What did you fail at today?

Just a reminder: please resubscribe over at our new blog which can be found at: http://blog.agentsofgood.org

Just a reminder: please resubscribe over at our new blog which can be found at: http://blog.agentsofgood.org/

and I’m pretty sure it did.

Three days, one conference.

The AFP congress held in Toronto wrapped yesterday just a few minutes after two pm with a lovely lunch and awards show and then it was time to come home and decompress and reflect on the things I learned.

Firstly, if you were a delegate there (or for any conference for that matter) please DO NOT head back to your office and file away all the crap you collected. Sit down, with a notebook or open up word and write down the FIVE most important things you learned then forward it to your coworkers and colleagues. Go through all of those business cards you collected and throw out all the ones where you don’t recall meeting the person. Take what’s left and make a few notes about your conversation(s) you had and think about emailing them early next week just to keep in touch.

Now what I just wrote there is not “networking“. That is called relationship building. And that sort of relationship building will serve you wonderfully through the years of your career.

So once you are done those things, go through all the brochures, trinkets, etc and vet it down to the items that had the most effect on your or you know you will need in the near future.

Now what?

Remember that session we were in, where the speaker said that little nugget of info, and we collectively had that epiphany – that moment where we go “OMG, if we do this one thing – what a difference it would make”… ok – get out your whiteboard that hangs by your desk and in big letters write “2010 Actions”. Below that write down one, or two, of those epiphany’s you had and leave them there. And as you plan for your next year, DO THEM. Not maybe, or we’ll see… DO THEM.

It’s too easy to come back to a million emails, an overflowing list of things to do but do these things and you will be grateful you did.

So what are five things I learned that I want to share with you?
1. USP: Unique Selling Proposition. We live in a country with almost 160,000 charities and not for profits. What is your USP? It’s not your mission, it’s not about your board. It’s about your voice and your story. Your donors support your cause, not your charity. USP. Think about it and record it and then celebrate it in everything you do.
2. Always, always, always… ALWAYS concentrate on the needs, the wants – the SATISFACTION of YOUR donors. This is called donor centered fundraising.
3. Google Insights for Search. This is data that google collects about the surfing trends of web users. You can use it to find a lot about… well, anything actually. Here’s one I did to look at the difference of traffic in 4 cancer charities this past month across Canada. Funny how the traffic on Prostate Cancer is the largest… I wonder what they were up to? Hmmm…
4. Communications: Don’t talk about your “house”, talk about what the “house” does. Don’t talk about all the great work you are doing, your donors DON’T CARE. Talk about the great work they are doing with you, because of their support.
5. Asking for donations. Present the problem, discuss the solution and make the solicitation. Three lines or in thirty pages. PSS. Problem, solution, solicitation.

I had a great time at congress having lots of memorable and meaningful conversations with people who love and are challenged by what we do. So here are quickly some of the best.
-Being rubbed affectionately by Sean Triner during his presentation on data and the Joy of Donors.
-Getting goosebumps and shivers listening to Dr. Ron Archer speak about the work we do and in particular where he said that often you must have a break “down”, in order to have a break “through”.
-Meeting the enthusiastic, lovely and next years chair of Congress, Tania Little and having a short conversation that left a smile on my face for the rest of the day.
-Sharing a bottle of wine and quiet conversation with Kimberley MacKenzie and my wife Tara, at the close of day one, way after we should have gone to sleep.
-Hearing how the CEO of an agency on the other side of the world had heard about this new “agency” in Canada called Agents of Good who were shaking up the sector.
-Getting hugged by Mike Johnston (our relationship has been upgraded I am happy to see).

As I think about this, there were so many small moments that really made me proud to be who I am, work in the sector I do and so happy to be surrounded by the positive and brilliant people I know.
So how about you – how was your congress and what was the #1 memory or learning that you took away from it?

I’m looking forward to this one for many reasons.

1. It’s always amazing to get out and actually meet some of these “tweeters” who I talk to almost every day and have some really challenging and enlightening conversations. To top if off, Congress will be using a twitter board (sort of like they did in Holland at IFC) so we can not only feel like we are part of the action, but keep our colleagues who couldn’t make it, up to speed. You can follow along by tacking the hashtag #afpcongress.

2. Can’t wait to see some people speak who I’ve always admired like David Love (with my main gal Jen Love) talking about Loving your Donors, Harvey McKinnon and Mike Johnston who will be yakking about ways to kick start your mutli-channel fundraising campaign. And there are some like Ted Hart who will be covering social networking and Tom Ahern covering the in’s and out’s of a communication audit, who I’ve heard a lot about but have never heard speak.

