Driving Participation Podcast: What Is Working in Marketing & Fundraising | Nonprofits | Schools | Associations

After five years and 200 episodes, Beth has certainly learned a thing or two (or 200) about participation, such as where it comes from and what it really means. As she turns the final page of the podcast, she reflects on the five principles of participation she’s picked up on with the help from guests along the way, from the meaning and value of collaboration to knowing your audience beyond demographics and much more.

In today’s world of connectedness and social media, movements can take off in the blink of an eye. But, as the guest of this session Jeremy Heimans posits in his book, “it's only a movement if it moves without you.” Jeremy, CEO of Purpose and co-author of the book “New Power,” joins this session to explore the concepts of old power and new power, and how each plays a role in participation. He and Beth tackle why old power versus new power doesn’t necessarily mean bad versus good and Jeremy share

How do you create a strategy everyone is on board with and can follow? And, more importantly, how do you even define strategy? Sarah Olivieri, founder of PivotGround, and Beth explore the link between strategy and capacity, what differentiates strategies from tactics, and Sarah’s “secret sauce” to help businesses thrive. She shares tricks for getting time back in your day so you can shift your focus to the activity that is most important, tools for staying on track with the strategy you develop, and m

When it comes to innovation and experimentation, ideas are only half of the challenge. Donna Kastner, founder of Retirepreneur, joins to explore the other half: implementation. She and Beth delve into experimentation and how to get from a conversation about an idea to an actual product. Donna explains how to design a conversation that puts everyone on a level playing field. She and Beth discuss how a hackathon can create an impact anywhere and bring people together to solve a problem.

Jeremiah Lane knows the power of putting a face to the name of an organization. After attending a conference, he came back to the Children's Hospital Foundation, where he serves as Communications Director, with an idea that changed how the organization approached its storytelling. With one campaign that directly involves the families they serve, the Foundation has been able to tap into the emotional side of their work and share those stories with their audience in ways that resonate.

Julia, marketing and online engagement manager at National Immigrant Justice Center, joins this session to share how NIJC found inspiration for content from an unexpected source: its own staff. Julia shares how her team encourage staff members to contribute in ways they’re comfortable with, whether it’s writing a post, making a video, or being featured in the story themselves. They explore messaging for staff members who are not in marketing, avoiding hurting feelings or egos in new situations, and more

Say you have a great event that brings in big numbers of participants and donations to your organization. What should you do when the event is over to encourage guests and donors to continue giving to your organization? Kimberly Kroll-Goodwin, manager of events at STARS Air Ambulance in Saskatchewan, Canada, joins this session to share how her organization created a welcome series that introduced donors to the work STARS does and how they can get involved—without making a single ask.

Segmenting your messaging isn’t a new concept—but there are new ways to do it without relying on demographics. To Amanda Parsons, Associations Coordinator for the Oregon Recreation & Park Association, participation is a spectrum. She discusses using indicators of participation as a means of sending the messages people really want to receive. Explore the value of segmenting based on interest level, how to cleanse your email database, the lead indicators of an unhealthy list, and more.

Even for an organization as big as the Red Cross, having a team of volunteers with a wide set of skills can make a huge difference—especially today in digital communications and social media. Sara Falconer, director of digital communications at Canadian Red Cross, joins this session to talk about how the organization created a system that allows volunteers to lead the charge in the next wave of social media ambassadors, and how they ensure volunteers feel like they’re making a real difference.

What’s the secret to creating a killer email list? Believe it or not: The unsubscribe button. Gregg Banse, Director of Marketing and Business Development at the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, joins this session to explore why quality is greater than quantity when it comes to your email lists, and why having people unsubscribe can actually lead to better results—and better relationships. He and Beth explore the value of automation, why opens aren’t enough, how to understand email conversions, and much

What does content mean today? Jackie Lalley, co-founder of Yodelpop, joins to talk all things digital communications and content marketing. She and Beth explore the differences between keywords and core topics, and how they relate to the concepts of pillar pages and topic clusters. She explains how using blogs and tracking searches can help you better understand what language works. They talk about how to choose the right words for a topic cluster, why it’s not all about traffic, and much more.

Janni Snider can always find something humorous in a situation. It’s this sense of humor she brings to her role as Director of Creative Strategy for the United Methodist Communications that has led the organization to such campaigns as its HulaPalooza, which incorporated hula hooping to promote its global health initiative — and it's as fun as it sounds. She joins this session to explore the role of humor in engagement and how it can be successful for communications when used effectively, and much more.

There’s been a lot of focus on millennials. But there’s another generation Aria Finger wants you to keep in mind: Generation Z. Aria, CEO of DoSomething.org, joins this session to highlight Gen Z and the work her organization does to serve this increasingly engaged demographic. She and Beth explore how to encourage participation and action from this group of 13- to 25-year-olds in ways that appeal to their interests; why it’s dangerous to think of all young people as the same; and more.

Re-branding is a term that comes up a lot—but what does it really mean? Amanda Willard joins this session to share her experience with re-branding at Lincoln Park Zoo and why it’s actually about what she calls change management. A re-brand done right resonates not just externally, but internally as well. She and Beth explore the difference between participation and engagement, how to know when a re-brand is completed successfully, and much more.

The face of fishing and other outdoor water sports has long been typically associated with that of a man. Rachel Piacenza and Kendra Lee from the Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation discuss Take Me Fishing, which is run by the Foundation, and its new marketing campaign that strives to put the focus on women in fishing. They share the research tactics they used to discover the typical audience for fishing isn’t what it may seem, how they focused their campaign on a new demographic, and much more.