Prime Management Services Tips & Tools

Guide to Program Evaluation

James Ranieri — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:36:33 GMT

We all know the importance of evaluating programs - whether they are a single non-profit's project, a larger collaboration, or a for-profit entity. "Program evaluation is carefully collecting information about a program or some aspect of a program in order to make necessary decisions about the program."

In this industry, and particularly in these challenging times, evaluation of programs is of utmost importance. This online guide provides a basic guide to program evaluation, and should greatly assist those needing to learn more about the topic.

How To Blog Daily

Anna Trott — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:44:05 GMT

Here are a few tips based on what I’ve learned along the way by Kivi Leroux Miller

Sketch out an editorial calendar. Even if you don’t follow it exactly, it helps you keep on track with the kinds of things you want your blog to be known for.

Get help from guest bloggers. Try to publish a guest post about once a week. It takes some of the pressure off you and freshens up the voice of your blog.

Come up with some regular features. Create some regular "staples" in your blog, and stick with the theme. It’s one less post you have to get creative with and it creates things for readers to look forward to.

Get help with the blog admin. Ask them to manage your guest posting schedule, help format the guests posts, and creates the first drafts of your regular "staple" section. You can also ask them to brainstorm with you to come up with new ideas.

Make room to go with what strikes you. The easiest posts to write are the ones that you are emotional about in some way, whether it’s excited, or impressed, or annoyed. When the mood strikes, scrap what’s scheduled and write it!

Make it a habit.

Write ahead. When you know you are going to be traveling a lot, try to write several posts in advance of the publishing date on your editorial calendar. You can always bump them to a later date if something really timely comes up.

When in doubt, do a list post! Like this one.

Good Luck and Happy Blogging!

------------

This information was pulled from Kivi's Nonprofit Communiations Blog:

http://www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com/blog/2012/05/10/how-to-blog-daily/

Create a YouTube Channel in Less Than 30 Minutes!

Anna Trott — Fri, 11 May 2012 19:22:34 GMT

I’ve covered the importance of Youtube for your event marketing on a NUMBER of OCCASIONS.

Above all, I cannot stress enough that Youtube is the second largest search engine in the world. If we are talking acquisitions (i.e. new customers), I strongly suggest using Youtube to fuel videos from your past events, interviews with speakers and featured content.

You are not too late to join the YouMovement. In fact I think the service has only recently really become an effective marketing machine for your event. Therefore open up the video folder in your computer and let’s get started.

What You Need Before Starting

Some Videos.

There is no point in starting a channel without any video. It’s actually quite bad. I would suggest focusing your mind on any piece of video content that you think may be relevant to your objective. If you are not sure about what your objective is, read THIS.

Pick up the phone and contact the video company you called for the last event you run.

Line up at least five videos and you are ready to go.

A Google Account.

Easy Peasy. Get one HERE. Note that if you use any Google service as a registered user (GMail, GOOGLE+, GOOGLE ANALYTICS) you can use the same login details.

Tweak the Settings

Appearance

Make sure the color scheme of your channel matches your EVENT WEBSITE’S look and feel. Know your colours and make sure the experience is consistent across different platforms. Uploading a custom background, specifically designed for your channel is ideal.

Info & Settings

The description of your Channel should tell it all. Be very accurate with the words you select and keep in mind the action you want from those who visit. Is it subscriptions? Is it clicks on your Website?

Website

If you want Youtube visitors to check your website, make sure you use a unique link so you can track how many people Youtube is referring. It is also advisable to use trackable links on the description of each video. MEASURING THE SUCCESS OF YOUR EVENT MARKETING should always be in the back of your mind.

Tags

Run a comprehensive search on the relevant tags that you should use. How do you do that? Identify your topic, i.e. the subject of your event, search for popular channels on the subject and check what tags they use. It will help you to identify the most used tags in your subject area. Tags a really important, do not skip this step.

Default Tab

Choose a Featured Tab as your default Tab

Featured Tab Setting

I would suggest to pick “Creator” for the style of your default view. It will help you to select only the videos you choose for those who land on your channel.

