Best Practices for Transitioning a Director off Your Nonprofit Board

All good things come to an end eventually, and great board members are no exception. When the time comes for these organizational leaders to transition, it’s important to have a clear offboarding plan in place.

Directors leave a board for a variety of reasons. For starters, board terms don’t last forever, so the exit could be a natural part of the board member’s life cycle. It could also be related to some sort of unforeseen, life-changing circumstance. Whatever the reason, a thorough offboarding process helps the nonprofit smoothly transition the person, honor them for their service, and tie up any loose ends.

Below, we will outline best practices for handling board member transitions. However, it should also be noted that sometimes board members are asked to step down due to some sort of difficult situation. While some of the practices listed below would apply to that situation as well, there are nuanced differences that we will not emphasize in this post. You can read this blog post to learn more about addressing challenging board members.

Follow Bylaws Closely

Every organization should have clear protocol documented in their bylaws for onboarding and offboarding board members.

Bylaws give you specific rules to follow. They’ll outline the process and help you have a consistent procedure for every board member. Following the bylaws closely is essential to having a smooth transition. The bylaws are also a legal document, so failing to adhere to the documented protocol could lead to legal challenges down the road.

If your organization doesn’t have this protocol in place, it’s important to get that remedied as soon as possible. The Foundation Group, a leading provider of formation and compliance services for nonprofits, explains that organizations in these circumstances should amend the document to include provision “before any further action is taken.” Likewise, they caution that “your bylaws should also contain provisions for how to make such amendments, so make sure you follow that process accurately, as well.”

Plan an Exit Interview

Evaluation of the board itself is one of the many responsibilities held by a nonprofit board. Exit interviews provide a great opportunity for remaining board members to receive feedback from those on their way out.

Nancy Droesch and Susan S. Stepleton, longtime nonprofit leaders and board members of Council of Accreditation, say that exit interviews can particularly help with gaining unbiased feedback. “Not only do these board members know intimately how the board functions,” the writers explain, “they no longer will have to put in the work to fix perceived weaknesses.”

The duo points out that exit interviews are most successful “with the right prompts.” Nonprofits need to ask questions that spur on good feedback. The process shouldn’t just be about going through a checklist. Rather, it should create space for the interviewee to thoughtfully engage with questions and provide meaningful responses.

Questions that prompt this kind of insight will focus on experiences and stories. They’ll be open-ended, enabling the interviewee to reflect on their time on the board. Here are a few specific examples:

• How would you describe your experience serving on board?

• In your own words, can you describe the culture of the board?

• What were the board’s strengths and weaknesses?

• Did you feel adequately prepared and trained for your responsibilities? If not, how could the board have done a better job?

• What would you tell an incoming board member to help them succeed?

• Are there any general suggestions you have for improving the board’s function?

Although each organization will want to find questions that relate to their particular board, having a few general questions like these can help your team get started. Nonprofitnext also has a more comprehensive list of questions worth considering.

In addition, they point out the importance of having a clear internal structure for the exit interview, claiming that “the Board Chair should decide who and how the exit interview is handled.” The specifics of that process will vary depending on the organization, but all should have some sort of process in place for when the time comes.

Honor the Board Member

Board members dedicate a lot of their time, energy, and resources to the organization during their tenure. Officially recognizing their efforts when they leave is a great way to show them that the organization appreciates all the work they put in, and there are a few ways to do this.

Honoring a board member can be as simple as acknowledging their exit and thanking them in a newsletter or on the nonprofit’s website. This public display of appreciation also lets your donors and other supporters know about the transition.

This example from the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasias gives a good foundation for what a public post could look like. The blog includes the following information for each exiting board member:

• Name and brief bio

• Role on the board

• Specific or unique contributions

• Thank you message that includes their length of time served on the board

Other ideas may include hosting a small dinner or gathering in their honor, inviting other board members or specific donors. The organization can also offer a small gift as a token of gratitude.

For particularly outstanding board members, organizations may consider adding an honorary title or special status, though we recommend offering this sparingly. Boardsource explains that overusing these honors causes them to lose their importance. “Retiring board members should not automatically be given particular honors or positions; such titles should be earned,” they write. Having set criteria and a determined process can help ensure “an impartial selection process” that is fair and “reduces hurt feelings” of other board members.

Consider Ways the Person Can Stay Connected

Just because someone is transitioning off the board doesn’t mean they have to cut ties with the organization as a whole. In fact, their intimate knowledge of the mission and their experience makes them a valuable asset long after their term ends. Because of this, the offboarding process should include ideas for how that person can stay involved.

Dr. Cynder Sinclair, a nonprofit coach with over 30 years of experience, shows that most board members want to stay involved in some fashion. It’s not like the years of passion and dedication just go away with a title change. Those things still run within them, and organizations can try these ideas to keep them connected:

• Inviting them to join committees

• Communicating through newsletters and emails

• Starting a separate communication channel exclusively for former board members

• Hosting special gatherings with former board members

The other practices mentioned above become even more valuable when you consider how they will help you establish a relationship with the former board member in their new role. Exit interviews can include questions about how they would like to stay involved, and publicly honoring them reminds them that the organization cares about them as people, not just as board members. These simple steps can go a long way in fostering relationships with these people who Dr. Sinclair calls “hidden jewels” of your nonprofit.

Secure Any Sensitive Information and Materials

Board members often have access to sensitive information. Whether it’s in the form of printed documents, software login, or anything else, it’s important that your organization secures any material that might jeopardize the integrity of the organization. This can save the board member and your organization from potential legal issues at some point.

Keep detailed records of all the information board members have access to. This could be part of the onboarding process that benefits offboarding. Your organization can create a checklist that accounts for each item that needs to be returned or which passwords need to change.

Closing Thoughts

Developing a smooth offboarding process will make it easier to transition directors from your board. Your organization’s bylaws should outline a clear path for moving these leaders out of the organization in the most efficient way possible.

The steps we outlined above do not necessarily pertain to those who are removed from the board under challenging circumstances. Such a process requires some additional considerations, but following these practices will help you smoothly offboard directors whose roles have come to a natural end.

4 Key Fundraising Metrics Nonprofits Can Start Measuring Today (and One Main Thing to Remember)

Nonprofit leaders work hard to ensure success in their fundraising campaigns. They build relationships, strategize, execute, and then go back and measure effectiveness.

Measuring fundraising success happens when leaders can track key metrics related to their efforts. The more they gain an understanding of these numbers, the more they can set realistic, predictable goals for future campaigns.

That being said, metrics can get out of hand quickly. As helpful as they are for identifying what worked or what didn’t, the sheer number of potential measurements can quickly get overwhelming for any organization. For instance, Donor Search has outlined 26(!) different metrics.

