resource development – Page 38 – The Healthy Non-Profit

Class of 2012 should inspire all non-profit professionals: Part 3 of 3

May 24, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development, Planning

On Tuesday, we started a three-part series about educational opportunities for non-profit professionals. The first post looked closely at North Park University and their Master of Nonprofit Administration program (M.N.A.). The second post in the series investigated the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and everything they offer. Today, we’re zooming out and taking a wider view.

Lots of institutions

I invested the first two days of this blog series talking about two non-profit studies programs I think are really excellent. However, there are many different options available to those of you wishing to secure a certificate or degree in something related to the non-profit sector. The following is just a short list of other centers and institutes found in the United States:

Institute for Nonprofit Education and Research at University of San Diego
Center for Civil Society at University of California, Los Angeles
Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society at The City University of New York
Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at University of Southern California
Helen Bader Institute for Nonprofit Management at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Institute for Human Services & Public Policy at Louisiana State University in Shreveport
Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management at University of San Francisco
Johns Hopkins Center for Civil Society Studies at Johns Hopkins University
Lodestar Center for Philanthropy & Nonprofit Innovation at Arizona State University
Nancy Bell Evans Center on Nonprofits & Philanthropy at University of New York

Don’t make a rash choice. Follow the advice that you received from your high school guidance counselor: “Do your homework and thoroughly investigate these programs to find the right fit for you.”

Lots of options

I like to joke with friends and colleagues that I went to the non-profit school of hard knocks to get my degree, but I’m really just being a joker when I say things like that. In reality, I attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and received both my BA of Urban Planning and Masters of Urban Planning.

Now some of you are probably wondering what urban planning has anything to do with the non-profit sector. I think Shannon Bond does a great job answering this question in her about.com article titled “A Guide to Nonprofit-Focused Graduate Degree Programs” when she said:

“Is there a program out there for you? You may be surprised at the variety of nonprofit-focused degree programs that exist. Here are descriptions of a few . . . MUP: A Masters of Urban Planning degree focuses on city revitalization, empowerment of impoverished areas, and environmental concerns. Graduates typically secure jobs in such organizations as the UN, USAID, the World Bank, local and state housing agencies and nonprofit organizations that assist the homeless.”

Shannon highlights a number of other graduate degree options including: Masters of Business Administration, Masters of Public Administration, Masters of Public Policy, and a Masters of Social Work. I encourage those of you who are seeking non-profit degrees and certifications to look at all of your options. Click here and start with Shannon’s article.

Of course, going to school nowadays has gotten really expensive. If you can’t afford to enroll in an institution of higher learning, I suggest looking more closely at some of the certificate programs that we talked about in the first and second parts of this blog series.

If neither a certicate or degree are in your future, you can always do it the old fashion way and get some “on the job experience”. The non-profit sector is always looking for good men and women regardless of their level of education.

Did you graduate from a higher education institution with a non-profit related degree? If so, please share more about your alma mater. If not, please share a non-profit experience from your past that you can honestly say helped shape who you are today. We can 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

Class of 2012 should inspire all non-profit professionals: Part 2 of 3

May 23, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership, organizational development

Yesterday, we started a three-part series about educational opportunities for non-profit professionals. Today, we’re taking a closer look at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

The Center appears to be broken into a few different parts:

The Fundraising School
Academic programs
Research and consulting services
An institute focusing on faith and philanthropy
An institute on women, wealth and philanthropy

Just like North Park University (see yesterday’s post), the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University offers certifications in Nonprofit Executive Leadership and Fundraising Management. They also offer Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts, and Ph.D. degrees in Philanthropic Studies. Of course, if you’re like me and not looking for more paper to hang on your walls or letters to place after your name, you can always just sign-up for courses at the School of Fundraising or academic courses through the university. The following is a small sampling of course titles:

Giving and Volunteering in America
Law of Nonprofit Organizations
Developing Annual Sustainability
Planned Giving: Getting the Proper Start
Fundraising for Small Nonprofits

What I like about the last few examples from the Fundraising School is that they are available online.

