July's Nonprofit Roundtable: Successful Planning For Yourself

The importance of managing a professional’s own personal skills and knowledge was the featured conversation at the July 15 meeting of the Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable. Like most, if not all, sectors, the nonprofit sector is managed and guided by professionals—managers, directors, fundraisers, marketers, program developers and leaders, HR personnel, IT experts and many others. As specialists in their fields, maintaining current skills is crucial for their respective organizations to pursue their missions and visions effectively.

What was the last class, workshop, webinar or conference you participated in? Who hosted it? Was it free or did you pay? How and why did you choose it?

While many of us are content with our jobs, positions and companies/organizations, others eventually want to move upward and outward. All wanted to continue to develop their skills, and none of those who attended the Roundtable meeting believed that s/he knew everything. So, in fact, we are all interested in strengthening our capabilities and keeping up with new trends, new technologies and new information that can positively impact or negatively impact us, whether we know it or not.

During our meeting, we addressed three questions:

What do professionals in your field need to know to be current?

Answers: Social media, volunteer management (especially how to address issues with volunteers), compliance and legal requirements, financial management (where is the money and how do you connect to it), learning knew storytelling styles and techniques, employee safety and readiness, state and local policies, internship management, payroll, workplace safety, GAP (general accounting practices), effective networking, evaluation on alignment with the organization’s goals, and community updates.

Where can you learn these kinds of things?

Answers: Foundation Center (www. http://foundationcenter.org/sanfrancisco), Vocus (www.vocus.com), CompassPoint (www.compasspoint.org), Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), Chambers of Commerce (www.oaklandchamber.com), CARD (www.CARDcanhelp.org), California Association of NonProfits (www.calnonprofits.org), local Toastmasters Clubs (www.toastmasters.org), Association of Fundraising Professionals (www.afp-ggc.org), Planned Giving Council (www.ncpgcouncil.org), Taproot Foundation (www.taprootfoundation.org), East Bay Community Foundation (www.ebcf.org), Volunteer Center of the East Bay (www.volunteereastbay.org), and Volunteer Match (www.volunteermatch.org) to name only some.

What affiliations – professional associations—exist for your field?

Answers: American Society of Association Executives (www.asaecenter.org), Development Executives roundtable (www.dersf.org), and Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (www.calvoad.org) to name a few.

Many of those listed provide free or low-cost trainings and workshops, as well as send out regular newsletters of other learning and conference opportunities. The importance of professional development and lifelong learning cannot be emphasized more strongly—for both personal and professional stability and growth.

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Have you been intrigued, startled or perhaps even jealous by the tremendous success of the Ice Bucket Challenge that has captivated the nation and the world? Have you wondered how your organization could implement such a successful campaign? Do you think that the Challenge has been an act of fundraising terrorism on the nonprofit community? Please join the co-chairs and other members of the Oakland area nonprofit community at the September meeting to a thorough discussion of the matter. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 16, 2014 from 2:30pm - 4:30pm at the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, 475 14^th Street, Oakland, CA.

Also, if you would like to promote your organization, please bring a door prize or some snacks.

Contacts:
Co-Chair Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Communications professional (jmetzman@earthlink.net)

Chamber Liaison Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)

May Flowers: Volunteers Are the Treasures of NonProfits

NonProfit Roundtable Blog

May 20, 2014

By Jerry Metzker, Nonprofit Roundtable Co-Chair and Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners

For community benefits organizations and agencies, public projects, and community action initiatives, individuals who freely devote themselves, their skills and their time can be the life’s blood of an activity, and sometimes the organizations themselves. At its May meeting, the Chamber’s NonProfit Roundtable addressed the many aspects of volunteers and volunteering for the community. These included how to look for volunteers, engage them, train them, support them and thank them.

Volunteers are individuals who undertake tasks for an organization but are not paid, including such persons as board and committee members, pro bono consultants, people who are assigned community service, unpaid interns and students volunteering for class credit. In 2012, 26% of Americans volunteered, more women than men, and mostly in the 35-44 year-old range with 33% of all volunteers in youth services.