Video Uploading and SEO

Uploading videos is not a matter of dropping a file on the channel.

Every setting needs to be taken care of in order to be as searchable as possible. Here are the most important bits to take care of:

-Increase the video length limit.

You can do that HERE.

Take care of the in-video calls to action.

Have you added your logo with your website at the beginning and end of your video?

Rename your video file.

Pick the title you want to see when it goes live. You’ll be able to do this later as well, but I’ve seen a lot of users forget to edit it. The sooner you start, the better. In terms of picking the best title, again research and benchmark against your competition/related subject area.

Description, tags, visibility.

In essence you need to go through the same exercise of setting up your channel. Make sure you add a link of your website in the description of the video towards the beginning as Youtube displays only the first few words as default.

Learn to use annotations.

This is possibly the most ignored tool when it gets to Youtube marketing. There is actually a lot of potential if you use it properly. Here is a GREAT GUIDE.

Know how YouTube SEO works.

This is the most concise and still relevant GUIDE.

Review your analytics.

Youtube recently refurbished its ANALYTICS. Review the performance of each video to make sure you are achieving your targets.

Advanced

Once you become proficient with all of the above, I want you to focus on the objective of becoming a Youtube Partner. Why? Because you can then enjoy the beauty of YOUTUBE LIVE as well as more customisation options such as a clickable header on your channel.

Qualifying to become a partner is not easy to achieve. Here are the REQUIREMENTS.

I would suggest to start exposing your best videos to larger audiences with YOUTUBE ADVERTISING as it may help in speeding up the process although there is no official line on the latter.

In Conclusion

The benefits of YouTube for event marketing range from search engine visibility to live streaming of your gigs. With 800,000,000 monthly visitors you cannot ignore the opportunities available for your event. This guide will help you to start using it wisely.

This article was written by one of my favorite bloggers, Julius Solaris. You can link to this article by clicking here to take full advantages of the tips and tools that he has embedded within his blog. You can also send your questions, or write into Julius here.

Creative Thinking Leads to Effective Problem Solving

Anna Trott — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:55:20 GMT

An experiment conducted by behavioral scientists, discovered that problem solving procedures were inhibiting creative thought. The traditional method begins with a detailed assessment of the current situation and clarification of specific problems. Researchers assessed the enthusiasm and effectiveness of problem solving groups by measuring room sound in decibels and counting the number of negative/positive adjectives used during discussions. They also rated the merit of proposed solutions. This experiment proved that when imagination is applied before rational thinking begins (by creating a vision of the preferred future) better decisions are made and participants become committed.

Activity #1 Imagine success: Before trying to solve a problem, imagine and discuss what it would look like once your problem has been resolved. Talk as though success has already happened. What is different now? How are you feeling about the accomplishment?

During the second world war, an eminent social scientist Kert Lewin, was asked to help overcome the reluctance that soldiers had about eating powdered eggs. Lewin created a simple yet effective problem solving process called force field analysis. This useful tool identifies “what is” by recording contributors (forces that help move towards a goal) and resistors (forces working against movement towards a goal). He determined that the status quo exists because contributing and resisting forces are in balance. Add a contributor or remove a resistor and the current situation (status quo) will change.

Activity #2 Document what is: Record a summary of your imagined “preferred future.” Under your summary, draw a vertical line down the center of the page. Title this line “status quo”. Title the left half of the page “contributors.” Underline this heading with an arrow pointing towards the status quo. Title the right half “resistors” and underline with an arrow pointing towards the status quo. List forces that will help you move towards your goal in the contributor column and list what could hold you back under resistors. What emerges is a clear picture of your ideal, the current reality, and what needs to be done to close the gap.

Those of us who have tried to survive a rigid diet, have experienced the shoot yourself in the foot syndrome. It happens because we try to control behavior with contributors (i.e. rules, punishment, or incentives). The rebellious child residing in all of us, resents being “should on” and will eventually lash out. Lewin’s break through was in discovering that people can move towards a goal without risking an unpredictable backlash. The key success factor is to remove roadblocks or minimize their impactundefinedrather than add contributors. When rules, rewards, or punishments are overdone, the rebellious child will resist and even sabotage their honorable intentions.

