BrownBag. There are a wide variety of goals and formats for special events, Carol Walter of Youth Eastside Services explained. It’s important to be clear on your own goals, and to make very clear what is going to happen so the audience will know what to expect.

Three of the most familiar forms are “friend raising” events, fundraising galas, and program presentations -- lectures, performances and exhibits. At a “friend raising,” sometimes called a cultivation event, there will not be any emphasis on raising money. In contrast, the goal is to widen the circle of people who know about your organization and are interested in its work. If some of them turn into donors in the future, their support will be welcome. Friend raisers often take the form of an interesting excursion or demonstration -- YES has had success with cooking classes -- and there’s nothing wrong with having a reasonable fee for participating. The fee can be especially welcome if the venue and the presenters are willing to donate their services, which is not only a good source of revenue to cover out-of-pocket costs associated with the event but also a strong endorsement of the importance of the agency’s work.

The familiar fund-raising gala is planned very differently. It’s important to have both a goal and a budget, and to stick to them carefully. Too many fundraising events end up a disappointment because of unrealistic planning and budgeting. It is also important, of course, to make the event both fun and memorable. Meeting the second goal can be helped by creative take-aways; Walter had several with her that had been used in the past few months. When a gala gets a reputation for being a success in this way, it can also serve as a way to reach out to a wider community as current stakeholders find it easy to encourage friends and associates who may come to share their enthusiasm for the mission.

At both cultivation events and galas, there needs to be some presentation of the importance and value of the program. Integrating those important messages into the agenda is one of the most important creative challenges the event planners face.

Public events that grow directly out of your organization’s programs may not seem like “special events” in the common usage. But they offer important opportunities to extend the circle of your agency’s supporters. The event planner can help figure out how to do that in a way that complements to rest of the agenda.

When looking for a special events consultant, Rosanna Bellotti emphasized, personality may be just as important as specific experience. You’ll want to look for evidence that the consultant likes to do everything that will be involved in making your event a success -- no part of the preparations can be too unimportant or undignified to get their attention. A “can do” attitude is essential; every situation is “an opportunity to make it work,” not a moment to express frustration or assign blame. Being calm under pressure matters too; everyone else involved will take their cue from the leadership and what they see the consultant doing. Good consultants thrive on adrenaline and look forward to meeting the deadlines no matter what it takes. (There will of course be plenty of moments to panic in putting on any complicated event. The point is not to let the panic show until you’re well away from the volunteers.) Most importantly, your consultant has “gotta see the fun it it.” If pulling your event together is just a task, it’s going to be hard for you to build the spirit of enthusiasm among the work crews and the participants that lead to both a memorable event and financial success.

Bellotti pointed out that events need to -- and will -- change. The most successful event in town last year may seem badly faded this year. Each year, the organizers of the event need to ask themselves what worked, what didn’t, and what might be good to change anyway. And they need to be prepared for the unexpected too. “We need to stop this. People are leaving!” is not something you want to whisper to your event chair, but when you see that happening, it’s the right thing to do.

Closing the session, Walter added that having fun is a key part of special event work for everyone involved. “This is in fact how it gets done,” she said. “When you create ways for people to support crucial community services, you are making social change happen. This is what we all need to have a healthy community.”

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Schmoozefest. Leah Baltus, Programs and Marketing Manager for Seattle Works, came to tell the group about the organization. Its mission is to foster community involvement and service in young adults. They offer several different volunteering opportunities for people who need a flexible schedule. Nonprofit organizations can list volunteer needs with Seattle Works or collaborate with them more regularly to provide consistent volunteer opportunities. They also offer an innovate board internship program, for people who want to help lead organizations in program and policy. Emerald City Swank, their upcoming auction fundraiser, is on November 14th. For more information go to www.seattleworks.org.

Lee Harper, the coordinator of the Lettuce Link project at the Fremont Public Association, is currently in the Masters for Non Profit Leadership program at Seattle University (www.mnpl.org). Lee led a discussion on mentoring. A mentor is a teacher, advisor, sponsor, role model, supporter, motivator and communicator. The challenge of a mentoring relationship is finding one. Lee pointed out that it's hard to force a relationship that has so much personal meaning. In addition, the mentor has to get something out of the relationship. A mentoring relationship also has to be clearly defined and fostered. To find a mentor, check on formal programs like the YMCA's Living Legacy and look at the people whom you already interact with. For more information or to add to the discussion of mentoring, contact Lee at fremontpublic.org.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time

Civil Society in Everyday Life. “You have to mix food with everything you do,” Ed Medeiros explained when talking about the programs of the successful Phinney Neighborhood Association. For more than two decades he has been heading up -- and developing -- the association and its community center, located in an unused school building on Phinney Ridge.

