Key Takeaways: Belmar’s Nonprofit Executive Summit

On November 16, Belmar Consulting Group held a Nonprofit Executive Summit to introduce around 30 leaders in the nonprofit space to how hey could optimize their processes through digital transformation! The event was hosted by Jenny Mitchell, the Chief Visionary Officer at Chavender, and she was joined by guest speakers Josh Myers (Executive Director at the BC Centre for Ability), Chris Parris (Chief Program Officer at Steppingstone Foundation), and Brock Warner (Author of From the Ground Up: Digital Fundraising for Nonprofits and Partner at Broccoli). Below are some of the highlights from their keynotes:

The Makeover, Life Before and After Salesforce with Josh Myers

• Salesforce Improves Processes: Prior to Salesforce, processes were slow and reliant on paper trails. With technology always evolving, Josh’s organization (BC Centre for Ability) realized that they needed to prioritize technology to improve the client’s experience. After scaling Salesforce throughout the entire organization, they now have the capabilities to digitize documents, implement web based referrals, and have drastically reduced their need to print.

• Salesforce Saves Countless Resources to Allow You to do More: After the pilot implementation of Salesforce, $30,000 was saved in resources (such as printing and paper procedures), 1 hour a day saved in time allocated to automation, and 50% of time saved between the referral stage to a client’s first visit.

Executive Considerations for a Digital Transformation with Chris Parris

• It’s Essential for Organizations to Evolve: Think about organizations as living breathing organisms. We exist in dynamic ecosystems that are ever evolving to meet the changes of our political, social, economic, and technological landscapes. In this type of environment, it’s essential that we continue to evolve. If we don’t evolve, we get left behind and the beneficiaries of our organizations will go elsewhere to have their needs met. Staff will leave if we become stagnant. Therefore, change is the only constant.

• Get Started by Analyzing Your Organization : Thorough analysis of your organization is a precursor to strategic planning processes. This is strongly recommended as part of any change management plan because it is critical to winning over stakeholders. The next steps after knowing your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, and people is to scope out your potential ROI, understand your goals, leverage your operational staff, and be transparent about material changes.

Impactful Storytelling for Program Oriented Organizations with Brock Warner 

• Context is Key: Context is the tools and information needed to better understand an event, issue, or person at hand. It forces us to tell stories that ask more of our audience, similar to protein and veggies that will build muscles to keep us fighting for another day. Stories without context make you experience a sugar rush with no long lasting positive effects. We need context as a bridge to welcome donors into a space where solutions exist for a problem they are passionate about.

• Get Used to Telling a lot of Stories: If you want to expand your organization’s community, you’re going to need to tell a lot of stories and tell them consistently. While you may be tired of the stories you’re telling and the ways you’re telling them, that actually may be the point where the public takes notice and it’s time to lean in harder. The stories and how you tell them really sets the tone for the organization, and when you stop telling them, the structure falls apart. Stories shape culture, culture shapes policies, policies shape outputs, and outputs shape impact. This is why we need stories and to strive to tell them better each time.

That’s a wrap on our first Executive Summit and we hope to see you at the next one!