While each one has its purpose, we know most nonprofit leaders have enough going on. Tracking a large quantity isn’t at the top of the priority list. That’s why we encourage leaders to start small, selecting one or two metrics to track and then building from there.

We’ve identified four key fundraising metrics your nonprofit can start measuring today. Below, we’ll define each metric, provide a formula for calculations, and leave you with an important reminder about fundraising.

Donor Lifetime Value

The Donor Lifetime Value (DLTV) gives you a strong idea of how much each donor will spend from their first donation to their last. It’s similar to “customer lifetime value,” a metric that for-profit organizations use to predict how much earnings can be expected for an average customer.” Nonprofits can use the number to get the same kind of estimations about their donors.

Calculating your DLTV requires a few additional numbers:

• Average donor lifespan (how long a donor contributes to your organization)

• Average donation amount (this tool can be helpful)

• Average donation frequency

The keyword for all these is average. Most nonprofits have quite a range of donors, but the point of this metric is to have a predictable number for future estimations. Once you have identified these averages, plug them into the following formula:

Average Lifespan x Average Donation Amount x Average Donation Frequency = DLTV.

Feeling too abstract? We’ll use some simple, round numbers to illustrate the formula.

Let’s say you have an average donor lifespan of 5 years, an average donation amount of $1,000, and an average frequency of donation once per year, you can expect your DLTV to be $5,000. That’s how much, on average, a donor will contribute before transitioning out of the organization.

Having this number helps you estimate how many donors you need to attract to reach your fundraising goal. Following the example above, if the organization had a goal of $120,000, they can reasonably predict that they need to bring in 24 extra donors to hit their target.

Donor Retention Rate

Not every donor you bring in over a calendar year will continue giving. Donor retention helps you measure the number of donors who continue supporting your organization year after year, so the metric should be calculated on an annual basis.

Here’s how to calculate donor retention:

• identify the number of donors who gave last year.

• Cross reference that list with those who gave this year to find the retained donors.

• Find the percentage with the following formula.

(Retained donors ÷ Total donors in the previous year) x 100 = Donor Retention Rate

If you had 50 total donors last year, and 20 of them continued to give to your organization this year, you’d have a donor retention rate of 40%.

Having your donor retention rate can give your organization insight into the success of your communication channels, donor recognition programs, and what types of donations are best to target in the future.

As you continue to foster valuable relationships with your donors, you will likely see your retention rate grow, and with that growth comes a reduction of donor acquisition costs. It costs less to retain donors than it does to find new ones.

Cost Per Dollar Raised (CPDR)

CPDR is similar to Fundraising ROI, but it measures the number from the opposite end.

The Donor Search article explains that Fundraising ROI measures “how much you earned per dollar spent” while CPDR “tells you how much spent per dollar earned.”

Each metric, while similar in scope, can help nonprofits in different ways depending on their unique goals: “If cost-cutting is a priority, nonprofits would likely be more interested in CPDR. If strategic planning for future fundraising efforts is the focus, fundraising ROI would be preferred.”

Here’s how you calculate your CPDR:

Money Spent on Fundraising ÷ Money Earned through Fundraising = CPDR

General Numbers to Operate By for CPDR

Charity Watch elaborates on CPDR with a complex rating system based on the cost to raise $100, giving organizations a percentage to work with.

Organizations are considered “Good” when they spend $27 to raise $100 which is equal to .27 CPDR. Anything up to $40 spent per $100 raised (.40 CPDR) is considered “satisfactory,” according to the chart.

These numbers, again, are merely figures to start with, and organizations should consider their unique circumstances when establishing their own benchmarks.

Pledge Fulfillment Percentage

A final key metric to consider is Pledge Fulfillment Percentage (PFP).

According to Donor Search, pledges are “funds promised to be paid to your nonprofit over a specific period of time.” Calculating your PFP helps you measure how many of these promised pledges actually come through.

Having this percentage will help your team immensely when it comes to financial planning and stability. Pledges typically get counted as cash in annual budgets, so when those pledges aren’t fulfilled, your organization can potentially go over budget.

Additionally, your pledge fulfillment percentage can give insight into your pledge-acquisition strategy. If you discover that few pledges actually follow through, you can adjust your planning moving forward to reduce the amount of budgetary mistakes.

You can calculate your pledge fulfillment percentage with this simple formula:

(Total pledges fulfilled ÷ total pledges promised) x 100 = Pledge Fulfillment Percentage.

The Main Thing to Remember When Measuring Nonprofit Fundraising Metrics

Each of these metrics will help you track your fundraising success, but measurements are not the most important part of fundraising. There’s another, more critical aspect to focus on: Establishing strong relationships with your donors.

Neglecting relationships is one the biggest mistakes nonprofits can make when fundraising. As you get caught up in the world of metrics and measurements, it can be easy to forget about the people behind the donations.

Here are simple ways to foster good relationships with your donors:

• Provide them with updates about your organization

• Find ways to keep them involved and invested

• Show gratitude and appreciation with handwritten notes and special events

• Keep communication open

Further developing the relationship between your organization and your donors will go a long way for future fundraising campaigns. You can measure success with metrics, but you need to build relationships to help you get and keep donors over time.

An Overview of Metrics on Your Strategic Plan

At Mission Met, we think establishing and tracking metrics on your nonprofit’s strategic plan is a fantastic way to strengthen your organization. But we also totally get that metrics can be made to be overly complex and a distraction. So, in this brief article we’ll provide you with an overview of our practical (hopefully!) approach to strategic planning metrics and how they can benefit you and your team. 

(Note: Please take a few minutes to watch this accompanying video about metrics. Eric Ryan will walk you through how metrics can be displayed and measured on a strategic plan.)

About Metrics 

We think of a metric as a numerical outcome that you and your team are seeking to attain. Some basic examples are:

• Tons of CO2 reduced

• Number of grants submitted

• Donor member retention rate

Further, we have three different categories of metrics on our strategic plans:

1. Key Metrics

2. Focus Area Metrics

3. Goal Metrics

Don’t let three categories of metrics overwhelm you. These are just different types of metrics for you to consider; you absolutely don’t have to create and measure metrics in all three categories. 

The information below gives you an overview of these three types of metrics.

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Examples

• Tons of CO2 reduced

• Mortality rate reduction

• % increase in literacy

1. Key Metrics

Somewhat timeless measures that indicate a nonprofit’s overall success. 

Ideally, you’d have no more than three to five Key Metrics.

