Category: Fundraising

Is your non-profit organization failing enough?

Fundraising, organizational development, technology

beth kanter_Movie MondaysWelcome to O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog. Every Friday for the foreseeable future we will be looking more closely at a recent post from John Greco’s blog called “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly” and applying his organizational development messages to the non-profit community.

Yesterday, I started cleaning out my email inbox, which is when I came across a whole bunch of old emails from my friends at 501Videos.com. They are the folks who publish those amazing FREE “Movie Mondays for Fundraising Professionals“.  I came across Episode #237 featuring one of my favorite social media bloggers Beth Kanter. With a title like “How smart nonprofits are using failures to become more successful,” I couldn’t help but click the link and watch.

At the end of the video, my AH-HA moment was “This will make an amazing ‘O.D. Fridays’ post. All I have to do is pair this video with a post from John’s blog, add a little bit of my non-profit thoughts and PRESTO it will be another great Friday post.” Unfortunately, it hasn’t been that easy. After spending an hour combing through “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly,” I was hard pressed to find many posts that speak to the idea of failure.

So, I’ve decided to turn this Friday’s post into three segments:

  1. The challenge
  2. The summary
  3. Additional resources

The challenge

I think organizational development is fascinating subject matter, which is why I dedicate my Friday posts to echoing John’s blog or bringing a non-profit flare to his posts. As I wrote in last Friday’s post, non-profits tend to get caught in a starvation cycle, which in my opinion is nothing more than a blatant disregard for investing in organizational development.

However, I find it hard to believe that there aren’t more posts by John about failure and the great things that can come from celebrating it and fighting the stigma associated with it.

So, here is the challenge, John . . . “Your mission if you choose to accept it is: a) how about writing a post or multiple posts about failure and/or b) highlighting successful people or organizations who embraced the idea of failing.

The summary

Beth Kanter shares some incredibly interesting things in the Episode #237 video. For example, people tend to have three typical reactions to failure:

  1. Blame someone else
  2. Blame yourself
  3. Deny it

It is for these three reasons non-profit organizations (and probably all of us) tend to avoid taking risks because the costs associated with failure are huge.

However, Beth is a great storyteller and she is masterful at highlighting examples of where agencies took risks, failed and amazingly great things came from doing so. She speaks to the idea of changing your organizational culture to celebrate failure, which changes the risk/reward calculation and stimulates innovation in your workplace.

If you have six or seven minutes, I strongly encourage you to click-through and listen to what Beth has to say.

Additional resources

As I searched my blog and John’s blog archives for posts about failure, I did find a few things that are related. If you have a few minutes, you may want to click-through the following links and contemplate how your agency’s culture helps or hinders programmatic, fundraising, board governance innovation or limits an individual from reaching their full potential:

Does your non-profit organization celebrate failure? If so, how? If not, why not? Do you have an example of where your failure blossomed into a triumphant success? Please scroll down and share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Does your non-profit agency need to re-think its online strategy?

Fundraising, technology

commmgr1As you can probably imagine, I subscribe to a lot of things — everything from eNewsletters to blogs — and I do a lot of reading. It helps me be a better non-profit consultant, and equally important it helps me be a better thought-leader / blogger. This brings me to an article written by Cody Switzer in The Chronicle of Philanthropy titled “75% of Young Donors Turned Off by Out-of-Date Web Sites“.

After reading the article, the first thought that ran through my head was “It certainly is a ‘brave new world’ when it comes to non-profit fundraising.” Attached to this conclusion were memories of conversations I’ve had with countless numbers of board members and fundraising volunteers over the years about what support materials should look like for an agency’s annual campaign.

Perhaps, some of these discussions sound familiar to you:

  • Glossy campaign literature vs. something that looks less expensive
  • Video vs. no video
  • Content focused more on client stories vs. focused more on agency information

When I close my eyes after reading Cody’s article, I can almost see him reprising the role of Paul Revere but this time riding a keyboard and yelling:

The Millennials are coming!

The Millennials are coming!

Sure, they are just starting to trickle through the front door of your fundraising program, but you better start getting ready. Why? Because their expectations are very different.

Forget about the traditional questions that I shared above about glossy literature, support video and content. While the Chronicle of Philanthropy story does a good job of telling us that Millennials want to see your webpage, it really goes much further than just having an online presence. Right?

commmgr2Cody’s article about the Millennial Impact Report is just the tip of the iceberg. After all, I bet your agency is already asking itself questions such as:

  • How often do we refresh our website content?
  • Is the content on our website the right balance between showing donor how we’re putting their money to work vs. showing donors that our agency is healthy and a good investment?
  • Are there too many words on our site? Are there too few pictures and videos?
  • Is our website mobile-friendly?
  • What does our online community look like beyond the website? (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, blog, etc) And how often do those platforms get fresh content?
  • What target audiences and niche groups are each of your online platforms focused on? And how does this impact your content creation?