The research arm of the school is interesting and impressive. Your non-profit organization can hiring consultants to work with you on a variety of projects. Additionally, you can hire one of their research staff members to speak on a number of different topics pertaining to fundraising trends and donor communities.

The thing I love most about the research branch of the Center on Philanthropy is that there are resources available for consumption for people who are simply “lifelong learners”. For example, there is a link on their website titled “Academic Working Papers“. Using the interface on that page, you can find research papers and philanthropy data. The following are just a few examples of papers I found:

Executive Compensation and Gender: A Longitudinal Study of a National Nonprofit Organization
The Market for Charitable Giving
The Effects of Race, Gender, and Marital Status on Giving and Volunteering in Indiana

Here’s to your health!

Strike three . . . You’re OUT! Because you swung for the non-profit fences.

May 18, 2012 DonorDreams leadership, nonprofit, organizational development

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

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “My Last At Bat“. In that post, he talks about his last Little League game as a child. As a baseball fan, I immediately fell in love with this blog post. As a fan of the non-profit sector and organizational development, my mind has been spinning for almost a week about how many different ways John’s post applies to non-profit agencies.

I don’t want to give anything away (you really need to go read his post for yourself), but the story is about how John approached his last Little League game with an understanding of what he was “good at doing” and tried to play within his capabilities. His friend took a very different approach and got very different results.

Looking back over the last 15 years, I’ve seen this dynamic play out in many different ways. Here are a few examples:

A non-profit board needs to fill an executive director vacancy. Rather than looking at competencies, skill sets and past experiences, the search committee gets WOWed by a charming big personality. Or they hire the internal candidate who has been a great front line program staffer, but doesn’t have any past experience with fundraising, board development, or financial management.
An executive director needs to hire a development director to provide thoughtful leadership and direction to the agency’s comprehensive resource development program. Rather than identifying what competencies, skill sets and past experiences are necessary for this person to excel and succeed, they interview a hodgepodge of fundraising people including direct mail professionals, grant writers, special event coordinators, and marketing people. Again, they end up hiring a special event person and ask them to do something that they don’t have a track record of doing.
The board development committee needs to recruit a new class of board volunteers. Rather than complete a gap analysis to determine what skill sets and experiences incoming board volunteers need in order to help move the agency forward, the committee puts together a list of “friends” who they know will likely say YES if asked. In the end, the wrong people are sitting around the table. They are all well-intentioned, but the boardroom feels dysfunctional and engagement is lacking.

Why do so many of us in the non-profit sector ask people to do things that are outside of their immediate capabilities?

I know that you can hit a single, but I need you to hit a home run today!

The silly thing is that stringing together a few singles puts a few runs on the scoreboard in the same way that hitting a home run will do. Translated into “non-profit speak” . . . asking people (employees and volunteers) to do what they do well will advance your cause as much or more than asking them to do something that they haven’t done before.

Here are just a few suggestions to get our conversation going:

Don’t ask a volunteer who hasn’t done any fundraising to join your board.
Don’t hire an executive director who hasn’t been an executive director before.
Don’t ask a volunteer solicitor to ask a donor for a significant contribution unless they’ve also given significantly.
Don’t hire a special event person to write grants unless they’ve been successful at doing it somewhere else.

I am sure that some of you are bristling at these suggestions and have good examples of when you might want to do one of these things. Please know that these suggestions are not meant to be “absolutes”. However, if you plan on asking someone to do something that they don’t have much experience doing, then you must adjust your expectations. You need to expect failure at first. You need to view it as a “project” and invest in training and professional development, accordingly.