The meeting featured Jayne Cravens of Coyote Communications (www.coyotecommunications.com), an internationally-recognized consultant, researcher and trainer. Her work focuses on communications, volunteer involvement, community engagement, and management for nonprofits, NGOs and government initiatives. She has a decade of international experience, and extensive experience regarding community and institutional development. Cravens is a pioneer regarding the research, promotion and practice of virtual volunteering, including virtual team work, online mentoring, microvolunteering and crowdsourcing. She has worked extensively with multicultural audiences, corporate audiences, United Nations agencies, national and international agencies, international aid workers, low-income communities, and those who are traditionally socially-excluded. She is also co-author of the book, The Last Virtual Volunteering Guidebook.

During her presentation, Cravens covered many aspects of volunteering. Her suggestions include: 1) organizations should use their own strengths, mission and stories as recruitment tools; 2) think about why people want to volunteer, nothing that many people respond because they are angry about something and want to do something productive to address or fix the situation; 3) different people have different reasons for volunteering, and many of them go after what they are passionate about; 4) look for ideas from other organizations and volunteer services and try them; 5) beware of anti-volunteer positions, such as those held by individuals displaced after disaster or internships.

She also noted how important it is to value volunteers as individuals who are engaging with you in your mission or activity. They are not helpers because the organization cannot afford to pay workers. In fact, Cravens strongly recommends avoiding talking about monetary considerations at all. She also encouraged organizations and agencies that use volunteers to create a mission statement for volunteers.

In addition, developing a range of volunteer engagement and opportunities under the mission is crucial. These may include volunteer roles (such as board and committee members that have very specific requirements), length of time necessary (for example, a youth mentor is expected to dedicate her/himself to the youth for a minimum of nine consecutive months), location of activities (onsite, online) and skills needed. As many people like to work from home, do you have opportunities that satisfy this interest?

She concluded with the reminder that volunteering is a way to engage people in your mission and activity; the best way to satisfy them and utilize their potential is to help them enjoy it.

John Alyosa of CASA – Court Appointed Special Advocates (www.casaofalamedacounty.org) – shared his experiences as a volunteer coordinator for that agency on how to maximize volunteer time. The best practices he shared include establishing goals, recruitment protocols, screening processes, training, supervision guidelines and ongoing engagement. He also shared ways to identify volunteers, such as having an inquiry process via an app or website, being listed in search engines (such as Volunteer Match), referrals and, crucially, word-of-mouth.

For any organization, determining how volunteers fit requires some thought and strategy. Alyosa recommends establishing requirements/guidelines, noting if the position is independent or supervised (and how much supervised) and creating an application process. For anyone working with youth, fingerprinting, TB testing and background checks are essential (and in many cases, required by law).

Working with volunteers follows many of the same protocols as those applied to paid employees, such as orientation, training and support; welcoming them warmly; identifying their immediate supervisor; establishing a reporting structure; and giving constructive and corrective feedback. Whether they have good or bad experiences, during and after, volunteers are spokespersons for the organization. It behooves the organization to be respectful and honorable in all of its dealings with them.

The meeting also featured an exercise on acknowledgment led by NonProfit Roundtable co-chair Âna-Marie Jones of CARD (www.CARDcanhelp.org). In this exercise, each participant wrote one or two different things that s/he had accomplished and was proud of. Then Jones divided the attendees into pairs of two, in which the partners swapped their cards. The recipient read the card, turned it over and wrote on the other side why s/he was pleased by the accomplishment or how important that contribution is. Then the partners shared aloud with each other both the contribution and the appreciation.

To learn more about volunteering and volunteer appreciation, check out www.volunteermatch.org, www.volunteereastbay.org, www.compasspoint.org and www.coyotecommunications.com.

 

Thank you, also, to Iryna Oreshkova of Iryna Accountancy (www.irynacpa.com) for bringing the treats.