Its goal is to “build community by helping to connect neighbors.” Day care, programs for seniors, wine tastings and pancake breakfasts, classes and meetings fill the building for most of the hours of most of the days of the year. One part of the mission is to make spaces available for groups that are doing good things for the city. Another part is to create and manage programs that bring needed support into the neighborhoods where people live. Between maintaining the building and offering the programs, the 34 employees keep pretty busy. One third of the Association’s members live in the Phinney neighborhood; another third elsewhere in the city; and fully a third even further afield. 17 thousand people get the Association’s newsletter five times a year.

A measure of the way programs are evolving, Medeiros went on, can be seen in the operations of the home-improvement tool bank. When the program first started, people borrowed the tools to do home improvements and typically asked for advice on the best techniques. Now members will stop by the tool bank on a Saturday morning to seek tips on approaches to remodeling and recommendations for architects and contractors. Either way, Medeiros says, the contacts and connections build a stronger community.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

BrownBag. Lisa Samuelson of ParkerLePla presented thoughts on Integrated Branding for nonprofits. Integrated branding is more than a promotional or design tool such as an ad campaign, logo, or slogan. It touches every aspect of the organization: it includes what your board members say in public, how you design your facility, and what is in your mission statement. It is the promise you keep in all actions, all communications, and all decisions.

Branding is important in the non-profit world because you are competing for donors, dollars, volunteers, and loyalty. Any organization must meet the needs of its customers. Integrated branding allows you to identify what is most valuable to your customers so they can build and maintain your relationship with them, and create a compelling and consistent customer experience. Customer includes but not limited to: potential board members; people served by the organization; donors; volunteers.

Integrated branding is all about finding your promise and how that is carried through. Having a focus on what your organization is, what it does, and what it does well. It should be based on the organization's strength and what the customers value in it. Don’t try to be all things to all people. Focus on what you do now those works and build from there.

Values and Mission are a big part of brand loyalty. It is an emotional attachment. Your brand must appeal to the emotions. Grab them by the head and the heart. Incorporate it into the decision-making process in every way. Then deliver on brand promise with every interaction.

Finding your organization's branding should not be a guess! Start with research. Interview all your constituencies. When conducting brand research it is best conducted on phone vs. e-mail contact. This allows for follow-up questions and open-ended questions.

Search for what is commonly held as valuable among your customers. What do customers see as benefit, It might be a different aspect of what you do than you what you thought. You may know what you do well, but you may find some disconnects. Do you find constituents value you in the same way? What is the intersection of your different constituent communities? If you find confusion, lack of consistency-it is a red flag.

Notes by Sunny Speidel.

ParkerLePla is brand consulting company in Seattle.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Schmoozefest. The Featured Nonprofit was Northwest Bookfest. Elenore Mason, director of the Bookfest, talked about their upcoming ninth annual Literary Arts Festival that will take place October 18th and 19th at Sand Point Magnuson Park.

The event features:

• 180 book related exhibits
• New Author forum
• Young Reasers and Writers Area
• Word of Mouth Teen Area
• Teachers Resource Area
• More than 200 local and national authors

For more details see their website at www.nwbookfest.org or the Thursday, October 16, Seattle Times.

The guest speaker was Maria Marsala, president of Elevating Your Business. Maria has experience in both the business and nonprofit world. She shared the importance of creating a Vision Statement for individuals, businesses, organizations and groups. Vision Statements help clarify where you or your organization want to be in the future. They help you to decide what is most important to you or your organization or what you or your organization are best at doing.

For more information on Maria and her thoughts on Vision Statements, visit her website at www.coachmaria.com.

The Nonprofit Schmoozefest is
Seattle's Nonprofit Networking Event
At the Good Shepherd Center in Wallingford. Plan to attend next time

Civil Society in Everyday Life. The difference between school board or city council work and being in the legislature, Fred Jarrett said, is accountability.  On a board or council, you can usually point to one or two people who are responsible for each decision.  In contrast, "the legislature is the most effective organization for diffusing responsibility I've ever seen."

Jarrett, who is in his second term representing Mercer Island in Olympia, ought to know.  He has done all three, plus serving as mayor of Mercer Island, chair of the Municipal League, and leader in many other civic efforts during a long career in public service. (His full bio is on the House of Representatives' website.)

The conversation September 16 ranged widely -- from candidate Al Rosellini's promise to build the 520 bridge in six months if elected Governor to the prospects for passage next year of the Regional Transportation Improvement District proposals now being hashed out by local officials.

