A dozen youth media nonprofit heads are better than one.
At least that’s what the consultants and funders would lead you to believe when they call for the formation of nonprofit youth media networks, as they have increasingly lately. But as any under-resourced, overtaxed nonprofit leader can attest, the benefits aren’t always worth the time and effort invested into joining their peers.
Yet with proper planning and execution, nonprofit youth media networks can create large scale social impact not possible by one organization working alone. This is especially critical given the increasing pressure for more networking and sharing from both within the field and from funders and external stakeholders. If networks are going to be established and cultivated, there are some basic preparatory tips that can make the experience useful and enjoyable for participants.
So What Are Nonprofit Networks?
Simply put, networks are sets of nodes and links that are connected to each other, according to Net Gains, a recently-released handbook on forming social networks for change.
Within the nonprofit world, social networks form when individuals connect within specific social contexts, according to Madeleine Taylor, co-author of Net Gains and principal at Arbor Consulting Partners. In this case, social networks forming around the idea of creating, producing or supporting youth media. Non-profit networking is gaining traction as a distinct research field, she said, and funders are mandating more and more networking. Youth media organizations are not immune.
Creating a network allows nonprofits to share costs and have a greater impact in advancing a social goal than going it alone, Taylor said in an interview. Networks bring together a variety of experiences and resources to tackle a common goal, such as infusing youth media into a school district’s curriculum or establishing a teaching fellowship for youth media practitioners.
There are three basic types of nonprofit social networks, according to Taylor:
• Connectivity Networks: These groups function to connect people and organizations to the information they need. Membership tends to be open to increase the flow of information and relationships.
• Alignment Networks: Serve to convene people around common values or language. For youth media, this could be a regularly meeting group of youth media teachers in a given city or region.
• Production Networks: Help convene groups or people to produce a specific outcome. For example, forming a virtual networking group of youth radio producers to create a documentary on a specific topic.
All of these networks can be conducted face-to-face, virtually or through a hybrid.
The Why of Non Profit Networks
Nonprofit youth media leaders form networks for a variety of reasons, whether it’s to satisfy a funder’s mandate, to achieve a specific policy goal or just share their daily struggles.
The networking movement gained a lot of buzz after the release of Diana Coryat (Global Action Project) and Steve Goodman’s (Educational Video Center) seminal 2004 white paper for the Open Society Institute on developing and professionalizing the youth media field. One of the main points—crystallized in both the paper and accompanying convening—is that the lack of networking and sharing is hampering the field’s ability to grow and professionalize.
“We need to establish an effective network—on the local, regional and national levels—that will move the field beyond simply information and resource sharing to collective knowledge building; a network where administrators and practitioners at the grassroots can help each other to make sense of, and to apply new knowledge coming out of the field and in turn, to contribute back to the field the new lessons they have learned,” Coryat and Goodman write. Joining together with peers, as the authors suggest, is a deliberate strategy to escape from one’s day-to-day work and think deeply about the field of youth media, alleviating some of the isolation many youth media groups report suffering from.
“The other level, beyond Dr. Phil’s group therapy, is that (a network) is also a place to challenge people to think more deeply,” said Jeremy Engle, manager of curriculum and instruction for the Youth Media Learning Network, a New York-based fellowship network of leading youth media practitioners.
Networks can also provide the time and opportunity for individuals to contribute in a larger way to the youth media field. According to Marianne Philbin, a Chicago-based consultant and co-facilitator of the McCormick Tribune Foundation’s Youth Voices Initiative network, one of the most frequents regrets nonprofit leaders have when they reflect later in their career is that there was never enough time or opportunity for them to contribute to the field in a larger way.
“So many organizations, because they are so burdened with day-to-day management, are unable to step outside their own headquarters as much as they like and really engage with the field as a field,” she said. “And yet these are the very same leaders who have enormous expertise or ideas and significant experience to share that can have a significant impact on the field of youth media.”
Then there’s the concrete: Networks are a great way to tackle organizational capacity issues like raising money better, improving distribution and bettering teaching practices. As an added bonus, forming a nonprofit youth media network can be a method to attract additional attention and funding.