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Examples

• $ raised in a capital campaign

• # of board members

• Staff member retention rate

2. Focus Area Metrics

Measures used to indicate progress with “focus areas”, typically over about a three-year timeframe. 

Ideally you’d have no more than three metrics for each focus area. 

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Examples

• # of grants submitted

• # of workshops delivered

• # of Twitter followers

3. Goal Metrics

Measures used to indicate progress in completing a goal, typically over a one-year or less timeframe. 

Ideally, you’d have no more than one or two metrics per goal. 

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Measuring Metrics

As Eric wrote about in his recent book on strategic planning, it’s best to establish a monthly cadence of reviewing and measuring your metrics. Monthly measurement may seem a little cumbersome at first but if you only have a handful of metrics to measure then it isn’t too big of a lift.

Since your metrics are numbers, measuring progress over time is straightforward. However, in addition to measuring your numerical results, you can also use a “traffic light system” to provide a summary of your progress: 

Red — We are off track on this metric

Yellow — We are making slow progress on this metric

Green — We are on track to meet this metric

Using our software, Causey, tracking and reporting metrics is simple. 

A Catalog of Metrics

Several years ago Guidestar created the Common Results Catalog, a long list of the key metrics that organizations within were measuring. Reviewing this list may spur some ideas of your own. 

There’s No One Way

Although we have our own approach to metrics, there is absolutely no one way to create and track them. The important point is for you to simply establish some metrics and create a regular cadence of tracking and measuring them. Don’t worry about making it perfect. Over time you can dive deeper and clarify the best way that works for you and your organization.

Seven Practices to Better Engage Your Nonprofit Staff

A nonprofit employee is a valuable team member. They are people who care, not just about their jobs, but about the mission they’ve invested in, their community, and the role they play in making things better. The most successful nonprofits take care of their people by cultivating employee engagement.

An engaged nonprofit staff can bring positive change to the whole organization by lowering turnover rates and increasing employee involvement in the community. A recent Opportunity Knocks report explains that engaged employees are “typically more satisfied, more productive, and less likely to leave the employer to seek other employment.”

Realizing these benefits requires a plan for engagement. That’s why we’ve outlined seven of the best practices to better engage your nonprofit staff.

1. Conduct a Thorough Staff Onboarding Process

A more engaged onboarding process will help new hires get through the early days of the job as they get more acquainted with the organization.

Mission Box, an organization that focuses on communication and collaboration, breaks the onboarding process into four categories: before the first day, during the first day, the first week, and the first month and beyond. Each category comes with its own set of responsibilities and checkpoints that engage the employee while also moving the process along smoothly. Here are examples from Mission Box:

• Send all paperwork to the employee prior to their start date so that their first time in the office can be dedicated to more engaging, personal work.

• Have their workspace cleaned and ready for them by their first day (assuming, of course, that they will work in-person).

• A working lunch or welcome breakfast on day one helps introduce the new hire to the staff and key leaders. This can even be done virtually.

• At the end of the first week, assign a more seasoned “buddy” on staff that can answer any questions or help guide them along the way.

• By the end of the first month, ensure employees know the staff, their own role, and any training or development programs.

• Check in after three months, once the employee has had enough time to get settled.

Executive directors should monitor and evaluate the onboarding process to make sure it meets its expected goals. Recent additions to the staff and their supervisors can provide feedback on the process, pointing out what has worked and what hasn’t.

2. Create a Staff Recognition Program

Staff recognition is critical for keeping great people within an organization. Employees who don’t feel recognized are twice as likely to look for new jobs, and over a third of employees who feel unrecognized leave their jobs within a year.

Occasional, impromptu recognitions are a great place to start, but they can often slip through the cracks. Organizations find more success when they implement a specific recognition program to keep appreciation a priority.

The program can consist of simple, low-budget practices. No one on the team is expecting a parade thrown in their honor. They just want to know that the organization recognizes their work. Here are some easily implementable ideas:

• Personalized thank you letters from supervisors

• Monthly email shoutouts in an internal newsletter

• A dedicated time in meetings for kudos and recognition

Organizations can also push themselves beyond these simple concepts and really let their creativity shine. LinkedIn recently highlighted a few unique ideas, including a recognition wall where peers could honor one another and video messages from board members.

Red Velvet Events got particularly unique by giving away a red-haired troll doll every month to an outstanding employee. It became a trophy-like piece around the office that team members started aspiring for. Whatever recognition program your nonprofit implements, making it personal and specific to your organization’s staff will help it succeed.

3. Discuss Values Monthly

Many staff members join nonprofits because they care about the values of the organization. As they do their job, they want to see how their work contributes to those values.

Other industries have already caught onto this. For-profit companies found that linking recognition programs with the core values is a great way to recognize effort and build a stronger bond with the organization.

According to one survey, 88% of organizations that tied employee recognition to core values said their programs helped instill and reinforce those values, compared to 57% among organizations that did not have that linkage.

Additionally, 80% of organizations that linked recognition and values said the programs helped maintain a strong employer brand, compared to just 49% without those ties.

Nonprofit organizations can follow the lead of these companies to promote employee engagement. Monthly staff meetings can be a great place to incorporate this. There, the team can easily highlight how others are living out the organization's values.

There are a number of other ways to link recognition programs with core values, too. Some organizations require a person nominating an employee for recognition to cite examples of how the person fulfilled the organization's values. Others might highlight a specific value each month and reward employees whose work especially reflects that value. Some also tie their organization's values into a formal performance review process. Any of these methods will work as long as employees feel the nonprofit recognizes their efforts to live out the core values.

Read our blog article on values if you’d like to learn more about how to create and implement them at your nonprofit.

4. Consistently Strengthen Compensation and Benefits

Getting compensation and benefits correct is one of the most critical elements to staff engagement. Organizations looking to get ahead in this area can regularly evaluate their compensation plans and compare them to other, similar organizations.

Here are resources to find out what compensation ranges may apply to your organization:

• Candid’s 2021 Nonprofit Compensation Report

• Nonprofit Compensation Associate’s’ 2021 Survey

• The National Council of Nonprofits Compensation article

Organizations can also consider how compensation extends beyond salaries. Offering other perks like flexible work hours, access to professional training programs, extended paid time off, and other creative solutions can make employees feel engaged, even if the money is slightly less. None of these will completely replace a competitive salary, but they may help balance areas when certain dollar figures can’t be reached.

5. Deliver a Professional Development Program

Investing in a professional development program will equip your organization’s staff with the necessary resources to grow in their roles and improve their skills. The organization will reap the benefits of more specialized staff members.