Of course, ALL of these questions beg one big question . . .

Who is doing all of this for your agency?

The simple answer to this question is . . . your organization needs to look at hiring what is now commonly being called a “Community Manager“.

commmgr3This person isn’t a “technology person” working in your IT department. In fact, they don’t need to have many of those skill sets because you either already have an a) IT person on your payroll, b) relationship with an IT consulting firm or c) utilize “in-the-box” technology (e.g. Press Publisher, 1and1.com, etc) that comes with a toll-free help desk when things get dicey.

Yes, I know . . . You don’t have any money.

My response? You better figure it out and find some money soon to hire this person.

Why? Because “The Millennials are coming! The Millennials are coming!”

The days of tossing lots of text about your agency online are over. Let me bottom line it for you like my partner does for me all the time . . .

Fundraising is evolving . . . adapt your online strategies.

Some of you are probably saying “Wait! Tell me more about that community manager position. What do they look like? What type of skills should they possess? Where do I find them to build an applicant pool?”

The following links will take you to great online resources that speak to the issue of what you should look for when hiring your Community Manager:

Does your non-profit organization current hire a community manager to handle your online strategy? If so, what skill sets do you think are more important than others? Do your fundraising program have an online fundraising plan that spells out strategies and tactics including how your fundraising professional(s) interact with your community manager?

Please scroll down to the comment box and share a few of your thoughts and experiences. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Every non-profit fundraising event needs clowns

Fundraising, organizational development, volunteers

Clown_chili_peppersI’ve seen it happen way too often. A fundraising professional or the executive director says to a group of people — using at a board meeting — something like this: “We need volunteers to help with our special event fundraiser. Who can help?” At first, there is an awkward silence and no hands go up. Then there are a few reluctant hands. Whenever I see this happen, I’m always left wondering if those were the right people for the job and how many of those people are clowns?

Before starting this post, let me just say that my point of view on this issue is obvious . . . stop using group recruiting techniques to recruit people for tasks that require specific skill sets. You are only setting yourself up for lots of grief and possibly failure.

With this being said, the following is a traditional list of characteristics for special event volunteers:

  • Familiar with and passionate about your mission, vision and programs
  • Possess time and willing to use that time to plan and execute the event
  • Have large networks (hopefully ones that don’t overlap too much with the other volunteers on the committee)
  • Willing to ask others for money (e.g. selling sponsorships and tickets)
  • Works well with others (e.g. good listen, not abrasive, demonstrates teamwork)
  • Has a track record of following through on what they commit to doing
  • Well organized

I’ve rolled with this short list for years and it hasn’t failed me.

I use the aforementioned list to identify and target prospective volunteers. I also use the list to develop written volunteer job descriptions. I’ve shares it with volunteers on the recruitment call because I commonly get asked “Why are you asking me to do this?” and I simply tell them that they possess all of these characteristics.

However, I’ve had this nagging feeling for years that something is missing from this list, and I put my finger on it just the other day.

bleachersI was sitting in the bleachers at Wrigley Field. I was there with my father and my partner. The quality of baseball on the field was terrible, there was a constant drizzle of rain falling from the sky, and the fans were obviously getting antsy. Suddenly, one of the fans got to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs:

“Hey everybody!
Right field sucks!”

He started chanting over and over again “Right field sucks! Right field sucks!” until other fans joined in.

As this played out in front of me, my first thought was “Hey, sit down! Some of us are trying to watch some bad baseball here!” but then it dawned on me. It was a big AH-HA moment.

There are people like this is every crowd. They love attention. They need to be at the center of the action. In grade school, they were the class clown. As adults, they are just clowns.

I don’t mean this in a bad way. These people are outgoing, love being around other people (aka well-networked) and love a good party (regardless of whether it is a baseball game or your agency’s special event fundraiser).

So, on a go-forward basis I plan on amending my special event volunteer list of characteristics to include: “clown“.

bleachers2I’m sure some of you are probably skeptical and for good reason. I mean how crazy and distracting would it be to have a committee of people who all want to be the center of attention. Crazy . . . I’m sure! However, I can’t help but dream about the type of event those folks would build in the name of securing more recognition and attention all to benefit my agency.

I suspect that with a little guidance (and after all isn’t guidance your role as a non-profit professional) this strategy could pay off in a big way.

Regardless, anything will be better than asking people to put their hands up and volunteer.

