Writing your resource development plan in steps: Step Two

As I explained at the beginning of this series of posts, one of the most often clicked blog posts in 2015 is something I wrote at the end of 2014 titled “Time to start writing your 2015 resource development plan“. With this in mind, I decided to take a deeper dive on this subject by writing a series of posts on how to go about writing your organization’s annual resource development plan.
The first post in this series was titled “Writing your resource development plan in steps: Step One,” and it focused exclusively on the importance of putting the right people at the table. Today’s post is all about the next step, which of course is about evaluation and assessment. Enjoy!


evaluation1Now that you have all of the right people sitting around the table, the next thing you want to do is engage the group in assessment activities.
Why assessment? Here are just a few good reasons:

  • You can’t decided where you’re going unless you know where you’re at
  • Your volunteers need to get a pulse on the your resource development program (think of it as orientation)
  • Identifying gaps and inefficiencies makes direction setting easier

As I mentioned in the first post of this series, my former employer — Boys & Girls Clubs of America — had developed an online software wizard (which has since been shutdown) to assist its local affiliates with writing an annual written resource development plan. This software was workbook driven and designed to help staff facilitate committee discussions and develop content to enter into the software. As you can imagine, the first two workbooks both dealt with assessment.
Workbook #1 contained 23 statements that describe various activities necessary to operate an effective resource development program. Each statement was accompanied by measurable standards, which were designed to help volunteers determine the best response rating for each quality statement. It would take too much space to copy/paste the entire workbook into this blog post; however, I will share the 23 quality statements. Hopefully, this will get you pointed in the right direction with regards to developing a self assessment tool that works for your organization and group of volunteers.
evaluation2Resource Development Quality statements

  1. Our funding is diversified and we are not overly dependent on one source of revenue.
  2. Our board has approved a written multi-year strategic plan for our organization
  3. We are ensuring our organization’s sustainability through a current and active planned giving program
  4. We conduct well-planned special events that maximize return on investment.
  5. Our board members annually donate unrestricted philanthropic gifts to the organization.
  6. Our board members are involved in face-to-face solicitations.
  7. Our board members are engaged in stewardship activities for the organization.
  8. Our board members understand their resource development roles and responsibilities
  9. The leadership for each fundraising activity (i.e., annual campaign, special event, etc.) is carefully considered to ensure the right person is selected.
  10. We have adequate staff to support all of our resource development efforts.
  11. We effectively plan for and utilize volunteers in various components of our resource development plan.
  12. We use the most cost-effective and efficient methods to raise money for the organization.
  13. We have a Resource Development Committee that coordinates a written resource development plan that is consistent with the organization’s written strategic plan.
  14. We have a compelling case statement that demonstrates the needs of clients in our community and inspires charitable giving to the organization.
  15. We have a donor database that easily generates reports and enables us to effectively manage donor relations.
  16. We have procedures (a management system) to ensure that the organization uses donations as intended by the donor.
  17. We have an ongoing, written plan to recognize donors and engage them in organizational activities.
  18. In order to preserve and enhance confidence in the organization, we provide constituencies with reports regarding the sources, uses and management of donated funds (provide stewardship).
  19. We have written gift acceptance policies and procedures to acknowledge gifts in a timely manner based on the source of gift.
  20. Our CEO and board members serve on various community boards and civic organizations to influence decisions, create awareness and advocate for the organization and issues associated with our mission.
  21. We have an up-to-date written marketing plan that clearly identifies our key message and targeted audiences.
  22. We have an adequate system for providing reports to the Resource Development Committee and the board so that they can monitor progress of the resource development plan.
  23. We regularly review our funding and donor trends.

questions2Other Questions Your Volunteers Will Want Answers To
After developing an assessment tool that addresses some or all of the aforementioned 23 quality statements, you will want to pull together data for your committee to digest. The following are just a few questions your volunteers will want to see answers to (as you have probably guessed, these questions all came from workbook two of BGCA’s software tool):

