Powerful Messages in Changing Times
We're bringing Artis Stevens, President & CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, to speak with Kansas City on May 25 on 'Powerful Messages in Changing Times: How to Stay Relevant and Keep Your Mission Front and Center'. Learn more and save your seat.
It’s hard to believe I’m past the 90 day mark as the CEO and President of Big Brothers Big Sisters. It has been an honor to lead a youth empowerment 1-to-1 mentoring organization, built on a foundation more than a century old. Big Brothers Big Sisters was born out of an idea as an alternative for kids facing the juvenile justice system. And over the past few months, I’ve gone on a national tour—a virtual one!—to connect with staff at our 230+ agencies across the country, our volunteers (called ‘Bigs’) and hear the inspiring stories of the youth in our program, called ‘Little Brothers’ or ‘Little Sisters’ who have amazing potential—we exist to empower that potential every day.
The overall theme I’ve heard from everyone—and maybe you’ve heard it, too—is resilience. Not saying this past year has been easy. But our resilience has shown through.
Our Big Brothers Big Sisters staff had to shift from a model that has always focused on in-person, face-to-face visits, to a virtual program. Our Bigs have found creative ways to stay connected with their Littles, despite social distancing. Our Littles have shown just how strong they are, even with everything that’s been thrown at them in the past year: pandemic, online learning, social unrest. It’s a lot for adults to cope with, and for a 4th or 5th grader or any student for that matter, it can be overwhelming. Studies have shown that social distancing can lead to social isolation. In some cases, their Big may be the only interaction they have to the outside world. We still have a lot to overcome, but resilience is the key. And our goal is to not only help young people survive but thrive.
Our need for our program is even more important today and that message is critically important to ensure we have the volunteers and supporters who are needed to carry out our mission.
But like many of you, we’ve had to stop, recalibrate, and think about our marketing messages. Maybe what you planned three months ago no longer resonates with our current times. Marketing departments must be nimble to keep up. So how will you cut through the noise to reach your audience with timely messages that connect, inspire, and build support for your cause?
I hope you will join me for the National Speaker Series on May 25th. We’ll talk about how to reaffirm relevancy during changing times. I’ll provide four actionable tips that will help you, whether you’re in a smaller shop or part of a team at a larger nonprofit. At the core, it comes down to these four things:
- Remembering who you are
- Listening to all voices to inspire purpose
- Learn from insights to make the right decisions
- And leverage innovation to make your organization and the world better
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