Online Webinar on recovering from Covid-19 economic devastation
The global coronavirus pandemic has caused many nonprofits to shutter programs, send staff home, lay off personnel, and redeploy resources in the face of the COVID-19 threat. No organization was immune from having to make quick decisions, some affecting their very survival.
As the nation attempts to get back closer to “normal”, nonprofit leaders are asking new questions about resumption and resilience. Perhaps no one in the country has thought more about nonprofit risks than Melanie Herman, Executive Director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. She has prepared a list of the top 10 strategies to follow in restoring and revitalizing your nonprofit organization, not only for the immediate future, but for the long-term ability to pursue your mission. Join us for an illuminating discussion of these strategies and ask directly how to better position your organization to thrive in the new normal.
Presented by:Don Kramer, Editor and Publisher, Nonprofit Issues, and Melanie Lockwood Herman, Executive Director, Nonprofit Risk Management Center
Moderated by: Tish Mogan, Standards for Excellence Director, PANO
Many donors have stepped up in a big way to help you respond to the pandemic. How can you show your thanks, keep donors involved in your work, and strengthen these relationships moving forward? Fewer than 40 percent of nonprofits properly thank their supporters, research shows, so it’s not surprising that many stop giving from one year to the next. In this 75-minute session at 2-3:15 PM ET, our expert guests will share creative ways to show your appreciation to donors, so you can keep them in the fold as your organization recovers from this crisis ― and even inspire greater giving.
This session will provide a deep dive into the strategy and mechanics of using vanity email accounts for senior leadership to smooth out your acknowledgment and other letter processes. Two colleagues at the Wharton School will share insight into the process and partnerships needed to send out messages from audiences of one individual donor, to 200+ board members, to thousands of alumni in regions impacted by global events. They will offer step by step detail, in addition to an overview of the opportunities that such correspondence provides. The School knows right away if an email bounced (as opposed to waiting for weeks or months for an item to bounce back via snail mail), and recipients often respond and find opportunities to engage in deeper ways. We often stand by the tradition of paper acknowledgments on letterhead in higher ed and nonprofit organizations, which fits for some leadership styles and institutions, but your friends at Wharton are here to reassure you – donors not only get these email messages more promptly, they respond with increasing frequency and appreciate the personalization that Wharton is able to infuse into each note.
Learning Objectives:
Share the value of operating a vanity senior leadership account to manage authentic, high volume acknowledgments and other messages in lieu of paper letters
Step by step walkthrough of the process and tech sources needed
Highlighting the partnerships which make such a process possible
Sharing the benefits
Increased engagement and trust in the institution among donors who feel recognized and appreciated
Abigail Watson, Director of Donor Relations, University of Pennslyvania Abigail Watson is the Director of Donor Relations at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She has worked in higher ed stewardship, donor relations, and development for 10 years+, with previous roles at Barnard College and Marymount Manhattan College.
Issac Mason, Associate Director of Stewardship, University of Pennslyvania Issac Mason is Associate Director of Stewardship at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has held prior roles in development, institutional partnerships, and gift operations at Carnegie Mellon University and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
