Design the outreach for the adult who refers
As volunteer president of H.E.E.A.L., I learned who actually decides when a family needs help.
While I served as volunteer president of H.E.E.A.L., the board assumed that a good program attracts its own families. It does not. A grieving family is not out shopping. Some adult picks for them, a school counselor or a hospice coordinator, who has a few minutes to spare between other tasks.
We built outreach around three facts that adult could pass along with no checking at all: free, local, no waitlist. We also placed financial reporting and public communications under board accountability.
The adult making the referral is protecting themselves against a bad referral more than they are judging the program. Our task was to make the second referral feel as safe as the first.
Both the program and its fundraising grew over my time in that role.
On any outreach job, my first question is what a yes costs the person who has to say it.
Story details
| Project | H.E.E.A.L. Santa Barbara |
|---|---|
| Type | Insider truth |
| Year | 2010 to 2015 |
| Firm telling | on the Common Ground wiki |