  • Is there an increase in total funding from year to year? Why?
  • Which funding stream is a strength for your organization? Why?
  • Which funding stream is a weakness for your organization? Why?
  • Which funding stream has the greatest opportunity for growth in the next 1, 2 or 3 years?
  • Does your 3-year trend for revenue streams from individuals show an increase, decline or consistent level of funding? What is the reason for the change or lack of change in this funding source?
  • Do you have a strong base of donors who give to your annual campaign?
  • Do you have an endowment program? If not, what steps would need to be taken to establish an endowment program? If so, then what steps need to be taken to actively recruit funds for your endowment?
  • Does your 3-year trend for revenue streams from corporate giving show an increase, decline or consistent level of funding? What is the reason for the change or lack of change in this funding source?
  • Does your 3-year trend for special events show an increase, decline or consistent level of funding? What is the reason for the change or lack of change in this funding source?
  • Do you collect contact information from everyone who participates in a special event? Why or why not?
  • Do you have a plan to cultivate special event attendees? Why or why not?
  • Can you reduce the number of special events you conduct and increase revenue in another funding stream that has a higher return on investment? What steps would your organization need to take in order to make this change?
  • Does your 3-year trend for private grants and foundations show an increase, decline or consistent level of funding? What is the reason for the change or lack of change in this funding source?
  • Are you receiving government funding at the city, state and federal level? If not, what strategies can you implement to gain funding?

As you can imagine, this is a lot of work. It is the staff’s job to develop the assessment tool and pull together the data to help volunteers answer these questions. It is your volunteers’ job to talk it through and do the actual assessment while sitting around the committee room table.
Cutting this corner means you will be putting your annual written resource development plan together in the dark. Remember, the old planning expression: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” In other words, assessment activities and discussions are akin to developing the map you need in order to have fruitful planning discussions down the road (e.g. visioning, goal setting, strategy development, action plan writing, etc).
A special thanks to BGCA’s Paula Mackelburg who did much of the heavy lifting on creating this awesome (albeit now defunct) planning tool. Her wisdom and vision in this area is amazing.
Next week, we will continue this discussion and talk about visioning and goal setting. Stay tuned.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Writing your resource development plan in steps: Step One

plan2A number of years ago, I served on an amazing team of resource development professionals at Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA). Our team’s mission was to provide consulting services and tools to local affiliates to help them increase their individual giving. One of the tools the team created was an online software wizard to assist Clubs with writing their annual resource development plans. While it was an awesome tool, it wasn’t embraced or used by those on the front line.
My suspicion is that the process and online tool made this important annual planning process feel contrived and the writing was stilted. As a result, it never gained traction. Just a guess on my part, but I think I’m close to the truth. Nevertheless, it was a great idea!
I share this short story from my past because one of the most popular DonorDreams blog posts in 2015 was one I wrote at the end of last year titled “Time to start writing your 2015 resource development plan“.
With this data point in mind, my plan over the next few weeks is to break the planning process into steps to help readers of this blog with developing their organization’s 2016 written resource development plan.
And since BGCA already buried their online software wizard (and none of it was copyrighted), I plan on sharing small pieces of those workbooks throughout this series online articles. After all,  I end many of my posts with the mantra that “We can all learn from each other!” Right?


Step 1: Recruit the right people to sit around the table

volunteers2You’re busy. I get it! But it will be one of the biggest mistakes of your life if you lock yourself in your office and bang out your organization’s annual resource development plan.
Why?
Simply put . . . “S/he who writes the plan, owns the plan. And s/he who owns the plan is the only person who will care enough to implement the plan.”
Some organizations are fortunate enough to have a solid group of fundraising volunteers that constitute a resource development committee. This planning project is exactly what that committee should work on developing and getting the entire board of directors to own.
However, other organizations aren’t this fortunate and they need to assemble a task force of staff, board members, fundraising volunteers (and even donors in some instances) to assist with this project.
So, what types of people should be sitting around this table?

