Who Cares?

From Shirin Zohdi:

In today’s economic climate, nonprofits are experiencing a reduced level of support from their patrons.  Inherent in this reality is a bit of good news.  As always where this is good news, there is also bad news.

The good news is the lack of financial support is truly not indicative of the lack of caring and belief in the organization’s work and its impact in the community.  The bad news is that naturally lack of resources limits what an organization can and cannot do.  So what should an organization do to maintain its relationship with its patrons while not pressing on the group that truly cares but is unable to financially support the efforts?

According to an October 2008 study in the Journal of Consumer Research, asking people to volunteer their time results in higher levels of donation in future.  In other words, when someone commits his or her time now, he or she will contribute financially at a higher level than if he/she had not contributed his/her time before. 

One can take the results of this study a step further.  What if patrons are asked to increase their involvement with the organization through social networks which helps the organization’s brand stay fresh in the patron’s everyday life?

Relationships are about sharing experiences and trust.  One can easily assume that trust already exists between the organization and its patrons; the only remaining piece is the environment where experiences may be easily shared. This piece may be managed through social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and RSS, all of which keep patrons updated on the organization’s activities.

So why are organizations not embracing these new media, social networking tools that are readily available?

I will be joining Click & Pledge in 2009 and will be tackling this issue for our clients. 

I would love to hear from you and know how your organization is dealing with your patrons and keeping the relationship fresh.  How do you maintain a relationship that is not based on monetary support and how can we help you with managing these relationships?