donor – Page 13 – The Healthy Non-Profit

Magic words? Be ‘transparent’ and ask to be held ‘accountable’

November 4, 2011 DonorDreams nonprofit, Planning

When I think of non-profit organizations who embark upon a strategic planning process, I usually get a mental picture of Toy Story’s Buzz Lightyear standing on that bed post proclaiming “To infinity and beyond!” However, in my experience, many non-profit organizations jump and their results are not nearly as good.

What I am referring to is the phenomenon of: engaging stakeholders . . . building consensus around vision/goals/objectives/action steps . . . writing the plan . . . approving the plan . . . putting the plan on the shelf and letting it die a dusty death.

So, the question being begged here is: “What do non-profits leaders (board and staff) need to do in order to bring their plans to life and avoid that ‘dusty death’?”

The simple and straightforward answer can be captured in two words:

Transparency

and

Accountability

In a nutshell, “transparency” means that everyone can see your plan including: who has agreed to what, where, when, why and how. “Accountability” means that everyone can see your measurement indicators and how well (or not so well) you are doing at accomplishing the various aspects of your plan.

I love what my college alma mater — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign — has done in the area of transparency with their strategic plan. Click here to check out how they’ve put everything on the internet for alumni, faculty, students, parents of students, residents of Urbana and Champaign, and especially donors to view.

I also like what Binghamton University did in the area of accountability with their online strategic planning dashboard. Click here to see that dashboard tool.

So, if you find yourself saying “Well, those are large university institutions and we’re different and unique,” let me help you bring these ideas into focus for your unique situation. The following is a short list of questions I encourage you to ask yourself about your specific non-profit situation:

Do I want my plans to be implemented or do I want them to sit on the shelf and collect dust?
Do I need other people to help with plan implementation or am I OK with doing it all myself?
Do the donors who support my organization deserve to see how well (or not well) we are doing with implementing the plan they helped create and pay for?

If you answered “YES” to these questions, then I encourage you to pull that dusty plan off the shelf, identify the measurements and indicators you likely built into the plan, and invest in creating tools like dashboard or scorecards that easily communicate implementation progress (or hire someone who knows how to do it . . . aka an external consultant). Once that tool is developed, post it online and integrate it into all of your committee and board meetings. To quote a number of very famous people who all take credit for this expression:

“What gets measured, gets done!”

These ideas don’t just apply to strategic planning. You can employ the ideas of accountability and transparency to your resource development plan, annual campaign plan, marketing plan, business plan, etc etc etc.

There is a whole flip side to this blog post pertaining to “measuring the right things to get the right results,” but let’s save that discussion for another time.

What is stopping your agency from being bold and asking donors to hold you accountable for achieving your plans? How do you share your currently organizational progress with your donors, supporters and board volunteers? Can you use the comment box below to share examples of how you are transparent and ask others to hold you accountable? If you use online resources to accomplish these objectives, would you please include links to those examples in your comment so we can all see it?

Please take 30 seconds to weigh-in with a comment. We can and should 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
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http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Hey Mom, non-profits can have cavities too!

November 3, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising, resource development

Last Monday, I made that dreaded trip to see the dentist. I am proud to say I have no cavities; however, I need to apparently stop biting my cheeks and grinding my teeth. While I am proud of my oral hygiene, the big news is that my dentist has gotten very good at stewarding his clients.

Right about now, I suspect that many of you are blinking at the screen and thinking something like: “Huh? A for-profit dentist is stewarding his clients like a non-profit organization stewards its donors? Whatcha talking about, Erik!”

