On June 2nd in Portland, I’ll be offering a special 3 hour workshop I’ve put together on the essentials of an effective major donor program.
It will be tailored for no more than 20 participants.
Should your nonprofit use a Resource Council?
March 23, 2016
A Resource Council. A Council of Leaders.
These are two names I’ve experienced as alternatives to an “Advisory Board,” which is more common in the nonprofit world.
What I like about the alternative formulation is you’re more explicitly naming the group for what it most should provide: resources.
The Council should be a group of 6-12 non-board volunteers who’re committed to doing something to help your organization secure more resources.
As a Council, they are probably only brought together once a year to meet with the organization’s other leadership. Perhaps one extra time if the organization is going through strategic planning.
The Council should have a written job description and some leadership –whether provided by a staff member, the Council Chair, or both. The Council should have an annual goal or goals — usually based on the resources the Council will help the group obtain.
This is a great way to involve those people who are in a position to help an organization, but don’t want to wade through all the nitty gritty of board governance.
Has your organization used a Council (by whatever name it’s called)? What’s worked well and what hasn’t worked well?
What makes something a “strategic” plan?
January 20, 2016
What do we mean by strategic planning in the nonprofit context?
In my mind, there are three key distinguishing characteristics.
First, it’s long term. Certainly more than a year. It might be as short as 2 years. For most nonprofits, it generally runs 3-5 years, though I’ve heard of organizations with 10 year strategic plans.
Second, it embraces the entire organization, across functions It covers your program (the ways you’re trying to change the world) and your institutional capacity. One test to know if it’s comprehensive: for any significant activity of the organization, you should be able to point to what part of the strategic plan that it fits within.
Third, it answers a series of big questions about the organization. Put in the simplest terms these questions are:
- Who we are?
- Where do we want to go?
- How do we get there?
- How will we know if we’re successful?
That’s it. I’ve seen strategic plans as short as 3 pages and as long as 50 that meet these tests. What’s right for your organization, of course, depends on many factors.
Donor Stewardship Basics and Beyond
November 23, 2015
I recently put together a presentation for The Databank on effective donor stewardship, which some people call donor cultivation.
You can check out the slides from the webinar below.
Preparing for an Executive Director Transition
October 20, 2015
Often times Executive Director transitions are abrupt, taking place within a 1-2 month period when an E.D. moves onto another professional opportunity. Rarely, they are even more abrupt after a tragedy or the Executive Director being fired.
However, in many instances an Executive Director is able to give significant advance notice to their board, often as much as 6-12 months.
In those instances, the organization has an chance to make the most of the transition so that it serves as an opportunity as much as a threat.
Below, I list 10 major steps an organization should consider to manage the transition, particularly in the 6 months immediately prior to it.
- Make sure that the organization has a current strategic plan. In the absence of a complete strategic plan, the organization should hold a facilitated meeting to ensure the board is aligned with the remaining senior staff regarding the purpose of the organization and major programs for the next 1-2 years.
- The Executive Director should consciously “transfer” personal relationships with major donors and institutional funders to others within the organization. Depending on the situation this could involve board members or other senior staff. This could be accomplished by holding meetings (e.g. lunches, coffees, or more formal) with the donors one-by-one or by hosting small gatherings with multiple donors.
- Communicate early and clearly with allied organizations and funders in advance regarding the transition. In those communications, identify the specific steps the organization will be taking to ensure a successful transition.
- In public communications, such as newsletters, press releases, the website, etc., tell success stories about other staff and have other staff serve as spokespeople. The more constituents come to know staff beyond the Executive Director, the less noticeable their absence will be.
- Have the Executive Director write down organizational stories. These stories could involve the founding of the organization if they were involved in it. It should definitely involve stories that demonstrate the organization’s success and/or impact. Depending on the E.D., this may be best done by having someone “interview” the Executive Director and write up the stories as they are told, as opposed to having the E.D. sit at a computer and write.
- Create an E.D. “Job Manual” that identifies the systems used by the Executive Director. This should cover all the major administrative and fundraising activities of the organization where the E.D. is involved, identifying what major activities need to be conducted weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. This might also cover major “program” activities if the E.D. plays a substantial role, again broken down by weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually.
- The outgoing E.D. should talk to other senior staff about their own timelines for professional development and discuss if/how to motivate them to stay on with the organization at least at least 6-12 months after the E.D. transition. This conversation should also be an early flag of whether the senior staff intend to apply for the Executive Director position.
- As soon as feasible, the E.D. and the board’s Finance or Executive Committee should develop a cash flow analysis of where the organization will be financially as of the date the new E.D. should start. If at all feasible, additional funds should be raised or spending should be curtailed so as to maximize the amount of unrestricted reserve available at the time of transition. If cash flow is going to be tight, the board should be asked to increase their personal giving in the short run in order to help.
- If the outgoing E.D. has relationships where it would make sense, use the transition as a message around which to raise extra funds. Examples of tactics that have been successfully used include an event that “roasts” the outgoing E.D. and the creation of a “Legacy” fund by which donors can make a gift in honor of the outgoing E.D.
