What is a Chief Community Evangelist?

Our work as a growing social enterprise has offered quite the learning experience. Personally, I feel grateful to be part of an organization designed to serve social service agencies—to help make them more efficient and to, ultimately, increase their capacity.

We are fortunate that the majority of our business is through returning clients and word of mouth (our fans); because of the need to reach new organizations and step out of our comfort zone, we decided to implement a new marketing strategy known throughout the as evangelism.

I recently took a new job title at Idealistics, Chief Community Evangelist. Jokingly, many of my friends called me to confirm my new title—they asked me if the change occurred with my consent (ha ha, very funny). At Idealistics, we are cause-driven. We think it is important for us to be as transparent as possible, especially since our clients are nonprofits and are held to the same standards.

By adopting an evangelistic approach to sales challenges us to better engage our clients by seeking out and welcoming honest feedback regarding our products, services, and business model; by improving the way we communicate our mission; and by ensuring that our staff, investors, friends, and clients can clearly represent our genuine efforts to enhance social services on our behalf (it’s not just our slogan).

As Idealistics’s Chief Community Evangelist, my primary purpose is to foster, and harness, the energy and support of our supporters so they can help us spread our message. As we continue to grow as an organization, we recognize the commitment necessary to continuously improve the way we do business and to remain in touch with our clients’ work in the field.

Through my research, I found that many Fortune 500 companies, social enterprises, and a handful of nonprofits are implementing this approach. This low-tech, high-touch approach revolves around strengthening relationships by deliberately investing in 'friendraising', sharing ideas, and creating products and services that consumers both want and need. In times when funding is becoming scarce, and competition is more noticeably fierce, I [honestly] believe social services should take the time to learn the benefits of this strategy.

To prove to you that this is a real job title, held by real people in real organizations, I encourage you to research the title yourselves (you will be surprised). In an interview with N-TEN, Guy Kawasaki, a former software evangelist for Apple, discusses how this strategy is innately designed to help nonprofits. Grand and Crutchfield recently posted a blog in Philanthropy News Digest in which they describe the practice of inspiring evangelists as one of the six practices of "high-impact" nonprofits.

If we were to examine the true definition of an evangelist as a zealous advocate for something, we could make the case that as social service providers, we/you are already evangelizing. Some evangelize for social justice, systems change, or any cause that makes you get up and go to work each day. Many of are evangelists for sports teams, name brands, or organizations--for which we have our individual reasons for lending our support.

The job title does spark emotions. Some are good. Sadly, some not so good. Please know we did not conjure this title up for the sake of conversation, or to be different; it is the best way to define our evolution as social entrepreneurs.

Click here for a free e-book on evangelism by Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba.

Poverty Amongst Affluence

On August 21 I had the privilege of traveling up to Northern California to meet with an organization called Community Services Agency (CSA) in Mountain View. I grew up in Silicon Valley, so it was nice for me being back home. The city of Mountain View is home to several software companies and the tech giant Google. Mountain View is a beautiful city with several tree lined streets.

As I was driving to my meeting, I was struck by how wealthy the area appeared. How on earth, I thought, could an organization that provides a food pantry, homeless, and senior services be situated in such a gorgeous, affluent area. To my surprise, as I pulled up to CSA, down at the end of this lushly green street, I saw people lining up to receive food at CSA's food pantry. The people in line for services were of varying ethnicity's and ages.

I can honestly say, even though as a social service professional I know poverty exists in affluent communities, I have to admit I was shocked to see so many people lined up at a food pantry in such a wealthy city. For me this was a reminder of the importance of the work we in the social service industry do, especially as the economy moves towards recession. In economic slow downs service sector jobs are always the first to go, and people employed in the service sector tend to be the lowest paid, most economically vulnerable.

It's good to know there are organizations like CSA meeting the needs of people in all types of communities. No matter how beautiful or affluent an area is, my meeting at CSA was a critical reminder that pockets of poverty can exist anywhere.

