What are you doing with your non-profit data?

June 13, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, organizational development

If you are collecting data on your non-profit organization’s performance and doing nothing with it, then you should be tarred and feathered. You are too busy to be doing things that don’t get you a return on investment on your time. Unfortunately, data collection can be time-consuming if you haven’t built good systems to make collection easy, and there are too many small non-profit organizations who are under-resourced and haven’t built those systems.

So, why do so many agencies still invest the time to collect data when it is difficult to do and so incredibly time-consuming? In almost every instance that I’ve seen, it is simply because a donor is requiring it or they are affiliated with a national organization that makes it mandatory.

Here is a thought . . . if you are going through the effort, then why not benefit from it?

What should you measure?

The “WHAT” is hard to answer unless you know the “WHY”. In other words, you should measure things relating to board engagement and performance if you want to improve those things. You should measure things relating to money and donor behavior if you want to improve your resource development.

One national organization with whom I am very familiar (wink, wink), developed an entire organizational scorecard full of key performance indicators (KPIs) that breakdown into the following five ares:

strategic growth
increased impact
financial health
resource development
board of directors

I know that a number of subscribers to this blog aren’t members of this “unnamed national organization,” and you are probably wondering what are some of the KPIs listed under these categories. While I don’t think I’d be violating any major trade secrets in sharing those KPIs with you, I want to be respectful of their work. So, I’ll only share a few of those KPIs to give you an idea and a start:

net change in number of clients service
average days cash on hand
net change in total income
percent of board volunteers that attended 75% of meetings
percent of board volunteers who make a personal unrestricted financial gift
percent of board volunteers who make a face-to-face solicitation on behalf of the agency

If you are interested in developing KPIs and a scorecard for your non-profit organization, here are a few resources I’ve found online that may help you:

Association of Fundraising Professionals: “Key Performance Indicators: Nonprofits Need Them, Too!“
Liz Marenakos of Blackbaud: “Identifying and Measuring KPI’s“
Virtue Center: “Brutal Honesty: Measuring Non-Profit Success with Key Performance Indicators“

What next?

I point you back to my inflammatory opening sentence:

“If you are collecting data on your non-profit organization’s performance and doing nothing with it, then you should be tarred and feathered.”

Collecting this data isn’t rocket science, but it is time-consuming and you’re too busy to invest that time and get nothing back in return. Right?

If you are measuring program-related KPIs (e.g. outcomes data, impact data, etc), then you should share that info with the staff responsible for those programs. If you are measuring fundraising-related KPIs, then you should share that info with your fundraising staff and fundraising volunteers. If you are measuring board engagement related KPIs, then you should share that info with board volunteers.

I believe all KPIs should be shared with all board members in all instances (but at the appropriate time and setting) so they understand whether or not the organization is healthy or unhealthy. I also believe that where possibly, KPIs should be directly tied to performance management systems and evaluation tools.

The big idea here is that collecting this type of data, sharing this type of data, and integrating this type of data into systems like employee performance appraisal and board evaluation will drive change because it creates urgency, accountability and the assessment information necessary upon which organizational plans can be built.

Has your agency developed KPIs? If so, how do you use them? With whom do you share your data? What has been the result? Please use the comment box below to share your experiences.

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

Don’t set the bar too high for your next fundraising appeal

June 11, 2013 erik Fundraising

Hmmm? I must be on a Jeff Brooks kick because this is the second or third time I referenced his blog — Future Fundraising Now — in the last few weeks. LOL Did you read his blog post titled “Pixar’s 22 rules of fundraising” from a guest blogger named Andrew Rogers? If not, then you have to find a few minutes to do so. Those 22 rules are awesome and should be part of every fundraising professional’s toolbox. Today, I’m focusing on “Rule 16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against.”

When applying this Pixar rule to fundraising, Andrew Rogers says:

“Rule for fundraisers: What happens if the need isn’t addressed? How are real people being affected? In our case, we should never “stack the odds” by exaggerating or otherwise being less than perfectly truthful. On the other hand, don’t tell less than the full truth either, and remember that the full truth often isn’t very pretty.”

