Paige was diagnosed with Stage 4 Brain Cancer a couple months ago. She is 38, a wife, a mother of three, and a nurse. She and I grew up doing Brownies and the Church Youth Group together in “the other Big D” – our hometown of Denton, Texas.  She went to the doctor with a headache and she hasn’t been home since – that was in January.  I know that cancer is not the only disease that causes pain, or takes those we love from us, but when I think about the impact that cancer will have on Paige and her family within a short period of time, I am enraged at the randomness with which it strikes.

While watching countless relatives, dear friends, and now Paige battle this unfair disease, I have done everything in my power to help and be there for each of them. Everyone who has gone through this can relate. Cancer is a problem that we feel ill-equipped to solve; and so we cook dinners, run in races, pray, and do anything else that might ease the burden of this enormous weight. But we can and should be going one step further—we should step outside of our personal connections to cancer and search for a way to eradicate it completely.

A few years ago, an opportunity came for my company to establish the supporting foundation arm of the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT), the state agency that is dedicated solely to the funding of cancer research and prevention efforts in Texas. WHAT A BLESSING.  This has been the conduit by which I have learned how close we are to finding a cure, and I believe 100% that a cure will be discovered in Texas and in my lifetime.

I know this because I am watching firsthand as Texas invests not only in the most groundbreaking research and prevention projects, but in bringing the most renowned scientific minds to Texas to advance their pursuit for the cure. And after listening to Nobel Laureates collaborate on their advanced approaches to destroying the disease, I realized something very key: I am not a scientist, and I will not personally discover the cure for cancer – but I WILL plan the party when someone does!  In the meantime, we focus on raising the funds to find a cure. For the CPRIT Foundation, in our races, in our gala table sponsorships, in our email campaigns for meals to friends…

Although we as individuals are very affected by specific cases in our lives, has there ever actually been a collective uproar to the disease that on average affects 1 in 2.5 people?  It is maddening to know that we all have our own experiences, and yet cancer has never been treated with the same national urgency as bird flu, or bullying, or the iPad 3. In fact, based on the frenzy that surrounds other pandemics and epidemics around the world, cancer seems to be the equivalent of a D-list celebrity on the red carpet.

No longer can we be resolved that cancer is inevitable, nor can we be lackadaisical in our response.  A cure is out there, and when we find it is completely dependent on how you and I fund it. I’ve found the organization that I believe will fund the cure – and would challenge everyone who has been affected by cancer to do the same. Get active. Get mad.

If nothing else, please take this final thought with you: If as much energy was spent investing in the top 64 cancer researchers as is spent selecting the teams in one’s bracket during March Madness, the outcome would be would be a faster cure for us all.

Jennifer Stevens
President, JHL Company

I’ve been involved in politics for over 30 years. I can remember when only 15 of the 150 members of the House were Republican. The political pendulum has swung to the right since then, but movement in the political spectrum is nothing new; in fact it is to be expected. And while predicting who will take that open U.S. Senate seat or jump into the CD27 race seems to be the talk of the town right now, I think the real news is in how smart public affairs efforts are approached today.

In my opinion, the most significant change in Texas politics has been the way in which legislators and anyone with a public interest has had to modernize their strategic thinking.  Back in the old days, when time was running out for a piece of legislation to get passed, the House Sergeant would simply remove the batteries from the clock in order to get the job done.  That ability to control time is a thing of the past. Social media has pushed the entire world to live by the second, and the only option is to stay ahead of the clock, not stop it. News feeds and twitter updates have made everyone accountable for being in the know all the time. Everything isn’t happening when you see it on the news, it is happening right now, and to be effective you’ve got to be ready.

So here’s my prediction for the future. The agendas that will win out are the ones that are being strategically pushed and continually developed on a 24/7 basis all year, every year (i.e. not just during the legislative session). The organizations behind the winning agendas will have engaged a team that can collaborate, think strategically, be nimble, stay on budget (i.e. do more with less), and operate a full-service campaign from behind the scenes.  In a nutshell, the days of hiring your golfing buddy for a session-only gig are about over. No matter who’s in the Chamber when session begins, you need a team already in place and steering your plan when the maps were drawn, the budgets drafted…

I’ve seen a lot of changes since 1981, and although there have been significant shifts, it’s no longer only a question of Republicans or Democrats. The age of instant news has fully transformed politics. If you’re going to survive, and if your message is going to live into legislation, you’ve got to be prepared.