Some popular nonprofit professional development opportunities include:

• Free virtual trainings

• Lunch and learns

• Apprenticeship and shadowing opportunities with supervisors

• Formal courses or certificate programs

• Management opportunities with junior staff

The Nonprofit Leadership Alliance provides many other ideas to develop your professional development program.

6. Engage the Staff in Strategic Planning

The Opportunities Knocks report referenced earlier shows that employee participation in decision-making activities positively affects employee engagement. Employees feel encouraged that their input matters to the organization and see themselves as important contributors to success. Since strategic planning is so essential to any organization’s success, strategic planning is a great place to engage your employees.

Involving staff in regular strategic planning initiatives will show employees that their input matters to the organization at a high level, which can in turn make them more connected to the mission.

You can engage your staff in the organizational assessment, at a planning retreat, and in the ongoing execution of the plan. The Opportunity Knocks report references a few additional ways to enhance engagement in the planning process, including:

• Cultivating a culture of creativity and innovation

• Being transparent

• Looking for and addressing areas of disengagement

7. Implement a Real-time Performance Management Process

Performance management plays a crucial role in employee engagement. Receiving feedback, both positive and constructive, lets staff know their efforts are seen, and it gives them insight into how they’re doing on the job.

Traditionally, performance evaluations happen on a scheduled basis, which can create extra work, especially for executive directors who are already overwhelmed. That’s why real-time performance management has recently become a popular trend in nonprofits.

Real-time performance management is all about establishing, monitoring, and evaluating specific success criteria on an ongoing basis. The key is to select specific, measurable metrics that align with the organization's goals.

According to Bloomerang, researchers often use the example of losing weight to illustrate this concept with calorie counts acting as the metric and weight loss as the overall goal. When the dieter decides to go out to eat, having clear, measurable metrics in front of them (the calorie count) will affect their order. Their theoretical weightloss supervisor could then ask about their calorie intake and see whether it aligns with the overall goal of losing weight.

Nonprofit leaders can set and measure these kinds of accessible and reliable metrics. The specific data will help staff identify and set measurable goals, provide clarity, and increase engagement.

Closing Thoughts

Improving employee engagement can lead to other positive changes in your organization. More engaged employees tend to stay with the nonprofit longer, work with greater productivity, and remain loyal to the organization’s mission.

Implementing these seven practices will help you better engage your staff and empower your workers and organization as a whole.

Steps You Can Take to Retain Your Nonprofit Volunteers

Volunteers play an important role in many successful nonprofits. Having good, consistent people dedicating their time and resources is critical to achieving your organizational goals and accomplishing your mission.

Some research shows that volunteerism is on the rise. In 2017, nearly one third of adults in the United States contributed time to some cause organization, the highest number in over a decade.

Despite their enthusiasm to join a cause, keeping volunteers in one organization can be quite challenging. 2018 saw 38% of volunteers leave the organization they volunteered with the previous year. More people might be joining, but they don’t necessarily stick around.

Our experience has shown that organizations keep volunteers longer when they feel organized, informed, and appreciated. Doing this requires a plan, one that involves resourcing these people and showing them that they add value to the organization.

Below we outlined three essential steps your nonprofit can take to retain your existing volunteer base.

Onboarding

Stepping into a new organization for the first time can be quite disorienting. Volunteers get won over by the nonprofit’s mission and vision, but on their first days, they will still be unfamiliar with the necessary processes, policies, and systems in place that will make them successful contributors. Onboarding helps orient your volunteers so they can feel secure and prepared to do the work needed of them.

Provide Inspiration

Successful onboarding starts with a formal volunteer orientation. Encore, a nonprofit that focuses on bridging generational gaps, explains that the best orientations begin with excitement. Share your organization’s mission, strategic plan, programs, and social impact with the volunteers and help them discover how their role helps the organization accomplish its goals.

Provide a Tour

Volunteers will also need to get oriented with the space they’ll operate within – whether it's an office building, a health clinic, a wildlife facility, or any other location. Some of this has to do with practicality – it’s easier to work in a space when you know where things are – but a more important element deals with the comfort of the volunteers. It can feel intimidating to not know your way around an area, and providing new recruits with a thorough tour will help them get their physical bearings and make them more comfortable.

Make Introductions

Orientations also give you the opportunity to explain different responsibilities of staff and leaders, especially those people they will report to or work closely with. If it’s appropriate and non-disruptive, you may want to introduce them to key leaders, giving them a chance to become familiar with others. As they get more accustomed to the space and the people, they’ll start to become familiar with the organization’s overall culture, giving them a deeper sense of connection with the work and the community they’ll be serving with.

Clarify Roles and Responsibilities

The final part of onboarding will include outlining specific responsibilities for the volunteer. This doesn’t have to be a full-scale training; that will come later. But giving them a chance to see the scope of their work early will help give them an idea of what’s expected of them. Encore suggests making the following aspects clear from the beginning:

• Specifications on the scope of work.

• Goals and expectations.

• Reporting relationships.

• Expectations for check-ins, time frames, and the proper communication channels.

Provide a Handbook

After the orientation, new recruits should receive a comprehensive handbook they can reference for more information. Here’s an example of the policies page from the National Wildlife Foundation that covers items like:

• Expectations around dress code, attendance, and general conduct.

• Information on record keeping, safety procedures, security protocols, and property usage.

• Protocol for training, evaluation, and recognition.

Training

Every volunteer will need some level of specific training to gain the skills needed to do good work for a long time. Most volunteers don’t have extensive experience doing the kind of work they'll be asked to do. Many will have to adapt to the specific systems, processes, and workflows of the organization.

Training Increases Retention

Clear and organized training will help instill confidence in your volunteers, which can also increase your organizational retention rates. Corporations in the for-profit sector have found that retention rates increase by 30%-50% in companies with strong learning cultures. While the exact numbers may not be transferable to the nonprofit world, the data suggests that people are more likely to stick around when organizations value training.

Key Components of Your Volunteer Training

Although specific training content will differ depending on the scope of work, the programs themselves will have many of the same characteristics. In the Community Tool Box, a resource of the Center for Community Health and Development at the University of Kansas, the authors explain that training should be thought out and strategic. Early sessions with new volunteers should include the following four things:

• What to do

• How to do it

• What not to do

• What to do in an emergency.

This framework will help your team think through the specific content of training sessions, but they’ll also want to consider who will be leading the training, a budget for any additional materials or resources, and any other logistical concerns prior to the training sessions.

Utilize Best Practices of Adult Learning

The Community Toolbox also suggests utilizing adult learning practices in the sessions themselves. Show volunteers the relevancy of the material. Provide them with problems to solve, and incorporate interactive learning methods like discussions, demonstrations, or writing. Give them space to share experiences and tap into their creative side. These sessions need not be boring. The volunteers will likely learn better the more they can engage with the material.

