Ep. 5 - Funding Follows Clarity: Nonprofit Marketing Secrets with Peyton Stewman

What if your marketing plan isn’t extra, it’s the engine? We sit down with Peyton Stewman, marketing strategist at the Children’s Safety Center of Washington County, to unpack how communications becomes core infrastructure for fundraising, trust, and long-term growth. Peyton shares how she helped launch and legitimize a $15M capital campaign, moved storytelling in-house, and built a steady cadence that turns casual followers into committed donors.

We dig into the mindset shift that changes everything: funding follows clarity and trust follows consistency. That means ditching throwaway holiday graphics and leaning into content that matters, prevention education, stat posts with context, therapy milestones, and real moments that humanize your team. Peyton walks through her monthly prevention video series, the categories that keep content fresh, and why a grainy photo of your staff can outperform a glossy graphic. We also talk platforms: why Facebook and Instagram are essential, how to use LinkedIn for professional recognition, and where TikTok fits as an education-first play.

Board activation becomes a turning point. You’ll hear how clear expectations, post notifications, and platform-specific sharing transformed engagement and grew legitimacy with local media. We break down proactive press strategy, crisis sequencing, and how to share tough funding news without fear-mongering, starting with donors via mail and email, then scaling to social and the news. On the metrics front, Peyton shares what she actually tracks: follower growth from reels, shares beyond staff, second-degree comments, email clicks, and light paid boosts for key posts.

If you’re a one-person shop, you’ll leave with a simple plan: 30 minutes at month’s end to map real-life moments, a lean content calendar, captions with your authentic voice, and a commitment to email as your most reliable conversion tool. When people understand your mission and feel connected to the humans behind it, they don’t just follow, they show up, give, and stay. Subscribe, share with a nonprofit friend, and leave a review to help more mission-driven teams find us.

Transcript

Setting The Stage: Why Comms Matter

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Ask Allison podcast. I think this is going to be episode five. Oh my word, it's already episode five. I'm Allison McElroy, a certified fundraising executive located in Northwest Arkansas. I love helping people reach big goals with my version of strong encouragement. I mix my heart, my humor, and my experience to lift you up. I am so glad you chose to listen to us today. And I am more excited about what we're going to talk about today because we are going to delve into marketing and communications for nonprofits, which tends to be the thing that gets cut. Isn't that right? So true. Yes. So my guest today is a great, great friend, but also a wonderful, professional, and very creative and fun person who has started marketing and communications at the organization she serves at. And I'll let her tell you more about

Meet Peyton: From Fashion To CSC

SPEAKER_00 1:14

that. But with no further ado, um, let me introduce Peyton Stuman. Thank you for being here today. I'm so excited to be here. I'm so glad you're here because um I will say, since I've met you, you have made me think of things more as, well, how could I promote that or how could I spend that? Or how what would be clever? How do I make it? What would make people excited to click that? That's what you've done. Yes, you've done that for me. And um tell us uh your background and tell us your organization, which is very dear and near and dear to my heart.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yes. So I my background is that my only like big girl full-time job ever has been at the Children's Safety Center, which is where I'm currently am and where I really got involved in nonprofit work. Um, I'm our marketing strategist there, and we serve child abuse victims in Washington County, everything from advocacy, interviews, forensic um medical exams, therapy, and prevention and education. We do it all for free. Um, I got involved in that organization in college and um through Capital, my sorority, and um was a COVID graduate of college and um was gonna go into fashion and kind of already had my heart tied to the center, and they were hiring for this role that I um thought, oh, I know Instagram, I know socials and all of those sorts of things, and so applied and I've been there ever since.

SPEAKER_00 2:39

Oh my goodness, I love that. And you're the second person I've interviewed that has a background in fashion. You need we need to go to coffee. Casey from 3W. Yeah, she was going to be in fashion. Yeah, have I never told you that? And she decided that uh she didn't like sewing, so she decided to go a different direction because she thought I don't want to sew. But um, yes. My reason is I didn't want to move to New York City in 2020. Okay. So here you are. Here you are. That's so awesome. Yeah, fashion was your background. But like most of us who end up in the nonprofit world, it's something that comes up and we say, Hey, I think I could do that. Somebody said, that organization needs a cheerleader and someone to do, you know, PR and and you know, raise money and be, you know, just be that person for awareness. And I thought, I can do that. Absolutely. I'd love to do that. And that's how I got my job as well. Yes. Same thing happened to you. I love it. I love it. Well, I'll just say this and I can I can say it. Um, lots of organizations have a communications person, but a lot still aren't able to do that. And today we're gonna talk about how important it is. Um, we're probably gonna talk about if you don't have a communications person, some easy things that you can do starting now that you know you don't have to be um trained in social media. You can get started right now. Yep. And then we're gonna just talk about the benefit of preparing to have a communications person and why that's so important. Yeah. Um, so, and y'all know me, you listen every month and you hear me go off the rails and all the way, as Casey called it, spaghetti roads, that when she was on. I get all over, I get so excited. But you know what, Peyton, it's like me. We're just gonna have so much fun. Yeah. And this is a fun topic. Yes, but it's also just a much needed thing. And so the first thing we're gonna touch on is that um communications isn't just fluff, it's not just social media, it's literally part of your development plan infrastructure, plus your whole organization infrastructure. Um, the funding follows clarity, so it helps clarify and be clear about your message. And then trust follows consistency. So there's a whole consistency thing with social media. And boy, is she gonna be preaching to me too? Because she knows that I am not consistent and I need to be, and we all need to be, especially when we have people that we serve that need our organization to be successful. And you can only do that by being consistent with your message and your communications plan. And I'm sure that Peyton's gonna give us a ton of um tips on that. And if people don't understand you, they can't fund you. And if they don't trust you, they won't stay with you. So that's one thing we got to remember that this all ties into. So tell tell me about the role. Like when you started, yeah, what what it included at first, or you know, because I know there's a there's a story here, and I love it so much because I've watched it from the sidelines.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yes. So um when I started the center at the CSC, um, Emily, my boss, was the only person doing development other than our executive director, Elizabeth, which, as we know, executive directors play a role, but her, you know, she is no longer primary development person. And so um my role started basically just from we were building, if you don't know, we have a brand new beautiful building we moved into a couple of years ago. And if they were working on that behind the scenes, it wasn't public yet, and they just needed more help. You couldn't do the events we do throughout the year, fundraise for programs, and then also be doing this

Comms As Infrastructure, Not Fluff

SPEAKER_01 6:36

ended up $15 million capital campaign all by yourself. And so um, my role started as strategic partnerships coordinator, was the title. And I remember the job description, it was basically like everything. Yeah, it's just like essentially Emily's like assistant, not in that it wasn't saying that, but it was like anything that she can't do, you need to do with the focus being on um social media, um, marketing, things like that, because those were things she just didn't have experience with. They were doing a lot of out of house things, and that can work really well. But for what we were doing and how fast paced it was, using a third party to truly get who we were across to people was not ideal in that moment.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

And like you said, capital campaign, she didn't have time. Even the the amount she did know about communications, which was enough. I mean, she had a little bit of experience, but she couldn't focus on a consistent, clear path because she had a capital campaign and then the annual giving campaign as well, like what they were already doing. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Um, it's just too, it's just frankly too much. I mean, and I'm really a proponent of this can be whatever you make it. And I know that when they were in the process of hiring, there was obviously discussion with the board. And I think not that the board was against it, but I think it was like, well, what are they gonna do? I think was a question that was posed. Oh gosh. Um, what is that person gonna do? And it really just is because they didn't understand what that job would look like and the significance of it. And I would say that within a year, I very much proved myself. Um, I think if your marketing and communications person is doing their job right, they're gonna double the work. We now have a development team of four. So um I think that speaks for itself in the way that it's brought people in. And um, that's kind of the path that started out very much like I was doing donor calls, donor tours, all these sorts of things, everything under development with like plus my main thing was marketing. Um, over the years, as we've matured and kind of expanded, I am exclusively doing marketing comms, PR, um anything that goes out from us um that you're seeing physically is probably me, um, which is still a lot of stuff, but we are a nonprofit. And so um not everything gets a hundred percent attention, but we make it work. Right.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

