Taking Your Nanny Support Group to the Next Level - part 6

by Kellie Geres, Regarding Nannies Development Team
President, ADCAN ~ Association of DC Area Nannies

 

Promoting Your Group

 

There are many effective ways to promote your group. My favorite by far is VistaPrint. By using their designs or uploading your own you can create an endless array of exposure for your group.

Design postcards to mail out announcing special events and meetings.

Design postcards to give to members to have handy with your group information while at the park as they may run into other nannies on outings.

Design tote bags with your logo or group name.

Put your name on pens

Design business cards to hand out to anyone and everyone – get your name out there.

Design a banner to hang at meetings and events. Get noticed!

Design key chains for members to have as a thank you!

Design mugs, mouse pads, hats, t-shirts, and more and have handy as a giveaway during special events, meetings or as a thank you.

  

Another venue to check out for promotional items is CafePress. Offering many of the above and more options not on VistaPrint, let your creative juices flow.

  

Always be looking for ways to cut costs. Here are some of my tips:

 

Email your newsletter vs. printing it. Offer printing to those who don’t have email, but consider adding an additional fee if you feel extra costs will be involved not covered by membership fee.

 

Email renewal notices.

 

Utilize VistaPrint for business cards, postcards, etc.

 

Use Evite for events

 

Consider business membership, outside advertising.

 

By cutting costs you are able to put more money back into the organization and meet the needs of your membership.

  

Finally, I’ve mentioned many resources throughout these six parts. Here is a handy listing for you to refer to as you take your group to the next level.

 

If you have any questions on any of these parts or would like to discuss ways to improve your group, feel free to contact me at allthingsnanny (at) gmail (dot) com.

 

 

 

VistaPrint

 

PDF995

 

Constant Contact

 

Google

 

Yahoo!

 

Amazon Associate Program

 

EFundraising

 

CafePress

 

Survey Monkey

 

Best Nanny Newsletter

 

Crayola Affiliate Program

 

GoDaddy

 

Website By You

 

Craigslist

 

MeetUps

 

Facebook

 

Nanny Island

 

Evite

 

Blogger

 

WordPress

 

I See Me

 

Taking Your Nanny Support Group to the Next Level - Part 5

by Kellie Geres, Regarding Nannies Development Team
President, ADCAN ~ Association of DC Area Nannies

Two questions I hear often from nanny group leaders are … One, should we charge membership dues and Two, should nanny agencies be permitted to be supporting members?

Charging membership dues will provide you with an income to help cover some of your costs – printing, postage, special events. However, they do not cover all your costs, depending on the size and scope of your group. Ranges of amounts charged by groups across the country are $15-$35 annually. You will need a checking account for your group and you can accept checks, cash and PayPal.

So what does membership include?

• Newsletter

• Membership directory

• Access to members only events/services

• Member discounts

• Voting on membership issues

• Area benefits – discounts at area stores

Dues can be determined January – December and pro-rated for new members, but I recommend starting in the month they join and ending one year later.

You also need to determine levels of membership for nannies. I will use ADCAN as example here.

Active (Yearly Dues $35)

Requirements:

1. Currently employed as a professional nanny.

2. Currently employed as an au pair, in-home child care provider and/or mother's helper.

Associate (Yearly Dues of $35)

Requirements:

1. Professional nanny not currently employed as such, or who may be living outside the DC Metro area.

Agency * (Yearly Dues based upon ads submitted to Newsletter. Available at levels of $75 and $125)

Requirements:

1. Any agency or industry related businesses that are involved with nannies in the DC metro area.

Spousal *(Yearly Dues of $15)

Requirements:

1. Any spouse of any current member.

Temporary * (Dues of $15)

Requirements:

1. A nanny/child care provider in the DC area for four (4) months or less.

Newsletter Only * (Yearly Dues of $15)

Requirements:

1. Any person wishing to receive only the bi-monthly newsletter.

Business Memberships / Sponsorships

Reaching out to the agencies in your area and the industry services will help you reach a broader audience of nannies and interest in your group.

