Tag: philanthropy

August 29, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

Hey board members: “Sit – Lay Down – Roll Over!”

Have you ever been at a meeting of your board of directors, looked around the table as they methodically plowed through the agenda, and come to the conclusion that no one was really engaged? Maybe you thought … “Ugh! They’re just sleep walking through the board meeting and regurgitating whatever had been fed to them in the days prior to the meeting.”

A few weeks ago, a non-profit friend of mine sent me a similar Facebook message with an interesting question:

“While on a CEO call today at a rather large, rather highly respected law firm, I noticed that the ‘Head Cheese’ stated (more than once) that the partners and associates in his firm ‘sit’ on non-profit boards. It struck me that they have the expectation to sit, not SERVE on boards. Attorneys are notoriously conscious of the words they choose to use. So, it struck me as interesting the first time it came out of his mouth. Then he said it again. And again. What can we do to help shift that mentality? To help professionals and individuals with the means to give that it is a SERVICE to the greater good, not just a spot to occupy around a conference room table?”

I thought this was a GREAT observation! It conjured up the image of my dog, Betrys (who is the featured picture in today’s blog post), sitting around a non-profit boardroom table. Being an obedient dog (most of the time), I imagined her doing exactly what she was told by the executive director and agency staff.

I highly doubt that any of us would like a boardroom full of obedient dogs responsible for the future of our non-profit organizations. However, I am left wondering “how many of our non-profit organizations have constructed boards with volunteers whose expectation is to just ‘sit through meetings’ and occasionally pitch-in when told they are needed to do something?”

So, out of curiosity, I put together an online survey yesterday and emailed it out to 32 random non-profit board volunteers in my address book. I asked them questions about their agency’s written board development plan. I also shared the Facebook message from early in this blog post and asked them how they would answer my friend’s question. Over the next few days as I collect responses, I will share them with you here in hopes that we can all learn from each other.

In the meantime, please use the comment box below to weigh-in with what you think the answer to my friend’s question should be. What do you do at your non-profit organization to ensure you don’t have a bunch of dogs sitting around your boardroom table? How do you prospect new board members? What criteria do you use to evaluate those prospects? What does your recruitment process look like? Is there an orientation for new recruits? Do board volunteers get ‘evaluated’ on an annual basis and what does that look like? What role (if any) do donors play in your board development process? Is there a role for donors here?

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 26, 2011 DonorDreams Board development, Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Tips for surviving a double dip recession

Yesterday I blogged about my neighbor Larry and how I see his handyman business as an economic indicator and proof the economy is dipping again into recession. I also cited recent survey data indicating that donors are planning to tighten their belts in the coming months. If you didn’t get a chance to read that post, click here and then come back for today’s follow-up post.

While there is nothing any of us can do to stop the economic tides from rising and falling, I submit that there are things we can do to prepare for such occurences and the following are a few tips you might want to consider:

Tip#1: Get closer to your donors and not farther away.
Donors are part of your non-profit family. During tough times, families pull together. They don’t ignore each other. Your instinct might be to give donors space, solicit them less, and be respectful of limited resources. Even though these are good intentions, the message you’re sending is that donors are only your friends during prosperous times when they have money. Don’t send the message that donors are only ATMs in your eyes. Find ways to engage them.

Tip #2: Tell donors what you are doing to help your clients get through tough economic times.
Donors like to see “return on investment” when they make a charitable contribution. When recession-thinking permeates our donors thoughts, lets embrace the moment and show them how their contributions are making a difference in the lives of others. Don’t use “guilt messaging” to solicit. Use “we’re all in this together” and “neighbors-helping-neighbors” as part of your stewardship messaging.

Tip #3: Invest in volunteer management and promote volunteerism like never before.
There will be people who want to support your mission, but cannot do so financially during tough times. Providing people an opportunity to support your mission by donating their time will: 1) help you pull them closer and not push them away (see first tip), 2) cultivate future donors (because the recession will end one day and they will be able to donate again), and 3) help your agency’s staffing budget as you might be considering budgetary cuts.

Tip #4: Invest a lot more time in re-building or manicuring your board of directors.
Your case for support will never be greater than now. As you approach board volunteer prospects, they won’t need any convincing that you need as many talented people around your board room table to help make difficult decisions and weather an economic storm. Find the time! Figure out how much time your organization spent on board development in 2010, then double or triple the amount of time you spend on it going forward. Doing so will help you survive and position you to be very strong on the other side of this recession.

Tip#5: Don’t stop soliciting individuals.
Individual giving is where it is at in charitable giving. Spend most of your time cultivating, soliciting, and stewarding individuals and less time on foundations, corporations and government. This is a great time to invest in building your annual campaign or annual fund drive and dial back a little bit on special events. Think about it for a moment . . . during tough times people eliminate “frills” like entertainment. Many of your donors probably see their special event contributions are “nights out on the town with a charitable angle”. I assure you that they look at their annual campaign pledge very differently. Don’t eliminate all of your events, but now might be the time to kill old and tired events.