And and what you're saying is it's not that um they've now gotten into the position where they can have for development people. I know some of you out there are still a one-man show. I was a one-man show for a million years. And when you finally get someone to come alongside you, and like she said, it was sort of like she was Emily's assistant. That happened to me too. Yeah. I got somebody, and then I could say, Oh my goodness, I've been so excited about all these things, but I didn't have time to get them all done. And now that person can take that torch and run with it. And so as you continue all the things you should be doing and that you can make better, when you can increase that staff to do it, everything is better. Everything. And it's so worth it because it all comes back to the organization. 100%. Yeah, yeah. Um, when you first stepped into it, what was the first thing you noticed? Like, because it because you are you didn't have a nonprofit background. So this is just curious for me to like, what the heck?

SPEAKER_01 9:59

Um it was well,

Building A Role During A Capital Campaign

SPEAKER_01 10:01

I think there's a level of being naive that was probably helpful to me at the time and made it a little bit less like, whoa, I was in a back hallway by myself, um, a clo, an old closet. Um that was my first alone most of the day, um, because I was away from everybody and didn't start with a laptop, brought my own Mac for a good month. They probably will not make me say that, but I did. That is that's what it is. It is. Um yeah, but I also loved the immediate results. Like I immediately they they were so in need of somebody that it was basically like immediately I was just like doing everything and making changes and improving stuff. And so for me, it was invigorating. Like I loved it as a go-go-goer. It was like, oh my gosh, I have so much control over this, and I'm excited to like really attack it.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

And so, and I can't believe they've never been doing this, and now we can take that and we can do it, and then people will understand more what they do.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

It was really ground zero. So that was exciting for me.

SPEAKER_00 11:06

Yeah, and that that uh where the office was when you started, um, the like you said, you were in a closet, the layout, it was not, it was not easy to navigate. And I bet you could immediately see that they needed a building that was efficient for the services. Yeah. I was in that predicament as well. Um, and so in a nonprofit, in your words, what does doing communications well look like to you?

SPEAKER_01 11:35

Being practical and realistic is number one. I would say my like I am best at strategic thinking and like kind of these projects that fulfill themselves and specifically like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. But you'd have to do a lot more than that. I'm doing, you know, press releases and things like that. And so I think consistency, like you said, like that is the most important thing, but finding what that means for you. Somebody with a marketing team at a larger nonprofit with three or four people, they're gonna have the capacity and their consistency should look like a lot more work than someone who is a one-man team, especially if you're not a one-man team of marketing, you're a one-man team of a full development department. And um, so that might look like two posts a week that are real easy to post and just a photo of someone in the office. Or um, we do if you don't know who we are, we do hand print stories. Um, and early on when we didn't have a lot of content, a lot of what we did is once a week I posted a handprint and the story with it. And that really got us like to the next level to where we can be today. And so I would say like that's good communication starts with consistency. Um, second, it relies on your core and your mission. Um, I think a lot of people waste a lot of time with doing holiday graphics, like happy Fourth of July. Fourth of July is not really relevant to our mission. So I personally am never posting a graphic like that. And I think it's just a throwaway. They don't get interaction. It doesn't, it's not adding to the story. Now, if I were to post um a client story that came, we have a great one of a kid that came in on the 4th of July. Casey came in with this kid, and um, you know, they got this help and it was a holiday, and Casey always talks about feeling like she could hear fireworks going on outside, and this kid like was getting help for the first time. Now, that story makes a lot of sense for 4th of July. And so that's what I always, those are my two big things. It's like consistency having something that people can expect from you, knowing what they can expect from you, but then also staying true to that and not wasting your time on extraneous stuff.

SPEAKER_00 13:43

See, I love that because I think we've all got in our heads that, oh, it's Valentine's Day, we better post a heart and something about, you know, or oh, it's it's St. Patrick's Day, better put a little graphic of a clover, you know, a four-leaf clover up, or a leprechaun or whatever. But you're saying not necessarily unless there's a great story that ties to it, unless it adds to you who you are. You're trying the whole thing, it's not about just having something out there. Yeah, it's like what will it generate? Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:15

Cause to me too, I think a lot about like I'm scrolling, like I'm very online, and I'm not liking that post. That doesn't mean anything to me. I might not even know it's your organization. It's just a fourth of July graphic to me. I might not even know it's, you know, the Children's Safety Center posting happy Fourth of July. And so um, I think about what I want to see when I'm scrolling. And I want to see um not always sad stuff, and sometimes we have to post like difficult stuff, but you find that balance. And I want to see people being goofy at the office. And my friend that I know has worked at the center for a couple of years doing something silly, and that's really what we focus on.

unknown 14:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

Because then it ties to the mission.

SPEAKER_01 14:54

People are our programs. That's what we always say.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

So yeah. That is so like I just had a huge aha moment because you're absolutely right. What is it I like to sit as when I'm scrolling? What stops me in my tracks instead of keeping on scrolling? That's your very first thing that you could tell yourself.

SPEAKER_02 15:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Because I think most of us think, well, no one's gonna want to watch that. But then they like I am guilty of it. And I'll think, but I did watch it for 15 minutes last night. So if I liked it, maybe somebody else will too. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

Some of our videos that have done the best, like that are just off the cuff, they're not necessarily about our mission, but they're about who our team is. And I think that's important too.

Proving Value And Growing The Team

SPEAKER_01 15:35

People care about us, that means they want to give to us. Um, was giving, you know, Elizabeth, our executive director, uh a little seven brew cup with that she had won an award from National Philanthropy Day. And that video got like 300 likes and thousands of like 20,000 views or something. I might be speaking out of turn, but something like that. And it's just people want to see celebrations. They want to see people being people. Um, that added joy to people's day. People also know Elizabeth, and that was a big thing too, is it's her being like silly. And so um, I think sometimes people think those are wasted or that your team might feel like those moments are like a waste of their time, especially when you're doing something as heavy as what we do. But you kind of got to get past the shame part of it of I don't want to bother them right now, and work on that relationship with your team. And it really allows for those things to happen more naturally. Sometimes the team says, Peyton, we need to do this trend to me, because like they like to see themselves on social media too. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Well, and it's there, there might be board members listening that are thinking, you know, I just think that's all a bunch of you know, bluey. Yeah. And, you know, hocus pocus, why are we doing that?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

But um, they just need to think if they're after work, they're scrolling at home, what are the things? And if they see something, think, oh, I really listened and watched that. They should tell you. Yeah. Like they, you should go to your organization and say, I saw this on Instagram and I loved it. And I think we could do the same thing instead of thinking, we well, we shouldn't do that because we help children. Yeah. But there's a way to tie it all back, and it's just being creative and yeah, and thinking what's fun, but also what do personally, yeah. And and you've got staff members coming to you telling you what they like. Yeah. So it gives you, it gets outside of your mindset too. Yeah. Because there's probably some that you thought I would, we would have never done that if some and so hadn't told me.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Yes. And I think too, one last thing I'll say about that is that um sometimes it's like, well, how does that, what is that doing? Is that bringing money in the door? And it's not about turning around money tomorrow, even on I'll even say on like a giving day, like social media is really important on NWA Gives or Giving Tuesday. But I'm not saying that everyone that sees my our video is turning around and giving 20 bucks. That's just not happening. That's not how it is a cultivation. We have created a community online. It's like these influencers, people that people build trust. And they've built trust with us online because they see my face doing prevention videos every month. They see um our team talking about really heavy stuff, but they also see them just being people. And I think the humanizing part of it, the community building part of it, that makes people want to support you and come back for more and be at our big events. And so it's not something that's turning over all this cash in 24 hours.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

It's not an ATM machine. I say that all the time.

