"Just the facts, Ma'am"?

Viewers of the old TV program, Dragnet, remember Sgt. Joe Friday repeatedly telling the witnesses he'd question about a crime, "Just the facts, Ma'am." He had no time to get mixed up in the emotional aspects, he just wanted names, numbers, and details.

Many fundraisers also take the Sgt. Friday approach. Whether it's in a foundation grant proposal, or direct mail letter, or a talk at the local Rotary, too many of us get so caught up in our fabulous statistics and data that we forget that we are in an essentially emotional business.

When I teach grant writing classes, I always tell my students, "The data may get the funder interested, but it's the emotional hook that puts the signature on the check."

I am reminded of that this week because of a phenomenon being fueled by YouTube. A video was posted a week or so ago telling the story of a Josh Adkins, a boy with terminal cancer and one final wish: to get into the Guinness Book of World Records for receiving the most get-well cards.

Other YouTube users posted replies and helped spread the Josh Adkins message. One of these videos ended up being featured on the YouTube home page, bringing in over 100,000 views (to this date).

Needless to say, there are now thousands of cards being sent to the address given for young Josh. (Note: The Guinness people no longer certify a record in this category since a British child received more than 200 million cards in the decade since he put out his request. Still, Josh is a real boy, who wants to receive cards, whether or not it earns him a record.)

The creator of the featured video, Tom Guarriello (an online buddy of mine and a great business consultant), has since posted a follow-up video talking about the phenomenon that he unwittingly participated in, and some of the reaction to it.

In this new video he mentions that some of the comments he's received are along the lines of, "Why should we care about this one kid, when so many others are also dying?" Tom very rightly answers about the power of emotional arguments to push logic and reason aside. The image of one sick boy hits us all (okay, most of us) much harder than charts showing the number of childhood cancer victims and survivors.

Which brings us back to what I teach my grant writing students: Put in the data, but don't be afraid to include the emotional hook too.

Yes, brag about how successful your organization is, and how many people you serve, and how it has improved their lives - but then illustrate that with a real client story. Put in that name (first name only, remember confidentiality) and create that image. Funders are human too.

After all, did you get into the nonprofit field for all the nifty spreadsheets and the huge paychecks? Or did you get into the nonprofit field to help people?

"Just the facts?" I don't think so.

Carnival of the Nonprofit Consultants

It is my pleasure, once again, to host the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. For those new to blog carnivals, they are a fun way to focus in on a topic and learn about new blogs. This particular carnival was founded by Kivi Leroux Miller of writing911.com.

Erek Ostrowski presents Creating a Culture of Productivity and Success posted at Verve Coaching.

Jeff Brooks presents Consumers shut the door - what can you do? posted at Donor Power Blog.

Colin Delany presents Learning About User Expectations - The Hard Way posted at e.politics.

Nancy Schwartz presents Japan Society Comes Clean at Time of Organizational Challenge posted at Getting Attention.

Paul Jones presents Cause-Related Marketing with Franchises posted at Cause Related Marketing.

Katya Andresen presents How to court a blogger posted at Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog.

Peter Brinckerhoff presnts Exec Pay posted at Mission-Based Management.

Thank you for joining us on this round-up of what's happening on the nonprofit consulting blogs.

Two in three Americans volunteer - Good news or bad?

According to a new survey by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, 64% of American adults had "performed some type of volunteer activity in 2006". So, is this good news and bad? How about both...

It's great news! A sizable majority of your community members, constituents, potential supporters, and neighbors are actively involved in helping nonprofit organizations achieve their missions.

This means that if you have volunteer needs in your organization (and if not, why not?), then you should have an eager army of people ready and willing to perform for you.

It's awful news! As impressive as 64% volunteering sounds, it's actually significantly less the number who wanted to volunteer! The Thrivent survey found that 86% would have volunteered, if the opportunities had been available.

This means that we, as a sector, are doing a rotten job of either providing the right opportunities, or of promoting and recruiting for those opportunities, or both.

Does every mailing and newsletter that goes out from your nonprofit include a phone number and name of the person to contact for volunteer opportunities?

Does the front page of your web site include information on volunteer opportunities, and a one-click means of finding out how to take part?

Or are you afraid of over-promoting these, because you prefer to promote giving opportunities? Well, consider this old axiom: money follows involvement. 90% of volunteers are potential donors. If you get them volunteering, the donation ask actually gets easier!

And that is good news all around

(Thanks to Dave Rustad for the link!)

Does your nonprofit organization employ a**holes?

Warner Business Books will shortly be releasing a new book that will is destined to be a business classic, if only for its title: The No Asshole Rule - Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't, by Stanford Professor Robert I. Sutton.

Beyond the catchy title (that I'm sure just about everybody who's ever had a job can relate to), Sutton actually does have something to say about the toxic effect of a**holes on the workplace:

Assholes have devastating cumulative effects partly because nasty interactions have a far bigger impact on our moods than positive interactions - five times the punch, according to recent research. ... These findings help explain why demeaning acts are so devastating. It takes numerous encounters with positive people to offset the energy and happiness sapped by a single episode with one asshole.

There are also, according to Sutton, degrees of a**hole activity. We all may be guilty of occasional bad moods leading to "temporary a**hole" status. And then, there are those who qualify as "certified a**holes."

While the book is written about the for-profit business world, it can almost certainly be applied to the nonprofit world as well. Some of you may be thinking, "No, not in the nonprofit world! We're all good and pure!"

Well, unfortunately, my experience tells me that while that may be true than in other sectors of the economy, the nonprofit sector is not immune from the destructive nature of a**holes in the workplace.

The difference may be that in the "heartless business world" managers may be quicker to deal with potential a**holes in the making, while we nonprofit folks may be more forgiving, and not have the heart to fire somebody who really needs it.

So, remember, it's not just because you don't like the a**hole in question. You have to fire this person because they are toxic to your organization, they diminish productivity, and that is hazardous to your mission.

Read more about the book, and Don Griesmann's full review, at CharityChannel.com

What gets left behind - Thinking about priorities

I apologize for not being better about posting for the last couple of weeks. First I had to go out of town for several days for a funeral, and since I've been back I've been extremely busy with helping one client with a new Strategic Plan, helping another with a major funding proposal (the finished proposal was about 25 pages), and starting up an assignment as an Interim Executive Director. With all of this activity, blogging has been pushed aside.

But this could also be an interesting topic for a nonprofit blog; what gets left undone when you get busy with everything else? What's falling through the cracks at your nonprofit organization?

It's a fact of nonprofit life that you will always be busier than you can handle, and that you will always be doing more than one job. So, how do you prioritize?

In the case of this blog, the fact of life is that projects that have far greater income potential distracted me. The blog is part of my mission of assisting nonprofits, and it is a good tool for promoting my consulting practice, but bottom line considerations intervened.

Are you putting mission aside to work on projects that have more immediate deadlines, or have some greater income potential?

I have no answers today, just these questions for you to think about, and an explanation for my recent absence.