Media4aCause Curriculum's Page

VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO BARBARA GERAGHTY WHO INSPIRED THIS CURRICULUM

Even people who wouldn’t dream of eating at McDonalds can tell you what a Big Mac is. Why? Because McDonalds dedicates itself to telling consumers around the world what it is and how good it tastes. They make sure that every franchise, anywhere in the world, makes it look, feel and taste the same way. That’s great behavior. That’s great branding.
Your enterprise can and should do the same thing and you don’t need to spend a fortune! The public, the media, your clients, and especially potential donors, should know exactly:
Who you are.
What you stand for.
Why you are qualified.
How you have impacted the clients you serve.

VISION

Vision: The act or power of anticipating that which will or may come to be.
The vision, or mission statement, identifies the purpose and the direction of an enterprise. It helps focus everyone’s energies and actions to attain set goals.
The former President & CEO of The Boeing Company, Harry Stonecipher, said,
“For a vision to matter, it must have the power to move people and events. The vision must be enunciated by strong leaders to move people in a set direction, over a long period of time, toward a distant goal that is worthy of hard work, perseverance and sacrifice.”
The vision or mission statement should answer this question:
“Who are we and where are we going?”
Every enterprise has a core of supporters that, “get it.” They feel deeply about the relevance of the enterprise. They have witnessed personally the difference that has been made in the lives of real people. THEY GET THE VISION… If they didn’t “get it”, they wouldn’t invest their time, money, or reputation backing the enterprise. The challenge: Finding more people to “get it”. Growing the enterprise, increasing revenue, articulating value to those not in the choir will enable growth.
Most enterprises come to Media4aCause with a pretty clear vision. They know what it is they want to do. They even have a mandate that they effectively exercise within their area of operation and influence. But do they have:
Realistically crafted goals?
The people power to achieve the goals?
The resources to achieve the goals?

VALUES

Values provide a compass for donor attitudes and actions.
They define the “culture” of the organization. It is the job of your leaders to create a culture that energizes and motivates the donor base. Values answer the question: “What does the enterprise stand for?”
Donors today are seeking a stronger sense of meaning and fulfillment in their giving. They want to be involved in a purpose and an endeavor that goes beyond simply writing a check. They need to believe they are part of an organization that stands for something and is based on a value system that is clear, consistent, and ethical.

THE VALUE OF UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
“It’s time to dispel the myth shrouding unconditional love. We are all seeking this expression of limitless love. It is the unspoken aspect of everyone’s search for meaning and experience in life. As we learn to let go of our fears and doubts, and cease reacting to our outer world, we begin building a brighter, more empowered future. Things come to us when we are open to the possibilities.” Howard W. Becker

“When you align your cause or charity with a person’s search for meaning, you create a dynamic, energizing relationship that will not only help the world around you, but also answer fundamental questions in the lives of the people who work along side you in your enterprise.” Media4aCause

Many charities and causes lose effectiveness when they become reactive and not responsive. When an enterprise tries to sustain it's past, control it's future, cling to it's current assets in fear, and hoard it's contacts from other similar enterprises, it can become addicted to focusing on limitation instead of possibilities. It can become unable to rise above fears and create dreams by living from unconditional love. In many cases charities are created from a pure heart space. The founder(s) saw a need that was unanswered and provided a solution. Founding members who forget love and choose
fear instead will often attract well meaning supporters who offer support CONDITIONALLY…that is, "I will give you my time, talent, money, if you only do things in a certain way…which is my way."
When the operational core value becomes EXPEDIENCE, and not UNCONDITIONAL LOVE,
compromises in VALUES are made, the tail wags the dog, and sometimes these types of compromised enterprises blindly jump from one disjointed opportunity to the next, always reacting to the crisis at hand, the unpaid bill, the elusive donor, the competition from a similar enterprise. Boardrooms
can become sandboxes for children wanting their way, and the "us against them" mindset pervades, and in some cases, that heart centered enterprise becomes a competition and not A COMMUNITY ROOTED IN LOVE.

WHAT WOULD YOUR ENTERPRISE LOOK LIKE IF EVERY DECISION WAS BASED UPON:
What is the kindest, most loving thing we can do in this situation regardless of how it affects us?

BEHAVIOR

“We cannot ever forget that as a charity, we are essentially in the love business, and if we do not love first, we fail in our business.” Media4aCause

How are you projecting your vision, how are you walking your values, and how are you unconditionally loving the world at large?

Some enterprises, and the people involved in them have forgotten something pivotal that governs everything in our collective experience. The “outer” reality, or the way things appear to be going, is nothing more than a reflection of our inner experience, thoughts and feelings. What we visualize within, either as a person or a group, becomes our outer experience of reality, not the other way around. In other words, if within, we feel lack, we project lack into the world and it get’s reflected back to us by the world. If we feel like we are separate, better, more qualified, judgmental, manipulative, entitled, we must understand that we might not LIKE that reflection when it comes back to us.
According to Harold Becker, “The ongoing challenge has been since thoughts and feelings play themselves in a linear fashion in time and space, we do not always recognize or understand our creations when they appear.”
In other words, what we project may not return to us immediately, so we lose the perspective of cause and effect. When our donations dwindle, our volunteers don’t show up, and we don’t receive that grant we were hoping for, we sometimes don’t link our projections (behavior), with the results we are achieving.
How we behave is sometimes determined by the roles we choose to play. We believe there are four archetypical roles: Victim, Victor, Bystander, And Conscious Co-Creator.

Victim: “The predominant attitude in victim consciousness is one in which and individual (or group), begins to believe that the condition of one’s life is primarily dependant upon what other people have done, or because of the experience the person (or group) has encountered.” Kevin Todeschi
Victor: Instead of being acted upon, victors act on other people as a means of control or sedation.
Bystander: A bystander gets upset or depressed by an issue or a problem that is, ‘out there’, but don’t take any measures to address the issue personally. They would rather complain, plot against others who are doing something, or wait to act when, ‘We have the funding’, ‘we have the time’, etc.
Conscious Co-Creator: Conscious Co-Creators are individuals (or Groups) who realize their responsibility in shaping the course of events. They realize that that are responsible for the quality of their experiences. They face life’s experiences as opportunities to respond and not react. to them, experiences are lessons and integral components of growth and development.

A behavior that NEVER fails is loving first and loving unconditionally. So the first steps in successful brand behavior are:
• Love First…Love Unconditionally (To have all…give all.)
• Realize the law of cause and effect.
• Take responsibility for the quality of your experiences.

TECHNOLOGY


Technology is how you relate your brand to the world at large. It’s nothing more than a movie projector, but without a good movie, all you see is a blank screen. Technology will always improve, but if you have nothing that FEEDS an audience, technology is wasted. Technology is used to take the Vision, Values, and Behavior of your enterprise and build a COMMUNITY.
Imagine that instead of visiting your web site, your prospect walked into your place of business - how would you present your services? Would you direct your prospect to a stack of preprinted sales material containing text and graphics and let it go at that, or would you talk to him in person?
You're going to talk to him and keep him in your office as long as possible, aren't you?
That's how you make impressions.
That’s how you build community.
That's how you acquire RELATIONSHIPS that are supportive.
If you believe that all it takes to be successful with technology is a steady flow of information, your donations are probably already trying to tell you otherwise.
When you place your enterprise on the stage of today’s current communication technologies, you're given a set of tools to work with to tell your story -
So why pick the weakest tools at your disposal, an impersonal/heartless/manipulative pitch for donations…for the single most important job you face - that of getting your prospect's attention, making the good impression, AND BUILDING A RELATIONSHIP IN COMMUNITY with them?