What characteristics and skill sets do you look for when recruiting volunteers to help plan and implement your agency’s special event fundraisers? What has been your experience with recruiting clowns? Please scroll down and share your experiences in the comment box below because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

If you love me, you’d never ask me run another non-profit raffle again

Board development, Fundraising, volunteers

IMG_20130719_171856_480The other day it was hot in the Chicago area, and I decided to run to the grocery store to get some sugar-free ice cream for my diabetic spouse. As I trudged through the hot blacktop parking lot, I saw an unfortunate sight . . . a volunteer sweating his rear-end off standing behind a booth selling raffle tickets for the Knights of Columbus (see picture to the right). I was immediately reminded of a time not-so-long-ago when that used to be me.

The year was 2000 and I had just been hired as the new executive director of the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin. Just the year before this organization attempted to run its first Duck Race special event fundraiser. Without going into the details, it didn’t make them money. However, I was young and dumb. I was an inexperienced and a newly minted executive director. I had seen a very dear friend run a Duck Race in a different community, and he had been wildly successful netting close to $100,000.

If he could do it, then I could do it. After all, how hard could it be? All it seemed to entail was:

  • selling corporate sponsorships,
  • standing in high traffic areas and selling $5.00 duck adoptions to people who want a chance at winning a new car, and
  • putting numbers ducks in the river and pulling the winners out of the water to determine who wins which prizes.

What was the big deal? OMG . . . I wish I knew then what I know now.

As I approached the poor hot and sweaty Knights of Columbus volunteer, all of the pain came flooding back to me:

  • Recruiting 100 volunteers to help with every aspect of the race (e.g. marketing, tagging ducks, putting ducks in the water, taking ducks out of the water, data entry, and not to mention selling duck adoptions),
  • Organizing countless teams of volunteers to sell duck adoptions and trying every trick in the book to create a sense of fun-excitement-competition,
  • Chasing down volunteers to sign-up for weekend sales shifts (standing outside of the same grocery store where the Knights of Columbus volunteer was sweating),
  • Spending the entire weekend driving from sales location to sales location to support the volunteers by replenishing petty cash banks, restock merchandise, and fill gaps in between shifts where necessary, and
  • Personally filling holes in the schedule . . . standing outside of the grocery store or hardware store or bank . . . yelling out your sales pitch at people leaving the store . . . getting scowled at by people who don’t appreciate the disturbance . . . selling an adoption to approximately one-out-of-ten people.

ducks2These five bullet points are just the tip of the iceberg. The fact of the matter is that we started planning next year’s Duck Race in the immediate days and weeks after wrapping one up. This special event raffle was a year-round affair.

For me personally, it represented an eight week period of my life every year when I worked seven days per week . . . 56 days in a row without a day off for good behavior. I did this for six years, and when I was weighing the options associated with another job offer, the Duck Race was one of the Top Five reasons I left for greener pastures.

As I passed by the Knights of Columbus booth for the refuge of an air conditioned store, I put my head down and refused to make eye contact with that poor volunteer (just like thousands of other people did to me when I was selling duck adoptions). The last thing that ran through my head was the promise I’ve made myself to never work for a non-profit agency that runs any kind of raffle. The following is a list of reasons for this decision:

  1. Raffles are nothing more than gambling and there are laws, rules and regulations that don’t seem to be worth the time, energy or effort.
  2. Raffles entice donors to make a contribution to your charity for reasons other than your mission and getting these donors to crossover to other campaigns or events is next to impossible.
  3. Raffles involve prizes which means you better not mess things up or you run the risk of being sued.
  4. The record keeping is overwhelming and can involve double and triple entry of financial data depending on how your donor database, financial management system and raffle software are configured.
  5. Opportunity cost and return on investment calculations point to greener pastures when you look at using the same amount of time in other fundraising efforts (e.g. annual campaign pledge drives, etc).

The bottom line for me is that selling raffle tickets and chances should be an activity that is beneath every non-profit board volunteer. Their time is too valuable to ask them to sweat outside of a grocery store selling raffle tickets $5.00 at a time. How many donors could they have sat down with in the same amount of time and asked for a $250, $2,500 or $10,000 pledge?

Here is another way to think about it. If you don’t have the type of volunteers who feel comfortable sitting down individually with important donors and if your volunteers are more willing to sell raffle chances, then you probably have the wrong people sitting around your boardroom table. Perhaps, these people are  well-intentioned fundraising volunteers, but they certainly aren’t good board prospects.

If this last revelation upsets you, please accept my apologies. However, don’t dismiss this thought too quickly. Like a good cup of tea, let this idea steep and then share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Kick-Ass 2 movie trailer prompts non-profit superpowers question

Fundraising

Sometimes when I burn the candle at both ends and work long hours, things that normally wouldn’t register with me end up hitting me in funny ways. More often than not, those weird thoughts find their way into my blog posts. For example, a few nights ago I crawled in late at night after  a site visit with a client. I turned on the television for a few minutes to unwind, which is when I saw a commercial for a  recently released movie titled “Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall“.

