What Will Your Dash Represent?

I was talking to my grandmother the other day and she started talking, as grandmothers often do, about the span of her life and what she wants people to remember when she is gone. She said, "I may not be rich, but I'm going to be proud of my dash." She was talking about the "dash" that is placed between the years when someone passes away. For example, my grandfather lived from 1932 - 2004, and the dash between his birth and death year was full of precious time with family, side-splitting laughter, and amazing trips around the world. I began to think of what I wanted my dash to represent. When I leave this earth, do I want it to be as if I had never existed? I realized that in actuality, I am constantly thinking about my dash, and how my life's purpose should always be to help others in some way so I know that my life meant something. On Bryan Peabody's blog, I find some anecdotal inspiration in this regard:

"...it matters not, how much we own: The cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash."

In today's Future Leaders in Philanthropy blog, "If I Only Knew Then", J. Maya Iwata encourages us to "take action now so your time is well spent". She also offers guidance on how to stay focused on the things that are most important to you:

• Develop patterns, or habits, that reinforce an alignment between your actions and what is most important to you. Creating patterns for yourself will help you to sustain your efforts and manage energy. These habits should be enjoyable; otherwise it is likely that you will stop or resent them. Life is relatively short, so why sign up for suffering voluntarily?
  
  
• Take 5 minutes out of every day (and make sure it’s every day!) to plan how you will act on what’s important to you. Follow through on these values each week. Stop postponing joy! For example, if you would like to be a writer, then make time to write now. Don’t wait until you retire!

Doing my part to change the world is very important to me. This is why I work in the nonprofit sector. I get so much satisfaction from working for a greater good to help improve life in what can often be a very cold world. Knowing that nonprofit work enables positive change makes up for all the long hours we all put in. I know that I'm never going to be rich as a nonprofit leader, but I sure want to be proud of my dash.

What will your dash represent?

Tom Tierney Tells it Like it is

The best way for nonprofits to address and prepare for the nonprofit leadership deficit over the coming years is to change our own ways of thinking and operating so that we can attract and retain new leaders. This is not an unsolvable challenge, this is not a crisis, rather it is a challenge that nonprofits have to be willing to face head-on and ask some hard questions about how we can change the ways we've always done things. Our old ways aren't working, and in fact are contributing to the reluctance of young leaders to take on leadership positions in nonprofits. I just heard some interesting observations along these lines from the Bridgespan Group via a podcast featuring Tom Tierney on Social Innovation Conversations:

• The growth of the nonprofit sector is fueling a demand for leadership talent. This demand is increasing more rapidly than leadership talent is available, creating a leadership "deficit".



• Nonprofits have to recruit outside talent for leadership positions 2/3 of the time. In contrast, the business only recruits from outside the organization 1/3 time. We need to do a better job of developing leadership from within.



• The best way to organizational capacity is having the right person in the right job - not fundraising, not programs.



• Nonprofits should make creating a superb leadership team a top priority. Half of the battle is simply asking the question, "how can we build a better leadership team?
  
  
• Boards need to embrace organization-building as one of their responsibilities and think about succession planning, leadership, etc.

Tom tells it like it is. The answer to the leadership deficit lies within our own organizations. If nonprofits can find new ways of working, they will find new leaders to do the work.

Thanks to the Maria and the NP2020 Facebook Group for the link!

5 Ways to Keep the Love Alive With Your Donors

Just what are fundraisers supposed to be doing in between writing grant proposals and direct mail for new donors and grantmakers? Why maintaining our existing funding sources, of course! As in a marriage, the relationship doesn't end with the wedding. It has to be continually and nurtured so that no one requests a divorce. In fundraising, sometimes we get that generous grant or major gift and we send a thank-you letter, then a final report, and expect to get a repeat gift the same time the very next year. This is a dangerous mindset. Instead, we should be thinking of every funding relationship as a precarious partnership that must be carefully stewarded in order for it to continue. But how do we do that? Some great fundraising tips regarding ongoing stewardship came my way this week from an article by Jennifer Mansfield on Charity Channel. Jennifer reminds fundraisers that it's important to "keep the love alive" with your supporters to ensure a repeat gift, and gives us 5 ways to put this into practice:

• Inform – Keep the funder in your information loop, at very least funders should be getting your newsletter, a quick 6-month report on programs they’ve funded and an end-of-year report (whether they “require” one or not). A bonus would be clipping any good press the programs/agency gets and sending that along throughout the year. Try to meet with funders at least every other year (about midyear from a current grant); it’s a great opportunity to get their perspective on the funding scene.
  


