#GivingTuesday2014 ~ The Unselfie…

The Unselfie is a fun aspect of the Giving Tuesday movement.  It takes the self-centered, self-aggrandizing “Selfie” and turns it on its ear.  Rather than showing off yourself, you can turn the attention of your followers on Instagram, Flickr, SnapChat, etc. out to the world at large and those whose needs are greater than yours.

Make it a point during the next 11 days to post a few unselfies sharing those charities or causes that are most important to you.  Who knows?  You may be the engine of positive change in your corner of the world!

I will be updating the featured photo for this blog every day, sharing the causes and charities that I love.

#GivingTuesday

BIG’s Blog: Evolve or Die? – Re-posted with permission

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

The “heart” of successful fundraising is still relationship.

When I talk to my 80-something mother about the “relationship” she has with the different organizations she supports, and I have essentially the same conversation about the “relationship” my 50-something wife has with the organizations she and I support, I quickly understand that each of their definitions of “relationship” is very different.

With my wife, relationship speaks to whom she knows, where they are working and what they are doing. Whereas with my mother, relationship speaks to the story or narrative she understands about the organization built up over decades.

My mother’s “know” is knowledge, the story, the narrative. No doubt the product of the mass communications paradigm we are quickly exiting.

My wife’s “know” is much more intimate and tied to the people and a particular mission and, yes, is driven by online communications.

We are quickly coming to a time when large monolithic nonprofit organizations like CARE, the Red Cross, and the American Cancer Society (and I chose these organizations because they are very large) are going to be under pressure to connect with new, younger generations of potential supporters in a much more intimate and personal way. And, to their credit, I am starting to see some signs of that move. For instance, following disasters, texting $10 has been very successful for the Red Cross, but the test will be how they follow up and develop these one-time donors into annual supporters … even without a disaster. That will take care and nurturing of the relationship.

It isn’t that my mother’s generation was easy and younger generations (beginning with the Baby Boomers) are hard. Rather, I think it’s more that younger generations are very different in what they look for and expect from the organizations they support today.

It isn’t harder vs. easier … they are just different.

Making a determination of “hard” versus “easy” is really more a reflection on what we know … our experience.

But this much is clear . . . going forward, relationship is going to be defined in a more intimate and personal way.

Drip, Drip, Drip.
-Mike

Welcome to BIG’s Blog! Please feel free to forward this post to your friends and coworkers…and email me a comment at: mike@big-db.com