SPEAKER_01 18:30

Yes, it's cultivation and it's community building. And we have built a really cool and fun community online.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

And you're right, because just to give us an example of some of the different um subjects, not subjects, maybe the different feelings, like because you you do the fun office stuff. I've seen it, I love it. I always get a kick out of it because I don't get to see y'all every day. So when I get to see several of you in one reel, I'm like, oh my gosh, uh, you know, they're so cute. But then I get to see you come on and do a prevention video. Or I love when you share statistics.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

We have one going up today.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Okay, because it brings me back to the real reason, like that you guys are there, and then it reminds me that this the statistics always bring it down to all my. It's not something you can just ignore. Correct. You know, so like do you categories? Yeah, categories. Do you have like a set schedule that you do that seems to work great with your categories? And what are the categories?

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Yes, more so that. Um, the prevention video once a month started last year, and it was more of a commitment to me. We I just had this gut feeling post-aritol campaign and built getting this building built. We had

Early Wins, Ground Zero Momentum

SPEAKER_01 19:47

had two years of like nonstop announcements and excitement and teasing this new building. And then we, you know, showed this brand new building and all the things that went along with it. We also debuted a new logo and a new brand during that time. So it was just so much. And I felt like after that, I said, where are we going from here? What value are we bringing to people when it's not just like all this fun stuff? Um, which was also like I was tying in the mission, but just like more exciting, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 20:15

And it was like every day there was something to tell. Yes, you know, something new, like there's a beautiful handprints that are on there at night on the outside of the building. That was a great piece learning how that was done. And yes, you know, but I see what you're saying. And when we got there, we've already told every we've told it all. So what was next?

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Yes. And and that was I started in January of 2021. Our campaign launched publicly in April of that year. And so basically the entire time I've been at the center, my big focus was promoting this campaign online. And so when I hit that point, I was like, we've got to find a new way to add value. And that's where the prevention videos came from. And um, so my commitment is that once a month I make a some sort of video identifying, helping in some way, um, educating the community on something related to prevention. And I work alongside some of our team to kind of come up with those ideas and what it looks like. Um, and those also go in our newsletter. So I post them on YouTube and you know, kind of using the content to the best of your ability and making sure more people see it, less work for me. And so those started. So that's the most consistent thing. Following that, um we I used to do anniversaries on our page. I decided because our team has grown so much, um, it was a lot of legwork. And then to also make it equal and fair amongst people, it just didn't feel right for us anymore. Those live on LinkedIn now and in our newsletter. And so that was a consistent piece that we're not doing anymore. But other than that, I really try to do um identify things on the calendar that are happening and what can we share about? Um, do we have a therapy graduation? We do those. Um, there's usually a couple a month. Are there Events. We usually have some of it coming up. Something's happening. And so we can plan around that. And then statistics, I really don't plan because I don't want it to be so forced. It's almost like honestly, Casey's the best, and Casey's our director of operations. And a lot of the time, what will happen is she'll like run down to my office and be like, Peyton, look at this number. Or we just saw like 25 kids in one day yesterday. And so those happen a lot more organically for me. And I it makes me feel a little less like exploitive about it. Because yes, my job is to share all of those things, but sometimes it just doesn't feel natural. And so that's kind of content-wise. Um, but categories for me are prevention videos, but also prevention education. So I would throw those stats in as an education piece. Um, fun and feel good. So those are, you know, our staff doing stuff, our facility dog Kramer. I exploit him a lot. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

And you should because if Kramer's on there, I'm gonna watch.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

Absolutely. And everyone else agrees with you. Yes. Um, staff celebrations and stuff, even though we're not doing um anniversaries. Um, we've got staff that get awards and get celebrated for things, all of those sorts of things I really want to highlight on there because a lot of us are pretty young too, under the age of 30. And I think it's important to recognize that these are the women that are taking care of the children in Washington County. Um, we are back to an all-female team at the time and um really amplifying

What Good Nonprofit Comms Looks Like

SPEAKER_01 23:28

the hard work, the dedication, and the excellence of this team is really important to me. Um, and then yeah, events and development things, things you need to attend, um, would be the other one.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

So that's kind of what um and you said that they live on LinkedIn when you were talking about it. So do you still recognize anniversaries on LinkedIn? Yes. So it's you still do them. Yes. They're just on LinkedIn and in the newsletter, but not put on every single channel.

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Yes. And that's what as I've like matured in this role and have been able to give other things off so I can focus more on like our full plan. Um, my big focus has really been on making content for the platform because they are all so different. And so um, sometimes that means Facebook gets a very similar post, but it's more focused on text and one graphic. It's not an infographic like you see the swipes on Instagram. Um, those are don't function well on Facebook, same with LinkedIn. And so they all kind of trying to diversify and make sure that they're all a little different. Something that's been really helpful for that. I don't, you know, I try not to use it as a creative backbone, but Chat GPT has been really helpful for me in when I make a post, I say, how would you change this to make it function better on Facebook and whatever, um, whatever other platform. And now I don't really need to rely on it as much because it's already taught me some of those tools and I can kind of do it myself from now. Yeah. Um, but that's kind of so functions better on LinkedIn because those are anniversaries people want to celebrate on there. It's a lot more work focused and professional. Professional. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We do headshots on that one. And um, so yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:09

Yeah. Um, so you know, like I said a little bit when we first started, marketing tends to be the thing that gets cut the in nonprofit world. It seems it's we've got to get people to understand it's not a luxury, it is part of the business model. And that drives me crazy because I know how expensive it is, but I also know how important it is. But it is, it does seem to be one of the things that gets cut when times are hard. And yeah, um, but like if we were a for-profit organization, it would not cross anyone's mind to cut marketing. Yeah, like Coca-Cola is never gonna say, listen, you know, we got to tighten up, we're gonna cut marketing. No, there's gonna be polar bears and you know, you're selling a product. You're selling a product, you know. So um, why do you think nonprofits get how or how can we change that mindset, or why do you think we have that mindset? I'd love to change the tune to understand. Have y'all seen, like, what do you think has grown since y'all've really focused and have an a you know, identified person that's in charge of marketing? Um I I asked about six questions in that technical.

SPEAKER_01 26:25

No, I think I know what I found.

SPEAKER_00 26:26

You're following my lead, I think.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Yes. I I would say, you know, we don't always have like I know that there were multiple six-figure campaign gifts that did not come directly from social media, but were from relationships that formed um from awareness that happened on social media to our capital campaign. And so it brought in money. It has brought in money. Um, I'll also say that for us, child abuse is a difficult conversation for people to want to have.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

And when I came in, I was like, this will be a fun place on the internet. You people don't want to follow us if all we're gonna do is tell sad stories about child abuse. And so um making it something that people want to follow has increased that awareness. It's blown up um April's Child Abuse Prevention Month. Um, we have small businesses throughout our community and bigger ones. So if anyone's interested, um host like percentage days and awareness things and um all of that is that's a fully online campaign. Um, it's brought on new partnerships with like local influencers and movers and shakers that now know about us and talk about us with other people. Um, I also think it's legitimized our brand and really elevated how people think about us, especially, you know, out of growing that is where I was like, I really think we need a new look, a new logo going into this new building. We want to be taken seriously. And we spend a lot of money on this. And so there's a lot of like sort of the child aspect to things that sometimes downgrades an organization like ours. And, you know, not to get too like woo-woo about it, but I also think being a in an industry led by

