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First, a big thanks to all of you who attended our first ever gathering for nonprofits on March 9th. And a special thanks to those (98 of you!) who took the time to fill out our online survey form to help us know how you thought the event went.
We've now compiled the results and are sharing them with you. As we trust you know, we conducted the survey to help us know how to improve. Although we learned a lot from our first event by being there ourselves, you helped us clarify and identify ways to do better in the future.
First, the general results:
The scores for all the sessions/presentations were very close to the same, averaging about 4.0 on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best). The highest scoring part of the day was the film festival.
We asked how well you thought we met the three goals we set for ourselves for the day (providing a context for nonprofits to think about the point of communication, introduction to using video as a tool to communicate, helping nonprofits feel inspired and empowered to create video), and the average score for each was 4.2 out of 5.
While the large majority of attendees gave favorable ratings, there were a small but consistent number who found absolutely no value in anything we did. Five people who attended gave us the lowest possible score for every question. (Between 25 and 50 people gave us the highest possible rating on every question, which helped our self-esteem!)
Our top three take-aways:
1. By far, the major difference in our future gatherings will be the opportunities for interaction we build in. We will select future venues with interactivity in mind. (For our first event, our venue choice was made on the basis of a place suitable for watching movies, a setting not known for facilitating group conversation.)
2. On a related note, we realize we jammed too many things into our first event and didn't provide enough breaks. Some suggested we should have spread the activities over the entire day, others said the chairs were too uncomfortable for sitting more than a couple of hours. Since we knew some people were driving across the state to attend, we wanted to make it worth their while so we erred on the side of long, with the second half structured so people could leave early. We continue to evaluate this issue going forward.
3. We are glad to see that many nonprofits seem to welcome a foundation reaching beyond its comfort zone and trying new things. It appears there is a hunger for information that is accessible and free, especially for smaller nonprofits that may be a long way from establishing a budget for trainings (may not even have funds to adequately pay staff yet). We also recognize that a handful of people who attended think we have no business doing anything except making grants! All feedback is welcome and helpful as MMT makes its way into a future that may be different from its past.
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In the spirit of transparency and openness, below we are sharing a representative sample of comments (from high to low) we got on the "fill in the box" portion of our survey. We include some comments verbatim and for the first two questions, indicate the number of others who shared the sentiment.
What did you find most interesting/useful?
"My organization is entering strategic planning and I am very interested in updating our communication strategies, so the presentation from the guys at OneNW was very interesting. I really enjoyed the funnel analogy." "The idea of the engagement funnel was very compelling. Good solid information to thank about and put to use." (13)
"Laura was a very polished presenter and therefore the most interesting." "Laura Mansfield was straightforward and realistic. I thought her documentary production experience was very informative for the topic of the seminar." (13)
"No question, the second half of the program where organizations showcased how they had successfully integrated video into their communication platform. It highlighted that the style, process and purpose of the video can truly reflect your organization and its mission." "Seeing a broad range of pieces with a variety of budgets and qualities was useful. I left feeling empowered, both as a non-profit representative and a freelance video production artist, by the fact that there is a lot you can do with a few resources to make a video that will authentically help spread the mission of an organization. Also, it was very kind of you folks to feed us popcorn and snacks!" "Variety of techniques/methods used in funding/producing videos; individual videos, voices & stories. I liked the informal tone of the session." (44)
"Maybe not useful, but definately interesting was the opening video (EPIC 2015). The most impressive aspect was that it FULLY captured your attention." (4)
"Really, the last 10 minutes was the most useful (the most interactive part)." (3)
What did you find least interesting/useful?