• Invite – In most agencies there are events and public gatherings throughout the year. Make sure that your funders are on your VIP guest list especially if the event highlights a program they have supported.
  
  
• Excite – In the midst of all we have to do to get money in the door it’s important to remember to “spice things up” sometimes. Don’t rely on one cookie cutter template with every grant you write – revise and improve your grant format. Do you have new programs that this funder might want to support? Can you focus on growth or change in the agency that makes operational support look vital and worthwhile?
  
  
• Appreciate – Always send a personal and heartfelt thank you when we receive the funding – from the Executive Director or Board Chair. Unless they ask to remain anonymous list them in your newsletter and annual report.
  
  
• Understand – Work to understand where your donor is coming from – that they have many people/agencies wanting funding, many proposals to read and often this is not their day job. Do your best to make your requests compelling and to the point.

Don't forget about your existing donors. By keeping these relationships at the forefront of your work, you have greater chances of sustaining funding for your organization!

Founder's Syndrome: A Leak in the Nonprofit Leadership Pipeline

I keep thinking more and more about this issue of bad nonprofit leadership and how nonprofits suffer when its leadership is ineffective. My experiences in the sector have convinced me that the nonprofit leadership deficit is not happening because young people don't want to work in nonprofits, but because it's hard to see ourselves in leadership positions. How can we lead if we don't have good examples in our current organizations? And how can we lead if the existing leaders don't give us the chance? But at the same time, we do have to understand that there are many reasons why existing leaders are reluctant to let go of the reigns a bit to allow young folks with new ideas to step up.

One of the main reasons is that most nonprofits are afflicted (at some point) with Founder's Syndrome, a term used to identify a pattern of negative behavior on the part of the founder(s) of a nonprofit organization. Carter McNamara points out that Founder's Syndrome "occurs when, rather than working toward its overall mission, the organization operates primarily according to the personality of a prominent person in the organization, for example, the founder, board chair/president, chief executive, etc." Do you know of any organizations like that? I'll bet my last general operating dollar that you do.

From Hildy Gottlieb at Help 4 Nonprofits, here's how to tell if your organization is being affected by founder's syndrome. If any of these apply to your organization, you may have a bad nonprofit leader preventing your nonprofit from growing and attracting younger leaders to your cause.

• The founder is at the center of all decision-making. Decisions are made quickly, with little input from others. Often, decisions are made in crisis mode, with little forward planning to prevent problems from occurring. The organization becomes reactive, rather than proactive.
  
  
• A casual observer would hear a lot of “I, me, my” in conversation. My staff. My organization. My vision.
  
  
• There is little organizational infrastructure in place. There is no succession plan, and it would not be unusual to hear the words, “That’s not how we’ve always done it.”
  
  
• The board is recruited by the founder, rather than by the board itself. Often they are friends of the founder, who may have been there from the beginning. Staff may also have been chosen due to their personal loyalty to the founder.
  


• The board’s role is to “support” the founder, rather than to lead the organization. They are often a rubber stamp board, having little understanding of the work the organization does. Their commitment isn’t to the mission, but to the founder. They are unable to answer basic questions without checking first - such as the size of the budget, the major funding sources, the extent of the programs.

Do you want to work in an organization like this? Neither do young nonprofit professionals. Founder's Syndrome makes it harder for young nonprofit workers to see themselves staying with organizations for the long-term. Most of us come to the sector to make change within a cause, which requires that nonprofits to be adaptive to the new ideas that young people bring to organizations. And that can't happen when it's all about the founder and not the cause.

How to Be a Bad Nonprofit Leader

Sometimes it's easier to understand a concept by talking about what it's not, versus trying to define what it is. That's sometimes how I feel about nonprofit leadership. For every really great role model, I see so many other examples of ineffective or bad leadership, that the latter has probably primarily shaped my ideas of what a leader should look like. To my mind, bad leaders are those who perpetuate ineffective organizations by being inflexible and resistant to change, regardless of very clear shifts in their environments. Via Michele Martin, Tom Haskins has a great post called How to Be Professionally Stagnant. Tom's blog talks about organizational change around education issues and reform, but I wondered if the concept of 'professional stagnation' might apply even more so to nonprofit organizations, especially ones led by founding executive directors who are often very resistant to change. Tom writes about how teachers can make sure they don't change (my notes about how it might apply to nonprofits in italics):

• Do not read blogs or write your own. If at all possible, stay away from conferences that deal with "how you teach". Bad nonprofit leaders aren't open to new ideas about their issue or more effective ways of doing their jobs. They don't want to find out what everyone else is doing, because they blindly think that their way is the best way.
  
