The good, the bad and the ugly of the nonprofit world
- Thu, March 31 2011
- Filed under: Fun stuff
UPDATE: The April carnival will be hosted by RAD and focuses on making nonprofit innovation happen. Details are here.
Today, I’m hosting the Nonprofit Blog Carnival! No, that doesn’t mean we all get funnel cakes and cotton candy for breakfast. It means I was asked to invite a bunch of bloggers to post on a certain theme this month, and today I’m highlighting the results here on my blog. My theme was “the good, the bad and the ugly” of the nonprofit world. For fun, I promised a special bonus to anyone who managed to subtly work the name Clint Eastwood into their post. The bloggers who made this happen are quoted as a reward for their creativity.
And now, without further ado, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Enjoy!
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Social Media
A post from Maureen Carruthers of Low Hanging Fruit Media lays out the highs and lows of Web 2.0. The money quote from her post:
Playing it safe in social media is a waste of time. There are too many voices and they are shouting too loudly. The only way to make the investment worth the effort is to figure out which tools, techniques and messages resonate best with your people. Which means making guesses about what will work and seeing what happens. If you are doing it right, some of your ideas will fail. That has to be OK. As Clint Eastwood would say, “If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster.”
Beaconfire gives us the good, bad and ugly of Twitter: the Red Cross, the Oscars and Charlie Sheen (in that order). I consider that a #winning post.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Fundraising
Jeff Brooks of Future Fundraising Now posted the assertion that “Fundraising is good, not bad, when it’s ugly.” Over-designed, fancy fundraising is not necessarily better fundraising, he says:
The best fundraising design is emotional, readable and authentic. That’s a tall order. Only the very best designers can do all that, and they’re the ones who work calmly and fearlessly, like Clint Eastwood walking in on an armed robbery. Sadly, more designers follow their finely-honed aesthetic sense, which leads to ineffective beauty. And that’s bad fundraising.
I really liked Sherry Truhlar’s post on the Good, Bad and Ugly of Silent Auctions. Amusing photos of the very ugly are included, featuring a misleading pair of candlesticks.
Joanne Fritz of About.com and the hostess of this blog carnival, has a strong post on how not to thank donors after a disaster. It’s ugly: she gave to Japan relief and all she got was a slew of generic thank-you notes - with one exception.
Jake Seliger offers insights on developing federal grant budgets, a situation he deems often ugly.
In other posts, Donor Central blog points out the importance of good donor engagement and Jacqueline Inwood Way’s submitted her online diary, 365give, which talks about her perspective as a donor.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Volunteer Management
In a bold Clint Eastwood-inspired title, Shari Ilsen presents Do You Feel Lucky, Volunteer Managers? posted at Engaging Volunteers. Her first line should inspire you to read the rest of the post:
When I began my position as a volunteer coordinator at an urban sexual violence counseling center, my enthusiasm and passion were so great I never imagined I would one day be asking myself, “Do I feel lucky?” just as astonished as the criminal caught by Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Nonprofit Leadership
Amy Eisenstein presents The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Nonprofit Leadership posted at Tri Point Fundraising.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Nonprofit Marketing
Bryan Keithley presents Marketing to your Strengths, Non-Profit Edition posted at Finally Fast. The bad: Marketing is tough, especially for non-profits with little or no marketing budget; The Ugly: Most fledgling non-profits are using marketing to emphasize the wrong aspects of their organization and essentially wasting their precious marketing dollars; The Good: You can change this! Check out Bryan’s 7 tips for emphasizing the right marketing materials in the right way to drive donations and champion your non-profit’s cause.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of Customer Service
Tobi Johnson presents Nonprofit Customer Service: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly posted at Tobi’s Nonprofit Management Blog. She says:
What will catapult your organization to the highest levels of service excellence? Solomon and Inghilleri contend that “the magic happens when you, your systems, and your employees throughout the ranks of your organization anticipate the needs of your customers.” If your team can learn to recognize and respond appropriately to your customer’s needs before they share them, you will reap the rewards of a truly customer-centered organization.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly RFPs
Michelle Murrain of Zen and the Art of Nonprofit Technology says too many RFPs are ugly and has advice on improving them.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of….?
Last, I have no idea how to categorize this one. Jeanne McCann presents Chesapeake Bay: An Open Toilet posted at Chesapeake Bay Action Plan» | Chesapeake Bay Action Plan. Yes, it’s a blog post about poop. Says Jeanne:
Obviously this is an example of the GOOD. This blog is all about educating the public about the direct effects of industrial agriculture on the mess that is the Chesapeake Bay. In this post, for instance, we learn that the state of Maryland is actually paying for the removal of chicken poop from regulated farms to unregulated farms—on regulated farms, poop has to be covered and carefully disposed of. On unregulated farms, it can sit uncovered where it leaks directly into the bay. Bay politics are a mess, and this blog post points out the absurdities. We also learn that the big industrial farms replace that chicken poop with—guess what? HUMAN waste. Which they apply to our food! yum!
After that post, I bet you have no appetite for funnel cakes anyway:)