How will You Use the Sector Report?
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Ideas from the Keene Regional Release Event
- Nonprofit organizational leaders bring copies of the publication to their annual meetings (or other external/membership gatherings) for distribution. One of the leaders and/or the keynote speaker makes specific reference to the report and its relevance to the organization and the community it serves.
- Nonprofits leaders pore over the publication's contributors/funders/supporters for names of possible keynoters for their annual meetings or other public forums. The person invited use the report as a framework for the key message about the nonprofits achievements, contributions-to-community, and hopes for future achievements.
- The publication itself -- or downloaded excerpts from it -- are included as inserts in fund raising mailers. The cover letter for the package cites the publication and its relevance to the organization and the community it serves.
- Representatives of the organization who are making face-to-face calls on potential donors bring the report along and use it as a talking piece to help set the stage for the "ask." (The publication is left behind with the potential donor.)
- Board/staff leaders of the organization bring the publication with them when making a recruiting call on a potential Board member, and in their presentation, they cite the report's relevance to the organization and the community it serves. They also cite the major findings of the report and how the potential Board member would be able to help the organization meet the challenges the it faces.
- For organizations interviewing applicants for key staff leadership positions, the report is used as a screening mechanism by asking the applicants to give their opinions on the publication's findings and their likely relevance to the nonprofit.
- An organization's grant writers use the findings of the report as frameworks for grant applications, selecting specific findings to shape applications in ways that are likely to fit the mission/interests of the granting foundations/corporations/public sector agencies.
- Organizations considering a merger or some other type of collaborative arrangement with another nonprofit use findings of the report to mutually shape the benefits of an arrangement in terms of meeting challenges "better together."
- Organizations seeking line-item funding support in a city, county, or state budget, use the publication as part of its presentation to ensure influential public officials are aware of the economic value and other contributions nonprofits make to their communities.
Ideas from the Hanover Regional Release Event
- Create a “Nonprofit Fair” and bring the report, giving the community a chance to experience the nonprofit sector, perhaps dovetailing the fair with another nonprofit event or conference.
- Get young people involved in the nonprofit sector, instilling a culture of philanthropy in them early by exposure.
- Interest people in employment in the nonprofit sector.
- Introduce the report to mid career professionals undergoing education programs.
- Initiate another report - Essential: Board Members. A portrait of board members around the state.
- Display a more positive message of nonprofits, reframing old stereotypes.
- Reiterate the message that the entire nonprofit sector effects the NH economy, and that nonprofits are no longer looking for a handout, but rather a handshake.
- Take report into schools and teach children how nonprofits effect their lives- not just a place to volunteer. Clear up any misinformation given to children/teachers.
- Challenge the myths of nonprofit inefficiency. The excesses that led to current economic crisis cannot exist in the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits must run as an efficient business, if not better than a business.
- Encourage documentation of the rich collaborations that take place in the sector. Illustrate the eagerness of nonprofits to learn and improve practices, because the community has entrusted it’s money to them. Transparency in nonprofits is unlike anything in the business or government sectors.
- Examine the types of nonprofits and their income. Illustrate the paradox of including hospitals and nonprofits and how the inclusion of those types of nonprofits can skew the report.
- Initiate an open dialogue between nonprofits and all other sectors.
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