Jennifer Stevens
President, JHL Company

As this year begins, I have a few strategies for all of my non-profit friends (you likely either serve on the board of one, as the executive director of one, care about one, or donate to one…) to keep you focused on retaining your current base of                                                                                                         support, and recruiting new donors to your effort.

To be successful in fundraising, there are 8 core rules to live by:

1. Make a strong, concise case for support.
Say what you do and, more importantly, what you accomplish. Be direct. Be clear. Show results. Donors and volunteers alike want to know where their time and/or money is going and the goals they are helping to achieve.

2. Leadership at the board and staff level is critical.
Everyone offers different value to an organization. Some board members volunteer time, some donate dollars. Whatever their value proposition is for your non-profit, find it.  Engage them, define expectations, and hold them accountable. If you serve in a leadership capacity for a non-profit, understand that you have a responsibility to engage, lead, and provide support for the organization. The downfall I see time and time again in organizations is when the Board and/or senior staff doesn’t engage in an active leadership role, often leaving the rest of the team scrambling around without clear direction or support.

3. Keep cultivating friends and supporters (donors).
If someone invests $5 or 5 minutes in your cause you have a responsibility to thank them, keep them informed on your efforts, and tell them the impact of their donation. Period. It’s simple, yet rarely done.

4. Create disciplined processes for all efforts.
Put simple processes in place and follow them. This keeps the team organized, helps the board stay engaged, and it’s just all around good.

5. In person asks and thank yous are critical.
If you want a donation, you must ask for it! And when you get one, you must say thank you. If I had $.05 for every time I have heard a sob story about a solicitation letter being mailed only to be met with poor results, I would be rich.  People are busy. It’s fine to mail a letter but you need to have a follow-up plan in place before you mail.

6. Provide on-going stewardship, keep communicating, and keep supporters and friends informed.
It’s not rocket science, it’s fundraising. Treat others as you want to be treated. I have a sneaking suspicion that you, like your donors, appreciate being informed about the efforts you support.

7. Report outcomes.  Be honest.  Be immediate.
Produce year-end reports for your supporters and tell them about your accomplishments, challenges, and goals for the year ahead. If you have bad news, be honest and show a plan to move forward in a more positive direction.

8. Don’t be elitist.  Ask and ask and ask.
Don’t expect donors to just come forward with money, community with support, etc. Ask and ask again. I have heard time and time again something like, “well, they know we are here and how important our work is, so if they want to support us they will.” Not true. Set a meeting. Show your results. Talk about your goals. Make the ask! Then make it again next year. If you stick to following 1 – 7 above, your work will be easier on the next go-around.

Jennifer Stevens
President, JHL Company

Coming Up:

In my next blog, I will talk about the Texas political landscape and my predictions of what is on the horizon. Having campaigned since I was 3 years old, I have a lot of interesting insight that I look forward to sharing.

In my years of political and corporate campaign work, I’ve studied why one politician wins, gauged the relative success or failure of a fundraising campaign and measured a company’s ability to positively impact the public policy debate.  These situations and their outcomes have much in common, more than you might realize.

What if you could heavily influence or positively impact the outcome of your campaign or initiative on the front end? What if the steps you took on day one mattered as much or more than any other tactical move you make over the course of a public policy campaign, legislative battle or fundraising push? You can, and it does.

Simply put, message matters.

What you say, when you say it and how you deliver that message are pivotal choices that put you on track for victory or careening toward crisis or defeat.

What you say
Ground your effort in a thoughtful review and analysis of the issue.  Carefully consider the pros and cons of your position. Anticipate counter arguments and attacks from your opponent before they happen and develop core responses that can neutralize the opposition.

A smart public affairs team will carefully consider message development before the first fundraising appeal is dropped or long ahead of the first vote on your bill in a legislative committee.  Not all budgets or timelines will allow for in-depth quantitative and qualitative research, but the right public affairs team can shape your message in a way that moves people.

Consistency is also a key component of what you say. Your core messages should permeate everything from your website to direct mail and your news releases to your op-eds.  Staying on message is speaking with a unified voice and consistent delivery of your message to all audiences at all times.