Click here or on the video below if you’re now curious about what I saw.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4p4VyP3tH4]

According to one of the movie websites I was researching, “Kick-Ass 2: Balls to the Wall” is about:

“The costumed high-school hero Kick-Ass joins with a group of normal citizens who have been inspired to fight crime in costume. Meanwhile, the Red Mist plots an act of revenge that will affect everyone Kick-Ass knows.”

OK . . . OK . . . OK . . . I am sure that many of you are probably wondering:

  • Has Erik gone insane? Has he lost it?
  • What does this silly sophomoric movie have to do with fundraising?
  • How will he tie this into a non-profit topic?

As I laid on my couch twitching from exhaustion watching that commercial for this movie, the following thoughts crossed my mind:

If I could have any superpower, which one would I want? And how would it make me a better non-profit or fundraising professional?

Silly question? Absolutely! But the answer might just be a little telling.

superpowersFor example, I concluded that I would want the super human ability to “read people’s minds“.  As I started thinking about why I might want that superpower, I concluded that knowing what a donor wants and how they want it would make me one of the best fundraising people on the planet.

This realization got me thinking even more about why this might be important to me, and I concluded that I’ve always struggled with the idea of donor research and getting some of the following questions answered before talking with a prospect (or even a current donor):

  • How much should we be asking for?
  • What are they passionate about and how does our case for support fit?
  • Who else do they support?
  • Are we in their top three favorite charities?
  • Do they have concerns about our agency that they’re holding back on asking?
  • What is their capacity? What is their willingness?

This list of questions can go on and on and on. While there are a number of ways that I’ve gone about getting answers to these questions throughout the years, the reality is that “mind reading” would make things so much easier.

Do you have a minute or two in your busy day to do something fun? If so, contemplate the following questions:

  • If you could have any one superpower, which one would it be?
  • How would it make you a better non-profit or fundraising professional?
  • Why did you choose that particular superpower? What insights into who you are (or what you struggle with) does this epiphany give you?
  • Since superpowers don’t really exist, what are you going to do now?

Take a minute to share the answers to these questions in the comment box below. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Has your non-profit discovered Quora yet?

Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, technology

questionsWhen I used to work at Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), my colleagues were responsible for the existence of something called theFUNDRAI$INGbank, which is a special webpage embedded inside of the intranet accessible to local affiliates. We outsourced maintenance of this page to FundRaisingInfo.com. There were many different resources located on “The Bank” including a free service called “Ask The Expert“.

Whenever I talk to agencies who aren’t Boys & Girls Clubs about “Ask The Expert,” I’m typically told how lucky local Boys & Girls Clubs are to have such a service (and to have access to it for free). Usually, somewhere in those conversations, the person with whom I’m speaking says they wish they had access to such a thing.

For those of you who don’t have a national organization behind them offering such resources and services, I’ve always told them not to fret because we now live in the 21st Century and answers are mostly just a click away. I’ve encouraged non-profit friends to open their minds to the full potential that Google search offers them. I’ve also reminded them about how many non-profit bloggers are out there begging for comments, questions and engagement (this blogger not withstanding).

Now I am adding another suggestion to those non-profit staff and board volunteers who are in search of answers for free . . .

QUORA

Have you checked out this new online Q&A webpage yet? If not, I suggest you do so because it looks like a great resource for non-profit folks with questions. Here is what Wikipedia says about Quora:

quoraQuora is a question-and-answer website created, edited and organized by its community of users. The company was founded in June 2009, and the website was made available to the public on June 21, 2010.[3]

Quora aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users’ answers.[4] Quora’s main competitors are social bookmarking sites like reddit, social networking sites like ChaCha, and numerous question and answer websites.

Unlike BGCA’s “Ask The Expert” service, the answers and advice you get from Quora might not necessarily be from an amazing expert like the folks at FundRaisingInfo.com. However, if you go into it with the right mindset and an understanding that the answers you receive might just be from your peers, then this could be a great resource for you. At the very least, it represents a good starting point for finding answers.

Here are just some of the non-profit and fundraising questions that I see being asked on Quora:

  • What are some good platforms for online fundraising?
  • How do you manage memberships and donation drives in a small or medium size non-profit?
  • What cutting edge fundraising techniques are charities using?
  • What are the characteristics of high-performing non-profits?
  • How much power does a non-profit board have?

Interesting questions!

Of course, there is the obvious question, “What are some of the best ways non-profits can use Quora?” Click here if you want to see responses.

When you have a question with which you’d like other people’s opinions, where do you go online? Google? WordPress? Blogger? Facebook? LinkedIn? Quora? Where do you find the most value in your search for answers? Have you used Quora yet? If so, what was your experience? Please scroll down and share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

If I only had a heart . . .

