{"id":592414,"date":"2012-12-19T21:52:07","date_gmt":"2012-12-20T02:52:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/?p=628"},"modified":"2022-06-27T10:30:19","modified_gmt":"2022-06-27T14:30:19","slug":"young-people-are-very-smart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/young-people-are-very-smart\/","title":{"rendered":"Young People Are Very Smart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For the past four years, I have taught at the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania<\/a>, introducing seniors to the world of nonprofit media.<\/p>\n

This semester, teams of my students were linked to Philadelphia nonprofits, playing a role that was something north of intern and south of consultant. \u00a0The students worked closely with the communications staff of each organization to help untie different strategic communications knots.<\/p>\n

I know I was supposed to teach them<\/em>, but honestly, I got as much as I gave.<\/p>\n

The first thing I learned is this: Nonprofits need these kids!<\/em>\u00a0 They are hungry, passionate, smart, and digitally savvy. It would be a shame for them to end up in banking. But I\u2019ll get back to that shortly.<\/p>\n

First, let me share the most important lessons I learned this year from my students.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

5 LESSONS MY STUDENTS TAUGHT ME<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Nonprofits are overwhelmed. <\/strong>Nonprofit organizations, even sizable ones, are ridiculously understaffed in the Communications area.\u00a0 Most of my students interacted with staff members who were so overwhelmed and busy, that their effectivness was compromised.<\/p>\n

Nonprofits desperately need a digital education. <\/strong>Nonprofit Communications staffers, even sizable ones, barely know the difference between a \u201ctag\u201d and a \u201clike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Digital strategy is critical. <\/strong>Nonprofits are pressured by funders to enter the social media space without time to create a strategy.\u00a0 This can lead to inflexible architecture, poor design, and the inability of staff (either skill or time) to easily change and update.\u00a0 And of course if you build something like that, chances are, no one will come.<\/p>\n

Too many nonprofits are \u201cdinosaurs.\u201d <\/strong>Nonprofits think that social media is \u201cover there\u201d someplace rather than \u201cright here,\u201d central to the work of the organization.\u00a0\u00a0 We might call these \u2018dinosaur\u2019 nonprofits.<\/p>\n

Young people are super smart! <\/strong>College grads know from tumblr, scoop.it, reddit.com, twitter, etc., and are ridiculously valuable to nonprofits.\u00a0 My students proved that this semester. This is their world.\u00a0 Hire them on the cheap, work them hard, and let them teach you a thing or two.<\/p>\n

So out of the mouths of students come valuable insights.\u00a0 What actions might nonprofits take based on these observations?<\/p>\n

Here are 5 suggestions:<\/p>\n

5 ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE TO IMPROVE YOUR COMMUNICATIONS EFFORTS<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

1) Recruit every fall and spring at nearby communications schools<\/strong> \u2013 at places like Annenberg, Syracuse<\/a>, Emerson<\/a>.\u00a0 If your organization can\u2019t afford it alone, what about a collaboration?\u00a0 Perhaps there\u2019s an association of organizations in your sector? It\u2019s time for nonprofits to leave the office and invest the time to find the best and the brightest.<\/p>\n

My students shared with me their frustrations about recruiting. They don\u2019t want to work at AMEX or Macy\u2019s, but those are the opportunities they\u2019re seeing. Have an interest in full time advocacy? Good luck. Those recruiting chairs are empty.<\/p>\n

2) Bring in an outsider or a team of them<\/strong>. My students\u2019 eyes saw things their \u2018clients\u2019 couldn\u2019t.\u00a0\u00a0 A convoluted mission statement.\u00a0\u00a0 Organizations trying to be all things to all stakeholders.\u00a0 End result?\u00a0 Kitchen sink messaging.<\/p>\n

No money for a consultant?\u00a0 Again, tap into a communications school \u2013 a grad school, a nonprofit leadership program.\u00a0 Ask to link with a class.\u00a0 Talk to a professor.\u00a0 If you call UPenn, I promise I will take your call.<\/p>\n

3) Require every member of your staff to attend a full day workshop \/ webinar on the basics of social media<\/strong>.\u00a0 Invite your board too.\u00a0 Not because social media is a \u201cnewfangled\u201d tool, but because it can enhance your communications strategy (if you have one).<\/p>\n

For some, social media is already the hub of the organization\u2019s communications strategy. For others, you might be there in what seems like a blink of the eye. I taught my students how to write a press release this semester. They found it valuable, but in 10 years, who will need one?<\/p>\n

4) Be sure your head of communications reports directly to the executive director<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not true in many places.\u00a0 Often it comes under the program person, or the COO or worse yet, Development.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why. Communications is the<\/span> thing. It’s critical to be able to articulate why your organization exists, and why what it does has impact. Is there anything more important than that?\u00a0 A Communications Director should not just pitch interviews but prep for them. He\/she should be a terrific writer. He\/she should be able to craft the three big messages for an on\u2013camera interview. He\/she should take a draft and not be afraid to take a red pen to it.<\/p>\n

5) Build a Communications plan to accompany your strategic plan. <\/strong>This is as important as your strategic plan itself. If you can\u2019t communicate where you are headed, no one will care. There won\u2019t be media coverage. You won\u2019t engage volunteers; you won\u2019t raise money. It\u2019s not just about an inventory of stories to pitch, a media list, and a webmaster. It\u2019s about developing and syndicating the \u2018sticky\u2019 messages that move people to action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too often, nonprofits think that social media is “over there” rather than “right here,” core to the communications strategy. My students at UPenn saw this firsthand this semester. They taught me a thing or two. And those lessons led me to five actions you can take.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,19,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-592414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ceo","category-media","category-senior-staff"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYoung People Are Very Smart - Joan Garry Consulting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Young People Are Very Smart - Joan Garry Consulting - Blog for Nonprofit Leaders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/joangarry.com\/young-people-are-very-smart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Young People Are Very Smart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Young People Are Very Smart - 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