  • People who are passionate about your mission and your organization
  • People who are resource development minded
  • People who embrace the idea of planning (they typically don’t have attention deficit disorder)
  • People who have time to attend meetings and even do a little homework in between meetings
  • People who are collaborative and have a track record with “engaging” other people in their work
  • People who have experience with at least some part of your resource development efforts (e.g. special events, annual giving campaign, grant writing, year-end fundraising appeals, prospect cultivation, donor stewardship, planned giving, endowment, major gifts strategy, etc)

Identify these individuals. Write them down on a piece of paper (e.g. volunteer prospect list). Go recruit these people.
When recruiting these volunteers, do it the right way. Bring a written job description or committee charter with you. Why? Because when you don’t set expectations from the beginning, volunteers tend to disengage from the project relatively quickly.
One of the first questions you will be asked when recruiting these volunteers is: “How much time will this planning project take? How many meetings am I committing to? What am I committing to?
Tackle these questions head on! Don’t waffle. Tell them the following:

  • There will be approximately four to eight meetings
  • Sometimes there will be a little work in between meetings
  • This process is staff-supported and none of it is impossible or “rocket science”
  • We will be respectful of your time
  • This project has a defined beginning and end (it isn’t an open ended commitment)
  • This plan is very important to the success of the organization, which is why we’re asking for your help

Once you assemble your team, you’ll be ready to roll up your sleeves and get to work.
The next blog post will focus on assessment. Stay tuned!
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847
 

The Importance of Succession Planning for an Organization's Leadership

Hi, DonorDreams Readers! Hope this week is treating you well! It’s Marissa here, with a great post written by Heather Eddy, President and CEO of KEES: Kristner Eddy Executive Services and Alford Executive Search. While we’ve talked a lot about retaining key employee in the past few posts, today Heather talks about how to plan for when people move on to another opportunity. Succession Planning along with employee retention makes for a strong nonprofit. Thanks again, Heather! Enjoy!


Although this blog has covered retaining employees for the past two posts, sometimes it is time for people to move on, even a revered and beloved leader. How an organization and it’s leadership undertakes this transition says a lot to other employees. It can make a big difference in general employee satisfaction and what might trigger a good employee to leave. A Board may not realize it, but having thoughtful and articulate plans in place about the organizations future (Strategic Plans, Succession Plans, Compensation Plans, Capital plans, etc.) speaks volumes to the general employee base.
Succession Planning is a term used in private and nonprofit sectors (less so with governmental entities) to describe the batonprocess that an organization (typically a Board of Directors) undertakes to plan for its next leader. Interestingly, with the term being common in leadership lingo, a limited number of organizations actually have a written Succession Plan. How do we know this? It is a question that we survey groups about frequently. The responses often come back as: maybe, no, I don’t know, yes-we’ve had a few meetings about it, yes-it’s in my head, and my favorite….yes – we talked about it once and someone has the notes somewhere. An idea, wish, intention or concept or does not truly constitute a solid Succession Plan. I find that less than 15% of the nonprofits we interact with have a written Succession Plan that is that is widely understood by organizational leadership (Board and Executives), and could be accessed and implemented with ease. Note – often times the “emergency “plan (what to do when the ED gets hit by a bus or wins the lottery) is confused with the Succession Plan. The two can be related, but are entirely different.
A relevant and ideal Succession Plan should have an overview of the following, with specifics to be filled in at the time certain triggers occur. A Succession Plan should be reviewed every 2 – 3 years if the sitting leader will be there for a while, and every 1 – 2 years as s/he gets closer to natural retirement.

  • An overall philosophy of leadership and the role of the Executive leader
  • A clear statement of the Board’s role in finding, hiring, evaluating, growing, and changing leadership.
  • An ideal timetable for a natural transition process to occur (having a 90-day buffer helps)
  • A job description of the current Executive leader and all of the immediate, direct reports.
  • An organizational chart, identifying the key functional areas of leadership, and which direct report or other key staff person “back-fills” the top Executive in these functions. Note: this could add another dimension to the plan if all/most of the top leadership is roughly in the same 5-year window of possible retirement and/or the same team has been in place for 15+ years.
  • Current thinking (point in time) about the organizations greatest needs in the coming 3 – 5 years. This can be derived from Strategic Planning.