This is what I am talking about:

A few weeks before my appointment I received a newsletter in my mailbox from the dentist. Of course, the newsletter contained some articles about dental services he provides. However, there was also interesting reading about the growing body of research between dental hygiene and heart disease as well as oral cancers and HPV. I walked away from that newsletter feeling better about my semi-annual investment in my mouth. Ah-ha . . . STEWARDSHIP!
By the time I got home from my dentist appointment, there were already two emails sitting in my inbox from my dentist. The first email thanked me for visiting and asked me to take an online survey. The rationale was that he values my business and wants to continue providing high quality service. Correct me if I’m wrong here, but . . . ah-ha . . . STEWARDSHIP!
The second email invited me to join his “online community” where members are able to: receive email appointment reminders; request appointments online; receive special announcements; write a review; refer a friend; watch a YouTube video of him talking about the overall health-ROI associated with investing in your mouth. I was directed to his website. I was directed to his Facebook page. I was directed to his Twitter account. OMG . . . this isn’t just STEWARDSHIP, but it was electronic stewardship (ala ePhilanthropy for non-profits).

Back in the old days, dentists used to clean your teeth and you wouldn’t hear from them again for another 6-months when someone called to remind you about your upcoming appointment. This got me thinking about the number of non-profit agencies out there who take a donor’s charitable contribution, fire out a generic computer generated recognition letter, and then do nothing until it is time to ask for the next gift.

Hmmmm . . . if my dentist can evolve, then so can many of those non-profit organizations who are still engaging in “transactional fundraising”.

What is your agency doing to enhance the “donor experience” and improve stewardship efforts? Have you ever considered sending donors a survey immediately after their solicitation to ask about the quality of their solicitation experience? Think about it for a moment . . . it starts to sound less and less silly the more you ponder it. Are you keeping your eyes open for how other non-profits and for-profits are changing the way they steward their donors and clients? What are you seeing?

Please use the comment box below and weigh-in with a your thoughts and observations. It doesn’t have to be a long comment . . . 30 seconds will suffice. We can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health (both non-profit health and dental health)!!!

How much Klout does your nonprofit have?

November 1, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

This morning I awoke to a present in my email inbox. My good friend and fellow-blogger at One World One Plate, Marissa Garza, gave me a +K point in the topic area of “non-profit” on Klout. I know some of you may be wondering “What is Klout?” In a nutshell, it is a website that measures your influence in the social media world through the use of a complicated algorithm. There are a number of different measurement instruments including an “overall Klout score” based on a scale of 1 to 100. My current score is 42 and Marissa’s +K point helped bump my score up a little.

I know what some of you are thinking . . . this is a passing fad . . . this is a subjective measurement gimmick . . . or even “uh-oh” another social media thing to suck my time.

My response to all of these reactions is: “Let’s not be so quick to rush to judgment on this one”. After playing with Klout for a few months, here are a few conclusions I’ve reached:

Many non-profit friends ask me how they should measure the “return” on their resource development investment when it comes to social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, blogging, etc). Well, Klout is the first tool I’ve seen that begins to answer this question. So, now non-profits can invest their resource development time, energy, and money with peace of mind that they can measure the return.
Going beyond the idea of measuring ROI, Klout gives non-profits a barometer when it comes to social media efforts (e.g. similar to analytics tools attached to websites, blogs, and email marketing services). If what you’re Tweeting or posting on Facebook or blogging isn’t being looked at and shared, then your Klout score will reflect it. So, as your Klout score drops, you’ll be able to stop doing those things that aren’t being well received and start Tweeting and posting other things that might be better received. It is kind of like “being in a donor’s head” . . . something every fundraising professional has periodically wished for.
Going beyond ROI and measurement, I think I’ve become enamoured by Klout mostly because it allows you see other people’s and agency’s Klout scores. While this site probably appeals to the social media voyeurism in all of us, I encourage you to embrace this feeling. So, one non-profit can look for another non-profit who has a higher Klout score. Once they find someone who is similar to them (e.g. budget size, approach to resource development, social media savvy, etc) and who has a higher Klout score, then they have the ability to start benchmarking that agency. I oftentimes end my blogs by saying something like “We can all learn from each other”. Well, Klout embraces this idea and I must admit that I LOVE IT. Click here to read a post by NonProfit Nate and see who the top non-profits are on Twitter based on their Klout scores.

