posts – Page 41 – The Healthy Non-Profit

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

July 15, 2013 erik Fundraising

oz the great and powerful This 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 curtain If 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:

understand what you donors need and want
understand what the agency is capable of and not capable of providing
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
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Spray and pray fundraising strategies don’t work anymore

July 11, 2013 erik Fundraising

The concept of “spray and pray” in resource development is simply sending out many appeals (aka shotgun effect), and then waiting for (aka hoping and praying) that enough donors respond so that you can make your goal. “Spray and pray” doesn’t just refer to direct mail. Back in the day, I used it in annual campaigns where I asked fundraising volunteers to identify five people from their social network, sit down with them in-person, and ask for a pledge or contribution. If your fundraising program is still loaded with “spray and pray” strategies, then you’re probably struggling because those days are long since over.

I decided to blog about this topic today because it has now come up in conversations with clients and fundraising professionals and in other various ways (e.g. things I read, etc) more than just a few times over the last six months.

Why? Why? Why?

I’m not sure that I care about “The Why?” A friend of mine used to say all the time — “It is what it is” — which was his cute way of saying “It doesn’t matter because getting to an answer doesn’t change the fact that you still need to address the issue.”

For those of you who are still searching for answers, I encourage you to not think too hard about it. The fact of the matter is that the Great Recession changed everything. Economists, politicians and newscasters have taken to using the phrase “The New Normal” to describe things in our communities that look-act-behave differently now than they did before the stock market tanked in 2008. Let’s face it . . . things are different and it impacts donor behavior.

In my opinion, the answer is simple and right under our noses. Take a step back and look at your own philanthropy.

Before the recession, my partner and I were making contributions (of various sizes and shapes) to 12 or more non-profits both locally and nationally. Some of those agencies were near and dear to our hearts, and others just got lucky because they asked us on the right day at the right time.

After the recession, the number of organizations we support has dropped. You might think that it is because of limited money, fear of market forces and other recession-related issues. While this may be somewhat true, none of these reasons are even close to the big reason. If we were playing The Family Feud, Richard Dawson would shout out . . . “Survey Says?” and the number one answer for me (and I think millions of other donors) would be:

TRUST

In most cases, my partner and I eliminated our support of those non-profit organizations where we didn’t have a personal connection. We support agencies where we:

know a staff person
know a board member
know a friend who is passionate about their mission

In those instances, we TRUST that our contribution will be used in the manner they said it would be used. We TRUST the outcomes and impact they claim to achieve in their case for support is factual. We TRUST that we’ll be kept in the loop (aka stewardship) on how things are going either through traditional means (e.g. newsletters, eBlasts, etc) or through informal means (e.g. word of mouth from that staff person, board member or friend). Hopefully both!

What replaces “Spray and Pray”?

In order to build trust, you need to become more personal in every aspect of your fundraising program:

Your cultivation efforts need to focus on pressing the flesh. Get prospective donors in your door and touring your facilities and programs.
Your solicitation efforts need to focus on two things: 1) matching the right solicitor with the right donor based upon their personal relationship and 2) making the ask in-person with the right case for support themes that resonate with that donor.
Your stewardship efforts need to focus on a multi-channel approach — mail, phone and in-person. Just sending newsletters isn’t enough anymore.

I am sure that some of you are overwhelmed by these suggestions because you have thousands of donors and limited resources. To those of you who might be shaking your heads and clinging to your spray and pray strategies, I have two things to say to you:

Evolve or die! Welcome to “The New Normal” . . . you need change because someone has “moved your cheese“.
Use your donor database! Technology is amazing and you should have the ability to segment your donor list. You may not be able to become personal with thousands of donors, but your Top 10, Top 100 or Top 250 donors are super important to you and a little bit of focus can go a long way.

What has been your organization’s experience lately with spray and pray fundraising strategies? What have you done to adapt? Have certain strategies worked better than others? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

Non-profits must be careful with cause-related marketing

July 10, 2013 erik Fundraising

Earlier in the year, I wrote a post titled “Bad cause-related marketing is offensive“. It was inspired by an incident when I was solicited at a cash register and the employee couldn’t tell me the first thing about the charity. They couldn’t even point me to a kiosk or brochure containing more information. A few weeks ago, I was confronted by a different situation that evoked a similar reaction and reinforced my strong belief that your agency needs to be careful (and diligent) when entering into cause-related marketing arrangements.