3. Over 950 delegates. Need I say more? I have to honestly congratulate Mark Hierlihy, this year’s chair and his entire committee for, as Mark told me, keeping this year’s congress accessible to everyone. They’ve managed to do that in many ways. Also, the Congress staff headed by Cynthia Quigley have worked tirelessly with presenters, volunteers, agencies and God knows who use to make sure it all runs without a hitch. Well done to all.

4. I will be attending under my newly formed collaborative called Agents of Good. There will be more on that another time, but looking forward to meeting other “agents of good”, the people who work tirelessly, day after day in our sector to make real change in this world with not a lot of appreciation or support sometimes.

Like a lot of things, they say Congress is what you make it. Get engaged, dive in, ask questions, introduce yourself, share what you learn, and, most importantly, have a fun time and feel the love of being surrounded by almost 1,000 others who are there for the same reason you are.

Make this your congress to remember. See you tomorrow!

I, like many others knew about SOFII. I was a registered user and once in a while would check it out if I had some time to kill. I LOVED the idea behind SOFII.
To have a online, living and breathing museum of fundraising that I could access anytime – FOR FREE! – was almost too good to be true. And in a way it was.

I found it largely unusable. [EDIT: To clarify this statement, I found that due to varying navigation and overload of links and images, SOFII, for me, was hard to use as a tool.]

Kimberley described SOFII to me as “a fundraising conference every day“.

SOFII founder Ken Burnett describes it as: “…an archive, a historical record, a repository of wisdom, tips and insights and also hopefully a stimulus to new innovation too. It’s much more than just a stimulus to new ideas though, important though that function is.”

SOFII is a great idea in theory but in practice, was it working?

Ken Burnett acknowledged it might be working, but it could work far better. A redesign and overhaul was on the table for 2009 and I knew I wanted to be a part of that.

Full disclosure – I knew to have my name attached to a project as important as SOFII would be fantastic. To be able to work closely with Ken to help redefine and re-imagine a site like SOFII would be a great communications and design challenge and, I hoped, would expose the work my firm is doing to fundraisers from all around the world.

I offered up the skills and experiences of my partner Mark Haak and I to Ken, and hoped they would let us help.

I knew that the most important thing, the make it or break it moment of the new SOFII would have little to do with design and more to do with its functionality.

The content on SOFII is, in a word, phenomenal. The problem is how to find it. There are so many links and graphics on every page it is difficult to know where to go to find what you want.

The current site also has a search function but it still requires a bit of work to find what you might be looking for.

So we knew from the “get go” we had to make the site functional, clean up the navigation and design and build in stronger search functionality.

The other thing I wanted to do is give SOFII a new logo that hopefully better represented the spirit behind the site.

I remember an early conversation with Ken. It was important that he knew we were both on the same page about what we wanted from the site, and to make sure he fully understood how we were approaching this redesign.

A philosophy,that obviously wasn’t ours, but we preach to our clients all the time is: WE put the donors at the center of everything we do – which means – we make sure whatever we are designing or writing or asking for is appropriate to that audience, will make sense to them, and puts their needs ahead of everyone else’s.

As I explained to Ken – we were approaching this rebuild in a VERY user-centered way. It needed to work for the user.

So starting with form of the site we broke it downtown into, what we felt were the most important elements of the site and presented this wireframe to Ken and Carolina Herrera.


We knew that most people were coming to the site to look at the exhibits and maybe catch up on the latest news.The search functionality was front and center – it had to be. We wanted people to find the things they might be looking for from anywhere they were on the site.

Trying to organize the exhibits in a way that might be obvious or intuitive to the user was largely one the biggest communication challenges. Especially as we started looking at how exhibits were classified. But ultimately, upon the relaunch and testing by users like you, we will know if we succeeded or not.

My brain was also working on the logo.

I remember I was sitting in a session by Kimberley MacKenzie at Fundraising Day in Toronto this past spring, where she was presenting a session about SOFII. And while listening to her talk and the feedback from the audience (about 95% of whom had never heard of SOFII), my brain kept repeating one statement.

Inspiration leads to innovation.

Of course, it says that there on the SOFII main page:

But to me, the inspiration needs to come first right?

I doodled a couple ideas at the conference which I later mocked up and sent to Ken to consider.