Do you ask your employees and volunteers to “play within their abilities”? Or are you someone who is always encouraging them to hit home runs for your agency? How do you guarantee that you’re hiring and recruiting the right people for the right jobs? What would you add to the list I started a few paragraphs ago around Do’s and Don’ts? How have you managed your employees’ and volunteers’ disappointment when they fail to hit the home run that you asked them to hit?

If you haven’t done so yet, please go read John Greco’s post “My Last At Bat“. When you’re done, circle back to this post and share your comments, thoughts and answers to some of the questions I’ve posed using the comment box below. Let’s learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Should social service non-profit organizations ever own property?

May 16, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, organizational development

For the last few weeks, I’ve been working pledge cards for one of my favorite charities. I must admit that I’m having a blast. The conversations with local philanthropists and donors are so engaging and thought-provoking. Frankly, I’ve been surprised by what some donors believe and in some instances those encounters have turned into interesting blog posts. Today’s post was inspired by one donor’s passionate belief that social service non-profit organizations shouldn’t ever own property.

Oh sure . . . hospitals and colleges are non-profit corporations, and there is little question that those organizations need to own the property and buildings in which they operate. However, some donors in my hometown of Elgin, Illinois don’t believe that the same is true for social service agencies.

Why? Well, this is an interesting question that comes with a long answer.

Let’s just say that more than 10 years ago one of Elgin’s more stable non-profit agencies ran a capital campaign, expanded their building (dramatically), and couldn’t afford to operate within such a dramatically expanded building footprint. Long story short . . . the new building was “sold” within a few years of opening, and the agency had to merge with another organization from outside the community to ensure services continued.

So, what is this really all about? I think it is about donors having LONG MEMORIES. Additionally, the following old expression keeps echoing through my head:

“Fool me once shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me!”

As you can imagine, I did my best to engage this donor in a conversation. Here were some of the highlights of what I said:

Not all non-profit organizations go out-of-business.
Not all non-profits conduct business that can be accommodated by existing rental opportunities.
Not all non-profits have an unstable revenue model or operate under a cloud of financial uncertainty.

In the end, there was no changing this donor’s mind, and it is easy to understand why. He invested and now feels burned. He passionately argued the following powerful points:

Too many social service agencies lack organizational capacity and are stretched too thin. Funding expansion of an agency that has a culture of operating on a shoe string can be like stretching a rubber band too far.
Too many social service agencies don’t operate within a culture of transparency. They sell donors on a capital campaign contribution. Their operations expand, and the agency is back in no time asking for more operating cash to fund their larger footprint. If this was all explained at the same time as the capital campaign solicitation, then that would be one thing, but when that doesn’t happen it leaves a bad taste in the donor’s mouth.
What is the real estate market suppose to do with buildings that are built specifically around specialty functions of a social service non-profit agency? These buildings aren’t just office spaces with cubicles that can be re-sold to any number of potential buyers. Oftentimes, social service organizations are building spaces unique to their services.

I get it . . . I get it . . . Fool me once; shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me! I may not agree with this donor, but I definitely get it and respect his feelings.

So, what are your thoughts? Do you think social service non-profits should place a premium on renting rather than owning their home? What would you have said to this donor that I might not have? Is there a more donor-centered fundraising approach that should be used when soliciting for a capital campaign so that future annual support won’t be jeopardized? Any suggestions on how a donor like this one can be re-engaged? Please use the comment box below and share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Should Development Directors be allowed in the boardroom?

May 15, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising, organizational development

A resource development colleague called me a few weeks ago. They were upset and pissed off after a recent board meeting, and they just wanted to vent their anger. As a good friend who was just asked to lend a shoulder to cry upon, I shut-up and listened. I didn’t offer any advice because it wasn’t asked for; however, the situation that was shared with me has been burning on my mind for weeks. It is such a serious issue that I thought I’d share it here and open it up for discussion.