Activity #3 Eliminate the impact of resistors: To begin moving towards your goal, rank order resistors in terms of their negative impact. Eliminate the easy ones first, then develop an action plan for the rest.

And yes, Lewin resolved the Army’s powdered egg issue. He determined that the problem wasn’t taste or texture… the primary resistor was the soldiers’ thought of having to eat “processed” eggs. Lewin’s surprisingly effective solution was to have the manufacturer throw a few egg shells into the mix.

The Volunteer Dating Game: 6 tips for getting your relationship with volunteers started off on the right foot.

Ashanti Pretlow — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 15:21:31 GMT

The Volunteer Dating Game: 6 tips for getting your relationship with volunteers started off on the right foot.

Sometimes nothing beats curling up on the couch and watching a classic romantic comedy. Like the one where the man pushes the damsel in distress out of the way of a moving car and they fall in love at first sight? Or the one where they just happen to meet at the top of the Empire State Building? Meeting that special someone is a piece of cake, right?

Let's get real, people. It isn't easy to find your perfect match, and the same goes for recruiting volunteers. Just like a first date, you want your relationship with your volunteer to get off on the right foot and last well into the future.

Here are six ways you can appropriately ask, engage, and hold onto your volunteers. Chances are that if you are a good "first date," your association will benefit by recruiting and retaining members dedicated to helping further its mission.

Don't play the "he said, she said" game: Be direct and personal. Ask potential volunteers to share their time and energy personally and directly. Clear invitations are the most effective method of asking potential volunteers to get involved, with the least chance of getting turned down.

"You want how many kids?": Know their motivations. From the get go, find out what motivates your volunteers and what they want to get out of the experience in order to meet their expectations and yours, expand on their talents, and keep them engaged. Knowing their long-term goals will enable your association to carve out a detailed volunteer path for them to progressively get more involved in activities that will enhance your business.

Casual dinner at 7 p.m. sharp: Provide detailed expectations. Give your volunteers clear guidelines so that they know what your association needs and wants, and you know what your volunteers need and want; it's a two-way street. Also take into account volunteer demographics, the type of volunteer opportunity, and the audience's current level of familiarity and engagement with association.

"Did you just Facebook message me for my phone number?": Don't be passive. You want what potential volunteers have to offer, so make your message loud and clear. Show you're interested in them and reinforce this message however you can, via the web, social media, in-person events, and recruitment incentives for current members. (Important note: An approach this aggressive may not be recommended in the real-life dating game.)

Always hold the door open: Be responsive. It's important that you be friendly, responsive, and always follow through with your volunteers. The easier it is for your volunteers to get what they need from your organization, the more satisfied they will be, and the more likely they will be to come back for a second date

Flowers are always nice: Recognize appropriately. Determine the most appropriate way to highlight your volunteers' accomplishments and recognize how their work affects your association's larger mission. It could be as simple as a thank-you note or as grand as a standing ovation onsite at a conference; if you know their motivation, you will know how to reward them.

Grants Promote Community Improvement and Public Education

James Ranieri — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:59:20 GMT

The Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life in the communities where Lowe's operates stores and distribution centers throughout the United States. Community Grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 are provided for community improvement initiatives and K-12 public education projects. Funding priorities for community improvement initiatives include park, neighborhood, and community facility enhancements; outdoor learning programs; and community clean-ups. Funding priorities for public education projects include construction-related education initiatives; playground enhancements; clean-up, landscaping, and painting projects; and minor repair of public school buildings. Requests may be submitted at any time. Visit the company’s website to take the eligibility test and submit an online application.

