The second quarter of the year seems to be the busiest and time for blogging disappears. So here’s some marketing and communications news, notes and lessons from the last few months.
Term Limit Ends Six-Year Stint With Community Service Public Relations Council (CSPRC): The June lunch meeting marked the end of a great experience with this organization. The organization made drastic improvements in its programs and conferences during the past decade. It was an honor and a pleasure to serve on the board with so many talented, dedicated and passionate marketing and communications professionals who are devoting their talents assist organizations in making our community a better place.
Teaching A Three-Hour Course At the Nonprofit Fundraising Institute: The University of Missouri-St. Louis’ Nonprofit Management and Leadership Program holds an annual fundraising institute in June. It was a privilege to teach the course, “All Donations Begin With Communications.” There were approximately 25 in attendance and they represented a variety of nonprofit and charitable organizations. Many participants shared wonderful stories of how they were first motivated to make a charitable gift. The common thread was that each one of them were influenced by a story about the organization’s work. We started out with an interesting perspective with the blog post from Dan Pallotta, “Don’t Sell Your Soul, Market It,” on Harvard Business Review. Some results from the annual Cygnus Donor Survey, “Where Philanthropy is Headed in 2011” were reviewed.
Work Highlights: Even though President Barak Obama was in Joplin, Mo., on the day before Memorial Day, the Boy Scouts’ annual Memorial Day Good Turn at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery received good media coverage, including a front-page photograph in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Greater St. Louis Area Council’s Annual Meeting and Recognition Dinner was another success. Twenty four adult volunteers received the Silver Beaver Award, the highest recognition a Boy Scout council can bestow. (View a PDF of the awards booklet.) The 2010 Annual Report was presented and approved. Colt Wahl, a 12-year-old Boy Scout received a Heroism Award for assisting his father after he fell 20 feet from a tree during a hunting trip. (Read a story in the St. Louis Review.)
Awards: Finally, the council received two National President’s Marketing Awards during the Boy Scouts of America’s Annual Meeting in May in San Diego. The council won the competition for best website and best 100th anniversary material for the marketing and communications plan for ScoutQuest 100, a council-wide encampment for 20,000 Scouts, parents and leaders in Forest Park. Both awards recognize the hard work, effort and dedication of many staff members and volunteers to provide outstanding marketing and communications for all the council’s stakeholders.