Engagement is the secret sauce that drives money, volunteers, and board talent to your organization. On Tuesday, September 21, 2021, Barbara Milligan, Director of Membership and Engagement for Kids’ Chance of America, presented the Give Back Better Webinar, sharing her “Eight Rules of Engagement” along with a variety of tips and tactics learned during her 30-year career in the nonprofit sector.

Key Take-aways

Engagement can provide the solution to most any challenge your nonprofit organization may be facing. Whether it’s involving board members, inspiring donors, or building a committed group of volunteers, a thoughtful engagement strategy paves the way for success. Yet, in a world where we are constantly bombarded with messages, competition for mindshare is fierce, and attention spans are short, how do we attract and keep the people we need?

Employing these eight rules will help identify the specifics of your challenge and guide a plan to increase engagement and grow your impact.  

1. Know your why. When your mission is clear, and you can easily express your own personal reasons for supporting it, then you can speak about your nonprofit with clarity and enthusiasm.
2. Provide engagement pathways. People need entry points to your organization. Events, networking, social media, volunteer opportunities – are you doing enough for people to find you? And once they do, what is your follow-up process?
3. Know what you want. What is the challenge you are trying to solve with engagement? Be specific. What does success look like?
4. Know your audience. People are chess pieces, not checkers. They bring their own goals, skills, and interests to the table. What you want and need should align with what they want for optimal engagement.
5. Provide meaningful things to do. Develop a robust menu of tasks that need to be done so you always have plenty of customizable engagement opportunities at hand.
6. Set expectations and hold people accountable. People will deliver more if there’s a goal to achieve, especially if they’ve helped establish the goal and know they are accountable for the results.
7. Nurture. Relationships must be constantly tended. Establish open and honest communication, provide necessary tools and information, encourage discussion, assign mentors or liaisons, and be flexible if changes are necessary.
8. Show love and appreciation. Gratitude goes a long way toward inspiring action and support. Celebrate accomplishments, thank people publicly, share successes, and never underestimate the power of a hand-written note.  

As you work through the eight rules, you’ll find a natural engagement strategy start to appear. Write it down, involve others with the plan, and move forward with enthusiasm to build engagement and expand the impact of your mission.

Next Month

In October, Vicki Burkhart will share ideas to help fuel your year-end fundraising efforts.

#GiveBackBetter

Learn more about Kids’ Chance of America and the upcoming Give Back Better webinars, our dynamic forum for state education that builds on the best experiences, skills, and tools we all have to offer.