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen a non-profit organization try to apply this rule by telling donors things like:

We’ll close our doors unless we meet this fundraising goal.
We’ll shut down a site if this campaign fails to hit goal.
We’ll eliminate this program if we’re not successful.

To be clear, I don’t think Rule 16 is a license to practice extortion or heavy-handed fundraising tactics.

In instances where I’ve seen agencies use urgency messages laced with “We’re gonna close or we’re going to eliminate programming,” two interesting things seem to happen every time:

They usually get an initial bump in money coming in (e.g. donors respond), and
The next time donors get solicited, the response is down again.

I believe there is a simple explanation for this phenomenon . . . donors don’t like to throw good money after bad.

Before you decide to hit that big red panic button on your fundraising dashboard and tell the entire community that you’re in trouble, I advise that you think twice about doing it. All you’re doing is setting the bar very high down the road, and what happens if you cannot get over that bar?

I suggest going back and doing exactly what Rule 16 tells you to do:

Write a case statement that tells a story about one of your clients (or a composite client).
Describe their needs. What is at stake if they don’t succeed?
Describe how you help them with those needs. Help me root for them!
Describe how a donor’s support will tip the scales in their favor of our main character.
Don’t make this story so dramatic that donors conclude that nothing they do will make a difference.
Be truthful and make it emotional. You are telling a story!

This case for support document is internal. Use this tool to:

develop your agency’s marketing materials and fundraising brochures,
write your direct mail and targeted mail letters,
write your website and social media copy, and
train your fundraising volunteers on how to turn it into a story that they share with donors during a cultivation, solicitation or stewardship visit with a donor.

Always remember . . . donors care about your mission, your clients, and the impact of their contribution. They don’t normally care about saving institutions and your sacred cows.

What does your case for support (e.g. case statement) look like? When was the last time your refreshed that document? How do you go about developing that document? Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

Are non-profits getting serious about crowdfunding?

June 10, 2013 erik Fundraising, technology

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . . we used to do a special themed blog post to start every week and it was called “Mondays with Marissa“. We haven’t run that series in a while because Marissa moved on to bigger and better things (and I should add that by bigger and better I mean “things that pay”). She got snatched up by one of the local Girl Scout councils to manage their online communities. However, in the spirit of “Mondays with Marissa,” I thought we would look back today at a previous post by Marissa, provide a little update, and spur additional conversation.

Crowdfunding is defined by Wikipedia as “… the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.”

Crowdfunding is a spinoff of crowdsourcing, and this YouTube video by crowdsourcing.org does a really good job of explaining it:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-38uPkyH9vI]

In the last year or so, both Marissa and I wrote about crowdfunding in the following posts:

In spite of my confession that I was a doubting Thomas and suddenly “saw the light” when it came to crowdfunding, I have another admission to make today. I was still a little skeptical after writing that post a year ago.

However, just last week and almost a year after proclaiming Marissa “right,” I read in the Fundraising Digest Weekly published by FundraisingInfo.com that the Smithsonian plans on running its first crowdfunding campaign. Click here to read more about the Smithsonian’s efforts at Businesswire.com.

After reading this, I must admit that it is impossible to be a doubting Thomas about this ePhilanthropy tool.

The Smithsonian is no slouch when it comes to resource development and fundraising. Their decision to turn to crowdfunding validates this online fundraising strategy as something that is here to stay.

Are you still a doubting Thomas? If so, why?
Has you non-profit organization experimented with crowdsourcing or crowdfunding? What did you do? What did you learn?
Have you seen other heavy hitting non-profit groups use a crowdfunding campaign successfully? Who? What?
Have you looked into other crowdsourcing applications other than crowdfunding such as crowdengineering, cloud labor, or crowdcreativity? Please explain.

Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts and experiences. Why? Because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Fewer statistics and more stories, please?

June 6, 2013 erik Fundraising

As someone who blogs every day, I find it necessary to read a lot of other people’s blogs, too. Every one in a while, I come across something that gets me thinking. If it is really good or cuts against the grain of something I believe, I might mentally chew on it for days. Two bloggers, who I respect and read a lot, are Jeff Brook at Future Fundraising Now and Marc Pitman (aka The Fundraising Coach). Both of these guys have had me chewing on something recently, and I must admit that my jaw hurts from all that macerating. The topic in question? Should you include statistics in your fundraising appeals?

