Beth Kanter asks in her most recent post, “How will the youngest billionaire use his new found wealth for social causes?”

Well, Mark, come visit. We’ve got over 450 ideas for you…

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I’m a card carrying member of iGeneration; much of my life exists online.  Still, occasionally, the need arises for me to need to interact with a human being.  What this means is that I usually wind up on hold, with the constant assurance that my call is indeed important, and desperately pressing buttons until I get to speak to a person.

We’ve all been there, enough times that we’re able to pass judgment on the quality of the on hold experience.  Once, I waited on hold with a music loop that played nothing but Van Morisson’s “Brown-Eyed Girl” for 30 consecutive minutes.  My call was eventually answered, but when I was placed on hold again to transfer departments, I was right back to “Sha-la-la-ing.”

Donna was on hold with her cell phone company this morning, which she generously shared with the office via speakerphone.  Per usual, their on hold entertainment consisted of some drowsy elevator music interspersed with promotional and “helpful” messages.  “How would that work for us?” I jokingly suggested.

“Your donation is important to us, please hold on the line until a representative can assist you.”

“Did you know you can free a girl from bonded labor?  Just visit our website at www.globalgiving.com.”

“All of our projects are busy assisting people in other countries, if you have a project, please press 2.”

What?!  Imagine if this was the customer service model for nonprofits.  Ridiculous, but it’s worth considering that there are certain questions that frequently recur.  How do you approach those without sounding robotic (or adding an accompanying soundtrack?).  Here are some ideas:

1. Send personalized responses.  I know it’s easier to have answer templates for the questions that happen over and over, but donors are more likely to read the response and follow the directions if it appears tailored to their personal question.  Maybe the template is the model for your response, but add in an element of individuality.
2. Do what they’re doing.  We’re all so familiar with the processes of our organizations, but everyone else isn’t.  How annoying is it when a customer or technical service agent rushes you through steps with a tone of voice that is dripping with disdain and then can’t understand how you could possibly be overlooking the obvious solution?  Wicked annoying.  So when possible, go through the process in question and see what they’re seeing.
3. Ask questions.  Most of the time, customers are capable and willinging to do something on their own - with the right guidance.  Therefore, it is important to assess what the problem really is.  Does the customer not understand the whole idea, or just one piece.  Often it is easier to ask them about how they came around to the problem.  Knowing this can help you resolve their exact issue.

How else can nonprofits avoid the on-hold-robot syndrome?  What other impersonal pitfalls should we be on the lookout for?

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One of the things quite a few of my colleagues know about me is that when I joined GlobalGiving, I didn’t really know how to drive. Okay, in complete honesty, I could drive but I just couldn’t reverse. So when I finally learned to drive properly and reverse, it was truly a moment to celebrate!I always have managed to live without a car for the most part and frankly I thought I would never learn or need to learn. However, after I learned to drive, it gave me a new sense of freedom and mobility. This feeling was one that I have always taken for granted. Sadly, in some parts of the world women are not being allowed to drive, such as places like Saudi Arabia. In fact, I was in Riyadh when women took the roads to protest the refusal to let them drive. There is another movement again that has started to continue that 1990 protest to let women drive and we’re all hoping that happens. As one woman puts it in this interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor:

“I don’t even like driving,” says Ms. Aishah el-Mane, who received death threats and was forced to leave her home and job in Riyadh. “Even if I could drive now, I wouldn’t; I much prefer to have a driver. It’s about female empowerment and mobility. Women need incomes, they need jobs, and they need a way to get to those jobs,” she says.

International Women’s Day in on Saturday, March 8 and I wonder which project I should support in honor of International Women’s day. This year I think I will go with Livelihood for 500 Tribal Women in Gujarat that teaches women how to drive so that they can sell their crafts in markets. It is a pretty cool project and by teaching just one woman to drive, this enables her to teach another 500 women to drive.

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For our fundraising friends:

Beth posted her slides from a recent talk about social apps and media for social good.

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Today our friend Jason out in the “other Washington” wrote a really thought-provoking post on his blog: A Small Change. “The Rich Young Ruler: Transformational Giving,” comments on a Christian ministry’s take on how we in the non profit sector often spend our time trying to convince folks why they should support us, and then trot out pictures of the people we serve - the ultimate “beneficiaries” and we don’t really focus on what it is the donor needs and wants.

In discussing Eric Foley’s original commentary, Jason makes some great points - it’s sort of “WWJD-Fundraising Edition.” I especially liked this: “The (cultivation) process is not meant to help the donor better understand their own reasons for giving and connect them to how they can be fulfilled and make a real difference. The process is built around how can we get them to better understand what we do in such a way that they will want to give more money.”

We are not a Christian organization, or even a “faith based” organization, but I can say for sure that it is our clear goal to build a marketplace and community that inspires people based helping them develop a clearer and clearer understanding of their own fulfillment and impact. One day we’ll feel like we have succeeded. Maybe.
Thanks for making me think about it through a different lens, Jason.

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