Humanity is Alive and Well

I tend to be an overly positive person. I like to see the good in all things and in all people. You need to know this to understand where this story is headed.

I have a rental home; typically vacation rentals, but I recently leased it to a single mother with two children who was having a terrible run of luck.

As the Holidays came, my family helped them with toys and clothes. I was very lenient with rents and waived many fees. I felt like she was truly working on getting her life back on track, and I wanted to help. When she decided to leave, she left the home in what can be described as nothing short of a nightmare. I had not collected a deposit, so I was disappointed and annoyed. When I spoke with her, she apologized repeatedly and promised to reimburse me for all of the additional cleaning costs. Everyone I know, told me I could kiss that money good-bye and that I would never hear from her again.

Last week she showed up on my doorstep with cash in hand. She wanted to deliver it in person so she could share how my generosity had helped change her life and restore her faith in humanity. The irony is that she had done the same for me. She is now in a great job, has a great home, and seems to be doing very well. She went on the tell me that she had planned to write a review and make recommendations for the house.

It just goes to show that generosity can drive more referrals for your business, and more importantly go a long way in restoring ones faith in humanity.

Take-away: Give with no expectation. The rewards will come full circle!

Using Video to Engage Customers

At this year's Association for Fundraising conference I sat in on a session "Building Websites to Enhance Donor Engagement" led by Feldmann and Sundar. It was a great session with many great tips. Some of them we have talked about here before, but all of them are worth repeating.

Here are my top three tips for engaging customers using video based on this session.

1. Keep it short. Videos added to your site should be no longer than 2 minutes. And, honestly I think they should be even shorter.
   
2. Post it on your site and YouTube. This doubles your opportunity to share and increases your search optimization.
   
3. End every video with a call to action.
   

   
    

Here is a great example; although it is a bit on the long side, the video does a great job of sharing the story in a simple, unique, and impactful way. Charity:Water share who they are, what they stand for, and how you can help!!! I love it!

Thanks AFP for a great session and thanks for turning me on to a new nonprofit with a great mission. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rphhfy4qCfc

Take-away: Give up your birthday for a better cause, and start using video to share your story. It clearly works.