"The film festival." "Listening to the directors of the movies." "Several not so great videos (one didn't even have a call to action!)" "The 'extra' time taken by film presenters beyond the program timeline." (11)
"The meeting facilitation was bumpy and unprofessional. For example, Marie Deatherage did not introduce herself at the beginning of the session. The second presenter interrupted her, and they were not properly introduced either." (2)
"A lot of the info was too basic....I already knew a lot of info provided by key note speakers." (4)
"The presentation on video production. I thought that the tone was a little condescending. The word polished was used numerous times and it made video seem out of the realm of possibility for most organizations. After seeing the videos in the afternoon it is clear that is, luckily, just not the case. Additionally, there was a vibe of 'this is all for the money'. In my opinion that focus is what can potentially make video ineffective and hollow." (3)
"A couple of the projects shown had budgets of $250,000 and involved filming the President of Rwanda. While it's nice to see what MercyCorps could possibly do, local examples like Free Geek, which was shown later in the afternoon, had far more relevance to me." (6)
" I found the entire thing interesting and useful except for the cynnical comments of the two people sitting behind me who apparently did not find it interesting and useful and felt the need to comment loudly for almost the entire workshop. This is not your fault. I should have been more assertive about shutting them up." (2)
"I'm not too big on presenting from the pulpit. I like to engage the experts and the audience more." (3)
"Could have addressed backlash of donors (particularly older donors) who are not interested in media or resent it. (The 2015 video itself is both interesting and ultimately frightening.) How do we connect them or how do organizations run multiple campaigns. It's a real capacity issue."
"Receiving the information on the Community Access Capital Grant, which is due March 20th was the least useful and most frustrating. We need more lead time to discuss the opportunities with our board and develop a good grant application."
"The entire format of the event was awful. When your first speakers say, "We're the boring part" and then talk for an hour, you know the event stinks. Organizer: do not invite boring speakers. Speakers: do not plan boring presentations. Also do not announce that what you are about to do is boring. Both organizers and presenters insulted the audience and wasted thousands of dollars in nonprofit resources because attendees got so little out of it."
What would have made it better? Advice for future sessions? (the variety of comments makes them much more difficult to categorize, but we've included a representative sample here)
"I loved the session, but too much of anything can become bad--cutting it to about half the time would have made it perfect!"
"Shorter! There is no way I an sit for 5 hours."
"Having the agenda in advance would have been helpful in planning the day."
"Perhaps having someone explain that videos can be made for very little money earlier in the day. Though Laura Mansfield had interesting points, she made it sound like a simple video would cost $16,000. Then after the break we saw that wasn't true, but people that left prior to the break may have been discouraged, thinking that there's no way their org could dedicate $16,000 to a video."
"I would have loved to hear more about specific steps to plan a video: how to decide what goes into it. Maybe a check list of what to consider, what kinds of expertise (videography, editing, etc.) are needed, etc."
"It would have been great to leave with DVDs of all the videos shown, especially Free Geek. I shared info about the event with my co-workers and they were eager to see the agenda and review all the examples."
"Some of the comments after the videos were too long. Perhaps handouts could have been used to summarize the findings from the non profits. Also, breakout groups might be helpful in the future."
"Have a 2-hour session with Gideon & Drew and an indepth Q & A after their presentation."
"Perhaps showing all the films and then having a panel with a moderator ask focused questions and take questions from the audience."
"No. 1, more break time. There's a reason old-time movie palaces had intermissions. Also, as this was quite a crossroads event for people in our industry, a few more breaks would have allowed for more mingling and networking."
"I'm wondering if it would have been possible to split into discussion groups with the speakers, to get a bit more dialogue going and to make it feel more interactive."
"This might be hard to do, but I wonder if you could customize the content a bit more. A Community Development Corp. has significantly different needs than Outside In or Friends of Trees. I'm wondering if maybe the afternoon sessions could be broken down in a fashion that would give more specifically targeted information."
"Better parking."
"Chocolate cake and brandy!"
What other topics, if any, would you like MMT to try to help demystify in the future?
applying for grants, getting solid funding, reaching people without annoying them
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How organizations are using electronic communications like e-newsletters, blogs, email blasts (ex: Constant Contant, etc.), including benefits and drawbacks to each, but hearing this all from the organizations themselves...not from a vendor or consultant or TACS. I know what the products/services are out there, but how are they REALLY working for groups? How did it change their communications with the public and their constituents?
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What grant-givers are looking for in grant-requests
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I'll think about this more and let you know.
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Discussing concrete solutions to bridge the technology gap (this happens with smaller organizations and also with staff that are not as tech savvy as they want to be) What can we do to catch up with the wave so that we do not fall off the cart entirely. If we are behind the ball with technology in more than one way..where is our time best spent? Where can we see the biggest advantage/return on our investment?
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more ideas about ways to do hands on .. or get it done ... at low costs ...
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Forming successful partnerships and collaborations.