If your organization does not have a written Succession Plan in place, I urge you to have a conversation at the next Board meeting. Try to gain a commitment to invest time in addressing the points above. The Board may not be ready for a full Succession Planning process, but at least document the above six points and make sure the whole Board is on the same page. If the commitment is there to do more….ask the Governance Committee, Executive Committee, or ad hoc Committee to take this on as a special project (60-90 days with 2 – 3 meetings and follow up in between).
We urge you/your organization to not only focus on Succession Planning, but what we call Leadership Transition successionPlanning2Planning. This type of planning focuses on how an organization transitions, whether to a new executive leader, an entirely new leadership structure, or growing leaders within the top levels of leadership as the organization grows.
With the enormous workforce transition we will undergo, in all sectors, not just nonprofit, hiring managers (Board’s included) are struggling to find desired talent brings skills to meet current needs, and potential grow with the organization. In some nonprofit sub-sectors, it is anticipated that as many as 20% of the leaders currently at the helm will retire in the coming five years. It is also estimated in those same sub-sectors that, perhaps, at best, 4 – 8% of “ready” next leaders are in place. This upcoming gap is a direct result of nonprofits doing a great job of hiring good talent and getting every bit of expertise they can, but failing to invest in that good talent, to make it great talent. There is an enormous need for organizations to grow and develop talent, at mid and upper levels of management, to meet this potential gap. Does your organization have a leadership development program? If so, please tell us about it in the comments.
Leadership Transition planning helps you define what you have, what you want, what you need/think you need and what is a realistic expectation for the leader(s) at the next phase to meet organizational needs. It then guides you to put that transition in to a timetable, articulate the resources needed (often budget related), and define how you will communicate with internal and external audiences. Based on the type of leadership transition coming up, the timetable and audience focus could be completely different. And, based on the organizational capacity, the ability to invest resources in developing and transitioning leaders varies greatly. Leadership Transition Planning is a process that should be collaborative between the top Executives and the Board. Both leadership groups have a vested interest in the organizations future success, and should work together to ensure the right leader(s) are in place to achieve that success.
While your organization many not face an imminent retirement or departure of its top leader, both Succession and Leadership Transition Planning are essential for the continuity and sustainability of your organization.
HeatherEddy

"Hangin' with Henry" and talking about event fundraising

It is the first Thursday of the month, which can only mean one thing at DonorDreams blog. We’re “Hangin’ With Henry” today and talking about return on investment and special event fundraisers. When do special events make sense? When don’t they make sense? 
For those of you who subscribe to DonorDreams blog and get notices by email, you will want to click this link to view this month’s featured YouTube video. If you got here via your web browser, then you can click on the video graphic below.

After listening to Henry and Joan talk for 10 minutes about special event fundraising, please scroll down to the comment box below and share your thoughts and experiences to any of the following questions:

  • What role(s) do special events play in your organization’s comprehensive resource development program?
  • How do you monitor the effectiveness and ROI of your special events? Is there a tool you use? Are there specific metrics your track carefully?
  • What strategies do you use to bridge special event donors to other campaigns and efforts in your organization?
  • Have you ever had to eliminate an event from your annual fundraising plan? What was that experience like? How did you prepare and transition donors?

Please take a minute to share. Why? Because we can all learn from each other! And the comment box is just calling for your help and feedback.  😉
If you want to purchase a complete set of videos or other fundraising resources from Henry Freeman, you can do so by visiting the online store at H. Freeman Associates LLC. You can also sign-up for quarterly emails with a FREE online video and discussion guide by clicking here.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Setting a New Years Resolution or two? Have you identified your obstacles yet?

new years resolutionsHappy New Year, everyone!
Every year on this day, a large number of people make at least one “resolution” for the upcoming year. To be precise, 45% of Americans usually engage in this annual ritual and only 8% of them are successful in achieving what they set out to accomplish, according to statisticbrain.com. Of course, the most often made resolution is weight loss and I will be setting that goal once again in 2015.
While many of us set personal resolutions, some of us do the same thing for the non-profit organizations at which we work. At least when I was a young executive director, I used to engage in this exercise. The following are just a few examples of professional resolutions I once made:

  • Raise more money in the upcoming year
  • Support the board and its committees better
  • Be a better supervisor to my direct reports

Looking back, I want to believe that I was more successful with my professional resolutions than I was my personal ones. However, if I were being honest, I’d probably have to admit that I’m not sure how much better than 8% I actually was.
All of this New Years Eve stuff got me wondering what you (and I) could do differently in 2015 to achieve a different result?
As I pondered this question (all day today on a flight back to Chicago from a wedding near Philadelphia), I decided to turn to my old executive coaching textbooks for a few hints. Of course, in less than a few minutes I found the obvious answer.