In recent years, the non-profit sector has been hyper-focused on things like:

measuring program outcomes
measuring community impact
benchmarking projects
analytics

I must admit that I’ve bitten into this trend as hard as anyone. I am a bit of a data geek, and I love information. If I were being truthful, I’d even admit that sometimes the old expression “paralysis by analysis ” defines my work (even though I fight hard not to fall into this trap).

The logical extension of these tendencies is to include data and statistics in fundraising appeals, which is something I’ve done for years.

So, when I recently read Future Fundraising Now and The Fundraising Coach, it felt like nails on a chalkboard for a moment. However, I try to read with an open mind, and I must admit that they have a point. Here is how I did an about-face on this subject . . .

Hurricane Katrina

As I thought back upon this devastating natural disaster, I remembered being glued to the radio listening to NPR deliver the blow-by-blow description of what was happening on the Gulf coast. I have very clear memories of my attention waning when the reporter started saying things like:

1.2 million evacuees
$81 billion in damage
1,833 deaths

I also remember being glued to my radio as the reporter interviewed individuals who had survived the storm as they told their stories:

I remember one woman telling a reporter about climbing into the attic with her family as she watched the water levels fill the first floor of her home and start to consume the second floor.
I remember a gentleman talking about how long he had to wait on his roof for rescuers and how hard that ordeal was.
I remember a public official talking about the national guard’s efforts to evacuate trapped senior citizens from a nursing home.

Statistics . . . .Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Stories? Please continue … I’m listening!

Before the written word

There is a lot of debate about how long the written word has played a role in human culture; however, I think it is fair to say that literacy rates only started significantly climbing in the last few hundred years.

So, how did humans communicate to each other important things like:

How to appropriately behave?
What to value and what is important?
Who should do what and by when?

It was storytelling. Sitting around a campfire and telling stories. Passing lessons along from one generation to the next generation by word of mouth in the form of a story with a moral to every story.

Fundraising conclusions

I still believe that measuring community impact and program outcomes is important. Please don’t stop doing this hard and arduous work. It is important to measure for accountability, stewardship and quality control purposes, but . . .

Please stop sharing all of that data with me during the solicitation process.

I want to hear warm fuzzy stories about your clients and how my contribution has contributed to those success stories.

Please train your volunteers to be good storytellers because there is nothing worse that having to sit through lunch with someone who can’t tell a good story. This is an art form. For some people it comes naturally and for others they need substantial training on how to do this.

So where should you put all of your data?

Well, I still believe that this information is an important part of being a good steward of donor dollars.

Upload it to your website . . . those donors who love data can find it there, and this sends a strong message about your commitment to transparency.
Share some of it in your annual report.
Create an impact report and send it to your donors every quarter.
Sprinkle some of it into newletter stories.

BUT . . . whatever you do, please don’t share this with me when you’re asking for my money. And if you do, please forgive me for the yawning and vacant blank stare.

If I’ve intrigued you with today’s post, then you may want to check out the blog posts by Jeff and Marc at the following links:

The Fundraising Coach, “Throw statistics out of your fundraising letters!“
Future Fundraising Now, “Why using statistics will kill your fundraising“

What does your agency do with its data? How much to your share with your donors? How and when do you share it with your donors? Do you include it in your written case for support document and training your volunteer solicitors to use it when soliciting contributions? Do you include it in your direct mail appeal? What has been your experience when using a storytelling approach to fundraising?

Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment box below. Why? Because we can all learn from each other!

Here’s to your health!

How much money should your non-profit have in reserve?

June 4, 2013 erik Board governance, Fundraising, organizational development, Planning

operating reserves Identifying blog topics can be hard. Sometimes you find a comfort zone and ideas flow freely. Other times, it is next to impossible and the writers block is crippling. So, I love it when readers sometimes email me on the side and suggest topics.

Yesterday, a reader did exactly that when she emailed me with the following request:

“Do you take requests? If so, I would love to hear your take on social service agencies that have more than 6 months of money on hand and the impact of that on fundraising.”

