Created here in Brookland, our map of the neighborhoods of Washington, DC, features the Brookland Cardbull, world famous here on a small block of 12th Street NE. One could read into the map and think there’s a statement about which DC neighborhood is topdog… we prefer to think it was the work of the Cardbull late at night while we slept. Note, parts of Brookland insist on calling the Cardbull a “Cockaterrier.”

Details:

• Useful facts about the District
• Size 11×17 inches
• Professionally printed
• Bright white 100lb paper stock, Matte finish
• $10 + shipping (or come visit us to pick up your copy!)

1. Match their speed

The online world is quick. No one stays in one place very long. We travel from e-mail to Facebook to news articles to Twitter to BuzzFeed, and send a text message all before our barista can drizzle the caramel sauce on our macchiato in the morning. This also means that we are impatient and expect immediate responses to our actions. Your donor should hear from you within a week of giving to you. (p.s. asking them for more money doesn’t count.) Plan a time each day just to send thank you’s to your donors: send an email, tweet a thank you if you know their twitter handle, hand-write a quick note, or list their name in a Facebook status. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just timely and sincere.

2. Match their message

A donor’s behavior tells you something about them. If they are willing to give their hard earned cash online, it means they are comfortable living online – they communicate, act, and relate online. They’ve demonstrated their greatest expression of love for you through an online service, and are expecting you to show them the love back, online. A warning light should go off if you ship a dissertation with an envelope for them to mail you an offline donation via certified express mail to a donor who gave $20 online last month. If they aren’t already angry that you ignored their previous donation (see above), they are doubly so to see you spending their donation on paper and postage they didn’t want in the first place. Make sure that what you are saying doesn’t get thrown away because of how you are saying it. Segment your communication lists and relate with your supporters the way they relate with you.

3. Make it about them

You may not want your donors to give to you online – it’s inconvenient to segment communications, learn new technologies, and glue your donor lists together – but the donor gets to choose how they donate to you. You can certainly encourage them to give through your preferred channels, and make it easy for them to do so, but don’t punish donors for not doing things your way. They have chosen to give you a gift, don’t snub them because of the wrapping paper. Celebrate their generosity, listen to them, and be willing to be inconvenienced to accept their investment.

How have you connected well with online donors?

*Blackbaud’s 2012 Charitable Giving Report

They see the massive need and instead of being inspired, the syndrome of “fight or flight” kicks in – typically flight wins. They will “like” you on Facebook because they believe you are making a difference, but they won’t give to you because they don’t believe they can make a difference.

Donors are people. They are individuals who have big hearts but limited resources and are more aware of their limitations than of their abilities. Your job is to change their minds and turn them into champions who can respond to need by fighting with you to do something about it. You achieve this transformation by breaking down the ways you meet needs, and empowering your supporters to realize their impact.

Break it Down

Your plan for meeting needs is more than your mission statement. You meet need one meal, one book, one conversation, one step at a time. Bring your supporters into that process. Let them know each of the steps you take to meet need and how they can walk with you.

Instead of giving statistics of how many people in your community go hungry each day, introduce them to one family they can help.

Create a fundraising or activism campaign around a single step with a focused objective. Your ask should be actionable, clear, and bite-sized. Rather than asking supporters to change a law, show them how to write letters to an elected official. Instead of giving statistics of how many people in your community go hungry each day, introduce them to one family they can help.

What is one thing you can ask your supporters today that will change one thing about tomorrow?

Build them up

Supporters need to know what their efforts accomplish. Do your fans know that investing in your work is worthwhile? Empower your supporters with the knowledge that they can make the world a better place. Tell them what they did and how they can continue to help. Give them the ability to keep fighting with you long-term.

Use your fundraising campaigns to cast a vision of the specific way the world will be different because of someone’s generosity. Then follow-up and let donors know what actually happened because they took action. Don’t just leave them with the dream of what could be – tell them the reality of what is possible because they gave. Have a plan to thank donors right after they give, then again after their donation is put to work. Include pictures or videos in your thank you messages to show them what their time and money accomplished.

Your supporters need to know how they can make a difference, and be encouraged to know that they can make a difference. Instead of intimidating supporters with a pile of general need, empower them with particular ways they can act to meet specific needs. Invite supporters into your process of meeting needs and encourage them to work with you to make a difference.

We’re here to help!

Designers at openbox9 are:

• Well versed in designing positive user-experiences for online projects
• Understand the importance of function before form
• Committed to seeing our clients succeed
• Able to bring in visually compelling expressions
• Students of branding organizations and campaigns
• Passionate about the influence of design in society

The design position we are looking to fill will require a high level of design skill, creativity, time management, a good sense of humor, and dedication. You must be both independent as well as collaborative, thus being able to discuss your ideas and work under art direction.

Requirements for the position:

• Open to senior designers and designers with 2-3 years experience
• Fluent in Photoshop, Illustrator, Mac environments
• HTML5, CSS, PHP knowledge a must!
• Building custom designs in WordPress
• Ability to self-manage time and collaborate with team

Don’t apply if:

• You are looking for a ticket to wealth – we are cost-considerate for our non-profit clients.
• You are looking to elevate your personal fame at the cost of elevating our client’s mission
• You don’t like music or organic food (we work next to an organic grocery store)

What about us you say?
We are a small but mighty studio with our office in Brookland, DC. Our work ranges from identity development, branding, web design, print media, online marketing, search engine optimization, and programing. Take some time to look around our site…

How to apply:

Ready to work in an environment that will challenge you with exciting responsibilities? Ready to have fun designing, ready to enjoy the process?