  
• Face your students with fear. Imagine the worst that can happen. Bad nonprofit leaders are afraid of what change might bring and present the worst-case scenarios, instead of thinking of how change can positively impact their work. They perpetuate this attitude of fear among their staff, preventing anyone from speaking up with new ideas or better ways of doing the work.
  
  
• Think through how you could be blamed. Consider unfounded criticisms, false accusations and outright guilt trips -- laid at your feet. Imagine people pointing their fingers at you, shooting down your good intentions and dismissing your valuable contributions. Bad nonprofit leaders are afraid of taking the blame for failure, especially in the face of the board. They don't realize that innovation needs room for error, and that that is actually part of the learning. They also don't see that being a leader means you must take some risks to be able to reap significant returns for the organization.

Tom ends the post with what's for me, a pretty chilling paragraph:

If you do all this without hesitation, you will succeed at being professionally stagnant. No one will change you. No pressure will be able to manipulate your priorities or trick you into compliance. Your ability to guard against abuses will prove extremely reliable. You can remain the same as you have been.

This is a telling piece for me, because many nonprofit executive directors who have "been in the game a long time" mistakenly think that they have figured out all the possible ways to run a good nonprofit, improve their programs, recruit new employees, etc. We are supposed to be the "feel-good" sector, but many existing leaders cut off opportunities to grow their organizations by being close-minded to innovation. And that doesn't feel good at all. But don't just take my word for it. Tell me you haven't either witnessed or experienced these characteristics of nonprofit organizations with bad leaders:

1. No one speaks up in meetings with new ideas. When the bad leader comes up with bad ideas, everyone automatically agrees.



2. Staff insists on always doing things the way the organization's always done them, even if the methods are obviously ineffective.
   
   
3. Networking is a four-letter word. Conferences are seen as a waste of time.
   
   
4. The organization doesn't take advantage of new technology. Web 2.0 who?
   


5. The organization has high turnover, especially among junior staff positions.
   


6. Staff are not encouraged to engage in ongoing professional development.

Nonprofits really need to guard themselves against allowing bad leadership to keep their organizations stagnant. Do we really want our nonprofits to stay the same as they always have been? Aren't there better ways to do the work?

Image courtesy Leading Today

Getting (Inter)Personal at the Fundraising School

I just returned to DC from Indianapolis, home of the fabulous Fundraising School, part of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. I was there for a 2-day training on Interpersonal Communication for Fundraising, The crux of the course was based on being able to discern different behavorial and communication styles based on the DiSC assessment model. DiSC is an acronym for the four styles it pinpoints: Dominance, influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness. I learned a lot about myself and my own communications style and how I can use this knowledge to be adaptive when interacting with funders and donors. Through the assessment I learned that my behavioral tendencies lean toward being both a high C and a high D style:

• Conscientious - relating to structure and organization. C’s are sticklers for quality and like planning ahead, employing systematic approaches, and checking and re-checking for accuracy. They like to do quality work and do it right the first time. They don't show much emotion and like to communicate in writing.
• Dominant - relating to control, power and assertiveness. High D’s are strong-willed, strong-minded people who like accepting challenges, taking action, and getting immediate results. They are driven by accomplishment and personal achievement and like to communicate by telling or dictating and using persuasion.

That made me wonder what this means for me when I meet face-to-face with someone who is my exact opposite, an S or an i style:

• Steadiness - People with High S styles scores want a steady pace, security, and don't like sudden change. S’s are helpful people who like working behind the scenes, performing in consistent and predictable ways, and being good listeners. They like to communicate through listening and are driven by harmony and relationships.
• Influence - People with High I scores influence others through talking and activity and tend to be emotional. I’s are “people people” who like participating on teams, sharing ideas, and energizing and entertaining others. They like to communicate by selling or persuading people and have a hard time following through. I's are driven by recognition and inclusion.

