“It’s all about timing.” How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said it? A lot…I bet. No one can doubt the truth behind that simple statement. Choosing the right software at the right time is no exception. Knowing when to buy that key piece of software for your organization and more importantly why you’re buying it is important. Let me give you an example of how our organization recently messed up on this very thing.

One of the most crucial aspects to any business is keeping up with it’s customers and prospects. Some type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is vital to keeping a history of all communications and relationship details with your customers. By they way, churches and nonprofits you need one too. Either a ChMS or some Membership Management Software….look into it. Anyway, we set out to get a CRM. But we didn’t do our homework, we just signed up for Salesforce. We don’t use 2/3 of the system. Sure that happens a lot when you get a feature-rich (ready “bloated”) software but the worst part is that we spent too much money. We should have selected a much cheaper, simpler solution for the first year (perhaps 37Signal’s Highrise). Salesforce was the wrong software at the wrong time.

At the same time, we totally missed the boat on the software that we should have been running since DAY 1. It’s called KissMetrics. From their website: “KissMetrics is the simplest and easiest way to visualize your conversion funnel in order to increase your ROI”. Basically it helps businesses increase sales and conversion rates. We should have adopted this type of software even before we had customers! Live and learn.

Here are a few points to keep in mind when thinking about software for your organization

1. Most software has been created because there is a tangible benefit. Seriously…like saving time and/or money. This is especially important to keep in mind for young organizations that assume they cannot afford software or worse that they should not have to pay for it. In the middle of any organization process that’s taking place you should always be asking yourself if there is software that makes this easier. Sometimes that means spending some money on software. If you’re a small organization (like a church plant) can you really not afford to pay $12/mo to enhance communication and centralize all all logistics? Yes that was self-serving :).

2. Learn the tangible benefits the software offers. Does the software pay for itself? Can the return on investment be measured. If so, make sure you know what the ROI is. If the software offers a free trial then try it out. And really give it a go. You may crash and burn but you’re better off trying something then just thinking about it. If you can’t tell by the trial or just looking at the website, then pick up the phone!

3. Call software providers. Yes, pick up the phone and call them. If they don’t list a phone number then that’s a bit questionable in my opinion, but the point is…reach out to them. You’ll usually find that honest and fair people are behind most of the reputable software that’s available on the internet these days. Even more…

4. Ask for a discount. If you really can’t afford the software at the time, but you know you need it, then simply ask for discount. Talk is cheap (sometimes). We use coupons at MemberHub and there a handful of them floating around the internets. Just like us, many vendors will be happy to help you out for a little while. Just ask.

So, what’s that piece of software that you’ve been thinking about for a while now? What can it do for your organization? What are you waiting for?

From July 8-11, over 3,000 staff, volunteers and vendors converged on Salt Lake City, UT for the 4-day General Assembly of the YMCAs. It’s an event that is held every four years and the whole city was infused with the YMCA community. Literally everywhere you went, were signs of endorsement for the event. It was  expected to generate $3 million for Salt Lake County’s economy. By the looks of things I’d be surprised if they didn’t hit that number.

We were there as an exhibitor. At first I was a bit skeptical of the potential return on such an event, but as we looked closer we began to realize that this is the perfect opportunity for our company to share our success stories from working with the YMCA of the Triangle as well as speak with close to 3,000 Y staff and volunteers. I’m confident now that being there was the right thing to do.

Here are some observations from our time at the General Assembly:

1. The YMCA has Some Serious History

Saturday’s general session ended with the introduction of the Y’s new brand and new strategy, (culminating with a very bizarre rendition of U2′s Beautiful Day, I might add) but the morning started with the introduction of the 2010 inductees to the YMCA Hall of Fame. The list included such notable men and women as Ellen Brown, the first female YMCA staff employee and John D. Rockefeller Jr. The surprising thing to me was that each one of the 17 inductees was born in the 1800′s! It was powerful to learn about each inductee as they splashed the antique photos up on the ginormous LCD screen and shared stories about how these people contributed to the organization that has had such an impact on millions of lives in local communities for the past 160 years! It was moving.

2. What about the “C”?

“For the first time in 43 years, the YMCA unveiled a new brand strategy to increase understanding of the impact the nonprofit makes in communities.” The organization is now referred to as “The Y” and the new logo reflects this. It’s interesting that the foundational guiding beliefs and truths upon which the organization was built continue to take a back seat in the organization’s core message. It’s also unfortunate that a search for the YMCA turns up tons of images for the Village People.

