Back in June, I shared some of my favorite tips for writing Facebook and Twitter updates. In that post, I urged you to think of your social media writing goals in terms of the reaction you were looking for. Do you want someone to DO something, THINK something, or FEEL something in response to what you are putting online?

I’d argue that these three goals are all worthy of your pursuit. However, much of the current discussion and debate around social media ROI focuses on the Doing goal.

It’s easier to measure the Doing. Did they click on the link and donate, or register, or comment? But I believe that much of value of social media comes from building rapport and trust with people.

That’s what this holy grail of engagement is really all about after all. As people in free societies, we only get “engaged” to people we love, and with whom we have developed a great sense of rapport and trust. And yet even the social media tools that do offer “engagement” scores are still mostly measuring actions. If someone comments, or retweets, or forwards, then your engagement score rises. Some tools try to measure the content of those conversations, labeling the sentiment as positive, negative, or neutral, but most of those tools are too expensive for your average nonprofit to consider.

But what about making someone laugh? Or giving someone the warm fuzzies? Or making someone so mad or excited, they get up from the computer and go tell the person in the next room? There’s no way to measure that stuff, and yet it’s all incredibly important.

Don’t get me wrong. I am all for measuring where we can, and where we can truly learn something from the data that can help us improve the way we communicate. But don’t forget just how valuable some of the things we can’t measure are. It’s those things — like love, a sense of responsibility, pride, fear — that ultimately drive supporters to make donations of money or time in the first place. And they often won’t take the actions that are easier to measure until much later on the relationship timeline.

As nonprofits move toward a more integrated approach to their marketing and fundraising, measuring the real impact of any one particular channel at any given moment in time becomes increasingly difficult (and in some cases, pointless). Don’t use the lack of good tools to measure emotional ROI as an excuse for your nonprofit to avoid using social tools. That would be a bigger mistake than not measuring anything at all.

Source: Nonprofit Marketing Guide

Wonder why it’s such a struggle to get young donors? A couple of studies done at UC Berkeley offer some intriguing explanations for the problem. Press release: Emotional intelligence peaks as we enter our 60s, research suggests.

Two different studies support the theory that “emotional intelligence and cognitive skills can actually sharpen as we enter our 60s.” Findings included:

- Older people … were the best at reinterpreting negative scenes in positive ways using positive reappraisal, a coping mechanism that draws heavily on life experience and lessons learned. - … younger and middle-aged participants were better at using “detached appraisal” to tune out and divert attention away from the unpleasant….

- “In late life, individuals often become increasingly sensitized to sadness because the shared experience of sadness leads to greater intimacy in interpersonal relationships.”

All these things bode well for charitable giving. Thank about it: Who’s more likely to give — someone who interprets a negative situation as an opportunity to make something good happen, or someone who tunes it out? Who is more likely to act compassionately and generously — someone who feels that sadness of a bad situation, or someone who doesn’t?

That doesn’t mean younger people don’t give. It just points out something experienced fundraisers already know: Older people are just more primed to give than younger people. The neurological cards are stacked against you if you’re looking for young donors.

Source: Future Fundraising Now

By: Mauri Schwartz



A client recently approached me to help her prepare for an interview with an organization that she had been trying to get into for the past six months. She was very concerned that she perform well because she knew she wouldn’t get another chance…and rightly so. In today’s job market, it is so difficult to land an interview that you need to make sure you do a good job. As they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression. Here are some good tips. Study the job description carefully and identify the four or five most important criteria. What skills do they need the most?

For each of the criteria that you have defined, write a couple of sentences that indicate how you fulfill that requirement. Describe one or two achievements that most illustrate your ability to carry out that function. Be sure to write complete sentences, not just notes. This way you will be comfortable speaking in full sentences during the interview. Make your statements concise and be sure to highlight the positive results of your actions.

Don’t take these notes into the interview but practice reading them, keeping in mind that you need to stop when you reach the end of your answer. I emphasize this because it will help prevent you from rambling which is one of the most common interview mistakes. You will want to deliver the information and stop. It will then be up to the interviewer to move on to the next topic or ask follow-up questions. Select accomplishments that are among your most significant, ones of which you are proud. However, be sure to use examples that are most relevant to the specific position.

Remember that this is not about what you want; it’s all about what they need. Refrain from bringing up experiences that are not germane. This will only cloud the issue with extraneous information.

If you have properly prepared this framework, you can use the information to respond to a variety of questions. For example, if you are asked, “Tell me about yourself,” the interviewer does not want to hear you recount your life history or even your professional history from the beginning to the present. By the time you get to the most recent / most relevant information, you may have lost their attention. Tell them the aspects about yourself that show them you will do their job successfully.