“It’s a way to say to funders that we are more efficient, we’re going to have a greater impact, so think about funding us rather than funding individual organizations,” Taylor said. “You’re going to have a competitive advantage.”
All Shapes and Sizes
There are a variety of networks already chugging along, from virtual meet-ups to face-to-face gatherings that provide concrete examples of youth media coming together for mutual gain.
The Coalition of Youth Media Partners formed in Chicago this past year, aimed at joining a diverse mix of organizations and practitioners to build the field of youth media and improve youth literacy. Led by Phil Costello, executive director of Youth Communication, the group meets bimonthly at rotating locations to discuss issues of sharing content, promoting youth media and how to build ties between programs.
What started as a brainstorming meeting of 14 individuals in August 2007 has grown into a coalition of more than 35 organizations representing after school programs, non-profit organizations and in-school partners. In addition to meetings, the Coalition also provides e-newsletter updates of events, social mixers and is conducting a survey of membership to get a picture of the field in the city.
Further north, the Twin Cities Youth Media Network brings together 15 groups to promote and support youth media makers and educators. The membership-based group is supported by the Bush Foundation and provides social events, networking opportunities and a newsletter for members. Membership costs $25/year.
Networking isn’t always face-to-face. Generation PRX, for example, acts as an online social network that encourages the creation and distribution of youth radio pieces, said Jones Franzel, Generation PRX project director. Led by youth producers, the Web site collects youth radio pieces and encourages feedback by listeners. It also helps place youth-created audio on the air at professional public radio stations across the country.
Tips from the Field:
There are endless rationales for starting or joining a youth media network. But here are a few good starting tips from the pros if you do choose to join or start a network so you can avoid endless meetings and disappointing outcomes:
– Set clear groundwork expectations and structure: Though you don’t want to burden participants with too much structure – think countless meetings, requirements and follow-ups – it’s important for members to define exactly what the basic realistic obligations are for participating, whether it’s attending a meeting quarterly, posting regularly on a blog, etc. This will make the time requirements clear upfront. Engle, of the Youth Media Learning Network, notes that though participants may initially resist structure with agendas, they “really appreciate it after meeting two or three times.”
– Hone in the purpose of the network: No one’s going to solve all the ills of the youth media sector with a few breakfast meetings. It sounds basic, but set clear, manageable goals for what the network hopes to achieve, whether it’s hosting a local festival of youth-produced media or providing leadership training. “I think coming together and saying, ‘Now we’re going to be the Florida Youth Media Network and we are going to address every area like fundraising, development, and capacity building’ won’t work,” said Tim Dorsey, director of the Youth Media Learning Network.
– Have the tough conversations: Many youth media networkers report that there’s often a hundred-ton gorilla in the room—the prickly questions that the group needs to address in order to make progress and move forward. Whether it’s “defining” youth media or the role of social justice or artistic expression, it’s important to explore these issues in a respectful manner early on, but after the group has become comfortable as a unit. Avoiding these conversations can prevent a deeper, more meaningful connection among members and slow progress in meeting the network’s objectives.
– Make sure there are benefits of participation—and that they’re clear: Every network participant should be able to clearly define their top three goals for participating, Philbin advises. “It can’t just be purely altruistic like the abstract notion of betterment of the field,” she said. “How is it useful to members as individual nonprofit leaders? What are they going to take back that will help them with their day to day work?” If participants don’t know what they’re going to get out of it, they won’t participate and contribute regularly.
– Take the time to build trust: It sounds elementary and cliché, but successful networks are built on trust. Make sure to include informal networking time for members to get to know each other, especially in the beginning. At the Youth Media Learning Initiative, for example, they’ve built in that time for the participants to get to know each other before tackling the task at hand. With the fellowship running the entire school year, “You can’t immediately one day say when you start, ‘What the hell are you doing, and why?’,” Engle said.
– Accept that it will be slow: Nearly every practitioner and expert consulted advised that progress toward the network’s initial goal will happen much slower than expected. It’s the nature of networks. There tends to be a performance lag in networks with members who don’t know each other because it takes time to build that trust, Taylor said. Expect that, and don’t get discouraged.