 

 

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Events are critical to the success of nonprofits. Whether it's a classic fundraiser, an open house, a training or workshop, or simply sponsoring a happy hour to have your friends and supporters get together, these events allow people to experience us and embrace our work. Come join us at the Nonprofit Roundtable on Tuesday, June 17th, 2:30pm - 4:30pm, to go deep into making events work for our agencies. Presenters include Kathryn Weber, Corporate Partnership and Events Manager of Alameda County Community Food Bank, Maren Amdal, CAE, Executive Director of CFA Society and Roundtable Co-chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners. If you have an upcoming event, please come prepared to share about it! Also, we gratefully welcome door prizes and snacks.

 

Contacts:
Co-Chair Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org)

Chamber Liaison Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)

 

 

 

"A" Is for Advertising – or Promotion, If You Prefer

If asked, most of us can recall a commercial jingle, image or logo that captivated or tickled us. Some examples that were shared at the April 15 Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable meeting included, “I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener” and “Where’s the beef?”

Most of those that pop into our heads are from the private sector, and while many nonprofit brands are very familiar (the Red Cross, Human Rights Campaign or Girl Scouts), many, many more are not, even in their own local communities. For those of us in the nonprofit sector, there is a hefty disconnect between our organizations and advertising, and not just financial. Under the strict criteria of financial limitations, we explored how we could utilize the intentions of advertising without actually advertising.

Joyce Hooks of dealsnapt (www.dealsnapt.com) guided attendees through a rich conversation of how to create an economically possible pattern of advertising to our communities in order to increase familiarity and our connections. She began by separating marketing from advertising. Marketing, she shared is “the link between a society’s material requirements and its economic patterns of response. In brief, it’s everything you do to promote and brand your business.”

Advertising, however, is “mass media content extended to persuade audiences of readers, viewers or listeners to take action on products, services and ideas.” Specifically, advertising gets a person to do or buy something. Successful advertising simultaneously expresses the culture in the moment and adds feeling to that.

Her suggestions for expanding an organization’s reach include:

• ·        Establish collaborations – do something together (have you seen the nonprofit double-page ad in East Bay Express?)
• ·         Defining and concentrating on your target audience – in the present and the future (How do you connect to kids for life?)
• ·         Review your metrics - target, test and repeat
• ·         Analyze the cost and return on investment (ROI) to determine if your plan is affordable

To conclude, Hooks shared the advertising potential of membership in dealsnapt. Dealsnapt is a mobile app that is a market for mobile smartphone users who are looking for the best local deals. Local merchants offer deals and promotions whenever they want directly in the app. The shopping community is notified instantly and has the ability to share, rate and comment on deals. Nonprofits that join dealsnapt engage in a mutually beneficial promotional relationship.

Following Hooks’ presentation, NonProfit Roundtable Co-chair Âna-Marie Jones of CARD (www.CARDcanhelp.org) shared several ideas on how to promote your organizations:

• ·         Offer yourself as a solution to a problem that most people think they have
• ·         Engage others to speak on your behalf – the most powerful form of advertising is word of mouth
• ·         Evaluate what you hand out in the community – how do these things say what your organization does

Following the introduction, Jones divided up attendees into teams for an exercise. First, we each shared what we considered one awesome thing that you wish people would know? (Yes, the question purposefully opens itself to interpretation.) Then the teams were tasked with the following situation: You are making a presentation about your organization at an event, but all of your logoed gift items and handouts are not available. Someone hands you a sample of someone else’s gift items, and in only a few minutes, you need to use these items as if they were yours.

The goal of the task is to find ways for people to bond with the item, particularly in a way that reminds them of you. For example, a Sharpie_®, in the hands of someone talking about at-risk youth can be used to make a big “x” to describe the life situations of the youth, and then immediately translated into a pen to check off success points. This combines the items with words and gestures and invites people to bond with the item. Once bonded, they will remember, and may even use the item in the same way.

Jones also encouraged attendees to leverage what they can from for free or at a very low cost. And then use your items, your words and your gestures to brand your agency in their consciousness.

This is how you advertise.

Special thanks to Dale Marie Gordon of Torrey Pines Bank (dgorden@torreypinesbank.com) for bringing a door prize.

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The next Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, from 2:30-4:30pm in the Chamber Boardroom. Please join us in a conversation about volunteers, the flowers of our organizations.

