Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits

Matt Stockman (00:00)
Have you ever stood in front of your closet just overwhelmed by how much stuff you've kept just in case? know, most of us hold on to things far longer than they're useful and nonprofit leaders can do the exact same thing. For example, we keep outdated messaging because while we already wrote it and we feel like it still makes an impact when it's really not very effective anymore, we keep having the same meetings because while we've always had these meetings,

But what if the real reason that we're overwhelmed isn't lack of time or capacity, but simply it's too much clutter in our lives and in our nonprofits? Today, we're gonna talk about how cleaning out your closet might just be the leadership lesson that your nonprofit needs most.

Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast for startup, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a strong foundation. Every episode, we give you frameworks and tools and the personalized guidance that you need to be able to create lasting impact. I'm thrilled you're here. My name is Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach and the host of the podcast. At Nonprofit Launch Plan,

We believe that every nonprofit has to be operating at peak performance in six key areas in order to be successful. Those six areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we talk about a topic that is core to at least one of these six areas.

Now, before we dive into today's episode, if you or somebody you know is still in the dreaming phase of launching a nonprofit, you've got an idea, you see a problem in the world, and you feel like you're the one that's supposed to solve this, I've got a special freebie that I put together. It's a PDF resource. It's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist. It's 10 essential steps for moving from nonprofit idea to impact.

This tool will take you through 10 easy first steps to move your dream for a nonprofit toward a launch plan that actually gets your dream off the ground. gets you solving the problem that you see in the world. This checklist will walk you through your why, will help you consider your first teammates. In other words, your board will help you hone in on your beneficiary. Choose your nonprofit name, the IRS application, and more.

And there's an easy to do action step for each of the 10 things to consider that will bring your dream for a nonprofit into a whole lot clearer focus when you've completed it. So if you want the PDF, it's free. It's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist, 10 Essential Steps for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. Here's what you do. Just email me at mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com, mattt at nonprofitlaunchplan.com, or look for the pop out.

on my website at nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Again, nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Okay, let's dive in. Let me start with a question. When was the last time you cleaned out your closet? For most of us, closets are full of things that we keep for sentimental reasons or just in case or because you haven't actually stopped long enough to ask whether you still need the thing that you're hanging on to. And nonprofit leaders,

carry that same sort of clutter, not in our closets, but in things like our messaging and our processes and our schedules and even our websites to a certain degree. So today on this episode, we're going to do some decluttering. This whole idea comes from a book that I read a while back called Essentialism by the author, Greg McEwen.

And this book has done a lot for me, both personally and helping me narrow the focus and the impact of my coaching business, Nonprofit Launch Plan. And it's also been key to helping some nonprofit clients that I've been working with to kind of strip away all the non-essentials to be able to give more attention and focus to that which is essential. And we'll talk more about what that means throughout the course of this episode.

Essentialism, though, it's a great read. It is one that I absolutely recommend for everyone, for both your personal life and your life as a nonprofit leader. I'll put details about the book in the show notes of this episode. Now, I'm basing this entire episode around one core question, which McEwen brings up early in the book about cleaning out closets of all things.

And it all boils down to this one question. And the question is this, if I didn't already have this, would I invest in it? In other words, for every item in your closet, if you're trying to clean out your closet, that shirt you haven't worn or that jacket you haven't worn in a long time, you'd hold it up and you'd ask the question, if I didn't already have this, would I go out and buy it? Or would I invest in it? If I didn't already own this,

Would I spend money on it? And if the answer to the question is no, then that item needs to go. It's that question that changes really everything about cleaning out your closets or decluttering your nonprofit. So today we're taking an essentialist approach in applying it to some different areas where nonprofit leaders experience a lot of clutter. We're talking about simplifying your messaging. We're talking about simplifying your workload and we'll even

get into your website a little bit so you can spend less time drowning in noise and more time making an impact. So let's dive in. First and foremost, we're going to talk about decluttering your messaging to your donors.

Have you ever tried to explain what your nonprofit does and part of the way through, you're not even sure where the sentence is going. That happens because messaging gets cluttered over time and everything about our nonprofit messaging is drifting towards being more cluttered rather than less cluttered. We add a new program that we're excited about and we add that to our messaging. We get new stats that we're excited about, about our impact. We add that to our messaging. We add just another sentence to the website.

just to clarify and before long, you're not actually messaging anymore. You're just downloading a bunch of information on donors and hoping that something somewhere will stick. So here's where the closet cleaning question comes in. If we weren't already saying this, would we choose to start saying it today?

So I want you to pick one thing and look at your core messaging. Like for example, your homepage, your email appeals, your program descriptions, letters that you send out as kind of a basic fundraising email to potential donors. Ask that one question and be honest. If we weren't saying this already, would we start saying it? There are dozens of instances, or I think you probably use a hundred words to say something, when 10 would probably...

get the job the deal. In the end, donors don't need more information. What they need is clearer information. And you don't win donor attention by adding words or stats or details. You actually win donor attention by removing the clutter that creates room for the one idea that you really, really want donors to remember.

I've been walking through this exact exercise with a nonprofit client. They sent me all of their printed collateral. So what I mean by that is all their brochures and handouts that they give to people. All of it was cluttered. None of it was effective. And so over the last couple of days, we've been really unpacking all of it and trying to figure out what's the core message, what needs to go and what can we keep and stick with.