By offering businesses an opportunity to support your organization you are generating additional funds for operating your group, and in return you can offer the following to businesses:

• Advertising in newsletter

• Listing on your website and/or blog

• Participation in area events – for example, ADCAN will be taking part in a local child care vendor fair, and we will offer to display our business members’ material on our table, as part of their membership with us.

• Display of their material at meetings on a resource table

ADCAN also offers to agencies that if they pay for their nannies to be members of the organization, we reduce the annual fee for the nanny membership.

Businesses are non-voting memberships, are invited to our meetings and ADCAN offers additional sponsorship opportunities such as NNRW brunch and Holiday Party.

One final consideration, offer advertising to area businesses that caters to children and families.



The final installation in this series will focus on promotional items, ways to cut costs and a listing of resources to keep you going as you take your group to the next level.

Taking Your Nanny Support Group to the Next Level - Part 4

by Kellie Geres, Regarding Nannies Development Team
President, ADCAN ~ Association of DC Area Nannies.

Fundraising!

Your group cannot survive on membership fees alone, and if you don’t charge membership fees you’ll be paying out your own pocket.

At some point you will want to consider a fundraiser. These can be large or small, one-time or ongoing. Discuss with your members what they are interested in participating in, what they are willing to spend, how often they want to be solicited for funds and if they have any special interests in certain products that you could sell.

There are pluses and minuses to all fundraisers. Be in tune with your membership as to their commitment level. Make sure to have one person who will oversee the event and be prepared for limited involvement from members.

Fundraising Options
One-Time / Periodic
Bake Sale
Garage Sale
Pampered Chef, Usborne Books or other direct sales

Ongoing – all of the options listed below are free to sign up and simple to implement. These are just a few of the nanny group friendly sites that have affiliate programs.

• Amazon.com Affiliate Program – one of my favorite and most convenient. Sign up for their affiliate/associate program and funds are directly deposited into your account. ADCAN had special business cards made up via VistaPrint reminding members to utilize Amazon when shopping. This offer can be shared with general public and on your website. Portion of purchase proceeds go directly back to your group.
• EFundraising.com – another favorite. Simply place the link on your site and members and visitors can buy new or renew magazine subscriptions and portion of proceeds go directly back to your group.
• Commission Junction.com – for this site, you sign up for an account, and then sign up for vendor opportunities that you want to participate in. Examples are VistaPrint, and Crayola. These companies then provide you with your own personalized link and when orders are made through your site/link, you get a portion of the purchase price.
• CafePress.com offers you the opportunity to market your group on merchandise and earn money when sales are made from that site. From t-shirts to bumper stickers, buttons and mugs the possibilities are endless.
• I See Me offer personalized books and children’s products and gives nanny groups an opportunity to earn funds with their affiliate program.

The ongoing options above allow for easy accessibility, no organizing or overhead and ongoing promotion of your fundraiser.

Many of these programs require an EIN number and a website to participate and a checking account for funds to be deposited into.

Next up in part 5 – Membership Dues and Business Sponsorships.

Taking Your Nanny Support Group to the Next Level - part 3

by Kellie Geres

Regarding Nannies Development Team
President, ADCAN ~ Association of DC Area Nannies

Newsletters!

A great tool for any group or business to serve its members or customers. It can consist of a simple one page, double sided mailed out version to multiple pages sent online via PDF. You might even consider an electronic version using a service like Constant Contact.

Keep in mind …
If doing a print version, you will have printing, postage, envelope, label costs.

An email version can be done using a free PDF converter which you can Google and find online, or you can purchase one. You can use a word document format or publisher format and these programs have easy templates for you to choose from.

Constant Contact offers numerous templates, minimal costs but is limited to those with email. Sending to a list of 500 emails can cost $15 a month.

A successful newsletter should include:
President / Vice President / Owner message. Greet your members or clients. Keep them up to date on what you are doing, something meaningful going on in your group and plans for the coming months.

Main Article(s) – something timely or professionally related. There are many resources available out there on the internet, find them and make sure to get permission to reprint anything you copy from another source. Have members write articles, guest contributors, industry professional and more. Connect with other nanny groups, newsletters, and bloggers and ask them for permission to reprint. I’ve yet to have someone say no to a request. Always provide a link to their site and give full credit to the author and website.