When I first read that email, I planned on squirreling the topic away for one of those days when topic ideas are difficult to come by. However, there was something about this topic that possessed me. I opened up a few Google searches, read a few white papers and blog posts, and found myself whipping out this post.

First, let me start with a very direct response to the question posed by the reader.

I have worked with a disproportionately large number of small non-profit organizations. Organizational capacity for these agencies is always an issue and the amount of cash on hand is typically very small. So, I’ve always advocated to CEOs and their boards that they put plans in place to build operating reserves equal to three to six months.

Only one client to my recollection every worked with more than a six month operating reserve, and I don’t think it impacted their fundraising efforts. If I were to speculate as to why that was, I think the explanation is simple . . . that agency did an excellent job with donor communications and made their case as to why operating reserves of that size were important.

Setting this one example aside, I do generally believe that building large operating reserves larger than 6 months or one year causes problems with donors. I say this because of everything Dan Pallotta writes in his book Uncharitable and how donors hold the non-profit sector to a different standard than the for-profit sector.

In his book, Pallotta talks eloquently about how for-profit corporations are rewarded by investors for generating profits, banking cash and growing organizational capacity. He contrasts this point with how donors punish non-profit organizations for doing the same thing.

For actual examples and a better explanation, I encourage you to read his book. I promise that it will be an eye opening experience. Additionally, you’ll likely walk away from the exercise and find yourself muttering the words: “Damn Puritans!”

In my clicking around and Googling, I found a number of interesting facts including:

Charity Navigator reserves its top ratings for organizations with 12 or more months of working capital.
The Nonprofit Finance Fund reported in its 2012 State of the Sector Survey that only one-fifth of survey respondents said they felt their donors were comfortable talking about operating reserves.
In 2011, more than three-quarters of non-profit organizations had less than 4 months of expenses in operating reserves (60% reported less than 4 months and 28% reported one month or less).

I strongly urge you to click-through and read more startling statistics on this and similar subjects at:

Executive Service Corp, “How Much in Reserve Funds Should Your Nonprofit Have?“
Nonprofit Finance Fund, “2012 State of the Sector Survey“
Nell Edgington’s Social Velocity blog, “A Financial Taboo Nonprofits Must Get Over“

I want to thank the reader who suggested this blog topic because they have caused me to change my thinking on this topic. From now on, when agencies ask my advice on what they should strive towards with regards to building an operating reserve, I plan on telling them . . .

12 months or more! ! ! !

With this Big Harry Audacious Goal (BHAG), the next words out of my mouth will be . . .

“Create a strong case for support or prepare to incur the wrath of donors.”

For those of you who don’t think this is possible, please take a moment to think about why that much cash on hand is important to your organization.

Many agencies are using their operating reserves as cash flow cushions as they wait for their accounts receivable from government grants. (Believe it or not some states are six to 12 months late in paying their bills.)
It is a sign of financial health to have operating reserves of this size.
One of the lessons learned from the recent economic recession is that larger rainy day funds are a necessity and not a luxury.
Stuff breaks and your organization needs to be in a position to fix the roof or replace a HVAC unit without running off to donors with an urgent case for support that sounds like a crisis or fire drill.

My advice to anyone who cares to hear it is:

Set a goal to increase your operating reserves to 12+ months
Work with the Finance Committee to develop a plan to achieve this goal (Yes, it will likely be a plan that spans many years). Perhaps, include in your plans to use a portion of your operating reserves to invest in organizational capacity building once certain targets are achieved.
Work with the Resource Development Committee to write a case for support that supports these actions.
Don’t hide from donors. Get out there and start talking to them. Weave the talking points from this new case for support focused on increasing reserve levels into your stewardship efforts. Donor engagement and education is the key to success.

So, I’m curious how many of you think I’m crazy? How big are your reserves? How big would you like them? What do your donors say about your reserves? Please use the comment box below to weigh-in on this discussion.

Here’s to your health!