- The board and Executive Director should identify a “Plan B” should the hiring process for a new Executive Director not succeed in finding someone appropriate who says yes. Boards should be enthusiastic about new Executive Directors and organizations are almost always better off not hiring someone who they believe will be mediocre. The Plan B could involve an outsider brought on as an Interim E.D. or the temporary assignment of one of the other staff as Interim E.D.
Do you have additional suggestions for steps an organization should take when planning for an Executive Director transition?
If so, please comment below.
Your organization is an intermediary
June 24, 2015
One of the more interesting words I recently heard used to describe nonprofits is as “intermediaries.”
Under this way of thinking, your organization isn’t the protagonist in your story.
Instead, those who support your organization are the protagonists. The donors, whether individual or institutional.
Their passion is what matters.
Passion for what? Not for your organization, although they may well also have that.
Instead, it’s their passion for the community impact or change that you’re making.
You are the intermediary that helps the donor make the impact that they want, where the donor can’t do the work directly.
If you start thinking this way, you’ll avoid the trap of your fundraising materials being all about how great the organization is. Your case should instead be about the tremendous impact the donors are making for the community and how satisfying it is to play a key role in making that change happen.
You are the intermediary.
Questions from Joan Garry to ask candidates for your fundraising job
Joan Garry has some superb questions to ask those interviewing with you for a fundraising job, as well as what types of answers you should hope they provide.
I particularly liked Joan’s questions on their approach to philanthropy and how they would work with a board.
Donor meeting locations
One of the truisms of fundraising, corroborated by expert fundraisers across nearly every type of nonprofit is that meeting in-person with donors almost always provides the best way to upgrade a donor to a more significant level of giving.
Which begs the question, where do you meet with them?
Rather than rushing ahead to the answer, start by reminding yourself: why are you meeting with them?
In general, you’re meeting with them to:
- Get to know them better
- Have them get to know you better
- Have them better understand how the organization’s work matches up with their values
- Ask for their support.
Given those goals, the major area of concern would be if the location is not sufficiently private for people to feel comfortable discussing their values or their money. Likewise, the venue shouldn’t be so noisy that it interferes with the flow of the conversation.
So in order of priority, I’d suggest asking them if they’d like to meet at their home or place of business.
You can say something like: “I’d be happy to meet you at your home or work if that’s convenient to you, or we can figure out some other option.”
If they leave you the choice, opt for the home.
If they say they are interseted in another option, my next recommendation would be if you have some location that demonstrates the value of your work. This could be a mini-tour. But only if there’s a quiet place to talk and sit down while doing so.
If nothing like that fits the bill, I’d then suggest your office. But that’s only if your office meets standards of professionalism that will match up with a donors’ expectations.
Lastly, if that’s not feasible, suggest a coffee shop or restaurant. A public location is least likely to be conducive to the conversaion and most likely to offer up distractions. With that said, it’s sometimes the right choice. While you want to go somewhere good, prioritize places you know are usually not busy. The last thing you want is for you and the donor to show up at a coffee shop where there’s no place to sit.
Science fiction and my call to service
March 25, 2015
I was recently asked why I felt called to service. As it was asked, the question related specifically to my career’s focus on helping nonprofit organizations, either by working for them directly or as a contractor.
After reflecting a bit, I gave an answer that surprised even me.
I think my call to service was informed by reading a lot of science fiction growing up.
The science fiction I read growing up alternatively presented really positive, uplifting, exciting views of the future, or really dark, negative, challenging views of the future.
Most importantly, the books often focused on pivot points where things either went from “good” to “bad” or “bad” to “good.” And the characters in the books often played a key role in these pivot points.
I think this taught me two lessons in particular.
First, the future won’t necessarily look like the present. Change is possible, if not inevitable.
Second, individuals can have a real impact on what change happens.
Both are key to the mindset of someone who “fights the good fight” for social change.
If you don’t believe the future can be a lot different from today, you’ll be resigned to just let things be.
And if you don’t believe individuals can have an impact, why get involved?
So if you’re a parent who wants their child to become involved in social change work over the long run, pick out some good science fiction books and give them to your child.
Next step for me: work on a blog post outlining which science fiction books most impacted me.
Was there a science fiction book that had a big impact on you?
The power of asking good questions
When I’m asked what are the most important attributes for an effective major donor fundraiser, I often say: “nothing beats being naturally curious.” Because a good fundraiser doesn’t talk at a prospect, he or she has a conversation and comes away learning a great deal about the donor/prospect. For people who’re naturally curious, this comes easily as they’re full of questions.
Of course, not everyone is naturally curious. Others need to be more conscious of the power of asking good questions and think ahead of time about potential questions to ask.
Good questions accomplish a variety of goals within a major donor meeting.
- They elicit informaion about what the donor thinks about your work.
- They elicit information about what else the donor cares about.
- They evoke passion in the donor.
- They help the donor identify the connection between their personal values and the organization’s work.
Here are some examples of questions that accomplish these goals.
What do you love about your work?
Why did you first get interested in X? (X could be their career, their volunteer work, a cause, a hobby, etc.)
Why does our cause matter to you?
Which of our programs are most appealing to you?
What’s the best gift you ever made?
What are your top philanthropic priorities?
The list could, of course, be much longer. And perhaps importantly, you should prime yourself to ask follow-up questions as people answer these in ways that generate more questions in your mind.