Document Your Training Program

Like any successful piece of nonprofit operations, having a plan in place for your training will help things work much better and run much more smoothly. It can be tempting to throw your most experienced people up there and let them speak, but volunteers learn better when they can follow a structured learning path. Lesson plans for individual sessions will help with this as will plans for evaluations and ongoing training.

Rewards and Recognition

Providing appropriate rewards and recognition is the third key step in retaining your nonprofit’s volunteers.

Know What Your Volunteers are Worth

Independent Sector has developed an insightful tool that quantifies the value of volunteers across the nation. In November 2021, the average national value of each volunteer hour is $28.54. While volunteers will obviously not be paid this amount, the figure can raise awareness of the value of their contributions. Organizations can take this information and think of ways to honor their volunteers in lieu of payment.

Know What Your Volunteers Want

The more you know your volunteers, the better you’ll be able to create a rewards program that actually makes them feel appreciated.

People volunteer for a number of different reasons. Many do it because they care or have had a personal impact with the organization or one similar to it. Others do it to network or because they find it a better use of their time. Some volunteers want to use and grow in a special skill they have.

All of these are true, but there’s usually something deeper going on.

Building off of Daniel Pink’s book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Tobi Johnson explains that people are motivated by three things:

1. Mastery

2. Autonomy

3. Purpose.

Johnson then connects Pink’s finding with the nonprofit world: “Pink’s arguments point to the very premise of volunteering itself — volunteers are driven to help organizations and communities, without pay, because they can bring about improvements in society and because they matter.”

Nonprofits can take this knowledge and use it to shape their reward programs.

Know What to Do Next

There are simple things you can do to get a rewards program off the ground. Writing personal thank you emails or handwritten cards, giving public praise or kudos in meetings, or hosting small events to honor the volunteers, are all easy ways to recognize volunteers.

Some organizations may want to go deeper than this, though. Using the knowledge of what motivates your volunteers can come in handy here. Johnson suggests providing training programs that

• Encourage mastery by giving them the tools to learn new things or entrusting them with greater responsibility in certain areas.

• Provide autonomy through self-directed training and resourcing.

• Reinforce purpose by showing them the effects their volunteer efforts are having in the organization and the community as a whole.

Closing Thoughts

Volunteers play a critical role in successful nonprofits, but keeping volunteers in your organization requires keeping them organized, informed, and appreciated. By implementing strong onboarding, training, and rewards programs, organizations can retain more high-quality, dedicated volunteers who are well-equipped to help accomplish the nonprofit’s mission.

The Secrets to Effective Nonprofit Board Recruitment and Onboarding

Building a board is a challenging task. Identifying key leaders, ensuring they fit the culture of your organization, going through all the interviewing and onboarding processes – each part of the process feels intimidating on its own. And that doesn’t even really scratch the surface of all that goes into it.

Despite these challenges, getting your board in order is one of the most important parts of running a successful nonprofit. Among other things, they’re responsible for overseeing and governing the entire organization and ensuring that the executive director has what they need to accomplish the vision.

Having the right board members in place will help things run as smoothly as possible, but the reverse is also true. A poorly structured team can have severely negative effects on the organization.

Building a good board starts with recruitment and onboarding. In this blog, we’ll cover some helpful tips for identifying and incorporating the kind of board members that will lead your organization to success.

Understand Your Board’s Model and Purpose

Every board needs a vision of the model and purpose of the board that they’re trying to create. Boards may take on different models depending on the organization’s specific needs. Recruiting new members gives you a chance to evaluate the kind of board you want to create for the next season of the organization. Ask a few questions to figure out which model works best for you.

• Are you looking to create a working board where people will roll up their sleeves and get to work?

• Are you looking to create a governance board that provides oversight and guidance to the staff?

• Are you looking to create a board that is largely focused on fundraising?

• Do you want to combine these various options in some way?

Building the model will involve thinking about the specific roles and responsibilities of your board. How will new members fit into the overall vision? Board member responsibilities should be clearly set and communicated both to the recruits and the existing board members.

Another factor to consider is the size of your board. How many new members are needed? Boards are not one-size-fits all, and each organization will make the decision on what size works best for them based on state laws, organizational bylaws, and the mission and vision of the nonprofit.

Boards should also have a predetermined idea of who is involved in the recruitment process. The executive director may play a part in this, but it’s often the role of the governance, executive, or nominating committee to lead the effort. This will reduce the risk of the executive director selecting people with whom they have an additional relationship.

Advisory boards, also known as advisory councils, can significantly impact your thoughts and decision making processes as well. Advisory boards do not have the same legal responsibilities as the board of directors. They instead support the board of directors by making recommendations or providing additional materials and information. Organizations with both an advisory board and a board of directors can consider candidates to fill both in the recruitment process.

Fully understanding your board’s purpose and mission will provide you with a strong foundation from which to recruit. Utilizing a board member matrix spreadsheet like this one from Build a Better Board can help a group clarify the composition and needs of the board that they are trying to create. Doing this early in the recruitment process will make it easier to avoid the pitfalls that lead to challenging board members.

Find the Right Candidates for the Right Roles

Boards won’t operate well without the right people in the right roles. Some candidates may bring a lot to the table in areas your organization does not need help. While it may feel like you’re losing out on someone great, it’s important to remember that board members fill specific needs.

In the recruiting phase, we recommend that board member responsibilities are clearly established and communicated. This will accomplish two critical things simultaneously. First, it will narrow your pool so you mostly get applicants that fit the specific criteria you’re looking for. Second, it helps keep your organization on track during the process to only look for candidates that fit that criteria.

Remember that the most successful boards are made up of different types of people. Having a range of skill sets and experiences helps the board become more well-rounded. The same can be said about the positive effects of creating a diverse board.

Recruiting can be a great time to evaluate your board's diversity and inclusion needs. Bringing in members with diverse backgrounds can help bring positive change to your organization.

Candidates can be found in a variety of places. Internal networks serve as a great starting point, but boards can expand beyond that by looking at various board posting and matching programs like the ones listed here. LinkedIn now also offers a service that helps nonprofits get in touch with potential board and employee candidates.

Every nominee should apply for the process, even if they have an existing relationship with the board. Recruiters can "shoulder tap" these people to encourage them to apply, but having them go through the vetting process allows them to expend some effort and show their commitment to the organization and its mission.

Thoroughly Plan Your Interviews and Evaluations

Having specific expectations for your board members will make it easier to interview and evaluate candidates. As applications come in, you’ll have a set idea they need to fit before they move to the next stage of the interview process.