I’ve been playing chicken with my website provider recently. They’ve been sending me weekly reminders that I need to give them more money because their service will expire in two months. I’ve been really busy lately . . . so I’ve been ignoring and deleting those email reminders. However, they caught me in the right place at the right time a few weeks ago, and I ended up clicking through and renewing my agreement with them.

When I clicked the check-out button, they asked me if I wanted to “round-up my fee to the nearest dollar and donate that pocket change to one of three charities they’ve partnered with“.

Unfortunately, I was going too fast and what I read versus what I “thought I read” was two very different things.

round up for charity They wanted me to round my total up to the nearest dollar. What I thought I had read was that they would donate (out of their pocket) the amount of the rounded sum. (You can see the screenshots of the information they provided me to the right of this paragraph)

Oooooops!

The first thing that came to mind was Ben Franklin who famously said, “Haste makes waste.”

The second thing that came to mind was “Hey, wait a minute! That was vague and some people might even think a little deceptive. Moreover, who are these charities and how can I find out more about them?”

Needless to say, I started having a deja vu moment and finally realized that I blogged about this many months ago.

Bad cause-related marketing can have a negative impact on your brand. So, I have three simple requests of those of you reading today’s post:

Please go back and read my previous post. It has some nice links to Joanne Fritz’s post on this subject, and hopefully it raises some thought-provoking discussions around your resource development committee table.
Click here or on the Cause Marketing for Dummies graphic at the beginning of this post. I am a big fan of people who commit themselves to becoming a “lifelong learner“. Consider purchasing and reading the book if your agency is even giving a little consideration to jumping into a cause-related marketing venture.
Read the few questions that I pose at the end of this post. Then scroll down and share a few thoughts with your fellow fundraising professionals. Why? Because we can all learn from each other!

Has your agency played around with any cause related marketing efforts? If so, what did you do? More importantly, what did you learn? What would you do differently?

Here’s to your health!

Let’s talk about your organization’s LinkedIn group page

July 8, 2013 erik technology

I use LinkedIn. It is one the social media platforms I am on almost every day, which is probably the reason I was asked to manage the LinkedIn group page for a fundraising professionals organization where I’m a member. At first, I was happy to do it. After all, I’m on LinkedIn every day. Right? However, after a few months of being the volunteer community manager, I am left wondering: “What in the heck are we trying to accomplish with this group page?”

Of course, this got me wondering how many non-profit organizations find themselves in the same situation? So, I logged into my LinkedIn account and surfed around to a handful of group pages of agencies I follow. What I found was similar to the page I manage . . . a handful of followers and very little activity.

So, I thought it might be helpful to share a few thoughts and suggestions based on my limited experience with this project. Hopefully, you will also weigh-in with your thoughts and experiences using the comment box below. Why? Because we can all learn from each other. 🙂

Target audience

Your agency’s LinkedIn group page isn’t like your website. You shouldn’t treat it like a landing-place for all kinds of different stakeholder groups. The best group pages I’ve seen have an obvious target audience with whom they are speaking.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy has a page. It is “For Members Only,” which simply means that you need to ask to join and get approval from the person managing the page. I presume this decision was made because: 1) people like to “belong” to things and the more exclusive the better, 2) the Chronicle is probably trying to protect group members from businesses and spammers targeting fundraising professionals, and 3) they are deliberating focusing on developing a “target audience“.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Midlands’ LinkedIn page is simple. While I can’t be sure, it certainly seems like their target audience is their employees. I can see a number of reasons why a non-profit agency would want to create a virtual space for its employees including: 1) ease of communication, 2) sharing of work ideas and best practices, and 3) creating a sense of community and family.

Who is your target audience? This really needs to be the first question you answer because it will drive every other decision you make with regards to your agency’s LinkedIn page.

Content is KING

I don’t care if you are managing a blog, Facebook page, Twitter account or a LinkedIn group. Content is ALWAYS the key to success and engagement.

When it comes to your LinkedIn group, here are a few suggestions with regards to creating content (e.g. creating a purpose for people to belong to your group):

Be Mike Myers on SNL’s Coffee Talk sketch. Post a weekly discussion topic or question of the week.
Find blogs that might interest your members and post links to those sites.
Identify subjects that will be interesting and create a poll.
Use the group site to share information (e.g. webinars, meetings dates/times, etc)

Commit yourself to learning

There is so much more to learn about managing a LinkedIn group (e.g. group policies, promotion, etc). It is impossible to cram everything into one blog post.

