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| August 20, 2008
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The Stories of Success
 In The Rome Group’s 2008 survey of local nonprofit organizations, only 44% said the community understands what they do. Finding new ways to get your message out clearly and effectively is the goal of this year’s annual Philanthropic Landscape 2008 event, which will take place on Tuesday, July 29 at the Missouri History Museum. In addition to our usual presentation on local and national nonprofit and donor trends, a panel of local storytelling pros will discuss how organizations can tell their stories in ways that will resonate with donors and others. Don’t miss The Stories of Success. Call 314-533-0930 for more information.
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Boomerang Press: An All American Success
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 Earlier this Spring, the St. Louis region was honored with a 2008 All-American City award by the National Civic League. Included in the region’s winning nomination was Boomerang Press, an innovative, youth-oriented entrepreneurial program started in 2005 by St. Louis ArtWorks. Insights recently caught up with a Priscilla Block, executive director of St. Louis ArtWorks, to learn more.
Congratulations on being part of the All-American City award. What was your involvement in the award process?
“This was a fantastic experience for us. The RCGA decided to include us because of the enterprise nature of Boomerang Press. Over 100 cities applied for the awards and 16 were invited to present before a jury in Tampa, FL. St. Louis was one of only 10 winners.
“We selected four teen apprentices to go to Tampa with the mayor and other business leaders to present. Three of these kids had never been on an airplane before. It was a great opportunity for them to use their etiquette and presentation skills. We also met with the head of communications at Busch Gardens and generated some new business from that as well.”
What exactly is Boomerang Press and how did it get started?
 “Boomerang Press began as a way for us to use art and entrepreneurship to generate revenues to sustain our youth mentoring programs. We had developed holiday cards for McCormack Baron and the Incarnate Word Foundation, so we decided to create cards for the general business community. Then we entered and won the Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation Competition run by Washington University. That allowed us to expand into all types of graphic design services.”
All of the design work is done by student apprentices, correct?
“That’s right. We invite kids who have been through our summer program and have shown an interest in digital design. We call them the Boomerang Gang. More advanced kids mentor the new students. We also have an artist in residence and several professional teaching artists who oversee the students’ work.”
 Who are some of your clients?
“They include Schnuck Markets. Pulaski Bank, Talx Corporation and the St. Louis Public Schools Retirement System. For Schnuck’s, we did two ‘coming soon’ banners for their new store downtown. We did the posters for the summer concert series put on by Grace Hill and the Whitaker Foundation. We’ve also done some community cards, such as our new one featuring the downtown area.”
What do you charge?
“We charge $1,000 for an image for a card or poster or other materials. The client owns the original artwork and all rights to use it. We are also expanding into other products, such as custom designed bicycle racks and an illustrated book of poetry based on democracy themes.”
Is Boomerang a profitable business for St. Louis ArtWorks?
“We did about $27,000 in revenue in our first year and we expect to double that amount in 2008.”
Not every nonprofit is successful in launching entrepreneurial activities. What’s the key to your success?
“We have in our mission to collaborate with community partners. For example, we’re working with St. Louis Community College at Meramec to enable Boomerang Gang high school students to earn college credits in a dual enrollment program focused on developing video games. The students learn a lot and we prosper because we’re following the innate lead of teenagers into the marketplace.
“It’s also critical to have the support of a committed and qualified team of business people who understand what you want to do. Plus, you have to be flexible and recognize that your business plan must be adaptable at a moment’s notice.”
Thanks, Priscilla.
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Web 2.0 — A Nonprofit’s Primer
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You’ve heard about it, you’ve read about it, odds are you’ve probably even used it without knowing it. But do you really know what Web 2.0 is and how it may impact your organization as you look to the future?