Contacts:
Co-Chair: Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair:Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org)

Chamber Liaison: Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)

NonProfit/Private Sector Partnerships Are Mutually Beneficial

The March 18 NonProfit Roundtable featured two nonprofit/private sector partnerships that are making a difference, both for the corporate partner and the nonprofit partner. After the standard empowered introduction in which attendees shared how their organizations (and companies, for the attendees included both) partnered with a variety of organizations, agencies, companies and government offices, the deeper study commenced.

We started with a definition of “partnership,” specifically noting what kinds of partnerships we weren’t talking about. These included pure funding connections, such as corporate foundation or corporate grants; and corporate volunteer opportunities. Instead, we highlighted different kinds of partnerships.

The first presenter was Wendy Gershow (wendy.gershow@combined.com) of Combined Worksite Solutions (combinedworksite.com). Her company, which is national, had a variety of ways to engage with social benefits organizations and also engage its employees. In fact, Gershow noted that the company’s founder believed in taking care of the community, and further, that the company’s focus was to work with employers and employees to design mutually beneficial paid benefits programs. Like many other companies, Combined Worksite Solutions gives employees paid time off to volunteer, and follows that up with giving to various organizations. The example Gershow featured in her presentation, however, was a recent sales contest. For account executives and benefits specialists who achieved their sales goals over a specific period of time, the company donated a certain amount to Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home-away-from-home to the parents and families of children who are hospitalized with serious illnesses. This incredible idea touched both the sales professionals’ hearts as well as their sense of competition.

Jerry Metzker (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org), co-chair of the NonProfit Roundtable and Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (biotechpartners.org), then shared the unique relationship that the youth services program has with both Bayer HealthCare (http://biotech.bayerhealthcare.com/locations/berkeley.asp) and the City of Berkeley. Biotech Partners trains and prepares youth from high school through community college certification for work in the biotech/bioscience/health fields. In 1993, Biotech Partners was founded by Bayer and the City of Berkeley when the company wanted to expand its manufacturing and corporate facility in West Berkeley. As part of the Development Agreement, Bayer agreed to a 30-year relationship with Biotech Partners. This unique relationship includes several components: annual funding, paid summer internships and community college positions for students in the program, donations of lab equipment and supplies, hosting a career awareness conference for Biotech Partners’ high school students (and other students in the area), providing office space (including technology and phone), and access to meeting rooms and auditorium.

As the Biotech Partners/Bayer relationship is innovative, unique and expansive, it also provides fodder for other private/public partnerships.

Other partnerships and opportunities shared by attendees included “Jeans Day,” a practice of corporations for employees to participate in donating by contributing $5 when they wear jeans on casual Fridays. Several restaurants in Oakland also invite organizations to host a “Celebrity Bartender.” The guest bartender helps mix and serve drinks, and all the tips go to her/his organization. For both the organization and the restaurant, this means being introduced to an assortment of new customers.

The afternoon meeting concluded with a brief discussion of the benefits that companies or businesses can reap from having relationships with nonprofits. In addition to promotional and outreach opportunities, the benefits include feeling good (scientific studies show that a happy workforce and company is a more productive and profitable one), developing leadership capabilities of staff, participating in training the workforce, civic engagement/crime reduction, and for some companies and even legal benefits.

As the NonProfit Roundtable continues this ongoing conversation, more positives for all, including the community will come to light.

 

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The next Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 15,2014, from 2:30-4:30pm in the Chamber Boardroom. Please join us for a conversation and networking.

Contacts:
Co-Chair Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org)

Chamber Liaison Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)

Strategizing NonProfits: The Future Is Now

Only a portion of the members of the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce take advantage of the many benefits of being a member, and this is certainly true for the Chamber’s 100 or so nonprofit members. The January NonProfit Roundtable meeting featured the opportunities of being a member of the Chamber and how to take advantage.