Jarrett described his efforts to change the way the legislature deals with higher education.  "Some people want to 'reform' the HEC Board," he said. "I want to give the universities and colleges some stretch goals and then negotiate compacts that define clearly what they will do to meet them and how the state will support the effort." An example of what he's looking for might be seen in the "Goals for Higher Education" released earlier this year (and revised in September 2003 for posting online in a .pdf file.)

Jarrett is troubled by repeated evidence that "we live in a cheap society; when we make public investments, we worry about cost, not about value."  A business-school principle he remembers from his days at Seattle University is "you get what you measure."  "Well," he quipped, "the current system measures spending very carefully, so we get very good spending.  If we want results, maybe we should measure results."

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

BrownBag. There are many reasons for a nonprofit to be interested in investments and financial markets. "The ability of foundations and other grantmakers to support the work of nonprofits is strongly influenced by the performance of their investments," Roy Hamrick of Hamrick Investment Counsel pointed out on August 28, 2003.  For this reason if no other, nonprofits need to understand how these things work. (His slides are available online as a .pdf file.)

Many organizations, though, have a more immediate reason for looking carefully at investments.  These are the organizations that have "excess money on hand that can be used to generate a financial return."  Some of the occasions nonprofits may have for wanting to understand investing are:

• Managing operating reserves and cash flow
• Honoring the conditions on restricted gifts
• Building an endowment
• Generating income to make grants
• Conducting capital campaigns
• Accounting for building funds

The board of directors is ultimately responsible for the stewardship of any investments a nonprofit may have. When the amounts of money are relatively small, the board may meet this responsibility as it coducts its regular business.  But if the amounts involved are larger, then there may be an investment committee of board membes and other volunteers, staff members with investment management duties, and outside investment counsel.

The most important thing for a nonprofit to do when thinking about investments is to develop (and update frequently) an investment policy. An investment policy will specify the goals for the investment program, outline any limits or preferences the organization wants to observe, specify management tasks and standards, schedule reports and reviews, and define the schedule and scope of audits. The investment policy should be adopted by the board with a commitment a schedule for revisiting it as needs and conditions change.

There are many, many options nonprofits can consider for investments.  Roy Hamrick presented a brief overview of the principal kinds of debt and the principal forms of equite that nonprofits use today. Choosing among these options requires a definition of the investment goals of the organization and careto assess the match of assets to needs.

Roy Hamrick suggested Winning the Loser's Game by Charles D. Ellis and Pioneering Portfolio Mangement by David E. Swensen as resources for anyone who wants to explore the many questions that exist about nonprofit investment basics more deeply.  (Buy these books by clicking on the links above; a royalty will be paid to The Evergreen State Society for every book purchased.)

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue

Civil Society in Everyday Life. David Brewster: Why a Two-Newspaper Town Matters Politicians, arts organizations and department stores like it, of course, when there are two strong metropolitan newspapers in a town. Further, the differences in news coverage and editorial opinion help to shape the debate about politicians' performance and public policy questions.  On the other hand, the wide variety of other sources for news and opinions has made the daily newspaper less central; it is no longer true that stories from this morning's paper provide a common starting point for conversations at work or among acquaintances. David Brewster cited commentary in Atlantic Monthly by James Fallows contrasting the "old view" that newspapers have both special privileges and special responsibilities with a "new view" that news is a commodity like any other an the key to success is to find out what news people want to get and then find a way to sell it to them.

20+ years ago, David Brewster led the fight against the joint operating agreement as chair of POINT (People Opposed to a 1 Newspaper Town).He is now the President of Town Hall ; he was founder and, for many years, publisher of the Weekly.

"Civil Society in Everyday Life" is
the topic of discussion at free monthly morning meetings
Plan to attend next time: 3rd Tuesdays in the Student Center at Seattle U

BrownBag. Social Entrepreneurship includes three broad types of activities according to Mark Pomerantz:  "Affirmative" programs designed primarily to secure employment for participants; "Mission Driven" programs generating funds by calling on an organization's core capacities and meeting clients' needs; and "Unrelated" efforts to generate income by extending the organization's work into appropriate activities that can help support its work.

This BrownBag seminar illustrated these three types through brief presentations by Megan Karch of FareStart, Susan Koeller, formerly of the NW Center, Sarah Thomssen, who worked on the plans for the King County Cultural Development Authority, Ray Coleman of Rehabilitation Enterprises of Washington, and Jim Diers, Delridge Neighborhood Association. 

Mark Pomerantz is the Editor/Publisher of Social Enterprise Magazine-Online.

BrownBag Seminars
help people widen their horizons and learn about how nonprofits work.
Offered in cooperation with Antioch University Seattle at 2326 Sixth Avenue