Growing with Cara Eaton of Volunteer Toronto
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Cara Eaton is a senior leader and seasoned marketing and communications professional with a decade of experience working with corporate, non-profit, and post-secondary institutions to mobilize meaningful community engagement and public relations efforts. Over the past 6-years, Cara has held progressively senior communications roles with Volunteer Toronto, Canada’s largest volunteer centre. She is responsible for sustaining record digital engagement via VolunteerToronto.ca, securing frequent coverage in Canada’s most competitive media market, and increasing project funding to support COVID-19 response programs through successful grant applications. Cara is currently Interim Executive Director at Volunteer Toronto and is accountable to delivering programs, research, and communications campaigns that elevate and foster volunteerism where she has also served as Director of Strategic Communications. Cara has volunteered for numerous community-run media outlets and has provided online communications support to both international and local grassroots groups. She is passionate about game design and builds escape rooms in her spare time.
Episode Transcript
Daniel
All right, so welcome to the Growth for Good podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
Cara
No problem, of course. Thanks for having me.
Daniel
Awesome. We're gonna get started by asking for a little bit of an intro on Volunteer Toronto and on your journey there as well.
Cara
Volunteer Toronto is Canada's largest volunteer center, we have nearly 50 years experience connecting volunteers to the causes that need them. We provide training to nonprofits on how to build meaningful volunteer programs. And we build connections to break down barriers so that volunteers can get involved. Myself, I've held marketing communications roles at the organization for six years, I started as Marketing Communications Manager. And then I've grown into Director of Strategic Communications, which means I'm also responsible for nonprofit engagement, and grant applications and revenue generation. But my latest is that I'm actually stepping into the Interim Executive Director role. So we are covering a parental leave, and the organization has asked me to step up. I'm really excited to put my strategic communication skill set to the to the test in this new role, and see how it goes over the next 12 months is a learning experience.
Daniel
Congratulations on your evolution within the organization. And to have that role of being leadership in the organization, with the lens of marketing communications is is super helpful, because I think that's one of the main functions (other than of course, running, managing the team and the finances), but also how we are communicating the work that we're doing effectively. Because if you're not talking about it, and no one's talking about you, then what's actually happening?
Cara
Definitely, this spokesperson components of their role comes very naturally. And it's it's weird to media coach yourself, but you're doing it.
Daniel
Prior to this role, how did you end up in the nonprofit charitable sector?
Cara
I didn't necessarily start my career in the charitable sector, I started working for an engineering firm and international engineering firm B2B business. And as I spent a few years there, I realized I really wanted a mission to align with. I really realized that, , the nonprofit sector was probably where I wanted to spend my time. I wanted to contribute not just to the bottom line, but to a mission, a vision. And it's a little bit coincidental, I feel that I ended up at Volunteer Toronto, because I actually had years of experience mobilizing students to get involved in volunteer experiences, I access volunteering as a job seeker myself to get that first role. And then when the role of Volunteer Toronto came up, I was like, “wow, I think I'm beautifully positioned to take this on”. So that's kind of how I started my journey with Volunteer Toronto charitable sector.
Daniel
You basically transitioned from being active as a volunteer, getting involved and moved from the corporate sector to nonprofit. So when it comes to things that you're passionate about, outside of your day to day, what are some causes or initiatives that you personally either have volunteered with or choose to support?
Cara
I've held a lot of different types of volunteer roles, I volunteered for quite a few media outlets for practical experience. So community run radio stations, I was the president of the board. I was at one point, TV cooking show hosts for a small community TV show. But , really volunteerism, I think, in general, is what I'm passionate about, I can't get away from the mission and cause that I'm supporting right now. I just am so aligned to the mission, it makes me stay and want to stay with the organization and give as much as I can. Also, I realize the personal alignment with different health charities. Throughout my life supporting different organizations and lately, prostate cancer is something that's impacted my family and so I'm really committed to, I'm not I'm not going to mustache this month, but my partner's growing a mustache and just awareness in terms of like destigmatizing, getting checked for that is something I really wish more people would do.