Many of us vision cast and set goals without honestly identifying obstacles

When identifying obstacles — both internal and external — you can develop strategies and tactics that adjust for these hurdles, which ultimately improve the likelihood of success.
One of the executive coaching textbooks I consistently go back and re-read is “Coaching Questions: A Coach’s Guide to Powerful Asking Skills” by Tony Stoltzfus. If you supervise or coach anyone, I highly recommend this for your bookcase. To demonstrate the power of thoughtful questions, I will share just a few from Stoltzfus’ book to help you identify your internal and external obstacles to assist with your personal or professional New Years Resolutions for 2015.
External Obstacles

  • What is stopping you from achieving your goal right now?
  • What do you need to successfully achieve your resolution that you don’t currently have?
  • What makes this hard to get done?

Internal Obstacles

  • What is that critical voice inside your head — either your inner sabateur or your inner cheerleader — saying about situation?
  • What are you feeling (e.g. emotion) when you think about trying to tackle this goal?
  • What is the worst-case scenario when you think about embarking on this journey? What’s the fear behind that?

Are you scoffing at these questions? Before you wrinkle your nose too much, think about the last strategic planning process your non-profit organization. Didn’t you engage in a SWOT analysis prior to developing a vision statement and goals?
Maybe this isn’t so far fetched, huh?
OK . . . My New Years wish for you as we head into 2015 is that after you engage in setting a personal or professional goal, take a moment to ask a few tough questions. Use the information to help you determine how you plan on being one of the 8% who successfully achieve their resolutions.
Good luck, and . . .
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Your agency needs to ask "What is my why?" every once in awhile

I recently saw a great YouTube video from Alease Michelle talking about how she found personal inspiration from Eric Thomas (aka ET The Hip Hop Preacher on Facebook). She put together a 5-minute online video all about the question: “What is my Why?” By the end of her video, I was thinking about non-profit organizations and their WHY, which is what inspired this morning’s post.
Before I start, I thought you might want to check out Alease’s YouTube video first:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsxfSKIunmg]
The place that you and your donors go answer this question about your non-profit agency is your MISSION STATEMENT.
Mission statements are the most important tool in your organizational toolbox when it comes to explaining why you exist, with whom you work, and what you do. This is different from vision statements, which exist to tell the world where you are going and the vision you have for your community (or the world).
Mission statements are not static. This isn’t a “set-it-and-forget-it” kind of thing. As Alease talks about in her YouTube video, your WHY changes from time-to-time, which means your mission statement should evolve, too (albeit infrequently). For example, there was a non-profit in my hometown that started off more than 100-years ago as an orphanage. When those closed down, this agency evolved into an organization that provided a variety of services for kids with behavioral-issues. Finally, it expanded its scope to serve adults (e.g. those who they were previously serving and just aged out of the program but still needed assistance). With each evolution, their mission statement also evolved.
Another place where you will likely address the question of “What is my why?” is in your case for support document (aka case statement), which is the bedrock of your fundraising program. Simply stated . . . your internal and external case for support documents explain to fundraising volunteers (e.g. internal case) and donors (e.g. external case) what you do and how the dollars being solicited will support those efforts. In other words, it answers the question “what is the donor investing in?” which is essentially “what is my why?” Right?
This exercise is always timely when your board is going through a strategic planning process. However, it can be done at any time. Remember, this isn’t a role/responsibility for staff alone. It is the board of director’s responsibility to set the organization’s mission statement, vision, and case for support.
If your organization is looking at creating or revising its mission statement or case for support, the following are a few online resources that I dug up and think you might find helpful:

So, have you considered “What is your why?” I would love to hear what that is. I would also love to hear how you tell the world about “your why?“. Please scroll down and use the comment box below to share.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Does your non-profit agency utilize the power of "IF-THEN"

if thenFor those of you following the last few blog posts, you know that I’m reading “The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control“ written by researcher Walter Mischel, which is a book about human behavior, delayed reward and resisting temptation. There are tons of organizational development lessons throughout the book, and there is so much that non-profit organizations can learn from this research.
For example, chapter five — “The Best-Laid Plans” — looks at a concept researchers labeled “hot stimulus” (aka temptation), which is one important factor in the entire delayed reward equation at the root of the marshmallow test. In this chapter, they looked at strategies that children were asked to use in order to improve the amount of time they spent on a project before caving in to a distraction or reward.
One of the strategies that seems to work well is creating “If-Then Plans.” The way this works is when a child is presented with a situation like a foreseeable distraction or temptation, they automatically do something that helps insert their self-control. Here is how Mischel talks about this phenomenon on page 98:

“With practice, the desired action of an implementation plan becomes initiated automatically when the relevant situation cues occur:

  • When the clock hits 5 pm, I will read my textbook;
  • I will start writing the paper the day after Christmas;
  • When the dessert menu is served, I will not order chocolate cake;
  • Whenever the distraction arises, I will ignore it.

And implementation plans work not just when the IF is in the external environment (when the alarm rings, when I enter the bar) but also when the cue is your internal state (when I’m craving something, when I’m bored, when I’m angry).

When I read this chapter, it got me thinking about how powerful IF-THEN planning can be and has been for countless numbers of smart non-profit organizations. The following are just a few examples:

  • IF our executive director resigns or leaves some day, then we will a) hire an interim executive director, b) form an executive search committee, etc.
  • IF our largest funding source cuts or stops funding our agency, then we will cut XYZ from the operating budget and immediately access X% of  funding from our reserve funds and raise Y% of funding from a special appeal to select major gifts donors.
  • IF our capital campaign feasibility study comes back with news that we can raise less than expected, then we will scale the building project back in the following ways:  X, Y, and Z.

Developing IF-THEN plans for your agency on a variety of different issues can help your organization get through tough situations like executive turnover. More importantly, it will help you avoid distracting shiny-object-types-of-issues that are endemic to most crisis situations.
Has your agency developed a succession plan or anything else that qualifies as an “IF-THEN” plan or strategy? Please scroll down and share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below. I would love to hear about your successes and your lessons learned.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Is your non-profit board more like the grasshopper or ant?

marshmallow1As I explained in last week’s post titled “Should you administer the ‘Marshmallow Test’ to new non-profit board prospects?,” I’ve been traveling a lot lately, which means I’m looking for good books to read at the airport and on the airplane. The newest eBook on my iPad is “The Marshmallow Test: Mastering Self-Control“written by researcher Walter Mischel. This book is all about individual human behavior, but I find myself thinking a lot about non-profit organizations while turning the pages.
For example . . . let’s look at Chapter 6 — “Idle Grasshopper and Busy Ants
I’m sure most of you know Aesop’s fable about the grasshopper and the ant, which is all about the virtue of hard work and planning ahead. Mischel uses this classic story to frame his Marshmallow Test work around immediate rewards versus future rewards and what it tells us about people and their future.
While reading this chapter I couldn’t help but think about non-profit boards and the decisions they make pertaining to saving for a rainy day and building a “rainy day fund“. I’m sure this idea is top of mind for me because a number of my current clients use “number of days cash on hand” as a key performance indicator (KPI) to measure their agency’s financial stability. In fact, right before cracking this chapter of the book, I was visiting with a client who has less than a month of operating cash in the bank, and they are working through ways to grow that number.
Whenever working on issues like “number of days cash on hand,” my thoughts often wander to questions like:

  • Why do some board volunteers make decisions in the non-profit boardroom that they wouldn’t dare make in their own corporate boardroom?
  • Why does building a rainy day fund of 3-, 6- or 12-months feel wrong to so many boards?
  • Why are some non-profit boards so focused on today and less focused on tomorrow?

THEN IT HIT . . . after reading the following sentence on page 61:

“There’s no good reason for anyone to forego the ‘now’ unless there is trust that the ‘later’ will materialize.”

