I'm at home today nursing my son from a bout of whatever-is-going-around. Being at home during the workday is a rare thing for me so I've been able to experience something only my evening scan through the Calls Log on my phone has indicated -- the near constant stream of calls we get from various non-profits asking for support.
It's really something, I tell you. There's a particular organization that's familiar to me -- I get a call from them nearly every morning of every day of the year. (If you follow me on Twitter, I expose them. I won't here.) In my world, they've jumped-the-shark. They've become such a constant drumbeat that I've no longer a heart to hear their message. And this is a shame because fundamentally they have a worthy cause. It's their marketing approach that has killed off their potential story to move me.
As I was about to sit down to write this post about this very topic, my phone rang again. This time the Caller ID indicated it was my friend and college roommate Mike Manhard on the phone. We have been attempting a get all of our college buddies together over the holidays. As we finalized our plans, I asked him, "How are things going?" "Incredibly bad," he answered. Mike is Executive Director of the Metrowide Engagement on Shelter and Housing (MESH), a policy organization that "builds solutionsto address affordable housing, homelessness and service needson a Twin Cities metro-wide basis in Minnesota." I asked Mike if the current economic conditions are putting them at the edge of their abilities. He said that they're "bursting at the seams" with people who are newly homeless or in dire need of assistance. He continued to tell me several stories that were frankly quite horrific.
At the end of our conversation, he told me he had another question for me, "business related." He's looking for better ways to use the Web to communicate their needs, tell their story, allow people to coordinate their efforts better, and provide online training for staff and volunteers. My response was quite simple: of course. In the ten minutes he and I spent on the phone, he was able to tell me in no unfiltered ways how bad the situation is right now. He was brutally honest. And THAT moved me.
Pain and suffering rarely knows boundaries but especially right now. The problem is that those who can help are being subdivided so narrowly that it's difficult to know where to begin. I believe the Web is the best and most cost-effective way for non-profits to tell their stories, not in imaginative or creative ways but in frank and truthfully brutal realities. While the Web is often pure entertainment, it can be the most real of all media. If you work for a non-profit, tell your story. Blog it. Video tape it (a handheld, herky-jerky video is fine) and put it on YouTube. Start a Twitter account. Do anything to allow your story to be told and passed along by others who are simply moved. ASK for help.
This year the noise of need is deafening. The stories are real. All of us want to help but quite honestly what gets me motivated will be entirely different for someone else. While we hate to admit it, there is a limit to each person's ability to give. As such, an organization's ability to tell its story becomes that much more important.
I believe this is the season of giving. Through giving one receives. I'm guilty as charged for never quite living up to that promise, and I can't use the excuse of improper marketing for not meeting my end of the deal. As a result, I'm compelled to seek out those organizations that need what I have to offer -- time, money, and support. I will seek out those stories and act.
Will you?