Mission Over Holidays: Content That Matters

SPEAKER_01 28:15

women, I think a lot of the time the work that we're doing is diminished um by people. And so I think us having this very public, very nice looking, very serious, you know, we're having fun, but like it's still very professional, right? Um, legitimizes us to people and makes them more willing, like when they are just making a decision to give or to get involved somewhere. Um, I've noticed multiple people have joined our committees and things like that because of people they've seen associated with us. And that is from social media. Right. Um, and so those things for sure. And then also having me dedicated to press releases and news is something I control as well. We were probably on the news a dozen times at the second half of last year. Yeah. And that's because every call was everyone knew to direct those calls to me. I was in charge of trying to find the employee who could help make that conversation happen. I sent out press releases so the news was at every event. And then that's a whole different audience, too. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

And it's all so important. And like, and and it's always so much better if we can control our story before the news shows up and controls the story. Because um, I had an experience with the news one time where I invited them to a wonderful, lovely, happy story. And when it showed up on the news that night, it was gloom and doom, and the doors are shutting. And and I thought I was controlling the story. But I think if I had had um had been equipped a little better, or the relationship the relationship is big. The relationship helps. And then it got better and better and better as the years went on. But the first my first experience was that is not at all what I had them come to tell y'all say.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

And they're trying to tell a lot of stories, and so you want to make it as easy for them as possible. And we had a early on, it was there's Bitten County, obviously, they do what we do, um, the Child and Family Advocacy Center. And it was like flip-flop every story. It would be like they're showing handprints for their center, they're showing their center for our center. And since we have built that, I I mean, from my side, since I've built this relationship, we haven't had those same things happening, the confusion happening, um, since we can build those relationships and um have had much better success with how those stories come across. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:30

It's just it's there's clarity, like which is what we talked about. Um, how do we get board members to understand how important it is, you know, or even if it seems like we don't have money, like, but how do we get them to understand that that's not the thing that should get cut?

SPEAKER_01 30:48

You know, well, it's hard when it's like between that and like someone on direct service. I really get it. Um and, you know, I can get people also like it feels a little silly sometimes. I think when you're doing it well, it will feel feel a little silly because the internet is a silly place. It is. It is. It totally is. Um, but I would say something for us that I think was really big is I was included in a lot of board meetings early on and talked about how well things had done and um stories I had heard. We had clients or old clients reach out. We created multiple partnerships with some old clients that came in and brought things for kids, and those were stories I was able to share kind of anonymously. And I think you're bored hearing directly how that is going from A to B, because sometimes, you know, and my team is really great about this, but when you're moving and there's a lot of parts happening, it's hard to draw the line from, oh, this started from something that our marketing person did, or this started maybe it's you're doing it all, but you're not thinking like, oh, this started because we made this post on Instagram. Um, but we have been able to track some of those things back and sharing that with the board and seeing how it's cultivated that um is big too. I also think, you know, I love our board and they like to be part of an organization that looks really good online. Yeah. Um well, and that they care about it, but it's also for their like they want to be part of something really good.

SPEAKER_00 32:14

Yeah, successful, successful, professional, but also fun. Yes. Like, um, I will never forget um where was I going with this? Like it, it's if when I talk to board members about how to be a rock star board member, one of the things that I say is literally just make sure you go to your organization, the organization you're on the board, go to their page at least three times a week and like and comment and share, do something, because the biggest thing I hear from board members is, well, we're just not on Facebook. I every time I look, it's I I never see our post. And it wasn't until, and I oh, I would get so because I would think, I am posting every day, and I am posting great content that's lots of information. But what I figured out after I stepped out of my role and was just a regular, you know, Susie in the crowd, I wasn't seeing the posts either. And then I realized you have to go to the page, you have to like, comment, or share. You have to be engaged with the page, and then it will show up. And if you do that on a regular basis, it will always be in your feed. Yeah. And that means it will always be in your people's feed. Yes. If you don't, then no, you will not see the posts. Correct. And none of your contacts will see the posts. So the best thing you can do as a board member is to go to your page at

Humanizing The Team And Building Community

SPEAKER_00 33:40

least three times a week, every day would be great, and just comment on something, like something, or love it, or share it, or put it in your story. Just do something. I try to do that so much. I have some advice on this.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Um, yeah, let us know. When I started, I mean, we were working like Emily actually had done a really great job because she was really focused on faces and people, and that is what I think sells really well. Um, people want to see people, not graphics. And so um, that started really from a good basis. But when I started every board meeting, I would go and I would say, we're posting this whenever I had a plan, you know, this is what's happening, especially when we were announcing something about the campaign or doing something along those lines. And um, I would try to like email or text or whatever. And the expectation, which was also set by Elizabeth and Emily, was you all are interacting in some way with every post you see. Um, you now can also turn on notifications for your organization's posts. So if you go to their profile, you can set up their, you can do stories, main feed, you can kind of dealer's choice. Um, and so you can figure out that. Google it, it's super easy. Um so like if I just go to our profile, I can go and and click the one. Top right corner, top right corner of the profile page, and it'll have like something that says like post notifications. And you can turn on post notifications for a certain profile. And sometimes they're delayed. It's like, you know, I'll get one for I'm set up for um Cappa Delta's, you know, post. And it might be 30 minutes after it gets posted, but it gets to you. I have Taylor Swift's also. Yes, that's the on. Yeah. Very important to me.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

And so you're you're saying for all the organizations we love, we can go to the profile and say see, you know, notifications, yeah, and that way we see them on a regular basis.

SPEAKER_01 35:30

Absolutely. You should have your board do that if you have it. I've brought it up to the board, but you're making me think I need to revisit this topic. Well, it should be like the the year beginning meeting.

SPEAKER_00 35:38

Yes. Like where you say and new board members and some of you that have been around that never hit it. Please go in and click it right now, and then you'll always see our post because we have an expectation. Yeah, I love that. We have an expectation that you will um engage with our page.

SPEAKER_01 35:53

I also did give them the option too. I was like, you know, I get not everyone has all the things. Pick your thing. And I we have board members that are really into LinkedIn and they will share everything on there, add their own commentary, and it's amazing. I don't care if they're sharing on Facebook because that's their place. And so I let everyone kind of have their area. Um, and honestly, what it did is because that got so consistent, we were doing other things really well. Um, people started to recognize us. I don't need to go into a board meeting anymore and say, we really need you guys to like this post because it's happening organically now. Um, from them, but also like we've just done a great job and we have a bigger community. Our community is not only our board, our committees and our team. Right. I think for a lot of people, your online community right now, like for a lot of nonprofits, that is the only, those are the only people looking. Um, and for us, it's much broader. And so I don't have to stress about it anymore. But that's where we started and it has paid off.

SPEAKER_00 36:50

And then you were reporting stuff at board meetings like this gift came from such and such. But if we really lay the breadcrumbs down, the breadcrumbs go back to the post where they they mentioned that they saw, and so you're able to tie some of those large gifts to the campaign or new committee members, you're you're showing them the benefit of it all.