 At the recent CSPRC Spectrum Conference, Kate Kromann, e-communications director for the United Way of Greater St. Louis, offered a glimpse into the world of Web 2.0, including terms, definitions, useful tools and resources. In her presentation, she suggested that nonprofits can and should use the Internet to raise money, mobilize volunteers, create concerned citizens, boost awareness, empower constituents, find new contacts, and provide resources and information. She noted that Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube all have many more visitors than most Web sites. She also cited a 2008 Donor Pulse Survey that found that 51% of high-level donors (36% of all donors) were interested in keeping up with nonprofits through social networking).
Kromann described Web 1.0 as “consuming,” while she says Web 2.0 is “creating.” With Web 2.0, users “create content, collaborate on content, comment on other people’s content, repost and share other people’s content, and build relationships in virtual environments.” She posed a number of questions agencies should ask themselves before embracing Web 2.0, such as “What will this do for us that nothing else can? What information will we provide? Who is our audience? What motivates them? Are they interested in this? Are we willing to experiment? What’s the time investment? Financial? What are our options?”
Kromann’s presentation also included a comparison and examples of Web 2.0 options, a list of pitfalls to avoid, and suggestions for getting started. To download a pdf of her slides, click here.
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Making Your Case Compelling
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By Amy Rome, CFRE
Earlier this Spring, I was invited to a presentation by Andy Goodman at the Saint Louis Zoo. Goodman is a communications consultant who specializes in helping nonprofits reach people more effectively. His message: most nonprofits have wonderful tales to tell, but too often those stories are buried in annual reports or brochures or lost amidst the jargon and technical data that seem to pervade most of our communications.
Goodman’s materials quoted Annette Simmons, author of The Story Factor. “We don’t need more information,” she wrote. “We need to know what it means. We need a story that explains what it means and makes us feel like we fit in there somewhere.”
As we work with nonprofits from all sectors, we find that Goodman’s and Simmons’ messages ring true. In many cases, we don’t do a good job of engaging donors and others in ways that tell them what they really want and need to hear.
 Rolf Jensen of the Copenhagen Institute for Future Studies says that, “We are in the twilight of a society based on data. As information and intelligence become the domain of computers, society will place more value on the one human ability that cannot be automated: emotion. Organizations will need to understand that their products are less important than their stories.”
We believe that all of us can do a better job of finding, crafting and telling the stories that give real meaning to our missions and our day-to-day responsibilities. To that end, we plan to devote this year’s Philanthropic Landscape 2008 presentation on July 29 to storytelling. Our expert panel of nonprofit storytellers will share their own tales and discuss what makes a good story, how to find a good story, and how to tie it to your request for support.
I hope you will join us on July 29 to learn more about how to use this valuable tool to achieve greater success.
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Quick Tips — Getting Donors to E-Respond
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A June 9 story in Nonprofit Weekly, a publication of The NonProfit Times, offers these tips to help get donors to respond to electronic communications:
- Focus on content over design. Present information in a clear way that’s easy to find.
- Make sure your format and images show up on all browsers by testing it before mass distribution.
- Test different subject lines to see what your audience responds to (subtle vs. direct).
- Send invitations to events in separate emails rather than buried in an e-newsletter.
- Try sending e-communications at different times and on different days to see if there is any difference in the open rate.
- Make it easy for people to subscribe to your e-newsletter. Consider replacing long forms with an email box on every page.
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Sector News
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Take This AFP Survey
Members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals are invited to participate in a short survey about nonprofit branding for a new book to be published in 2009 “exploring what principles and practices are used to build powerful nonprofit brands.” Click here to take the survey.
Charitable Giving Tops $306 Billion
Giving USA Foundation reports that charitable giving in the U.S. topped $306 billion in 2007, an increase of 3.6% over 2006 totals.
Chinese-Americans Giving More
The Los Angeles Times reported on June 18 that Chinese immigrants appear to getting more involved in philanthropy as their success in business grows. The newspaper report cited several examples of Chinese-Americans who donated millions of dollars to American universities, think tanks, and nonprofit groups and others that have established foundations with significant endowments to work on issues related to education, health care, and community development in both China and the United States.
How Much Do You Make?
