How to Get More Done in a Day
It’s well-known that I value productivity. In fact, I’m a little obsessed with it. So much so, that I’m frequently asked, “Viken, how do you get so much done in a day?” (Sometimes, when I look back over the things I was able to accomplish, it’s a question I even ask myself.) But the truth is, there’s no big secret to be found at the heart of my productivity. I manage my schedule well, plan out the week ahead on Sunday, and — here’s a no-brainer — avoid wasting time. I also: Follow Ben Franklin’s advice: early to bed and early to rise. Answer my cell discriminately. Empower my staff so they do not have to email or call me unnecessarily. Check my email 3 times a day, not every 5 minutes. Reply to an email, delete it, or file it as a to-do item. My inbox has less than 30 emails at one time. Usually less than 5. Anything that takes three minutes or less, I do immediately. Delete useless endless emails such as jokes and unnecessary social stuff. Do not tweet, Facebook and post on GIFT-PL or LinkedIn as if it were my job. Social media is a big productivity drain! Am not hanging out at Starbucks 3 times a day. Like almost everyone else, I enjoy Starbucks, however it has not become my home away from home. Eat a light lunch. And I eat a lighter dinner. Eliminate time vampires. And, when I do happy hour, it’s at 8 PM, not 4:45. (Unless I am having fun with a client or catching up with my wife on our deck at the end of the day. ) Finally, my biggest productivity hack: I remain *ROI-conscious, and create and update this ongoing three-tiered to-do list: 1. Down the road 2. Proactive and Important 3. Urgent I try to minimize the Urgent so I can focus on #2. Best way to do it? I take a “thought break” by heading out into nature (it’s easy here in Valley Forge Park) with my notepad and “think.” And yes, I shut off my cellphone. Do you really want to know how to get more done in a day? It’s simple: Don’t count time. Make time count. *Return on Investment
Parable: A River of Giving
A friend once relayed an interesting anecdote about simple, effective messaging that just so happens to be a perfect teaching moment for those of us in the fundraising world. It seems she was helping out an elderly couple who live down the hall of her apartment complex. The wife had a health problem that had just become acutely symptomatic. My friend was assisting by trying to find a hospital-type bed for the lady to use. Clear Communication In describing the want-ad that she ran on Craigslist, my friend said, “I didn’t really lay it on thick. I just said it was an older couple and the lady had a health condition and they needed the bed and they didn’t have a lot of money, and could anybody donate one?” Talk about effective messaging. My friend quickly discovered that she didn’t really need to “lay it on thick,” because the solicitation, as written, attracted multiple responses within a day – literally five or six people responded, and all said they wanted to donate a hospital bed. “One of the first people who called not only wanted to give the bed, they also promised that they would deliver it! That’s the one they went with,” she told me. Taken by itself, it’s a nice story. But I want to point out that my friend isn’t a professional in the field of soliciting charitable donations. Neither did she enjoy the advantages of an institutional brand or a defined prospect base. She did have: a clear mission and she described it clearly to a receptive audience through a proven Internet-based marketing vector (Craigslist). And then she got more responses in one day than she could handle. Don’t you wish your nonprofit had that problem? The moral of this story is: People care. People want to help. You can find them with effective messaging. Our challenge as fundraisers is to reach those people and communicate our mission clearly. Effective planned giving marketing comes from the heart, keeps the message simple, uses a variety of touch points and mediums, and focuses on the benefits to the donor, not to the nonprofit (It sells the sizzle, not the steak). The rest is plain sailing. Category: Planned Giving Marketing
“Entry-Level Organizations”: Wave of the Past?
Recently I read online somewhere the following: [A nonprofit] is seeking a planned giving advisor. This is a junior position for a fundraiser with 3 or so years of experience who wishes to move into planned giving. Focus is on bequests, CGAs, and marketing.
Experience Proves: You Never Know
I was lying on the beach with my wife a few years back when a client buzzed through my cellphone, declaring in a sorrowful voice, “I’m going to have to apologize to all of them. In fact, I am writing the apology letter now.”
`Worse Than No Blog At All? Bad Blogs Prove “Something for Nothing” Never Happens
You’ll find it up there at the top of the list of disillusioning truths: “There ain’t no free lunch.” It’s true in fundraising, of course; but it can be obscured by the endless parade of miraculous “next big things” that tend to put our common sense out of focus. For example, the seemingly limitless marketing possibilities offered by the Internet have charmed some planned giving fundraisers into the mistaken belief that this new miracle vector will do their job for them. Make no mistake: With planned giving on the Internet as with anything else, lack of effort and commitment translate directly into lack of results,
Website Messaging That Works: The Library Sells Its Sizzle
There’s something graceful about smart marketing messaging. Maybe that’s why it works. And fundraisers competing for charitable dollars need every advantage they can get in engaging and persuading prospects.
Planned Giving: Simple Stuff or Just for Harvard Lawyers?
How do you view planned giving? Is it simple, or complicated? One of the biggest misunderstandings I see in the non-profit world is the mistaken belief that planned giving is complex and mysterious.
Every Dollar Looks Big to a Nonprofit
More than 40 years ago, comedian Steve Martin did an inflation routine that featured the line, “Gee, I got four dollars; I think I’ll throw it out into the street.” This came during the time of gas strikes and a recession in the 1970s, when many folks felt like their dollars weren’t going very far. These days, four dollars looks infinitely smaller than it looked back then. In 21st Century America, we’ve been desensitized to dollar amounts up to and including those with 12 zeros after them (i.e. numbers in the trillions). No surprise there: One hesitates to pay attention to numbers that big when they appear all the time with a negative sign and a dollar sign in front of them. The problem for fundraisers, of course, is that when even a million dollars looks paltry, donors can easily feel that their “small” gifts won’t make much of a difference to your organization. They need to know they’re wrong about that. It’s our job to tell them that every gift helps. So it’s crucial for planned giving to be specific: Let prospects know exactly how much good their donation will do in concrete, real-world terms. Explain to them how important all donors are to accomplishing your organization’s mission. Show them how all planned gifts contribute to growing your nonprofit’s endowment over the long term. Emphasize that your gratitude for and recognition of their gift is based on the fact that every dollar looks big to your nonprofit. And let’s all hope that one day in the future we won’t be so familiar with how many zeros there are in a trillion. Category: Giving
Johnny Carson’s Philanthropy Is a Class Act
Johnny has done something more: He has contributed over $156 million dollars from his estate to a variety of charitable groups.
Say Thank-You Right… And You’ll be Saying It More Often
“I don’t need to be recognized,” the donor commented, “but a sense of individual appreciation such as a personal thank-you goes a long way.”