There are literally two or three more handfuls of tips I would’ve provided, but I’m running out of space. So, I encourage you to use the comment box below to weigh-in with your thoughts, tips and current strategies. We can all learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 25, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

It’s baaaack: Double dip recession

My neighbor is the owner of Larry’s Home Maintenance, a small handyman business. He has been in business for approximately five years after getting laid-off from his IT job at Motorola. While Larry (pictured on the right) is our friend and handyman (yes, his work is awesome), he is also my “canary in the coal mine”.

When Larry’s phone stops ringing (like it did in 2008), I know the economy is in bad shape and a recession is either around the corner or it is already here. For most of 2011, Larry’s phone has been ringing off the hook. This isn’t surprising because when the housing market is in the toilet people tend to start pouring money into home improvement projects. On average, he has been receiving 20 phone calls per day.

In the beginning of August, Standard & Poor’s downgraded the United States’ credit rating and the European Union entered into another round of debt crisis discussions involving Greece, Spain and Italy. The future of the eurozone was called into question. When this happened a few weeks ago, Larry’s call volume dropped from 20 calls per day to approximately five. When I saw Larry yesterday, he said that his phone has “stopped ringing”. And he means that literally . . . potential customers have stopped calling.

Larry’s call volume is a lagging economic indicator. It accurately forecasted 2008 and I suspect it is doing the same thing now.

Every non-profit organization has relationships with a “canary in the coal mine” like Larry. They are called “DONORS,” and staying in regular contact with them will help you kinda/sorta predict the immediate future and allow you to take corrective action that might permit you to glance off of the iceberg rather than hit it head-on.

So, if you think Larry is “off his rocker,” you might want to read this blog post from yesterday’s The Chronicle of Philanthropy titled “Two-Thirds of Donors Plan to Cut Back on Giving This Fall“.

If you already clicked the link, read the article and returned to finish this blog post, then you know that 68-percent of survey respondents recently said they plan on cutting back their charitable giving for the remainder of 2011. While I am usually suspicious of “survey data,” the combination of Larry’s situation and The Chronicle’s story has me saying “Uh-Oh”.

Of course, there isn’t anything a non-profit organization can do to change this situation. So, the better question we should all be asking is: “What should we be doing TODAY to position ourselves for a double dip recession that minimizes the impact on our clients?”

I will use tomorrow’s blog post to look at a few options you might want to consider implementing. In the meantime, please use the comment box below and share what you are thinking and possibly planning to do. What are your donors telling you? Share your canary in the coal mine stories. We can all learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 24, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

The Brady Bunch and eliminating government funding dependency

Before I left on vacation, I sent approximately 75 of my closest non-profit friends an online survey that would give me necessary insights on services and pricing I should offer as part of my new consulting business. It was an anonymous survey so I don’t know who responded, but I wish to thank the 56 people who took time out of their busy schedules to help me out. The information they provided have helped me greatly with my business plan.

Some people also dropped me an email when they completed the survey because they were compelled to share additional comments. I very much appreciated those emails because the advice provided in each instance was “pure gold.” However, one response caught my attention and has had my mind spinning for a few days. Here is part of what she said:

“This is probably just me, but I am so frustrated with the concept and the reality of ‘strategic planning’. These past two years have shown that in order to be strategic an organization needs information…at least somewhat reliable information. The only strategic goal that makes sense would be to eliminate government funding. I am hoping that someone will come up with a way to address plans for the future based on the way not-for-profits really live.”

It is funny how my brain works sometimes. As I’ve stewed on this input, I couldn’t get The Brady Bunch’s song “Time to Change” out of my head. Click the YouTube link if you want to enjoy a blast from the past. LOL

So, I googled the lyrics to the song and found this great advice:

“When it’s time to change, then its time to change
Don’t fight the tide, come along for the ride, don’t you see
When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange
who you are into what you’re gonna be.”

I think this is great advice for non-profit organizations regarding how to approach what is likely to be a government funding crisis for many non-profit organizations. Essentially, the song suggests that fighting change is the wrong course of action. Those who will survive will figure out how to adapt and ride the tide.