When you say it
You can’t afford to have your well-crafted message get lost in the mix of a highly competitive, 24-hour news cycle and real time, social sharing.  Knowing how to break through the noise, get into the news cycle or put your organization and its issues on the radars of policymakers speaks to the value a robust, strategic public affairs campaign can provide.

When you say it also means defining the issue in your own terms.  Think, be first, and be early.  You don’t want your competitor or your opponent to beat you to the proverbially punch and put you in a reactive stance.  Lead with a compelling message and set the stage early for long-term victory.

How you say it
Yes, how you say it can touch on tone and voice, but it’s also about reaching your target audience.  How you choose to deliver the message.

Thinking about your audience is key. Know where they are, understand their professional or personal style and research their preferences (e.g., Do they like email? Prefer a call or respond to traditional snail mail best?).

Increasingly, digital communication in the age of smartphones, social media and email are highly effective delivery channels. Yet, there’s very much a time, place and type of audience that requires a more personal touch—a handwritten note asking for their support of your issue or a personal or couriered delivery of your public service announcement to the television station or campaign donor.

Message matters, and in public affairs, smart messaging is a difference maker.

Jennifer (Lustina) Stevens
President, JHL Company

Coming up
Making New Year’s Resolutions is far easier than sticking to them.  I’ll ring in the New Year with some tips on how non-profits can stick to their goals, resolutions or financial targets for the year.

Whether it’s the State Capitol or the Beltway, traditional companies, non-profits and associations employ lobbyists to work with elected officials to shape, change, stop or start legislative, regulatory or other policy matters. When the mission is accomplished, a bill is passed or the opposition defeated, everyone folds up their tent and goes home.

To be certain, there’s a role for lobbyists to play in public policy. But, what impression is left on the elected officials and their staff once you have what you need, you’ve moved on and that’s that? A longer view should be taken, one that emphasizes that legislative battles are sure to resurface, issues challenged and bills refiled. Your best bet for winning not only the battle but also the proverbial war is to equip your organization with a capable public affairs team that can fully cultivate, leverage and mobilize the outside game to your full advantage.

By outside game, I’m talking about the influential third party voices that can sway not only public opinion and media but lawmakers, regulators and other policy makers. They apply pressure and generate publicity in ways that traditional K Street or Pink Dome lobbyists simply cannot deliver on their own.

Third parties can’t — or rather, shouldn’t — be turned on a dime. Again, we need a longer view of the strategic role they can play and your organization’s keys to success over the long haul.

The better approach is something called public affairs branding. Public affairs branding is a long term communications and engagement strategy that consistently and thoughtfully promotes your company, project or issues in front of opinion leaders, elected officials, their staff and other influentials. 

• It’s about educating, not always asking for something—be it public support, a vote or endorsement.
• It’s about demonstrating shared values, not just a spur of the moment love affair between your issue and their group. Shared value is about building a compelling case for why the third party and your organization’s interests are so deeply intertwined.
• It’s about bringing the right voices to bear at the right time, not just going all in at a moment’s notice. In the heat of a battle, sometimes you go nuclear, unleashing an onslaught of tactics aimed at raising the noise level on an issue to a deafening pitch, but that’s not always the best or right approach. In public affairs, we’re more strategic about the people and organizations that come out to show visible support by way of earned media, grassroots mobilization, letters, calls, intercepts or other tactics. When and how becomes every bit as important as who.

With a public affairs approach focused on building and maintaining relationships for the long term you can be more impactful with less fire power and at the same time build a reputation as being a reliable, credible expert in your industry so that elected officials see a mutually beneficial relationship and not just someone standing with their hat in hand. In a real sense, it’s not just who you know, but how you know them.

Make the connection.

Jennifer Lustina
President, JHL Company

For my next Blog, I’ll take a look at…
Dotting your I’s, Crossing Your T’s — Put your best foot forward with a high profile event (the in’s and out’s of strategic, large scale event planning – what sets JHL apart).

It is important to be thoughtful about building, managing and utilizing your board. If done well, boards can elevate an organization to new heights. I have worked with companies, associations and non profits with various degrees of success with the principles below. It’s hard to get organized and stay disciplined but doing so always pays off in the end.