If you are asked, “Why should we hire you,” this is another ideal time to respond with the key points in your framework. If you are asked to describe your strengths, make sure they correlate directly with these same points.

Throughout the interview, show enthusiasm for the job and the company even if you aren’t sure you will accept an offer. At the conclusion, be sure to thank them and let them know you are interested. If the information is not provided, ask them to tell you what the next steps in the decision process will be and when you should expect to hear back. Also, ask for business cards so that you can write a thank you letter as soon as possible after the interview, preferably the same day and by email so that they receive it immediately.

Good luck!

About the Author
Mauri Schwartz, President of Career Insiders, is a leading figure in the San Francisco Bay Area career management community. Career Insiders consults with companies and nonprofit organizations in the form of outplacement and hiring assistance, as well as with individual job seekers. In addition to her outstanding success rate in helping clients achieve their career goals, Mauri is a frequent speaker at conferences, job fairs, and career panels. She serves as Adjunct Advisor of Career Services at the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley. Mauri’s motivational style uses techniques that combine old fashioned interpersonal relationship building skills with the latest technological tools.

In the current economic climate, nonprofit organizations are competing for scarce resources while funding sources continue to shrink and the need for services continues to increase.

This seemingly impossible problem creates real challenges for nonprofits.

The need to be creative when it comes to cultivating and expanding funding sources is more apparent today than ever before.

And if that isn’t difficult enough, the problem is further complicated by the need to do this within the parameters of the Internal Revenue Code in order to maintain exempt status.

One avenue to be explored is to generate income from commercial sources. This income may be taxable to the exempt organization, but if done correctly, it will not harm exempt status.

The concept of “unrelated business income” has been around for over 60 years.

The tax on this form of income was enacted into law in 1950 when it was decided that the practice of exempt organizations engaging in commercial-type activities created unfair competition for their taxable counterparts.

Income is considered unrelated business income if it is obtained from a trade or business that is unrelated to an organization’s exempt function, if it is regularly carried on, and if it does not meet one of several exceptions.

It is the source of the income, not its ultimate use, that determines its status as unrelated business income. The fact that the income earned is used for the exempt function is irrelevant.

Although it is acceptable for an exempt organization to engage in some taxable activities, exempt entities must meet an operational test to maintain exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code.

Under this test, an organization must engage primarily in activities that further its exempt purpose, and other non-exempt functions must be considered insubstantial.

The terms “primarily” and “insubstantial” are not defined in the Internal Revenue Code or the Treasury Regulations.

Therefore, one must look at case law for an idea of how these terms are defined.

In determining if a non-exempt activity is substantial, the IRS typically looks at the amount of revenue obtained, the amount of expenditures made, and the amount of time spent by staff.

The IRS seems to weigh more heavily the factors related to use of exempt resources, such as staff time and expenditures, than it does the revenue raised.

Additionally, the IRS will consider whether the unrelated activity in some way furthers the exempt purpose of the organization. If it does, it is less likely to threaten exempt status.

If income generated from unrelated business income becomes significant, the activity can be moved into a taxable subsidiary.

As long as the exempt organization does not manage the day-to-day operations of the subsidiary, the separation of the activity will shelter the exempt status of the nonprofit organization.

Care must be taken to structure this properly to avoid pitfalls.

For example, certain payments made by the taxable corporation to the exempt parent, such as for interest on debt or rent, will result in unrelated business income for the parent.

There are several exceptions to the rules for unrelated business income. As such, many activities that would otherwise be subject to tax can continue to be exempt.

Using volunteers rather than paid staff to handle a trade or business activity will make the activity non-taxable.

Organizations that are exempt under IRC Section 501(c)(3) can participate in trade or business activities that are predominantly for the convenience of members, students, patients, etc.

Examples of these are university book stores or hospital cafeterias and gift shops.

Sales of donated merchandise are also exempt from unrelated business income tax.

Other examples of activities not subject to the unrelated business income tax are the receipt of royalties and rental income from real estate that is not subject to debt.

Trade or business activities that further the exempt purpose of a nonprofit organization can add to the bottom line.

Finding activities that will have synergies with an organization’s exempt purpose should allow the organization to spread its fixed costs over more revenue dollars.

If done correctly, the addition of unrelated business activities can result in a benefit to the organization and to the community it serves.

Source: Philanthropy Journal

Nonprofits are doing a good job keeping up with technological change but still are not satisfied with their current level of information technology, a new survey says.