Geography Matters

The Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD) is a great resource for staying up on the latest trends in economic development research. One of their 2007 working papers, Using the Global Positioning System (GPS) in
Household Surveys for Better Economics
and Better Policy written by John Gibson and David McKenzie, talks about different strategies for using geographic data in the service of better statistical analysis and better programs. Their focus is on the developing world but they do mention that, in the developed world, implementing these strategies can be even easier, given the existence of large databases that map addresses to geographic coordinates. Adapting their conclusions to the context of this country, one gets a sense of the possibilities that emerge from integrating geographic data into our needs assessments and evaluations.

Needs Assessments

Gibson and McKenzie point out that a household's geographic location determines how easy or hard it is for them to access certain services. The obvious point of inquiry is to look at how a person's geographic location enables them to access social services. Databases of businesses locations let us see how easy it is for a person to access a bank (as opposed to a check-cashing location - see the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and Citibank's report written by Edmund Kashadourian and Syldy Tom, The Unbanked Problem in Los Angeles, for a great geographic/statistical analysis of this subject) or grocery store (as opposed to a mini mart - well-documented in the LA Times, including in this piece). Now, more than ever before, we have the data to integrate these kinds of questions into our needs assessments.

Evaluations

Geographic data can also help us in our evaluations. As mentioned in a previous post, one of the major challenges in doing evaluations is finding an appropriate control group. Gibson and McKenzie point out that geography makes this substantially easier given that "near-by places are more likely to share community characteristics, such as culture, trust, and government ability." Looking at data from a person's own census tract or block has the potential to provide a natural point of comparison because of these shared characteristics.

The availability of geographic data gives analysts in the social service sector a whole new set of tools to tease out community needs and organizational outcomes. It's always been an important part of the data analysis that we do at Idealistics (for example in our Community Resource system reports an example of which is available here) and we look forward to incorporating new forms of data and new ideas into the work that we do.

Peace March in Northeast Area of Los Angeles

On August 16, I participated in a peace march and rally. Coordinated by local faith-based organizations and representatives from LAPD’s Northeast Division — it attracted a wide array of people with varying interests. Some came to support efforts to unify the community, while others came to celebrate the lives of those who succumbed to gang violence. Elected officials and community leaders were on hand to show their support and to encourage long-term efforts to eliminate the stronghold gangs have on the area.

Since I recently moved to the area, I didn’t know exactly how long the march was going to be—I’m glad I wore a light colored shirt, shorts, and running shoes. During the march, I had the pleasure to walk beside an elderly woman who carried a sign the entire route. She was an inspiring figure. To me, she represented the community’s resilience and commitment to bringing law enforcement, community, and local churches together to solve this growing problem. Despite the 90-degree weather, the event was more of a moving party. Groups displayed banners, touted posters, and wore shirts signifying their commitment to the peace process.

As anyone who lives in this part of the Los Angeles knows, this was a necessary event. Achieving peace in Northeast is one step closer to becoming a reality—the challenge now is to hold ourselves accountable for following through and transforming the words we chanted along the route into reality.

I was pleased to see that Deputy Chief Diaz and Captain Murphy walked the entire route (in full uniform).

Click here to see some of my photos of the event.

Don't have a website? Get online!

As a software developer at Idealistics I focus on the development of our software systems. Being on the tech side, I see a lot of the advantages technology and the world wide web offer to the social service industry. Technology has changed the provision of social services and organizations' ability to connect with their donors. It is offering new ways to perform services and obtain information.

Ask yourself a question, "How does my agency communicate with community stakeholders?" If you want to cast a wide net and communicate more deeply with constituents, a web presence is a must for all social service agencies.

A website allows you to fully explain and display who you are and what you do. You can tell your community about your work, services, qualifications, client outcomes, completed projects, and in fact just about anything that will benefit your purpose.

