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Helping Organizations Thrive 
February 2014 Edition
Welcome to my February 2014 email newsletter. 

The mission of Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting is to make the world a better place by helping mission-driven organizations thrive.  I do that by assisting my clients with strategic planning, campaign planning, coalition building, fundraising, communications, and other organizational development challenges.

To keep people informed about my work, I set up this monthly (mostly) e-newsletter.  If you want to unsubscribe, just look for the link at the bottom.   My most recent edition can be read in my archive.

For a complete lists of the consulting services I offer, check out my website.
What Works

Most editions of this newsletter contain a section I call "What Works." 

Mostly "What Works" focuses on either Why Organizations Thrive  or Why Organizations Go Off Course, both of which detail lessons I learned while growing the Oregon League of Conservation Voters (OLCV), buttressed by my observations of dozens of other groups both in Oregon and across the country.

 

In this edition, I take one of my regular detours to review a book I recently read of relevance to nonprofit leaders.

 

I recently had the pleasure of reading Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money through Smart Communications (2010), by Sarah Durham.

 

My three words of advice for anyone who needs to think hard about the connections between fundraising, communications, and planning for a nonprofit is: Read this book.  


Durham, who has forged her opinions through nearly 20 years of nonprofit consulting, has done a marvelous job of writing a book that presents theory in a straightforward way, while also offering numerous practical tips on how to implement the theory into practice.  


What is "brandraising" and why should nonprofit leaders care about it?


Durham doesn't offer one precise definition of the term brandraising.   Rather, she describes brandraising as "the process of building a strong framework for communicating." The process as she outlines it involves three different levels of decision-making.


The "Organizational Level" encompasses an organization's vision, mission, values, objectives, audience, positioning, and personality. Some of these elements are traditionally developed through strategic planning processes.


The "Identity Level" encompasses an organization's visual identity (such as its logo, name, and tagline) and messaging platform (such as an elevator statement).


Lastly, the "Experiential Level" encompasses the major avenues by which the organization's audience experiences communications from the organization: online, in print, on air, in person, and mobile.


Among the strengths of Durham's approach are:


Read the rest of the review.

Download the review as a PDF.
 
Recent Success Stories and New Clients

Nearly 500 people have now downloaded my E-Book: Why Organizations Thrive: Lessons from the Front Lines for Nonprofit Executive Directors.  I'm always looking for feedback on the book, so please send it to me so I can take that feedback into account if I publish a second edition.   

I'm in the latter stages of a project assisting the Coalition for a Livable Future with a combination of coaching, training, and planning for future fundraising.  In early February, we'll finalize a new Development Plan.  

I'm in the middle of a 6 month project with the Oregon Center for Public Policy to develop a new strategic plan, along with the fundraising strategies to support it.   I'm currently working with a Planning Committee to convert the decisions made in a planning retreat into a draft strategic plan.

In late January, I facilitated a planning retreat for Solar Oregon. 

I'm continuing to provide ongoing assistance to the Blue Mountains Conservancy aimed at generating new leadership and funding for the organization.   

I have now wrapped up as several month process working with the Northwest Marine Trade Association on a new four-year political plan. 

I've been invited to present a workshop entitled Major Donor Fundraising 201 at the annual River Rally co-hosted by the River Network and the Waterkeeper Alliance, to be held later this spring in  Pittsbugh. 

Check out my website for a complete list of all my clients.
Recent Blog Entries

Note: I am actively looking for Guest Blog submissions.  If you have some thoughts to share on any aspect of organizational development, shoot me an email and we can discuss length, timing, etc.

One big Idea and Three Takeaways

Invest in Professional Development

Building your Donor Prospect List

Don't Make this Membership Fundraising Mistake

Outcomes Schmoutcomes

Smashwords.com Interview

Creating a "Time" Budget

12 Tips for Getting Fundraising Meetings

Tips for Fundraising Letters

Looking for one of my past blog entries on a particular topic?   I have now categorized my past blog entries.  Just go to my website and hover over the "blog" link on the navigation bar and you can see the topics and choose from among them. 
Contact Information
Jonathan Poisner Strategic Consulting
jonathan@poisner.com
phone: 503-490-1234
http://www.poisner.com


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