I *HEART* MEETINGS

by Elizabeth Simpson, Group Dynamics & Teambuilding Specialist, do good Consulting

Meetings. Just hearing the word makes most people cringe. I happen to love meetings. Meetings are an opportunity to draw on the wisdom and experience of a group of people brought together around a common cause – how inspiring!

However, meetings have earned a bad reputation, because they are usually structured poorly and have weak (or no) facilitation. In such circumstances, conversations run in circles or off topic entirely. Conflict and resentment build, resulting in discouragement. Ultimately, people check out (mentally, if not physically).

While it will do wonders to start by creating a relevant and structured agenda, even this will not guarantee results if there is not also effective facilitation, which means bringing in a trained, outside facilitator.

We can do it!
All too often a group will decide that one of its members – or worse, its leader (e.g., board president) – should facilitate a meeting. There are a number of reasons why this often undermines the meeting's success:

Ability: Facilitation is a skill that requries substantial training. Most people simply don’t have the experience to make on-the-spot assessments, resolve conflicts, and process decisions that are needed in this role. However, even if a member of the group has such skills, there is still the issue of…

Bias: If a person has an opinion on what the outcome should be, they are not in a position to facilitate the decision. This usually excludes everyone in a group. If that person is in a position of power, people will be even less likely to share potentially fruitful disagreements with them. In a different area of bias, “inside” people are poorly positioned to see or address latent group conflicts or dynamics because they are so close to them, and/or directly involved.

But we don’t have any money!
The real question is: How much is your time worth? Especially in situations where the attendees are paid (e.g., staff meetings), the value of saved time from shorter, more productive meetings is more than worth the cost of a facilitator – not to mention how much more effective the outcomes are! For groups with smaller budgets, consider creating a partnership with another group: invest in facilitation training for members, then trade facilitation at each other’s meetings.

So, let me caveat my profession of passion and say that I love meetings with good facilitation. I love them because I value my time and the organizations I am involved in, and good facilitation helps me make the most of both.

Find a quick reference guide from the Student Environmental Action Coalition at www.seac.org/resources-backup/facilitation1-04.pdf.

do good Consulting offers facilitation services to groups large and small, as well as a number of other group dynamics and teambuilding offerings. Click here to learn more these services.

Q & A: The Timing of Mailed/Emailed Appeals

Dear do good:
Our organization is moving ahead with implementing an annual fundraising plan. We are trying to be as strategic as possible in timing our appeals – whether mailed or emailed. Are there better days of the week to send things like appeals, e-newsletters, and the like?
- Aiming for the Bull’s Eye, Rantoul, IL

Dear Bull’s Eye:
This is a great question, and I’m pleased to see the detail and strategy your organization is putting into your fundraising plan for 2010.

The short answer to your question is “not really." Let me elaborate.

For mailed appeals, we certainly know that appeals sent at the end of the year are the most effective. The weeks from Thanksgiving to December 31 are when donors in the U.S. are the most generous, and more specifically, the last two days of the year are the hottest charitable giving days of all 365.

Regarding what day of the week your mailed appeal shows up in the mailbox, though, little formal research has been done or published.

My best advice speaks to your overall annual fundraising plan. Your organization should plan to send four to six mailed appeals each year to your support base. The actual number depends on multiple organizational variables, so I cannot tell you the precise number your group should send without knowing more about the composition of your plan, your marketing efforts, etc.

The reason for asking multiple times throughout the year is that you do not know when your prospective donors are inclined or disposed to give. They go on vacation, retire, or have kids at different times. They get tax refunds and paychecks at different times. Some are compulsive mail readers; others are stackers, waiting for the weekend. All respond to different appeal angles. So whether your appeal shows up in their mailboxes on Monday or Saturday, your recipients will all respond differently.

Far more important than what day your appeal arrives is how your appeal looks when it arrives in the mailbox. Will recipients even notice it in the sea of bills, magazines, and junk mail? Open it before tossing it in the recycle bin? Know who your group is? Using great fundraising appeal techniques is far more valuable than the day-of-the-week timing of the appeal.

