Would you ever use spam as an email strategy to promote a fundraising effort for the Singapore Zoo. Why or why not?

Would you ever use spam as an email strategy to promote a fundraising effort for the Singapore Zoo. Why or why not?

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating commercial or fund-raising messages to an audience. In today’s world, e-mail marketing quickly became the preferred method of contact for businesses looking to cut expenses, connect with buyers and increase profits. In a matter of minutes, it was possible to use software programs to blast thousands of e-mails to prospective clients. Also, email campaigns could be deployed quickly and tested in a very cost-effective manner (Shari 2005, 36).

Recently, email marketing has given rise to the growing incidences of “Spam email.” Whether one calls it unsolicited commercial email, unsolicited bulk e-mail, or junk mail, spam is defined by the fact that the recipients did not solicit the mail or divulge their email addresses for the purposes of receiving such mail (Mendel 1999, 122).

Although, currently, there are a lot of companies use spam as a mean to promote its products or services, but it is suggested that Singapore Zoo should not use spam email as its email strategy to promote a fundraising. There are several reasons will be discussed in detail below to show why Singapore Zoo should not use spam.

First of all, by using spam as an email strategy , Singapore Zoo can be really hard to ensure that its email advertisements are getting through to the intended targets’ inboxes. Today, all of the email service provider’s action to enforce more powerful spam filters to help email users to catch this type of email and automatically dump them into spam folder. Furthermore, even if email reaches to email user inbox, there is no guarantee that individuals will bother reading an e-mail from someone who is not in their contact list (Blanzieri and Bryl 2008, 63-92). According to the report, legitimate e-mail servers averaged a delivery rate of 56%; twenty percent of the messages were rejected, and eight percent were filtered (Ayres and Funk 2003, 77-137). As a result, it creates low email delivery rate for Singapore Zoo.

Moreover, a Singapore Zoo’s reputation can be damaged if they keep sending spam email. When email advertisement is viewed as spam, recipients are likely to send complaints to Singapore Zoo because of the inconvenience and annoyance that they have to suffer from. This situation will negative influence Singapore Zoo reputation. Additionally, negative customer experience can lead to bad word of mouth. If a person receives an email campaign from an organisations with a damaged reputation they are more likely to mark an email as spam thus damaging reputation further (Ray and Schmitt 2003,5 -13).

Most importantly, if Singapore Zoo violates the CAN-SPAM Act, it may suffer stiff penalties, up to $16,000 fine per violation for sending out spam mail. While this law remains largely unenforced, there have been several high-profile cases where perpetrators have been sentenced with 70 days to five years in prison, and charged fines ranging from $10,000 to $1.3 million for violations’ Even though e-mail marketing is very inexpensive to Singapore Zoo, the outcome could wind up costing a lot more if a judge deems the commercial messages "useless spam” (Hu, McInish and Zeng 2009, 87-104).

Overall, “spam” email strategy is considered as useless and ineffective advertising tool, as well as it will bring several disadvantages to S if they employ “spam” as their email strategy, such as create negative company reputation. Therefore, it is recommended that Singapore Zoo should not use spam to promote its fundraising.

What do you think are some of the problems facing not-for-profit organizations today?

What do you think are some of the problems facing not-for-profit organizations today?

Today is a crucial time for nonprofits organisations. The nonprofits sector is in flux, beset by increasing responsibilities, higher public expectations but limited resources. Its phenomenal growth over the past thirty years has been accompanied by the creation of thousands of new one-issue groups, narrower agendas, and greater fragmentation. One can reasonably argue that, despite its enormous expansion, the nonprofits world has become weaker and less influential in shaping the direction, priorities, and policies of our society. It has been unable to address effectively and resolve many of the major problems (Masciere 1998, 1). There are four major problems facing by not-for-profit organisations today and it will be discussed in detailed below.

You are eager to bring more staff to your not-for-profit organisations. Currently you have twelve people of which only two have a degree in business. What characteristics would you look for in potential business candidates? What would you advise?

You are eager to bring more staff to your not-for-profit organisations. Currently you have twelve people of which only two have a degree in business. What characteristics would you look for in potential business candidates? What would you advise?

Volunteer is defined as a person who performs or offers to perform a service voluntarily. Volunteerism is a key component for most of the non-profit organisations and the board of governors is often a group of volunteers who are not paid. Volunteers also fill numerous roles at non-profit organisations, serving in a range of capacities from administration to fundraising and serving at events. Further, Volunteer commitments can be a matter of hours or lifelong commitments and are often valued more than monetary donations. Volunteers bring professional expertise and personal experiences which enhance these organisations. (Bussell and Forbes 2002, 244-257).  Currently, the organisation has only twelve people and the leader more staff is needed to bring into the not-for-profit organisation. The following list outlines four characteristics of potential volunteers that the organisation can look for.

First of all, leaders need to search for volunteers who have a giving spirit. It is important to remember that volunteers are giving to the organisations every time they serve. Time is one of the most valuable commodities people possess and when they volunteer, they are adding value to the organisations (McGarity 1997, 116-124).

In addition, the most important characteristic of an effective volunteer is their sincere empathy for other people. Individuals who have a genuine desire to help those in need are the most effective volunteers because their good intentions are evident through their manner of interacting with others (Dickinson, et al. 1998, 11-12). Penner (2002, 447-467) found that persons high in other-oriented empathy are more likely to volunteer, and to persist longer in volunteer role, than are other.

Moreover, leaders must find volunteers that will give the organisations a commitment. Commitment is the key to accomplishing great goals and making a difference. Before anything can be accomplished through a volunteer, there must be a commitment. Volunteers must commit to the organisations and the leader needs to commit to the volunteers. Finding people who are willing and able to make a commitment can take the organisations to higher levels (Allahyari 1996, 35-69).

Furthermore, leader should find the volunteer who has characteristic of optimism. A spirit of optimism is almost priceless in our modern society. One positive attitude volunteer can add the value of ten people just with their spirit alone. Volunteers who are optimistic add incredible value to the organisations and help raise the organisations to new levels (Totterdell, Wood and Wall 2006, 63-84).

On the other hand, due to the not-for-profit organisation only have two have a degree in business, therefore, it is suggested to recruit more staff that has business degree into the company. Volunteer with business degree often has the expertise in project management and budget management that can help a non profit manage complex projects involving social development and alleviating poverty, raise funds and more accurately measure program effectiveness. Also, they are able apply sophistically analysis to foundation performance and help the nonprofits organisation to develop processes and structures that allow the company to grow quickly (Perry 2007, 31). Therefore, it is important to hire more volunteer with business degree into the company.

Overall, without volunteer’s nonprofits organisations will never move forward. Recruiting the right volunteers and putting them in the right place makes all the difference. Leaders should look for specific qualities characteristic in volunteers:  giving spirit, dependability, commitment, and empathy. When leaders find volunteers that match these characteristics it will assist them in adding value to the organisations and allows them to move to a higher level.