Our latest guest in the Be Our Guest series is Maya Enista, CEO of Mobilize.org. Mobilize.org is an amazing organization that makes democracy work better by investing in Millennial-driven solutions. She's been with Mobilize.org for 5 years, the first half of her tenure as Chief Operating Officer and as CEO for the past 2.5 years. Previously, Enista served as National Field Director for the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project and as East Coast Coordinator for Rock The Vote. She attended Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. On the personal side, Mays is almost 27 years of age and is marrying "a wonderful man named David Smith" in 2011. She lives in Washington, DC with Dave their two black labs, Hudson and Zinny.Maya is another busy professional who has been kind enough to give some time to our readers and share her knowledge. Please use the comment section to offer your thoughts on her answers and to answer her question for the group. Many thanks, Maya!
My current challenge is working to ensure a balance between our funds raised for program-related and general operating support. Although there have been great developments in this area, general operating support or capacity-building are still terms that Foundations are hesitant to include in their grant agreements. However, these funds are essential to an organization’s ability to be sustainable, to thrive and to focus on developing our leaders, at all levels and both inside and outside of our organizations. I just spent several days with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, who I believe to be a leader in this field and will set a powerful example to the philanthropic community moving forward on how to support and develop the talent within our sector.
What are you doing to overcome these challenges?
We’re working to cultivate our individual donor network and increase our online fundraising efforts in order to become less reliant on foundation grants; diversifying our donors. We’re proud to have over 500 individual donors who give between $10 and $10,000 to support our work to improve democracy by investing in Millennial-driven solutions. We offer our donors various methods to stay engaged in our organization, including our monthly newsletters, blogs on our website, reports from our Summits, regular e-mail communication, tweets, Facebook updates and Mobilize.org events in their local communities. In turn, we hope to increase their commitment to Mobilize.org.
What is the most successful change/program implementation you have made in your current role (or as a consultant to others)
I’ve begun to be really intentional about the amount of time I spend working reactively (to funding requests, to media opportunities, to Board Members, etc.) and the amount of time I spent working proactively (measuring our work against the impact we hope to have on the Millennial Generation, engaging my staff in visioning exercises and re-visiting and refining our theory of change and logic model). It’s important that a CEO function in both arenas and I’ve struggled with that balance, so I’ve found it helpful to block “Big Think” times and then participate in detailed planning meeting with my talented and independent staff. There’s a huge difference between talking about the work that your organization is doing and actively participating in the work that improves the lives of the people you’re working for and I want to make sure I’m doing the latter to strengthen the former.
Where do you see social-media’s best application for fundraising?
Social-media is another way to build relationships with donors, potential donors or people who know people that know people. I strongly believe that social-media should be incorporated into all development plans and not viewed as something “extra,” that your already over-worked staff doesn’t have time for. Social-media is just the next form of communication (and not only for my generation) and it should be treated as such; I’m not sure we had email and fax experts 10 years ago the way we have social-media experts today. One of the most useful tools that I’ve found for cultivating our online network is the Causes application in Facebook. For more information on how to use it, check out this helpful fact sheet.
What book / blog / twitter feed would you suggest fundraisers pay attention to in order to further develop their skills?
I’m constantly on the Foundation Center’s website and reading the Chronicle of Philanthropy, both phenomenal research tools, but I do most of my prospecting and research courtesy of the social networks, particularly Twitter. There are so many great ones, here are some of my favorites:
Sean Stannard-Stockton (@tactphil): CEO of Tactical Philanthropy Advisors has some of the most thoughtful (and thought provoking) pieces about philanthropy’s role in social innovation. 
Kari Dunn Saratovsky (@socialcitizen): From the Case Foundation shares her insight on social entrepreneurship and the role of Millennials in shaping the future of our democracy and her insights on new technologies are always right on.
Venture Philanthropy Partners (@vppartners): I've been learning a great deal about measuring impact and effectively scaling my efforts from their important work.
My favorite former fundraiser is Rosetta Thurman (@rosettathurman) who recently launched her own consulting firm and shares her provocative and inspiring thoughts on new technology, the Millennial Generation and the need to build a more diverse sector.
I’d be remisce if I didn’t mention the amazing organization that I have the honor of leading, Mobilize.org. You can stay tuned to @mob_org to learn more about our funding opportunities, work on Millennial innovation and best practices for engaging and empowering this generation. You can also follow our team individually:What question would you find most useful for the readers to answer?
The best part of my job is serving as a resource for our partner organizations, and change-makers who want to have an impact on the issues that they care most about. So, I welcome your thoughts on what’s worked, what hasn’t worked and any advice you have for the Mobilize.org team on engaging and empowering the Millennial Generation. Please connect with us on Twitter, on Facebook
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