Now, regarding emailed appeals. I’m glad to learn your organization is blending emailed appeals with your mailed ones. Trends are moving in the direction of online giving, though it is still far from king. However, providing this option to donors now is a great idea, so long as it is coupled with a strong mailed appeal effort as well, because most donors still prefer to give the “old fashioned” way.

Most experts agree that sending emails (e-newsletters and e-appeals) Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday during normal business hours is best, though no consensus or industry-accepted best day to send exists. As with your mailed appeals, the best day to send e-appeals is a small part of the equation. The content of your "ask" is key as well, and another question would be what time of day to send the e-appeal. The jury is still out on this one.

Some advice in this regard is to use a program that tracks data. That way you can analyze your own supporters’ trends. It is the only way for your organization to truly uncover the day and time that your supporters are most responsive to your appeals. At do good, we use Campaign Monitor and also like Convio , Constant Contact, and Emma.

Additional resources:

• The Timing of Your Mailings

- Laura Huth, President & CEO, do good Consulting

Have a question for do good Consulting? Contact our experts at 217-778-1687 or dogood@dogoodconsulting.org.

ONE SIMPLE ACT

In each month’s Doing Good, you’ll find one great tip to implement over the next month. By taking this one small, achievable action each month, you can make big changes in your organization’s and employee's performance, increase donations and volunteerism, and expand your group’s visibility. Give it a try!

The month's ONE SIMPLE ACT focuses on creating a healthy work environment and happy employees.

 Tell us about your ONE SIMPLE ACT experience this month.

Group Profile: CUDO

The importance of networking: You’ve heard about it dozens of times from career coaches, magazine articles, and maybe even on Oprah. “Yeah, I’ll get around to doing that – someday,” you’ve said.

What if you found a group in your field that was more than just an impersonal “networking group," but was really a community?

For graphic designers in the Champaign-Urbana area, that group is CUDO. The Champaign-Urbana Design Org. is a professional organization for print, web, and interactive designers that creates and supports an active, engaged, and vibrant designer community.

To foster that community, CUDO organizes events that allow its members – graphic designers – to use their interests and talents to engage the rest of the community.

One such event is project: non-profit makeover. This is an exciting, frenetic, and creativity-filled day-long event when dozens of designers donate their time to perform an “extreme branding makeover” for one selected non-profit organization. The designers get a chance to spend the day working with others in the local design community whom they would not normally get a chance to work with. The non-profit organization is the beneficiary of all that creativity, coming out of the experience with a brand-new logo, business card, letterhead, and website.

Another fun event that is open to the entire community is Pecha Kucha Night (which is part of an international movement of PechaKucha events). Pronounced "pe-chak-cha", the phrase comes from the Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit chat”). The event itself rests on a presentation format that is based on a simple idea: 20 images x 20 seconds each. CUDO’s Pecha Kucha presentation is typically held in the Canopy Club and is very popular – the September 2009 event attracted a crowd of over 350 people!

If you’re a graphic designer, visit thecudo.org to learn more about CUDO. If you are in a different line of work, maybe there’s a similar organization for you – look into it today!

Want to see your favorite non-profit organization highlighted in the next issue of Doing Good? Contact do good Consulting at dogood@dogoodconsulting.org or 217-778-1687.

Calling All Designers!

Does your organization love your website designer? Do you have a friend who works for a web design company, or who does freelance web development? If so, please forward this to them!

do good Consulting is looking to "refresh" our website. Following good practice, we have a Request for Proposals (PDF) for interested designers/developers to respond to.

Questions? Contact Jenn Raley Miller, Project Manager, at 240-688-8037 or jennraleymiller@dogoodconsulting.org.

Forward to a Friend

Champaign-Urbana          Springfield          Chicago

do good Consulting
URBANA OFFICE
201 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801
217-778-1687
dogood@dogoodconsulting.org
www.dogoodconsulting.com