SPEAKER_01 37:11

And in board meeting, you know, we try to do mission moments and stuff, is what we call them. But if I'm sharing these stories and things on social media more often, I do like a Wish Wednesday on occasion, like if we need something, those those little nuggets are stories for your board to talk about. And they love that they're not just having to wait for a board meeting to hear what's going on. People will not talk about your organization if they don't know how to talk about it. And child abuses are really hard to talk about. So when I'm putting all that out there and they have all these stories and all these nuggets to pull from, it makes them more excited and more willing to like talk about what we're doing.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

And like I said, you don't feel like you're doing the great, the big, you know, oh, I I worked really hard today for that organization. Yes. But we truly do need you to just share the great post that has the information that you spent hours on. Uh-huh. Because that even if you know, you feel like I think a lot of board members think, but that's not anything. It is. But it is. Yeah, it's so important if you are sharing that information that we've worked so hard to make the great posts. And it's only going to take off if it goes outside of the realm. Yes. And the only way to get it outside of that algorithm is put them on stories, is to put them on stories and get other people pushing it out to other people. Yes, you can repost posts now too. So that's great. Yeah. Um, this is just something that uh I definitely wanted to talk about because I know a lot of organizations, you know, uh, one of my episodes was with Teresa Mills, and it was literally about what happens when the funding just falls out of the bottom of the floor. You know, funding, you know, we and and y'all's organization plus so many more are experiencing that this year. Um, I did share there was some relief, but it's not the full amount.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

So all of those organizations did get a little windfall, but it's not going to solve the whole issue. But you guys use social media and the news as well as some of the organizations in the area were interviewed as well or uh went to the news as well. How did you coordinate that negative news without sounding like the sky was falling? But to get your message out, I want to know. Like, we've talked about several different benefits of owning your own message before someone else does it. Um, tell kind of how that happened and what how did y'all come together and say, okay, we have to get this out there, but in fundraising, we've always heard don't be negative. How did you get through that hurdle? It um I thought it was an most of the organizations have done an excellent job.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Yeah, I think so too. I think it's a balance because for for me, I am something that like eats at me is the truth. And I want to be honest with these people about what's going

Consistency, Board Buy-In, And Algorithms

SPEAKER_01 39:55

on. Um, and so it was a meeting with our entire development team, Elizabeth included, and it was very important to us that the people like our donors that are giving money, you know, we had a letter campaign. It all tied in. We had, you know, a mailing campaign, a newsletter campaign, news happening as well, and social media. And it was all coordinated, all looked similar, all had similar wording, but the amount of information we shared was varied. Um, the most information went to people who are active donors and they got something in the mail that was very specific about what was going on.

SPEAKER_00 40:32

Um, and did they get that before you that's what I love. And I would say that anytime there's ever a crisis or something coming, if coming down and you know that people need to know, the best thing to do is alert the closest inner circle donor people first. They're the family. They should get to know first before they see it on the news. Yes. And I love that y'all did that too.

SPEAKER_01 40:56

That is always the goal, regardless of this issue and more, is I always try to go newsletter and mail first, um, because newsletters pretty close circle as well. And so um, so that was kind of the conversation. But something we've talked about is like this fatigue that everyone's feeling because there's a lot going on in the world right now and a lot of really hard things going on in the world. And it's hard for a lot of people, like our clothes, there are good people that just want good things for people in the world. And so it is really difficult. Where do you put your attention and where do you put your money? Because you want to give it to everything and you don't, you can't. And so for us, the big focus was information first and really avoiding. I kept saying, I do not want to fear monger. I do not want to just talk for months on end about all this stuff. And you also, I don't want people to think we've been irresponsible with funding we've gotten. Right. I don't want it to sound like, you know, we are we are in a good place where we were not gonna have to shut our doors the next day. Right. And I we it was really important to us that people understood, yes, this is this is actually us thinking ahead. This is this thing has happened. We uh we are okay, but we have to act now and we have to talk now about this um because the future is uncertain. These big grants, we've basically come to a conclusion that we can no longer rely on them. So we're gonna have to figure out something. And so that was the whole point of the campaign was this is the reality of what's happening, and you're hearing this in the news, and we want you to hear it from us.

SPEAKER_00 42:27

Um well, and and for those families that you serve, absolutely didn't want if if some mom on the news has discovered that her child has been abused, you don't want her to think, well, I heard they closed. Like you want her to know the that you're still there, where doors are still open, we're gonna be here for you no matter what. We're just trying to let you know of what's going on.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Yes. And so that was really um, that was really the focus of the campaign. And then for me to initially it was this is what's going on. And then, you know, right before Christmas, we found out about the funding that was gonna come in, which was, like you said, not the complete amount, um, is only over a two-year period and doesn't solve the problem that happens after that. So it's not like a fix-all, but I also was like, well, that's now gonna be in the news. We got back in the new year and I said, we really need to figure this out so we can tell people. And so that was the final thing is that this funding did come in. This is the reality. Um, again, we want you to hear it from us and what it means for us. We're not, you know, living every day scared, but it is something that our development team is talking about every day.

SPEAKER_00 43:35

And there's still a deficit, however, we we it's not as bad as what we thought.

SPEAKER_01 43:40

And making it so easy to share where no one's gonna I wouldn't remember that if I didn't work at the center. So someone can go and find that post and have exactly the wording, share it with people. Um, you want to make it easy for them to spread the word too.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

So and that also was a letter campaign as well. I mean, it seemed to be. Yes, we sent another one. Yeah, and that that was a lot, yeah. Because then you got the the donors got the letter once again before it's just splashed out there. Because there's something about that donor, they're already a VIP. And they should be treated as a VIP absolutely and not be the if they didn't hear about it, it's just because the mail didn't get there. Absolutely. Not they're watching the five o'clock news and well, nobody let me know. Yeah. You want them to feel like you've let kept and and so I I love that that y'all had a yeah, a schedule and a plan and you control it's never perfect.

SPEAKER_01 44:31

And usually we try to do it in like an afternoon, and then everybody splits up and does their what they're responsible for. But yeah. I also do that on like giving days, like Giving Tuesday and stuff. I don't, I'm like, my thing is I want a newsletter or like something or an email going out to people that gave on that day. Before I post on social media, we met our goal to mostly people who probably didn't give. Um and so I kind of have that same philosophy with that too, is I want the people who helped like really helped get us there financially to be the first to hear about it. Um of course you've got people supporting those campaigns by sharing stuff and doing whatever, but I kind of carry that philosophy through everything.

SPEAKER_00 45:08

For everything. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Okay. Now I'm gonna ask some, like, you know, for the person out there that is trying to do better. Yeah, you know, I know there are ways that they can like you you said chat GPT earlier, but uh that can also help with the schedule, but we'll get to that. Yes, like what platforms are working best right now? Um, and I know y'all use LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

I don't mess with Twitter X. Okay. We don't need you don't need to mess with it.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

I'm gonna say that blank yet.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. Well, um, I'll just to be perfectly honest, I've taken it off my yeah for just for the stuff I'm sharing. Yeah, I'm not on there a lot. Yeah, I I've taken it off. And I don't know, I never, even back when I was at my organization and we used it, there was no traction there. Yeah, I didn't get any. And then of course

Media Relations And Controlling The Story

SPEAKER_00 46:02

a whole bunch has happened to that platform anyway. But I will back you up on that. I feel like it it's the least of take it off the plate.