The changing face of philanthropy

June 3, 2013 erik Fundraising, technology

I often counsel my non-profit clients to invest in technology and social media. I tell them to experiment with ePhilanthropy strategies and tactics. However, I warn them to avoid living on the cutting edge and especially be aware of the “bleeding edge” of these types of efforts. In a nutshell, I advice them to invest and learn, but do so in a way that make sense from a “return on investment” perspective.

Of course, what I mean is that fundraising professionals should not forget that more than $300 billion is generated every year by charities from private sector sources (e.g individuals, corporations, and foundations). While the data is messy, it still appears that less than 10 percent of this funding results from online efforts by non-profit organizations.

Essentially, I’ve been telling clients that investing 90 percent of your time in something that accounts for just 10 percent of overall giving might not be a wise decision. So, my counsel has always been “slow and steady wins the race.”

This has been my advice for the last decade, and if there is one truism in life that I really subscribe to it is the old saying by Heraclitus that the only constant in life is change. With this in mind, I pay attention to the benchmark data from our online giving friends at Blackbaud, Network for Good and other such organizations. I do this because I know that one day we will hit that tipping point and my advice will need to change.

Before I go any farther, it is important to say:

I don’t believe direct mail is dead.
I don’t believe you should stop asking people face-to-face.
I don’t think you should ignore your Baby Boomer donors and double down on ePhilanthropy strategies focused on GenXers and Millennial donors.

However, we may be getting closer that “tipping point“. Have you seen some of the 2012 benchmark data for online giving? The Chronicle of Philanthropy did a nice job reporting on these trends on March 27, 2013. The following are just a few of the highlights from a report issued by M+R Strategic Services and Nonprofit Technology Network:

Revenue from online fundraising efforts increased by 21 percent.
Annual growth in Facebook fans of non-profit organization pages was 46 percent.
Annual growth in Twitter followers of non-profit organizations was 264 percent.

Click here to see an awesome infographic based on this benchmark study.

It is hard to get a handle on what the average size gift is from online efforts. I get different numbers when I look at different sources, but we are talking about average gifts in the $60, $70, and $80 ranges.

There is also interesting benchmark information about online monthly giving programs. This online fundraising strategy appears to bring in an average monthly gift of $19.

Lots of data and very little time to digest it all; however, this quotation caught my attention in another Chronicle of Philanthropy article on December 2, 2012:

“Online giving, though, accounts for less than 10 percent of the dollars charities collect, experts say. But Steve MacLaughlin, director of Blackbaud’s IdeaLab, predicts that over the next five years, the total share of gifts raised online will grow to 15 percent of charities’ overall donations.”

All of this gets me wondering . . . where is that tipping point? When should non-profit organizations get more serious about investing in technology, social media and development of online giving strategies and tactics?

I think my advice might be evolving. Yes, slow and steady wins the race, but investments in benchmarking and planning are always wise.

What is your average size gift from one-time online gifts? Is it in line with national averages? Did your Facebook fan base grow by 46 percent? Did you Twitter following grow by an audacious 264 percent? If not, what are you planning to do in 2013 to adjust your efforts and prevent yourself from falling behind the curve? And how will you guard against the risk of over-investing and living on the cutting edge?

Please use the comment box below to share some of your thoughts. Why? Because we can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

“V” is for victory

May 30, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, volunteers

One of my favorite training curricula that I’ve ever had the privilege of teaching is titled “Inspiring & Managing Your Board for Fundraising Success.” In that curriculum, there are nine keys to accomplishing what the title promises its participants. One of those nine keys is celebration & recognition, and it is the inspiration for today’s DonorDreams blog post.

As most of you know, I’ve spent the last 30 days working hard at hosting the Nonprofit Blog Carnival (which officially went live yesterday). Click here to see the carnival and all of its participants . . . you don’t want to miss this month’s carnival.

During the month of May, a few major milestones were achieved at DonorDreams.

We surpassed 34,000 all-time page views.
We achieved more than 1,000 all-time comments.
We eclipsed the 500 post mark (Phew, that’s a lot of content).
We hit an time high in daily visitors and page views during the last month.

I ask for your forgiveness as I take a moment to celebrate.

I know that for some of the big time bloggers out there, these might seem like small things to celebrate. However, DonorDreams blog has only been around for two years, and I am a staunch believer in celebrating the small victories along with the big ones.

