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The Elevator Test

November 25, 2014 by Betsy Garside

dinner partyIt happens at this time of year: You find yourself at a cocktail party (or Thanksgiving dinner, or gathering of new friends) and someone asks, “so what does your organization do?” You launch into a detailed overview of what your hard-working NGO aims to accomplish, filtered through the lens of your own piece of the work. Sometimes your audience of one lights up and asks the follow-up question you had hoped for. Often, sadly, they do not.

This is not your fault (unless you are a leader of the organization). Rather, you have just stumbled up against a question that too many organizations don’t undertake to answer: What’s your elevator speech? Said another way, why does your organization matter in the world — and to the person to whom you are speaking?

Several years ago our colleague David Williamson wrote a series of pieces about the elements of nonprofit marketing for Georgetown University’s Center for Nonprofit & Public Leadership. The first essay in the collection was about developing an elevator speech. There is a reason it was first in the series: This marketing exercise and resultant tool helps everyone connected with an organization, whether you are the assistant answering “what do you do?” or the board chair answering “is this organization a good one to invest in?”

To start, read David’s piece about passing the elevator test. And if you’re interested in really digging in to the story-telling idea, Chip and Dan Heath’s Made to Stick makes for a good deeper dive.

Filed Under: Ideas for non-profits, Management Tagged With: Georgetown nonprofit program, marketing, nonprofit, nonprofit management, storytelling

Georgetown “Essays in Excellence”

October 25, 2012 by David Williamson

A few years ago, my colleagues on the faculty of Georgetown University’s Center on Public and Nonprofit Leadership had a bright idea: We would bundle all the course material from our very successful week-long, intensive training program for nonprofit managers and publish a book about nonprofit management. It would be good for CPNL and its wonderful director, Kathy Kretman, good for the faculty, and good for the sector as a whole. I was assigned to write a chapter on marketing and communications in the nonprofit context, based on a class I have taught for more than decade. It was fun to pull together my presentation material into article form.

When the book project foundered, predictably, I lost track of my article. (This was back in 2009, and there were more immediate client needs to address.) So I was pleased to learn recently that the good people at CPNL have repurposed a couple of the essays from the failed book effort under the rubric of “Essays in Excellence,” including my 16-page screed on nonprofit marketing and communications. In addition to my contribution, take a look at the piece by Gary Bass on nonprofit advocacy and Michela Perrone’s essay on governance. As practitioners rather than academics, we all approached our respective subjects from the perspective of the person actually having to do all these things. So we’re light on theory and long on anecdote. And most of the anecdotes are mostly true!

The biggest weakness in my piece, looking back almost four years? I totally whiffed on the potential transformative impact of social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc. on the communications landscape. But that’s another story, for another post.

(If you want to learn more about the great programs at CPNL at Georgetown, take a look here — you will also find those links to other “Essays in Excellence” penned by my esteemed colleagues in the program.)

Filed Under: Ideas for non-profits, Management Tagged With: communications for nonprofits, Georgetown nonprofit program, nonprofit marketing tips

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