Homeless Man - people worse off than me

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE SEARCH FOR HOME

I'm a big fan of NPR and a segment called The Story by Dick Gordon. He interviews one person whose story highlights what's going on in society as a whole.

This story concerned a man who, after 29 years in the printing business, found himself homeless. However, he could stay in touch with people through his laptop and his blog.

What struck me in the story was the part about him winning tickets for a Twins game. He had to panhandle for gas to get there - the most humiliating thing he said he had ever done. The Twins and going to their games were a big part of the life he had lived before.  However, he left the game early to talk to other homeless people he knew who were living nearby.

Although he only had $16, he gave it all to one man. As he said, "there is always someone who has it worse than me."

That's what struck me - his generosity in his situation. If you want to listen to this fascinating conversation, click below.

Chris Jenks

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been running a series of stories called At Home. As a part of the series, we’re exploring how people are finding a place to live in the midst of a difficult housing market. Three years ago, Chris Jenks had a job, a house, three cars and a year's worth of savings. Today, he is homeless. But Chris is finding a new community through his blog and a Twitter account. First written anonymously as “Twin Cities White Collar Man Walking,” Chris thought by sharing his experiences he would gather a few followers. Little did he know that it would provide him with community and even a room to call his own.

Board member finds connecting easy!

Recently, I spent a half day training staff and board members in the Midwest on how to build relationships within the staff and with outside supporters. I asked them to make a "coffee date" with someone and report back. Here's what one board member wrote to the Senior Vice President of Association Advancement . . .

Thank you so much for inviting me to the "go beyond hello" in-service on Wed. It was very informative. Michael and I set a time to get together. I called him to set up a destination and through the process of exploring where to meet for coffee, we discovered we both like the pumpkin late at Starbucks. So, that was a no brainier. Starbucks it was!

We met Thursday morning and spent about 45 min talking about each other (no shop). We talked about family, kids, where we grew up, college, career path and much more. It went easier than I thought. I felt it was nice we had the pumpkin late as a common interest right from the start, it gave us a place to begin our conversation. Happens he used to live in Seattle.

This was a great exercise. I left feeling the invitation for someone to join you for coffee and starting a relationship isn't as hard as you think. Just finding out about some one else and talking about yourself takes the pressure off your (giving them the mission speech or the car manual... so to speak).

I can see how a relationship with trust over time would progress to a more comfortable position asking for help or money...thanks again and have a great weekend.

Board Member

Hyundai Lessons - Part 2

In order to move up to the luxury car buyer, it has taken Hyundai several steps starting in 1998. They had a quality problem and faced that by offering one of the best warranty programs in the industry and then re-engineering their components to back up this warranty. They didn't just make a simple upgrade; they looked at virtually every component and redesigned the failing ones and then used that experience to improve the cars under development!

The 2009 recession caused it to add a loss-protection program; allowing buyers who lost their jobs to return the cars.

"To get people to buy your car you have to get people to trust you," Hyundai CEO John Krafcik said. "We want people to think, 'Hyundai — they just take care of you.' "

These moves have paid off and the market share is up!

What can we learn? First, if we want to reach the major donor, we may have to examine every element in our all of our fund-raising programs and implement agency-wide changes. When I talk to clients about relationship-centered development, that's what we do. No matter the appeal or the event, we make sure that connecting with those donors is a key ingredient.

Second, you have to establish trust - trust in you as the fundraiser. That's just as important as a passion for the mission. You have to connect with the donor on a personal level, follow-up on all of the promises you make and finally, just like Hyundai, continue to take care of them long after the sale!

What can we learn from Hyundai - Part 1

Recently Hyundai announced it was going after the luxury car driver (major gift giver, to us) with its new Equus.

However, it is facing hurdles that are familiar to fundraisers - the experience. Hyundai is not moving this brand into a separate dealership with specially trained sales and service people who know how to appeal to wealthy customers like Lexus and other Asian spinoffs did. According to one automotive consultant, "True luxury buyers expect more than product. They expect a luxury sales and service experience and there is no way to do that through Hyundai dealers," he said.

Hyundai's solution? They dispatch a car to the customer for a test drive and offer valet-style service; the customer never has to come to Hyundai.

In my experience, our top-level donors also expect more of an experience with us and our agency. Our job is to figure out what the "win" is for them; what motivates them and then deliver it. Creating activities and social interaction for them with the agency and other donors is the challenge.

Wayne Olson's words of advice

When I was in Orlando recently, I met Wayne Olson, a colleague with whom I enjoy discussing fund raising and relationships.

Wayne is now the Director, Development at Give Kids the World, a non-profit resort that offers children with life threatening illnesses vacations in Orlando, Florida. Wayne is a terrific writer and wrote an engaging book "THINK Like A Donor."

Here's my summation of one of his chapters: Reward Donors and They Will Reward You

Humans do not do what we are told . . .we do what we are reward for doing.
When donors feel appreciated they will return to us again and again. Always look for the reward; it can be a small gift, lunch together or a note.

We talk about "delivering wins." First, find out what the donor think is a win and then, like Wayne says, continue to give rewards.

Relationship building is good for your health

We know that connecting with someone on an emotional level feels good, but here's another article that says its good for health with all ages!


It's pretty clear that eating a healthy diet, exercising, not smoking and not drinking to excess are factors linked to longevity. Perhaps the most ignored but potentially powerful strategy, however, is being a social butterfly.

In a study published Tuesday in the journal PLoS Medicine, researchers found that having social connections -- including family, friends and colleagues -- improved the odds of survival by 50%. They authors of the study described the impact of having a dearth of social contacts as comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day in terms of its effect on longevity. Or, to put it another way, it's equivalent to being an alcoholic; is more harmful than not exercising and is twice as harmful as obesity. The researchers, from Brigham Young University, analyzed data from 148 previously published studies on old age and social interactions to reach their conclusions.

It's difficult to say why relationships matter so much to human health. It could be that people who are connected to others take better care of themselves, take fewer risks or find more meaning to their lives.

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"We take relationships for granted as humans -- we're like fish that don't notice the water," a coauthor of the paper, Timothy Smith, said in a news release. "That constant interaction is not only beneficial psychologically but directly to our physical health."

The effect isn't just limited to social connections in old age, the authors said. Relationships seem to improve health among all age groups.

Smart Marriages Conference, Orlando FL

I recently gave my first co-hosted keynote! Julie Baumgardner of First Things First in Chattanooga (dedicated to strengthening families through education, collaboration and mobilization) and I were the Huntley and Brinkley of this annual conference.

While everyone else talked about marriage, families, teens, divorce, etc. Julie and I talked about sustainability and growth for the agencies like hers, that are facing diminishing federal and state funding. While the marriage and family therapists told me that their private practices were bringing in more clients than they could handle, the nonprofit organizations were telling me they were facing cuts of up to 40%.

There are many community and state-wide initiatives doing very valuable preventive care for everyone in our communities. Some are using fee-for-service programs while others are scrambling for grants to replace the government funding.

Some, like Julie, are looking ahead to the future and building their base of support now. Julie and I are working on a Partnership Council for her agency and our first step, a Board program resulted in 259 warm leads from her Board members!

For many nonprofits, this is truly a wake up call! For the first time, they will have to learn to reach out and connect with people who can insure their mission will be preserved.