In a nutshell, here are the facts that color this story:

The development director is a fixture in the boardroom and gives a “development report” at every meeting.
After delivering their report, a board member asked a question about what the development department might look like in the future.
While the development director had talked with the executive director about this issue in passing on a few occasions, neither of them had formally engaged on this subject in a meaningful way.
The answer caught the executive director off guard a little bit, and they jumped into the conversation with a “sharp tongue”. This response felt demeaning to the development director, and they felt “put in their place” in front of the board of directors.
In the days following the board meeting, the development director was verbally reprimanded and given what HR people would describe as a “verbal warning”.

I am very sympathetic to my resource development friend. It feels like the response was harsh; however, as a former executive director, I hated surprises in the boardroom, and I was a bit sensitive to how my employees interacted and engaged with board members.

All of this aside, I wonder what is the appropriate role for resource development professionals inside the boardroom. Is there one? Should the boardroom just be a place for an agency’s chief executive officer and the board of directors?

I am sure there are a number of you ready to share your thoughts about how important it is for fundraising professionals to have access to board volunteers and how strong relationships with volunteers are the key to a strong resource development program.

While I will be the first to agree with you, I keep wondering why does that need to occur in the boardroom?

Don’t resource development directors “have access” at resource development committee meetings? Special event planning meetings? Over a cup of coffee or lunch?

Isn’t the boardroom a sacred place where board members and their sole employee — the executive director — get to have frank conversations about the agency and its strategic direction?

There are so many other tangent conversations I could bring into this blog post such as:

What role should an executive director play in the agency’s resource development program when there are fundraising professionals on the payroll?
What should the communication protocol be for agency employees who report to the executive director and need access to board members?
Should development professionals guard against sharing their opinions with board members when the executive director hasn’t been fully brought into the conversation? If so, how? If not, why not?

However, I want to stop the conversation just short of those topics and just focus on the boardroom question. What staff are allowed in your agency’s boardroom? What function do they serve? What protocols are in place to ensure situations like the one I just shared with you don’t happen?

Here’s to your health!

How Can Non-Profit Organizations Use Google Hangouts Effectively?

May 14, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, Mondays with Marissa, Planning, technology

When Google launched their social network, Google+, people were all excited because it was a real alternative to Facebook. People were even saying that Google+ might be a “Facebook Killer”.

Flash forward to today. Facebook is about to about to go live on the stock market this week and is still one of the most used and growing social media sites. Google+ is still alive and well, but mainly with an active tech focused community.

One of the reasons I think Google+ hasn’t died is because of its interactive feature — Google Hangouts. Put simply, Google Hangouts are video chats with up to 10 people. While participating in a Hangout, people can watch the same YouTube video together and discuss it live. People can share presentations using SlideShare or even share their own computer screens.

Google Hangouts can be a powerful tool for nonprofits in a number of ways.

First of all, meetings can be held from anywhere. If you only need to meet with a few people and everyone’s availability is tight, then a Google Hangout might be a perfect solution for you. As long as each person has a computer with internet access and webcam (all of which are pretty standard when it comes to computers these days), your special event planning meeting can take place within a Google Hangout. It used to be that you had to pay a lot of money to use a video conferencing services, but today all you need is a Google account.

In addition, Google Hangouts can help build a sense of community with staff. If you work at an agency where people work from home or different locations, you can have a Google Hangout water cooler session. People could log in and just chat about the news of the day, or the latest happenings around the office.

Google Hangouts makes team-building in a virtual environment possible. This may seem like a small thing, but as someone who used to work from home, I missed the social interactions that would happen in an office. If I were able to set something like this up, it would have helped me feel more connected to my co-workers.

Finally, and perhaps the most exciting thing about Google Hangouts is that they can now be broadcasted to everyone using Google Hangouts On Air. A few months ago, President Obama participated in a Google On Air Hangout where a few people were live in the Hangout with him, but everyone could watch along via YouTube. This same functionality is now available to everyone.

