OD180 Nonprofit Management Letter #40
September 2009
Constituents... Don't Take Them for Granted
Dear Friends,
Last month, guest contributors from Green Bird Media wrote about how to hire a web designer, a website being one critical component of any organization's constituent relations program today. It sparked some interesting replies about your experiences with websites. One reader's response included some insights which may be helpful to many of you; I include it below.
This month it seems fitting to continue in the same vein and turn to the topic of constituent relations in general. Every organization has constituents, of course, but its relations with them are not always marked by forethought.
I hope you had a good summer with some time to rest and reflect. As always, I welcome your comments and questions. Go to my blog or write to me at davidnorgard@OD180.com.
Peace, David
The Five Foundation-Stones of Organization-Building
Courage of Commitment... Creativity in Approach... Generosity of Spirit...
Honesty in Communication... Steadfastness of Purpose
OD180's Five Specialties
Board Training & Development... Organizational Assessment
Strategic Planning... Development Assessment & Planning
Constituent Relations Programs
Constituents... Don't Take Them for Granted
Who Are They?
In every organization, some constituencies are obvious. National advocacy groups and local faith communities both count members. Clinics and hospitals monitor patients. Schools study student enrollment and try to stay in touch with their alumni. Many nonprofits whose business model is fee-for-service rely on third party referral sources. Nearly all nonprofits of whatever sort know they have donors and recognize, in theory if not altogether in practice, that it is important to keep in contact with them. After all, the next gift is always easier attained from a past donor than from a prospective one.
Very often though, nonprofits also have constituencies that are not so obvious and yet still important to its programs and development. The neighbors of an institution, for instance, sometimes represent a significantly under-rated constituency, especially when the institution is planning on some expansion of its footprint or an increase in traffic. Volunteers may be so integral to a community organization that they are not deliberately treated as a distinctive constituency. Vendors are commonly entirely invisible as a constituency, except perhaps during the annual hunt for fundraiser sponsors.
The strategically savvy nonprofit organization will survey its landscape and take an inventory of all of the groups which have or may have a significant impact upon its program and its development. Attaining and maintaining this level of awareness lays the foundation for a productive constituent relations program.
Here is a list of possibilities to stir your own thinking about just who your organization's constituencies include: affiliated groups, allied organizations, alumni, clients, corporate sponsors, customers, donors, families of clients/patients/students, government officials, grantors, members, neighbors, past board members, patients, referral sources, regulators, staff, students, vendors, visitors, volunteers...Who are you forgetting?
Building and Sustaining Relationships: Interactions and Communications
Once an organization is alert to the full constellation of its constituencies, then the question becomes: How does it relate to them, or, even more to the point, how should it relate?
Organizations build and sustain relationships in two ways: personal interactions and direct communications. Personal, i.e., face-to-face interactions usually take place on either end of a spectrum. Organizations will hold special events where participation is largely passive. Alternatively, an E.D. or Development Director will visit major donors one-on-one for more intimate conversation. Often missing from the spectrum is the middle, such as inviting small groups on a tour of the facilities or hosting a lunch for past board members.
At present, with respect to communications, all the excitement is focused on social media. Organizations are rushing to gather a following on Twitter or a fan base on Facebook. In the excited haste, leaders are forgetting these fundamentals about effective external communication:
- The direction needs to be two-way...Don't just broadcast your message; also listen to what your constituents (and others) are saying about you and your message.
- The frequency needs to be consistent...Settle on a pattern and stay with it.
- Format and content both need to match the audience...A major donor should not be bothered with a direct mail solicitation (unless he or she is funding it!). A grantor may want to know more of the story behind a staff change than was put into the annual report.
Toward a Constituent Relations Program
The key to any useful constituent relations program is being aware of all the groups that are important to your organization and then proactively designing a means of staying connected with them that is mutually beneficial. Stay alert to the whole constellation of constituencies and you thereby avoid such pitfalls as forgetting to meet with a past board president or ignoring a volunteer at some major milestone. Match method, message, and frequency to your various recipients and you honor the different stakes that they have.
Reader Response
Bill MacNally from Blaine, Minnesota shared his insight about websites in response to last month's Management Letter.
Dear David,
Always good to get your newsletter and see that you are alive and vibrant as always. Your theme on websites struck me this month because I have found myself using them more than normal and found the experience to be from very positive to "what are these people thinking about anyway?"
The themes to successful ones for me were:
- Was the site done for the organization or to attract and inform the outsider? You can tell the difference.
- Was it easy to find the information or did I need to know your lingo?
- Did I get frustrated and bored before I found what I wanted?
- Was it up-to-date? (No, the rector listed died 4 years ago)
- Did it leave me with a feeling I cared or should care about the organization? This was especially important if it was a group I was looking to possibly give money to.
- Could I find a list of officers, executives, or whatever, and a way to contact them by phone or e-mail?
- All words, no pictures...bad! All pictures, no words...bad!
- There is an art and a science to this. Good old Mary or little nerd Billy who likes to play with a laptop may not be the best to do it for you.