A Calendar of Events can include birthdays, groups events, holidays, meeting reminders. Calendar formats can be found online as well.

Featured Nanny is very popular amongst nanny groups. Pick a nanny in your group that you’d like others to know. Don’t let it be just a few sentences of who this person is – this is your opportunity to really get to know this person and introduce her to your group. Ask in depth questions, candid and thought provoking questions to get your subject talking.

Include photos from events. Let your members know that photos are taken at events and will be used in publications. If anyone does not want to be included, they can opt out of photo opportunities. Be respectful of members’ wishes on this matter.

What is your group up to? Include committee updates. Have events in the planning? Need help planning a party or event? Get your members involved and publish details in the newsletter.

Ask Nanny? Offer a question and answer section that members / readers can write in and ask a question and have it answered. You can set up a simple Gmail account so that people can anonymously send in questions and have answered in future issues.

Don’t forget a disclaimer. You can search Google for simple newsletter disclaimers for the wording, but the will protect you should any matter arise.

You may also want to consider advertising. I will go into further detail on this in part 5, but advertising will help defer your costs, offer added benefits to businesses and resources to your members and clients.

Here is a complimentary look at the newsletter of ADCAN ~ Association of DC Area Nannies.

A newsletter is a great communication tool, and communication is key in a successful group. Some other forms of communication you might consider for your group are:

Members Only Yahoo Group – this allows for membership only communications and can help with planning, organizing and implementing events.

Have dedicated emails for your group. Gmail is a great tool for this. Free and as many as you like. Offer one for newsletter, one for membership, one for events. This way you keep everything organized and only those persons who need access to certain information have access to those emails, and not the entire groups email.
Phone trees are a great tool as well. We all get caught up in emails and facebook and twitter. A phone call does wonder when reaching out to your membership. New members should receive a welcome call.

Something special going on in the group? Call and let everyone know. Is there a member who isn’t coming to meetings? Call and touch base and see if everything is OK. That personal touch goes a long way in creating relationships with your members and potential members.

Evite is an awesome tool for groups. Manage your events by creating, inviting, RSVP, directions and even refreshments. Simple and free.

Postcards are one of my favorite tools in communicating with groups. For this, I LOVE VistaPrint. 100 FREE postcards and all you pay is shipping. How can you go wrong? Do Save the Dates; group information to pass out at parks, playgrounds, businesses; membership receipts for payment, National Nanny Recognition Week reminders, and much, much more!

If you don’t have a blog, consider doing one in conjunction with your website. A blog is a great communication tool. You can post articles and findings from other sites (make sure to give credit), post articles that appear in your newsletter, and much more.

Have a group page on Facebook. Make it public so that people in the industry and the public can learn about you. Post when you have a meeting, area events and attractions, industry news, national news and points of interest for your members and readers.

So many opportunities, so many choices. Do your research and see what you are comfortable doing. Two pages or 20, it’s all up to you and what you want to provide.

Next up … Fundraising!

Tuesday Tips:What to do while you wait for the right job.

The following post is from Patti Mueller at Nanny Mall. She had some helpful advice for nannies waiting for the right job to come along. Thanks Patti for letting us share your advice with our readers!

Some suggestions for "waiting Nannies"
If you are a professional Nanny or just breaking into the profession, waiting to get placed with a family can be extremely difficult! It's not an question of your experience, your talents, your availability, your age, your anything, it can be simply explained like this:
Families are extremely particular when it comes to choosing a Nanny for their family. (as they should be)
After all they want someone "just like them."

If you polled families the general consensus would probably look a little like this: Nanny must be fun, energetic, playful, loving, gentle, kind, and above all, must love our children. You see, it's everything they offer their children so they expect to bring in someone with the same actions and feelings they have towards their children.
And true, they might even hold a brighter candle to you to make sure you pass the grade due to "you being the professional."

It's not always an easy choice. There are times when a family meets with just one applicant and "tag you're it!"
happens. There are families that had a clear idea on what type of Nanny they would like for their home only to interview many and decide they need to change their criteria and start all over. Then there are families that interview 15-20 applicants and decide not to hire at all.

