New Years Resolutions are everywhere right now. From weight loss, to learning new skills, to spending less money, people everywhere are attempting to be better versions of themselves. And while most of these personal resolutions will likely be broken, resolutions as a concept can be an effective catalyst for long-term change, especially when taken at an organizational level. As a nonprofit – what are your goals for 2013?
We’ve spoken in this space about the lack of resources that most small and mid-sized nonprofit organizations are challenged with. Now is the time to assess what can be done to address some of these deficiencies. If you lack time, where can staff time be better allocated to accomplish your year long goals? Is it through new donor outreach? Better marketing efforts? Better volunteer engagement? Prioritizing, and later evaluating, your time and resources now will help later in the year as new projects and responsibilities inevitably steal time away. What steps can you take in the new year to overcome this paralysis and build towards being the organization that you want to be?
Perhaps a goal in 2013 is to be more engaged in social media. Again, after assessing the resources you have available, it is important to create attainable goals in the short term that can lead to long term success. An idea on how this could be executed: work on Facebook for the first three months and invest your limited staff time in thoughtful communication in just that medium. After you feel you’ve been doing a strong job with that communication, build in Twitter for the next three months. Too often we’ve seen organizations try to launch Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and LinkedIn campaigns at one time. This strategy often leads to struggling with all mediums instead of thriving in one.
If your organization has struggled to email consistently, now is the time to think about how you can be using this medium more effectively. Is this an area you want to dedicate resources to? What do you hope to accomplish by having a stronger emailing campaign? A more realistic option in attempting to refine email communication is again to start small, even an email that is segmented to just two audience groups. As you move forward, consider what audience groups might best respond to email communication, and again consider what you want your constituents to get out of this new communication piece.
We wish you and your organization a successful 2013 with strong growth and an increased capacity to serve your constituents. We hope the new year provides an opportunity to realign your goals and mission and move towards being the organization that you want to be.
Justin (he, him) is a Principal and Co-Founder of Social Change Consulting. He has over fifteen years of nonprofit experience, with expertise in online fundraising, digital communications, and data management. Justin helps organizations connect their communication strategy to their income development needs. When he’s not on the clock, Justin is exploring Berlin, running, listening to too many podcasts, and drinking too much coffee.