The application should be thorough enough to get a good sense of the candidate. Find out about their previous experience and involvement with the community. Boardsource has put together a helpful prospective information sheet that can be filled out in addition to your organization’s application.

Interviewers should think through questions that allow the candidate to speak for themselves. Invite them to tell stories and share their experiences. Ask about their level of commitment and remind them of the time expectations for the role. Share information about meeting times, frequency, and, if relevant, requirements for serving on committees. Use a rating form like this one to ensure consistent criteria across candidates.

Beware of red flags, like the two mentioned here. Some candidates will want to serve only to bolster their own standing in the community. When real work is required on their end, these people often become frustrated and unproductive. Likewise, some candidates have a specific, personal agenda. They want to join only to make a change to the organization. While board members should be passionate, that passion should be channeled into the organization’s success, not personal gain.

Not every candidate will fit the specific needs you need filled. This can be frustrating, especially when you feel a connection with the person and see their skills benefiting the organization. Keep these people on file in case something opens up in the future or see if they would like to serve on an advisory board. It may prove helpful in the future to keep these people close to the organization.

Follow a Clear Nomination, Election, and Orientation Process

The organization’s bylaws will include specific protocols for nominations and elections. Follow them carefully.

The recruitment committee should equip the rest of the board with information about the nominated candidate before the official nomination meeting. This gives them time to prepare specific questions before the official nomination.

Candidates should not be present at this meeting so that everyone has the freedom to ask questions and raise potential concerns. This should take place before the official, open election that gets recorded in the meeting’s minutes.

Once the candidate is officially elected, boards will want to onboard them with the organization as a whole to help them get oriented. Using a checklist like this will make the process go as smoothly and seamlessly as possible, giving your newly elected board member a strong understanding of their responsibilities and the organization's programs, history, direction, finances, structure, and operations.

Closing Thoughts

Board recruitment and onboarding can be a challenging part of building a successful board. Identifying the right candidates who meet specific needs can feel impossible, especially after sitting through frustrating interviews or reviewing piles of resumes.

Nonetheless, boards are bound to need new members at some point. Following these tips will give you a strong starting point as you evaluate new candidates and bring in new people to lead your organization.

What You Need to Know for Setting and Measuring Your Strategic Plan’s Goals

This blog entry, about setting and measuring goals for your strategic plan, is the final article in a five-article series where I share a brief preview of some of the guidance that I provided in my book, Mission Met: Proven Strategic Planning Guidance to Help You Build a Financially Secure and Impactful Nonprofit. 

Results and Process Goals

Take a look at the goals in the following table. Do you see how the wording of the first three goals has a different style and format than the last three goals?

I organized the table to highlight two different types of goals that you’ll want to consider including in your plan. The first three goals listed are “results” goals and focus on a numerical result. The last three goals are “process” goals and lead to the completion of a plan, process, or system. 

For example, the first goal, “Raise $750,000 in individual donations,” is a results goal. Its correlating process goal is the fourth goal in the table, “Document and implement an individual donor plan.” 

Both of these goals follow my overall guidance. They have a goal topic. They represent a specific and desired achievement. They have due dates and goal champions. They’re excellent goals. 

So, which goal is better? Although the correct answer is “it depends,” research suggests that the process goals may have greater impact. 

As described by Chip and Dan Heath in their book, Switch, researchers indicate that process goals may be nearly three times more effective than results goals in helping you get what you want (note that they use the term “behavioral goals” to describe process goals):

In a pioneering study of organizational change, described in the book The Critical Path to Corporate Renewal, researchers divided the change efforts they’d studied into three groups: the most successful (the top third), the average (the middle third), and the least successful (the bottom third). They found that, across the spectrum, almost everyone set goals: 89 percent of the top third and 86 percent of the bottom third. A typical goal might be to improve inventory turns by 50 percent. But the more successful change transformations were more likely to set behavioral goals: 89 percent of the top third versus only 33 percent of the bottom third. For instance, a behavioral goal might be that project teams would meet once a week and each team would include at least one representative of every functional area. Until you can ladder your way down from a change idea to a specific behavior, you’re not ready to lead a switch.

In my work with executive directors and their teams, I’ve found that process goals are especially relevant. Most nonprofit leaders are great at putting out fires but struggle when it comes to building organizational processes. By deliberately incorporating a plan, process, or system as a goal within the strategic plan, the team will be more likely to build its capacity and effectiveness over time. 

Use a Simple Method for Measuring Goals

If you follow this guidance, then the goals you and your team will write will be specific and measurable. Assuming this is the case, here is a simple method that you can use to measure them. 

Commonly called the “traffic light system,” the method uses the colors of red, yellow, and green to quickly communicate goal progress:

Red—The goal is off track, and it won’t be completed by its due date.
Yellow—Progress on the goal is slow, and it may not be completed by its due date.
Green—The goal is on track to be completed by its due date.

I have added two additional colors to provide a little greater measurement specificity:

Blue—The goal has been completed.
Gray—The goal has not been started. 

In the following table, the “Goal Status” column provides an example of what the traffic lights would look like. 

If you and your team want to be more exacting in your measurements, you can supplement the colors with percentages. The “Percentage Complete” column in the table indicates what that might look like.

Bottom line: it’s important to set goals and measure them regularly. Focus first on the process, then the result. Using a simple method to track and measure will help you build a habit of analyzing this information. I recommend reviewing your goals monthly, as it will help you and your team build a learning culture that will catalyze your strategic planning success. 

5 Tips for Running Successful Nonprofit Board Committees

Nonprofit board committees can be a double-edged sword. When operating well, they promote productivity and ensure the organization runs as efficiently as possible. Committee members get to use their skills and expertise to fine-tune specific areas of the nonprofit, helping the organization accomplish its goals and fulfill its mission.

Committees do have their downside, though. The good things only happen when the committee operates well, and that’s often not the case. When a board does not fully commit to their success, the potential positives fade away. Committees instead become a source of frustration, full of unproductive and ineffective efforts.

We’ve seen the negatives many times in nonprofits we work with, and we know it doesn’t have to be that way. We’ve put together five tips that will help your organization’s committees operate successfully.

Tip #1: Understand The Roles and Types of Committees

A board committee is a small, dedicated group of individuals that help the board make decisions around a specific need. Committees leverage the unique backgrounds and knowledge of committee members to support the board with significant decisions or projects, pulling from a larger network to get to the best conclusion possible.

Some committees, like an executive committee or board recruitment committee, only consist of board members. Other committees, like a capital campaign or bylaws committee, may include a mix of the board and staff and sometimes even key advisors and stakeholders. The objective is to get the right people in place for the committee’s specific tasks.