Fundraising

On Monday, I shared with you a few observations from The Wizard of Oz and Oz: The Great and Powerful as I think it pertains to non-profit work. At the end of Monday’s post I promised to take you further down the Yellow Brick Road by revisiting a series of Oz-inspired posts from two years ago. Today’s post is about mission-focus. Enjoy . . . here’s to your health!  ~Erik

If I only had a heart . . .

Originally posted on October 26, 2011

tin manThere are 9-keys to “inspiring and managing yours board for fundraising success”. In fact, the reality is that these 9-keys are the same nine things you need to do to “engage” anyone in anything. However, I believe that these nine concepts are not all equal. While all are important, I have come to realize that the most important and most difficult engagement tool was best summed up by the “Wizard of Oz’s” Tim Man in this YouTube video.

The most important engagement tool in your nonprofit toolbox in my humble opinion is “MISSION-FOCUS”.

I personally learned this lesson more than 7-years ago when one of my more influential board volunteers (I’ll omit his name for privacy purposes, but let’s just say he was really good with other people’s money) resigned from the Boys & Girls Club of Elgin’s board of directors. While he resigned for personal reasons and still supported the Club, I didn’t see the train wreck coming until it was too late.

This board volunteer was infamous for taking 15+ prospects’ pledge cards as part of the annual campaign every year. His reasoning seemed sound: 1) they were clients of his, 2) they were friends of his, and 3) he had always solicited these donors. I’d be lying if I tried to tell you that I ever tried to talk him out of being such an overachiever. However, in hindsight I wish that I had.

The first year this individual wasn’t on our board, we tried to redistribute his annual campaign prospects to other volunteers. I finally understood how big of a fool I had been when my phone rang a few weeks after our annual campaign kickoff meeting. The call came in from one of our more steady donors who had always been solicited by this former board volunteer.

The call started off nice enough. “Hi . . . how are you . . . how are things down at the Club?” However, pleasant conversation quickly turned into a cross-examination: “why is so-and-so calling me for my annual campaign pledge this year . . . what happened to he-who-I-loved-to-get-solicited-by . . . is there something wrong at the Club whereby he just walked away from your board of directors?” And as if that wasn’t enough to cause me to run to the restroom and vomit, most of the calls ended with the donor talking to me like I was a kindergartener and telling me that they didn’t donate to the Club because of our mission but because of who had been asking.

The lesson I painfully learned was that stewardship was very important in the resource development process. Successful stewardship and relationship building meant transitioning a donor-relationship from their the volunteer-solicitor connection to a love affair with the organization’s mission. While it might not happen overnight, working on it symbolized a commitment to sustainability and a donor-centered paradigm. The Tin Man was 100% correct when he sang about the value of his heart.

Being “MISSION-FOCUSED” goes beyond stewardship . . . here are just a few ideas for infusing mission in everything you do at your non-profit organization:

  1. Host your board meetings, committee meetings and fundraising meeting at your service facility as a way of reminding everyone what their volunteer time commitments are all about.
  2. Focus newsletter content on return on investment messaging and all things related to your agency’s mission. Skip the boring advertisements for the next opportunity to make a contribution.
  3. Don’t let your annual campaign volunteer solicitors go on important solicitations by themselves. Staff should do everything possible to get invited on important solicitations and ensure: 1) the ask is not being done in a “quid pro quo” manner and 2) mission-oriented reasons are infused throughout the solicitation call.
  4. Find ways to bring the idea of your clients into important meetings. For example, ask agency clients to participate in an essay contest about what they value most about your organization, its programs and mission. Share those essays with board volunteers, fundraising volunteers and donors.
  5. Incorporate a “mission moment” into ALL MEETINGS as a way to keep the focus on why you’re asking others to do what they do.

Failure to inject “MISSION-FOCUS” into all of your meetings and fundraising campaigns can be disastrous. It can lead to volunteer-fatigue and donor turnover. It can create a sense of disengagement that results in staff doing everything. Do I need to go on? Come on  . . . if a Tim Man can get it, then surely we all understand the importance of this concept. Right?

I can go on and on, but I’d rather you share with your fellow DonorDreams blog subscribers what you do to maintain a healthy dose of “MISSION-FOCUS” in everything you do. Please use the comment box below to share your example because we can all learn from each other. There are no right or wrong answers. Please jump in.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847|
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Are you King of your non-profit forest?

Board governance, Fundraising

On Monday, I shared with you a few observations from The Wizard of Oz and Oz: The Great and Powerful as I think it pertains to non-profit work. At the end of Monday’s post I promised to take you further down the Yellow Brick Road by revisiting a series of Oz-inspired posts from two years ago. Today’s post is about leadership. Enjoy . . . here’s to your health!  ~Erik

Are you King of your non-profit forest?