3. YMCA is Missing the Boat on Social Media

The Y seems to be missing the potential of social media. They want to re-introduce themselves to America. They’ve already appeared on Good Morning America and they’ve got big plans for an all-out media blitz. That’s great! But in his presentation, Neil Nicoll, President and CEO of YMCA of the USA had no mention of using social media tools like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to help create the powerful networks that can so easily spread your message for you. Perhaps they do have a plan and we’ll be surprised, but I’ve done social media presentations for Y executives and spoke with a LOT of others during the conference. My general observation is that none of the Ys are doing social media right and they’re all looking at each other waiting for one of them to just nail it. It would be a real help if the YMCA of the USA had a strategy in place that all other Y’s could turn too.

4. YMCA Spirit is Hard to Ignore

As a child, did you ever attend a YMCA summer camp?  I did. I spent 5 summers at Camp Kanata, in North Carolina and I also participated in the Y Guides program (at that time it was called Indian Guides…needless to say that had to change). The child-like enthusiasm and magic that happened in those programs can be felt throughout all levels of the organization and it’s people. Whether it’s a seminar at the YMCA General Assembly or a fundraising meeting at a local Y, the staff and volunteers always know how to balance a proper amount of silliness and professionalism in such a way that it’s hard not to want to be part of what they’re doing.

5. The Y is Going to Grow Even Stronger

Regardless of any missing religious affiliation and lack of social media prowess, the YMCA is going to continue to grow. The work that they do in communities is a true blessing to millions around the world and this can no longer go unnoticed. They’ve done 2 years of research to figure out how the general public perceives the organization and compared that to it’s core principles. They’ve done their homework for the new strategy which focuses on Youth Development, Healthy Living and Social Responsibility.

As Neil Nicoll said, “The Y is more than just a place for a gym and a swim.” It always has been and it will continue to be. Now they just need to remind the world who they are. The proof is already there! It is a blessing for us to be able to serve them!

Were you there? What did you take away? What do you think about the Y’s new strategy and logo?

Last week we exhibited at NTEN’s annual technology conference in Atlanta. This was our first year attending the event and we didn’t know what to expect. As a vendor, our expectations were far exceeded. Here are 5 things that we took away from our time with the #nptech folks!

1. Then NTEN folks make things happen.

Holly Ross and her team know how to get things done. That organization offers so many resources and opportunities to get plugged in and learn about technology. If you’re a nonprofit and not paying attention to this organization, you’re really missing out. But what I’m really suggesting here is that the NTEN folks are people of action. In my experience, many nonprofit people are passionate but fail to be people of action. But not the NTEN folks. From their ever expanding website to a 3-day power-packed conference that’s sold out in its second and third year of life, they get things done and people excited! So kudos to her team (special thanks Sarah Janczak for all her hard work on the vendor side of things).

2. Technology is the still the bastard child of the nonprofit budget.

That may sound a bit harsh, but sometimes you have to make outrageous claims when you’re blogging, right? Many nonprofits still seem to lack a sufficient amount of passion for technology excellence. That’s why NTEN rox! We met with several folks that were frustrated with their technology and IT initiatives. But the NTEN community is fueling a new initiative towards technology in the nonprofit world. That’s why people love NTEN! Which brings me to my next point.

3. There is some serious passion brewing around technology in the nonprofit world.

With any industry, there are always the techie’s. The folks that make things work and the ones that are always suggesting new software tools. NTEN is bringing these people together and really generating the buzz and attention that technology deserves. The people that we interacted with at the conference are passionate, exciting people that see the REAL benefits in technology. The nonprofit world is going to be a better place because of these nptech’ers and their goal of making technology a first class citizen in the nonprofit sector.

4. NTEN’ers know how to have a good time!

Just following the twitter hashtag (#10ntc) alone is proof.

5. I’m relatively tall.

It’s always nice meeting people in real life that you connect with online. Isn’t it weird? There were two people that I was looking forward to meeting at the conference. Steve Heye and Peter Campbell (including the idealware team). Well we ended up right beside the idealware booth; which worked to our advantage because they were one of the busiest booths at the conference. I had always envisioned Steve and Peter, these nptech giants :), to be taller than me. I’m always the short guy, but not this time!

All in all, it was a great experience for the MemberHub team to be down there. Our primary market has been faith-based organizations (mainly churches) but after working with the likes of the YMCA of the Triangle, a few other local nonprofits and attending the NTEN Conference, we’re excited about continuing to serve the nonprofit community.

Already looking forward to #11ntc! Thanks again NTEN.