Committees are typically either “standing” or “ad hoc”. A standing committee is ongoing and is often specified in an organization’s bylaws. The most common standing committee is the executive committee, typically made up of the board’s officers and mandated by the organization’s bylaws. As referenced in this excellent article, this committee is responsible for the hiring, firing, and support of the executive director and sometimes acts on behalf of the full board. Finance, fundraising, and membership committees are some other common standing committees.

Ad hoc committees (sometimes called a task force) are temporary and disband after the particular project is accomplished. Capital campaign, strategic planning, bylaws, and annual event committees are examples of ad hoc committees.

Tip #2: Appoint an Effective Chair and Secretary

Like the board itself, a committee should have an effective chair (or co-chairs) and secretary. By far, this is the most important tip within this article. Quite simply, the leadership and support provided by these two roles can make or break a committee.

Like the overall board chair, the committee chair must:

• Set and run organized meetings

• Maintain and communicate a clarity of purpose for the committee

• Create space for all of the committee members to share their perspective

• Ensure that the committee has clear goals and is making progress towards accomplishing them

Typically, the committee chair is also responsible for reporting the committee’s progress back to the full board.

The secretary is responsible for things like taking notes, disseminating agendas, and supporting the chair. In many cases a staff member plays this role.

Make sure that whomever is selected for these roles has the time and commitment to do them well.

Tip #3: Identify the Purpose and Goals of Each Committee

Committees shouldn’t exist just to say you have them. Each one needs a clearly defined purpose and measurable goals.

The purpose of the committee can be stated as one or two sentences that highlight the overall reason for the committee’s existence. Here is the purpose statement for the advocacy committee of one of our customers:

The advocacy committee is responsible for ensuring that the organization has a clear, current, and well-documented advocacy strategy that aligns with the mission and strategic plan.

Further, two of this committee's specific and measurable goals are to create and disseminate an advocacy tool kit for their members and to refine and implement their monthly information sessions with state legislators. You can see how they keep their committee focused and organized with a table like the one below.

Having a documented purpose and small set of measurable goals for your committees will help them run more effectively.

Tip #4: Get Your Meetings Right

Unfortunately, committee meetings are notorious for being poorly run and taking too long, in large part because the prior tips haven’t been followed.

Following the guidance that we provide in our blog article about effective meetings, “Death by Meeting”, each committee meeting should have clearly stated outcomes, a set agenda, and tie back to the committee’s purpose and goals.

Tip #5: Review the Number and Size of Your Committees

The number and size of committees varies greatly from organization to organization.

One of our customers, a staff-driven nonprofit, only has one board committee (an executive committee) and that works just fine for them. Another one of our customers, a membership organization, has a very effective set of eleven committees where the work of the organization is conducted.

Committee size varies depending upon the task. A bylaws committee may have three people whereas an annual event committee may have fifteen. Generally speaking, the smaller the committee the more manageable it will be.

If you’re wondering whether you have the right number and size for your committees, make this topic an agenda item at your next board or executive committee meeting. Bring these documents to review at the meeting:

• Current list of committees

• Who is on each committee

• The committee purpose and goals

• Your bylaws

• This article

Review these documents with your board and have a frank discussion about whether your current number and size of committees are serving you well and then begin to make adjustments as needed.

Closing Thoughts

Nonprofit board committees can either be a source of great frustration or great success. They can be filled with unproductive meetings and wasted time, or they can bring positive change to the organization. Following these tips can help you run your nonprofit committees more successfully.

How Software Catalyzes Your Strategic Planning Success: From Eric Ryan's Upcoming Book

Later this month I’ll publish my upcoming book, Mission Met: Proven Strategic Planning Guidance to Help You Build a Financially Secure and Impactful Nonprofit. The book will provide you with a suite of practical strategic planning practices that will help you and your team better execute your strategic plan. 

This blog entry, about the benefit of strategic planning software, is the fourth article in a five-article series where I’ll share a brief preview of some of the guidance that I provide in the book. 

A Software Journey

For the first decade-plus of my consulting career, I helped our customers capture and track their strategic plans in Microsoft Word and Excel documents. That worked fine. 

However, Word- and Excel-based plans were fairly static and didn’t actively engage teams to take any action. Plus, not everyone felt comfortable using Excel, and the plans were avoided as a result.   

I had a nagging thought that there must be a better way. 

With that in mind, I searched to see if there was any strategic planning software on the market that could help us and our customers make their strategic plans more dynamic and engaging. Although I succeeded in finding some good platforms, they were designed for large corporations and were too complex and expensive for the organizations that I was working with. Put differently, the software solutions were Ferraris when I was looking for a practical and affordable Toyota that my customers could easily own and drive. 

Not finding a solution, in 2015 I decided to create one. I hired a software development team to work with me to build easy-to-use and cost-effective strategic planning software designed specifically for the practical needs of small and midsize nonprofits. 

The result, as you may know, is Causey, a wonderful software platform that has transformed my approach to strategic planning. 

What I’ve Learned

Since then, we’ve had thousands of people utilize the software. It’s been a completely amazing and exciting journey. I could write a separate book about all that I’ve learned. 

But my key takeaway has been that my initial hunch was spot on: strategic planning software significantly catalyzes strategic planning success.

I first realized this at a planning retreat where I introduced the software to a team of about twelve people. I had worked with the team before, using Word to capture their prior plans. 

This time, however, we documented their plan in the software. During the retreat, everyone was fully engaged in the plan via their laptop. The software made the process more enjoyable, logical, and engaging. The executive director told me that she’d never seen her team so fully immersed in the process. 

The team’s engagement continued, over time, as the team built a habit of tracking and measuring their plan in the software in a way that they had never done before.

I knew that my software team and I were onto something. 

Key Benefits 

I’ve learned that using strategic planning software has several key benefits:

• Ensures that your planning is a good investment
  Effective planning can be a significant investment of time and money. By capturing and tracking your plan in planning software, you help to ensure that your plan will be used and that it provides a positive return on investment. Further, using planning software sends a clear signal to your team that strategic planning is something for everyone to take seriously.

• Builds your measurement habit
  As I described earlier, one of the best ways to catalyze your team’s strategic planning success is to build a habit of regularly measuring the plan. Planning software can help you and your team build that muscle by sending automated reminders to review and measure progress on your plan. Further, the templates and forms in the software simplify the measurement process. 

• Integrates the plan into your calendar
  By linking to your online calendar, strategic planning software can help you keep track of when key goals and action items are due. 

