Latest / The Nonprofit Podcast / Ep 150| The Power of Nonprofit Love Languages

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Ep 150| The Power of Nonprofit Love Languages · The Nonprofit Podcast

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: The Nonprofit Podcast powered by DonorBucks.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: How can understanding the different love languages of everyone in your nonprofit, your donors, volunteers, staff, and the people you serve help you build stronger, more meaningful connections and bring your community closer together.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: I'm Britt Stockert, fundraising strategist here at Donorbox.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: We are here each week with practical actions that you can use today to take your nonprofit to the next level tomorrow.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It is that time of year where love is in the air.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_01: Valentine's Day week, y'all, is here.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_01: Either you love it or you hate it.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm not talking about chocolates and roses, though.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm talking about how do you show love to those who make your mission possible?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but I have such a bad habit in both my personal and professional spaces where it's easy for me to project my own love language and expect that everyone shares the same love language.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: Do you do that too?
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: So the question for you here are you making sure those helping you bring your mission to life that they feel seen, valued, and appreciated?
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're gonna be talking about this this idea of community love languages.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: We're gonna explore the larger ecosystem of the nonprofit community.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think understanding their love languages, it's gonna help you build deeper relationships because, hey, that's why we're here, right?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we do.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: And it's gonna build a culture that thrives on community love.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So let's break it down.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: What are the community love languages that you're talking about, Britt?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_01: How can you identify them?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: And how can you use the knowledge that I'm sharing to create stronger connections?
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: So, this whole idea comes from Dr.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Gary Chapman's book, The Five Love Languages.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: How many of you have read it?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm raising my hand here.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: I will tell you, it's been a game changer for my personal relationships.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's applicable to what we do professionally as well.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it really is this idea about how we give and how we receive love.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: And when we get it right, means that we connect with a person on the receiving end on a much deeper level.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I think this same idea, it applies to our nonprofit community, right?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: This ecosystem that I'm talking about.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: So here are the love languages that we're going to be talking about today.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: There are five of them: words of affirmation, acts of service, quality time, physical touch, and gifts.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I know you're probably like, Britt, physical touch?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: What are you talking about here?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: We don't see this much in the nonprofit world for good reason, unless you're high-fiving people at your events, and I'm all for that.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I would say the other four, oh my goodness, they are golden.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Let's talk about them.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, words of affirmation.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, we all love a good verbal or a handwritten thank you, right?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: However, however, those words are communicated, we all love it.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm talking about how do we go deeper?
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_01: Because people want to know that their efforts truly matter, right?
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Beyond the generic surface level way.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: And just throwing out some ideas for you here for the your words of affirmation.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: I remember back when I was at a diaper bank, I can't tell you how many times community members said they felt most inspired when we took a moment to tell them exactly how their contributions were changing lives.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you this: I tell this to all my coaching clients, be specific and time.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: Contributions to specific outcomes.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: And so, what that looked like for a lot of my diaper bank community members, I was specific.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_01: I said in a handwritten thank you card or even in conversation, hey, hey Marina, you packed 200 diapers today, eight hours.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's about 200 families who now have what they need for three months so that they can worry less about having to repurpose soil diapers for their kid.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: Again, challenging you folks, be specific.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_01: What other ways, friends, can you show words of affirmation to your community members?
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for your donors, think about what you can do beyond the handwritten thank you card, phone call, or impact report.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Well, one idea, why not set up a donor recognition wall?
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_01: You may not have the funds, right, to construct a beautiful physical donor wall.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: There are so many cool donation management apps that allow you to set up virtual donor walls where donors can see their contributions in real time.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Or I know many nonprofits host an annual, low-cost, very intimate annual donor appreciation event.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: It gives a front row experience with staff, with those you're serving.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: It brings everyone together to really strengthen that connection to the cause.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_01: And one other idea: why not send personalized thank you videos?
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  SPEAKER_01: There are so many cool, free, affordable apps out there.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm thinking of my friends at Memory Fox, there's Loom, there's Vidyard, that can go a long way to add words of affirmation into your donor stewardship plan.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: And one last thing I want to say here with words of affirmation.
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  SPEAKER_01: It goes beyond your donors, your community members, your volunteers.
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  SPEAKER_01: What about the people you're serving?
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, words of affirmation goes beyond just delivering services.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: I know when I was making outreach deliveries, families living in their cars, 10 cities, encampments.
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  SPEAKER_01: I always made it a point to affirm their dignity.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: You're an amazing parent.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_01: It was so amazing what you did here.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: You donated unused diapers that your son outgrew.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: You re-gifted them to another babies of homelessness family that helped them care for their baby so that they could focus on navigating the low-income housing wait list.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Words of affirmation go beyond certain stakeholders, right?
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: It's the people that you're working with and serving.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Number two, acts of service.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: Show, don't just tell.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_01: Some people want to see love in action, right?
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: They want to see it in action, not just words.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_01: And again, I throw out the diaper bing because we found out through many of our intake calls and partner focus groups, many families they wanted to pick up diapers, but they struggled with transportation to get to the pickup location.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, we didn't just shrug it off and say, Well, good luck with that, right?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: We took it a step further, acts of service by adding two new programs, a monthly mobile van delivery service and a partner distribution channel where we partner with human service agencies, dropped off Palace and Diapers.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: We took it further.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: That is an example of an act of service, showing that we're truly committed as partners to meeting the needs of the entire community, showing not just telling.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: One idea for your nonprofit here, for your donors and volunteers with acts of service.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_01: Why not tap into Benevity?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: You probably have Benevity, pull a report, check out who the local companies are that are giving to us, contact those CSR teams.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: Microsoft has a devoted contact where they'll help you coordinate corporate teams to show up on site and commit to volunteer projects.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know at the diaper bank, we oftentimes partnered with local communities where employees came in, they packed boxes, they even met with staff.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: And after the packing party, we would receive comments like, oh my gosh, Britt, seeing the work up close and the amount of diapers it takes to care for one baby, it really opened my eyes.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Acts of service, right?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one other thing I would like to add here acts of service for your staff, nonprofit leaders.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: How can you show up as a servant type of leader?