Using Google Hangouts On Air, you can broadcast your special event to people all over the world. Or if your staff is scattered over a large geographic area and you have an important public announcement to make, why not use a Google Hangout On Air to have a mini staff meeting to share that big news? Are you having a guest speaker at one of your events? You could easily share the speech with people who couldn’t make it.

Oh one more thing, Google Hangouts On Air allows you to record your Hangout, which makes it easy to share with others after it is over.

The roll-out for Google Hangouts On Air will be happening over the next few weeks, so make sure you sign into your Google+ account and check it out. For more information, you can watch this video:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohlHn6Kt5YM]

What do you think? Do you think Google Hangouts is a viable solution for your organization when it comes to video conferencing? What are your thoughts about the usability of Google Hangouts On Air? Let’s discuss it using the comment section below!

Work-Life Balance for non-profit professionals? Ask a donor for help.

May 11, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, leadership, organizational development

Today, we’re focusing on a post that John titled “At Peace“. In that post, he talks about two different pictures and uses those images to illustrate the point that there is a difference between “at peace” and “getting some peace”.

After reading this post, I couldn’t get my mind off of the idea of work-life balance. This topic of conversation comes up all the time when I’m talking to non-profit professionals. As I previously blogged about in a post titled “Kissing While Driving for Non-Profit Agencies,” non-profit organizations are typically under-resourced. As a result, almost all nof the on-profit professional who I know wear multiple hats, lack balance in their life, and appear to be on the brink of “going postal”.

At Peace? Definitely NOT!

Over the last 15 years, I’ve battled with the ideas that John eloquently lays out in his blog post. The following are just a few things that I’ve tried:

Attending time management trainings (e.g. FranklinCovey, David Allen’s Getting Things Done, etc)
Using various time management tools ranging from FranklinCovey to Microsoft Outlook. I’m now a Android smart phone junkie, who is utterly lost in life when my device isn’t within reach.
Going on vacation
Quiting my job and opening The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

In hindsight, John is so right . . . I was “getting some peace” in most of those instances. So, what can non-profit professionals do to be “At Peace“????

I like John’s suggestion that re-evaluating and adjusting our expectations about what “peace” really means. In his post, he talks about the picture of a violent waterfall, jagged mountains and an angry sky being a picture of “peace”. Maybe accepting this idea rather than fighting against it is more than half the battle.

I also like John’s challenge at the end of his post where he asks the following question:

“Perhaps, when leaders disrupt our peace when making organizational changes, they should orchestrate efforts to enable us to adapt and change?”

As I contemplate this question, I struggle with what those efforts might look like.

So, I have a suggestion for all of you who find yourself struggling with the same question:

Open your donor database.
Run a report showing your agency’s top 50 lifetime donors.
Scan the list in search of a donor who owns their own business, has gone through some change initiatives in the last few years, and appears to be busy and yet peaceful.
Pick-up the phone and call that donor.
Invite them out to share a cup of coffee.
Tell them about John’s blog post topic.
Ask them to share their secrets to success with regards to being “at peace”.
Ask them what efforts they orchestrated at work to help their employees adapt and change and in effect putting their workplace “at peace”.

Not only will you most likely get some great advice, but this conversation will have a “stewardship effect” for that donor. It will deepen a relationship with someone who is already important to your organization.

I like this suggestion mostly because it reminds me of the fact that donors are not just ATMs that produce cash every time we ask for it. Donors are friends and part of our non-profit family. We can put this principle in action by asking them to donate their knowledge and experiences in addition to their financial contributions. In doing so, the relationship gets stronger and grows.

Do you struggle with work-life balance issues at your non-profit organization? What have you personally done to try to achieve balance? What has your agency done to help facilitate this idea of being “at peace”? Have you ever engaged donors in questions like this? How did it work out for you?

Please scroll down and share your thoughts in the comment box. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Where are the philanthropists and non-profit board volunteers of tomorrow?

