Working with Non Profit Organizations (NPOs)
Collective Wisdom Gained Through the Years!
We have a group of Together We Can Change The World, Inc. Project Managers who have been working with Non-Profits for several years. As Founding Members of TWCCTW, I can guarantee you they have a passion for making a difference and helping organizations. Listen carefully and learn from them. Their advice is priceless!
1. Don't get discouraged when orgs don't answer their phones or respond to emails right away. If they are important to you, leave voice messages, call again or email if you have been calling. They are busy and often have a small staff, or lots of times only volunteer staff members. Keep trying unless they indicate they are not interested.
2. You can't help everyone. Some orgs are content to continue doing what they have always done with fundraising. It is familiar and comfortable (also often lots of hard work!). They may not be open to new ideas, even if you think they should be!!
3. Get to know something about the org before contacting them. Visit their website if they have one, or Google them. Find out what their purpose is, what their needs are and how they are currently raising funds.
4. Be friendly and interested in the org and the person. DON'T come on like a telemarketer!!
5. Attempt to contact the person with the authority to make a decision, or the Development or Fund-raising Officer. If you contact an office person, make a friend and find out the proper person to talk with.
6. If an org is not ready to make a commitment to MPM at the time you contact them, be sure to leave the door open for the future. Leave your contact information with them in case they are ready at a later time.
7. Be sure the org understands that MPM is completely FREE to all Non Profits and is not MLM. Although there are some similarities, read why it is not MLM in your training materials. Be prepared to deal with the question.
8. It may be wise to approach smaller organizations first, and possibly some you already have a relationship with or are familiar with. The small orgs often don't have the opportunities to produce income that the larger orgs have, and may be more open to the idea of MPM. After you have approached numbers of small orgs you will be more comfortable to talk with larger ones.
Don & Barbara Westenbarger - TWCCTW Project Managers
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Working as a project manager for the past three years I have gained a deeper understanding of how busy the NPO’s are. They really need our help and the financial assistance we can offer them.
When making phone calls I get a better understanding of the person I am talking to if I take a moment, close my eyes and try to hear what they are saying without seeing their body language.
With my eyes closed I can better hear in their voice where they are and be sensitive to the true meaning of their words. They can be so busy they can not talk to me today or they need to have my help with their back office. I can calm their frustrations and help them share My Power Mall with their supporters.
Laura Fruth - TWCCTW Project Manager
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Before I call an organization I go to their website and find out all about them (mission, current activities, future activities). This assures I have something to talk with them about – something I am sure they will be interested in!
I’ve also learned to put on a very positive attitude before I pick up the phone. You want to make sure you have a very upbeat tone and presence.
It’s important to get to know the person you talk with in the NPO. I've found that if it has a small staff (maybe only the person you are talking with), and they are totally overworked, they enjoy telling you that and really love it if you are willing to work around that time factor. You’re basically just affirming their importance and letting them know you understand and appreciate them.
See if they know about TWCCTW/MPM, and then depending on their level of knowledge start from there. Mention the program but tell them you are not going to go into in depth because there is a complete website that will tell them all they need to know and more, and that you know you couldn’t do half as good a job as the website does. . . just send them an email with the URL. When I'm doing this I stick in there at some point, "Remember it's all FREE for your organization, so take a look." Then I see if they have any questions. . . answer.
I tell them I will give them a chance to look over the program and determine a time and date to get back with them. I don’t leave it open-ended. I make sure they know I’m going to call back in, say, 2 days at 3:00 PM. I make sure they have my contact info in case they have a pressing question before our scheduled meeting time—and send an email with contact info and meeting time.
Lavinia Birkhead - TWCCTW Project Manager
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And now from my own years of working with organizations – whether raising funds or sharing TWCCTW and MPM with them. . .
- It is very important to choose organizations you are passionate about yourself. For instance, if you are a committed Democrat, it would probably not be wise to work with a Republican political committee. You might have a hard time coming across as sincere. Think about your passions. Do they include animals? Children? Health issues? The Environment? Search out the organizations that support your passion and work with them. You’ll come across as authentic and you’ll have a lot more fun!
- Realize that organizations can get caught in ruts. They’ve always sold candy. They’ve always just asked for money. They’ve always spent months putting together a Community Garage Sale. Here you come, offering them a free online Mall where supposedly they can generate unlimited income. It will be difficult for them to believe. What they will believe is YOU – if you take the time to build a relationship and generate trust. IF you take the time to listen to them, hear them, and help them see a new way of doing things. Some will get it right away. Some won’t – but those you can always come back to later when My Power Mall is a household name.
- Organizations can be very protective of their members – as they should be. You’ll want to tread lightly in the area of giving My Power Malls to their members – until AFTER they have been to the website. To talk about it before they go to the website will raise all kinds of red flags for them. MLM’s have been using them for years and they are wary of it – as they should be. Once they see how different we are they will more likely be eager to share it with their board and members, but NEVER push it. They have to build it their way. Your job is just to introduce them to it.
- The size of the organization will often dictate how quickly a decision is made in regard to starting a My Power Mall business. If it’s a very small organization with only 1 person who started it and who now runs it, well, they can just make a decision. If you decide to go after a large organization, you can be assured they will have to get Board approval, which can be a lot like getting an approval from God. There will be lots of bureaucracy and lots of red tape.
- The good news is that for every large org with tons of red tape requirements, there are hundreds of smaller organizations that can make a decision immediately. Personally, these are the ones I would contact first. They don’t have Big Bucks so they are used to thinking outside the box and they are hungry enough to take the action necessary to make My Power Mall succeed.
Ginny Dye
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Once you have brought an organization into My Power Mall – though our systems will do a great job of taking care of them and giving them everything they need, there are some ideas you can share with them that will help them succeed with My Power Mall, assuring them you care about them and want them to succeed. Here’s a partial list one of our Project Managers sends to her organizations:
Tips for Non Profit Organizations
- Begin at home.....Begin with your staff.....promote it to them.
- Buy office supplies from your mall. MyInk.com pays 21.00% of the purchase price.
- Once you have a testimony.....make it known.
- Add your business mall URL to every piece of correspondence leaving your headquarters or office.
- Add a link to your newsletter.
- Write an article about how your supporters can help just by redirecting their everyday spending to stores in their individual mall, earning income for themselves, as well as helping their favorite organization.
- Create business cards and give two cards to everyone at other activities or fundraisers and ask them to pass one on to someone they know that shops online.
- People you know who already shop online are the ones you want to reach.
- Everyone in your database will be working to give away ten business malls. They know people you don't know, therefore expanding your reach ten-fold.
- Special alerts will go out from our great deals research team, but only to those who agree to receive them, so the work is done for you.
- If you snail mail......include your business mall announcement and URL.
- Remind supporters that buying a gift a month can make a huge difference, taking into consideration, birthdays....weddings....anniversaries....and Christmas....not to mention everyday needs.
- HANG IN THERE......This is working for the smallest of organizations.
Barbara Harding – TWCCTW Project Manager
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While this list of collective information will grow, this is enough to get you started. Now, let’s give you some resources to answer some of the questions you are most likely to receive… Click Here to find out what those are.
To download all training for working with NPOs in Manual form go here.
