Honored to be included

Back in the fall, C2C attended a LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) meeting and was part of a panel that discussed communications. Our focus was on the meaning of jargon and words – how use of jargon can be misinterpreted either on purpose or through ignorance.

In today’s world there are a lot of ‘catch phrases’ out there that are code to certain groups. These phrases have very different meanings to different cohorts of people. A nonprofit must be very careful and very aggressive in making their case. If you don’t, someone else will and chances are it won’t be what you’d say.

Here’s an expanded version of the blog C2C first posted in the fall. Many thanks to the Institute of Comprehensive Community Development for including us.

Words vs. jargon vs. actual meaning

I attended a great conference in Minneapolis recently that was a retreat for LISC offices from the Southeast and Midwest. One of the sessions featured a panel discussion about the use of marketing, advertising and public relations to help build a donor base.

In the question and answer period, one attendee asked about the negative connotation of a phrase that is important to the housing redevelopment industry – affordable housing. On its face, affordable housing means just that – housing that is affordable for all people. Unfortunately, in today’s world, to many people, the term affordable housing conjures up the image of dilapidated buildings that warehouse people and serve as a haven for criminals. No, it’s not the truth but it’s the perception.

My advice to the attendee was to not use the phrase. Use something like ‘workforce housing’ or ‘housing for teachers, retail workers, and medical office workers.’ Paints a totally different picture, doesn’t it.

Yes, it’s sad that we live in a media world where estate taxes have become ‘death taxes’ and being ‘liberal’ is a bad thing. But there is a way around it. Nonprofits need to take special care with their words and not use jargon that is tied to their industry (that’s simple – because most people won’t understand what it really means). Your positive perception and a possible donation could be riding on it.

Leveraging dollars

The current economic downturn has affected everything from government revenues to nonprofit donations. With demand for services on all fronts up but revenues down, what’s an organization to do? Actually, there may be a solution in governments and nonprofits working together to leverage dollars and provide services.

An example of a great public-private partnership is the work of LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation). LISC works nationally to garner funding from foundations, individual philanthropists and through government grants. It then sends that money to its local LISC organizations, such as LISC Jacksonville. LISC Jacksonville in turn raises funds through grants, individual philanthropy and city government support. So, what was a local $500,000 donation is leveraged to create a pot of over $12 million to help neighbors create sustainable communities in underserved neighborhoods. Wow, any nonprofit would love to “grow” money like that.

So while money doesn’t grow on trees, it can be made to grow into a substantial pot that will have a better chance of achieving goals through leveraging a public-private partnership.