'If you are terrible at what you do twitter won't fix that'

Scott Stratten is the President of UnMarketing and quite possibly the best presenter I've seen in ten years of attending conferences and two years of watching TED videos.

Scott is loud, obnoxious, self deprecating, flippant, full of ego, extremely entertaining, edgy and brilliant. Everything you want in a great speaker. Take all those qualities and add some extremely useful and relevant content and you have a session that the entire world should see. I'm so grateful to Scott for posting this video because I walked away from his session wanting to share it with the world. So I stole the presentation off of his website and put it on mine.

Make yourself a cup of tea,charge up your battery and enjoy Scott's presentation.



For those of you who aren't willing to invest the time in the video - let me summarize for you in a few bullets:

- Humans are online. If you need humans for your business - whether you like social media or not - you must have a presence.

- Start slowly. Choose a platform and learn it. Then move onto the next one. For example: establish a following on twitter then start a blog or a facebook groups.

- Invest your own social capital first. You don't open a bank account and expect to make a withdrawal. Add value to others first.

- Social media is a tool. Relevant content and being nice to people is still important.

I love all this stuff and agree wholeheartedly. Now go back and watch the video or bookmark this and come back later when you can.

Very sticky stuff. Thank you Scott!

Thank you for spending time here.

PS Scott wrote a little book too. If you prefer old fashioned reading you can buy it here.

'Donor Centred' is just jargon

Have you thought recently about what it actually means to truly be donor centred? I know we all talk about it a lot. If you throw the words 'donor centred' into a job interview people will really think you know what you are doing. I think the term 'donor centred' has become jargon.

What does 'donor centred' really mean?

As I was thinking about my next presentation to our board of directors I tweeted this question to my fundraising colleagues. Just look at the response (In reverse order of how they were received AND a cool example of why I love twitter so MUCH!):

@markyphillips We use donor 'needs', placing them at the centre of why, when and how we communicate.




@jonathongrapsas we prefer to use 'donor care'. Which is about asking, thanking, feeding back and caring. Then doing it again and again and...



@GabryelB it means getting your eyes off your organisations bellybutton and taking the view of the donors: his needs, wants, desires.




@FLA_Leah donor-centred fundraising equals heart and soul fundraising



@derekhumphries actually don't think you should put donors needs ahead of org needs, especially if one has human beneficiaries.

@derekhumphries be courteous. Be kind. Listen. Offer more than you ask. Leave donors in no doubt how magnificent they are and can be.



@Gl0ria Donor centered. Co-investors in making the vision a reality.




@jennifermchase Donor centred is serving the donor in a way that puts their needs/wants first (as opposed to the wants of the org).



@agentsofgood -it means putting the donors needs, wants, everything before yours as an organization.



And I think my favourite:

@FRSuccess Donor centered: Treating donors as partners in your mission rather than walking ATMs?



So now I'm thinking...what is it that donors need?

As a donor I know I need to be able to read the material and know that my money is making a difference.

What do you need as a donor? (Because presumably if you are a fundraiser reading this blog you are a donor too right?!)

When you are finished commenting here on your needs as a donor. Check out this great post from Mark Phillips at Blue Frog on what donors need.

Thank you for spending time here.