It’s about the movement
Tuesday, March 6th, 2012Last month a couple of us attended the United Way Worldwide Brand Forum in Atlanta. The conference focused on individual engagement and giving your donors and volunteers a cause to advocate for and participate in. We listened to a lot of speakers and watched several presentations but there is one video that stuck with me after the trip.
It’s an interesting interpretation of what is actually happening in the video, that much is clear, but I have to appreciate it for what it is saying. Nurturing our followers (or donors, or volunteers) as equal participants in our cause is something we can all do a little better on. We call on our donors to support us, and we call on our volunteers to give us their time, but do we continue to engage them once we have their ear? It’s not just our excellent fundraising and marketing skills that bring them in- they actually care about these things too!
Each of the followers in the video took ownership of the movement, and then brought friends. If we can give our donors and volunteers something that they care about, and can feel included in and responsible for, not only will we achieve a more authentic connection with them, but perhaps they too, will bring their friends in to follow, to give, or to volunteer. I won’t speak for all non-profits, but that’s not something we’ll be turning away anytime soon!
