Time, Talent, Treasure

I don't know if I am to be considered a community organizer, but I pride myself on my efforts to support and enhance institutions that make peoples' lives better. I believe its the people and institutions that really make our society, so do see a link with community organization.

In my experience, one key to a successful grassroots-led organization or initiative is an effective "volunteer management strategy". Grassroots campaigns and volunteer organizations spend so much money and effort trying to raise their profile in the community, but often they are ill-prepared for the returns that will be offered.

Returns in this line of work consist of dollars, expertise and time - or as development officers call it "time, talent and treasure". A wide-ranging grassroots campaign will bring people willing to give one, two or three of these things - and you have to be ready to accept and leverage each of them.

This is something very often missed in grassroots-led initiatives, and even professionally-led efforts too.

So when you're planning your fundraising or engagement campaign, be sure to consider each of those three options. Put another way, consider your "Volunteer, Talent and Donor Management Strategies".

Generally, fundraising campaigns focus on "treasure" and engagement campaigns focus on time - a truly successful campaign will engage the other two as well.

For school foundations, the possibilities for engagement are really great. There is an obvious need for more volunteer engagement at every level of our schools. Staffing after-school programs, tutoring or reading to students, chaperoning field trips - the list goes on and on. Even if volunteers aren't "needed" for your limited campaign (say you don't hold events, or do bake sales), you will be best served by "triaging" volunteers who flock to your initiative (because of its relatively better profile compared to "after school volunteering") offering time, to a place where you can leverage that 'gift'.

To get a feel for the synergy between leveraging someone's time, and financial gifts - consider recent trends in social media. The Like button has become a sort of reference for your friends and family about interesting product or content. Studies have consistently shown that a reference from a friend is the best indicator of if a person is going to actually buy or consider that product.

If this is the most sure-fire way for a for-profit company to sell a product, then the same applies for a non-profit group whose selling an idea or community value. Your efforts to engage volunteers who aren't donors, will expand your network and connect you with better qualified donors because of the references your volunteers will be giving.

Raising the profile of grassroots initiatives is the challenge of every group like that. You are doing a great service to the community, or have a valuable idea to share - and leveraging the people you do attract is the most cost-effective and sure-fire way to do that. Regardless of if time, talent or treasure are your primary focuses.

-NG

Used Books

I spent this weekend in Ann Arbor, and stumbled upon David's Books. I've always known this used book store has been there, but this weekend I saw a "store closing" sign that spurred me to finally visit. I think I spent almost two hours there, going through every shelf looking for the interesting, the historic and hardcover. This, in conjunction with my recent online book-buying spree has really cemented, for me, the importance of physical books and book stores.

Amazon is great at helping you find what you are looking for, but isn't good at showing you what to look for. That's what a bookshelf does. I heard on NPR the other day concerns with the internet creating our own insular networks, where our viewing histories and purchases dictate the products and information we are exposed to. The large danger there is how it blocks off ideas that are beyond your purchasing history, and only allows through those that further solidify your previously held beliefs.

One way to combat this is to go after the new Google search engine coding, but it is also to support local book stores. Book shelves are a great way to go beyond your own ideas and "purchasing history". Now, I almost always end up going to European History and Philosophy sections in book stores, and given the predominant cataloging method in place, those topics are almost always sorted next to the same other topics, but still, you are most definitely exposed to works from within and without your "purchasing history", and in my mind, are more likely to leave with something that expands your understanding.

After those two hours, I left with a History of Rome from the late 19th century, a History of "Modern Europe" spanning 1830-1914, a book on the problems of philosophy, and finally - the one from outside my purchasing history - the Three Musketeers, all in French.

I've got a lot of reading to do :) and another used book store I just found: Mecosta Book Gallery