Our instructor stressed to us that, as a fundraiser, it's important to be able to "size up" your audience and tailor your behavior to them. So these are my notes to self when meeting with a High S or i style funder or donor:

• Concentrate on building deeper, more personal relationships - don't just "cut to the chase" and dive into talking about programs. Ask about kids, pets, the new boat the donor just purchased.
• Plan out each meeting with a kind of script so I know what I might say and how I might respind to the donor's questions. Prepare thoroughly for each meeting so I have a sense of structure. I can even map out the personal, relationship-y questions I want to remember to ask.
• Find a way to allow the donor to see where they fit into my organization - how will they be recognized? How can they get involved?
• Don't keep these kinds of donors at arms' length. They would welcome hugs, and lots of eye contact.
• Don't try to control the flow or hijack the conversation with my own agenda. Let the donor talk about their passions. I can try to connect them later on.
• Tell stories to "liven up" conversations, especially ones about complex concepts or programs.

Wow. What a class. ALL fundraisers should know what their natural behavioral and communications tendencies are and keep them in mind (or in check!) when you talk to donors. Philanthropy is all about connecting people to your cause, and that can be really difficult when you don't know the best ways to communicate with different kinds of people.

So You Want to Be a Fundraiser...

When people ask me what I do (among the many other duties I have in my current position), I tell them that basically I raise money for programs to support leaders in the nonprofit community. Often the next question is: well, how the hell do you do that? Funny, I respond, I ask myself the same thing every day! But seriously, there are some constants in any fundraising job, and lots of best practices I've learned in my short time doing development work. But of course, I am always looking for more guidance, and was delighted to see some very valuable advice being shared for aspiring fundraisers in a recent Post article. Expert fundraiser (and my colleague in professional development!) Christel Allen Hair from Capital Area Food Bank outlines the varied scope of work of a development director:

• Becoming a director of fundraising...means understanding the many avenues for raising money: e-mail, direct mail, telephone solicitations and special events. It means cultivating major donors, obtaining grants or foundation support and making sure everyone is properly recognized or thanked.

• "You really have to be able to get your hands dirty," said Hair, who juggles meetings with donors and board members while planning events, sending e-mails, writing thank-you notes and reviewing grant proposals. She often takes work home and works 50 to 55 hours a week overseeing a staff of eight.

Lilya Wagner also offered some sage words about the skills needed for successful fundraising:

• Multi-tasking and great time management are musts. Other crucial traits include budgeting skills, a willingness to learn new things and the ability to relate to "boss, donors, committees, volunteers, other staff"

For those who are considering a career in fundraising, Neil Davidson also offers some candid guidance in retrospect on the Future Leaders in Philanthropy Blog - If I Only Knew Then this week (my bold emphasis and notes in italics):

• There are big differences between types of fundraising. Learn about those differences and try to figure out which is right for you before taking your first job. Figure out whether you're comfortable doing direct mail, face-to-face asks for large amounts of money, online fundraising, or writing grant proposals. Ask yourself, what am I good at?

• You should derive a sense of meaning from your job. It's great if you support the mission of the organization for which you'll be raising money, but you should recognize that you'll only be happy in your job if you like your work day in, day out.

• If you're more interested in being successful as a fundraiser than in supporting any one particular sector, do some research into what philanthropic areas are "hot" and go to work in one of them.

Still interested in this whole fundraising business? Then take some final advice from Christel Hair: "Find a nonprofit you really love and get involved at the highest level you can."

Changing the World with Kristy Hall

Meet Kristy Hall, former lawyer, now president of Universal Synergy Consulting and the creator of a new blog/learning space called Changing the World LIVE! Kristy's blog offers free, weekly teleseminars on a topic relevant to nonprofits - every Wednesday at noon ET (11:00 CT/10:00 MT/9:00 PT). The conference calls are just 30 minutes, with about 20 minutes of content at the beginning, and 10 minutes at the end for Q&A. It's a great way to spend half an hour! I was on this week's call, which was all about how to make board meetings more productive. Kristy gave callers 10 suggestions, including:

• Make board meetings fun! Don't be afraid to get creative with play dough, crayons & glitter glue - food and music also work!
  
• Use technology - teleconferences, webinars, etc.
  
• To manage time, put issues that take longer to discuss in a "parking lot" to address later
  
• Evaluate every board meeting

I also got a chance to chat virtually with Kristy, to find out more about her background and how she came up with Changing the World LIVE!

Rosetta Thurman: How did you decide to make the transition from practicing law to helping nonprofits?

Kristy Hall: The company where I was working as in-house counsel was being sold. So, I had a fantastic opportunity to look at my life and ask myself what I really wanted. I ended up developing my personal mission statement (To discover & inspire new ways to actively promote personal freedom & human welfare). I decided my mission statement and my career path needed to be more congruent. And, so, step by step I arrived where I am.

Rosetta Thurman: And how did you obtain this kind of expertise to help nonprofits?

