Through the Noise

Managing money can be difficult especially in these last 6 years.  For non profits, this challenge exists as well. Brad Hawkins is a Financial Advisor and Vice President with Bernstein Global Wealth Management. He advises nonprofits and individuals on a variety of investment strategies. Since 1967 Bernstein has focused squarely on providing research and investment management services to institutio...

Need to get the right group together or put pressure on a hot topic?  Or do you need something not to become a hot topic? Digital content may be the way to go.  Simon Owens is the Director of Digital Content at LEVICK. A longtime journalist, Simon built out the social media presences for US News & World Report and has written for The Atlantic, Harvard's Nieman Lab, US News & World Report, and othe...

PR and marketing should not be done for the sake of getting it done. It needs to have results. And not everyone is a marketer or PR person. On this episode, get real advice from Greg who gives you the truth about PR and marketing. Greg is an award-winning creative director, digital strategist, writer and motion graphics artist. He serves as the Vice President on the board of the DC Ad Club, and al...

Want technology to do your work? That's what Hossein does when he is not playing soccer (or football) for nonprofits with his software solution CharityEngine. Hossein Noshirvani is the President of CharityEngine overseeing the sales and marketing teams. Prior to joining CharityEngine, Hossein was founder of gym management software company, Motionsoft. Along with his brother, they grew the company...

Since 1905, the YWCA has been advocating for women. Between running adult education and youth development programs for women, the YWCA works hard to provide comfortable environments for personal growth and development. LeAnn gives us a behind-the-scenes look at how communications works for this busy nonprofit. LeAnn Harley is the Manager of Marketing and Advocacy Communications at the YWCA Nationa...

Getting an award is great recognition for hard work, but how often do we think about how contests are managed? Here's a hint, if you have more than fifty submissions on a spreadsheet, there's a better way. We brought in Tim Spell and Tim Herchenroeder of OpenWater to talk about online awards management. Timothy Spell, CEO of OpenWater, possesses an innate ability to translate and break down comple...

What do digital political strategists do? Probably a better question to ask is, what don't they do? From helping political candidates get elected, to helping organizations and their activists engage those politicians who got elected, Alan and his team at turn4D have a busy schedule developing online strategies.   Alan Rosenblatt, Ph. D. is partner and Director of Digital Strategy at turner4D. He i...

Alison Serota's unique job is to coordinate events and communication efforts around man's greatest invention: ice cream. As a franchise catering warehouse, Alison's job is to make sure there's plenty of ice cream to get around Washington DC area for special events; from employer appreciation days, to Blue Angle flyovers, weddings and school fundraising events. Alison is the Director of Marketing &...

Ron Barrett sat down with Ernesto Gluecksmann and Blake Althen to give a sobering view of the challenges that nonprofits face when they solicit charitable contributions across state lines (or country borders). That "donate now" button on an organization's website has a lot of regulatory implications that nonprofits must carefully understand to avoid running afoul with the IRS or state regulators....

Ashwin Jayaram brings us in on what it's like to be a boutique agency for brands like Google and Adobe as well as agencies of the federal government. It starts with understanding what is the strategy is behind everything they do for their clients and for themselves as a business.  Ashwin is the Chief Strategy Officer at Insomniac Design responsible for driving organization strategy and delivery. I...

Lisa Iannarino talks about how her communications team supports fundraising for ongoing research and treatments for those affected by blood cancers. From tracking leads, participants, and conversions, to setting up workshops to train their runners in the fundraising process, LLS's success has helped it grow from a $30,000 annual event to a billion dollar organization over the last 20 years. Iannar...

Pandit Wright gives us some insights on how she steers her organization to make a difference with afterschool programs for the DMV area kids. We talked about the transition from board member to executive staff, the challenges of funding programs, and measuring community impact. After almost 30 years in corporate HR and senior leadership positions around the world, in 2009 Wright became President &...