I read this sentence over and over again, and then I wondered the following things:

  • Could this mean that your non-profit board of TODAY doesn’t want to save for a rainy day because they can’t visualize (and don’t trust) the agency’s non-profit board of tomorrow?
  • Could it mean the board doesn’t have faith in their policies, processes, procedures and practices for bringing on the next generation of board members? Will the future board be good stewards of the rainy day fund?
  • Could it mean the board doesn’t have faith in who the next executive director will be and whether or not they will see the rainy day fund as an excuse to relax fundraising efforts?

TRUST

Wow! It is all about trust and the uncertainty of the future. DUH!
Of course, this begs the question: “What can we do TODAY to build trust among board members in what future boards look like and how they will act?
grasshopper and antI believe the answer is as simple as evaluating what “The Ant” would do if they were a member of your board of directors.
I think The Ant would build a strong Board Governance Committee that would take the following roles/responsibilities very seriously:

  • Board Roles and Responsibilities
  • Board Composition
  • Board Knowledge
  • Board Effectiveness
  • Board Leadership

I think The Ant would invest in development of policies to help guide future boards such as:

  • bylaws
  • investment policies
  • resource development policies
  • board development policies

I also think The Ant would roll policy development into planning projects such as:

  • long-range plan
  • strategic plan
  • board development plan
  • resource development plan
  • succession plan

Reading this chapter also took me back to what I said in last week’s post about administering The Marshmallow Test to prospective new board volunteers. For example, I’m left wondering how many “Ants” versus “Grasshoppers” sit on your board of directors? Does your board governance committee look at this dynamic when conducting its annual gap assessment? Should it? If so, how?
Please scroll down and use the space below to share your thoughts and experiences with regard to the questions I just posed in the previous paragraph. We can all learn from each other.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Time to start writing your 2015 resource development plan

fred the bakerAfter spending a nice long Labor Day weekend in Michigan at a friend’s summer cottage on Saginaw Bay, I am now faced (as are you) with the long slide towards the end of the year. Not only can I not wear white clothing now that Labor Day has come and gone, but my fundraising friends should be starting to engage board, staff and fundraising volunteers in developing their agency’s written 2015 resource development plan.
The process of engaging all necessary stakeholders in this process can oftentimes feel like that old Dunkin’ Donuts commercial featuring “Fred the Baker” who was famous for saying “Time to make the donuts!
Additionally, some fundraising professionals complain that the process can be complicated and confusing.
With all of these things in mind, I decided to commit this morning’s blog post to providing you with resources, samples, templates and worksheets to hopefully make this exercise a little easier this year.
However, before we start, let’s review why writing your agency’s annual written fundraising plan is so important:

  1. It mirrors the creation of your agency’s operating budget, providing board members with the necessary strategies and explanations behind the revenue numbers they see in the revenue budget.
  2. It provides fundraising professionals an opportunity to “engage” their co-workers, board members and fundraising volunteers (e.g. as Jim Collins talked about in his book,  “From Good To Great,” getting the right people on the bus and in the right seats).
  3. It provides clarity around the goals, strategies and tactics necessary for success in the upcoming year.
  4. It allows you to take a step back and see the “forest through the trees” before plunging into another series of campaigns, events and set of fundraising activities (e.g. grant writing, cultivation, stewardship, etc).

Of course, plans come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.
strategic planning implementationHaving two degrees in planning, I tend to get overly excited about developing plans, and some of my past resource development plans have been 50 and 75 pages in length (Yeah, I have gotten carried away). Those plans included elements such as:

  • statement of fundraising purpose (e.g. big picture case for support document)
  • goals
  • strategies
  • tactics (e.g. action plans for each strategy)
  • comprehensive fundraising calendar
  • resource development policies
  • range of gift charts
  • prospect lists of volunteers broken out by campaign/event
  • prospect list of donors broken out by campaign/event
  • budgets
  • toolkit in appendices with resources such as job descriptions, GRPIs, committee charters, etc