It's constant wait and see but understandably a Nanny can become discouraged and feel she doesn't have what it takes should she be passed by time after time. (side note: a good support group or agency can help in that area)

Nanny Mall has some suggestions on their blog that may help keep your mind strong and your days busy during your waiting period.
Read them on their blog
Nanny Mall Blog

Week End Round Up

This is the last weekend to take advantage of our
NNRW Shopping Specials!

Monday Moxie: Spotlight on Central Florida Nannies

Tuesday Tips
A list of great websites an message boards to visit and explore

Wednesday Creative Nanny
Coloring pages to print with no ads!

Thursday Table Talk: Celebrating Penny Andrews 50 years in the Nanny profession

Friday Financial Nanny Alice shows us Part 2 of setting up a budget

Post a comment on any of our articles for the month of September and be entered to win an INA Membership.

Weekend Round Up

As we close in on the kick off of National Nanny Recognition Week, we want to remind you to patronize our vendors by making a purchase from them. The majority of our vendors are WAHM or moms who work a day job and a side job and the fact that they were willing to offer nannies a discount in honor of NNRW is a huge show of support for what we do.
Please let them know how much you appreciate their support by making a purchase.
Here is the link to the shopping specials
NNRW Shopping Specials

Monday Moxie: Spotlight on Greta Schraer's Cincy Nanny Group

Tuesday Tips: Staying Connected

Wednesday Creative Nanny Cindy Wilkinson taught us techniques for integrating music with painting

Thursday Table Talk: Tara Lindsay's compelling story about her Bone Marrow Donation experience is one you don't want to miss!

Friday Financial Nanny Alice started a series of articles on how to create a budget you can live with.

Coming up this week on Regarding Nannies, we will have an interview with Penny Andrews, who is celebrating her 50th year as a nanny.

Thursday Table Talk with Greta Schraer

We liked what our colleague Greta Schraer wrote for her blog CincyNanny and we wanted her to share it with you on Thursday Table Talk.