OK . . . I am done braggin’ on Klout and I encourage you to sign up (because it is FREE). You don’t need to go wild from the start. I know how busy many of you are. So, just sign-up and visit your Klout page once per week for approximately 30 seconds. Watch your Klout score (and other various metrics) and marinade on what you see happening. When you are ready to start doing something about the numbers, your “inner fundraising voice” will tell you.

You might also want to bookmark some of these links and circle back from time-to-time and read up on Klout:

Is your agency dabbling in social media? If so, what are your objectives? How are you measuring your success? Can you share any anecdotal stories about donors you acquired online who have since migrated into other areas of your resource development program? What kind of things are you Tweeting and posting? What material seems to be well-received?

Please weigh-in using the comment box below. We can all learn from each other. Please take 30 seconds to share.

Here is to your health! Oh yeah . . . I am not beneath begging my readers for some more +K points. 😉 Please?

BOO: Halloween is a Non-Profit Holiday

October 31, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

I just love this time of the year. The temperature outside is lovely. Trees are turning colors and putting on a show. Charity is coming into focus for millions of Americans. Last year approximately 174 million Americans donated approximately $50 billion to charities during the holiday season. While most resource development people will tell you this all starts with Thanksgiving, I contend that Halloween is when the starters gun goes off in my head.

I was reminded this past Saturday afternoon when two kids came to my door holding a small orange box and asked if I’d consider donating some pocket change to UNICEF. Not only do I have fond memories of doing the same thing as a child, but I realized that it might have been the very first time I ever solicited anyone for anything on behalf of a child.

My passion for charity and professional career path might have started all because of a UNICEF box more than 35 years ago.

This realization got me thinking . . . perhaps the year-end charitable giving season starts with Halloween and not Thanksgiving. If I am “stretching” this point, then consider this thought: “Perhaps, Halloween offers non-profit organizations a great opportunity to position itself for the season of charity.

Halloween can be a stewardship opportunity. In fact, non-profit organizations can turn most holidays into stewardship opportunities for their donors as I wrote in my post titled “Stewardship opportunity on Labor Day” which is one of my better read posts of all time. Go figure!

Here are just a few thoughts I have for how your agency can use Halloween to frame your case for support during the holiday season:

Host a Halloween costume party for your top 100 donors. Don’t solicit them. Just invite them to come to a free event, have some fun, and hear a few short testimonials about how your agency is using their investment from earlier this year to do good things. End everything by saying you hope they will consider reinvesting with a contribution to your year-end holiday mail appeal that is sure to appear in their mailbox in a few weeks.
Organize a phone-a-thon where volunteers call donors to whom you plan on mailing your holiday mail appeal. Use a “trick-or-treat” script that talks about how your non-profit doesn’t believe in “tricks” which is why you are calling with a Halloween “treat,” and then read a small snippet of outcomes measurement data that you’ve recently been collected. Thank the donor for helping your agency achieve that specific accomplishment and then end by saying you hope they will consider re-investing when your year-end holiday mail appeal arrives in their mailbox in a few weeks.
Simply organize a Halloween theme inspired stewardship mailing (e.g. a ghoulish looking impact report). Don’t ask for any money. Just communicate some return on investment information and thank them for their previous charitable contribution. This can softly frame your case for support in donors minds just a few weeks before you send a solicitation mailing.

As I said in my Labor Day blog post . . .

Many non-profit organizations struggle with stewarding their donors and instead become solicitation machines (which ironically burns out donors and creates a cycle of turnover). When I’ve talked to my non-profit friends and asked WHY, the most common answer I’ve heard is that time is a limited resource.

So, take a look at your stewardship calendar and ask yourself how you can do a better job of aligning these activities with holidays.

Does your non-profit organization have any fun and effective stewardship activities and best practices wrapped around holidays? If so, please use the comment box to share because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health! And oh yeah . . . BOO . . . Happy Halloween!!!

Here is to your health!

