Paying it Forward: Volunteers versus the Trolls, who loses?
Perfect is the enemy of the good, with respect to the import of time to our many tasks. Faced with a never-ending list of interruptions, a fallback tool for me is the Urgent vs. Important 2x2 matrix, or Eisenhower Decision Matrix from 70 years ago. I learned it second-hand in business as others "paid it forward" from their experiential learning.
With many things on our list, updates for web content can be quickly completed by one or a few volunteers and off we go, new content and traffic - Life is good! Monday, our nonprofit received notification from a copyright troll of unlicensed use of a picture. They ask for $350 immediately; funds we’d deny nonprofits. Turns out we sourced the photo from another source not knowing the ownership! I contacted the person who shared the content; they thought their source had rights.
My lesson, take our own photo in the future. Besides, local faces and places are more impactful for delivering the emotional content of your message. When you are trying to stand out, everything counts!
An idea to differentiate your cause, Halloween is coming up; bound to be a “Trunk or Treat” organized. I learned of a nonprofit who passed out 800 free books to kindergarteners through 8th graders! Amazing and life-changing, can you be this creative in less than 50 days? Tell me!
Also volunteers continually tell me, “No one asked.” They heard the pitch but no one asked them personally. Saying “We need volunteers,” is not the same as, “Sally, are you available tomorrow after lunch? I’d love for you to go with me if you could.” Humans crave fellowship and when you serve others, you feel better.
This week I heard 30 minutes really matters. An organization tried changing times after steady attendance of 30 or so at 6 p.m. meetings. Imagine their pleasant surprise as membership grew within four months of a time change to 5:30. Over 50 people regularly checking in to volunteer in service and fellowship. Imagine the increased number of people with key skills like accounting, marketing, selling/fundraising, project management. Then I could do more basic volunteering myself.
By the way, Volunteers versus the Trolls -- they’ll send another note. Email your secret to get volunteers, let’s share the best with the best in the best community.
Service Above Self,
Mr B MrB@NewCollarCoach.com
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Paying it Forward: Volunteers versus the Trolls, who loses?