– Think small: When starting a new network, it can pay off to start on a smaller, more informal scale, especially if there is no outside funding available. You can start with semi-regular breakfast meetings or a Facebook virtual group. “Building a network doesn’t have to be a million-dollar initiative,” Dorsey said. “It can be about as something as basic as an informal breakfast group or inter-organizational study group that happens on an occasional basis.”
– Be realistic about the administrative burden: Even the most informal networks take administrative nurturing, which takes time away from participants’ daily work. Be realistic about the administrative reality – and establish various volunteer roles to ensure meetings are held, participants are contacted and leaders are elected as needed, Philbin advises. “This may be the ‘tedious’ part of forming a network, but having basic infrastructure is key to the scope of work that collaboration requires,” she said.
– Consider a neutral facilitator or convener: When possible, selecting a neutral organizer or leader, whether a funder or intermediary youth media organization, can take away perceived competitiveness or benefit among participating members. Generation PRX, an online youth radio exchange, aims to do just that by connecting a variety of youth radio producers virtually from across the country. “People can trust that we’re really motivated by promoting the entire field,” Franzel said. “Sometimes if it’s a single group, there’s a perception that one group reaps the benefits.”
– Snacks: And finally, everyone reported that with face-to-face meetings, having snacks is correlated directly with increased attendance. So don’t forget the pretzels.
For more tips and resources on successful networks, check out:
– NET GAINS: A Handbook for Network Builders Seeking Social Change, Version 1.0 (2006). By Peter Plastrik and Madeleine Taylor. Available for download at: http://www.in4c.net/index.asp?lt=net_gains_download.
– The Barr Foundation: Based in Boston, this Foundation has a thorough section on Networks in its Resource page. www.barrfoundation.org.
– Movement as Network: Connecting People and Organizations in the Environmental Movement. By Gideon Rosenblatt. Provides an interesting case study of social networking in the environmental movement. Available for download at: http://www.onenw.org/toolkit/movementasnetwork-final-1-0.pdf.
– Developing the Youth Media Field: Perspectives from Two Practitioners (2004). By Diana Coryat and Steve Goodman. Available for download at: http://www.soros.org/initiatives/youth/articles_publications.
Sara Melillo is a journalism program officer for the McCormick Tribune Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. The Foundation’s journalism program invests in organizations working in News Leadership, Free Speech, Journalism Education and Youth Media. www.mccormicktribune.org.
Note: Marianne Philbin co-facilitates the Foundation’s Youth Voices Initiative Network, a network of Chicago-area youth media grantees.
Author: Sara Melillo
Non-profit does not mean Non-revenue
If only those compelling youth-produced documentaries and essays paid for themselves.
But, they do not—and are not likely to—unless youth media organizations articulate and execute a well-planned earned income strategy. Earned income is defined generally as receiving money in exchange for a product or service that an organization provides. That includes any money a group generates from ticket sales, subscriptions, program service fees, advertising or contracts.
The focus on earned income within the nonprofit community continues to rise, fueled by boards, funders and stakeholders enamored with the idea of social entrepreneurship and diversified funding streams. The good news is that youth media groups are in an excellent position to capitalize on the trend, as they often produce a tangible product like videos, web sites and magazines, said Tony Ramsden, an earned income expert with the Stanford Business School’s Alumni Consulting Team. Plus, youth media groups have access to a coveted young audience prized by many in the advertising and corporate worlds.
With proper planning, these powerful products can generate significant revenue for a nonprofit organization. One immediate bottom line benefit for youth media groups is generating flexible dollars for spur-of-the-moment needs or simply general operating costs.
“My philosophy is always: The more income you can make, the less strings that are attached,” said Matthew Johnson, executive director of Strive Media Institute in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a group that generates 55 percent of its budget from its media products and services. “You’re a lot freer to make quick decisions and, being in communications, you have to make those decisions.”
Market Research is Youth Media’s Friend
Before a nonprofit launches a dazzling new product or allots increased attention to boosting its earned income, the group should ask a few fundamental questions and create a comprehensive business plan so that the income strategy is organized, sustainable and relevant.