The Great Oz, Community Impact, and Snake Oil

October 28, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

I’ll never forget the day after watching “The Wizard of Oz” for the umpteenth time that I finally realized that the Wizard character was a snake oil salesman. He could sell ice to Eskimos, and he indeed sold the Tim Man, the Cowardly Lion, and the Scarecrow exactly what they wanted in this final scene of the movie. It is exactly for this reason that I believe non-profit organizations need to hire the “Great and Powerful Oz” to sell donors on the idea of “community impact”.

In the nonprofit community, everyone is going nuts over this idea. We need to “measure our impact” so we can demonstrate to stakeholders and donors that change is being made. Even I have gotten wrapped up in this Kansas tornado from time-to-time on this blog. Please don’t misunderstand. I firmly believe that every non-profit organization needs to create an impact agenda, measurement tools, and indicators. How else can they ever be sure that they are fulfilling their mission?

However, what I am starting to worry about is how carried away everyone seems to be getting with this idea. It gets bigger and bigger with every passing day. Here is the progression that I’ve seen recently with one national non-profit whose mission focuses on helping kids reach their full potential by offering after-school programming:

It started a few decades ago with a program focused on helping kids do better on their homework. Impact conversations focused around the simple idea of “are they doing better with their homework assignments now compared to before they started participating in the homework assistance program?”
It then morphed to High Yield Learning Activities (aka fun games with educational objectives like Math Bingo). Impact conversations evolved and started involving the idea of designing and implementing a pre- and post-test strategy to actually measure change and improvement.
The conversation then quickly jumped to “collecting report cards” and claiming credit for kids who participate in these after-school program and who also seem to be maintaining or improving their grades in school.
Today, the impact conversation is now focused on three HUGE “priority outcomes,” one of which is for their clients to “graduate from high school ready for college, trade school, military or employment”.

Again . . . you will get no argument from me that an impact agenda and outcomes measurement are important. However, at what point does it get too big and impossible to measure? At what point are we selling snake oil to donors and supporters just like the Wizard of Oz did?

There is NO WAY one non-profit organization can guarantee that even one of their clients will do better in school or even graduate all because that child walked into their facility and participated in their programs. When non-profits set an impact agenda that is wide enough to fly the space shuttle through it, then they set themselves up to be exposed. Just like the Wizard of Oz did in this YouTube clip.

The reality is that it takes one huge massive collaboration and partnership of many different non-profit organizations, schools, teachers, parents, and even taxpayers to all be pulling in the same direction if you want to achieve an impact like: “graduate X% of kids from high school who are ready for college, trade school, military or employment”.

There are so many variables that go into these HUGE impact agenda outcomes that I begin to wonder if funding one non-profit organization or one school district to do one small program with one small subset of kids makes any sense? Is it the right strategy? Or should non-profits and schools and parents and teachers be financially incented by donors to “collaborate”?

I am not smart enough to know what that looks like . . . however, I know when a dialog needs to be opened and I suspect it is this subject at this point in time.

I applaud the United Way for tackling this issue because impact assessment is the right thing for non-profits to be doing and talking with donors about. However, who is going to step in and moderate this discussion because this path feels too big and too wide for the average size agency to walk down. Perhaps, it will be the United Way that finds its voice and leads everyone down the yellow brick road to a collaboration-based solution rather than focusing on individual programs.

Is your nonprofit in the impact agenda and outcomes measurement business? What is working for you? What isn’t working? Are you honestly measuring things that demonstrate your success around mission? If so, how? Is there another road for the United Way to go down rather than funding odds and ends programs and claiming that this approach is helping close major gaps in our communities (e.g. academic failure, homelessness, joblessness, health care, etc)?

I’ve heard too many people in the last few months complain behind closed doors about this subject. It is time to bring the discussion into the open because we can learn from each other. Why not use the comment box below to start the conversation?

Here is to your health!

If I only had a heart . . .

October 26, 2011 DonorDreams Board development, Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising, resource development, volunteers

There 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:

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.
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.
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.
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.
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!

Are you King of your nonprofit forest?

October 25, 2011 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising, Planning, volunteers

As 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:

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.
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 tot hose 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 executuve director. Vive Le France!
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.
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!
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!