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I would like you all to support TACS or WVDO or PSU or AFP any of the other organizations that provides professional development for the non profit sector. I don't see how this is the role of a foundation and clearly you are no good at it. You should have submitted an RFP for this kind of program. What you delivered was thrown together, uncordianted attempt at doing a brain dump vaguely on the topic of video in the nonprofit. It resulted in a incohesive, fragmented, repetitive presentation. Sometimes it was an infomercial. If you added up all the hourly wages in that room, I'd say you did the nonprofit community a disservice.
I have no doubt that you will get people who say it was helpful, but if these people have never used video, they don't know enough to know what was missing.
One more thing: one email a month from MMT is MORE than enough.
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I think you are doing a great job. It's exciting to be able to attend FREE trainings that are high quality.
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Alternative avenues of funding such as PRI, venture philanthropy/social investing, etc. Also internal nonprofit communications (conflict management, team building, communication skills building, facilitation, etc.). I am working on a degree program in this area and would be happy to recommend speakers who are professionals in this area and also have excellent presentation and teaching skills. I believe there is an enormous need for greater competence of nonprofits in this area (and am pursuing this degree in order to achieve that on at least a personal level!).
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I'm sure there are some, but it's too late in the afternoon for my brain to process. But I would like to thank the MMT crew for this wonderful effort. It was great to see MMT reps so involved in this topic -- and in such a hands-on, accessible way. Much appreciated.
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How can non-profits and non-profit service providers come together more easily?
How do independent producers/consultants approach the non-profit sector to provide services?
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Working with businesses as partners in win-win relationships.
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Effective use of non-profit boards.
Development and funding raising
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I am so new to non-profit management that I appreciate any free education I can get, but because I am involved in an arts organization I would love to see some workshops that focused on the arts specifically.
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Web conferencing and collaboration software [e.g. Webex]. This can be used to create short [or long] real-time presentations to donors and allow them to engage in discussion at the same time. [And, of course, it can be used within the org to faciliate communication and training.
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Effective boards
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Blogs, interactive media
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How to make a 1- 2 minute quick-time video using stills and "Ken Burns" effects.
Getting the media's ATTENTION. Effective press releases and other means of getting into the news.
Plannig, promoting, and putting on an effective fund-raising event.
Defining your target audience in fund-raising.
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You can do that???? Demystify the future, I mean....
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"Size matters"
What are the considerations for capital investment and especially STAFF TIME for these new media ideas/projects? And from the perspective of customizing the considerations: national organization, social services, public policy, fundraising, local organization, statewide or regional organization. One size will not fit all but how do you know what is best for YOUR organization??
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I think this one will be with us for a while.
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Measuring performance, operating transparently, models of governance.
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I think it would be helpful to also focus on a little about communicating to your funders ie. showcasing the funder and the grantee as partnering together. Thanks for providing this opportunity!
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Storytelling - how to structure and write powerful stories that can be used in multi-media.
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for beginners-how to change a website or update it.
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Long range plans of use of creativity - how to fund really unusual ideas.
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Fundraising: who does it well? why and how?
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Collaborative advantages - how nonprofits can work together to leverage change. Addressing the fear of lost autonomy - and creating a partnership contract for projects.
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It is very dry, but the use of data and databases keeps coming up as an important tool and one which there is typically a knee jerk reaction to implementing.
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I would like to hear from the film makers about the process and exactly how staff and volunteers can be involved and how they need to prepare for a venture like this.
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Anything that will help non-profits become more successful at finding resources of sustainable funding and ways to engage communities to support their mission.
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I appreciate your doing this. I am not sure I was a good target audience so treat my repsonses accordingly. (Don't weigh them as heavily)
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there are quite a few. a lot of us are so glad to see an alternative to TACS workshops, it's nice to see something a little more cutting edge for a change
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Well, since I'm thinking along these lines, I'd be interested in seeing some discussion or research about the way the entire non-profit world will evolve over 15 years. What will offices look like? What staffing configurations might be needed. And most important: Will prospective funders be willing to support the higher levels of overhead that likely will be needed to keep pace?
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fundraising, outreach, volunteer recruitment and retention, keeping your values even when you have to compromise
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I'm interested in emerging trends in engaging volunteers of all types in new and exciting ways
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Its the whole new media that I'm interested in--this emerging way of building community.
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The conversation can continue here... add your comments now! Also, please participate in the discussion forum we set up following the event. (Please note that you need to register before you can post.)
