do good CONSULTING OPENS SPRINGFIELD OFFICE

by Laura Huth, President & CEO, do good Consulting

Explosive growth continues at do good Consulting. We quickly outgrew our modest first home: the dining room of my former home on Race Street. Moving into a small office in downtown Urbana allowed us to expand our services, our associates, and our clients.

Now, do good grows again to serve even more non-profits!

I am delighted to announce the opening of do good Consulting’s Springfield, Illinois office!

Heading up our new western Illinois office is long-time activist, trainer, attorney, and friend of mine, Jennifer Scanlan. Having been on the front lines helping organizations such as Clean Water Action, the Sierra Club, Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance Foundation, and Illinois Humane for over a decade, Jennifer is well-suited for her new role, and do good is delighted to add her talent and energy to our team. She is a dynamic and energetic trainer who will bring our unique services to even more organizations across Illinois. As do good’s Professional Development Specialist, Scanlan specializes in conflict resolution and maximizing organizational effectiveness.

Jennifer’s days of organizing and activism go back to the early days of the Illinois Student Environmental Network, where she played a crucial role in working with me to start up this then-nascent group. After earning both her undergraduate and law degrees, she went on to serve as Assistant Attorney General in Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Environmental Bureau, where she negotiated settlement agreements and facilitated discussions and trust-building between corporations, state agency employees, and local government officials.

Since her days with the Illinois Student Environmental Network, she has worked in both volunteer and consultant capacities with a variety of non-profit organizations to create and implement communications and outreach strategies, coordinating membership recruitment and education, developing boards and organizational plans, assisting with fundraising efforts, and advocating on behalf of the community.

Jennifer joins a team at do good with over 40 years of combined experience and proven results in non-profit and community-based work. She is thrilled to be the newest addition to the do good team, and is looking forward to broadening the impact of non-profit organizations across Illinois.

Know of an organization in western Illinois needing organizational development work? Contact do good Consulting’s newest associate, Jennifer Scanlan, at (217) 494-2727 or jennscanlan@dogoodconsulting.org. Read her full biography here.

Welcome Back, Old Friend

by Laura Huth, President & CEO, do good Consulting

Eleven years ago, a young and confident woman strolled in to my office on campus and handed me an unsolicited application to serve as an unpaid intern with the Illinois Environmental Council where I worked at the time. Her confidence, politeness, and friendliness were unforgettable. There was no way I was going to let her get away.

Jennifer Scanlan started her unpaid internship with me a week later. Already impressed from our first meeting, Jenn nearly blew my mind once she began to work: she was efficient, meticulous, always one step ahead, and extremely affable with a contagious laugh. Then 21, Jenn was already wise beyond her years. I knew we would long be friends.

With Jennifer at my side, I founded the Illinois Student Environmental Network. She quickly became ISEN’s intern, then Intern Coordinator as our group grew. Then she joined the board of directors, where she served for four years.

Jenn Scanlan is one of the most dedicated, hard-working individuals I have ever met.

Earlier this year, Jenn called and said she was moving back from Boston where she worked at Clean Water Action. A plan quickly took shape in the matter of that one call.

Now on June 1, I am so absolutely thrilled to have my long-time friend and colleague, Jenn Scanlan, leading do good Consulting’s new Springfield office. There could not be a better person charged with strengthening the skills and work of western Illinois based non-profit organizations. Her background as a trainer with ISEN, her law degree, and her vast experience in a wide variety of non-profit organizations suits her perfectly to running a top-notch office in Springfield for do good. I have every confidence in her.

So listen up: if you like what you see coming from do good’s Urbana office, let your western Illinois friends and colleagues know about Jenn Scanlan and do good’s new Springfield office. She’s eager to get to work, and I guarantee you will be as impressed with her as I have been from day one.

Jenn Scanlan, a Professional Development Specialist with do good Consulting, can be reached at do good’s new Springfield office directly at 217-494-2727 or jennscanlan@dogoodconsulting.org

Q&A: E-newsletters vs printed newsletters

Dear do good:
With all the talk lately about using the web for outreach, some of our volunteers have suggested that we switch our traditional newsletter to an email format. Is this really a good idea?
- Skeptical, Lincoln, Illinois

Dear Skeptical:
Email newsletters, or e-newsletters, can be a great addition to your outreach efforts, but like any communications piece, you need to consider your audience and your resources to make sure you can create a piece that gets you the most bang for your buck. Here are a few things to consider before making the switch or the addition to your outreach efforts:

• E-newsletters can save your organization quite a bit of money versus printing and mailing a traditional paper newsletter. However, they often take just as much time to prepare for sending as designing a piece for print. Although you will save some money using email, don’t switch based on cost alone.
• You may have a few email addresses in your database, but if you plan to switch completely to an electronic format you’ll need to find a way to continue gathering email addresses for your distribution list. This can be a very labor-intensive task if done retroactively. It can also take quite a bit of effort to keep everyone’s email address up-to-date. When collecting email addresses, be sure to let donors and volunteers know you may use their email address to send them updates about your organization. And, you must include a way to opt-out of your email list.
• You may have supporters who do not use email or prefer not to receive email communications. do good has found, though, that e-newsletters and e-communications in general are a fast-growing and popular trend. To make sure you keep in touch with all your supporters and make most effective use of email, it is critically important that an e-newsletter be just one component of an overall communications strategy for your organization. Email works best for sharing recent accomplishments, sending calls to action, promoting upcoming events, providing other timely information, and occasionally asking for money.
• Be sure you craft a design that can be interpreted by most email programs and that complements your other marketing pieces. There are several companies that specialize in creating custom templates, managing email lists, and providing data about the outcomes of your mailing (MailBuild, Constant Contact, PatronMail, etc.). Although these companies charge a small monthly fee or a fee based on each email sent, they can take a lot of the headache out of producing an e-newsletter and provide valuable data to make your next mailing more effective.

- Jessica Paulsen, Associate-in-training, do good Consulting

Need a hand developing a plan for your e-mail newsletter? Need advice on building your list or designing an e-newsletter template? Have other questions about marketing or outreach? Contact do good Consulting at dogood@dogoodconsulting.org or 217-778-1687 for an overview of our marketing and outreach services.

Group Profile: The Reading Group

Most of us probably don’t think about it much, but the need to read surrounds us every day. At the bank, the grocery store, at school or work, we need to read to get things done. For children and adults struggling with learning disabilities, reading can be a difficult challenge.

Champaign’s non-profit learning center, The Reading Group, exists to help people with learning disabilities learn ways to overcome these challenges. Using a multi-sensory approach to learning, The Reading Group’s staff work with children and adults with learning problems.

By focusing on each student, the staff develops a learning program tailored to the unique needs of each client that comes through the door. The same focus on their clients led The Reading Group to move from their location in Urbana’s Lincoln Square Village to a new, larger facility at Village at the Crossing in Champaign where more of their clients live nearby.

Since the group's move to Champaign, Kathie Wimer, the group's Executive Director, says that enrollment in The Reading Group programs has already increased by 30%.

In addition to expanding access to services, Wimer believes the move will expand their scholarship program as well. The Reading Group currently provides about 30 full scholarships each year to help cover the costs of the programs and instruction for students and families in need. Their move and recent growth will help the organization grow their scholarship program and eventually offer 50 full scholarships to families each year.

Want to learn more about The Reading Group and their services? Join staff, supporters, and board members for tours and information at The Reading Group's Open House this Friday, June 6. The event will begin with a ribbon cutting at 10:30AM and runs until 12:30.

For more information on The Reading Group, go to www.readinggroup.org or call 217-351-9144.