If I only had a brain . . .

October 24, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

So, 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!

Meredith Hilt is no zombie

October 21, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising, volunteers

So, we’ve all had a lot of fun this week talking about the City of Elgin’s upcoming zombie-inspired Nightmare on Chicago Street, using this Halloween event to shed some light on the serious nonprofit subjects of return on investment, volunteerism and special event fundraising. I wanted to end the week talking about the same things, but in a kinder and gentler way. So, I invited Meredith Hilt to be a guest blogger today.

Meredith has her own blog on WordPress — “mhilt” — that focuses on corporate giving and sustainability. Recently, she posted a blog that addressed Seth Godin’s recent event-critical blog post titled “Gala Economics“. After reading Meredith’s post, I knew I couldn’t have said it better. She really brings some balance to what I’ve been saying all week and sums everything up nicely. So, I invited her to re-publish her post here on DonorDreams, and she graciously accepted. Let’s learn a little more about Meredith before reading what she has to say about Seth Godin’s opinion on Gala Economics and special event fundraising.

Meet Meredith Hilt . . . She is a former grantseeker turned grantmaker. Currently, the executive director of the Tellabs Foundation and senior manager of corporate responsibility, she started a blog on WordPress for those of us who are interested in corporate giving and sustainability. Her teachable point of view is concisely captured on her “about page” when she says: “Many times we work alone. Development officers, grantmakers and sustainability managers are often part of small departments. It’s important for us to work together and stay connected. We’ll test ideas, share advice and shed light on good work. Hopefully, even more good will result.”

I love Meredith’s blog. I recently subscribed to her blog using her RSS feed. I hope you will do the same. Without further ado, here is her guest post:

Galas: good or evil?

Marketing wizard Seth Godin made waves with his recent post, Gala economics. He describes galas as “a ridiculous way to efficiently raise money for a good cause.”

Ouch. The truth hurts.

It’s hard to argue that events are expensive. Consider the cost of the food, decorations, invites, entertainment and (here’s the biggie) staff time. It’s a big bill. Then add what individual attendees might spend on shoes, tuxes, accessories and dry cleaning – it’s even bigger.

Seth also contends that “…the gala is actually corrupting. Attendees are usually driven by social and selfish motivations to attend, and thus the philanthropic element of giving–just to give–is removed.” But, in a room full of 500 people, there are a lot of motives. Some pure, some not. Same is true for any form of giving.

Personally, I’ve had similar reservations about events. Back in my fund development days, I coordinated several fundraising events each year. I preferred grantwriting, which seemed much more efficient. And I didn’t have to wear heels and a headset.

However, I believe galas have their place in the nonprofit community.

Event fundraiser Shannon Doolittle, responds to Seth with a thoughtful post, Stop with the gala bashing already. I agree with her view that events should be mission-driven, unique and donor-centered.

Events do good by celebrating both donors and the nonprofit’s clients. I’d add that galas give your donors an opportunity to introduce new people to the cause. Good events can also create media opportunities.

If I could change just one thing about nonprofit events, I’d have fewer of them. Stop doing the ones that are barely breaking even. Or are indistinguishable from everyone else’s “rubber chicken” dinner.

Each organization should have one or two really good events, and drop dead weight. Because quality, worthwhile events strengthen the nonprofit community.

Huh? Fundraising zombie volunteers cost money?

October 20, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising, volunteers

As most of you know, I’ve been talking this week about the City of Elgin’s upcoming Nightmare on Chicago Street special event and the role that area non-profits have been asked to play. While I won’t re-hash the story for you here, I encourage you to go back and read Monday’s post titled “Beware of Fundraising Zombies” and yesterday’s post titled “Fundraising zombies ‘doing the math’.” These posts along with what I write today focus on special events and how non-profits need to be especially careful about measuring “return on investment” (ROI) and thinking through how many events are too many.

So, while emailing back and forth with a very smart and dear friend of mine yesterday about this topic, they said:

“Come-on, Erik! What is the big deal with non-profits recruiting some of their volunteers to help the city out with their day-of-event operations? Sure, the ROI is poor, but there really isn’t any cost related to doing this. Right?”

