Category: Fundraising / Resource Mobilisation

The Nonprofit Hero Factory Episode 27

Posted on by Liz

The nonprofit funding landscape continues to shift in response to the changing landscape in the pandemic and post-pandemic era. At the same time, there is a growing digital divide between those that are quickly adapting and adopting new strategies and those that are in danger of losing the ability to achieve their mission.

Elizabeth Ngonzi, founder and CEO of the International Social Impact Institute joins Boris this week to talk about how some nonprofits are staying ahead of the changes and new opportunities to connect with communities and funders alike. We also discuss how LinkedIn is fast becoming a critical platform for nonprofits, and how professionals can improve their skill sets to help their organizations and themselves.

 

Webinar Summary – Digital Fundraising: Best Practices to Boost Your End of Year Campaign

Posted on by Liz

August 25th, 2021 – The Blackbaud Institute’s 2020 Charitable Giving Report, which tracks $40 billion in giving, indicates that over the last three years growth in overall philanthropic giving has only been 5%, whereas online giving has grown by a remarkable 32%. Given the growing importance of online philanthropy, organizations must adapt by learning to craft compelling stories and develop thoughtful and data-driven strategies for delivering messaging to the right audience on the right platform. New York University’s new Digital Fundraising certificate program offers just the right tools to equip individuals, nonprofits and other organizations to utilize the digital space in their fundraising efforts – tapping into the growing online giving platform. 

Webinar Overview

On August 19th, Liz Ngonzi, adjunct assistant professor in the Center for Global Affairs at New York University, hosted a webinar launching the new certificate program alongside fellow program faculty members Cheryl Gentry, Boris Kievsky, Kathleen Murphy Toms and Dane Wiseman. The program, which is housed within the Heyman Program for Fundraising and Philanthropy in the Center for Global Affairs at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, was developed in recognition of the increase in virtual learning, work, and socializing brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic and, more generally, in recognition of the central role of digital fundraising in enabling nonprofit organizations to inspire, engage, and catalyze both new and existing supporters.

Best Practices

The launch event hosted by Liz and her colleagues included a lively conversation addressing “Best Practices to Boost Your End of Year Campaign,” in which the program faculty shared a number of useful tips with webinar participants.  

Cheryl Gentry, who will co-teach the course on “Virtual Events and Fundraising” with Liz, cautioned virtual event organizers against treating audience members as “second class citizens”. She advised making an appropriate investment of time (including rehearsal time) and resources in order to ensure that sponsors, donors and other attendees have the best possible event experience.

Boris Kievsky, who will teach “Developing High-Impact Websites for Nonprofits,” advised that nonprofits place emphasis on their story and on guiding their audience through it. The content of the story, and how effectively it is told, are more important than the platform on which it is being presented.

To encourage donors and supporters to prioritize their interactions with nonprofit organizations, Kathleen Murphy Toms, who will teach “Social Media and Email Fundraising,” recommended that those organizations send out calendar invitations and reminders to their supporters. “If it’s not on my calendar, it’s not happening,” she emphasized.  

Dane Wiseman, who will teach “Social Media Marketing Analytics,” pointed out how crucial the use of data analytics and dashboards (websites, social media, etc.) are for nonprofits and other organizations. He emphasized that they can help organizations identify the peak days and times when different audience groups are engaging with specific content – helping nonprofits maximize the consumption of that content. 

To close out the discussion, Liz Ngonzi, who teaches “Digital Storytelling, Innovation and Fundraising,” advised listeners: “Don’t do what you can’t measure!” She encouraged the audience to set specific and measurable goals for their fundraising efforts and to track their progress, outputs, and impacts. 

Webinar Takeaways

Finally, listeners were polled and asked to identify what they regarded as key lessons of the webinar.  Based on 41 poll responses (presented graphically in the word cloud below), the audience’s top three takeaways were: 

  1. Send Calendar Invites to Donors – to prepare them to support the organization’s Giving Tuesday campaign
  2. Rehearse – to ensure smooth flow of your virtual event
  3. Recruit Among Millennials – and engage them as co-creators, not just as donors.

 

Click on this LINK to watch the full webinar and click this LINK to learn about and register for the new Professional Certificate Program in Digital Fundraising.  You can also access resources provided by the speakers below.