Daniel
Amazing. It's so it's so important to have these hobbies because we're passionate about but then also to, again, tell people about them and help spread awareness. So thank you for sharing. Now on a related note, today on social media, through email newsletters everywhere, there's a lot of content. There's a lot to compete with, when it comes to digital advertising when it comes to again, video content social so do you have any kind of recommendations or advice around standing out or what it means to really stand out in such a crowded In the online space,
Cara
Yes, I sometimes talk about the online channels that we leverage as real estate. And it's really hard to find that piece of real estate in your audience's mind. And so what I have found has been most effective over the past year couple of years, is actually not necessarily playing as much in the proactive space, but in the reactive space. So I think that as comms professionals we might overlook the ability to, or the value and the strength of responding to another's message. So, for example, there's a big report that was released today in Toronto, the social capital study, responding to that report can be just as effective as if you're doing proactive campaigns or initiatives. So being really on top of the relevancy moments, reports released media articles, movements of other nonprofits, and putting your voice out there in response, can just as much cut through as months and months of planning for a proactive campaign.
Daniel
That's incredible. I think that's also really helpful advice for organizations that have limited resources, who don't have a ton of their own original content. Well, there are things you can actually go ahead and respond to and relate that back to your own mission and vision and what your audience cares about as well. So exactly love that tip as well. Now, of course, you work for an organization, but as an individual, that also plays a role, right? Your personal blant brand plays a role in your own career success and success of the organization. Especially because, of course, you have a public facing role. So when it comes to your own personal brand, maybe everything to do from your social content to some networking that you've done, how has that played a role? And do you have any advice for others that are looking to put themselves out there?
Cara
But yeah, so I think I look at networking as a relationship building tactic. So for your personal brand for your personal growth. And I think investing in some high quality relationships within your network or getting to know people beyond just, you see them at a networking event, but actually spending time with them, having a holiday event with them, or bringing two people together in your network and spending real time with them has How is how I've strengthened my particular network. I think there's this incentive to go to as many networking events as possible to meet as many people but really, when I reflect on my network, it's been a few specific individuals who have I've had really strong relationships with, and they've helped me expand my network through their networks, right. So not necessarily having Yourself Abroad network, but a few people who you're really close with who then they can tap their network. Amazing. So that's what I would recommend in terms of starting it, I also feel like, you can make the most out of different interactions with people, which builds your personal brand. So I love this example of meetings, a lot of people hate meetings, a lot of people find meetings are boring, but I think I've built a lot of internal strength around my brand, by taking meetings seriously. So bringing things to the table that are really valuable to other people around the table and not just sitting back and being like, when is this over, but actually adding value and and trickle effect as the whole organization starts to bring those practices to the table? And suddenly you have an incredibly effective meeting, and a great personal brand for me who's exemplified that? So that's one little internal example, as well.
Daniel
That's amazing. So yeah, so it sounds like quality over quantity, right? When you're starting out especially and those have finding those amplifiers that can help you to expand and then like you just mentioned now, like really showing that value in a meeting as an example. Great suggestions there as well. Now, we know that in this sector, there's always challenges whether it's to do with funding or whether it's to do with personnel, or whatever it is, there's always things that we're up against in the sector. Is there any examples that you can share of challenges, and then maybe how you've been able to work against
Cara
them? Sure. So I think that everyone faces the challenge of time. And I think the utmost challenge within that is prioritization of time. And within that, so some some some challenges here is figuring out what the challenges that you're trying to solve or the problem is they're trying to solve, right. So I think a big part of my role over the last six years has been trying to identify whether a problem is related to the amount of traffic coming through to a particular digital call to action, or whether it's actually Language and an optimization problem. So oceans versus traffic. Exactly, exactly. And that's given me like figuring that out and developing the data systems to speak to that has given me a lot of weight and being able to push back on certain tactics are to communicate prioritization. So I've been in many organizations, other nonprofits, as well through my volunteer experiences, where there's an assumption as to what the communications tactics should be, right. Whereas if you walk people through those different sets of data, and identify, , okay, you have a lot of traffic, but they're not converting, then the solution could be a simple button or text swap, versus, , a massive social campaign or pitch to media. So like disease, dreams and visions that people have, who maybe don't have that context as to what the problem is. So
Daniel
that's huge. And , in a, in a marketing role, it's always important to not only have those assumptions and hypothesis and look at the trends, but to actually validate that with the results. And so, , would you have any advice on how to kind of position that to someone in decision making power, such as a board, oftentimes, the board has to approve, , certain spending allocation on marketing communications?