Having a website makes it easier to encourage referrals, because website addresses are easier to remember than phone numbers. Also since a website allows people to learn about your services anonymously, some may be more comfortable learning about an organization online rather than on the phone or in person.

If your agency doesn't yet have a web site, there are several companies that do web design and sometimes you can get volunteers with the web design experience to make a site for you. If you do go with a web design company, make sure you are allowed to keep the source code and that you have access to the server being used to host your website. You want to make sure that you are in control of the website content in case you want to change servers in the future or if you want to have a volunteer or another company maintain the website content for you.

In the digital age a web presence is a must for all social services agencies, not just for for-profit enterprises and techies. So if you're not already, get online!

The Need for More Financial Education

In his presentation at FDIC’s Foreclosure Symposium, Dr. Raphael Bostic (Lusk Center for Real Estate, University of Southern California) discussed, at length, some of the factors responsible for the current economic crisis. He covered many topics throughout his insightful presentation; among them was the importance of financial education as a long-term solution for helping families make better, more informed financial decisions (prevention). Dr. Bostic caught me off guard with this comment (in a good way). I was pleasantly surprised to hear someone at his level advocating a service many of the people I work with have been advocating for years.

His presentation made me think back to the foreclosure prevention workshop, which I volunteered at a few weeks prior. Hosted by LA Neighborhood Housing Services, the event drew hundreds of homeowners from Downey and the surrounding communities. This being the first time I ever volunteered at such an event, I expected the day to be emotional and somewhat stressful—I prepared myself mentally on the short drive to the venue. The event started off hectic, but eventually, the staff and other volunteers had everything under control.

At the event, I took the opportunity to engage participants in discussions ranging from the weather to their specific financial dilemmas. I was surprised to find how willing many of them were to share their experiences with me (a stranger)—some were, obviously more vocal than others about how they arrived at this event. Many of the people I talked to as they left the event expressed how relieved they were to finally connect with a real person. I was especially surprised to find that less than half of the people I talked to (+/-40) never clearly understood how to maintain a household budget, or knew about community-based organizations offering financial education services in their community. In the end, I completed my volunteer assignment with an increased understanding of the needs for this particular community.

It has been almost three weeks since the foreclosure prevention event. Last Friday, August 1, I attended a First Four Fridays meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco in Downtown LA. Marguerite Womack (United Way of Greater LA) and Melody Winter Nava (Federal Reserve Bank) were our hosts. Coincidently, the topic for this meeting was financial education. At this meeting, Melanie Stephens (Centro Latino de Educacion Popular) and Victor Ramirez (Citi) conducted separate, but equally compelling presentations dealing specifically with this concept: Melanie discussed the development of a culture of awareness while Victor highlighted best practices and successes of Citi’s commitment to supporting financial education programs worldwide.

The vibe in the room, in my opinion encompassed collaboration—not the kind that develops for the sake of collaboration, but the kind fueled by an actionable sense, purpose, and resolve. Along with initiatives like Bank on LA, FDIC’s Alliance for Economic Inclusion, and the Greater LA EITC Campaign Partnership, the negative effects of the economy are forcing a window of opportunity—one that strengthens the collective momentum needed to align and leverage resources to create change. Together, these groups have the power bring their respective constituencies together; united, they will, in my opinion, ensure that communities are well informed and given access to the resources to make educated decisions about their finances.

I always look forward to attending events like the ones I’ve mentioned in this blog. While at the Federal Reserve Bank, (who, by the way serve an outstanding breakfast) I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Liana Molina from California Reinvestment Coalition. After meeting Liana, I visited CRC’s website and learned about all the work she and her agency are doing throughout the state. Also on CRC’s site, I found a video (Mo\' Money, Mo\' Money, Mo\' Money: How Greedy Corporations Destroy the American Dream) on foreclosures and payday lending (I recommend it as you might see some service providers you recognize—doing great work!).