Here are a few critical steps:

1. Build a board that works for you. Different people bring different values to an organization. What do you need? Identify what you need before you start picking who should join. A few key considerations include:
Do you need someone capable of (and preferably willing) to donate significant money?
Do you need someone connected to money and therefore a conduit to resources for the organization?
Do you need a subject matter expert?
Do you need a passionate, grassroots, volunteerism type? The true believer.
Do you need geographic, gender, racial, political or other diversity?
If the answer to these questions is “all above” start thinking about how you will work with and engage each individual. They are very different personalities and engaging them in a way they want to be engaged will be critical to success.

2. Define and set expectations. Create and implement a streamlined, concise process for joining the board and be up front about expectations. If you expect your board members to attend something, tell them. If you expect them to donate, tell them. How many meetings do you need them to attend? Tell them. Communication and expectation setting on the front end is vital.

While you are at it, outline expectations and a path for advancement. How does one join the executive committee? Who is next in succession? Be sure they are being groomed in anticipation.

3. Have an out. Nothing lasts forever. Be clear about the term limits of your board members. This will naturally make you focus on board recruitment and your development plan.

People get into trouble, they move, they become uninterested, etc. Have a plan to handle board turnover, whether it is planned or necessary, to protect your reputation and interests.

Jennifer Lustina
President, JHL Company

Coming Up: My Next Blog Post
Speaking of reputation and interests, my next blog will focus on public affairs branding and a smarter approach to public affairs efforts than just a session focused lobbyist walking the halls.

There are a few important things to remember as you build or re-build an organization.  When I became a mother, my grandmother told me to “start as you plan to continue”. The same is true in fundraising.  If you want to create a long-term sustainable revenue stream you must startby thoughtfully laying the solid foundation for long-term success.

Those sage words of wisdom from my grandmother hold more than a few kernels of sound advice for a non-profit organization, most notably:

1. It is easier to keep a donor than to recruit a new one. Often donor retention is taken for granted and donors are left wondering if their dollars are helping the organization, why their support is needed, or how their dollars are making an impact on the organization’s stated mission. It is critically important to communicate efficiently, effectively and consistently with your donors. Higher level donors need a more personal touch from your organization’s leadership and all donors should receive thank you acknowledgements for their support and regular communication, whether it is a newsletter via email or an update call from the executive director.

2. Stay relevant. Show donors what their dollars are doing and convey those examples in compelling, human terms. Continue to present the “why” so donors understand the value proposition of supporting your organization.

3. Do a few things and do them well. Don’t overwhelm donors with a bunch of events throughout the year. Be targeted in what your goal is with an event and stick to it. Is it media? Great, but don’t try to recruit high-level sponsorships for it. Is it raising big money? Fine. Be clear in your purpose to your current and prospective donors. Tell them this is THE big fundraiser for the year. When donors are given too many choices they will often choose none.

4. Don’t ever exclude your long-term donors in a targeted fundraising effort. I once worked with an organization that was attempting to raise a modest amount of money for a particular project. They planned to only recruit new donors for the effort and weren’t going to let their sustaining or existing network of donors know about the effort. Their theory was that the core group had already done so much. This would have been a big mistake. When donors invest in something they feel a part of it. They should be informed of various activities and efforts going on. Don’t ever assume they have “already given” and wouldn’t want to help. At the very least it’s another way to show your organization’s progress and growth. Loyal donors often prefer to give smaller gifts throughout the year rather than one time a year – multiple asks keep your organization top of mind.

5. Create a mechanism to trigger donations regularly so that you don’t live event-to-event or year to year. Events come at a high expense, creating mail and e-mail campaigns are good mechanisms to bring more revenue to your organization and to grow your donor base. Also, personal meetings with current donors and prospects are crucial to your organization’s success, making a meaningful connection in this way requires an engaged board and leadership that’s focused and structured to drive donations to your organization regularly. Perhaps, it’s the creation of an advisory council or a young professionals effort within your organization to broaden your reach and empower your organization to cultivate and care for your donor community, etc. And remember that anything mailed needs a follow-up call or two to increase your impact and develop a higher rate of return.


Jennifer Lustina
President, JHL Company

Coming up: My Next Blog Post
People make the difference, and that’s why I feel strongly that board development is another essential component of a non-profit’s success or failure. My next post will look at the different people and different values that individuals can bring to board membership. Building an effective board is a great deal like connecting the dots, knowing what people will work or blend well together and acknowledging the wide range of roles that are played within a non-profit board.