Cara
Yeah. So I have a particular example, I'll speak to here, a Volunteer Toronto, this is pre pandemic, we were trying to figure out what sponsorship, what would be equal sponsorship for an exchange for a booth at an event. So if Volunteer Toronto were to gain access to a free booth, what would we give in return, and what would be the value of what we would offer and that was often communications assets. So I came up with this analogy where, , social media data, for instance, or you could relate to web data or newsletter data as well. It's very similar to an event. So , you have people who buy tickets, those people might be your followers, you have people who show up to the event, those people might be your impressions. And then you have people who stopped by at your actual booth, those people are actually conducting engagements with you. So I've used this analogy and comparing digital data to a real Tabeling fair environment, to communicate the value both in terms of sponsorship, but also up the chain to different leadership. So if you're deciding how to value, , social media, or different digital marketing initiatives, that data that impression data could be comparable to event data. And a lot of people kind of that connects the dots, because in the sector, we're so used to those tabling, or fair type of environments. Yep.
Daniel
Amazing. That's, you're kind of bringing these personal, personalized elements to the data. Because, again, you're looking at numbers, it's hard to compare them side by side. And if anything, sometimes the online version can actually be tracked more than yes, in person, because you lose a lot of that tracking sometimes, right? Yes, for sure. Amazing. So I'd love to talk about, , we love to focus on showcasing impact and successes here. With Growth for Good. That's the whole point, right? We want to amplify that impact. So are there any examples that you'd like to share a recent win or a success story? From your experience?
Cara
Well, I am really proud of the Media Relations at Volunteer Toronto, particularly when I started at the organization, , six years ago, we didn't have any media relationships, we weren't being called for any type of media coverage. And I felt like I was pitching often and maybe softer stories about volunteerism, but that wasn't really the thought leadership space that we wanted to plan. And so I think through relationship building, accessing networks, and constantly pitching, and reacting to different angles, and stories with different media outlets, I've built up these really strong relationships where to hit my media goals for the year, I don't have to be proactive, necessarily, unless I'm pitching like an op ed. And I want to secure that with a relationship. But for instance, like I can get 15 big media outlet calls per year, rely reliably without having to do that proactive pitching. And that's purely because of that relationship building over the last five years. Amazing. Even this morning, I got a call from CBC to comment on the social capital study. And so I think I'm really proud of where we've come in those six years with those relationships.
Daniel
For sure. I think media is kind of an underrated tactic, because, again, sometimes it may seem very unattainable, but if you're Looking to position yourself as , as an expert as a thought leader than then like you said, you can have media come to you as opposed to constantly going out. Exactly. Exactly amazing. When it comes to the specific channels and platforms that Volunteer Toronto is, is using, are there any that kind of stand out to you as there? Has there been a shift over the last few years?
Cara
Yeah. So I have a boring answer for you, Daniel, I'm so sorry, the the data shakes out that nothing compares to a personalized email sending that to an individual with their information in it. As much as I would like to say, , whatever is gonna replace Twitter or, , that new technology or software, the personalized emails have been the most effective, and one of our trickiest audiences to engages nonprofits who have very little real estate, right? So they have very limited time to engage with different things, because they're so focused on service delivery. And when we're trying to engage with nonprofits, the email just cuts through, , branded newsletter doesn't do as effective as a job as when you put a person behind an email,
Daniel
right? Yeah, I think that's huge. And that is something that, again, doesn't get as much attention, right? Because people want the the vanity metrics of how many times was something shared or retweeted. Right, and how many views did it get? But , that one open of that one email could actually trigger a more impactful result?
