Don’t Miss It!
Powerhouse Planning is so excited to share that Jessica Bertsch will be speaking alongside Dr. Gary Chapman during PILLAR—the digital retreat for deployment countdowns!
Best-selling author of “The Five Love Languages” and “The Five Love Languages: Military Edition” Gary Chapman will discuss the unique challenges and opportunities deployment presents for military couples.
During his session, Dr. Chapman will answer viewers’ questions about how military couples can show love and support over a distance.
Jessica is looking forward to talking about Finding Joy (Even When You Count Down!) and sharing her favorite tips for finding joy with your spouse, your littles, and yourself.
If you’re a military spouse wondering how you can speak your spouse’s love language more intentionally during deployments AND aiming to find joy during deployments then grab your FREE ticket using the link below!
Four Tips for Growing Your Nonprofit
By: Meghan Traynor
We understand that starting and maintaining a nonprofit can have its challenges. We’re here to help! Here are four ways you can grow your nonprofit into a successful organization.
1. Build trust.
Building a strong community with your supporters is vital to your organization’s growth. Here are a few ways you can build trust and foster community with your fans:
- Provide donors with firsthand experiences so they can see your organization in action. Even if they don’t all take you up on your offer, you are still opening the door of trust with them.
- Provide relevant data about the need in your community and what your organization is doing to meet that need.
- Be honest and transparent with donors, volunteers, staff, and followers for a meaningful and sustainable impact.
- Express gratitude. Thank your donors for every gift. Personalize a thank-you letter for each donation and include how it will make an impact in and for your organization. You can even go the extra mile and send a follow-up thank-you note after the donor’s gift has been used that showcases the impact their donation made and, if possible, a testimonial from someone their donation helped.
The more often you communicate and build trust with donors and followers, the more inspired they will be to continue supporting your organizations mission. (more…)
Manners Matter When Growing Your Nonprofit
By: Randi Cairns
When you think of etiquette, you likely think of things like keeping your elbows off the table or not talking with your mouth full. As a society, we have certain rules or conventions we’ve agreed to regarding the proper way to behave in certain settings.
Well, business etiquette is the same thing: It’s about how we behave or interact with others in our work environment. And while most of the personal rules we tend to agree on apply in a work setting as well (nobody needs to see your lunch while you’re talking about your fundraising goals for next quarter), here are three tips specific to business etiquette and growing your nonprofit. (And yes, like your mama told you, manners DO matter.)
1. Be responsive. Whether it’s with the people you serve, your volunteers, your funders, or your critics, show them you’re listening. It’s great to be passionate about your mission. It’s better still to make sure what you’re offering aligns with the needs of your stakeholders. Are you paying attention when your clients tell you what they need? Are you delivering on promised deliverables to grant funders? Are you communicating—both when things are going well and when you hit an inevitable obstacle or challenge?
You want buy-in from others if you’re looking to grow your nonprofit. An easy way to get that? Let them know their feedback matters. (more…)
POWERHOUSE SERVICE & SUCCESS
Client Profile: Green Vet Homes/Living Off Rentals
Powerhouse Services Provided: Company Development and External Communications
“The best part of working with Powerhouse is the comprehensive nature of the team. I can discuss the business as a whole and what the needs are, rather than a narrowly defined role that only handles one aspect of the business. Powerhouse has been key in getting me to start thinking outside of just what I’m capable of as a solopreneur.”
– Kirby Atwell, Green Vet Homes/Living Off Rentals
Learn more about our partnership here: Hiring a Virtual Team for Your Rental Property Business
BUSINESS RESOURCES
Growing your nonprofit can seem like an impossible task at times. How do you balance meeting the needs of those your currently serve with your desire to reach even more worthy individuals? One great way is to improve or rethink your marketing strategies. The Balance Small Business has a great resource for marketing your small business. And, of course, Powerhouse has the expertise to put any plans or dreams you may have marketing-wise into action.
If you need to improve your management style or techniques to more effectively and efficiently administer your nonprofit, check out the Free Management Library resources. This free site has tons of articles focused on improving management in order to grow your nonprofit resources.
Finally, we’re living in a trying time for nonprofits. COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact on how we all operate and live our lives. Check out this free resource for nonprofits on how to mitigate the effects the global pandemic has had on our society and how to reorient your nonprofit to continue to meet the needs of your target populations.
GIVING BACK & GETTING INVOLVED
Finding Pride and Representation in Literary Outreach
By: Meredith Flory
The stories we tell matter, helping us process the lives we have and dream of the lives we could have. Diverse representation in stories helps us see ourselves more positively and the lives of others with empathy. The Kentucky-based nonprofit organization Read With Pride is working to help stories from the LGBTQIA+ become more visible.
In 2019, graduate students Kadee Whaley and Alyssa Sciortino noticed a need through their work. Whaley has been an educator for a decade and is currently a PhD candidate in English at the University of Kentucky. Sciortino is a pediatric Speech Language Pathologist (SLP). Sciortino explains that she has often been inspired to “push [her]self and [her] colleagues to recognize the need for diversity and representation” to better serve their clients. She observes firsthand how often toys, literature, and educational tools are lacking “not only images of cultural diversity but also diversity in body image, age, religion, disability, sexuality, and gender” and sees children’s literature as a way to help adults talk to children about topics they may feel uncomfortable discussing. Working with college students, Whaley shares how in her courses she encourages “students to consider the experiences of others” and feels a responsibility to encourage civic engagement as a means to “achieving equity for all.” Forming Read With Pride gave her an opportunity to put this into practice.
Starting in Lexington, Kentucky, Whaley and Sciortino hatched an idea to help put LGBTQIA+ stories into the hands of those who need them the most. The mission of Read With Pride is to raise awareness and readership of LGBTQIA+ authors and stories in Appalachia, and the ladies work to make these books available for purchase at various locations. With an inaugural event at the TriPride in East Tennessee, they began to see their mission take shape. Whaley explains that all of their books are available for under $10, and many are used or donated. She continues that part of their goals include making books financially accessible for their region, as many areas of Appalachia are dealing with “generational poverty and underfunded schools.” While the pandemic has caused a halt to many of the events they had planned in 2020, Whaley and Sciortino continue to find ways to serve their community online and in-person.