David Schmidt shares his story about working for Oscar Mayer to joining the Bush Administration and his appointment to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Now as the head of International Food Information Council, Schmidt shares with us IFIC's communication successes and strategies for explaining food science to the public. Schmidt serves as President & CEO of the International Food Infor...

Sacha Cohen guides us into the world of communications for small to mid-sized businesses. Her process begins by defining her clients' key communication challenges and goals for the year, and then looking to meet their goals through a multi-pronged approach. Yes, it includes social media. Cohen is the founder and President of Grassfed Media, she began her career as a business and lifestyle writer,...

Jake Lloyd talks about his work with DC SCORES. He shares his tips on how he keeps in touch with their top followers and guide them into supporting their regional and national work. As Communications Manager, Jake is responsible for all of DC SCORES' marketing efforts, including managing eight social media networks, building relationships with traditional media, and leading online fundraising camp...

Steven O'Connor brought us into the world of international development, from helping Vietnam establish regional trading standards to dealing with the unimaginably tragic crises of loosing a colleague in the field. Based in Bethesda, MD, O'Connor oversees internal and external communications for an organization active in more than 100 countries, including in some of the world's most challenging ope...

Jenn Taylor Howell gives us insights into what it is like to work for one of the largest and oldest societies in the U.S., the American Chemical Society. Marketing internally between the many departments and divisions is uniquely challenging and important work for this 161,000 member society. Taylor Howell is a marketing professional at the American Chemical Society. In her current role as Program...

Tim Neill spends a lot of time traveling between Mexico City and Washington DC. He filled us in on what it's like to work for an international digital agency that does tactical support for companies in Mexico and in the U.S. Here's a hint: it always starts with finding out who's the buyer. Neill is an entrepreneur and executive with over fifteen years of business operations and management experien...

Abigail Goliber gives us the scoop on the importance of developing partnerships for your organization. She also shares with us why having professional IT support can positively impact an organization's mission. Yes, we get a little techy with talk about CRMs, infrastructure, servers and data migrations. Goliber is the manager of outreach and business development at 501cTech. She is a nonprofit pro...

Melissa Ovard gives insights into contracting with federal agencies and the importance of paying attention to detail when responding to Uncle Sam's RFPs. Melissa Ovard is the founder and President of Snowbird Services. She consults with small businesses on marketing communications, federal contracting, and proposal development services. Snowbird Services is a federal contractor in the environment...

Christie Gunden shares how she manages her marketing efforts with Hubspot and Ektron. From increasing traffic, to increasing conversions, these sophisticated tools makes it easy to track who is engaging your organization. Christie Gunden is the marketing manager at Syscom Services. Founded in 1986, Syscom Services has pioneered the way organizations effectively communicate with the people they rel...

Melanie Spring gave us the low down on what branding is and the importance of starting with defining your core values. She also told us about her "Live Your Brand" U.S. tour. Melanie Spring is the founder and chief inspiration officer at Sisarina. She teaches senior level management and marketing professionals how to rock their content. Sisarina is a branding company based in Bethesda, Maryland.

Dennis and Julie share insights on what it's like to work in a creative agency managing projects for nonprofits - from print advertising, to websites - as part of integrated campaigns. Managing projects is sometimes about finding the balance between what a client wants and what creatives know will work. Dennis Goris is the CEO, creative director and the driving force behind strategy development fo...

Banafsheh Ghassemi teaches about how the American Red Cross delivers unique customer experiences based on the signals we leave behind as we interact online. She is the VP of Marketing, CRM, Customer Experience & Marketing Excellence at the American Red Cross. She established the first customer experience organization at the Red Cross and lead the design and implementation of enterprise-wide CE and...

Chistopher Doscher shares some of the policy topics he covers for the restaurant industry, from healthcare and immigration issues, to patent assertion agencies and renewable fuel standards. Chris Doscher is a senior writer and editor in policy communications for the National Restaurant Association. He writes on federal and state legislative and regulatory issues that impact how the nation's nearly...