If you plan on undertaking the job of creating or managing your agency’s LinkedIn group, I suggest setting aside an hour per week where you can just click around and read more from others on best practices. While you’re reading, I urge you to jump into conversations and discussions on blogs by sharing your experiences and asking questions.

Here are a few places you may want to get started:

Social Media Examiner: “5 Tips for Effectively Managing a LinkedIn Group“
Lewis Howes: “Top 10 Reasons to Start A LinkedIn Group“
LinkedIn Blog: “Top Five Reasons to Use LinkedIn Groups“
Undercover Recruiter: “10 Reasons Your LinkedIn Group Sucks“

So, does your agency have a LinkedIn group page? Are you thinking about starting one? Please scroll down and use the comment box to share your thoughts, questions, best practices, strategies, ideas, etc.

Here’s to your health!

Fundraising: The art of being out of control

July 5, 2013 erik Fundraising

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

In a post titled “In and Out of Control,” John talks about how the idea of control is a myth. There are very few things in this world that we can control, even though we try to do so and pretend that we’re successful.

This conversation got me thinking about the idea of control and fundraising.

Here are all the things fundraising professionals don’t control:

whether or not a donor decides to make a contribution,
whether or not a donor makes time for you in their calendar,
the size of their pledge or contribution,
what restrictions (if any) the donor chooses to place on the donation, and
how they decide to make good on their pledge of support (e.g. cash, credit, stock, etc).

In my humble opinion, I believe this lack of control contributes to some of the FEAR that volunteers harbor when it comes to asking others for support.

So, what is the solution? John suggests that acceptance is the key.

As I contemplate what this means, I believe it probably has everything to do with understanding what hat you wear and the role you play in the process.

When it comes to fundraising, you can’t control donors, but you can control your actions.

You control your case for support.
You control your strategies and tactics.
Most importantly, if the donor gives you time in their calendar, then you control how much you ask for (and whether or not you even ask).

To more simply state it . . .

The hat you wear is to ASK.

The hat the donor wears is to CONSIDER the request and do what they will do.

Once you accept that you control very little and focus only on those few things that you can control, I suspect you and your volunteers will start feeling better about the entire business of fundraising.

carnegie

How can you do this? You may consider building into your training curriculum. Educating volunteers solicitors has to be more than half the battle. Right?

Of course, there is another side of this discussion if you want to go there. Friends of mine at my last place of employment were famous for saying that internal consultants may not have any control, but you do have influence.

If you want to go down that road, I suggest checking out Dale Carnegie’s iconic book “How to Win Friends & Influence People“. ENJOY!

Please scroll down and use the comment box to share your thoughts.

Here’s to your health!

Philanthropy and the Fourth of July

July 4, 2013 erik Fundraising

This post was originally published on July 4, 2011. Since that time the DonorDreams blog community has more than doubled. So, I thought it would be appropriate to reach back into the archives. Please take a moment on this day of celebration to reflect back on the past and consider how it influences what we do today.

constitution Happy Fourth of July everyone!

As with most Americans today, I find myself reflecting back on our country’s history. While doing so, I became curious about how the history of philanthropy is woven into America’s story. After a little bit of googling and thinking, it is very obvious that one of very cornerstones on which we’ve built our country is philanthropy and charity. Consider the following facts:

In 1628, the Massachusetts Bay Company established the first ever American “board” to manage colonial business.
In 1630, John Winthrop preaches to Puritans bound for America that it is the obligation of the rich to care for the poor.
In 1638, John Harvard’s planned gift establishes a major American educational institution.
Throughout the 1700s, Benjamin Franklin is involved in numerous philanthropic projects including creation of the first circulation library in Philadelphia. He arguably plants the seeds of philanthropy throughout the founding of our country.

The list goes on an on. Click here to see a very interesting chronology of philanthropy in America by our friends at the Arizona Grantmakers Forum.

There is also a great white paper published on the website learningtogive.org that argues that the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution are underpinned by philanthropic principles.

First, consider that “philanthropy includes voluntary and active efforts to promote human welfare and well-being.” Look no further than the Constitution’s preamble that charges our new country with many things including providing for the “general welfare”.

Click the aforementioned link to read so much more about how philanthropy is woven throughout the American tapestry.