Kristy Hall: I took the Nonprofit Management Course at Georgetown's Public Policy Institute – it was AMAZING! And, my legal/business background and the Georgetown Program provided me with some really practical tools to help nonprofits. Everything else is my natural skills & abilities. That's why I LOVE what I'm doing now – it is naturally and authentically me. I rediscovered my voice.

So there you have it. Be sure to check out Changing the World LIVE every Wednesday! Want to find out more about Universal Synergy? Contact Kristy at: kristy@universal-synergy.com

Ask Yourself a Question: Will You Lead in 2020?

Will You Lead in 2020? This is the question being asked by the folks hosting the upcoming conference Nonprofit 2020: Issues and Answers from the Next Generation. According to the website, the impetus for the convening was the now infamous Bridgespan Group report highlighting the nonprofit leadership deficit.

From the site: The Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University in partnership with the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and Management at Arizona State University and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University is hosting Nonprofit 2020, a conference that will convene and provide opportunity for emerging leaders to raise their voice on this issue and to discuss the future of leadership for the nonprofit sector.

This has to be a good thing. Nonprofit leaders under 40 from around the country getting together to share their passion, ideas, and solutions? Bravo to the organizers for empowering the next generation of leaders to actually create our own solutions, rather than waiting for the existing leadership to tell us what to do. If you're free July 26-28, I'd highly recommend getting to this conference. It will be a sight to see whether what the pipeline of leaders comes up with is any different than what is currently being suggested about how to address leadership deficit issues. Sure, it is in Michigan, but you can apply for a scholarship - I did! More details below.

Nonprofit 2020: Issues and Answers from the Next Generation
Thursday, July 26, 2007 - Saturday, July 28, 2007
Grand Rapids, MI
If you are interesting in receiving a scholarship, complete the form and return:
- via e-mail to np2020@gvsu.edu, or-via mail to:
ATTN: NP2020 CONFERENCE
288C Richard M. DeVos Center
401 Fulton Street West
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Thanks to Maria for the tip!

Come to the Carnival!

Every week, the best nonprofit blog posts are compiled and showcased by a different blogger on the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. Last week Jeff Brooks at Donor Power Blog hosted it, with a task to bloggers to create their best posts using the word 'barnyard'. Getting Attention also blogged about the best 'barnyard' posts, which included mine! This week, the Carnival's over at Zen of Nonprofit Technology.

Be sure to check out the Carnival each week for the best nonprofit blog posts! And let Kivi know if you'd like to host a Carnival on your own blog.

More Diversity, Please

What's all this talk about the need for more diversity in philanthropy? Let's turn the spotlight on recent actions in the foundation world including the Council on Foundations' creation of a new Director of Diversity position as well as the Kellogg Foundation's selection of two new black VPs. These philanthropic leaders are presumably pushing forward the need to include more of the kinds of folks who know the issues firsthand that philanthropy tries to address. As in many other areas of American life, the most important voices are too often left out of philanthropy, the very vehicle we look to with hope to help fix that distressed neighborhood, supplement failing schools with good after-school programs, or heal our troubled youth. But folks tend to forget that the recipients of philanthropy are, more often than not, much more diverse than the people handing out the money. Foundations contribute to programs benefiting communities of color, underserved populations such as the LGBT community, immigrants and refugees, women, the disabled, etc. Unfortunately, we already know that charity is not helping the people who need it the most. And how many times have you seen a black lesbian foundation executive in a wheelchair? Wait, let me guess. Never. I'm only slightly exaggerating, to be sure, but this is an issue that prevails in the one place you would hope diversity isn't an issue. So clearly I agree with the folks at COF and everyone else before them that have already figured this out, but there need to be clear outcomes for this new "push for diversity". As the Nonprofiteer points out, we need real inclusion, not just token positions as program officers. Let's hope that COF, Kellogg, and other philanthropic leaders take this commitment seriously and put power in the hands of those who know where best to apply it, knowing that changing the status quo will help philanthropy (and the entire nonprofit sector) achieve its true mission of charity more effectively.

...This now brings me to my happy recent discovery of the National Center for Black Philanthropy:

The mission of the National Center is to promote giving and volunteerism among African Americans, foster full participation by African Americans in all aspects of philanthropy, educate the public about the contributions of Black philanthropy, strengthen people and institutions engaged in Black philanthropy, and research the benefits of Black philanthropy to all Americans.

Check out their 6th Annual Conference: Philanthropy & the Covenant with Black America, June 27-29 in Washington, DC.

