Community building is the climate change of social good. Building a community delivers future value as rewarding as the survival of humankind. Building and nurturing a community ensures your mission’s success.
Peeling the Onion
Katrina VanHuss is the CEO of Turnkey, a U.S.-based strategy and execution firm for nonprofit fundraising campaigns. Katrina has been instilling passion in volunteer fundraisers since 1989 when she founded the company. Turnkey’s clients include most of the top thirty U.S. peer-to-peer campaigns — Susan G. Komen, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, the ALS Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, as well as some international organizations, like UNICEF.
Otis Fulton is a psychologist who joined Turnkey in 2013 as its consumer behavior expert. He works with clients to apply psychological principles to fundraising. He is a much-sought-after copywriter for nonprofit messaging. He has written campaigns for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, The March of Dimes, the USO and dozens of other organizations.
Now as a married couple, Katrina and Otis almost never stop talking about fundraising, volunteerism, and human decision-making – much to the chagrin of most dinner companions.
Katrina and Otis present regularly at clients’ national conferences, as well as at BBCon, NonProfit Pro P2P, Peer to Peer Forum, and others. They write a weekly column for NonProfit PRO and are the co-authors of the 2017 book, “Dollar Dash: The Behavioral Economics of Peer-to-Peer Fundraising.” They live in Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Katrina has been developing successful fundraiser recognition programs for organizations like the American Lung Association, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Special Olympics and the Alzheimer’s Association since 1989 when she founded Turnkey. Her client’s successes and her dedication to research have made her a sought-after speaker, presenting at national conferences for Blackbaud, Peer to Peer Professional Forum, Nonprofit PRO and her clients’ national meetings — to name a few.
Katrina also regularly shares her wit and business experiences on NonProfit PRO as a blogger on “Peeling the Onion.” When not writing or researching, Katrina likes to make things — furniture from reclaimed wood, new gardens, food with no recipe. Katrina’s favorite Saturday is spent cleaning out the garage, mowing the grass, making something new, all while listening to loud music by now-deceased black women, throwing in a few sets on the weight bench off and on, then collapsing on the couch with her husband Otis to gang-watch new Netflix series whilst drinking sauvignon blanc.
Katrina grew up on a Virginia beef cattle and tobacco farm with her three brothers. She is accordingly skilled in hand to hand combat and witty repartee – skills gained at the expense of her brothers. Katrina’s claim to fame is having made it to the “American Gladiator” Richmond competition as a finalist in her late 20s, progressing in the competition until a strangely large blonde woman knocked her off a pedestal with an oversized pain-inducing Q-tip. Katrina’s mantra for life is “Be nice. Do good. Embrace embarrassment.” Clearly she’s got No. 3 down.
The ultimate expression of transactionalism is assuming that people will not support your mission with their money or time if they are not directly impacted by whatever it is your mission fights.
Lack of alignment can happen at any level because subordinate employees do not have the tools to see if their work aligns with the strategic plan. They may know their nonprofit needs to raise $14 million, but not the organizational goal of retaining more event participants and transitioning them to sustaining donors.
Instead of getting great at running events, we should have been systematizing and improving methods that foster community. Providing peer-to-peer participants with a way to communicate with each other is key. We have been shouting at constituents instead of building ways for them to talk to each other.
One of the hurdles that organizations that depend on volunteer fundraisers must overcome is people’s aversion to asking others for money on the organization’s behalf. It isn’t just money by the way...
We regularly speak with clients about how they talk to supporters to activate or “prime” their identities as people who support their organizations. We’re often asked if reminding donors that they are a “donor” or a “volunteer” is a good idea...
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