Cara
Yeah, yeah. And optimizing those subject lines. Yes. fun little game,
Daniel
playing with open rates. I know that, , there's a lot of stats about, , the typical open rates, and there are a lot a lot smaller than people would expect, right. But if you can continue to improve based on like you said, maybe the frequency or what the subject lines are, how personalized they are, you can really see a lot of success through email. So amazing. The best part about email is that it's not dependent on the algorithms
Cara
changes, as you mentioned, right? Yes, exactly.
Daniel
That being said, Has there has there been anything that's shifted over the course of the pandemic with regards to how your organization has been communicating?
Cara
Yeah, I think that during the pandemic, everything had to be time stamped, which was a unique experience as the comms professional and things didn't really have a shelf life of longer than sometimes 24 hours, sometimes a week. Whereas now I do sense that things are a little bit more evergreen. So the pace as to which things are changing, and maybe as a nonprofit, you're commenting on safety precautions, or delivery of services. And I do think that things are stabilizing a little bit, which is nice as a comms professional to not have to go back and update constantly materials. So there's a longer shelf life, I also think there's a little bit of saturation, which with digital communication. So , one of our target audiences is youth. And we're noticing that our online referral sources or campaigns aren't performing as well as they have in the past two years. And so I just have this hypothesis as a comm scientists that it's time to do some in person engagement, it's time to print posters, do ads in person, it's time to network with school boards and get into the spaces that students are in that particular audience. So less reliance on digital is where I think I'm at, at this point in the pandemic,
Daniel
amazing. I mean, I've gone to kind of workshops and events at the Volunteer Toronto office pre pandemic, so I can see how , that's, that is super impactful. I remember being on a couple of panels there actually, in meeting so many great people face to face that, , you wouldn't necessarily have had the chance to connect with online. So I think we're seeing a great return to some in person engagement. And even if it's smaller numbers, it's it's that, , again, goes back to the quality over quantity piece as well, hopefully creating additional ambassadors there that can I can share. Yeah, yeah. Amazing. So, , I know that you've transitioned through a few different roles, you've probably learned a ton on the job. Are there any kind of tips or best practices that you could share from a communications and marketing standpoint to other organizations?
Cara
Sure. I have two kinds of phrases that I live by. One of them is that marketing is testing and I think that goes to some of what we're talking about today. Data. Yes, yes, exactly. And being scientists alike, or deriving hypotheses and what that also does is take off some of the expectation or demystifies that marketing is something that is 100% going to work 100% of the time, right. And sometimes there's that pressure for those who aren't in the sector, whereas it is a little bit of science and art. And so taking that expectation and just reminding yourself that it's testing and so long as you can learn from each campaign, and you're proving that you're analyzing the results of that campaign for improvement, that's, I think, a good enough job, or at least that's what I tell the staff that I manage, and communications,
Daniel
that's a huge, that's a huge tip, for sure. And sometimes you think that you always have to reinvent the wheel. And it's great. So I think, , we look at it as a great way to look at it, as , a percentage of your content and initiatives can be something new that you're testing and trying. And then you have those, that percentage of like the things that have proven to, , create success. I don't know if you feel the same way. But sometimes people just want to try things, change everything for the sake of changing it. Right. But sometimes you have those things that are that are really working right. And you may never know what the impact would be. If you didn't try a little bit of anything, we'd love to throw everything out essentially. Right?
Cara
Yeah, I mean, we try to focus on one variable at a time. So how do that that second emoji in the subject line converted better, unless that's the only thing that you changed about your approach. So we tried to limit it to one variable. And if someone comes in, and they want to see something drastically different, you can also lay out all the variables that you have tested to come to that culminating point where that this is the best for right now that you can produce?
Daniel
Yep, that's a great way to do it. Because you have to know exactly what that change was right? Now, when it comes to, , again, trying new things, choosing to be on new platforms, choosing new tactics, obviously, you can't do all of it at once, right. And sometimes, , you may have pressure from external places saying you should try this or we should be on this platform, we should be on that platform. So do you have kind of a recommendation on how organizations can approach that? Or how do you decide where to go?