Originally published October 25, 2011

cowardly lionAs a new business owner who just opened up a nonprofit & fundraising consulting practice, I’ve made it my business to “get around”. In addition to visiting with many of my oldest and dearest non-profit friends in Elgin, Illinois, I recently attended a regional Boys & Girls Club conference and engaged countless staff and board volunteers from around the country through a very aggressive social media strategy including Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and this blog. While I don’t want to exaggerate, I was surprised at how many conversations looked and sounded like this“Wizard of Oz” YouTube clip.

Here were some of the things heard I nonprofit CEOs, fundraising professionals, and board volunteers saying that leaves me wondering “King or Coward”:

  • “Erik, I am so sick and tired of my board volunteers passing the buck on fundraising and expecting staff to pick-up the pieces. I’m just gonna tell them ‘how it is’.”
  • “Erik, our staff has let us down and not provided the necessary leadership during these tough economic times. I’m afraid the board will just need to look at making draconian cuts and muddle through these tough times.”
  • “Erik, donors are cutting their charitable giving during these tough economic times. So, the only thing left to do is tell donors and anyone who will listen that our agency is on the brink of closing its doors if people don’t start stepping up.”
  • “Erik, I know we need to invest heavily in capacity building activities during this economic down turn if we have any chance at making it out the other side. However, I just know that the board isn’t up for this kind of work at this time, and I won’t use my influence to push for something that doesn’t have legs.”
  • “Erik, I refuse to invest in ‘planning’ activities because they just don’t work. We once wrote this amazing plan, and it just ended up on the shelf collecting dust.”
  • Erik, fundraising is the board’s job, and I am hesitant to offer my opinion on what needs to be done because then it becomes ‘my idea’. And if ‘my idea’ falls short, then it just becomes one more reason for the board to fire me. Remember . . . board volunteers don’t fire themselves, they always fire the executive director.”

I understand that tough economic times has a chilling effect on leadership, but your only chance at surviving these strange and new times is by eating an extra bowl of Wheaties in the morning and showing up for work ready to take some smart risks and actively lead. Here are a few observations and suggestions I have for the non-profit community as my “listening tour” comes to a close:

  1. My kindergarten teacher always taught me that “telling people” isn’t very effective if you want them to be your friend. I suggest sharpening your listening skills and do more asking than telling when it comes to engaging donors, volunteers and board members.
  2. The “blame game” is an old and tired game. If the board is unsatisfied with the agency’s performance and is feels inclined to play this game, my advice to those board volunteers is skip it, save your breath, fire the executive director (because you know you’re going to do it regardless of what anyone tells you), and get on with the business with digging out of your hole. Brutal? Sure it is, and I’m uncomfortable with the recommendation. However, how many times have you seen board and staff struggle through tough times with lots of finger-pointing and it all worked out “happily ever after”??? Never! So, be decisive and move on to what is important — survival. By the way, after the hatchet job and search for a new leader, it is probably important the board turn the mirror on itself, dust off the guillotine and quickly get rid of non-performing, poor fundraising members. I suspect many of those soon to be headless board volunteers were leading the charge to fire the executive director. Vive Le France!
  3. Pointing the finger at donors is the quickest way to lose a finger. I don’t care if it is an individual, corporation, foundation or government agency. I’ve seen “the little boy who cried wolf” fundraising strategy work once, but it gets more difficult to fundraise the more you use this tactic. Of course, the reason for the fast diminishing return is because no one likes to invest their charitable giving in what they perceive to be a “sinking ship”. Stay positive and double down on stewardship efforts. People like to see the good things their contributions helped produce. So, show it to them.
  4. Written plans that fall short are most likely the result of: a) a poorly designed planning process that did not appropriately ‘engage’ those you needed to step forward during the action plans part of the process, b) thin-skinned leadership who didn’t like what they saw during the evaluation phase and dismissed the call to action by putting their heads in the sand, or c) a poorly designed implementation tools (e.g. committee work plans, staff performance plans, dashboards, scorecards, etc). Don’t toss one of your few ‘engagement tools’ out the window. Instead, double down on do it differently and better!
  5. Attention agency staff: If you find yourself treading water and paralyzed by fear of failure, then please do the honorable thing and resign. I don’t say this to be mean, but board volunteers need strong leaders who know how to LEAD. With leadership, sometimes comes failure. Right? So, don’t be the “Emperor who walks into the room without any clothes on“. (Please accept my apology for this last YouTube link. It was salty and unprofessional, but it was sooooo funny I just had to share it because this uncomfortable and funny video is exactly the same feeling we all share when a non-profit staff person is paralyzed and unwilling yet pretending to lead)

I could go on and on, but I’ve gone on too long. Please use the comment box below and share a story on how you are “king” of your non-profit castle and not a “coward”. How are you investing in capacity building efforts? How are you engaging others who seem to be stuck in neutral during these tough times? Please weigh-in because we can all learn from each other. Your words can also serve as inspiration to others who are struggling.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847|
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

If I only had a brain . . .

