The Center for Healthy Nonprofits will be holding a monthly gathering of nonprofit marketing and communications professionals to share resources and interact with experts and each other in order to learn and grow.

This month’s Marketing + Communications Roundtable welcomes Dawn Brown as she presents on the Benefits of Being Unreasonable!

Simon Sinek introduced me to the book Unreasonable Hospitality. The book intrigued me and we’re not even in the hospitality business.  Or are we?  Sinek said, “On the surface, this is a book about a talented entrepreneur who helped transform a middling brasserie in New York City into the best restaurant in the world.” Clearly, we’re not restauranteurs. Truth be told, I can barely cook. However, in Sinek’s brilliant mind he knows that this book is so much more than a roadmap for a singular industry. He said, “This is a book about how you treat people. How to listen. How to be curious. And how to learn to love the feeling of making others feel welcome. It’s a book about how to make people feel like they belong.”  He had this fundraiser who wants her donors to feel like they belong at hello.

Clearly, when you market to your donors, it’s not just what you say to them; it’s also how you make them feel.  That’s where Unreasonable Hospitality comes in.  It reminded me of one line in a recent Seth Godin blog entitled Ideas Shared are Exponential where he said, “If you want to build a vibrant non-profit, create one where your donors do the fundraising”. There’s no way you can do that if you don’t know how to treat your donors.

Let’s explore the restaurant industry metaphors that author Will Guidara guides us within Unreasonable Hospitality. They are not only transferrable to the nonprofit field, but they’re also stunningly transformative…and they remind us to put the fun back into fundraising once again.

Register for this session via the Zoom Link!

About Our Speaker

Dawn is an educator by trade and has continued teaching even after completing her Master’s Degree in Management. She began her professional development career as the National Implementation Manager for Vivendi-Universal where she instructed educators across the country. Dawn joined the Community Foundation of Grant County, Indiana in 2005 as a Development Officer and became the President/CEO in 2012. She’s been recognized for her community-building work as an ATHENA Award recipient, the OCRA Award winner for Indiana Main Street Volunteer of the Year, and as beneficiary of the Indiana Wesleyan University’s 2020 Tony Maidenberg Community Service Award. When she’s not changing her little corner of the world, Dawn reads nonfiction to continue her quest of lifelong learning, writes a blog about nonprofit marketing, communication, and stewardship at www.dawnbrown.com, and develops marketing content at dawn brown creative llc.—all while figuring out how to become the philanthropic Leslie Knope!