What can we just declutter and get rid of? And they're walking through that process right now and I want you to do the same thing. So here's the challenge for you. I want you to pick just one piece of messaging this week. It could be the donation page text that you have. It could be the sort of the first welcome email that you send when you get somebody's ⁓ email address and they're more interested in what your nonprofit does. Ask the question,

If this wasn't already here, would we add it? And if the answer is no, then it goes in the nonprofit goodwill bag. All right, so that's one. Number two, let's talk about decluttering your workload a little bit. It's the stuff that drains the most energy from you, your schedule. Nonprofit leaders are notorious for carrying

big overloaded calendars with meetings and reports and projects and events and tasks and follow ups and systems and committees and subcommittees because we've kind of always done it that way. I want you to take a moment and pause and sort of look at everything in your work routine, your to-do list, your meetings, your daily tasks, and ask yourself the same closet cleaning question. If I weren't already doing this, would I start doing it today?

And if the answer is no, then I think we've got some work to do. A lot of what's burning you out isn't actually important work. It's old stuff. It's the stuff that we've always done. And part of leadership is having the forethought to constantly and continually keep your calendar free to be able to handle the things that only you can truly handle as the leader of the organization.

Some examples and where this kind of pops up a Weekly meeting that could easily be an email instead you spend time every month working on a report that nobody is reading There's a fundraising event that drains your energy But just doesn't bring in that much more revenue than you're spending both in time and money on it There's a task that you do every week

that you could train a volunteer or a staff member to do, but you put that off because training would take you a couple of hours and the task just takes you 20 minutes. So you just keep doing the task when that's actually not the most effective use of you as the leader's time. It could be a task that's been on your list for six months and you just have never gotten to it. It still hasn't moved an inch and we just need to declutter it.

Essentialism says if it's not essential anymore, then it's got to go. So just to extend the closet cleaning analogy, imagine your workload like a closet. Some things in your workload probably don't fit anymore. Some things you're hanging on to thinking, I may get to this at some point or another, or I may wear that shirt again someday. Some things you're keeping out of guilt. Some things

You haven't even done in the last three years, but somehow or other, it still feels like it's part of your workload. When you declutter your closet, you free up physical space. And when you declutter your schedule, you free up mental space, mental space for leadership, creative space, space to be the leader and actually think about the future of your organization and space to focus on the work that truly moves your mission forward. So that's the second thing.

Finally, let's talk about decluttering your website a little bit. Your website is a digital billboard. And what I mean by that is, billboards only typically a good one only has a couple of words on it because remember most billboards are seen by people in cars going by it 30, 40, 50, 60 miles an hour sometimes. So you only get a quick glance and it's just got to be a couple of words in order for it to stick and be memorable. Your website is

is more like that than for a lot of nonprofits, their website is a lot like a digital closet that everybody can look into and see everything all the time. Nonprofit websites are notorious for clutter a lot of times. That means too many menu items, there's just too many pages, there's too many words, there's outdated campaigns and old photos and

information about programs that nobody cares about that you don't even do anymore. And it all kind of happens slowly, one small addition at a time. But donors who are coming to your website don't navigate clutter very well at all. They'll skim and they'll scroll and they'll decide within a few seconds if you're credible, if you're clear and you're worth sticking around and maybe supporting financially. So ask the Essentialist website question.

If this page or section or paragraph didn't already exist, would we add it to the website today? And if the answer is no, then it's got to go. As an example, here's a few things. Delete old event recaps and photos that nobody's looking at from 11 years ago. Consolidate your navigation into just a few top level items. Cut every paragraph of text.

by 60 % if you can. Archive the programs that you don't run anymore. Remove all the PDFs that donors aren't looking at or open up anyway and take out all the stuff that means more internally that only the staff understands or cares about that donors or supporters or potential supporters or even people just sort of browsing, they don't understand or they don't care about. The goal isn't to remove everything, but the goal is to remove everything

that gets in the way. Because remember this, clarity converts, clutter confuses, and confused people don't like to give. So to wrap this all up, Greg McEwen uses a phrase in the book Essentialism that sums all of this up. And the phrase is three words, simply less, but better. Less, but better. Decluttering isn't about having

less mission, but it is about having less noise around your mission. So here's my challenge to you this week. I want you to choose one of these three areas. Your donor messaging,

or your personal workload as the leader of the organization, or even your website. I want you to set a one hour timer and I want you to ask the essentialist question. If we weren't already doing this, would we start and then be brave enough to remove whatever no longer deserves your time.

your energy or your focus. Less clutter leads to more impact. Less noise leads to more clarity. Remember less but better. That leads to more meaningful results for the people that you serve and more impact on the world from your nonprofit. Now, before we wrap up the episode, remember if you or somebody you know is still dreaming about launching a nonprofit, I've got this special freebie, the PDF resource.

It's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist, 10 Essential Steps for Moving from Nonprofit Idea to Impact. There's an easy to do action step for each of the 10 things to consider that will bring your dream for a nonprofit into a much clearer focus once you've completed it. So if you want the free PDF, it's called From Dream to Action, Your Nonprofit Pre-Launch Checklist. You can get it a couple of different ways. Just drop me an email at mattmatt.com.

at NonprofitLaunchPlan.com or check out my website NonprofitLaunchPlan.com. That's it for today's episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode. And if you found this in any way at all helpful, would you please consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who you think might benefit? Until next time.

Thank you so much for listening and watching and keep making a difference.