Logo image courtesy National Center for Black Philanthropy

Foundation Research for Fundraising Success - Part Three

OK, back to foundation research. This post concludes the three-part foundation research series I began last month. This last post will focus on the work you need to do after the research phase to ensure that you have the best chance of getting the grant. If the first thing I learned was that fundraising research should be an active, integral part of your organization, the second thing I learned was: personal relationships are crucial to the eventual gift. Without this critical step, your proposal is going nowhere, no matter how well-researched, perfectly packaged, or beautifully written. Let me just share with you 5 things that I've seen as key to getting a grant:

1. FIND personal contacts who can help your organization approach a grantmaker. Take a hint: listen to staff, volunteers, and board members-they are connected, too. Perhaps one of your board members or volunteers knows a trustee at a foundation. Maybe a volunteer who works for a large company can contact the corporate foundation on your organization’s behalf. When your organization purchases computers or other expensive items from a vendor, be sure to inquire about the company’s community relations program. If your Executive Director always shops at the same grocery store, make an appointment with the manager to discuss cause-related marketing.


2. ATTEND public “meet the funders” events. This is so important! These events are essential for two reasons:
   
   ~They give you a chance to obtain accurate information about a funders’ priorities. You can often ask questions that will help you tailor your proposal during the Q&A sessions.
   
   ~This is a PRIME opportunity to get your face and your organization in front of a foundation representative. Think of the likelihood that you will be remembered when your proposal passes their desk. Of course, this is only helpful if you've made a good impression!
   
   
3. SHARE. Once you have compiled this wealth of information and identified the top prospects, share the information with staff and your board. Encourage cultivation and solicitation based on your accumulated knowledge of the foundations in your target area, and the confidence gained from tailoring your organization's mission to foundations in the donor community.
   
   
4. TARGET and TAILOR. Once you’ve done your research, you canthen target specific foundations that match your goals. You will be able to tailor proposals to the interests, guidelines, and personalities of potential donors. Foundations can be targeted based on geographic proximity and the types of organizations they support.
   
   
5. Always CALL and try to MEET with the foundation representative before submitting a proposal or inquiry letter. The more face time you can get, the better. Remember the adage: people fund people, not (necessarily) programs. Consider that it's unlikely you could ever fall in love with someone you had never met. It's the same with foundation officers. They need to meet your organization first before they can fall in love with it.

Now let's recap, shall we? First, realize that fundraising research is an active, ongoing process, that you need to drill down to determine the funders that are interested in your specific cause, and that personal contact is critical to sealing the deal. This formula has worked for me, and I hope it does for you!

Another Bad Decision by the Red Cross?

Last month, the Red Cross announced the selection of its new CEO, Mark Everson, the current IRS Commissioner. The announcement ended a yearlong search after Marsha Evan's resignation amid Congressional criticism and widely publicized snafus in Hurricane Katrina response efforts. Everson will begin his new gig on May 29. But with all of the dark clouds surrounding the Red Cross over the last few years, people are already questioning this decision. Although critics have lauded the nonprofit for choosing someone with extensive management and oversight experience, some are scratching their heads as to why the Red Cross would hire someone with no disaster response experience. And what are the thought leaders saying?

Trent Stamp, head of watchdog group Charity Navigator, noted:

"This looks like a splashy move, designed to make regulators and investors happy," Stamp wrote in an online commentary. "But I'd be shocked if the volunteers and staff are celebrating right now that another high-profile outsider with no nonprofit management experience or Red Cross connection is being brought in."

Paul Light, an NYU professor with extensive research and publications on charities, said:

"He does not have the set of skills that the Red Cross most needs right now, which is an understanding of the disaster response business."

Like most folks in the nonprofit sector, I eagerly look forward to seeing some kind of reform in the managment of the Red Cross. But this guy can't be it. I'm in agreement with Light on this one: "He's a likable fellow, but he's going to be far over his head on this assignment."

Photo by Christopher Peterson

Foundation Research for Fundraising Success - Part Two

Earlier this week, I talked about the importance of a fundraiser's commitment to active, ongoing research on potential funders. In the beginning, the background work of foundation research may seem tedious and unduly time-consuming, but in the end it's definitely more beneficial to send appropriate requests to fewer grantmakers and foundations than to send a shower of appeals in the hopes that one may land in the right place. In other words, it makes absolutely no sense to send a mass slew of proposals to 50 different funders with no success, versus targeting your efforts to just a few key prospects who actually care about the kind of work your organization is doing. So, where do you look? We already talked about the utility of monitoring the support lists of nonprofits similar to your own, and keeping up with print media touting philanthropic gifts. But the bulk of your research usually begins less strategically before narrowing itself to those methods. Here's how it starts:

Where to Begin Your Research

• Funder mega-lists on the web
• Printed foundation directories
• Electronic databases
• A trip to a specialized fundraising library collection (such as the Foundation Center in DC)

What Are You Looking For?