Before you contemplate going to the roof and throwing yourself off of it, please understand that it doesn’t have to be this way.
I recent purchased a copy of Pamela Grow’s e-book “Simple Development Systems: Successful Fundraising for the One-Person Shop“. Her book is a wonderful reminder of how your annual written fundraising plan doesn’t need to be much more than a one page summary sheet that ties back to a series of simple worksheets focused on:

  • grant writing
  • growing individual donors
  • public relations and donor stewardship
  • website and social media
  • how to tell your agency’s story

Regardless of what your plan looks like, I’ve scoured the internet this morning looking for resources to help make your planning experience a little easier this year. Please take a moment to click-through and review some of these samples, templates, and worksheets. I promise you won’t be disappointed!
First, if you have the time, I found this one hour long YouTube video from Emily Davis at GiftWorks on “Creating a Resource Development Plan“. It’s a great resource to frame your journey if you have the time. You might want to also share it with your fundraising volunteers before inviting them to their first planning meeting.

The following are samples and templates you might want to check out (because Stephen Covey always says “Begin with the end in mind.)

Oftentimes, national organizations like Boys & Girls Clubs of America produce samples and worksheets to help their local affiliates with their resource development planning process. Here are two links I think you will find useful:

Is your organization starting its resource development planning process for 2015? What are some of the considerations you’re looking at? What resources do you use to help frame this important process? Please scroll down and share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below. We can all learn from each other.
Editorial note: Since this blog post was published, it went on to become one of the most popular posts in 2015. Seeing this level of interest, we developed a five part series focused on how to develop your organization’s annual resource development plan. Here are links to those posts:

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

Just say NO to planning for the sake of planning

It happens all the time in my line of work. A new executive director or board president gets it in their head that they need a strategic plan because it “cures all that ails you“.  With this vision, they call a planning consultant to facilitate creation of this perfect solution. Of course, the problem is that . . .

Not everyone is ready for strategic planning

The other day I was clicking around the internet looking for readiness assessment tools to share with a client, and I came across a wonderful white paper published by the The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business. It identified the following five instances when many non-profit organizations tend to instinctively reach for the strategic planning tool and should definitely resist doing so:

  1. not readyWhen they are in (or starting to slide into) financial crisis
  2. When the board realizes the executive director “isn’t right” for the organization
  3. The board is fuzzy when it comes to their roles and responsibilities
  4. There is tension throughout the organization (either in the boardroom or on the front line)
  5. There is a pervasive attitude of “We don’t do it that way” or “We tried that and it didn’t work”)

When any of these circumstances are present, then strategic planning isn’t something you should engage in. Click here to read more of that article from The Nonprofit Center. They offer some nice solutions to each of these five situations.
Of course, even if your agency passes this initial test, there are still additional readiness questions you should ask before proceeding. The following are just a few questions I found online embedded in a survey tool developed by the Community Foundation of Monterey County:

  • Is our board proactive in preparing for the future instead of waiting for emergencies to react?
  • Are key community leaders and partners willing to participate in our planning process in a meaningful way?
  • Are the board and staff knowledgeable about current trends in nonprofit management?
  • Does our organization keep good records? Does it use data to support decision‐making?
  • Are board and management aware of the time and resources required to engage in meaningful strategic planning?

There are 10 other readiness assessment questions included in that tool. Click here to read more from the Community Foundation of Monterey County about strategic planning readiness.
questions2My advice to those of you considering a strategic planning engagement is:

  • ask yourself a few questions first
  • make sure the right people are sitting around the table for a potential planning engagement
  • engage a variety of key stakeholders in a collaborative discussion around readiness
  • do a little research about various planning models
  • develop an informed decision about which planning model fits your internal and external circumstances
  • if you decide to hire an external consultant . . . define the project, develop and RFP, and hire someone with experience using the planning model you’ve chosen
  • if you decide against strategic planning, what needs to happen to position the agency for planning and who is doing what and by when to address those issues

Are you considering strategic planning for your non-profit organization? What considerations are you weighing? Who is involved in this decision? Please scroll down and use the comment box to share your thoughts and experiences. We can all learn from each other.
Here’s to your health!
Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com 
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
http://www.facebook.com/eanderson847
http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847