We noted in Friday's post World Cup, soccer strategy, and nonprofit success with Salesforce that one powerful way of fostering said nonprofit success with Salesforce is educating nonprofit Salesforce administrators to do for themselves.

It just so happens that the Salesforce.com Foundation has two great ways for nonprofits to tool up, and they are free!

For those watching the World Cup, it's obvious to see key differences between futbol on the world stage and football of the more provincial American style. The latter is a start and stop affair where huddles occur before every play with each player told where to run, where block, what to do. Much of the time, the strategy is to instruct the team in a way that applies the most force at a given point on the field to gain advantage over the opponent. Conformity to the plan and expert execution is of primary importance. Individual invention, save in very small measure, is of little concern. The team is a machine. The player a cog.

Futbol, on the other hand, is an entirely different affair. There are no huddles. There are very few plays. There is an overarching strategy but it is left to small groups of individual players to orchestrate the execution of that strategy moment-by-moment by responding to their particular situation at a particular time in a particular way.

Among the international soccer talent that much of the planet is obsessively following with each dribble, pass, and shot of the World Cup stands a 5'7" Argentine who many consider the best player of his generation, if not of all-time.

Here are three traits that make Lionel Messi superb, and that the best nonprofits share with him.

Let's talk numbers, shall we?

To start, let's grab the number 1.92. 1.92 is the number of times more likely someone signing an online petition is to donate to a similar cause after signing. This was quantified by researchers Yu-Hao Lee and Gary Hsieh in their study Does Slacktivism Hurt Activism?: The Effects of Moral Balancing and Consistency in Online Activism.

So, I sign your online petition, I am then almost twice as likely as someone who didn't sign that petition to give money to a cause that is similar to yours.

Notice that didn't read "give money to your organization". Mark that. It'll be on the quiz later.

The researchers also found that I'm more likely to take other actions in support of similar causes after signing your petition, provided those actions don't cost me much.

A great example: signing another online petition.