Fundraising

On Monday, I shared with you a few observations from The Wizard of Oz and Oz: The Great and Powerful as I think it pertains to non-profit work. At the end of Monday’s post I promised to take you further down the Yellow Brick Road by revisiting a series of Oz-inspired posts from two years ago. Today’s post is about ROI and engaging donors. Enjoy . . . here’s to your health!  ~Erik

If I only had a brain . . .

Originally published on October 24, 2011

scarecrowSo, last week was an amazing week for my blog. It appears that I struck upon a topic of interest for the non-profit community when I focused on special events and how some agencies make poor decisions around return on investment (ROI) decisions and volunteer utilization. While I promised myself that I would end that discussion thread about zombies, I decided this morning over coffee to continue down “the yellow brick road” a little further by changing metaphors.  It is Halloween season after all.  LOL

Interestingly, approximately 97-percent of all the emails, comments and discussions last week were very supportive of the positions I staked out in the blog. However, in spite of the support I still periodically heard things like this:

  • Erik, I totally agree with you that non-profit leaders too often invest money and energy into special events that provide a poor ROI. We really need to do a better job. However, my agency runs this one event that has a bad ROI but we just LOVE IT. We just need to give it a little more time and it will be one of this community’s signature events. What do you think?
  • Erik, as a board member I am not an expert on non-profit operations and fundraising. I rely on our agency’s staff to make good decisions, and I do as I am told. I agree with everything you’ve written and would never run my business that way, but it just isn’t my call.
  • Erik, we knew this event wasn’t a good idea for non-profits, but what were we supposed to do? Non-profit agencies pushed us to include them in our event plans.

Again . . . let me attach this disclaimer before saying anything else. 1) Not all special events are bad. 2) Some special events can have a decent ROI. 3) There are non-monetary objectives and benefits to planning and running a special event (e.g. awareness, prospect cultivation, volunteer engagement, etc). 4) I believe all non-profit organizations should include one or two well-oiled special events in their annual written resource development plan.

With that being said, I found this iconic song from the Wizard of Oz’s Scarecrow running through my head after each of the aforementioned comments. I am not sure how you feel, but here were a few of my reactions and conclusions:

  • It is probably common for agency staff and board volunteers to “fall in love with” their own special event ideas. Finding perspective is not an easy thing to do with anything in life including evaluating events and resource development programs. With this in mind, I recommend that non-profits involve external people in their evaluation process. What is so wrong with recruiting local business people to volunteer for a critique meeting or evaluation session? Ask donors to participate. Heck . . . spend a few dollars and engage an external consultant to help.
  • The mysterious world of “non-profit” business models probably seems a bit strange to board volunteers who live in the for-profit world, but fiduciary responsibility is the same on both sides of the fence. I have a few thoughts here: 1) board volunteers must be engaged and cannot abdicate oversight and evaluation to staff, 2) while there are differences between for-profit and non-profit corporations, you should stop and think hard about something your agency is doing if you find yourself thinking “huh, I would never do that back at my shop,” 3) we don’t need zombies serving on our boards . . . we need leaders, and 4) non-profit staff really need to do a better job supporting their board development committees throughout the prospect identification, evaluation, recruitment, and orientation processes or they will get what they deserve which is a board room full of “yes men (and women)” who serve in an echo chamber.
  • Eeeeeek! You knew it was a “bad idea,” but you did it because they asked for it? This comment almost sent me into orbit. So, answer me this question please: would you hand an addict a crack pipe? Or even better . . . do you give your kids everything they ask for? Now, please don’t get upset. I don’t mean to say that non-profits are addicts or children, but I make these analogies to get your attention. The answer is OF COURSE NOT! If you love someone (or in this case that someone is a non-profit agency and its mission), then you don’t enable them to do harm to themselves.

I believe that donors are more than just ATMs. I believe donors are leaders and accountability agents for the non-profit organizations they support. However, non-profit CEOs and fundraising professionals need to play a major role in empowering donors and volunteers. In the movie, “the wizard” bestows a diploma upon the Scarecrow as proof that he has a brain. What can agency staff bestow upon volunteers, donors and board members that will help them suddenly realize that their thoughts and wisdom are so desperately needed as part of the process?

Non-profit staff — Do you engage donors and external volunteers in the evaluation process? What about engaging them in the planning process? Do you have any examples of where you stopped doing something or changed it because of feedback from donors?