After circulating to some of his SOFII ambassadors, the feedback was that the light bulb just wasn’t cutting it.

The logo needed to say inspiration and without going into a long drawn out ramble about the process we came up with a few more solutions.

Which lead to the selection of the final logo.

So once we had our wireframe approved we moved onto the design. Again, our desire was to keep the site functional and to hopefully make sense to the user as to where they need to go to find the things they might need.


Ken really pushed us to make sure the images on the exhibit pages could be displayed as big as possible so we revised the layout of those pages.


Upon approval, it was time to move onto programming and migration. This whole site rebuild would not have been possible without the incredibly hard work and dedication of our programmer Dean Reeds from Open Web Group.

As we often do, as we started migrating the content from the existing site into the new site, Dean made many video tutorials of the “how-to’s” so he could train Carolina on how to insert new exhibits and articles moving forward, and fortunately due to Dean’s hard work, that process is as simple as creating a word document.

Here are a few more screen caps of the site:
Site map:

Create exhibit:

Articles:

So what’s next?

SOFII has been on a bit of a fundraising drive because there are costs associated to running a site like this. And if you have a moment take a look at this video and then contact Kimberley if you would be able to give something to keep a resource as important as SOFII up and running and moving forward.

We are hoping to relaunch just in time for the new year. I was speaking to Sean Triner this past week about a selecting a few of the current users to act as beta testers to find any cracks that might still exist when it goes live and after the testing is complete, and we’ve made our final tweaks we will be releasing SOFII 2.0 out to you and the world.

A site like SOFII has a lot of potential for growth, and we have some ideas already for version 3.0 which will continue to make it a one of a kind and massively important resource for any fundraiser in the world.

Obviously, if you haven’t already, go to sofii.org and register as a user. Then send it to 10 people you know in our sector and ask them to join.

The success of this site will always require the support of its users. Users like you.

Thanks for your help and support.

Let me ask: What messages are you sending out about yourself?

~Joel Osteen, Success From Home Magazine

Having your handwriting turned into a font allows me to create art that looks like it has really come from the hand of the ED or whoever you want.

I’m sure you are starting to get a sense of the possibilities.
And Chank has been gracious enough to make a special deal (only $149 US) for my readers and followers right here: https://www.chank.com/gofontyourself/
Thanks a ton Chank! And keep up the amazing work.
Hopefully once you have your font in hand, you’ll come to me to show you how to use it most effectively!
(And by the way, check out the rest of his font design too!)

Mock and retweet at will.

BUT (you knew there was a ‘but’ coming) I also think that clients, past, present and future acknowledge that you’ve done good work for them and I see no reason why I can’t share that love. We work hard, and too often I gauge success by the fact that a client didn’t call me up and complain – the whole no news is good news thing…

What do you think? Especially those of you who might be potential clients – do testimonials make you more or less likely to work with a firm? Have you ever worked with anyone based on a testimonial?

Useful or useless?

While you decide, here are some testimonials that we have gotten – so please allow me to honk my own horn. TOOT TOOT!

“I’ve not met John so my recommendation is limited to three key qualities I can easily see as a ‘remote’ client. First, John is an enthusiast; he has a seemingly endless appetite for what he does. Second, he’s knowledgeable; he knows what he’s doing and what he talks about and isn’t afraid to challenge accepted wisdom. Third, he’s creative; he ‘gets it’ really quick and comes up with neat, practical solutions that work. I’m sure when I finally meet John I’ll spot all sorts of other qualities, but these three seem fairly crucial, from the client side. (Oh, and he’s generous too!)”. Ken Burnett – Managing Trustee at SOFII Foundation and Director at The White Lion Press Limited

“We did some of our best work with John. I recommend him enthusiastically.” Steve Thomas, Chairman and Creative Director, Stephen Thomas

“You get an important bonus when you give John an assignment – strong strategic thinking. You also get to tap into his many years of experience, which can be very valuable.” Bob Knight, writer

“I hired John while while an Account Director at Harvey McKinnon Associates. Our first project together was to create a fantastic proposal package to wow a potential new client. We also wanted to be able to reuse the template for future proposals. John certainly stepped up to the plate! He came up with a great creative concept and worked closely with me to refine it as necessary. And, of course, this project was a “rush” job, to be completled in just a couple of days. John was a pleasure to work with, maintaining good humour and producing a high quality product. We continued to use John to design many of our direct mail appeals. I’d work with him again in a heartbeat!” Rachel Zant – Direct Marketing Copywriter