SPEAKER_01 46:09

Yes. Um, after that, and I it pains me, I love it, but you do not need to be messing with TikTok. I, you know, TikTok is a blast and it can be effective. But the way that it, if if you're as a nonprofit, I'm trying to connect people to the next thing from my social media. TikTok is a really difficult, there's not great links, there's not great stuff for people to then connect. And because it's such a wide platform, people can get fed anything. Um, you know, the there's the joke in the comment section on TikToks a lot of the time, like my four-year page is so local because so much of what you see is not someone close to you. And so I post there, I think it's great. I really focus on TikTok on educational pieces. Um, and that's mostly what I do on there because that's relevant to anybody, no matter where they are. And then if it reaches some people local, which it does all the time, yeah, that's amazing. It's like icing on the cake, right? Icing on the cake. And so I mostly use that as like the editing platform for videos that then go to Reels on Instagram. Um, and I would say your bread and butter where I would focus are Facebook and Instagram. LinkedIn's great. Um I struggle with it too. So if anyone out there has great LinkedIn advice, um, finding kind of our corner on there because it's so professional that people aren't always engaging with like our, you know, fact content about child abuse on there. But um, for me, bread and butter where we grew was Facebook and Instagram. I would focus on that. You can pretty much post, you know, the same things to those platforms. And if you're starting out and you have 15 minutes to make this happen, do it. Um later on, you can try to diversify and make certain things work better for other platforms. But that's what I would do. Have them have your Facebook and your LinkedIn or Facebook and your Instagram connected um and post those in sync, have those stories up. Those are two different audience, like, you know, you've got different audiences there, but both age groups are important. You have probably some current, you know, very plugged in donors that are living on Facebook and maybe not so much on Instagram, but people are getting older and things are shifting. And those, you know, there are people, you know, moms and parents and things on Instagram that are, you know, those are our core audience. So they're really important. I've been told recently that Instagram is not really important in that like shot. I was like, what? That's crazy. Um, not true for us. And um, it's been really great for us. So that's where I would like really pour your time to that.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

And like you're saying, yeah, it did. And like you're saying about, you know, you figured out that LinkedIn is its own thing, and it really is. It is. But that's a great place to show a pref professional headshot and celebrating.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

We do celebration, yes.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

Um, because it's about a it's about a professional milestone. Yes. And so it's really I literally what she's saying is think of the audience, yeah, and think of the subject, the category, and then figure out, you know, if we're celebrating an anniversary over here, then that's a great thing to put on LinkedIn. But it might not be the thing we need to do every day on Instagram.

SPEAKER_01 49:15

Yes. And I had some new approaches. I used chat to try to do on giving day, give the last two, some different stuff on there. And LinkedIn's kind of a playground right now for me to still kind of figure out what's working on there. But same, um, I would really focus on Facebook and Instagram if you're trying to engage people.

SPEAKER_00 49:31

Like, especially if you don't have a dedicated person and you're just starting, don't try to do all of them at once. Yeah. Focus on the two. And if you can feel like you could share that same post on LinkedIn, do it. Absolutely. If you feel like that reel was hilarious, slap it on TikTok. Great. What's it gonna hurt? Well, but you're saying if you start with Facebook and Instagram, that gets you going. It does get you going. It does. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 49:55

And it's very local, like you can really focus on your net of people.

SPEAKER_00 49:58

So and I've heard this before, but like you said it earlier, pictures of people tend to go further instead of just a graphic. But then also is video outperforming still, it still is.

SPEAKER_01 50:12

We do a balance of it all. Yeah. Um, but people love videos, even though I don't have the time even watch videos with sound on. So captions are really great. But um always include captions. Yes. But people sit and scroll reels for hours. I'm a TikTok girl, not a real girl. But yeah, if you can make video content, I try to um when I can, if I make like an educational video, I try to do also a graphic version of it. Um, because people consume media differently. True. But um, and then it doubles the content you can put out. And so sometimes that's an intern project that they really help with. Um, but same can go for like talking about an event. Like, I oh yes, we're gonna have a graphic up that says dream big is this day at this time and this place, but I'm also gonna post a video that's like dream big is a blast, and then the caption have all the information you need about the event because that might be more likely to reach people. So video, yes.

SPEAKER_00 51:09

You gotta do it, you gotta get comfortable in front of the camera. Yeah. Well, the next thing I was gonna say authenticity beats polish. And I think Allison McLoy, um, as you've heard in some of our visits, I get caught up

Explaining ROI To Boards And Donors

SPEAKER_00 51:24

in thinking it's supposed to look a certain way. Yeah. And the stuff that I have done at the last minute slapped something together and flubbed it up, that tends to get the most reaction. And I think it's because that's my personality. Yeah. So it's more authentic. Yeah. For me to run through this hall here at the podcast place to mute. And you know, it was so fun. And I thought that probably won't work. But everyone liked that one. Yeah. But the one where I'm like, I'm starting a podcast. Nothing.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

Nothing. I'll tell you like one my like best, the best thing I've ever done. I'm so proud of it. Well, first off, is those if you go to our building at night, there are reflections of the handprints on the outside of our building, which are the core of who we are, like what we stand for, very special. And I was part of making that happen. But um, that night of the grand opening, we had taken photos and videos, and I had a friend come even like take professional photos. And I was sitting, I remember I was sitting on the couch in my parents' um living room and just like kind of on a high. Like, there were lots of people at that grand opening. It was like this realization of a lot of hard work, a hard couple of years professionally. Just I was so new. And um, I was like, I am just itching to show people that we did these hand prints on the outside of the building. Like it was killing me that other people would be posting about it and we hadn't, and I didn't have a professional photo. I had one photo on my phone. Um, wasn't that great to be honest, but like did the trick and I posted it and um with the caption, they were always coming with us with a little hand print, like a hand emoji next to it. Um, almost a thousand likes on that post. Like the most interaction we've ever gotten blew up. Um I just was like, and people still bring it up to me. Casey, Casey still says that is the best caption ever. They were always coming with us.

SPEAKER_00 53:09

Yeah, but because every tour during the campaign that we took of the old building, people were every group I was in, people would ask, What are we what are we gonna do with all they going?

SPEAKER_01 53:21

And we didn't always have an answer. Um, that that was my project. Yeah. Um, and so we didn't always have an answer. And that's why it really got to that point where it was like, um, I'm just gonna do it. And so that's a more serious version of like sometimes things just roll out and it doesn't always have to be that a silly video is that it sounds like you didn't wait until 2 p.m.

SPEAKER_00 53:41

No, the next Tuesday. Yeah, you just went ahead and put it.

SPEAKER_01 53:44

It just felt right. It just felt right. And sometimes like that's okay. Um, and so that's just a more like professional example rather than like a fun video that you're trying to like, you know, off the cuff and be natural. That's what this was for us. It wasn't some crazy professional photo, it was building on the excitement of this moment and the importance of it, and it just felt like good for us and it did really well. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

And that brings me to a question about metrics. So, um, you know, like we're saying, we're having to explain how important it all is. What are the things that y'all look at the most to say, we're we're really knocking it out of the park this week, or we really need to work on this. What are your metrics that you use to gauge how well it's going?

SPEAKER_01 54:27

For me, it's engagement. I'll say early on, like I was not good at tracking metrics. I did it like once a year to report to the board and to report to Emily. And other than that, the metrics I was looking at is how each individual post was like doing. Um, now we look at it a little differently. And for me, um, our education reels, and if you have the money to pay to promote certain posts for events, um, when I posted about our open house at the holidays, I promoted it and we got like 30 followers off of that post. Um, so I'm looking at followers. I really like that on reels, it will say when someone followed you from a reel. So if your reel is playing in the top corner, it says follow. If they click that, it says in your notifications, so-and-so followed you from your reel. And those educational reels have really shown that. So for me, like the biggest thing is followers increasing and staying. Um, and then engagement. So more than just liking a post, but shares are big for me. I want people sharing. Um, and I want people that aren't just our employees sharing. I love them and I want our employees sharing. I share everything, but it's kind of like when does it hit the outer circle?

SPEAKER_00 55:32

Um, so I'm really looking at that and um like comments. You you know, a board member shares and then one of their connections shares. That's like a dumb.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

That tells me, like, you know, something's outside. And not every post is like that. It's not gonna be art, you know. It is what it is.

SPEAKER_00 55:51

Well, the small, a smaller nonprofit or a nonprofit that hasn't been able to invest in communications yet. Yeah, what should they stop obsessing over? Or what is something they could start tomorrow just to get the ball rolling?

SPEAKER_01 56:05

Um, pretty pictures. They should stop obsessing over everything looking perfect.