Donors — What stops you from sharing your thoughts and opinions about questionable things you see your favorite non-profits doing? Have you ever just stopped contributing to a charity as a result of a poor business decision that you saw a non-profit undertaking?

Board members — What can agency staff do to better empower you to speak-up and engage?

Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts and opinions because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847|
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Non-profit professionals need to take a page from the Wizard of Oz

Fundraising

oz the great and powerfulThis last weekend the Redbox near my house finally had a copy of “Oz: The Great and Powerful” in stock. I love the Wizard of Oz and couldn’t wait to see the prequel to this iconic film. My childhood is full of memories of watching the original movie around Thanksgiving time every year. I also remember all of those Wicked Witch induced nightmares that would follow. However, this time around . . . I walked away with some non-profit and fundraising thoughts.

Without spoiling anything for those of you who haven’t seen “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” it should come as no surprise that there are parallels between the original movie and the prequel. For example, in both movies as the Wizard and Dorothy make their way to the Emerald City for the first time, they meet up with a cast of characters who join them on the journey and play valuable roles down the road.

Another parallel comes at the end of the movie. In the original film, the wizard presents “The Three Gifts“:

  • The Scarecrow get his diploma in lieu of an actual brain
  • The Cowardly Lion gets his medal in lieu of actual courage
  • The Tin Man gets his heart shaped clock in lieu of an actual heart

A similar scene occurs at the end of “Oz: The Great and Powerful“.

Some people might conclude cynically that these are acts of a powerless person who is posing as a great and powerful wizard and relying upon his background as a con man and traveling circus magician back in Kansas. I am not of this opinion and invite you to refresh your memory of how things went down by watching this short YouTube clip of the scene in question:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky7DMCHQJZY]

What I see is a smart man who knows his limitations and is doing a masterful job of working within those limitations to give deserving people what they want and need.

While watching the parallel scene in “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” I had a fundraising revelation. It was rooted in a conversation I had with a fundraising professional last week. She was concerned about a few board volunteers who are always chirping about how their non-profit organization needs to be run more like a for-profit business and how greater attention must be given to concepts like “return on investment” for donors.

While program outcomes and community impact are on the lips of many non-profit professionals nowadays, the reality is that not all non-profit organizations are the same. For example, it is probably easier for a non-profit youth development agency to demonstrate outcomes and impact than a domestic violence shelter for women. It is also most likely easier for a non-profit health clinic to show ROI than an art museum.

ignore the man behind the curtainIf your agency is not in a position where you can make your donors’ wishes come true, then you better have skilled staff who possess talents and skills like The Wizard.

Just to be clear . . . I am NOT suggesting that you need to hire snake oil salesmen. What I am suggesting is that you identify and hire talent staff who:

  1. understand what you donors need and want
  2. understand what the agency is capable of and not capable of providing
  3. have the ability to identify similar things that can be provided in lieu of what the donors desire

In the movie, The Wizard knows that he can’t give the Scarecrow a real brain. So, he gives him a college diploma instead. He also gives a wonderful explanation of why it is as good as having an actual brain.  In the world of philanthropy, your non-profit staff may not have good impact data on how much less violent the world is for women because of your shelter, but you do have wonderful stories to share with donors about how for one night you made a world of difference in one woman’s life.

If you go back and watch that Wizard of Oz YouTube clip again, I suspect you will see many important skill sets — traits —

tin man heart

characteristics being demonstrated by The Wizard that are equally important for fundraising professionals and non-profit staff:

  • persuasion
  • well-spoken and clear in thought
  • thinking fast on your feet
  • great storyteller
  • showmanship

On a side note, I also just love that scene in the movie because of how it relates to our work as fundraising and non-profit professionals. Did you catch what the wizard said to the Tin Man when presenting him with his pseudo-heart? If not, here is the quick transcript:

“Back where I come from there are men who do nothing all day but good deeds. They are called phil….er…..phil…er…er….good-deed-doers and their hearts are no bigger than yours, but they have one thing you haven’t got! A testimonial! Therefore, in consideration of your kindness, I take pleasure at this time in presenting you with a small token of our esteem and affection. And remember, my sentimental friend, that a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.“

LOL . . . phil….er…..phil…er…er….good-deed-doers . . . I LOVE IT!!!

Does your non-profit organization have a “wizard” working behind the curtain of your donor communications program? How are you determining what donors want to see and hear? How are you still giving them what they want when it may not be realistic? Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other!

For those of you who are big Wizard of Oz fans like me, I wrote a multi-part series of blog posts two years ago with a Wizard of Oz theme. I will re-blog those posts this week. I hope you enjoy this week’s trip down the yellow brick road.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847