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: I know for me, during tough times like the pandemic, I jumped in.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_01: When my colleagues were feeling overwhelmed, I fielded intake calls.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_01: I was never above myself.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: I was clued in early.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_01: And I realized if we were to increase representation and bring on folks in paid positions with lived experience in a high cost area, I needed to create a workplace based on competitive pay, benefits, flexible remote working options.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Again, there's so many creative ways to demonstrate acts of service.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: Show, not tell with your community members.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Number three, quality time.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: This love language is all about being present with your community.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because when you spend time with others, what does it do?
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_01: It shows them that they matter.
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  SPEAKER_01: One idea that is applicable for everyone within your ecosystem.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: Why not think about hosting a low-cost community fireside chat?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: It might be just a warm welcoming space.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_01: It could be at a public library.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they offer free spaces where you're bringing in your donors, your volunteer, the people you're serving, staff all together.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: Essentially, they all have a seat at the table and you're giving them ownership autonomy where donors are hearing directly from those or helping, but the people who benefit from the services are able to offer constructive input and feedback on the pressing need of the community.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Creating these safe spaces to build genuine connections.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: And finally, number four, gifts, meaningful, thoughtful tokens of appreciation.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Everyone loves knowing that they're thought of, right?
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: And it's not just about a physical, tangible item.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be costly.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about the price tag, it's really about the intention behind it.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: So for donors out there, I know so many of us send, what do we send?
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: Generic branded swag, right?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Like pens, or you'll have to tell me, what are you sending to your donors?
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's get creative.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know about you, but a handwritten note still goes a long way.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: You can send a frame photo that captures a moment of their donation and action.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a signed book by an author in an area of focus that your nonprofit is committed to addressing.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_01: Let's get more creative, folks.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: If you're a new nonprofit, what are some creative legacy gift options out there for your community members?
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know plan giving might be too big to tackle.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_01: Well, why not start promoting on your website, social media, and your print collateral that you're offering donor advice funds or matching gifts?
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_01: Again, highlighting these creative gift options where people want to leave a legacy.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's going to really tap into these folks who like to get meaningful, thoughtful tokens of appreciation.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_01: One other thing here for the people that you're serving, when it comes to tokens of appreciation, I'll throw out an idea here.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: At the diaper bank, we didn't just provide basic necessities.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_01: One thing that we found was essentially a gift was this idea of resources.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: We connected low-income families, families experiencing homelessness to important services.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, sometimes here in Washington, 211, which is a crisis intake line, they simply couldn't provide real-time or accurate resources due to high turnover and outdated information.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_01: So, what do we do?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: We stepped in and we created our own accurate resource list that we then gave to families.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I will tell you, they were so appreciative.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Essentially, it was another form of a gift that just lasted a long time.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so we covered essentially all four love languages and a little bit of the fifth love language, physical touch.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, how do we figure out which one really resonates?
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: And how do we start speaking it with intention?
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna leave you with this.
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  SPEAKER_01: I only have two things to close us out.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, number one, don't be afraid to ask your community directly how they like to be recognized.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: It might be a quick survey, a questionnaire, it might be in passing in a casual conversation, or you might consider adding it right now to your donation form.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Questions like, how do you like to be recognized for your support?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_01: Do you prefer a personal thank you note or something public?
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  SPEAKER_01: When you ask and listen, you're building trust and you're showing you're paying attention and you care about their preferences.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so that's number one.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: And number two, pay attention to engagement patterns.
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  SPEAKER_01: People often show you what they need through their actions.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_01: Tap into your CRM, other nonprofit tech tools you have to identify patterns and behaviors.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: For example, do your donors attend your events year after year, or do they prefer smaller intimate gatherings?
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Do some volunteers share their work on social media, or do other volunteers prefer to stay behind the scenes?
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_01: Or for your staff, do they consistently show up early or stay late?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Or do they schedule more one-on-one time with your leadership?
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_01: These two things are going to help you identify which love languages resonate with different community members that I'm talking about as part of this larger nonprofit ecosystem.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_01: Over time, it's gonna really tell you how you need to engage.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: So there you have it Community Love Languages in Action.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: This Valentine's Day, I want to leave you with something that's just what Jenna and I do.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Pick one person in your nonprofit's ecosystem.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Again, it could be a donor, volunteer, staff member, it can be someone in the community that you work with or serve.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: It can be a fellow nonprofit leader.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: I know we lean on each other so hard.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: And think about how are you going to show them that you appreciate them using not yours, but their preferred love language.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to start small.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: I want you to make it personal, and I want you to report back.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: After listening today, why not share on social media how you're going to use the love languages that we just learned about together?
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Feel free to tag us, use the hashtag nonprofitlovanguages.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm curious, let's see how your relationships grow stronger in real time.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you for joining us on today's The Nonprofit Podcast.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: I hope that you've left with the confidence to take a small step today that will make a big difference tomorrow.
• 15:47
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• 15:52
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• 15:58
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• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: We are here to help you.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time, happy Valentine's Day and keep building the kind of community that just thrives on love, appreciation, and real connection.
• 16:14
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