This may seem a little crazy at first, but I wonder, should churches and nonprofits buy Facebook ads? Our business has been running some ads on Facebook and finding some great success. It’s easy, hyper-targeted and based on demographic information in your Facebook profile. So I started to wonder if I should share my experience with creating Facebook Ads..and we will, in another post. But for now, I’m wondering what would it look like for a church to be “advertising” on Facebook? Why would a church ever do that?

I’m sure this topic has been debated somewhere on the Internet before (although a quick search didn’t reveal anything fascinating) but I think it’s brilliant. Why not pay for clicks on Ads in Facebook? Why not target people in specific zip code and draw attention to your organization…to your ministries, events, message…your website. Think about it, I bet for roughly $1/click you could have your specific message being place on Facebook and reaching folks right where they are: Facebook. You could have literally millions of impressions and pay for only 5 clicks a day. Would it be worth it?

• Would it increase the likelihood of that one guy that drives by your church everyday to actually show up one Sunday?
• Would it increase the participation in a local outreach event? Think service project or Good Friday festival!
• Would it bring recognition to your organization on a local level that may ultimately lead to serving the community on a greater level?

I think so. I think it’s worth a try. Have you ever considered this? What churches and nonprofits are doing this and finding success? Leave some links to interesting posts or thoughts below!

(Note: The image above was produced by Church Ad Project. Check them out: http://www.churchad.com)

Last week I put up a post on why nonprofit strategies often fail. The message wasn’t ground-breaking or all that entirely original. It was designed to get you asking yourself a lot of questions. My passion for great communication was refueled this morning when John Saddington challenged technology people to put communication first, technology second.

We’ve had a quite a few posts here about “communication”, but they don’t get as much attention as other posts. Why is that?

Why is it that year after year, nonprofit members list “communication” as the number one area that organizations need improvement. Why is it that something so obvious constantly goes overlooked?  Why do your members constantly tell you that “they didn’t know that” or “that wasn’t in the newsletter” or “nobody told me that”?

My challenge here is this: You’ve got talk to your members/employees/constituents. Get a discussion going. Get their feedback. Make them understand what you’re seeing. Work together. Collaborate. THAT’S what social media is all about. It opens up the channel for people to speak about something so that other people can understand it. It’s less about what tools you use and more about making sure that communication is taking plan.

Even with the myriad of social networking tools available, members still feel in the dark? Why?

I was recently speaking with a colleague (who happens to be an avid MemberHub user) that works with many nonprofits and he revealed to me one of the hidden values in collaboration software.

Kevin was telling me that one of the common challenges in nonprofits is bringing on a new board member, or any member for that matter, and bringing that person “up to speed”. There is often a great deal of information to cover including documents to be read, conversations to take place and general history.

Recently, one of the nonprofits that he works with brought on a new board member and instead of spending a day talking or explaining discussions and opinions of various members, Kevin realized that he could just point the new board member to their MemberHub account. Because the nonprofit groups had funneled communications and collaboration through their hubs, the new board member spent a day reading discussions that had taken place through the hub, downloading and reading documents, browsing the calendar and checking out the profiles of various members. Instead of taking a day of someone else’s time the new board member was able to join the hub and the history was all there!

After Kevin finished telling me this, he turned to me and said, “Now that’s real value.”. That’s what I’m talking about.

So what is your nonprofit using for collaborative technology? Do you see the value and need for it?

I just read an excellent article on the importance of nonprofits keeping their volunteers engaged. This very factual and informative writeup suggests the following:

“Nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers, but most CEOs do a poor job of managing them. As a result, more than one-third of those who volunteer one year do not donate their time the next year—at any nonprofit. That adds up to an estimated $38 billion in lost labor. To remedy this situation, nonprofit leaders must develop a more strategic approach to managing this overlooked and undervalued talent pool.”

$38 billion…wow. I don’t have actual numbers, but I’m willing to bet that this problem exists in all types of organizations. Churches need to keep their ministries and members involved, associations need to keep their members active, and schools need to keep the parents engaged. We’re even learning that fitness and wellness programs are having more success if they provide tools to connect their members better.

Managing members is more than just keeping data about them. Technology can help all types of member-driven organizations in the following ways:

1. It keeps everyone informed and ensures that vision and goals are shared
2. Communication channels are clear and everyone knows how to reach the group and each other
3. Members feel more connected and have a greater sense of community
4. It encourages participation and sharing of ideas, which leads to refinement of objectives
5. Instant communication to users cell phones with text messaging can save much time

These are just a few examples. How is technology helping your nonprofit, church, association or member-driven organization? What can we do to help?