Ahhhhhh, that victory lap certainly was sweet. Thanks for indulging me.

Now, let me take a moment to recognize those people who made it possible to celebrate.

YOU

That’s right. None of this would’ve been possible if not for you and all of the other DonorDreams blog subscribers, social media followers, readers and guest bloggers.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much for tuning in and reading this blog. Thank you for your comments. Thank you for your subscriptions. Thank you for your LIKES and RETWEETS.

This victory lap isn’t mine. It is OURS.

OK . . . I’m done (until the next milestone is eclipsed). 😉

With all of that being said, I would be remiss if I didn’t end this post with a thought provoking question:

“What do you do at your agency to celebrate and recognize achievement of milestones, goals, and successes with your board volunteers? Do you have any good examples that you are willing to share with your fellow non-profit professionals?”

Please mull this over for a moment and take a second out of your busy day to share your response in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival

May 29, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, Fundraising, organizational development, technology, volunteers

Step right up . . . step right up! It is time for the May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival.

You will be amazed by what many non-profit experts had to say in an open letter they composed to non-profit board volunteers.

What is even more unbelievable is how some of this month’s carnival participants were able to skillfully weave Dr. Seuss inspired ideas into their posts.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss

Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now wrote his letter to board members who don’t like your fundraising program. Did I mention how much he seems to like eating green eggs and ham?

The always positive and upbeat Marc Pitman (aka The Fundraising Coach) addressed the issue of board volunteers who are reluctant to fundraise. He included a neat link to a free asking styles profile tool at the end of his post. You gotta check it out!

On mBlog, Jenifer Snyder wrote her post to board volunteers on the value of getting more involved in mobile. I was especially impressed with this post because it is composed 100% in Dr. Seuss rhyme format. Big gold star for Jennifer!

Susan Chavez also earned a big gold star for writing her post in rhyme and offering social media advice to non-profit board volunteers.

Over at Wild Apricot blog, Lori Halley’s letter was written from the perspective of a new volunteer who openly wonders why veteran board volunteers sometimes resist new ideas and cloak themselves in the old fashion “that’s not how we do it here” defense.

Two Plus Two Can Be Five blog wrote their letter to board volunteers from the perspective of an ex-board volunteer who is one of those silent volunteers who has much to offer but never gets properly engaged. They ask the always powerful question: “Have you ever wondered why people resign from the board and move on like I’m going to?”

Sandy Rees at Get Fully Funded blog also took inspiration from a variety of different Dr. Seuss quotations. Her letter was written to new board volunteers and offered a treasure trove of advice on how to be a great non-profit board volunteer. She ends her post with an awesome training link that speaks to the topic of basic board roles and responsibilities.

Terri Holland wrote her letter from her own perspective as a fundraising professional. She ticks off four very common things that get in between boards and resource development staff, and she asks for their understanding and cooperation. This post is very honest and refreshing.

While not in the form of a letter, our friends at Big Duck blog offered “Three tips to help reinvigorate your board meetings“. This post reads like a letter to board volunteers. I included it in the Nonprofit Blog Carnival because I thought some of you might want to share it with your board governance committee and board president.

Love letters to board volunteers

One of my favorite bloggers of all time, Joanne Fritz at about.com, wrote “A Love Letter to My First Board of Directors“. Joanne undoubtedly speaks for all of us who’ve had the luxury of hindsight to look back at our past experiences.

Over at Non Profit Evolution, Dani Robbins also penned a love letter to her former board and exclaimed from the mountaintops: “I am the leader I am today because of the tools you gave me. I promise to pay it forward.”

At the Laramie Board Learning Project blog, Dr. Debra Beck penned an Open letter to an exemplar board expressing her appreciation to a board for allowing her to study their work, their learning processes and their motivations to serve (and serve well) for her doctoral dissertation research.

But wait . . . there’s more!

As many of you know, DonorDreams blog dedicated the entire month of May to non-profit professionals and volunteers who wanted to write anonymous letters to their boards.