Most nonprofits count on a range of current information technologies, or IT, for administrative functions, as well as delivery of programs and services, says the survey by the Listening Post Project at the Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

Yet most nonprofits are not content with the extent to which they have integrated technology into program and service delivery, and they recognize they could do more.

The major hurdles they say keep them from tapping the full potential of technology include lack of funding, time and expertise.

“Our findings dispel the myth that the nonprofit sector is a technological backwater,” Lester M. Salamon, director of the Listening Post Project and director of the Center for Civil Society Studies, says in a statement.

“The vast majority of our respondents,” he says, “have clearly recognized the importance of IT to their organizations and are making vigorous efforts to integrate it into their operations.”

Eighty-eight percent of 443 nonprofits responding to the survey say information technology has been integrated into many or all aspects of their organization.

Nearly all respondents say information technologies are moderately important or critical to some of their basic organizational work, including accounting and finance, external communications and fundraising, as well as program and service delivery.

Nearly all say they have website, while 84 percent says their computers are networked to each other, allowing for sharing of information and files.

Big percentages of respondents say the benefits of information technology include greater capacity to communicate with clients, customers and patrons; faster service delivery; improved quality of services delivered; more customer-friendly service delivery; more people served; program innovations; and cost savings.

But the survey also finds most nonprofit managers see significant room to improve.

Less than half, for example, say they are satisfied or very satisfied with their organization’s current level of information technology, and 92 percent believe their organizations should make greater use of technology for delivering programs and services.

And a big proportion of nonprofits are lagging, with a third of all responding nonprofits say they need more computers to meet their needs, and a third also saying their use of technology to deliver services is limited.

Nearly one in five respondents say their organizations still depend on “basic” technologies and are limited by old computers, outdated software and slow internet connections.

Ninety-two percent of responding say a lack of funds poses a moderate or considerable challenge to tapping the full potential of technology, with big majorities of respondents saying lack of time, expertise and tech staff also pose challenges.

Hurdles cites only by 11 percent to 28 percent of respondents include resistance, disinterest or lack of knowledge by executives, donors, volunteers, board members, patrons and staff.

“We are living in a technological age,” Peter Goldberg, chairman of the Listening Post Advisory Committee and president and CEO of the Alliance for Children and Families, says in a statement.

“Nonprofit managers recognize this,” he says. “We need to make sure they have the resources and the wherewithal to act on this recognition.”

Source: Philanthropy Journal

It’s the second decade of the new millennium, and its official – the online job search is here to stay. That means it’s time to get your résumé up to speed. But how and why should you update? Here is a starter kit for showing off your resume in digital style.

• Learn about ASCII:
ASCII, or “ask-ee,” stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Basically, this is a set of characters that allow no special formatting such as fonts, bold, underlined or italic text. Think of it as a great equalizer when it comes to résumé formatting; in other words, it means a text-only document that can be read by electronic eyes.

With so many online applications, companies are using résumé scanning to track and search resumes. This means they need a simple text format so databases can search through candidates, which is where ASCII comes into play.

• Learn to use ASCII and format appropriately:
ASCII basically calls for a simple, no formatting-frills résumé. To do this, save your résumé as plain text format; you may get a notice that says your document is not compatible, but that’s OK for now. Then go through your résumé and reformat accordingly by replacing bullets or symbols with asterisks or dashes, make sure columns and tables still align properly and check that everything is placed in a logical sequence. You can help text stand out by capitalizing headers, name, and other items of distinction.

• Get up to speed on keywords:
Keywords are critical in the digital job search. Digital applications mean a flood of applicants for every job, which means employers need to sort through candidates more quickly. Keywords allow them to do this.

However, no one but the employer can know exactly what the keywords are, so how do you end up in the “yes” pile? Most are job specific, so think about what you are applying for and write accordingly. Use the job description as a starting place. You can also search online for ideas since many sites have keyword lists or keyword hints and ideas.

• General keyword tips:
Action verbs are still important, but nouns are becoming important as well. Examples include phrases such as marketing campaigns, customer database management, project-management, procurement, stock levels, etc. For many years, some people would load the first 100 words of their resume with only keywords because supposedly database search software would only look there. However, this is no longer the norm.

Use keywords throughout your résumé, but also make sure to add plenty to the beginning; this is partly for database searches and partly to help the first human eyes that see your résumé get an immediate idea of who you are. A summary of qualifications at the top is a great way to accomplish this.

The most important part of updating your resume is to not let yourself get overwhelmed. Learning how to play by new digital application rules will come easily with practice, and it will help you to get your application to the top of the list.

Source: Baltimore Business Journal