I encourage you to take a moment this Fourth of July to reflect upon philanthropy’s roots in our American democracy and pay tribute to how it has made us the country we are today.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Here is to your health!

Board Development Done ….. Less Effectively

July 3, 2013 erik Board development, organizational development, volunteers

Dani Robbins is the Founder & Principal Strategist at Non Profit Evolution located in Columbus, Ohio. I’ve invited my good friend and fellow non-profit consultant to the first Wednesday of each month about board development related topics. Dani also recently co-authored a book titled “Innovative Leadership Workbook for Nonprofit Executives” that you can find on Amazon.com.

process1 Last month I wrote on post entitled Board Development Done Right. Let’s talk today about the other side of board development: what it looks like when it’s done less effectively.

In the absence of a board development plan that is being followed, most organizations do some combination of the following:

A board member or member of the senior staff meets someone in the community who they think might be good for the board.
They pass the name on to the Board Chair or the CEO who later meets with the prospect and may or may not invite them to join the board.
If they do, and the person says yes, they bring the name up at the next board meeting, and that person is voted upon and becomes a board member.
Usually, but not always, the new board member is brought on board without an orientation as to what the expectations and requirements are of board leadership.

It’s a process. It’s not great, but it is the process that is fairly consistently followed by many organizations.

Will that process build a great board? Probably not, but it works — to a degree — and it’s much better than the alternative.

process3 The alternative is this with the same beginning:

a board member or senior staff meets someone in the community who they think might be good for the board and asks them to join the board.
They say yes.
That person shows up at the next board meeting and is voted upon while in the room and voila! They are a board member.

Lest you think I am exaggerating . . . I attended a luncheon not too long ago where I was seated next to a nonprofit CEO. He asked what I did for a living, and I shared that I was a non-profit management consultant, who primarily works with organizations on board governance, executive couching, system development and planning. He immediately asked me to join his board.

As I’ve written before, strong boards beget strong organizations. It works the other way too. Less effective boards beget less effective organizations. Those boards hire less talented CEOs (or the wrong CEOs), for whom they don’t set goals and whom they don’t evaluate. They do not have a written strategic plan or a board development plan (or many other plans for that matter). There is no orientation process, no education and no board evaluation.

transparency Here’s the rub . . . Board strength isn’t just an internal issue that is invisible to the community. It is visible. Here’s what it looks like:

The organization has a revolving door of CEOs.
The CEO has a revolving door of senior staff.
The CEO has a very strong personality and does the work of the board, which the board allows either because: 1) they don’t know they shouldn’t, OR 2) they are afraid that if they challenge the CEO s/he will leave, and they don’t have the time, the inclination, the ability, or a plan to deal with.
The Board Chair has a very strong personality (and may also be a big donor) and other board members are afraid to alienate him/her.
There are quorum issues.
Board members tend to stay only one term.

Just because it’s like this today, don’t mean it has to stay like this.

Organizational transformation is possible and even probable with the right plan and the emotional fortitude to implement that plan. Like any other challenge in life, if you don’t like the path you’re on, pick a new path! Get your board together (or at least your executive or nominating committee) and come up with a plan.

Start by answering these questions:

Who do you have around the table?
Does everyone look the same?
Is everyone, in fact, the same?
Are there gaps in skill set, faith, race, capacity, interest, thought, ability, orientation, age, and gender?
Are there leaders in your community who can fill those gaps?
Who can get in front of those people, introduce and engage them in your organization?
How will you decide when and to whom to offer board seats?
When will you vote on new members?
What will you include in your orientation?
What type of evaluation will the board conduct of itself and how often?
What type of education does the board need and want?

Board development is the intentional process by which the board is perpetuated, evaluated, and educated. Let’s get to it!

What’s been your experience? How have you built a board? As always, I welcome your experience and insight.

Get your ducks in a row if your non-profit accept government grants

July 2, 2013 erik Fundraising

govt funding2 The news last week that the Justice Department will freeze grant funding for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) should send a chill up the spine of every non-profit organization who accepts government funding.

Here is the CliffNotes version of what is going on:

BBBS co-mingled its federal grant dollars with its general fund,
Oversight of disbursements from the national organization to its local affiliates was allegedly lacking,
Documentation required by the grant agreement allegedly wasn’t well or is missing, and
Grant dollars were allegedly spent on things it shouldn’t have been.