SPEAKER_00 56:09

Um that that professional video that's gonna cost thousands of dollars. They do because a lot of us in the early, we thought it had to be polished, profess professional. And no.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

I I think you're I think every I even advise for Cappa Delta's like social media, and they stress so much about having the perfect photo um so that people can see it on their feed. Some of the photos I hated the most of our staff of like in a dark room and they're not pretty, like they're just a photo of us in our blue shirts. Um they do really well and people love to see it, and it gets all these comments because people love Anastasia and Elizabeth and Margarita, and um, it doesn't matter that it's like not the best photo. So that would be my thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:51

Stop obsessing over the perfect photo and just take the dang video or get a great get a photo in the promise you a bad kind of grainy photo in your poorly lit nonprofit space um will do better than

Coordinating Sensitive Funding News

SPEAKER_00 57:06

a graphic. Okay, I love that because I'm an obsessor over the wrong thing all the time. So I love hearing that. Yeah. And then what's just some things that they could do, you know, they haven't been consistent. So the first thing you said was or we talked about was being consistent. Like what are some things like to get started?

SPEAKER_01 57:25

I think what I would say is at the top of or in the last week of each month, because then you're prepared for the month ahead. I would set aside, I genuinely believe when you're starting out and you're like really starting out 30 minutes carved out of your calendar to look at the calendar for the next month and say, what is easy? Are we having a staff lunch somewhere? Are we celebrating someone's you know, 20th anniversary? Are we um do we have some celebration for some client? Like what is going on? And that is your content. Like, don't try to, you don't have to go invent all these crazy things. There are things happening. There are things happening, I promise you. It's literally what are you doing each day? Yeah. That is great. A great easy thing, too, is um a day in the life. I think people like to see what's happening. And so I'm still trying to get some more staff members to do those. But those could be really easy and they film their day and send them to you, and you cut it together and upload it. Then you get to see what people do with in the day in the life at the Children's Safety Center. So um, but yeah, that would be my advice.

SPEAKER_00 58:26

I love it. I love it. Um, what are some common mistakes besides you know fretting over the perfect photo? What are some others? Is it like posting without strategy or does that even are people getting hung up on thinking it's gotta be a certain I think so?

SPEAKER_01 58:43

I think time is important, and so you can kind of I always shift around what times do bell well. I think the evening does well. Um, but I think a common mistake is right now, for me, too much of a lean on AI. I think that you still need to sound like yourself and your voice. And I really, really, really make an effort that even when I'm using it to communicate something for me or um write it's I, you know, you hit caption moments and it's hard, but I really make an effort to reread everything, rewrite it, um, feed, you can feed Chat GPT past things you've done and give them your voice and give them your brand's voice. And it will feed you things in that voice and use words that you actually use and use sentence formations that you actually use. And so for me right now, I think it would be that because I can walk, I can look at things and see, like I know it's not that brand's voice. Um, so I think that's a mistake right now because it feels inauthentic. Um and I think I could maybe be guilty of that a couple of times too. And I am ref upon reflecting on that. Um yeah, and then I think another thing is being being too scared to talk to your direct service staff and get them involved in your social media slash getting yourself involved. I think I would ask them, I have it. I think our staff is a way more willing to do videos and silly things or not even silly things, me asking them like what's the biggest myth about child abuse you'd like to bust. They're much more willing to do that because I put my face out there all the time. I am willing to get in front of a camera, which people hate doing. And because I'm willing to do that and I'm not just hiding behind it and asking them to do the hard stuff. Um, that is my job, not theirs. Um, I think it makes them more willing to do that. And so I would say that's like another mistake people make is not being willing, willing to do it themselves and not carving out time to be intentional with their development or their direct service staff and say, Do you have time for this? How can we make this work? I'd love to talk about this. I really want to highlight you.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:43

Yes. So what you know, one great question is what is it that you want people to know? I say that all the time. That you know, what why can't they catch on or understand? Is there, you know, what is it? And because they're the ones in the trenches, yes, doing the work to save the people. Yes. And so if we're not asking them literally, what is it we need people that aren't here every day to know that gives them the chance. Really great question. And I do ask that a lot. Uh-huh. And then and then plus, like you said, if they're seeing that you're putting yourself out there all the time and that it and how it makes them feel, then they see that they should just do it too. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, let's see. What do you feel like your the email blast? I know that's kind of on the outskirts. I mean, but that's part of the communication. Do you feel like that's still one of the we've got to do our emails?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:35

Yeah. Um, I would say that is our biggest moneymaker on a giving day. Um like I just can't, I can't stress enough how the pipeline for us is really like I was really focused on social media and kind of have always since I started been in charge of newsletters, but not in a not in a way that I was really thinking about what was happening or like the effects of it or how it was impacting donors. I just didn't have the time. And now we've switched to MailChimp, which is beautiful, and I love it. And it has been, you could track so much data on there. Like I have seen what things get clicked on and have generated donations on giving days. Like I can tell you what emails did best for us, and they're the ones with stories, by the way. Like, people want to hear that stuff. Um, and newsletters are like to me, like you start on socials and Instagram, you might come to an event, you get signed up for the newsletter, and then you're like, oh my God, I had no idea they were doing all this stuff. This is amazing. Oh, um, I also really try to promote like more information. We just did our CSC wrapped, which is like a spoof on Spotify wrapped. And I always say in that post, in the caption, if people read it, um visit our sign up for our newsletter, because if you sign up for a newsletter, you get even more information. And it has additional photos, extra stats, quotes from kids and families. And

Platforms That Work: FB, IG, LinkedIn

SPEAKER_01 1:02:55

so I really see it as like a cultivation further of that community. And that is where our action comes in. So when I'm posting like um in every we do our monthly handprint, which is our monthly newsletter, and then we also do stuff on top of that, like you know, events are coming up, whatever. Um, in that email, there is always a request, like something we need, something that a client needs. Um, people want to feel like they're helping. That's like kind of a great entryway for people, those Amazon wish lists and stuff. Yeah. And then that prevention video that people can click on and learn. And so I feel like when you're adding value for them, um it returns it back and they want to kind of flip it back to you.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:33

And that's all you're that's what's going on on email. But then you're able to take the pieces and then turn those into some posts as well. So it's it's a another thing. If you're just starting out and you create a newsletter or an e-blast, then use portions of every of the subject, yeah, you know, the table of contents to take that and turn it into some posts. Yeah. And you can schedule some of that stuff out.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

Every story can end up everywhere. I think sometimes people try too hard to like, I've already told that one. I'm like, well, I can guarantee you not everyone has seen it.

unknown 1:04:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:02

So just share it again.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:03

Share it, just keep doing it again. Yeah. Just like email. You might think you send too many emails, but they may not open every single one. No.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:11

But go ahead and just send the email. Yeah, you can also test with a lot of programs like different subject lines and see what people respond better to. Um, and I, you know, you they say you got to tell people things several times. There are definitely, there's definitely a time I've shared a story. It's probably one that I was like, oh, I've probably talked about this one a little too much. And I've definitely had a board member come up to me and be like, I had never heard that before. That was amazing. And you thought you had like Yes. And it's not really a comment on them. Uh-uh. It's just like it was reflective for me to be like, wow, I really, if I have a really amazing story that has really communicated something, I can keep using it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:46

Yeah. Well, it here's another example of that. Like, we think everybody's seeing all of our stuff and they must get tired of seeing it. But I found like one time I was just doing stories, stories, stories, stories. And then I posted the same thing in a post on these are both Facebook, Instagram examples. And a whole new group of people saw the post like they've never seen the story. And I thought, I just assumed everybody saw both, but now I figured out some people don't ever look at stories. Correct. And some people only look at stories. Correct. So you have to hit both because some people see that there's a circle up there, but they never click it. Or they're clicking and they're just clicking, clicking, clicking, clicking. Yeah. Yeah. And I I was blown away. And I thought, so I gotta start doing both because they're not seeing, yeah, they're not not everybody sees a story and not everybody sees a post. You have to do both.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:42