The first step is to conduct preliminary market research exploring who will pay (and how much they will pay) for the intended product or service that the organization could provide. For example, if a group is considering expanding its ad revenue, it could interview 10 businesses that might be willing to place ads and explore why they would or would not advertise, what barriers to advertising exist and what rates they would pay, Ramsden said.
The market research will also help an organization discover whether the earned income opportunity has the potential to create a profit. According to Cynthia Massarsky, a social enterprise consultant and president of SocialReturns, a nonprofit dedicated to growing social entrepreneurship, “You have to keep your eye on demand and continuously ensure that demand exists. Not say, ‘If we make it, they will buy it,’ but find out a way in advance to determine if there is a willingness to pay, not just a need.”
Do Not Ignore the Business Plan
This market research should feed into a comprehensive business plan created by the group and its board that articulates an income-producing strategy. The plan should address market demand, management, human resources, operations and capitalization in a written document that describes the business, Massarsky advises.
While planning, non profit organizations should consider whether the organization has the right people and entrepreneurial culture in place to be successful at earned income. In practical terms, that means that the nonprofit organization’s leadership and selected board members have applicable business expertise to complement programmatic expertise.
“Anyone in business will tell you management is key,” Massarsky said. “If you don’t have the right people in there who know how to do the job and do it well, it’s kind of a recipe for failure.”
Youth Radio in Oakland, Calif. has found board members with experience in the business of media who have been instrumental in asking the right questions and designing the most beneficial deals and professional media partnerships,” said Lissa Soep, senior producer and education director.
The vital entrepreneurial spirit that experts cite existed from the start at Youth Radio. The organization has examined the possibilities for earned income since its founding in 1992. Today, Youth Radio earns income from fees for its radio products, such as stories aired on NPR, and studio rentals.
“It was kind of an entrepreneurial starting point, to say, ‘There’s a need for youth perspectives in every major story in the news, not here and there, but to really hear from young people,” Soep said of Youth Radio’s founding.
Don’t Forget the Mission
Like all things related to fundraising, earned income can drain staff time in the endless pursuit of increasing revenue. It is important for organizations to continually examine whether or not the earned income strategy enriches an organization’s mission.
The effort and planning it takes to earn revenue often drains mission-driven work in organizations that don’t plan well, Ramsden said. “Once you start to earn a little revenue and it looks like it’s going well, sometimes the tail can start to wag the dog,” he said. “The message here is that you need to be prepared to spend more time on this than you wish you had to, both in the planning and execution phase.”
For former film and broadcast producer Jeff McCarter, founder and executive director of Free Spirit Media(FSM) in Chicago, Illinois, that has meant starting to formalize the organizational structure to support the contract production work that the video education and production organization conducts. FSM earns 40-45 percent of its revenue from contracts with schools and businesses to provide media education and video production, such as filming the concert festival Lollapalooza for the past two years.
“When I left doing professional production work, I had to say no to these kinds of projects a lot to get Free Spirit’s core educational mission off the ground,” he said. “I realized that this is an opportunity we have in a limited fashion to bring these on.”
That’s not to say that earned income cannot add to the youth development experience for youth media. In fact, young people at Youth Radio have embraced digital media culture and the creation and distribution of media online along with an increasingly entrepreneurial culture.
“Our young people have a sense of passion and urgency to be in the game, and they really see Youth Radio as a way to do that and to see and think of themselves as media makers who are business-minded,” Soep said.
Tips from the Field
As a youth media group starts planning and refining its earned income strategy, here are a few selected tips from the field:
– Make products and rates available to clients: When Puja Telikicherla joined Young DC newspaper as managing director this past summer, the organization didn’t have an organized rate card and advertising information available to potential advertisers. She immediately created an ad kit for the 10,000 circulation youth-written monthly newspaper, posted it online and started receiving ad requests.
– Provide free “samples”: After she got the rates and kit established, Telikicherla began offering free and discounted sample ads to her friends and potential clients to illustrate sample work. It also helped increase the aesthetic look and variety for the newspaper. “Since I came on, I thought the only way to get ads, is to print ads.” She checked with professional newspapers that advised her that this was standard practice. Young DC has had paid ads every issue since and has a contracted commission advertising person who receives 15 percent commission from every ad he sells.
