Transparency: It’s not just for financial statements anymoreTransparency. It became a buzzword in nonprofit fundraising about a decade ago, when wealthy young investors changed the face of philanthropy. Joining the ranks of well-heeled, old-money benefactors were these first-in-their-family philanthropists who wanted to know, to the penny, how you’d be spending their money. During the transition to financial transparency, there were some uncomfortable moments, punctuated by splashy stories about questionable ratios of costs per dollar raised. Guidestar.com was born. Wise-investment philanthropic rating systems were developed and we all clamored to meet expectations. In cyberspace today, transparency means much more than financial disclosure. Charities today are producing and providing fodder for blogs, online communities, and press that goes far beyond mainstream. For an organization that has just undergone a strategic planning process, opinions will abound online and offline. A successful strategic planning team has a plan to address that amorphous online world with assertive, unshrinking transparency in their new messages. Here are a few of your opinion-making stomping grounds. Institutional blogsIf transparency is your goal, a steady stream of communication can help. An institutional blog, which is akin to a diary or insider’s newsbrief, allows your donor to learn what your charities day-to-day activities are. You can design your blog in-house, but there are countless html point-and-click services that are easy to use and free or practically free. They require somebody’s ongoing attention, of course, because the content changes daily, weekly, or monthly. However, it’s likely you have someone working in your organization that already has a blog. Maybe they’re writing about their experiences working in the charitable field you support. Rather than stifling their creativity and natural urge to market your mission, reward their loyalty and interest. It’s worked very successfully for commercial giants, like Dell Computers, and the typically conservative Wal-Mart. Agree on some etiquette, and voila, you have a spokesperson with institutional credibility and expertise in a virtual world. Other blogs that talk about youSome blogs focus on issues that will include your mission. If they’ve had something to say about your organization, especially as you’ve released news about your strategic plan, link to them. Even if they’ve offered responsible criticism, only by acknowledging their claims can you counteract with your information. Plus, the more you face your blogging audience head on, the more of a conversation it promotes among their and your readership. Message BoardsThe scariest of transparency tools, a message board lets your critics and supporters share space on your website. Of course, you can monitor your message boards, and edit the critics, but really, if you want to appear transparent, your best off editing anything truly inappropriate and providing a thoughtful response to your critics for everyone to read. Of course, sometimes your response will cause a back-and-forth that knows no end. If you’ve stated your case, there comes a time that letting the critical message bury itself is fair. After all, new messages appear at the top of a message board so every message eventually appears too far down a message thread to be of public interest. If your new strategic plan includes any attempt to affect the world--in any way-- people will talk. Old-school marketing used to mean that you’d shine up your message, exist in its bubble, and shout down anything but your message. Now, if you want to have credibility in the donor world, you need to walk among them. When donors see that you will work in the cyber-trenches, discussing challenges as well as strengths, true transparency is possible.
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June 2008:Archived Newsletters |