How do your salary and benefits stack up against others in the region? Download the United Way’s 2007 Nonprofit Wage and Benefits Survey to see what the average wages are for over 10,600 positions at 262 local nonprofit agencies. This report represents the most comprehensive information on nonprofit salaries available in the greater St. Louis Region. Click here to download the 173-page report.
Stray Rescue Wins $1 Million
Congratulations to Stray Rescue and its founder, Randy Grimm, who recently won a $1 million prize in a national competition for animal shelters sponsored by Zootoo, an online community of animal lovers. Zootoo said Stray  Rescue stood out from 20 other finalists “because it demonstrates features that could make it a national model, including collaborative relationships with other animal-welfare groups; a community that has rallied behind it; and a large, loyal volunteer corps.”
Drowning in Paperwork?
Project Streamline, an initiative of the Grants Managers Network, has issued a new report, Drowning in Paperwork, Distracted From Purpose, which claims that foundations’ current system of grant applications and reporting is proving to be an excessive burden which makes grant seeking not worth the time and labor spent on them.
Young Nonprofit Professionals
The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Saint Louis (YNPN) is about to launch and needs your help. YNPN is a volunteer-driven organization that provides professional development, networking and social opportunities to future nonprofit leaders. The organization will hold an introductory meeting on Wednesday July 9th from 6-7 p.m. at the Gateway Center for Giving, 1415 Olive Street, Suite 100. Anyone interested in learnign more or getting involved is invited. Drinks and hors d'oeuvres will be provided. If you're interested in participating but cannot attend the meeting, please send an e-mail to mallory@cwitstl.org.
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The People Section
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Congratulations and good luck to each of these nonprofit professionals in their new assignments!
- Ron Ekstrand was appointed Chief Operating Officer for the Judevine Center for Autism.
- Mona Monteleone is the new Development Coordinator at The Walker Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders.
- Thelma Scott joined St. Andrew’s At-Home Services as Account Executive, Caring Workplace.
- Jill Metherd was named Special Events Coordinator by The National Children’s Cancer Society.
- Sherry LeBlanc is the new Communications Coordinator for Family Resource Center.
- Amanda Harper was appointed Resource Development Associate by the United Way of Greater St. Louis.
- David Warren joined Metro Theater Company as Development Director.
- Braden Welborn, M.A. is the new Assistant Director of Communications and Grant Writing for City Academy.
- Phyllis Robsham was named Gateway Area Chapter President for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
- Daniel Beard is the new Director of Finance for Easter Seals MO.
- Aaron Wynn joined St. Louis Life as Program Coach.
- Lois Langford joined St. Louis for Kids as Administrative Coordinator.
- Jana Adams was appointed Director of The LAB School (a preschool for children ages 3-6, in Kirkwood).
- Melany Nitzsche joined Missouri EnergyCare, Inc. (dba EnergyCare) as Development Associate.
- Katie McGovern is the new Director of Development for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America St. Louis Chapter.
- Karen Sieve joined Youth In Need as Safe Place Manager.
- The Friends of Chamber Music named Jeremy Lillig as Director of Marketing and Public Relations and Mikaela Garrett as Marketing Assistant.
- Yvonne Kadlec joined Horizon Housing Foundation as Administrative Assistant.
- Larry Levin is the new Publisher/CEO of the St. Louis Jewish Light.
- Doorways appointed Opal Jones as Office Manager & Executive Assistant to the President and Rochelle Nevels as Coordinator, Jumpstart Program.
- Archilla Buford was named Executive Director of Union Communion Ministries.
- Maureen Cunningham joined Brain Injury Association of Missouri as Executive Director.
- Patricia Hagen, Ph.D is the Confluence Center Director, for Audubon Missouri.
- Pam Bolton was named Executive Director of Wildlife Center of Missouri.
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Job Openings
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The Rome Group regularly posts nonprofit job openings on its web site. At the time of publication, there were more than 100 current position announcements listed. Click here to see the full list.
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