There were a ton of great entries, and I encourage you to click over and start reading. However, for those of you with limited time for reading blogs, the following were the top six most popular posts:

Again, these submissions were not from bloggers. These letters were from real, live non-profit professionals and board volunteers. Their honesty is a window upon which you can see the things with which the non-profit sector struggles every day.

So what should you do next?

Dr. Seuss reminds us:

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

In yesterday’s DonorDreams post titled “I meant what I said and I said what I meant! ~Dr. Seuss,” I encouraged everyone who wrote letters (and those of you who have unwritten letters in your heads) to take it a step further and TAKE ACTION. Take a moment to click over to this post and give some consideration to what you’re next steps should be. Architects for change (as was Dr. Seuss) would consider this moment of reflection necessary if you plan on growing the organizational capacity of your agency.

Our fellow blogger Febe Galvez-Voth at www.thecaseforsupport.com might have summed it up best when she submitted the following Dr. Seuss inspired entry about developing your organization’s case for support (which I encourage you to read in a broader context of developing a case for addressing any of these board issues):

Wherever you are

State your case
On a bus in a fuss
Tell the world that you care
Tell the world why you share

State your case
In a chute in a suit
Make your smarts lead the way
Make your smarts sway the nay

State your case
In a home with a gnome
Speak with love and respect
Speak with love and connect

State your case
In a room with a broom
Lead away from the fray
You’ll go up, up and away

State your case!

“Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.” ~Dr. Seuss

OK . . . I am stretching this quotation from Dr. Seuss a little far. There is not another Nonprofit Blog Carnival tomorrow, but there will be another one in June (as there is every month).

Lori Halley at Wild Apricot blog will be next months host the next Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme will be “Data for Good“. Click here for more details and how to submit your blog entry for consideration.

As I say at the end of all my blog posts . . .

Here’s to your health!

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant!” ~Dr. Seuss

May 28, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

For those of you who regularly follow DonorDreams blog, you know that for the last month I’ve been publishing real letters from real non-profit people. These letters have been anonymous and all center on the theme of things that non-profit boards do that drive the letter writer a little nuts. Rather than just making this a good old fashion “rant,” each author was asked to incorporate a suggested solution into their letter.

I hope you enjoyed this month’s series. If the data analytics for this site are any indication, it looks like many of you enjoyed it A LOT!

As you can see from all of this month’s posts, I incorporated a “mask” theme for a few reasons.

This theme was inspired by the fact that I am the Nonprofit Blog Carnival host this month, and I thought incorporating masks as a visual would tie the ideas of “carnival” and “anonymous letters” together perfectly.
Additionally, humans have used masks for an assortment of things for millennia including ceremonies, protection, medical protection from plagues, disguise, and performance.

Interestingly, I’ve been on an Alaskan cruise for the last two weeks (I just got home last night), and everywhere I turned in all of the gift shops I encountered native Alaskan masks. So, for your enjoyment, I snapped a whole bunch of pictures and included them at the bottom of this post for your enjoyment. (Keep scrolling down below my signature block to enjoy those pictures)

Tomorrow is Wednesday, May 29th, and it is the day we’ve all been waiting for. Tomorrow is the day we celebrate the Nonprofit Blog Carnival. As you know, I asked the nonprofit blogosphere to consider writing an open letter to non-profit boards about something concerning to them along with a suggested solution. I also challenged them to incorporate something from Dr. Seuss into their post because this iconic children’s author is considered by many people to be an “architect of social change“.

If you couldn’t tell, I am hoping this month’s series of posts culminating with tomorrow’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival will become a blueprint for “change” regarding how you engage your non-profit board on a variety of issues.

I titled this blog post with an inspirational quotation from Dr. Seuss that I believe sums up this entire exercise.

“I meant what I said and I said what I meant!“

Now that we’ve got whatever it was off of our chest, I encourage you to shift your thinking to the following questions:

What will you do about it?
How will you tactfully engage your board in addressing the issue you’ve identified as critical?
Can some of these issues become generative questions and conversations that get incorporated into your board meetings?
Do you have a board governance committee that does more than just recruit new board volunteers? If so, what is their role in addressing some of these issues?
How can you use this exercise to develop a system focused on continual organizational improvement?
Have you given any thought to asking your board volunteers to write anonymous letters to you with suggestions on how to improve aspects of your job?