So, many of you are probably saying (just like my friend did in her email), “That’s great Erik, but where do I start? Strategic planning hasn’t worked for me in the past.” Here are just a few random thoughts I hope you will chew on and consider as you start preparing for 2012:

Engage board volunteers to help with a benchmarking project (identify nonprofit agencies that look like yours and have a different funding model then study their best practices … figure out what they are doing and how to measure it at your organization).
Conduct a resource development audit or a resource development review. This might help you identify new opportunities and paths forward.
Engage key stakeholders (e.g. staff, board, donors, etc) in creating a written resource development plan that doesn’t rely on government funding. Use the process to “engage” people … which means asking at each turn “who wants to help with this part of the plan?” And when no one wants to implement the suggestions they just provided, then axe it from the plan and ask them what else should be done? Realistic plans work; whereas, unsupported, pie-in-the-sky plans never work!

If this all seems like too much work and you are exhausted from the daily grind, then how about just starting with this one simple idea:

Call your top 5 donors
Ask them to join you for lunch or after-work cocktails
Tell them your story and the future forecast of government funding
Ask them what they think your agency should do
Then just shut-up, listen, take notes and ask for their help in taking the next small step

Donors can be MORE THAN just a source of funding for your agency … they can be the voices of change much like Peter Brady was for the Brady Bunch.

What are you and your agency doing to prepare for a future with scarce government resources? How do you plan on strategically repositioning your organization? What tools and strategies will you use? Who will you engage? Please use the comment box below to share because we can learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 23, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Who should we blame?

In yesterday’s blog, I talked about philanthropy in other countries and it generated a comment from a reader that got me thinking. She said that other more “socialist” countries reduce the need for philanthropy because they tax their people heavily and provide those services. As I chewed on this comment, it got me thinking about the role that government funding has played in the USA for countless numbers of non-profit organizations, and I started worrying about the future.

I cannot think of many non-profit organizations (except for churches and maybe the Boy Scouts of America) who didn’t jump on the government funding bandwagon back in the 1990s. Government tax roles were healthy and there was talk of surpluses. It became easy for non-profit leaders to cozy up to their local politicians and secure a bushel basket full of government funding, which made it easier to expand services and dial-back the breakneck fundraising pace some organizations had set for themselves.

When the human body stops using certain muscles, those muscles atrophy and turn into saggy fat. I am left wondering how many non-profit organizations got used to government revenue streams and lost their edge with regards to resource development and fundraising.

As you know, I just returned from a European vacation and they are in the exact same boat as the USA with regards to debt, deficits and economic pressures. I believe we can look at what is happening in Europe as a preview of what is about to happen in the USA with regards to government spending. I can sum it up in one word . . . “AUSTERITY” . . . which means cuts to government services.

I read a front page newspaper article while in London about how a neighboring city was eliminating curbside garbage service for their residents. Our Canadian dinner couple on the cruise ship also shared with us that their hometown of Toronto was looking at similar proposals around garbage pick-up, closing parks and museums, and increasing student-teacher ratios.

I really don’t think that it is a jump in logic to assume that there will be many non-profit organizations here in the USA who will see their government funding eliminated or substantially reduced in the upcoming few years.

Since you can’t just turn on and off the fundraising spigot (remember that fundraising all about relationships which often take time to develop), I recently have heard a number of my non-profit friends talking about service cuts and downsizing . . . and downsizing means people losing their jobs and clients losing services they depend upon.

So, who is to blame for this situation?

Should we blame the government and our politicians for creating an unsustainable situation that created an environment of entitlement throughout the non-profit community?
Should we blame non-profit CEOs and resource development professionals for securing government funding without realistic sustainability plans to replace those revenue streams?
Should we blame non-profit board volunteers for allowing their staff to “do whatever it takes” to secure funding without asking the tough questions pertaining to sustainability? Or for possibly shirking their fundraising responsibilities because government funding made it easy to do so?

Maybe I am just grasping at straws here, but perhaps the creators of the television cartoon show, “South Park,” got it right when they suggested we should all just “Blame Canada“. Click on the link to enjoy Robin Williams’ performance. LOL

All kidding aside, I know that the blame game is typically a dumb activity, but I seriously wonder what you think? Who do you think played a bigger role in digging many non-profit organizations into this hole? And the better question is: What do you think those “overly-dependent-government-funding” organizations need to start doing today to avoid hitting the iceberg that is in front of us all? Please weigh-in and share your opinion because we can learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 22, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Confessions of a blogger

I have a confession to make . . . I have been out of the country for the last two weeks on a cruise touring the Baltic Sea with stops in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia and Norway (we also spent a few days in London .. and yes, parts of it were on fire and rioting). I pre-wrote two weeks of blogs and asked my friend Marissa (who is a fellow blogger at One World One Plate) to publish my posts every day. If you like food, I encourage you to check into Marissa’s blog. As for my blog, I hope you enjoyed the voices of real donors and real volunteer solicitors over the last two weeks. I need to jump back into the saddle and thought I’d briefly share a few observations on charitable giving from my trip.