You gotta try it all.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:44

That's the most work. The most work is the actual posting. Yeah. That is not the content.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:50

Yes, yes. Okay, let's go to the lightning round. Oh, okay. That's hard for me. Uh yeah. Let's do it. Um one word that describes great nonprofit messaging. Or maybe it can be two words, but heart. Okay, love it. Um, your biggest nonprofit social media pet peeve. Graphics.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:16

Or QR codes.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:17

People don't put QR codes on your well, here's the thing about the QR code. You're usually scrolling on your phone. So what can you scan it with? I have always thought that. You can't. Yeah. Um, one resource nonprofits should follow for inspiration or help. Oh God. I'm sure there's several, but us. Like, not to toot my own horn. But follow organizations that you think do it well.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:44

And like I think y'all do it well. I SOAR does a really great job. I love following SOAR. I'm trying to shout out other places. Sunshine School did a really great campaign for NWA GIFs last year that I just highlighted in something else I spoke at.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:58

Uh-huh. Um and it's SOR, like the after school program. The after school program. So SOAR uh Sunshine School did a great Northwest Arkansas Gives. Yes. But I see what you're saying. It's always like a consultant. If you see something you love, think, oh, how would that pertain to us? It's not copying and because it's two totally different subjects, but it's like it the trends. Yes. If there is a trend where you know someday someone's going to ask you to be a Rotarian and you better listen to that information. Whatever that trend is, everybody did it. Yeah. But they did it in their own voice, and that's okay. That's what the whole thing's about. Yes. Okay. I love that. Totally. I love that. Um, if they could do one thing this week to come to improve their communications, what would it be?

SPEAKER_01 1:07:54

Calendar. I think come up with who is in charge and what not necessarily specifics, but like what do you want to do and when? And like carve out time for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:05

That's the biggest thing. And get the calendar set up. And you can get

Video, Captions, And Authenticity

SPEAKER_00 1:08:10

examples of calendars. Yeah. I use Excel. Excel. Or sheet Google Sheets. Google Sheets, but something with that has the date, the subject, and the why. Yep. And then to get inspiration, you that's another way to use AI and then make it authentic with your voice. Totally. Don't copy and paste. So make it authentic, but they will give you a schedule, uh, you know, some they'll give ideas.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:35

I ask about prevention ideas all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:37

Yeah, yeah. Um, okay, um, let's see. Oh, well, I want to say this, reiterate this one. You can't fund what people don't understand. And if they're not constantly seeing your efforts and your posts and your information that you are controlling the narrative, then um they they it it's hard for them to build trust or know exactly what you do. And yeah, and not just with children's safety centers, but uh there are other organizations out there that we know we're do, they're doing a great thing, but a lot of people still don't know exactly what they do.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:12

And they do a lot. So it's like, how do I even talk about all that stuff they do?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:16

Right. Yeah. Right, right. Okay. Now, this podcast is called the Ask Allison Podcast. So I always uh like to have my guest ask me any random question that they want, it doesn't have to be on topic at all. Um, so you get to ask me any kind of question you want to ask me, and and I just hope that I have an answer.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:38

I'm gonna have to ask you a pop culture question because I'm just a pop culture queen. Okay. Um I would love to know. Okay, so I love this podcast called Los Culturistas.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:49

And you've never heard of it, write it down. Matt Rogers and Boeing Yang. Boeing Yang was on SNL. Yes, yes, yes, yes. They have a pop culture podcast and they do this on every episode. They ask, what was the culture that made you say culture was for you? So, what is something that was formative for you? I'm gonna flip it for you with nonprofit instead of maybe pop culture. What is, is there a moment in your life or something formative that you think led you to like want to be in this field?

SPEAKER_00 1:10:17

Well, I fell into it like you did. I fell right into it. But I think the moment that I took the tour of the organization and saw the like saw what they were doing, it was a job training organization for adults with different abilities. And the moment that I thought how I had not had to think about that, it was like a ton of bricks hit me on the top of the head of it. Never dawned on me that my dear classmates that I was in class with that had different abilities than me, that there we were all talking about graduation and college or not college or trade school or what what all our plans, what we were gonna do after school, and how their path was completely different. And it had never crossed my mind that some of them would go on in workplaces. Yeah, some of them may not be able to work, yeah, and they might still be with their parents. Yeah. And when I saw all the things they were doing in the work center at this organization, and I thought it's an opportunity for them to work and feel productive in a part, it hit me so hard. And and I've had that moment in several organizations, most of the organizations that I'm passionate about. Yeah, it's the moment of uh-oh, I I'm so privileged that I have never even had to think about that. Yeah. And I didn't realize that this was even happening and we needed this. And that was how I felt about a safety center or an advocacy advocacy center the first time that I heard, you know, when I started getting to know Benton County and Washington County centers, it was like I had not even thought of that the poor child had to go and be interviewed at all these different places before a center was invented. Yes, to then get to go to a place that is made just for their comfort and all the people come there and help them. And they don't just help them in the moment, but they help them after the moment and the years to come. Yeah. So that's I think I answered that. That was the moment that made you say nonprofit was for you. That was the moment that made me say nonprofit was for me because I thought somebody's got to share this, somebody's got to get the word out about this. Yeah. But I think it's me. Yeah. And that's exactly what I thought that day.

unknown 1:12:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:42

Yeah. So thank you, Brenda Neil, for that tour of open avenues, or back then it was called ADC. Um, because it just it just spoke to me. Yeah, like like you said, you got involved in college and the the opportunity arose and you thought, oh my goodness, I would love to.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:59

Well, for me, it was we were like, I grew up in Springdale. I went to Lee Elementary, which was a mile or two from where the center was. My mom was principal of that school. Like, I mean, I'm a Springdale girl through and through, and go to college, pledge sorority, have to pledge a sorority, and tore this center that is a mile away from my elementary school. Um, I knew I was an observant and listener, good listener. So I knew that kids experienced stuff like that, but I didn't know there was a place for them, and I definitely didn't know it was in my like childhood backyard, essentially. And so um, yeah, that was the same thing of like, oh wow, why did I have to go here to realize this existed? And now that I know it exists, I can't not ever think about it ever.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:45

That's right. That's right. That's right. Yeah. Um, I know, you know, say once again where you're from. Yeah. And if if you wouldn't care, if someone wanted to just reach out and ask for some tips, maybe your email address. Yeah. Um,

Metrics That Matter: Followers, Shares

SPEAKER_00 1:14:00

yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:00

Share that real quick. So I'm Peyton Stuman. I'm the marketing strategist at the Children's Safety Center of Washington County. And um, you can find me on a lot of things. If you just want to DM at CSC Wash Co. You can do that. It's me. But you can also reach out to me at my email. It's just my first name, Peyton, P-E-Y-T-O-N at children's safetycenter.org. There's two S's, Children's Safety Smith. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:23

Thank you. Thank you so much for being here today. I know it's going to help a lot of us because, like, like we said, it's becoming uh more obvious that we need it with this with this day and age of all the channels and all the things, but a lot of nonprofits still haven't figured out how to find the funding for it. And so um I hope we've given them some inspiration to get going so they can take things and turn them around. One step at a time. One step at a time. Um, thank you all for being here with me uh today and for listening. I know you have tons of choices of podcasts, but I'm so glad that you listened to this one with my crazy wacky self and all my very uh wonderful guests. Um so join me again next month. You know, it comes out on the seventh of every month at 7 a.m. because I love sevens. And rem, I'm just this is the reminder. Um, if you uh have something you want to ask me, I'm here when you need me. All you have to do is ask Allison.