If you’re interested in more information, here are a few links you may want to click on:

CBS News: “Justice Dept. freezes funding to Big Brothers Big Sisters“
Fox News: “Justice Department freezes funding to Big Brothers Big Sisters following audit“
News Talk Radio KRMG: “Big Brothers Big Sisters funds frozen by Justice Department“

As I said in the title to this blog post, I see this as a cautionary tale for all non-profit organizations who accept public funding from any level of government (e.g. local, state or federal).

Why?

govt funding I believe that when money is abundant controls are less strict. Conversely, when resources are scarce . . .

every penny is watched,
those agencies that don’t have the money are making the case for why those who do have the money shouldn’t have the money (e.g. classic have’s versus have-not’s),
there is a debate occurring among policymakers about the “role of government” and whether or not government should even be in the business of allocating money in this manner (e.g. redistribution of wealth versus letting private philanthropy markets do so), and
decision-makers are looking for reasons to take money away because it is easier to tell voters that funding was eliminated when there are good reasons (and alleged mismanagement of funding is always a great reason).

Here are a few simple and cheap things you can do to ensure your agencies doesn’t end up in the same place as BBBS:

Assemble a task force of board volunteers to help you conduct an internal review of your government contracts.
Pull out your grant agreements and carefully review the items you are contractually obligated to deliver.
Randomly conduct spot checks of documents you are contractually obligated to keep.
Randomly conduct spot checks of expenditures charged to the grant and ensure they were allowable expenses.
If you find discrepancies, put together action plans to fix the problems and monitor implementation. If money was inappropriately used, re-appropriate / re-budget the money and use it in the manner that it was intended.
Document this process simply by keeping meeting notes. This way, if you get audited, you’ll be able to demonstrate your due diligence and commitment to internal controls.

Are you concerns about the recent developments between the Justice Department and Big Brothers Big Sisters? Are you taking special precautions at your agency to get your ducks in a row? Do you think I am overreacting? Please scroll down and share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

Is your non-profit preparing for the Times Square countdown?

July 1, 2013 erik Fundraising, Planning

I spent a decent amount of time last week in the car. When I do that, I typically listen to National Public Radio (NPR), which in the Chicago market is WBEZ 91.5 FM. So, all week long I heard how they were approaching the end of their fiscal year and how they need to hit their pledge drive goal.

When I woke up this morning, I had a few thoughts racing through my head:

OMG . . . it is July! How did THAT happen?
I wonder if WBEZ made its pledge drive goal?
I wonder how many other non-profits that don’t have June 30th year end financials are preparing for their December 31st year-end push?

I remember when I was on the front line and making decisions about fundraising matters. I typically wanted my year-end fundraising efforts and mailings to hit the post office in the beginning of November.

When I gave donors a few weeks before Thanksgiving to consider what they want to do with their year-end charitable giving, it usually worked out better. I tested all sorts of different launch times over the years, and the beginning of November always produced the best results.

So, if your agency follows the same blueprint . . . guess what? You only have four months left to get all of your ducks in a row.

My best advice is to get to work NOW and avoid the last minute rush. Why? Because in my experience the last minute rush always resulted in unexpected hiccups and delays in getting the mailings to the post office.

I’m not suggesting that you write your letter today (but I wouldn’t discourage it either), but there are things you can start doing now that will help you later. Here is a short laundry list of those things:

Determine your theme.
Put together your project management plan and establish deadlines.
Write your internal case for support, which will be the basis of your letter and package.
Pull together a focus group of donors and test your case for support.
Use the input that you get back from your donors to tweak your messaging and theme.
If you like to incorporate a client story into your year-end appeal, then start identifying the client and their story now.
We all know that the mailing list is the biggest factor in your success. So, start building your list today. It takes time to wrestle with your donor database and work with a mail house.
Plan on mailing out a cultivation / stewardship letter four to six weeks prior to mailing your year-end appeal. Start developing that messaging and package today.
Use social media to cultivate and steward your year-end donors. Develop a three month campaign that leads up to and culminates in the launch of your appeal in early November. This obviously starts NOW.

Your agency is probably preparing to march in a Fourth of July parade in the next few days, and year-end thoughts are probably far away, but don’t blink! Because Santa Claus will be coming down the chimney any day now.

You know I’m right!

Still not convinced? Well, consider the fact that more than one-third (and I’ve recently read it could be as big as one-half) of all charitable giving happens in the fourth quarter during the holiday season.

