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Blog Entry 19 of 22 Audience Development Specialists

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Audience Development: Capacity to lay an egg!

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Contributed by: Shoshana Fanizza on 4/25/2008

I had a meeting with a local arts council to see how I can help with audience development. I found that there is a bigger issue that is holding our organizations back from audience development: capacity issues. It is the catch-22 with the majority of our non-profits. There is not enough money to hire enough people to get all of the job done. Without enough people, the money cannot be raised since the programs to raise the money require employees to do the job. There must be a solution! I have decided to think out loud on this blog to see if I can find at least one. My gut is telling me that you may be able to use audience development techniques to build capacity. Remember, audience development is all about moving your patrons along from being single ticket buyers to becoming ambassadors, volunteers and donors for your organization.

My logic is telling me that in order to solve a problem, such as a capacity issue, it needs to be part of the strategic plan of the organization. It needs to have a budget line and it needs to have quarterly to yearly goals to accomplish.If it is not put in the strategic plan, it simply will not be addressed. If capacity issues are not addressed, then the cycle of burnt out employees and volunteers is the result along with ineffective fundraising programs and eventually, unhappy audiences which leads to closed organizations.

My main case for capacity building can be demonstrated on an airplane. Every flight that I have been on states to affix your own oxygen mask before helping another. This could mean that your child will be left without air for a moment. Isn't this backwards then? Well, if you didn't put on your mask and passout in the process of affixing your child's mask, then you both may not make it. People also always say to love yourself so you can fully love another. Or, if you do not have your own health, how can you improve the lives of others? Lastly, in order to create wealth, every financial guru tells us to invest in ourselves first before paying the bills, otherwise, good fortune will never be built.

Okay, so we are buying into capacity building and putting it into our plans. It makes sense to do this. So now the issue becomes, who is going to do all of this capacity building since we are stretched so thin? Every part of your organization, as a team, and then some. The following are ideas to get the ball rolling:

1. Your Board should be number one in getting all of this started. They are the ones strategically planning for your organization. In order to capacity build, you need the money. Lucky for you that the same people planning are also your main source for raising money (or should be). Have them start a task force for raising money for capacity building. This will work! Call it the new thing in capital funding - investing to build a staff. Your organization needs the money to hire effective people and enough effective people so your employees do not get burned out and leave. So for the plan, figure out how many people in an ideal world you need to get the job done. Figure out their salaries to hire the best people. Then, make the plan to raise enough money over a certain amount of time. You may be able to turn your current part-time employees into full time and then hire more part-time to turn into full time, etc, but get it all down into writing what you need and the timelines for when you are going to implement.

Currently I am working for an organization that has started a separate program to build their capacity. Smart organization! With this extra fundraising program, they were able to convert their part-time development director into a full time employee. Now the development director can raise funds full time, which will also lead to bigger and better resources. The planning and fundraising will work if you have a dedicated board. They are finding that most donors realize that without the staff, nothing will be done for the mission (or it will be done at half effort which isn't getting the job done either).

2. Start a volunteer committee (or at least a task force) and get them working on finding passionate volunteers that will work for free or for incentives that you are readily able to give (such as tickets to your shows). Passionate volunteers can be used to find more passionate volunteers. Once you have volunteers, put them to good use. Get them fundraising, working on community outreach projects and grassroots marketing efforts - everything and anything to sell your organization for more donations and ticket revenues. Then, and here is the catch, if your volunteer program is successful, invest some of the profits back into your capacity building program!

3. Collaborate and Merge! In my area, it seems like everyone wants to put on their own show. This is resulting in nearly 500 non-profits in our little area alone! The competition is fierce for the donor's dollars. Why not alleviate the competition and collaborate and merge? Are there organizations in your area that are basically doing the same thing as your own? Are there organizations in your area that have complimentary programs? Why not join forces? I know ego plays a part in this. Many collaborations can go south if the "I want the credit," "I want it my way" monster gets in the way. To me, having an effective non-profit means letting go of the ego. After ego is gone, the mission is what is left to deal with, and isn't that the purpose of your non-profit?

With collaboration or merging, you can double the staff and your donor bases. It's something to think about if your mission(s) are important to you and you want to keep your non-profits open to serve.

4. Start an impeccable customer service program. A few blogs back I made a case for incredible customer service. This means having employees that truly care about doing the best job for your patrons. It may not cost you anything except for hiring the right people and perhaps a little bit of education via a book, seminar or consultant. Impeccable customer service programs also means that you need to be a good agent to your inside customers - your coworkers. If everyone goes out of their way to do a good job for each other within the organization and brings that energy to your patrons, you are starting something bigger...

5. Word of Mouth Campaign- free marketing. Happy employees will give better service and sell your organization(in a positive way)in their free time. Happy employees mean happy patrons. Happy patrons will also positively sell your organization in their free time.With free marketing, and word of mouth is the best, you may be able to allocate some of your marketing budget for audience development, which we have learned is good for capacity building.

The chicken lays the egg to become the chicken. Or the egg becomes the chicken to lay the egg. In a nutshell, or rather, in an eggshell, use audience development techniques to build your chicken so you can continue laying eggs. Well, maybe that isn't the best term to use, but I think you get the idea.

Until next time, may your audiences be happy and loyal ones, and if they are not, feel free to contact me!

~Shoshana~

Shoshana Fanizza is the founder of Audience Development Specialists. Her mission is to introduce organizations to their existing and potential audiences and to help form more rewarding relationships with them.

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Shoshana Fanizza

Boulder , CO

Shoshana Fanizza has posted 22 blog entries and 0 comments since joining on 1/18/2008. Shoshana Fanizza 's average blog rating is 5.

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