YGM Total Resource Campaigns » 2016

Additional minutes – 1,440 of them, to be exact. Twenty-four additional hours. At midnight on Monday, you will receive additional time. This year is Leap Year, and on Monday, you do get an additional day.

You get more.

The question is: what will you do with that extra time?

Will you work as usual? Will you implement a new procedure at work? Decide to get out of the office and finally make those membership calls? Volunteer as part of the #LeapOfKindnessDay movement? What will you do with your extra day? If you have been given more, do more with it.

You Get More

The second most asked question I receive from Chamber professionals is “what does YGM stand for?” YGM = You Get More. When the founder of YGM, Joyce Powell-Johnson, began this business on her own nearly 20 years ago, she made it her mission to ensure chambers were in a position to be as successful as possible in their Total Resource Campaigns, as well as in their future endeavors.

Today, YGM continues to build on that foundational philosophy.

Chambers Get More

YGM encounters chambers when they are looking for ways to involve volunteers more, when they are looking for ways to shake things up in their fundraising, and when they need new opportunities to bond staff together.

Chambers bring us into their organization, and through a Total Resource Campaign, we give a chamber an avenue to engage volunteers, a fresh way of approaching fundraising, and a new look at staff involvement. In many ways, that is only the beginning.

With a TRC, we give chambers more.

We give them more:

Ideas
Confidence
Sponsorships
New Members
Coaching
Individual Attention

Time

Just like you will gain extra time on Leap Day, a TRC can give a chamber extra time – time to put toward doing other things. Instead of staff spending time going from event to event “chasing dollars,” those dollars are secured during the TRC.

Chambers are able to thank sponsors with greater “pomp and circumstance” before having to rush on to the next event, thus building sponsor loyalty.

That boost in time can be redirected toward strategic planning with staff, visiting with members, or an endless array of other worthwhile endeavors.

Personal Attention

One of the key components of the YGM approach is personal contact. We are comfortable telling this to clients over and over because it isn’t something we just tell them to do. It is something we do ourselves.

At YGM, personal contact is something we pride ourselves on. We keep in close contact with each client throughout the TRC process. By walking clients through the TRC, we give them the knowledge they will need to make the TRC their own and to be able to make it their own for future years.

We train each chamber’s staff in how they can execute this program to be a viable, sustainable non-dues revenue generation program that increases year-after-year.

When it comes to personal assistance and attention, our clients get more.

Leap Day

I’m not sure what you’ll do with your Leap Day on Monday, but I’m going to be working to make sure our clients continue to get more.

YGM… You Get More.

This is Valentine’s weekend. I’m not stating anything overly obvious, as I’m sure everyone has had a florist or two drop by the office today with deliveries of flowers or chocolates. Or if you happen to be stuck in an airport, I’m sure you’ve watched more than one fellow traveler pick out a pink or red gift from the duty free store to take home.

Whether you think Valentine’s Day is the most romantic day of the year or the most commercial, it is a pretty easy opportunity to capitalize on the calendar in order to show your volunteers some love.

Volunteer Love
When I talk with Total Resource Campaign (TRC) clients about their campaigns and the follow-up needed after the campaign, I always stress that it is all about making the volunteers feel important and valued.

A volunteer who feels like he or she is really integral to the Chamber and the life of the programs at the Chamber is a volunteer who will continue to bring in new sponsorships and members for years to come.

And while there are layers upon layers of ways to make those volunteers feel special throughout the year, this commercial love-filled holiday gives you a ready-made opportunity. Seize it.

Love Notes
Many chambers use Constant Contact to communicate with their volunteers via email (ALL should, as Constant Contact provides its services to Chambers of Commerce at a discount.). The email marketing website has pre-made Valentine’s Day templates ready for you to use.

Just log on, pick your template, write a quick message to your volunteers telling them how ‘sweet’ you think each and every one of them is, choose the appropriate mail list, and you’re done.

In about 15 minutes, you’ve sent your volunteers a note to tell them how special they are.

Public Professions of Love
Take it to the streets, so to speak. Flip through those group shots of your volunteers and post a few on your social media sites with captions telling how grateful you are to have such supportive volunteers. Tag everyone in the photos to make sure the photos show up where their friends and co-workers will see them.

Post a few photos to your Chamber website if you have a photo gallery. Post links to the gallery on your social media sites to encourage traffic, both for your Chamber exposure and for your volunteers to get that little boost in exposure as well. Send a quick link to the CEOs of those volunteers’ businesses.

Love Lottery
If your Chamber is hosting a fund-raiser this weekend or in the coming weeks, do a random drawing from the names of the volunteers and give away two free tickets to the event.

You’ll make one volunteer’s day, and you’re sure to get some free publicity for the event from all of the social media posts the volunteer will give you.

Love your Volunteers
Chambers who do well are grateful for their volunteers. They nurture that relationship year-round. And while it may seem silly, they take the opportunities to thank them and to make them feel appreciated, even if those opportunities are commercial and hokey.

Go on, spread some volunteer love this afternoon.

Leap Year… Make that Extra Day Count

Leap Year… Make that Extra Day Count

Show Some Volunteer Love this Valentine’s Day