Resources Shared by Speakers:

Boris Kievsky

Nonprofit Digital Strategist – dotorgStrategy

Course:  Developing High-Impact Websites for Nonprofits

Resources

 

Cheryl Gentry 

Founder & CEO – Glow Global Events

Course: Virtual Events and Fundraisers

Resources

  

Dane Wiseman 

Chief Marketing Officer – CyberFunnel

Course: Social Media Marketing Analytics

Resources

 

Kathleen Murphy Toms

Director, Digital Strategy – Giving Tuesday

Course:  Social Media and Email Fundraising

Resources

 

Elizabeth Ngonzi, CFRE

Panel Moderator

Founder & CEO – The International Social Impact Institute 

Course: Digital Storytelling, Innovation and Fundraising

Resources

Digital Storytelling: Five Best Practices to Engage and Activate Supporters on LinkedIn

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Nonprofit leaders seeking effective ways to attract, engage and activate supporters must continue to invest significant resources toward improving digital storytelling. Learn about all the ways that Liz Ngonzi, CEO / founder of Liz Ngonzi Transforms and the International Social Impact Institute, will teach you how to attract funders and supporters in the most effective way; through telling your organization’s story effectively throughout the digital storytelling ecosystem.

Finding Your North Star: Aligning Your Purpose and Your Paycheck

Posted on by lizngonzi

Elizabeth (Liz) Ngonzi MMH ’98 is founder and CEO of The International Social Impact Institute™, which is currently developing training programs and events to help non-governmental organizations in under-resourced communities in the U.S. and around the world rebound from the pandemic.

“Now is the right time for all of us to get involved and engaged,” she says. “What’s seemingly impossible is possible if you focus on what you want to do and why you’re doing it. You are able to create a lot of change.”

“You don’t necessarily need to leave your corporate job to have a social impact,” Liz says. “There is a spectrum of organizations you can get involved with.” She notes that these include existing non-profits, such as Cornell University, for-profit corporations with a social impact mission, such as Patagonia, and funders, such as foundations and venture philanthropy organizations.

How This iSchool Alum Uses Digital Skills For Social Impact

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If there’s anything you should know about Liz Ngonzi (’92), it’s that she’s bold, she’s courageous, and she’s devoted her life to strengthening the social impact ecosystem around the globe.

But her path to a career as a social entrepreneur, educator, and international speaker didn’t take the direction you might expect.

It’s true that Liz has always been a bit of an entrepreneur. By the time she was 14 years old, she had created a babysitting service and scaled to at least six different client families. It was a “baby empire,” as she describes it.

When she came to Syracuse University in 1988, however, she didn’t major in business. Instead, she started out in visual and performing arts. About mid-way through her freshman year, a mentor introduced her to the iSchool. She was hooked and decided to transfer in the following semester.

“I barely knew how to type!” Liz said, “[But] I loved the fact that you could solve problems with technology and information.”

In 1992, the year Liz graduated, the country was in the midst of a recession. While many of her peers took jobs waiting tables just to get by, she graduated with five job offers in hand. She started receiving some of them as early as the fall of her senior year and credits the real-world skills learned in her major with making her stand out in a struggling economy.

Liz ended up taking a job in marketing with Digital Equipment Corporation, the legendary computer company founded by Ken Olson and Harlan Anderson. They had recruited her as one of 16 people nationwide for their exclusive Marketing Development Program, a rotational program which exposed her to areas such as aerospace marketing, corporate communications and sales. Following that, she worked in B2B sales for MICROS Systems Inc., the leading provider of hospitality Point of Sales Systems in the world, where she learned about the hospitality industry through her clients, ranging from independent restaurants to amusement parks.

The Future Relationship between Business, Government and Non-profits

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In conversation with Liz Ngonzi, an international speaker on digital innovation, philanthropy and leadership, talking about the future relationship between businesses, Government and non-profits, what the world can learn from people it traditionally labels as disadvantaged and how corporations are responding to the social justice movement in relation to African Americans.

Digital Storytelling to Inspire and Attract Funders in a Time of Crisis

Posted on by lizngonzi

The budget cuts resulting from the global economic downturn of 2009 forced nonprofits onto digital platforms to more efficiently and cost-effectively connect with their stakeholders, but that stakeholder engagement remained primarily on a personal—not a virtual—level. Fast forward to the the global pandemic of 2020, during which most of our professional interactions have become virtual, and we see that organizations have discovered how critical digital platforms are (and will be) to their success, both during and after the pandemic. Now their primary vehicles for inspiring, attracting, and activating donors are stories delivered through a digital storytelling ecosystem that includes their websites and those of their key partners; social media; virtual events; messenger services such as WhatsApp; email; live and recorded videos; and charity information sites such as GuideStar.