Grants to nonprofits supporting military families

James Ranieri — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:36:38 GMT

The purpose of the Newman's Own Awards Program is to recognize volunteer and nonprofit organizations supporting our nation's military families. Eligible applicants must be comprised primarily of volunteers or be a nonprofit organization, and be working with the families of Active Duty, National Guard, or Reserve units and/or veterans. Applying organizations will be evaluated on their innovative plans for improving the quality of life for members of the military and their families. Grants of up to $25,000 are provided. The application deadline is May 1, 2012. Visit the program’s website to submit an online application: http://www.fisherhouse.org/programs/newmans-own-award/

Grants Promote Education, Health, and Community Programs

James Ranieri — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:37:03 GMT

The RGK Foundation endeavors to be a catalyst for progressive change in humanitarian concerns by providing support to nonprofit organizations throughout the US. The Foundation’s focus is on innovative programs in the following categories:

Education: priorities include programs that focus on K-12 education (particularly mathematics, science, and reading); teacher development; literacy; and higher education.
Medicine/Health: programs that promote the health and well-being of children and programs that increase access to health services.
Community: targets a broad range of human services, community improvement, abuse prevention, and youth development programs.

Interested applicants may submit an online letter of inquiry via the Foundation’s website throughout the year; invited proposals are reviewed quarterly. Visit the Foundation’s website for details on the grant categories and the application process.

Website: RGK Foundation

Support for the Development of Public Green Spaces

James Ranieri — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:45:19 GMT

The TKF Foundation supports the creation of public green spaces that offer temporary sanctuary, encourage reflection, provide solace, and engender peace and well being. The Foundation's Open Spaces Sacred Places National Awards Initiative funds the development of significant new public green spaces in urban settings that demonstrate a combination of high quality design-build and rigorous research about user impacts. The initiative’s final Request for Proposals (RFP) will support cross-disciplinary teams that are able to 1) conceptualize, plan, design, and implement an open and sacred green space, 2) conduct an associated research study(ies), and 3) communicate scientific findings. Funded projects should serve as potential models for urban areas across the United States. A total of $4 million is available through this RFP. The application deadline is June 29, 2012. Visit the Foundation’s website to learn more about the National Awards Initiative and review the RFP.

Executive Director's Guide to Financial Leadership

James Ranieri — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:13:39 GMT

A must-read: An Executive Director's Guide to Financial Leadership. Very extensive resource that every ED should read, and practice. This would be good reading for those heavily involved in non-profit work on boards or certainly Finance Committee volunteers.

http://www.nonprofitquarterly.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19126&catid=153&Itemid=336

1099 Time

James Ranieri — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:09:43 GMT

It is that great time of year --- time to file those 1099-MISCs. If you are still struggling with those paper copies, 2012 is the year to drop that and go online and e-file. My personal recommendation is http://www.etax1099.com - I found their system to be very reasonable, easy to use and professional in format.

This year's filings were a breeze and took me about 25% of the time. Better yet, next year will be even easier as all of the info is stored in their system!

Happy filing.

Grant to Promote Social Justice in the Southeast

James Ranieri — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:20:51 GMT

Southern Partners Fund is a Foundation created to serve Southern communities and organizations seeking social, economic and environmental justice by providing them with financial resources, technical assistance and training, and access to systems of information and power.

Based on the Fund’s new Southern Organizing Strategy, priority will be given to organizations that address voter rights, immigrant rights, or education reform.

Applications must be received by email or postmarked by January 31, 2012.

Click here for information/application.

7 Habits of Unsuccessful Executives

James Ranieri — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:16:59 GMT

Today I'd like to direct you to an interesting article about what not to do, how not to lead. Forbes presents 7 habits of spectacularly unsuccessful executives. Note: character, respect, team building, open minded, these are traits you will not see on their list! Check it out:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/01/02/the-seven-habits-of-spectacularly-unsuccessful-executives/

Does Evidence Matter to Grantmakers? Data, Logic, and the Lack thereof in the Largest U.S. Foundations

Anna Trott — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 20:06:13 GMT

To some degree, funders undefined whether individual donors, foundations, or government agencies undefined have always wanted to know that their contributions are making a difference. Their means often differ: They may place different weight on this knowledge, or they may take different roads to get there, or they may even have secondary objectives that are more important that the programmatic ones. But whether it’s through the emotional power of narrative, the social power of credibility, or the rigorous power of evidence, funders have always had some way of assuring themselves that their donations are actually working. Read on here...

