Our nonprofit constituents are empowered and we can’t control that

Consumers are absolutely empowered through technology now. That means our constituents are as well. It has happened and it is a fact. We can’t control that. Sorry to point that out but that is our starting reality.

Our constituents are empowered. They know it. Do we?

They know they have influence. Do we?

Our constituents know they have voice that is powerful. They know they have more power than ever before. Do we know that and act that way?

If you a member of the C-Suite or executive team, did you receive a report today alerting you to what your donors (members / volunteers, etc.) said about you on Facebook, your call center, Twitter, YouTube, Tumblr, Blogs, Pinterest, etc. (the list is ever evolving). Do you receive it every day? Do you get weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual summaries? Have you engaged with any of them personally yourself? If not, it is a reasonable why isn’t that important to you?

Even if we aren’t seeing it, other constituents (or potential constituents) are seeing what is going on. They are forming an opinion of us based on those comments. We can’t control what is being said. We can control how we will react in real time about it. We can control changing the experience in the future.

Say a constituent has a bad experience on your web site and they tweet about it. Do we think others have had the same experience and haven’t said anything? You bet they have. Do we think others will find the same thing and either say something or not in the future? Yes they will find it and yes they will say something or not. There is no hiding. If there is one horrible review out there, they will find it and not the 100 positive things others have said about us.

Nonprofits are beginning to listen to what is being said on social media and respond to it if they can. It does require a commitment of resources but it is not going away. More and more constituents (or potential constituents) are going to share the good, the bad and the ugly about their experience with us.

Have you started to shift resources into engaging on social platforms? How does that compare to your investment in your call center? Is your call center and social media center integrated in the approach you want your constituents to have? We have to manage our online reputation.

What are our constituents going to align with if we don’t first define the experience up front? What do we want them to be a part of? Now is the time to invest more in the experience rather than improve how the donation transaction occurs. Our future as nonprofits is in creating programs that scream out in splendor. It is about experiences that kindle meaningful and sincere interactions at every turn. At the center of our evolution (or is it a revolution) is the experience. The experience is everything now.

Are our nonprofit constituent experiences intentional?

What does the future of your nonprofit look like? Is it focused on your mission AND design?

The premise of this manifesto is all about being intentional about the experiences our constituents are having.

How many programs, products and services do you have? How many channels (Web, Social, Mobile, Call Center, Direct Mail, etc.) are you focused on? Do they all have a unified design and experience?

Mission + Design = Intentional experiences.

We are clear about our mission. Are we clear about our design?

If not, we aren’t ready to be the digital nonprofit of the future. If we aren’t ready to be a digital nonprofit, we aren’t ready for the future. If we aren’t ready for the future, will we be in business 5 to 10 years from now? Tough questions I know but worth considering.

So here are a couple more of intriguing questions:

• How do we ensure that our constituents are having an amazing experience?


• Why make constituents cope with the ordinary?


• Why aren’t constituents more engaged with both our mission and revenue opportunities?

Our focus and day to day work should be about creating “constituent experiences” in this new age of consumerism. What is going on in the rest of the “for profit” world isn’t lost on our constituents. They are judging us based on those experiences. We can bury our head in the sand. That will only get us left behind.

Consumers expect more from business (and hence nonprofits) than ever before. So our mission programs, products and services have a level of expectation that our nonprofit may not be aware of. The support of our contributors, members and volunteers have is not necessarily drive by our mission. It is driven by their experience at any company, for profit or nonprofit. How do we compare to USAA for example? Do we know?

Here is the harsh reality. They not only expect better experiences, they believe they are absolutely entitled to them. Will we be intentional in delivering on those expectations? Are we ready to get left behind with stagnant growth if we don’t deliver those constituent experiences?

There is a unique opportunity to create amazing and positive experiences at our events, on the web, at our call center (if you have one), on smart phones and in our direct mail pieces. Are all of those unified? Is the experience amazing?

That amazing or ordinary (or perhaps even bad) experience will be how our nonprofit is measured in terms of satisfaction or even our fundraising success. Do we know how our constituents feel about the experience they are having with us? If not, why not? Are we being intentional about that experience they just had at our event? Is it consistent with the experience they want on our web site?