“John created the logo for our non-profit’s main initiative. What impressed me so much, was John’s thorough and enthusiastic interest in what we’re doing. His research and creativity meshed to produce the ideal logo that’s not only aesthetically beautiful, but also on target with helping Spa4Diabetes reach it’s goals. Thanks so much John and we look forward to working with you in the future!” Candy Silvasy, Principal & Creative Director

“Why is John Lepp so great to work with? Not only is the guy talented as a designer, he is incredibly passionate about fund raising and he is probably the most honest creative person I know. Despite being in the industry for over a decade, the start of each project brings a level of excitement and creative energy that I don’t often see in other creative people. For John, every new project isn’t just another job, its an opportunity to create and to collaborate. There is something refreshing about working with John and I look forward to working with him every time.” Dan Banko, Principal, Banko Media

“John sits in a little studio in a leafy suburb of Toronto and turns out some of the best non profit creative we’ve seen for a very long time. And he’s also a quite incredible cook, so if it all goes horribly wrong you can always ask him to make you dinner.” Jon Duschinsky, Director, BeTheChange

“Mr. Lepp has plenty of good insights on design for nonprofits and I recommend The Naked Idea to all fundraising creatives.” Dan Shaw, blogger at Happydonors.com

“Recently John designed a newsletter for Reach for the Rainbow and the entire organization is overjoyed with the look, feel and effect. With precious little guidance from our overburdened team, John designed a bright, crisp, enticing and effective newsletter that we are proud to send to our constituents. John’s design clearly portrays our organizations’ values with simple, but impactful elegance. I look forward to enlisting John’s expertise on many future projects. The children and youth who rely upon Reach for the Rainbow’s services will enjoy a happier holiday season as a result of his excellent work.” Laurie Pringle, ALS Canada

“Despite a tough economy and the rainy weather, The 9th Annual Kenaidan-York University Chairs Cup Golf Tournament was a resounding success.  A special thank you to John for creating a logo and re-branding our sponsorship materials and collaterals.  With York’s 50th anniversary this year it was time to create fun and dynamic marketing materials”.   Joanne Giannakopoulos, Associate Director, Integrated Marketing, York University Foundation

“Working with Idea Design was the best decision we made when deciding to rebrand. John took us through a thorough process that helped translate our work, vision and values into a new identity that we love!” – Simon Geoghegan, Epiphany Coaching

“Basically, John is an uber-talent with big ideas, a great sense of humour, and a passion for doing things right. It’s refreshing.” Kim McMullen, Owner at Flipside Creative

“John, I love giving out our cards! because people always have such a positive reaction. As you told us, they really are a mini-brochure that provokes interest and a great conversation. Thank you design guru!” – Cheryl Breukelman, Epiphany Coaching

“John was a great person to work with as I developed the organization Get Active Now, Get Active Now Canada, Access Waterlooregion and Active Halton. John is able to take the idea to the next level, and not losing the values of the organization. His out of the box thinking is most appreciated, and his forward thinking ideas. It has been a great pleasure to work with John and I will continue to use his services in the future.” Frank Prospero, Recreation Supervisor – Community Development at Town of Halton Hills

“Over the years I’ve worked with John on the implementation of numerous creative projects. His very thoughtful approach has helped us achieve the product and the results we were looking for. Kudos.” Paula Attfield, Vice-President, Stephen Thomas

“I have worked with many dm designers over the course of my 30-year career in direct marketing. Most of them do not possess John’s skill as a direct mail designer. Not only is he able to use his skills to design creatively but he is also able to encompass and visualize his designs in the context of the actual production process. This skill is extremely important to ensure that the dm package can actually be produced within the scheduled time frame AND budget. He is a member if an elite group of designers who should be on every organization’s fundraising team.” Rainer Fischer, Owner, DM Graphics Inc.

“John is a passionate designer who cares deeply about finding the best solution for his clients. During the two years I spent as a colleague of John’s at Stephen Thomas, I was consistently impressed by the packages he created that met competing priorities with style and professionalism. John offers his clients a thoughtful interpretation of current trends to meet their fundraising and marketing needs.” Barb Crisp, Fundraising Consultant and writer

“Out of my three son’s, John is easily my favourite. The best son ev-vah!” My Mom.

Ok I made that last one up – but I’m quite sure it’s true. So are you more or less likely to work with Idea Design now?