Social Media – Continuing the Relationship

In celebration of MLK Day, the affiliate of Habitat for Humanity I work for hosts a Building on the Dream event to engage high school students on their day off. Their involvement means a lot to Habitat because they are our future ambassadors.

During lunch we had MLK trivia and each student read aloud a famous quote. Remembering the purpose of the federal holiday and our gathering together was an important part of the day. Since it is easy to loose contact with the students after the build we encouraged them to engage with us on our Facebook page.

We tried something a little different this time and were very pleased to see the results. We promised the first 5 students who became a fan of our page and who posted their MLK quote would receive a free Habitat water bottle!

Using our Facebook to engage with the students is a step we had not taken before. Staying in touch with them past their time on site is extremely important. We hope they will remain fans, and learn about other events we have and possibly attend!

Filed under: Non profit, Social Media, Build on the Dream, Engagement, Habitat for Humanity, MLK Day, Social Media

Rules for Non-profit Newsletters

Company newsletters are usually boring and typically thrown in the trash. Don’t let your hard work go to waste! Follow these guidelines and produce a more meaningful newsletter in the future.

Don’t Write About Staff News

• No one cares about your organizations new hires, your awards, a letter from your CEO, or staff parties. Those things are only exciting for those within your office.

Talk  TO Your Donors

• Include stories that talk about how your donors make the world a better place.
• Thank them for their involvement.
• Tell them what you did with their money, and what you can do with more in the future.
• Mention what your donors accomplished through your organization.
• Use the word “YOU” over and over within text. Ask questions directly and address people personally. Ex: “Your help enabled 10 families to own their own home this year.”
• Make call to action statements clear.

Tell Stories

• Don’t just use statistics; make them relevant to your readers. Don’t overload them with jargon.
• Include personal stories, and not huge stats.
• Make readers FEEL your organizations impact.
• Relate your topics back to your reader’s personal life.

E-News and Print News Should Be Different

• E-News should be made up of smaller stories, or teasers, that have links to more information.

Do Not Include a Donate Button in Your E-News

• Make sure there is a balance between telling stories and asking for money.

Do Not Create Filler Information

• If there is not much to tell, don’t make up material.
• You can send a 2 page newsletter one time, and a 5 page newsletter next time.
• Don’t ruin your readers perception about the value of your information.



Do you have any other tips to include?

Filed under: Non profit

How to Manage Nonprofit Customer Loyalty

It is no doubt that today’s customers have higher expectations. With social media, they can sing your praises or destroy your reputation in a matter of seconds. Rather than just telling their closest friends about their experience, they can now tell their 6,000 closest friends! It is a company’s job to now meet those higher expectations, every time.

This is where loyalty fits in. Having a relationship with your customers is the only way to retain them.

“Without a relationship, your competition is just one click away. With a relationship, you can have a second chance,” Cindy Solomon.

How do you form a loyal customer relationship? (From a nonprofit angle)

Nonprofits are busier than you can imagine, moving from one project to the next, with little time to reflect in between. How do you find the time to let your volunteers know you appreciate them? What do you do for those who go above and beyond?

1. Let them know you care

• Work one-on-one with a gift basket company. Take the stress out of creating a personal gift. My organization has worked one-on-one with a local company to create a few different sized baskets with some of our organization’s t-shirts and mugs with added specialty chocolates and other small goodies. When it comes time to recognize someone, we can call the company and ask them to send out the $20 basket, or the $30 basket, etc.
• We also use a specialty gift basket company called Apple Cookie & Chocolate Co. who create baskets of treats in the shape of tools used in the construction, plumbing, engineering and architectural fields. Since this is the area we work is, it a fabulous personalized gift! We can even add our logo to individually wrapped chocolates. (Awesome!) Many other specialty companies like this exist.

2. Be personal

• Utilize one of the many online greeting card companies that exist. My organization uses an online service called SendOutCards to easily let those who we work with know we care. The service allows you to create post cards and greeting cards that they then send out for you to your customers/volunteers/donors. You can upload as many personal photos as you want to correlate with a specific event. The program allows you to even create a font that matches your handwriting. 

It takes time to pay attention to what goes on in the lives of your customers/volunteers/donors, but you want them to pay attention to your company’s achievements too, right? It works both ways. Set up a relationship with a local gift basket company, create your SendOutCards account, and start showing people that you appreciate their business/help!

Does your company use any other specific online companies to help manage customer relations?

Filed under: Non profit, Public Relations