By Brad Ball Vice President Big Buzz Idea Group “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” – Douglas Adams Simply too many organizations think about bringing new people onto the board of directors as a last-minute activity. They wait until just before the Annual Meeting, have a few quick, quiet conversations about who has time and is willing to join the board for the next term. Those people say ‘yes,’ the names are hastily approved, and thus, the next year’s board of directors is born. And this story repeats itself, often with just...
By: Lidia Varesco Racoma Brand Strategist & Creative Marketer Lidia Varesco Design Determining your organization’s audience is a crucial part of branding and marketing. Developing a persona for each segment of your audience provides a framework for your content and assures that your outreach is strategic, focused and targeted. What Is a Persona? A persona is a representation of the target audience segment you are trying to reach based on internal data and research, and it includes the basics of who they are, as well as insights into their challenges and values. Some personas even include a name and image...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group “Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved.” ~Helen Keller When you think of a “leader,” who comes to mind? We typically list examples of great leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and other famous people, but we overlook the value that each of us possess as leaders. Does your organization have strong leadership? How enthusiastic and impassioned are the leaders that sit on your board of directors?...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group In “Promotion Ideas to Benefit Your Nonprofit – Part I” we covered ideas for you to utilize relative to email marketing, leveraging your community and capitalizing on some basic public relations tactics. Part II will advance the promotional discussions and cover more ideas for digital exposure. Online Marketing Marketing online via social media remains an important part of overall promotions for nonprofits and associations so we encourage our clients to include online promotions to achieve maximum exposure. Social media options can be a bit overwhelming, so it’s best to compare the various...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group We have always known that, out of necessity, nonprofit organizations are incredibly nimble and resilient. Over the last 12 months, organizations have made quick pivots and showed great commitment and creativity to the missions they serve. Now that it has been a full year of life with COVID-19, we asked our clients if they had any unexpected positive results from the pandemic. Here is what they had to say: Rogers Park Business Alliance “We added video interviews to our Small Business Saturday event in 2020. The pivot to video for...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group We regularly hear from nonprofits that their Board of Directors or certain members are not carrying their fair share of the weight. The biggest concern is leadership not delivering on their Board commitments and sometimes they aren’t even showing up to the organization’s events. But imagine the flipside: What if each Board member actively engaged with your organization? What if every Board member met their give-or-get requirements and took their fiduciary responsibilities more seriously? What if every Board member actively served and supported your nonprofit with shared vision and commitment toward...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Far too many nonprofits that we talk to have a wash-rinse-repeat model of budgeting that we at Big Buzz do not generally support. For those readers who have been following us for a while, you know that we believe that forward-thinking budgeting leads to the growth of your organization. We fully believe that when it comes to budgeting, it is imperative to do a deeper dive about where you are and where you want to go as an association. You need to annually evaluate which resources are necessary to elevate your...
Big Buzz Idea Group has enjoyed consulting nonprofits for the past 15 years, and over that time, whenever we met a new potential client, we heard a very common theme: “I had no idea a company like yours even existed!” The need for assistance has never been more obvious, which is why we are presenting a new suite of budget-friendly services to a larger audience of nonprofits.
Your mission is our mission, and now in addition to “powering nonprofit organizations to fuel positive change in the world,” we want to also “power nonprofit professionals” to accelerate your organization to fuel positive change in the world.
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Today’s the day to make things happen. It’s time to move forward (while the whole world seems to have stopped, and we watch and wait and wonder and worry). Put aside the feeling of helplessness, that the more we learn, the less we understand what it all means for each of us. That’s the problem with paralysis by analysis: while we’re stuck in the mud and waiting for something, time keeps slippin’ and the world keeps spinnin’… A boulder has been placed in your path. While deciding what to do...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group COVID-19 entered the news in early January, but it entered our American lives hard in mid-March. For the last three weeks we have gone from “normal” living to modified living to shelter in place. And now we all wait and wonder when these restrictions will lift and when we will be safe to return to “normal” again. Unfortunately, normal will never be the same for any of us. So, what now? Immediate Needs As we all adjust to this new “normal,” it is important to identify your most immediate needs....