Cara
Yeah, I, , this could be one of my successes, I feel because I think that the staff of Volunteer Toronto are starting to adopt my approach here to this challenge, where I'm looking at our website data as the core of our effectiveness and marketing communications. So often, all those other channels are trying to drive people through to your website, which is where your core call to actions live. Yep. I like to look at Google Analytics, and particularly our referral data. So what that tells us is how what percentage of people are coming to our site, from social from newsletters, from direct links from referrals from organic and paid search. And I can basically prioritize based on that, or the likelihood to grow those different buckets. Right. So one of the really exciting rows in there is, I think it's called direct links or referrals. And basically, those are links on other people's sites that link back to your site. Now we can look at those and find strategic opportunities, like oh, the province of Ontario, is sending 1000 people to our website a month. Yeah, we didn't ask them to do that. So but that's a huge valuable, like flow. So how can we build that relationship or find other similar link backs in order to drive that mass amount of traffic versus focusing on improving , the 5% of social media traffic that you get to your site? Right, let's grow the direct traffic because there's more potential and it's more sustainable,
Daniel
amazing, and perhaps even looking at, , what the goals are as well, right? If it is website traffic, because that's what's actually performing best and you're seeing more people signing up, or you're seeing more people subscribing for your newsletter, for example, versus you may have certain initiatives that's about awareness or education, where it's not necessarily about the clicks or the signups. But it's about the reach that that content got. Right. So I guess yes, maybe looking at adjusting the the goals and the metrics. per campaign. Right.
Cara
Yeah. And that goes back to kind of identifying what the problem is, is it traffic or is it conversions? And sometimes you're right. It's not just about traffic's traffic for conversions. It's about traffic for perception. Yeah. And really interesting and Volunteer Toronto, we've tried to harness the perspective that people want to volunteer during the holidays. And, , they do it once a year. And we've done campaigns where we're just trying to coach and train people on the fact that volunteers are needed year round, not just for one day during, , Christmas Eve or whatever, at the shelter. Yeah, that's not really how meaningful volunteerism happens. So that's an example of the campaign you're talking about in terms of perception.
Daniel
That's important for sure. I'd love to know if there's any sources of inspiration education, whether it's books, blogs, podcasts that you turn to maybe recommend others look at as well.
Cara
If you aren't following Vu Le from Nonprofit AF, you have to you have to just for the comedy alone and the like, it's such deep meaningful content. And I often reference Vu’s blog, just for like understanding something, how I'm going to approach a strategy, like kind of giving me some, some words or like thoughts before I even get into the tactical bits, like just perception on different issues. And then the comedy that comes through in his writing as well. And that's particularly for the nonprofit sector. In terms of marketing communications, though, I honestly just digest a lot of content, as much content as I can, I really want to unsubscribe from way more newsletters, but I even if I'm not interested in the subject matter, I'm learning from how, , a for profit or a retailer is using different communications and applying that to Volunteer Toronto when I can.
Daniel
Amazing. I think that's one of the underrated things, which is looking at, , cross pollination from other sectors and not seeing not keeping nonprofits or charitable is in a bubble, right, because we don't just need the tips for charities and nonprofits, we need the tips that work in general, because ultimately, every organization is competing with every other brand out there for that attention. Right. So I think that's, that's great that you turn to those resources. Now, we're gonna wrap up with a piece of advice that you could share. I know you've recently become Interim Executive Director as well. So what's one piece of advice that you would give to leaders in the nonprofit sector?
Cara
You've summarized it before with quality versus quantity. But my advice is to do less, but not do less. In terms of do less impact, it's more, do more, but be strategic about it. So don't, don't try all of the tactics be really refined in terms of which ones are going to meet your goals. So you're not overwhelmed in the quantity of work, perhaps. But you're really strategic about your decisions. And in that way, you're doing less, but you're doing more,
Daniel
I think that's a huge one. One of the recurring themes on this show has been about the amount of burnout that takes place in the sector. So I think that's one way to also avoid that, which is do less things. Thank you so much for joining us!
