How? Effective Communication I: Email & External Communications
I have grown up with internet and phones. By the time I was old enough to the use the computer, it was 2000- internet was a thing, email was being used in the average household, and yes- we had to disconnect the internet in order to answer the incoming telephone call. All that said, my generation and those following have had the constant companion of internet. Perhaps, in the future, rather than a keyboarding class, seventh graders will take a class in online etiquette. Until then, I am happy to share my techniques below.
Emails
Open with a warm greeting and identify yourself, if necessary.
Don’t add email address(es) just yet, especially if authoring a high-profile email. This is a fail-safe to ensure against sending the email before it’s ready to send.
Subject Line: Capitalize, Concise, & a Hint of the Body
In the body of the email, write what you mean. The review it- combine like sentences and thoughts, add dates of meetings and events, and use headers for different parts of text if the email is long.
Hyperlink organizations, sites, and files when appropriate. Give readers all they'll need to complete your ask.
Use bold and color to draw attention to what is most important. As a mentor once told me, “If they are busy and only read what you bold, would you get your asks answered completely?”
Restate any requests, close warmly, and reidentify yourself with your organization, if necessary.
Phone Calls
Have an agenda or at least a set of questions for yourself. Have this prepared before the call is started!
Clarify which party is initiating the call. It is very awkward and unprofessional for you to be waiting on a call that your contact asked you to initiate. Value your contact’s time!
Consider sending a short, warm email to your contact either the day before or the morning of the call. Something like, “Hi, Susan! I look forward to our call later today at 1 p.m. I’ll give you a call at the number you provided!” This helps to remind both parties of the call as well as clarifies who is calling who at what time.
As the call begins, open warmly. Ask a non-work, yet professional question, such as, “Did you get to do anything fun this weekend?” You may also ask whether this is still a good time to have the call.
Give an overview for the intent of the call. “Today, I wanted to ask you a few questions about your organization and its grantmaking initiatives, then we’ll have some time for you to ask any questions you may have of our team. How does that sound?”
If your contact is unfamiliar with your organization, give a brief statement of your organization’s mission and work.
Begin with your questions, which should be open-ended to provoke good discussion and lead to interesting insights.
Any questions that occur to you mid-conversation, write down and table for later. You want to ask them, but make sure you respect your contact’s stream of thought.
Allow your interviewee to ask any questions he/she/they may of your work and organization.
Thank your contact for his/her/their time and close warmly.
Consider sending a follow-up email to thank the contact for the time spent together and give any resources (including links to webpages) promised during the interview.
Send a thank note if it feels appropriate. You can never thank a person enough!
A special note about working with youth
An issue unique to no youth-serving organization, youth (and some adults) can be difficult to reach on a regular basis. If you have multiple forms of contact for a person, use a different avenue to reach them if no response is received from the first method. For example, if you aren’t receiving any email replies, try texting or calling. In a personal example, one young woman no longer had access to the email account we were trying to contact and so didn’t know we were trying to reach her until she received a text.
Brea Reimer-Baum is a former Graduate Assistant to Youth Philanthropy Connect. She began her adventure into philanthropy in high school when she joined a youth grantmaking organization, which complemented her love of volunteering. She earned her Purdue B.A. in biology from IUPUI and is currently in her final year of Master's work at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. You can read more about her journey here.