What is a Nanny?
The Nanny industry is wide and vague.
I read a book last year called "Searching For Mary Poppins" written by women writers about the intense relationships between mothers and nannies - 24 to be exact. 24 different nannies written about by 24 different writing mothers. Great book! I would highly recommend it to anyone navigating through a similar relationship. As I read, I kept looking for myself in these real life stories. And although I did find similar characteristics in many of them, as I closed the book, I was discouraged. I was not there. Did any of these mothers really know me? Instead, I read many other definitions of a Nanny...
Nannies are caregivers that travel with Hollywood stars and give up their own lives to bring up kids on movie sets. Yes. Sometimes.
Nannies are older women that never had their own kids. They instead feel the responsibility to attach themselves to a different family as their own. Yes, sometimes.
Nannies are for parents who don't want to raise their kids. Sad, but sometimes true.
Nannies are British, strict, and run the house in a military-like style. OK. Yes, Sometimes.
Nannies are from countries like Ecuador, the Philippines, and Mexico who leave their own kids to come make better money to send home. They speak little English. Yes, Sometimes.
These stories are true and the Nannies are real, but I am not that Nanny.
Here in Cincinnati, Nannies are thankful to find each other, as they feel few and far between. But the truth is there are many of us. We are here. We are professional. We are important. We have a great responsibility but sometimes feel isolated with no one to look to for support or even a hand up to the next level. I believe for that reason, our job frustrations can get to us and we have no one to turn to for clarification, questions, and help. Instead we join the national average and leave our "long-term" jobs within a couple years of starting. 57.42% of Professional Nannies have been with their families for under 2 years (according to the 2009 INA Salary and Benefits Survey Recap) . Many times, that frustration even causes us to leave the industry all-together. Sometimes the frustrations don't seem worth the calling.
Let's face it, we love kids. Who else would look to another family and say, "Please let me play with your kids for a living." We feel lucky, like we are beating the system. Like we are not really even working. Well until..... one of THOSE days. A day when there is an uncomfortable moment with someone in the family, a disagreement about discipline, or a mountain you are climbing with a child that is not a priority to the parents. But we love these kids, we have grown incredibly attached to them...So, we suck it up. We remind ourselves, "I am not their parent. I am here to carry out the parents' ideals for their children. I have to just do the best with what I have. At the end of the day it is the parents' responsibility." Besides, we ARE learning. We are dealing with challenges. I make mental notes daily as to what I will do the next time around or with my own kids. This mental conversation stays in my head or occasionally vents to my husband or best friend - but they don't really know my situation.
As Nannies, we do not have the fellow employee at the cubical next door. We can't go grab a coffee in the break room, or stand around the "water cooler" and hear how the other employees feel to validate our thoughts. So we let it go (we think). Then maybe it happens again.... and we let it go. "It was nobody's fault", we tell ourselves,"I just have a different opinion." But over time (for most in the first 2 years) it starts to wear on us. The grass starts to look greener on the other side of the fence. "I could work with less kids and be able to give them more attention", "I could make more money", "I could find a family that has THIS or THAT". But is the grass really greener?
After meeting an amazing group of Professional Nannies in the U.S. at the International Nanny Association Conference, I saw myself in a lot of Nannies. I found us! We are wonderful people and there are A LOT of us. I found validation and understanding. I found my "water cooler". I also picked up on some traits that run through our industry. Obviously we love kids. We really love kids! We love them like they are our own. We have great character and want to build that into the kids we are with. We rarely complain. We rarely speak up. Communication is hard, especially if we have don't have a context to compare it to. So we let it go. We are sacrificial, not just for the kids, but for the families as well. We'll do the things the family forgot and never say a word. We'll go to the kid's favorite 'location' every week because the smile on their faces makes all the annoyances go away. If you put together a couple of our common traits - bad communication and sacrificial heart - and you can see why sometimes it looks greener.
As I speak about such things, I realize I am lucky.
First of all, I am currently employed by a professional family that is open and available (I know that is not true for all employer/nanny relationships). We have worked really hard to keep an updated work agreement and daily nanny log. The household is busy, but I have no excuse NOT to communicate. I have failed in my performance many times and have been able to discuss it with them. Very honest conversations about our actions and the "whys" behind them help us to understand each other's situation. Sure there have been times when I could smell that fresh cut green grass, but I know this soil. I have come to trust this soil. Are we perfect? No. Do we always agree? No. But do we respect each other? Yes. It has come over time, so if you are thinking of leaving the children you adore just because it's hard to deal with the parents, my advice to you is don't check out just yet.
Secondly, I now have INA and community of Nanny friends all over the U.S. that I can email or Facebook my questions and frustrations to. I have been able to see that there is a standard. There is community. All of which I am hoping to bring to Cincinnati. The start of this blog is a way to connect us. To give us a local water cooler. And it will expand.
As we build our local community we will bring a clear understanding and standard for what a Nanny is. Who we are. How we can respond to our frustrations. How we can grow as professionals.
So, what is a Nanny? There may not be one definition. Here is mine:
I am a professional. I am part of a family team. I am one of many that will build into the lives of these beautiful, talented children. I need a community. I need respect. I make mistakes. I love children. I want to grow in knowledge. I want to grow as a person. My gifts are unique and therefore I make my job unique. I am faithful. I am affectionate. I am a leader. I serve a True God who gives me forgiveness and guidance. I have a passion to gather Nannies together to share experiences, gather resources, to challenge each other, and of course, play together. I have found my calling. I am a Nanny.

Greta is Professional Nanny in Cincinnati. She cares for the most wonderful 2.5 year old triplet boys.
Greta has 20 years of experience working with kids in different capacities, including part & full-time nanny, assistant youth pastor, and mentoring teen agers.

Current Job Goals:
Potty Training Bootcamp, holding crayons correctly, saying our first and last name, singing the ABC's (correctly), preparing for pre-school in the fall, and having fun!!-
Current Professional Goals:
Working on the CincyNanny. Working as an advocate for Nannies.
Goal for CincyNanny Blog:
To lay the foundation for a Cincinnati Community of Nannies.
To educate and provide resource to Nannies & Families.
Bring excellence to the profession, provide quality care for families and realize that we take on the responsibility to raise children as a team effort.