Fundraising with a Click

Lately I have been reading about innovations in fundraising, and something that really interests me is the idea of using new forms of technology, like cell phones and Facebook, to bring in donations. I found an interesting article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Can Texting a Donation Hurt Long-Term Giving?”, that explores the longer-term implications of donating with a click. I think the article makes an excellent point in that while this kind of “one off” donation might not lock in devoted, long-term donors in the immediate sense, it might be a good first step in building a philanthropic foundation for the next generation of loyal givers.

Still, if this is true, it doesn’t do much good for nonprofits looking to bring in money in the immediate future. I am far from an expert on the topic of fundraising through new media, and would be interested to hear input from those who have used it in their organizations. In particular, I wonder how reliance on mediums like Facebook affects consistency in levels of support? I imagine it would be challenging for a fundraising professional to do the outreach within these mediums necessary to cultivate significant donors, particularly if the organization receives a large volume of small donations.

I have little doubt that the field of fundraising is moving away from reliance on tools like direct mail campaigns (though I hope a handwritten thank you note never goes out of style). As a (hopeful) future nonprofit professional I will be waiting eagerly for longer-term implications of these new developments in the fundraising field.

Considering the Value of Social Networking

Trust me, the irony that I am writing this in a blog is not lost on me. It’s just that lately I have been considering social networking and what role it does/should play in our professional lives. At 24 years old, I am among the first “adults” to have had a Facebook account the entire time I’ve been working, though its only recently gained relevance in my professional life. I am working this summer in a position with a local nonprofit organization actively engaged in philanthropy throughout our state. Many of the grantmaking organizations we are affiliated with and the major philanthropic news sources we rely on have Twitter accounts, bloggers, and live news feeds on their websites. In fact, I heard of more than one internship position this summer that essentially revolves around being the organization’s Facebook/Twitter/blog person.

Easy, fast sharing of information undoubtedly has its benefits. I am largely responsible for news updates to my organization’s website, and I know that pulling from the Twitter feeds of other organizations is a convenient way to get the information I need. In broader terms, our society places much value on being “connected” “networked” and “engaged,” and so it may be said that social networking tools are valuable in-and-of-themselves for an organization. One might argue that simply maintaining a Facebook page (regardless of the content) says to viewers, “We care enough about what you have to say that we’ve put this platform up on the Internet for us to have an ongoing conversation with you.”

Of course, these tools have their limits. While being an active presence in social media shows engagement, there are limits to the sway that outsiders can have on the organizations they engage with. Inviting feedback and implementing it are two very different things. In addition, I recently read an article that found that 7% of the U.S. population logs onto Twitter in any given month. You could certainly use this number to show how fast technology like this has spread, but to me 7% demonstrates that maintaining an active Twitter feed is not going to be the make-or-break factor for most organizations (at least not yet).

It is with that point that I lead to my final thought on social networking. While I certainly see value in it, the time that it takes away from other things concerns me. A few months ago, I pulled the book “What Matters Now” from Seth Godin’s blog (again, the irony), and one essay, by a man named Steven Pressfield, really stuck with me. In the essay, called “Tough-Mindedness” he writes,

“We live in the age of distraction, of Twitter and multi-tasking and short attention spans. […] The antidote to these scattering influences is tough-mindedness, which I define as the ability to draw lines and boundaries within which we protect and preserve the mental and emotional space to do our work and to be true to our selves. Not to the point of insanity (we gotta keep a sense of humor about this stuff), but we also desperately need the ability to play real hardball with ourselves when we need it. Otherwise, we’ll all expire from sheer shallowness.”

Katie Sirakos
MPA 2011

The Summer Work Experience

As we wrap up our first year as MPA students, my classmates and I are preparing to enter what our program refers to as “the summer work experience” (aka internship). We will each be spending 400 hours over the summer months working at a governmental, nonprofit, or private organization, and leave behind papers and final exams with feelings of joy.

I have heard classmates rejoice over returning to a scheduled workday; as with some careers, being a student is not a job you leave at the office and nights and weekends are often extensions of the school day. Working full-time for pay also brings welcome relief for some of our bank accounts (hello, paycheck!).

Beyond these obvious benefits, I have been doing some reflecting lately on what is gained from doing a summer internship. Thinking back to my own first internship, an unpaid position at an Arts Council the summer after my sophomore year of college, I see that I was not only able to begin building office skills, but also to begin building the connections and experience that would lead me to other unpaid internships and paying positions.

While viewing my summer internship as a tool for networking and resume-building continues to be important, I also now appreciate the opportunities it gives me beyond that. When I first began doing internships, the sole work-related goal was to meet the agendas’ of the staff members, whether that meant designing workshops, assembling packets, or doing lots (and lots) of copying. This is as it should be, and will continue to be true for me this summer to a degree. However, I now feel I’m at the point where I will have some agency in designing work-related tasks around my own skill development goals. I know that it is up to me to be deliberate about articulating and advancing these goals, and making connections between them and what the agency hopes to do. Thus, as is true with many things in life, what I will gain from this experience is largely up to me and my initiative.

Katie O’Connor Sirakos
MPA 2011

Student-Practitioner Collaboration: Creating Value Both Ways

As a part of my first-year student curriculum, I am involved in a team project with a local grant-making organization. Our team, comprised entirely of students from my MPA program, has been conducting research for this organization on promising practices in grant monitoring and evaluation; this involves both review of academic literature and performing phone interviews with grant-making organizations around the country. The project has been an invaluable learning experience for us, and is creating a product that the organization would likely not otherwise have the time or staff resources to create. While we are reimbursed for our expenses, we are not paid for our work; costs have been minimal and the value created great.

I do not know the situation in other areas, but my MPA program has a formalized system where government and nonprofit organizations submit project proposals to staff, who then present students with a list for selection. I performed similar, smaller-scale projects as an undergraduate through a service-learning program. These projects gave me interesting experiences like creating a twenty-year organization history and working to boost a marketing campaign, while involving minimal commitment of time from practitioners.

I would encourage practitioners to take the time to look for opportunities like this. As I stated above, there have been minimal costs associated with our project, and the result is valuable on both ends. Practitioners are presented with a product they might greatly need or want, but do not have the time or staff to create.  Students are able to learn and gain real-world experience that is valuable for both shaping career interests and boosting marketability during the job search.

Katie O’Connor Sirakos
MPA, 2011