As you’ve guessed, my response was “No, you’re wrong. There is a cost that no one is considering.” and thus the final chapter of my zombie fundraising posts was born. Here is the explanation:

When a person agrees to volunteer, they are making a contribution of time to that particular non-profit agency. Right?
Most people consider “gifts of time” to be more valuable than their “gifts of money”. I’ve heard people say this often, and I know you have, too.
There are studies that show the “value of a volunteer’s time” is calculated to be $21.36 per hour. Don’t believe me? Click here to see the research for yourself.
The cost for a non-profit organization to build the necessary infrastructure to run a volunteer management program is calculated to be $300 per volunteer per year according to a study by Pubic/Private Ventures titled “Making the Most of Volunteers”. For some organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters, these costs go up to $1,000 per mentoring match. Click here to review the evidence yourself.
In my experience, a person’s volunteer hours are not an endless pool that non-profits can keep tapping over and over again. While it isn’t set firmly in concrete, most people have a limit to how much time they are willing to give. If you follow this logic, then recruiting a volunteer to work the zombie event means the non-profit is possibly forgoing future “contributions of time” from those volunteers for the charity’s projects back home.
Applying the concepts of ROI and “opportunity cost” that were discussed in yesterday’s blog post, let’s look at this entire thing from a different angle. Each charity receives 100 tickets that they sell for $5.00 each, resulting in $500 gross income. Let’s just say a participating non-profit recruits FIVE VOLUNTEERS who each contribute FIVE HOURS on the day of event. To put this into financial terms . . . 5 volunteers multiplied by 5 hours each and then multiplied by $21.36 per hour equals $536.00. This doesn’t even include allocating the costs associated with maintaining the agency’s volunteer management infrastructure. It also doesn’t include the time associated with ticket selling if the agency asked volunteers to help sell its share of tickets to this event.

Drumroll please? My conclusion here is that non-profit agency gross $500 in ticket sales, but invest $536.00 of volunteer time as part of this special event collaboration. While I won’t go so far as to say the agency just lost $36.00 (even though I am really tempted to draw that conclusion), I think you can agree that this investment is looking less attractive by the second. Right?

Let me just be clear. I support this event and think everyone should attend. Who can’t agree that zombies and Halloween are fun. For the third time this week, I am encouraging everyone to buy their tickets at the door. By doing so, you’ll send a message to your favorite non-profit organization that you love them and won’t support this kind of counterintuitive fundraising behavior.

Let me doubly clear. I don’t think the City of Elgin is trying to hurt the non-profit sector. I know that this idea of involving non-profits in revenue sharing for this event was borne out of the desire to be collaborative and helpful during tough economic times. Additionally, it is the city’s economic development mission to drive foot traffic downtown to benefit its downtown merchants. This event should do exactly that, which is why I tip my hat to the city for trying to do “something”.

All I am saying is that non-profit organizations need to start looking at fundraising in a different light because their decision-making on these issues can and does have a real impact. Everyone — including the non-profit agencies, the city, donors, agency staff and bord volunteers — plays a role in doing this.

How does your non-profit organization evaluate its fundraising and resource development activities to ensure what you’re doing makes sense? Do you have a real and engaged resource development committee? What does that committee do? What efforts and considerations go into creating your agency’s annual written resource development plan? Do you have one? What does it look like? How much of these activities are ‘put on staff’ compared to collaborating with board volunteers, fundraising volunteers and donors to help find these hidden facts and answers?

There has been decent activity over the last few days with regards to usage of the “comment box” for this blog. Let’s keep up that awesome effort. It will take you less than 30-seconds to type your thoughts into the comment box below. Please do so because we can all learn from each other!

Here is to your health! (And I hope this will be the last zombie inspired post for a while . . . Have a Happy Halloween! In the spirit of Halloween fun, my gift to you is this YouTube video of President George W. Bush talking about zombies. LOL Enjoy!)