Subject: Identify foundations that have expressed an interest in funding programs in your specific subject field

Geography: Locate foundations that fund programs in your city, state, or region. Although some give nationally and even internationally, most funders limit their giving to specific geographic areas.

Types of Support: Looking at the type of support a foundation provides can help you focus on foundations that provide specific types of support such as building funds, seed money, operating support, or endowment funds.

Taking it a Step Further

• Don't limit your search to the often minimal and outdated entries in funding databases and print directories. Aggressive grantseekers sleuth for additional information on the internet using common search engines.
  
  
• Examine foundations’ federal 990 tax forms on the web at Guidestar.org (These are required of all charities with gross receipts over $25,000 annually and of foundations. The 990 tax forms provide information on funder assets, expenditures, grantmaking, and board members and usually provide more recent data than the databases or print directories.)

Fundraising Research Resources

• Member Lists of Grantmakers’ Associations (such as the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers)
• RFP bulletin
• Guidestar
• The Chronicle of Philanthopy
• Meyer Foundation Database of Funding Opportunities

Up Next: After You've Done Your Homework: 5 Keys to Getting the Grant

Why We Don't Want To Be Executive Directors When We Grow Up

"One has to wonder what this winery does to its cabernet to make it so undrinkable. This wine has an intense vegetative, barnyard aroma and very unusual flavors."

- Robert M. Parker, Jr.

Last month, I blogged on what we need to do now to close the nonprofit leadership gap and how executive directors can develop staff internally to take on leadership roles in the future. Then last week, Jessica Stannard-Friel had a great piece in onPhilanthropy.com called "What’s Driving Young Professionals from the Nonprofit Sector?" The article was a great follow-up to an earlier piece on future nonprofit leadership that Jessica did. By now, it's pretty clear that the young professionals already in the nonprofit field are reluctant to take on executive director positions: 40% of the survey's respondents indicated they were neutral or thought it unlikely that they would ever serve in such a role. The question we need to answer is obvious.

Why don't we want to become executive directors when we grow up?

All of the data available thus far suggests that there is a significant problem or problems in the nonprofit sector that makes the concept of leadership so undesirable. I think we all would agree that our sector does, indeed, have "unusual flavors", but many of the characteristics that distinguish nonprofits from corporations and government are the very reasons people are attracted to the work in the first place. Consider that people join the staff of a nonprofit because of a strong agreement and support of a particular mission, an advantage that the private and government sector doesn't have. Yet all the research that has been done to examine nonprofit retention issues points to an inconvenient truth: Nonprofits can attract workers, but cannot retain them as well as the private and government sector can. In fact, a survey conducted by Paul Light in 1999 revealed that only 44 percent of recent college graduates who were hired to work in nonprofit organizations were still working in them after 3 years, compared to 51 percent of graduates who went to work in the private sector and 57 percent who began careers in government.

But let's get back to the reasons young professionals don't want to make the leap to executive directorship. The survey respondents cited three important barriers:

1. Long working hours
2. The demands of funders
3. The demands of boards of directors

What can organizations do to mitigate these barriers? Are there ways around any of this? I remain hopeful that we can approach these problems as I have seen several promising practices that organizations are currently using in each of these areas. Let me know some of your additional solutions in the comments!

Some Promising Practices

Long working hours: Try to outsource to consultants any work that doesn't require core staff. Delegate! Cultivate and encourage a culture of work/life balance within your organization. Set an example by leaving as close to 5pm as possible every day, and over time, it will set the rhythm for your work. Try not to schedule meetings in the late afternoons and limit your attendance at social events held in the evening. Create a "fun-day" policy by which all staff leaves for the weekend by 3pm on Fridays. Learn to say "no" to all non-essential tasks that are not directly related to your organization's core work. Constantly evaluate things as either "nice to do" or "must do".

The demands of funders: Never chase money for your programs - only do the work that is within your mission. Hire qualified fundraising staff with backgrounds in evaluation and financial management to meet reporting demands. Never promise more than you have the capacity to deliver. Always manage expectations when possible.

