Recently a few communications jobs have come to my attention – I thought I would pass them along.
The Austin Chamber
VP of Communications
Director of Publications/Communications
The Long Center
Public Relations and Social Media Manager
Austin Travis County Integral Care
Communications Manager
Texas Land Conservancy
Development & Communications Director
One of the things on my Yay! List was to be a part of the American Lung Association’s Austin Fight for Air Climb. This year I am part of Team Stairanoia and on May 19 I will join others in wheezing my way to the top of the Frost Tower here in Austin. The event is a fundraiser; I have already passed the goal I set for myself. But this afternoon I learned about a donation match for today only. And the first thing I thought was: Yay! The second thought was: Damn! That’s a smart donor.
A generous donor decided to give $300,000 to the Austin Fight for Air Climb. But she (I assume) made it a generous and smart gift. Not only is the donor making the gift, but is using it as motivation to other fundraisers with two simple limitations:
1. Set a donation cap. By matching dollar for dollar up to $300,000, it is “first come, first matched”! Let’s all admit it, team fundraisers are competitions. I will admit that I set my fundraising goal to be “to raise more than” a friend who did the climb last year raised. (Blowing ‘em outta the water right now, btw.) So as a fundraiser, I want to watch the donations made in my name to double – so I better get donors in there before anyone else, not when the $300,000 runs out.
2. Make it time bound. I need to get those donations in today because this matching is only available today. How awful would it be to not have people raise $300,000 and the donor not make the gift? For the record, I doubt the donor won’t make the gift. But she is presenting the chance to bring in $600,000 versus “only” $300,000 – so climbers and fundraisers better get moving!
When you have the opportunity to make a larger gift, think about how great it would be to make one that isn’t just generous but also smart. Your resources can motivate and impact the non-profit in ways greater than we can individually. We all know that working together we can have a greater impact – this is just one example!
It’s also a great motivator for people who haven’t yet started fundraising… and I will be honest, I’m a little concerned my goal may have to nudge up if my friend starts rolling in the donations today!
We need to limit choice. Apple has the system down – it is the reason they do so well*. I want to buy a new laptop. I currently use a MacBook but decided it makes sense for me to explore PCs as part of my due diligence. Apple is successful in turning people who understand Macs run the same as PCs from the UX point of view into converts because they make choosing their products easier than other companies.
People may argue that PCs are a better product, but “better” is subjective and not really relevant. The product that will be successful will be the one that makes it easier for their customer to choose them. Remember when VHS and Beta videotapes came out? No? Well, the better product didn’t last with consumers. VHS was easier for people to choose, not the better product. Apple makes it easier to choose their product.
In general we believe more options are better. We want basic ice cream shops to have a minimum of 31 flavors. When we buy Levis we have nine styles with five rises and eight rinses to choose from. I’m a simple girl; I just want a pair of jeans. Making decisions about which item to purchase are actually harder when there are endless options.
I am not against personalizing or tweaking the product – but I need a base starting point. The Dell website offers seven different series of laptops… not seven different laptops, but seven series; each series has 2-4 versions from which to start building my laptop needs. In contract, Apple has two laptop options. And then I can begin to personalize from there – clean and simple.
I am not sure I will purchase another Mac, but my head started spinning when I started comparing PC laptops. If only Apple would let me personalize the price… .
* This is not the only reason Apple does well, but I wanted to limit the options you had about WHY. [insert smiley face w a wink]