We would like to hear from you.

Send your cover letter, resume and link to your online portfolio to info@openbox9.com

I’ve decided to write the article I was hoping to read.

Step 1. Go on vacation

If this is not an option, at least take a long walk, drive or run. Try to do something that you don’t normally do to get away from your house-away from your everyday life. This will give you perspective and a clear head. It’s easier to see the little things in life that annoy you when you’ve not had to deal with them for a day or two. Try to rid yourself of all distractions when you start- if you’re too hungry or tired or distracted you won’t get very far.

Step 2. Make a list

Write down anything that pops into your head that you’d like to change about your life and start writing it down in a list on a big piece of paper. (I suggest a notebook- not a loose sheet- but hey, it’s your life.) It might help to incorporate any running to-do lists you have- but don’t just think small stuff. Walk around your house- this will help jog your memory as to things you’ve been meaning to get to. For example when I walked into my bedroom I remembered that I wanted to buy framed mesh to hang my earrings on so they wouldn’t clutter up my dresser. Don’t just think of things you want to buy and projects you want to finish, but also more general goals such as spending more time with family. What would you like to make a priority in your life that up to this point you’ve just been to busy to make happen?

Step 3. Revise and strategize

Now you’ve got your working draft- the guts of the beast. Go through your list and make notes of the practical ways you can implement these broader themes. Want to shop locally? Become a member of the local food Co-op, or a regular at a farmers market. Tired of your jewelry? Organize and host a jewelry swap (or for guys, a tool swap?) Want to have a more consistent bedtime? Set an alarm when it’s time to go to bed and wake up at the same time every morning too. It’s much easier to tackle these life principles if you have practical hooks with which to grab them.

Step 4. Just do it

Now comes the final and most important step: action. Now take all of the practical ideas you thought of and schedule it. Put it on the calendar, write it on a sticky note, or get a tattoo- whatever your preferred method is to remember things. I love the checklist and I haven’t found many people who don’t. Writing your list in such a way that you can come back to an item and check it off is extremely satisfying- and perhaps motive enough to get things done. To give yourself the final push off the dock, think through what has been holding you back from accomplishing these things before. Time, money, help, laziness? If money is an issue try to find ways to barter for services- ask friends. Sometimes even small businesses are willing to accommodate a trade if you can give them adequate goods in return. There won’t be a “yes” until you ask. If time is an issue, you’ll have to cut something else out of your life. It’s as simple as that. This list was created for a reason and if you’re serious about making it a priority, then that means something else has to go. A wonderful book recommended to me dealing with this is margin. Remember to come back to the list frequently for updates and revisions. Over time you’ll be able to not only mark your progress, but reap the rewards of a life well-designed.

I hope this article has motivated you to write your own list and begin the process of designing your life. If I’ve helped you at all I’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

Nathan passes through security despite the sinister contemplative look. I on the other hand got stopped. The beeper went off at the metal detector and like a Pavlovian dog, I start undoing my pants belt (the assumed cause of the beep). The guard within seconds jumps in front of me with a smile and says “stop, this is not that kind of place.”

What is looks like to be a common citizen void of any power.

Hannah basking in the glam glow of paparazzi attacks.

What it feels like to look down on common citizens – I say let them eat cake.

Marching to the meeting, trying to avoid the press. If word leaks that the designer of the “PG County Potatoskins” logo is in the white house, it may cause a ruckus.

I wonder if the President’s chef is looking at me? I’m so hungry… I am mind signaling the chef to bring me a presidential McRib sandwich.

Towards the end of the meeting I notice that my name tag is stuck… no plastered to the white house floor. I spent five minutes bent over scraping it off with my finger-nails. I’m sure people thought I was either hurling or eating my presidential McRib sandwich

Can you see the aging effect the white house had on me? Now Pres. Clinton and I have something to talk about.

Leaving the building I met Bo the First Dog. I’m still glowing over him considering to sniff me or not. He did not, but I think he’s regretting it this morning. Bo, like me on facebook… or LinkedIn… your call.

What better expression of rebellion than to sit and wait for creativity to strike and subsequently, what better expression of robotic jive than to methodically labor through a process. It’s the age old battle of wanting to be free to create but knowing one’s role as designer is to solve all sorts of business objectives which requires a solid analytical understanding of process. The hippie and the squarepants if you will.

At openbox9 we are constantly flowing from process to creative freedom back to process. It’s a dance worth rehearsing — a recipe that needs refined — a dog that needs walking! We fear the shackles of processes but love the freedom they produce.

For those interested in how ideas happen, for a look behind what might seem magically delicious, a great article by Daniel Stillman titled Design Process Kills Creativity / Design Process Creates Creativity is worth the read. You’ll find there’s more process than voodoo chants that solutions come from.

Here’s an except:

“It’s not just clients that like to know when they’re going to see round two and how much it’s going to cost…employees like to know, too. People who say they have no process are lying. They have, at least, a heuristic, a rule of thumb, a method, an approach.”