Funds for Environmental Programs in the Southeast and Northeast

James Ranieri — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:33:17 GMT

The goal of the Merck Family Fund’s Sustaining Our Environment program is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to create policies for sustainable production practices. To meet this goal, the Fund provides grants to nonprofit organizations that address one of the following three priority areas: Promoting Energy Efficiency, Conserving Ecologically Valuable Land, and Making Paper Production Sustainable. To promote energy efficiency, the Fund supports state and regional policies in the Northeast and Southeast that provide incentives and subsidies for energy efficiency implementation. To conserve ecologically valuable land, the Fund provides grants for land conservation projects in the Southeast. To make paper production sustainable, the Fund seeks to increase the rates of recycled paper in large paper sectors, reduce sourcing from endangered forests, and maximize clean production. Letters of inquiry may be submitted throughout the year.

The upcoming deadline for invited proposals is February 1, 2012. Visit the Fund’s website.

Twitter is making some changes, and they will affect you!

Anna Trott — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:51:41 GMT

Twitter has long been a simple establishment for me. When Facebook took off it was great. Good, clean fun if you ask me! But now, I can barely keep up with all of Facebook's updates, revamping, restructuring, and remodeling. That is one of the reason's I enjoy Twitter - because it has pretty much stayed the same, remained easy to use, and continued to grow in popularity among my clients and colleagues. So, you can imagine the deep gasp I took when I read this article, "The Impact of New Twitter on Events".

Fortunately, after reading the article, I found out that the face of Twitter is not massively changing, nor is how I use it. True, the aesthetics of my "Twitter Homepage" will be getting a facelift, but Twitter at it's core will remain the same. These changes that are being made will only enhance my usage of Twitter, especially on a client and business based level. (I do NOT send "personal" tweets, I am just not that interesting!). Here are the changes, in a nutshell....

#HASHTAGS -Your company will be able to personalize your hashtag by embedding a button with your hashtag already pre-set. This will allow the hashtag to show up even more, which will enhance your ability to have your topic "Trending". It will allow for maximum categorization of incoming tweets, and you will no longer have to worry about someone creating a hashtag that is similar to yours, or tweeting with the wrong hashtag.

BRAND PAGES - You will now be able to post videos and interactive feeds about and from your event (like a Facebook Event Page). Users will have the option to get more detailed information about your event if they choose to do so, thanks to this new feature.

READ EVEN MORE CHANGES HERE...

Change, as we all know, is inevitable. Change that actually means something, and is a positive thing, is just, well...GRAND! Thanks for reading!

Anna Trott

Grants for Equity Programs for Women and Girls

James Ranieri — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:24:35 GMT

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) Community Action Grants program provides funds to individuals, AAUW organizations, and local community-based nonprofit organizations throughout the country for innovative programs or non-degree research projects that promote education and equity for women and girls. Special consideration is given to projects focused on K-12 and community college girls' and women's achievements in science, technology, engineering, or math. One-year grants of up to $7,000 provide seed money for new projects; two-year grants of up to $10,000 provide start-up funds for longer-term programs that address the particular needs of the community and develop girls' sense of efficacy through leadership or advocacy opportunities. The application deadline for both types of grants is January 15, 2012.

See more information about these grants.

Using Google Calendar for Business

Anna Trott — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:04:25 GMT

If you are anything like me, you love Google product. I use Chrome as my browser, Gmail as my personal email, Google Reader as my daily newspaper, and the list goes on. I love Google products because they are simple, easy to use, well organized and convenient. Read on to learn how to incorporate Google Calendar into your day to day business events.

If you want to have the organization of a company-wide calendar, but don’t want to take the time to set it up or spend the money to have someone else do it, Google Calendar is a great, free solution.

