them all.    Founded by landscape architect Charles Eliot in 1891, The Trustees of Reservations has, for more than 125 years, been a catalyst for important ideas, endeavors, and progress in Massachusetts. They care for more than 100 special places—nearly 27,000 acres—all around Massachusetts. Each year, more than 2 million people visit our reservations, 250,000 people participate in our more than 5,000 programs and events, and volunteers contribute over 50,000 hours of assistance in all aspects of our work.    Episode Guest: Matt Montgomery joined The Trustees in 2013 as the organization's first Chief Marketing Officer. Matt oversees the Stakeholder Engagement Department. He has created or transformed the Marketing, Membership, Enterprise, and Visitor Interpretation departments during this time. In the last seven years, Matt has overseen a comprehensive rebranding campaign, the implementation of a statewide POS system, the 125th Anniversary campaign, and co-authored the Excite strategy-the organizational roadmap for engaging visitors through public programming and visitor experience. Visitation at the Trustees has grown from 1.2 million visitors to more than 2 million. Membership has grown from 42,000 households ($3.2 million) to 65,000 ($5.8 million). Matt has led the communications and marketing strategy to launch several special efforts, including the Art and the Landscape program, Boston Public Market Kitchen, and One Waterfront Initiative. In 2019, he led the effort to create a Digital Roadmap for the organization, and in 2020, his department launched a newly designed website. In 2020, he became the executive in charge of Art and Culture, a new division created after the integration with deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum.    Previously, Matt worked as the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, where he oversaw the public relations and marketing initiatives for the opening of the new wing designed by Renzo Piano. He also worked as the Director of Marketing and Communications at the Museum of Art at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Before that, he worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and colleges and universities in Atlanta, GA. He has his B.A. in English from the University of Georgia and his M.A. in English and American Literature from Georgia State University.    Useful Links: The Trustees of Reservations

Grace Moreno has over 20 years of experience leading state and national not-for-profit organizations. Within those ten years, Grace has been a change-maker in politics, health, housing, civic education, and economic development.  She has served in previous roles as Vice President of Community Programs at The Community Builders, Inc. and Vice President for Operations and Finance at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate, among others. Currently, Grace is the CEO and Executive Director of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce, a statewide non-profit that cultivates inclusive relationships between LGBT-owned and ally-owned businesses and the corporate sector that drive economic impact throughout the Commonwealth. Since launching the LGBT Chamber, Grace and her team have raised over $1M to stand-up an organization with a team of four that serves the entire state with a plethora of programming and business-strengthening opportunities.   Key Takeaways: A messaging strategy should transcend executive directors Commitment from everyone is crucial Knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what to do    Useful Links: http://malgbtcc.org/

Messaging on a Mission is hosted by Douglas Spencer, the President of Spencer Brenneman.  Each episode, Douglas will talk to leaders of nonprofits, social enterprises, associations—any organization working to affect positive change. We'll learn about their journeys and the messages they're using to thrive.