– Make your business case to clients: Johnson of Strive Media Institute said it’s important to “put together a deal that allows the sponsor to see the value in the business and get value in what they’re spending.” Whether that’s emphasizing the reach of a TV show or publication or emphasizing the public relations angle or tax write-off, non profits need to demonstrate how this will benefit a corporate donor or client. “If you can do that, the money is released easily.” For example, Manpower Inc., a global employment services firm, has sponsored Strive Media’s Gumbo Teen Job Directory, a comprehensive guide to teen jobs in Milwaukee, a natural sponsorship connection.
– Do not underbid the product/service: Make sure that the product or service that the organizations deliver makes money, Johnson said. Don’t underbid the services or product and watch out for expense overruns. That goes back to knowing the business and doing research beforehand.
– Explore new media and professional partnerships: Youth Radio is currently working with iTunes to distribute media content and is exploring other online revenue streams for digital content, Soep said. The Internet has made earned income more accessible. For example, Youth Radio is exploring premium subscriber content for its Teach Youth Radio Project, a free online curriculum for teachers that explains how to integrate youth-produced content into classrooms and other settings. This might mean having subscriptions for updated monthly lesson plans and new stories, Soep suggests.
– Learn to say no: Don’t get drawn astray from the mission by promises of large sums. At Strive Media, Johnson was forced to turn down a contract of more than $180,000 from the city of Milwaukee for his participants to conduct undercover compliance checks to purchase cigarettes. Though the money was tempting, it did not enrich the students’ media education or communication skills. At Youth Radio, the leadership ensures its youth participants have a voice in which projects the organization undertakes and that its youth editorial advisory board has full control. This has meant turning down a number of offers to conduct youth focus groups, as that doesn’t contribute to the groups’ mission, Soep noted.
– Find the right partners: For Free Spirit Media, a sizable portion of its budget comes from working with schools that donate space, equipment and dollars for the organization’s services. It was not always that way though. “Not every school sees value and some schools either have budgets that are not flexible or have administrations that are not imaginative enough to pull off this kind of relationship,” McCarter said. For him, that means finding schools willing to provide financial support to FSM and schools that appreciate its work. McCarter suggests youth media groups working in schools explore the school’s arts or youth development budget categories, as school discretionary funding is also spoken for.
– Encourage an entrepreneurial culture: Strive Media uses different techniques to encourage an entrepreneurial culture, one of which is assigning business titles to youth working on Gumbo products. The participants also receive business cards so when they are meeting with clients and potential funders, they feel more confident about making a pitch.
These are only a few helpful tips for youth organizations wishing to begin or refine earned income opportunities. Experts suggest tapping into the numerous articles and books that tackle social entrepreneurship and earned income which are available online. Organizations should also work with board and staff members to begin examining an organization’s potential for earned income and to draft a comprehensive business plan. The process usually takes about six months to 1 year.
For more tips, articles and resource libraries on earned income, check out:
– Social Enterprise Alliance: The membership organization for stakeholders interested in building sustainable nonprofits through earned income strategies. www.se-alliance.org
– SocialReturns.org: A nonprofit organization dedicated to growing social entrepreneurship. www.socialreturns.org
– Community Wealth Ventures: A social enterprise consulting firm with a great resource list. www.communitywealth.org
– The Stanford Social Innovation Review: A magazine dedicated to providing research and practice-based knowledge for social innovation projects. www.ssireview.org
– Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit Sector and Philanthropy Program (NSPP): www.aspeninstitute.org
– Ashoka: Dedicated to recognizing and supporting global social entrepreneurship. www.ashoka.org
Sara Melillo is a journalism program officer for the McCormick Tribune Foundation in Chicago, Illinois. The Foundation’s journalism program invests in organizations working in News Leadership, Free Speech, Journalism Education and Youth Media. www.mccormicktribune.org. Note: Free Spirit Media and Strive Media Institute are current grantees in McCormick Tribune Foundation’s youth media portfolio.