1. Invitations and Sharing

Google Calendar opens the door to collaborative planning by allowing users to share events and even entire calendars with others both within their organization and outside. Each event allows you to invite participants (both internal and external to Google) to events. But Google Calendar goes even furtherundefinedyou can create multiple Calendars for different purposes and invite those who need to be involved in each of those calendars. This allows for customization of broad calendars rather than having to tailor every single event to specific people. Each calendar or event that you invite people to will be added automatically to their Google Calendar or can be downloaded to their own calendar system. When changes are made to the event, you can even choose to automatically email all participants to keep them in the loop.

2. Publishing

Google Calendar works with CalDav, which means that you can publish your calendar for others outside of Google to view or subscribe to. Using CalDav, you can create a unique link that you can send to any participants of that calendar. With it, they can subscribe to the events, within their own calendar system. Beyond that, Google also allows publishing calendars to a web addresses, allowing you to integrate calendars into your website or send via a link for others to access; using this feature, you can control whether a viewer sees only whether you are free or busy or sees the details of each event on the calendar. Small business copywriting will be important here, because any calendar you make available outside of your company will be a reflection on your work. Make sure it is easy to access, error free, and well displayed.

3. Notes, Locations, Reminders

Google’s system contains many of the same fields as other calendar systems. Using location to record the address, room, virtual space, or conference number of the meeting allows everyone to instantly have access to that information on their calendar. Furthermore, with notes, you can provide information on what the meeting will be about, what participants need to bring, and what preparations need to be made. Within the notes, you can also include links to important documents that will be used during the meeting. Small business copywriting can come into play here too. Be sure your notes are clear and well laid out. Even internally, you want your calendar to look professional and well displayed.

4. Appointments

A great new feature of Google Calendar is appointments. Appointments can be used to create “office hours” so that clients can setup times to meet with you without the back and forth of emails and phone calls. This can save both you and your clients valuable time of having to track down and plan out your appointments.

Google Calendar is a great resource to help bring your company together and keep them in the loopundefinedand best of all, it’s completely free.

Article contributed by B2C blog 12/2/11 w/ commentary by A. Trott

Thanks for reading!

Anna Trott

Tips for Integrating Technology into Your Next Meeting

Ashanti Pretlow — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:57:42 GMT

There are many ways to increase conference visibility through the use of social media:

Text Messaging: A service called Tatango can be used to inform attendees of room changes, session cancellations, and promotions via text message. Best of all, Tatango offers a 20% discount to registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Remember, there is a difference between real value and promotional value. Be sure to show your members that you value their privacy by limiting these text messages to valuable information rather than advertisements or self-promotion.

Twitter: Twitter is an excellent resource to create pre-conference buzz and to promote discussions at the conference following sessions.Twitter also allows you to engage with members who were unable to attend the event. By creating and using a hashtag for your specific event, you are able to maintain member engagement for long after the sessions conclude. Be sure to promote your hashtag prior to your meeting and be sure to promote it on-site as much a possible.

YouTube: YouTube is a fantastic, free option for archiving footage from your meeting. In particular, YouTube is useful because it is embeddable, reusable, and can be used for educational purposes and well as promotional marketing. Remember, to upload videos more than 10 minutes in length, you will need to become a YouTube Partner.

Live Video Streaming: Ustream offers free video streaming. Video streaming is a perfect way to engage your members who are unable to attend the conference.

Organization is key to making any of the tips above work but the potential payoff in terms of member engagement and recruitment makes these efforts worthwhile.

Disabled American Veterans Grants Available

James Ranieri — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:09:34 GMT

Grant Availability: Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust

The trust supports US nonprofit organizations that provide long-term programs offering direct assistance to disabled veterans and their families.

Interests include making sure sick and disabled veterans have transportation to VA medical facilities for treatment, supporting physical and psychological rehabilitation projects aimed at the most profoundly disabled veterans, meeting the special needs of veterans with specific disabilities such as amputation or brain injuries, providing food and shelter for homeless veterans, and bringing hope to the forgotten and suffering families of disabled veterans.

Requests are reviewed quarterly with the next deadline of January 20, 2012. Application guidelines and forms may be downloaded from the Trust’s website.