First, Dan Quigley, Interim President of the Chamber, introduced himself, sharing his excitement at being part of the Chamber transition between long-time president Joe Haraburda and the next executive. “This is a great time for Oakland right now,” he noted, and then added, “I’m struck by the number of nonprofits located in downtown Oakland, and how many national organizations are headquartered in Oakland.” As the Board of Directors moves the Chamber forward, it is reviewing and examining its opportunities in and relationship with the greater Oakland community, including nonprofits and how the organization can serve its nonprofit members better. Not only has Quigley spent much of his career in nonprofits and fundraising, but the Oakland Chamber of Commerce is also a nonprofit.

A more comprehensive conversation with Dan about nonprofits membership in the Oakland Chamber is a focus of the February 18, 2014 meeting (2:30-4:30 in the Oakland Chamber board room).

Following Dan’s introduction, Charlie Stimson, Executive Director of Bridge the Chasm (www.bridgethechasm.org), an Oakland-based children’s education organization, gave a rallying presentation on setting the goal of “winning.” He further noted that it is a stronger focus to know and pursue what you are trying to achieve over who you are trying to help. “How do you define your big win?” he asked.

One way, according to Chamber Membership Director Nikki Mendez (the Chamber liaison to the NonProfit Roundtable) is to maximize your chamber membership. After all, via membership, you are already at the table. In her presentation, Nikki shared several frequently missed opportunities the Chamber offers for any company to make a difference for itself, such as the website job board and events calendar. Any Chamber member can use these tools, and with regard to the Event Calendar, add their own events themselves. Fantastic ways to connect with Oakland Chamber colleagues are the recurring events the Chamber hosts, such as the monthly After Five receptions (fourth Thursday evening), Chamber 101 breakfast (third Thursday morning), Inside Oakland Breakfast (fourth Friday morning) and Economic Development Forum (second Wednesday afternoon). There are specialty organizations and committees, including the NonProfit Roundtable and the Ambassador Committee, a group of individuals that serve at every event and get to know practically everyone.

 

The Chamber has three groups on Linked In – the Chamber, East Bay Women in Business (EBWIB) and Young Professionals, as well as a variety of social media for interaction—and therefore, promotion—such as Facebook and Twitter accounts, and the Oakland Chamber blog. Events submitted on the website can often be listed in Linked In, the blog and in the Chamber’s weekly E-newsletter, which is sent to approximately 3,000 people. Non-Profits and groups of nonprofits can also pool their resources to sponsor events.

Nikki encouraged everyone to devote two hours per month (after all, you’ve already paid for it), determine how best to use this time, and then get to it.

Hank Masler, the Chamber’s Director of Communications and editor of the monthly Oakland Business Review (OBR), shared the many communications opportunities that Chamber members have, beginning with the circulation of the OBR. The newspaper has 12,000 readers, and is a great opportunity for all Chamber members. To have an article, a member must also purchase an ad (beginning at only $125), but every month the paper also features a “Names in the News” -- tidbits about movers and shakers in the community. New hires, awards, major grants, recognition—all of these are opportunities for publication. For those who want to reach a broader market, the Chamber has ad slots available on the web site. Such ads benefit an organization in several ways, including a larger internet presence.

Inspired by the Chamber’s offer to include a feature in “Names in the News” or have an event posting, co-chair Âna-Marie Jones facilitated an exercise in which Roundtable attendees sat down and wrote short blurbs, following a few simple steps:

·         Title

·         What is it

·         Why is it special

·         Who made it possible

·         Call to Action

·         Contact info

 

First list the parts, and then turn them into a brief paragraph. Once complete, email to hmasler@oaklandchamber.com, and you are on your way!

As co-chair Jerry Metzker says, “no one knows who you are until they know who you are. There are two primary ways for others to know about your organization – someone tells them, or you do.”

Special thanks to Iryna Oreshkova of Iryna CPA (www.irynacpa.com) for bringing the treats, and the Oakland Chamber for bringing a door prize.

We were honored to have representatives from California State Controller John Chiang’s Office (http://www.sco.ca.gov/) attend to connect with the Bay Area’s nonprofit community.

 

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The next Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 18, 2014, from 2:30-4:30pm in the Chamber Boardroom. We will be holding an in-depth conversation on strengthening the nonprofit sector, both within the Chamber and in the community.

Contacts:
Co-Chair Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org)

Chamber Liaison Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)