As I hopped all over northern Europe, I kept my eyes and ears open for signs of philanthropy. I witnessed American Airlines flight attendants making a group solicitation on behalf of UNICEF. A “voluntary donation” was included (?!?!) in the price of admission to the Tower of London by the British government to help underwrite renovations. I saw Boy Scouts in Stockholm, Sweden and dined with a Rotarian from Toronto, Canada on the cruise ship.

The more I saw, the more I became convinced that philanthropy unites people from different backgrounds. However, I find myself wondering why there are substantial differences between countries charitable giving data. Did you know:

The USA leads the world in charitable giving as a percentage of GDP, giving almost 2-percent of our GDP to charities. Canada and Great Britain are traditionally in second place and donate less than half of that.
When looking at charitable giving, volunteerism, and general “kindness to humankind,” the USA falls to #6 on the list of “Worldwide Giving Index” scores. (Source: The Guardian)
The USA falls to #18 on the list when you look at what percentage of the population makes charitable contributions. (Source: The Guardian)
Finally, the USA ranks #10 on the list of percentage of population who has volunteered time to an organization in the last month. (Source: The Guardian)

I am left thinking that the explanation for these discrepancies is more than just wealth and the size of our economies. All you need to consider is that Turkmenistan is at the top of the volunteerism list and Thailand and Morocco are ahead of the USA in percentage of the population making a charitable contribution.

Do you believe that government policies affect how many people make charitable contributions? Who contributes? Who volunteers? How kind and generous we are to each other? Or is it cultural? In your experiences, does philanthropy unite us? If so, how have you seen it happen?

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 19, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising, Uncategorized

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Wrap-up

For the last four days, we’ve heard unfiltered responses from real, live fundraising volunteers with regard to what they see as past successes and what it will take to keep them involved next year. So, the question now shifts to: “What are you going to do about it?”

I’ve had an opportunity to soak-up this week’s blog series, and here are a few ideas if you want to make this input/feedback actionable:

Organize a focus group of fundraising volunteers and ask their opinions on what needs to change in order for your resource development program to take the next step.
Identify former fundraising volunteers who used to help your organization but have since stopped. Call them, invite them out for coffee, and just listen (don’t ask for a thing).
Develop volunteer job descriptions for all of your fundraising volunteer positions and use them in 2012 . . . no more “soft selling” people . . . set realistic expectations from the beginning.
Commit yourself to sending out agendas and meeting materials to all fundraising volunteers at least 7 days before every meeting.
Figure out how to infuse a sense of “mission-focus” into every single meeting where fundraising volunteers are present.
Revisit your organizations “prospect assignment” practices and ask volunteers to weigh-in with suggestions on how to improve it . . . ensuring that volunteers are matched with prospects they feel confident soliciting.

OK … I’ve got the ball rolling with a few simple ideas. Now it is your turn! What are you planning to do to make this week’s blog series actionable so that your organization can become more donor-centered? Please use the comment box below to share your ideas because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 18, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 4

After last week’s focus on donors and what they have to say about their charitable contributions, I’ve decided to change the focus and ask volunteer solicitors to talk about their most rewarding solicitation experience and what needs to happen to keep them involved next year. Similar to last week, this week’s respondents answered an anonymous online survey that they learned about on various social media channels and from blast emails. I’ve picked four really awesome responses to share with you this week that I think provide excellent lessons for non-profit and fundraising professionals. Enjoy!!!

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: I asked the Frye Foundation for money to create a four state event around domestic violence and homeless families. It was rewarding because they became a very interested, active participant in the process and the outcome.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: It needs to call to my ethics . . . it needs to be well run and respected . . . and it needs to show results.

OK … unlike last week when I couldn’t resist weighing in with my thoughts, I’m going to take a risk and ask YOU to weigh-in and share what you think the moral to the story is. And the risk I’m referring to is . . . no one is going to comment and all anyone will hear is the sound of crickets. Please use the comment box below and remember that we can all learn from each other. I also encourage you to share links to resources that you’ve found on the internet.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 17, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 3

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: I was asked by one of my favorite non-profit organizations to contact someone who I really didn’t consider a friend but knew casually through mutual friends. It took more than a month and many phone calls before she responded and I was able to get the meeting. While I was not expecting much, I did get a generous pledge from her. I’m not sure if it was the most “rewarding” solicitation I’ve ever done, but it is the hardest I ever had to work to secure a contribution. In hindsight, I can’t honestly say that I ever felt “comfortable” making that ask or being put in that situation.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: I don’t want to go out and bust my butt if the non-profit who has recruited me is seen as being in “poor standing” in the community. I am attaching my good name to this agency, and choosing to help a non-profit with a poor public opinion and bad management reflects poorly on me. I look for quality organizations that are dedicated to sustainable business practices.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC