It’s our anniversary! (Not that you care)

With so much important work left to do, many organizations don’t stop to celebrate the good work they’ve done. That is, until their anniversary. If I had a nickel for every time a nonprofit has told me their doing something special for their 15th anniversary (or so), I could fund your endowment.

Seriously.

And that’s the problem.

Most organizations worth their salt will be around for many years, which means that your nonprofit’s anniversary, much like your own birthday, isn’t that significant for people who aren’t very close to you.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t celebrate your anniversary. What I’m saying is, use it as an excuse to do something else, since most folks won’t be likely to throw confetti or write a check because it’s your anniversary alone. Launch a new program, unveil your new branding, or throw a party for your loyal supporters (volunteers, for instance, or donors) for instance.

On a related note, Big Duck is launching our new blog, the Duck Call, to celebrate our own milestone: 15 years helping nonprofits communicate. We’ll use it as a platform to celebrate smart nonprofit communications, explore relevant issues, and just plain have fun. There are many excellent nonprofit communications blogs and Twitter streams out there already. Ours will aim to add a different perspective- one that integrates strategy with creative- adding perhaps a more design-focused point of view. All members of the Big Duck team will be contributing. We hope you’ll find it a useful resource and tell us what you think along the way.

And if you’re still thinking about your organization’s anniversary, check out this article (from January 2006) in the Chronicle of Philanthropy for the (perhaps less skeptical) opinions of others on this topic. Lastly, if you’ve got great examples of anniversaries put to good use, let’s hear ’em! We welcome your comments.