Lessons Learned from Working with Nonprofits

This is a short list of things I’ve gathered from working with a variety of nonprofits over the course of the past 2 years, and thought I’d share with you.

• Explain any acronyms used (like CRM, CMS, etc) unless they’re nonprofit-friendly (like 501c3).
• Better yet, try not to use acronyms at all.
• Show, don’t tell whenever possible (by using Yugma or PowerPoint or whatever).
• “let client staff drive during training.” - Joey, ONE/Northwest
• ALWAYS check for understanding: have people repeat back in their own words what we just talked about.
• Keep process conversations simple. If people get off track, try saying, “That’s great! Now, one more time in 20 words or less.”
• Use a project management tool that keeps people accountable (i.e. dates and to-do items are publicly shared with all the stakeholders). I like BaseCamp for this.
• Make sure you know who the stakeholders ARE.
• Communicate often using any method available. Never be afraid to use the phone - some people prefer this to email, even in our hyper-connected Twitter-addicted society.
• Corollary: Never assume emails have been read.
• Share bad news early - it makes course corrections or deadline slips less painful.
• “Assume your main project contact will leave the organization during the project or shortly thereafter. Plan for that occurrence.” - Steve, gokubi.com

That’s all I have time for today, but feel free to add your own items in the comments, and I’ll edit the post and give you attribution.