The Distance Test

How does your organization look from a distance?  In his book, Philanthropy in a Flat World (New York: John Wiley, 2009), Jon Duschinsky suggests if your organization is going to have success in telling its story — in enrolling new families, in fund raising, in attracting staff — it needs to have a dramatic presence to catch attention and encourage people to dig deeper.  If one needs first to read the fine print to be impressed by your organization, few will get to that point.  Here is how Duschinsky describes this point:

"Set up your computer over on the other side of the room — just near enough so that you can see the screen but far enough away that you won't be able to read the text that appears on it.  Ask two colleagues to select a dozen or so web sites from different sectors (including maybe even your own web site).  Then one colleague gets behind the terminal and starts going through the sites, while the other notes what you say.  You, from the other side of the room, call out the general impression that you get from each site, what it makes you feel or think of — whatever spontaneously comes to your mind.

"When you are done, come together and go back through the sites comparing your initial impressions with the real content of the sites.  It often makes for pretty interesting learning."

• Whom Can We Ask (and Keep Asking) for Money?
• Building the Donor Base
• Developing Relationships with You Donors
• Events — Yours and Theirs
• Direct Mail
• Online Donations
• Grant: Writing
• Writing Foundation Proposals: Dear Mr. Gates
• Preparing Government Grant Application
• Breaking New Ground: The Capital Campaign

100+ Self-Paced Online Courses CDA, NAC & Director’s Credential Awarded IACET CEUs, 24/7 Access Spanish & College Credit Options Accredited Member DETC

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.

© 2005 Child Care Information Exchange - All Rights Reserved | Contact Us | Return to Site