What's your tagline?

Does your nonprofit have a tagline? Most small organizations that I'm aware of don't, and have never even considered the need for one.

Nancy Schwartz, of the Getting Attention nonprofit marketing blog, believes taglines are essential ingredients to success. According to Nancy:

In today's competitive marketing (including fundraising, of course) environment, nonprofit taglines must be strong enough to get attention and provoke questions.

Effective taglines complement an org's name, convey the unique value its delivers to its community and differentiates it from the competition? (Americorps' "Getting Things Done" is a great example of a tagline that works on all three fronts.)

But more often, nonprofit taglines are vague, ambiguous, over-reaching, too abstract or simply non-existent.

Unfortunately, there’s little available guidance for organizations striving to strengthen their taglines. That's why I'm making a special effort in 2008 to help nonprofit orgs craft better taglines.

You can help Nancy with her research project on nonprofit taglines by taking this short online survey (click here).

Is your nonprofit blidgetized yet?

What's a "blidget"? It's a widget to syndicate a blog. Huh?

Basically, if you've got a blog, and you'd like to allow other web sites, blogs, profiles (MySpace, FaceBook, etc.) to embed your blog, a blog widget is an easy way to do it. What's in it for a nonprofit organization? Viral marketing made easy, that's what. Imagine each of your supporters embedding your headlines on their blogs, on their MySpace profiles and on their Facebook pages. It's a great way to get your message out there for a total investment of about ten minutes of your time.

Using the tools found at widgetbox.com, creating the initial widget was very quick and easy. Creating a Facebook application out of the initial widget was a little more complex and time consuming, but the instructions offered by widgetbox got me through that as well.

Here's what my two main blogs look like when widgetized:

(Note: If you'd like to use either of these blog widgets on your page, just click the "Get Widget" button at the bottom of each one.)

A Scary Nonprofit Halloween Story

Once upon a time, a local government agency wanted to give grants in a particular issue area, so they put out an RFP and called all the area nonprofits to a special meeting.

The nonprofits came to the mandatory 3-1/2 hour meeting and received over 60 pages of instructions on how to complete the seven page proposal package (two pages of actual writing plus lots of forms). When they tried to ask questions, they were told to that they couldn't ask questions at the meeting, but that they should write them down on index cards and wait for the answers to magically appear on the government agency's web site - hopefully before the proposal due date.

So, did you recognize that story? How many times have you lived this nightmare? I experienced it again just yesterday morning. Now, nothing in this post should be taken to be a personal attack on the agency or people involved in issuing this RFP. The humans were all great, and made the 3-1/2 hours as painless as they could. My problem is with bureaucracy in general.

I just can't help but think that there is a more efficient way to achieve the same results - or better - without wasting so much time and resources on insignificant minutia.

When I talk to people about my career, and my progression from working for county government, to nonprofit agencies, to being an independent consultant, I often describe it as a natural reaction to being allergic to bureaucracy.

There isn't likely to be a cure for this overnight, but the situation isn't entirely hopeless either. Locally, the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits has been working with the city and county on streamlining some processes, and getting individual programs and agencies within the city and county to use the same forms for contracts, proposals, and reporting.

Not everybody is on board yet, but slowly, one agency, and one program, at a time, we eliminate a bit of the paperwork that has nothing to do with our mission. And, some day, maybe that little story I started with really will just be Halloween fiction.

Mission Paradox

I am a member of the Nonprofit Blog Exchange - a group of nonprofit bloggers who try to promote each other's work as resources for the nonprofit community online. As part of that exchange, we occasionally post reviews of each other's web sites.

Today I'd like to introduce you to the Mission Paradox Blog of Adam Thurman. Mr. Thurman is a consultant, writer, speaker, professor, and a self-described nonprofit "provocateur" so you know you will always find something interesting and different on his blog.

The particular post I'd like to direct you to is one that all too many of us need a refresher on from time to time: Talking About Your Mission. His first hint is to "Translate your mission into a language everyone can understand." I fully agree. Whenever I work with a group on a mission statement I fight hard to keep them from filling it with jargon and technical terms that only other nonprofits get. Are people confused by your mission? Maybe that's part of your problem. As Thurman writes, "Confused people don't give."

To find out Mr. Thurman's other tips on talking about your mission, visit this posting at his blog, and don't forget to check for new posts as well.

What are the critical characteristics a board of directors needs to succeed?

For a nonprofit board of directors to succeed, the number one key ingredient is: Involvement. Boards fail (and, in turn, organizations fail) when board members become disengaged from either the mission of the organization or their role in the governance of the organization.

An engaged board does more than simply show up for scheduled meetings and vote to approve minutes and budgets. Engaged boards partake in vigorous discussions that help shape the vision and future direction of their organization. Engaged boards ask questions of staff and read journals to become educated on the issues their organization is involved in. Engaged boards read and understand monthly financial statements and accept their responsibility for fundraising activities that will ensure the organization's short-term stability and long-term sustainability.

Meetings of involved boards are not boring. They do not consist of only one or two people reading reports. Reports are sent out ahead of time, and members have read them before the meeting. Meetings are reserved for discussion of the reports, and decision making by the entire team. The Chair of an involved board does not dictate what the decisions will be, but rather facilitates the discussion and makes certain that all viewpoints are heard before a vote is taken.

All of this requires that many viewpoints, and many areas of expertise, are represented on the board. Do not recruit all of your board members from the same source, or you're likely to build a chorus of "yes-men" and stagnate under a lack of creativity. Be certain to have board members skilled in finance, marketing, law, and fundraising. Don't be afraid of adding people who will disagree with some of your ideas.

An active and involved board requires a leader who is strong enough to keep discussions on topic and within set time limits, but is also willing and able to put their own ego aside to hear opposing views and new ideas. An active and involved board builds the leadership skills of all its members through assignments on committees and special projects.

The involved board is a successful board. Involved boards never have to cancel meetings because they don't have a quorum. Involved boards lead successful nonprofit organizations.

This question came from Helium.com, where I have just signed up as a writer. You can find this article on the Helium site at: helium.com/tm/660571/nonprofit-board-directors-succeed