I hope you’re looking forward to tomorrow’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival hosted here at DonorDreams blog. I’ve seen the submissions, and I’m hopeful that you will enjoy them as much as I have. In the meantime, please start thinking about the questions I just posed and use the comment box below to weigh-in with your thoughts keeping the following quotation from Dr. Seuss in mind:

“Step with care and great tact. And remember that life’s a great balancing act.”

Here’s to your health . . . See you tomorrow at the carnival!

If you are a lover of this kind of art from the Northwest coast, then I suggest you visit Hill’s Native Art online to check out their large selection.

Dear board volunteers . . . let’s get on the same page, please?

May 27, 2013 erik Board development, Board governance, volunteers

DonorDreams blog is honored to be hosting the May 2013 Nonprofit Blog Carnival. The theme this month is “Dear board volunteer . . .” and the idea is “If you could write an anonymous letter to a nonprofit board about something they do that drives you crazy, what would that letter look like and what suggested solutions would you include?” If you are a blogger and would like more information on how to participate and submit a post for consideration, please click here to learn more.

I wanted to expand the Nonprofit Blog Carnival concept in May. So, I reached out to real non-profit professionals and asked them to also write an anonymous letter to their board volunteers. These people are executive directors, fundraising professionals, board members, donors, community volunteers, consultants and front line staff. I promised everyone anonymity in exchange for their submissions.

We will celebrate May’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival on Wednesday, May 29, 2013. Up to that fun-filled day, I will publish real anonymous letters every day from real non-profit professionals right here at DonorDreams blog.

I hope you enjoy this real look at real issues that our community deals with on a daily basis.

Here is today’s letter:

Dear Board Volunteer:

Together, we share a partnership. We are in this together.

I realize that you can only devote a portion of your life to our mutual cause and that it is my full-time responsibility, and then some. I am mindful and respectful of your time, and I hope that likewise you are respectful of mine. However, if and when (probably more like when) we are in “crisis mode” when we need each other, then we are available for one another regardless.

Our relationship needs to be one that is open, honest, and brutally frank. We both want the best for our organization and we both work hard to achieve excellence. I will always tell you the absolute truth, never hiding any information or embellishing it on all topics. I expect the same from you.

I can’t do the job by myself. I rely on our staff and I also rely on you as well as our other volunteers to make it work. Working together collaboratively gets a lot more done and in faster time.

If you’ve had issues as an organization before I got here, don’t expect that just by hiring me that the problem will all quickly go away. I know how to fix them, but I will need your support and the staff’s support to really get the job done — and it will take time because we are dealing with a cultural change of doing things differently to improve the results. Some “sacred cows” will have to be slaughtered along the way and not everybody will be happy, but the organization will be stronger in the end as a net result.

You are paying for my leadership, experience, advice, and expert counsel. Please pay attention and follow my recommendations to help improve the organization. These recommendations are based on years of experience, sound business principles, and best practices.

Our board should be composed of people of influence and affluence. We can have other groups that are “working groups”, but our board needs to be the absolute top of the community power structure for our organization to thrive. If we have a board composed of less than that, then we will not be maximizing our organization’s full potential.

My view is that the board establishes a vision for the organization, oversees its governance, approves an annual budget, raises funds for the organization, and employs the Executive Director. The staff is hired by and reports to the Executive Director to execute the plan for the organization. The staff runs the day-to-day operation of the organization within the confines of the established budget and resources. The staff does NOT report to the board, but to the Executive Director.

There will come a time when we disagree with one another on something important. To the best of our abilities, we will do so privately, iron out those differences behind closed doors, and then come out publicly with one agreed upon course of action.

Thank you for being a board member of our great organization!

Best regards,
Your Executive Director

If you have some advice for the author of our anonymous letter, please share it in the comment box at the bottom of this post in a respectful manner. If you want to submit an anonymous letter for consideration this month, please email it to me at the address in your signature block below. If you are a blogger looking to participate in this month’s Nonprofit Blog Carnival and want to learn more, then please click here.

Here’s to your health!