At the same time, during the last few months, foundations’ priorities have shifted toward two key issues that have risen to prominence: COVID-19 relief/response and social justice. Not only will funders be interested in supporting organizations that have been negatively affected by COVID-19, but they will be particularly drawn to those that have pivoted in response to it by developing new offerings, delivering services more efficiently, and serving new populations. Equally, funders are going to be looking for grantee alignment with issues of social justice—looking, that is, for organizations committed to the empowerment of under-resourced communities, to diversity of board and leadership composition, and to socially aware programming and engagement with issues of equity and inclusion. In crafting an organization’s message, therefore, it is increasingly necessary to incorporate content and highlight organizational elements that reflect such commitments.

Notes from the #ProjectEveryone Fundraising Everywhere Conference

Posted on by lizngonzi

Last Thursday, I was one of over 4,000 attendees at #ProjectEveryone. Put together in just over a week by the Fundraising Everywhere team, this virtual conference featured a range of great speakers focusing on fundraising in response to the coronavirus crisis. My Twitter thread from the six hours of talks is below. Click through to read my notes from those I attended. I’m at #ProjectEveryone – here’s my thread. How to pivot your strategy in a crisis @WayneTheMurray1. There is no business as usual. It’s all changed.2. Work out what has changed.3. Drop everything non essential(Wayne’s cat just popped in to say hello, which was cute.) pic.twitter.com/Gq4WylWjnS— Richard Sved (@richardsved) April 2, 2020 The first talk I attended once I’d managed to get into the ‘room’ (it was so busy!) was Wayne Murray’s on how to pivot your strategy in a crisis. I particularly appreciated his exhortation to focus on the short term, and keeping people connected. Nobody cares about your income deficit. They care about the impact on your beneficiaries. People really do want to help.Wayne Murray Next up, Jasmine Adams spoke well on adapting messages in response to Covid-19, which was a good companion piece to Wayne’s talk as she explained that you can change your strategy but maintain your vision. After this, Louise Morris spoke compellingly on engaging high net worth individuals in the fundraising response to the pandemic.

Program Empowers Aspiring Black Entrepreneurs

Posted on by lizngonzi

Startup founders who are black receive less than 1% of venture capital funding annually, according to research from Crunchbase, Kauffman Institute and CB Insights.

Cornell’s Black Entrepreneurs in Training (BET) – founded in the spring of 2018 as a student club to inspire and inform black student entrepreneurs – is aiming to change that through the establishment of workshops, guest speakers and entrepreneurial mentorship.

BET, which runs from October to April, aims to increase the participation of students of color in Cornell’s entrepreneurship ecosystem and generate an active and visible group of black alumni who’ve founded successful companies. Each fall, the program accepts students of color who are passionate about entrepreneurship, and offers networking events and workshops.

“Connecting our BET participants with successful alumni is an invaluable learning experience, and enables them to envision their future as startup leaders,” BET co-founder Jehron Petty ’20 said.

Petty – with co-founders Ansumana Bangura ’20 and Julia Reeves ’20 – reached out to Andrea Ippolito ’06, M.Eng. ’07, lecturer in Cornell’s Engineering Management Program and program director of W.E. Cornell to establish a partnership with the Center for Regional Economic Advancement, which would allow the program to grow after the founders graduate.

Digital Storytelling and Virtual Events to Revive Your Fundraising Presented During Project Everyone

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Everything has changed… Except your Mission

In a matter of weeks, the world has changed in dramatic ways… and it will likely never return to pre-COVID-19 norms. For nonprofits, working remotely might be the easiest part of the adjustments they need to make.

The greater challenges revolve around:

  • Delivering programming that your community has come to rely on
  • Fundraising in the chaos—without the ability to host in-person events
  • Finding new sources of revenue to replace falling donations
  • Standing out in the sea of noise with everyone clamoring for attention and funding

How NGOs Worldwide Can Use Digital Storytelling to Access, Attract and Activate U.S. Donors

Posted on by lizngonzi

International organizations planning their fundraising strategies for the new decade and looking for new funding sources may be wondering how to maximize their success in attracting U.S. donors.  According to the 2019 Giving USA Report, American donors gave an estimated $427.71 billion to charities in 2018, with $22.88 billion going overseas. But many international nonprofits/NGOs are unaware of the extent of the available funding, and many do not know how to effectively access, attract and activate U.S.-based donors. It’s a challenge for many international organizations to engage with (and navigate the complexities of) what many consider to be the world’s most generous market.

Teaching Why Storytelling, “Tribes”​ and Diversification Are Critical to Entrepreneurs!