I’ll leave you with this thought and popular expression: “Prior proper preparation prevents piss poor performance.” I’ve heard it referred to as the Seven P’s.

When does your agency start preparing for its year-end appeal? What goes into your planning? What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced? When do you plan on starting this year?

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

Here’s to your health!

Ending the “overhead myth” is everywhere

June 27, 2013 erik Fundraising

For the last few years, I’ve come across snippets and whispers from non-profit thought-leaders about how we need to help donors change their views about evaluating a non-profit organization based on how little it spends on administrative and fundraising costs. It was mentioned in polite conversations. A few bloggers were chattering about. I even saw it on a website owned by a charity watchdog group.

Then a few years ago, Dan Pallotta published a book titled “Uncharitable,” and this discussion emerged from the shadows of the non-profit sector. For the last few years, everyone I know has been engaged in this discussion or pieces of it such as:

Executive compensation
Marketing & advertising
Risk aversion
Return on investment for donors
Spending on today versus tomorrow

The overhead myth has been building momentum for a few years now. I even jumped on this bandwagon a year ago with the following series of blog posts:

DonorDreams blog: “Does your non-profit make a difference? Americans don’t think so!“
DonorDreams blog: “Why is the non-profit sector hamstrung?“
DonorDreams blog: “Stop thinking. Stop planning. Start doing!“

AND THEN IT WENT VIRAL . . .

A few weeks ago I received an email from a dear friend of mine with a link to “Letter to the Donors of America” from the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Guidestar and Charity Navigator. The letter was simple and straightforward. It asked donors to please stop looking at overhead when making charitable contributions. It was a case for support document. Pure and simple!

After this first email from a friend, I received another and then another. I started to see bloggers tackle the subject, and then non-profit agencies started talking about it on their websites. Before long, it was all over social media and everyone in my circles was talking about “the overhead myth“.

For the record, I’ve always thought that the idea of using overhead to evaluate a non-profit organization’s worthiness was silly for two reasons:

Through the magic of accounting, every smart executive director keeps at least one eye on what donors consider the “percentage of overhead” and tweaks their allocation formulas to keep that percentage where it needs to be. So, this number really means nothing. It never has and never will.
When I am purchasing goods and services, I never hold for-profit companies to this standard. When I hired a marketing firm to help me during the start-up phase for The Healthy Non-Profit LLC, I didn’t look at how much money they spent on administration, executive compensation or their advertising budget. Heck no! I looked at the quality of their work. As a donor, I like to invest in organizations whose programs are having impact regardless of how much they pay their executive director.

I’ve been asked by some readers of this blog to write something about the “overhead myth“. As flattering and tempting it is to weigh-in on a compelling subject like this, I’m going to use some self-restraint and decline. (Surprising? I know!)

Why?

Have you see how much has already been written out there? OMG!!! Everyone with a blog, website, Facebook page, and Twitter account has jumped on this bandwagon.

I’m will use the remainder of my space to post links to those other blogs, websites, etc. If you are very interested in this topic, please click your heart away.

The Overhead Myth website: “It is Time to Move Beyond Overhead“
Bloomerang: “The Most Important Statement in the Nonprofit World in the Last Decade“
Nonprofit Association of the Midlands: “Help End the Overhead Myth“
The Rebecca Gordon Group: “Tackling the Overhead Myth — An Upcoming Blog Series“
Philantech: “Financial Ratios for Nonprofits — The Overhead Myth“
Huffington Post: “How a TED Talk Destroyed the Charity Overhead Myth“
Nonprofit Quarterly: “The Overhead Myth“
Sasha Dichter’s blog: “The Overhead Myth“
Sidekick Solutions: “Value Can Unlock the Nonprofit Overhead Myth“
Childfund International: “End the Overhead Myth”
Jazi: “End the Overhead Myth“
And this list is just the tip of the iceberg. If this doesn’t quench your thirst, then go to Google and click-click-click.

Your thoughts?

Let’s start a discussion using the comment box attached to this DonorDreams blog post.

I personally don’t think anything is going to change as a result of this “overhead myth” campaign push.

I think donors are set in their ways. I believe Dan Pallotta was right about the Puritan influence on our culture. I don’t think “culture” and “values” and “habits” are easy to change. AND I think talk is cheap.

In the comment box below, please tell me why you think I am right or why I am wrong.

Here’s to your health!