The demands of boards of directors: Engage in peer mentoring with other executive directors around board issues. Make your conversations and interactions focused on problem-solving and resource-sharing. Cultivate a culture of open communication with your board. Train other staff to support the board and committees. Again, always manage expectations.

The bottom line: Until we can effectively address these challenges within our organizations, we can best believe no one will want to step up and take over the reigns of this country's most essential nonprofits.


Image Credit: Kiborama

Foundation Research For Fundraising Success - Part One

"Raising money without conducting research is like trying to build a house without blueprints." - Harvey McKinnon, Canadian Fundraiser

Imagine for a moment that you are a new fundraiser in your first week of work at a small nonprofit. Your first goal, as articulated by your esteemed executive director, is to increase revenue from foundations by 100% in the next six months. Thankfully, you already know how to write a grant proposal, and are clear on what not to do. But you are completely clueless about how to begin figuring out just who these proposals should go to. Maybe you should just send a mass request out to the entire directory of foundations on your desk - surely half of them will fund you, right? Wrong! When my peers just entering the field ask me where to start with grantmakers and foundations, I first tell them not to waste the postage on sending anything until they spend considerable time doing their research. This is the only way to find that elusive pool of potential funders to support a cause. In thinking about this "where do I begin?" dilemma, I reflect back on all of my experiences in nonprofits with fundraising. What has proven to be effective? Where did I see foundation research efforts most useful? In this three-part post, I hope to provide insight on these questions.

It turns out that every successful fundraising effort that I have seen has been characterized by the word “active”. When you really think about it, the word “active” really conveys the key to fundraising. For instance, the dictionary lists the following relevant definitions (my notes in italics):

• marked by vigorous activity, busy - always working at it
• requiring vigorous action or exertion - lots of hard work, best when executed by the entire team
• capable of acting or reacting : reacting readily - ready to react, to write that proposal when the time comes
• having practical operation or results - achieving measurable success, i.e. dollars raised, from your efforts

So one of the first things I learned was that fundraising research should be an active, integral part of your organization. It is not an exercise in Google-searching alone! An effective research effort includes a mixture of internet sleuthing, reading print sources and periodicals, and direct contact with foundation representatives. To start, here are four important ongoing action items that are essential to the information gathering process:

1. CONDUCT thorough and ongoing research on your funders. Be alert and aware of industry "gossip" related to foundations, programmatic areas, changes in leadership, etc.
   
2. MONITOR the newsletters, annual reports, and web sites of nonprofit organizations similar to your own. A foundation that funds after-school reading programs might be interested in also addressing adult literacy.
   
3. READ local newspapers and clip articles about philanthropic gifts. Civic associations, banks, real estate companies, utilities, grocery stores, major retail outlets, and new franchises of national chains often make modest community grants. Pay attention to the type of projects funded and the typical grant amounts. Note the name of any corporate representative mentioned in the article or identified in a photograph.
   
4. REQUEST current application guidelines, a recent annual report, and any other related publications directly from the foundation itself, as the information in directories is often outdated. And when you get the guidelines, please, for heaven's sakes, or at least for M's sake, read them!

Up Next:

Where to Research and What to Look For

Image Credit: hvsnyder

No Love For Professional Development? Do It Yourself!

From a recent YNPNdc membership survey:

63.7% of recently surveyed DC young nonprofit professionals feel that their employer is not assisting with their professional development, or is only somewhat assisting.

In nonprofit organizations, where the bottom line is often measured by how much we can get done in a day, professional development is put on the back burner for more immediate tasks. Yet it's essential for every employee to engage in a path of learning and growth in the areas that will improve their work performance. More often than not, it's up to nonprofit staff to articulate their own plan for professional development and be intentional about making progress on learning goals. In other words, nonprofit employees, especially younger ones, need to take the initiative and seek out opportunities relevant to their professional development goals with or without their boss' support. It should go without saying that nonprofit executive directors and CEOS need to also realize, as Michele Martin writes over at The Bamboo Project Blog that organizational potential=staff potential. It pays to encourage your employees to learn!

One local example for nonprofit employees looking for an outlet is the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in DC . YNPNdc provides professional development and networking opportunities free or low cost, including mentoring and leadership events, and an ongoing Book Club series.

About YNPNdc:

YNPNdc promotes a healthy, viable, and inclusive nonprofit sector that supports the growth, learning, and development of young professionals.

We engage and support nonprofit professionals and community members in the Washington, DC metropolitan area through professional and personal development opportunities.