• Strengthens communication
  Most planning platforms provide easy tools to report and share progress on your plan with your team and key stakeholders. 
  

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about Causey then visit our web site where you can watch a two-minute overview video and review some of the software’s key features. You can also schedule a demo and get a free trial.

4 Ideas for Nonprofit Storytelling (With Examples)

Any nonprofit professional knows the challenges that come with engaging their audience. Whether you’re trying to drum up support or simply raise awareness, capturing someone’s attention can turn out to be quite difficult.

People typically only pay attention to an idea when it means something to them. Delivering information can help them think differently about the idea, but until they actually care about it themselves, that knowledge might fall flat.

That’s where storytelling comes in.

Stories make abstract things concrete. They help make the communicated idea real to the audience so they can imagine the problem or situation themselves. Raw numbers and statistics often remain abstract, making it harder for the listener to identify with the problem themselves. Stories put a face to numbers and compel people to respond.

Below, we’ll look at 4 ways nonprofits can harness the power of storytelling and share examples that highlight just how effective it can be.

Communicate Your Mission and Inspire Viewers

Stories can have a massive effect on a nonprofit’s ability to communicate their mission and inspire others to get on board. They give the audience a chance to see the mission play out rather than just hear it articulated.

Take a look at this video from Charity: Water, an organization that wants to “help bring clean and safe water to every person on the planet.”

The video shows how a lack of accessible clean water stopped a woman, Honorine, from fulfilling her dream and made her sick. It communicated the problem Charity: Water seeks to solve, but it also put a real face and a name behind it, sparking compassion in the viewer. They feel for Honorine and therefore start to resonate with the organization’s mission. In a sense, it becomes personal because they have a clear picture of what’s at stake.

This kind of storytelling can raise awareness of the issues your organization addresses, and it can help people start to care about that issue themselves.

Share Data and Statistics

Storytelling and data don’t have to be enemies. In fact, having the statistics to back up the story can lead to even bigger impacts.

Consider this promo from Feeding America, one of the largest nonprofits in the U.S. dedicated to ending world hunger.

Like the Charity: Water video, this campaign focuses on a clear, specific situation. Instead of an individual, however, there are two main characters–a young boy and his single mother. Viewers get an inside look into how hunger affects a small family.

The boy is distracted at school. He has less energy than the other kids. The mother is constantly thinking about how to provide food for her and her son at work, going as far as taking wasted bagels from a dumpster at the end of the day. All of this communicates the need Feeding America wants to highlight, and it prepares the way for the data driven voiceover at the latter part of the video.

The voice speaks about how “millions of working American families and their children” hide their struggle with hunger. He talks about waste, mentioning “over 17 billion pounds” each year. He lists statistics, but these statistics mean more after seeing the story of the little boy and his mother. It is as if the numbers show that the two characters are not alone. Many families just like them exist throughout the nation. The numbers help viewers know more, but the story of the family helps them care. It brings the data closer to the heart.

Raise Support Through Open-ended Storytelling

For 25 years, Steven Screen has helped nonprofits across the country tell better stories to raise financial support. He has pointed out that the organization’s story isn’t the only one at play. Donors have stories, too.

“Most donors are telling themselves a story about their life and their giving and their philanthropy,” he says. Most of the time, these stories focus on the donor helping people or organizations who need help.

Nonprofits that understand the donor story can use it to shape the way they fundraise. Screen suggests telling open-ended stories so the donor sees how they can step in and help provide a strong conclusion, effectively filling in their own story in the process.

What does this actually look like? Screen provides a few tips:

1. Narrow your focus. You don’t have to talk about all your programs and all you do. “Instead,” Screen says, “talk about some small identifiable part that takes a certain amount of time that’s happening now.”

2. Show the need for today. It can feel intimidating to ask for help with an ongoing project instead of showcasing all the good your organization has done before. However, Screen explains that to the donor, telling a completed story can make it sound like their help isn’t needed. When nonprofits are vulnerable and can articulate a sense of urgency, the donor can better see how their support will make a real difference right away.

3. Tell the complete story when you report back. The beauty of telling an incomplete story is that it gives the donor a chance to shape the ending. It’s not supposed to stay open-ended forever. Screen talks about three stages of fundraising: asking, thanking, and reporting. The story is only incomplete in the asking stage. When you report back to the donor, you show how their contribution helped create a nice ending, which may encourage them to offer more support later on.

One of clearest examples of incomplete storytelling Screen talks about is disaster response. When the story gets told, it isn’t complete yet. No one knows how effective the relief efforts will be. In fact, the incomplete story shows that success will only come if the donor helps, which is what they want their own story to be.

Utilize Various Media to Tell Your Stories

Stories don’t have to take place only in live-action video format. This video from Call and Response uses animation to communicate harsh working conditions of people who provide goods for many consumers.

The creators pack the video with data, but the visualizations engage the viewer in multiple ways. We see images to associate the data with. We hear the numbers read out loud. It plays to a variety of senses, tells a compelling story, and then challenges viewers to act.

Written articles or blogs can be another way to utilize nonprofit storytelling. Charity:Water wrote a great piece about how the water crisis has particular effects on women in villages. They even repurposed the video about Honorine. Here’s one section that tells a compelling story about how collecting water steals time away from women:

“We’ve met young girls who walk in the 115ºF (46ºC) heat of the Sahel Desert to collect water from 1,000-year-old holes. We’ve met women in Ethiopia who walk to the river before sunrise and don’t get back until after lunch. We’ve even met mothers in Mali who sometimes sleep next to an open water source so they can be first in line when the water refills the next morning.

That time adds up. Worldwide, women and girls spend an estimated 200 million hours every single day collecting water.

This burden robs women and girls of time to learn, time to be a kid, time to earn an income, time to rest, and time spent with family. For hundreds of millions of people, being born female means life revolves around water collection. Everything else comes second.”

The data is sandwiched between two compelling stories. The first one tells how women sacrifice their time and energy to get water. The second shows that the problem is greater than time being taken away. The work of retrieving water makes education, joy, jobs, rest, and family time less likely for these women.

Nonprofits can use videos, animations, photographs, infographics, blogs, podcasts, or any other medium to reach their audience and tell compelling stories. Those that have the resources may even consider investing in multiple channels to see which have the greatest effect. If there is one thing that we've learned in our INSPIRE process, it's that nonprofits need to tell their story in written and visual forms.

Final Thoughts

People are naturally storytelling creatures. We use stories to make abstract ideas concrete and to help us imagine situations more fully. Nonprofits can use stories to inspire people with their mission, communicate important data, and raise money, and following these 4 tips will give you a great place to get started.