Posted on by lizngonzi

I had the honor of returning to my alma mater, Cornell University, to address and advise the first official cohort of Cornell Black Entrepreneurs in Training. This was one of several events planned by the organizers to “stimulate creative ideation and problem solving,” as part of a program whose ultimate vision includes preparing black entrepreneurs to found startups focused on some of “today’s most pertinent problems.”

I was there to teach the participants about self-awareness, finding purpose and founder-opportunity fit, defining and developing one’s story, finding one’s “tribe”, and navigating the business (nonprofit to for-profit) and funding (donations to equity investments) model spectrum and the plethora of programs (e.g. incubators, accelerators and fellowships) through which one might develop a new venture.

The members range from undergrads to professional and graduate students, and the majority are studying engineering, with a few in business and science majors.

What became evident to me after spending time with these extraordinary students — both while leading the workshop and while meeting with them one on one during office hours — is that we all need the occasional reminder of our own greatness and a framework for sharing our visions and stories in a manner that honors our unique gifts and identities.

They are working on some awesome venture ideas that address real gaps in the market.

I can’t wait to see what’s to come next semester when they begin working on their Minimum Viable Products (#MVP).

No matter which professions the cohort participants ultimately choose, having an entrepreneurial mindset and approach to problem solving is critical to achieving success in any area. And even if they do not choose to pursue their startup ventures on a full-time basis, the participants might reasonably continue working on those ventures as supplementary/alternative revenue sources. As I’ve learned repeatedly over the years from various contributors to Black Enterprise Magazine, it is wise to lay the groundwork for a diversity of revenue streams, including at least one “side-hustle” that can be developed into its own full-time business.

Learn more about Cornell Black Entrepreneurs in Training: https://crea.cornell.edu/project/black-entrepreneurs-in-training/

How Foundations Can Leverage Digital Storytelling to Increase Their Impact

Posted on by lizngonzi

Traditionally, foundations have chosen to maintain an air of mystery about their grantmaking priorities, selection criteria, and even the organizations they support. However, in today’s increasingly digital and connected world, foundations have an opportunity to streamline their grantmaking processes, share their stories of impact to inspire others and attract potential collaborators, and highlight their grantees to draw other prospective funders and supporters to them.

Did you know?

  1. The U.S. is home to 140,000 foundations, yet in our increasingly digital world, only approximately 10 percent of them have websites.
  2. One percent of foundations share recent grants data online and only .1 percent of foundations share the knowledge they are funding or producing online.
  3. Of the 140,000 foundations, only 100 have shared their information on the best practices platform Glasspockets, that facilitates benchmarking and ultimately increased efficiency.
  4. Foundations are increasingly requiring transparency of their grantees throughout the grantmaking process, whether it be from first-time applicants, or for those requesting additional support.

In an increasingly digital and connected world, transparency by foundations can:

  1. Establish credibility in the sector and increases public trust.
  2. Improve relationships with grantees.
  3. Decrease redundancy and increase collaboration with other stakeholders.
  4. Build a community of shared learning and increase potential impact.

Expand Your International Organization’s Presence to Attract U.S. Funders

Posted on by lizngonzi

During my 10 years teaching and training nonprofits around the world, I have found that some of the biggest challenges they grapple with in seeking funding are related to differentiating themselves from the plethora of other great causes in the market; establishing their legitimacy in a field in which the few fraudulent ones have created fear, uncertainty and doubt in the minds of donors; and identifying which donors could potentially be interested in their cause, have the capacity to give and are accessible.

If you ask any group of U.S.-based foundations their primary source of information about a nonprofit with which they are unfamiliar most of them will likely say that they google to find out about them. In the case of international nonprofits looking to raise funds in the U.S., the strength of their digital presence is critical in that it helps to convey the credibility of the organization, in the absence of a physical location the U.S. for funders to easily visit.

GDPR and What It Means for Nonprofits

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Last week, the Foundation Center hosted its “The Future of Philanthropy: Thriving in a World of Change” event. This all-day event opened up discussion about some of the large-scale technological and philanthropic changes taking place across the nation and the world, and how they relate to nonprofits and foundations.

At the event, dotOrg Strategy founder Boris Kievsky moderated a panel on the subject of on “Reaching Audiences in the Age of GDPR.” The expert speakers assembled for the discussion were Jon Dartley, Of Counsel at Perlman & Perlman; Crystal Mandler, Director of Business Insights at Foundation Center; Elizabeth Ngonzi, Adjunct Faculty at NYU Center for Global Affairs and Isaac Shalev, Founder & President at Sage70.

The event was live-streamed (full video at the bottom of this article), but if you couldn’t make it, we’ve put together some of the key takeaways your nonprofit should consider and actions you can take today.