May 10, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership

A few weeks ago I had the honor and privilege of having breakfast with one of my community’s iconic philanthropists. His family name is legendary around here. They have contributed lots of money to a number of different non-profit organizations, and those who don’t receive any support from this family pursue them like a dog looking for a lost bone.

During our breakfast meeting, he shared a concern that I’ve heard many non-profit people express over the last 12 years that I’ve worked and lived in this community:

Where are the philanthropists and non-profit board volunteers of tomorrow?

As has been the case in most communities for as long as anyone can remember, there is a small circle of very influential people who own businesses, employ lots of people, possess a fair amount of wealth, sit on non-profit boards, and influence policymakers and opinion-shapers.

This small group of very influential people is getting older and their numbers are dwindling. While the circle always seemed to replenish itself in the past, there is this feeling that we now live in different times. Many of the non-profit people in my community with whom I speak are concerned that the next generation isn’t apparent or obvious. I even see some agencies starting to recruit the next generation from the current of circle of philanthropists because they’re not sure what the future looks like and this is as good of a strategy as anyone can think of.

My breakfast partner weighed in with his opinion, and I found myself enlightened and frightened all at the same time.

He believes that globalization of our economy is at the root of this trend.

The old economic paradigm produced locally owned business people who amassed wealth and influence. They lived locally. They employed their neighbors and friends. They were able to see firsthand and comprehend the idea of “community need,” and it was in their personal and business interests to invest back into the community.

The new economic paradigm aggregates business in the hands of large multinational corporations that play on a global stage. As a result, our community gets “big box stores” rather than locally owned and controlled businesses. The decision-makers for these very large companies don’t live here. In fact, many of these corporations are located in large markets like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Or even more challenging, they are located overseas and their idea of “philanthropy” can be a little different from ours for cultural reasons.

In the opinion of my breakfast partner, the effect of globalization on the non-profit sector is and will be devastating!

He believes that for communities that are not major cities, the days of a small inner circle of influential philanthropists may be over.

When there isn’t a small group of wealthy business owners who live locally and are motivated by personal and business interests to participate in philanthropic activities, then he hypothesized that charitable giving will get tighter and non-profit mergers aren’t far down the road.

Finally, he believes this trend is most devastating inside of the non-profit board room. He sees many well-intentioned volunteers agreeing to do their part and serve on non-profit boards, but he sees these individuals lacking the financial resources, social networks and business acumen necessary to fuel an effective non-profit sector.

In the final analysis, he thinks the non-profit sector in smaller communities will be radically restructured in the next decade as a result of economic globalization trends.

I think that I agree. It is very possible that this economic trend will be what fuels non-profit mergers and acquisitions. It will also likely re-shape board development and resource development best practices.

As breakfast came to an end and we said our goodbyes, I was left with one thought that is more than two millennia ago by the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus:

“The only constant is change.”

My conclusion? We can sit around our non-profit boardroom tables and lament change. Or we can recognize the challenges and adjust to the headwinds.

I say . . . Upward and onward! I have faith that the non-profit sector can and will adapt and evolve. We always have and I suspect we always will; however, let’s not drag our feet and let’s a move on it because “change” is coming fast.

So, I’m curious about what you think about this one philanthropist’s opinion about the effects of globalization? Are you having the same conversations in your community? What do you see other non-profits doing to adjust to what they perceive as winds of change? What are you doing? Please scroll down and share your thoughts in the comment box. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

FREE fundraising movies every Monday morning? Sign me up!

May 9, 2012 DonorDreams Board development, Fundraising

“Going viral” . . . It is something that every non-profit organization wishes and hopes that their ePhilanthropy efforts will do. For those of you still trying to find your “cyber-sea-legs,” let me give you a quick little example:

Johanna Wicklund is the Director of Program Development & Evaluation at Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay. She sees this awesome thing on the internet advertising free movie clips every Monday focused on fundraising and non-profit best practices. She signs up and forwards the information to her fundraising BFF who is Anne Lemke, the Grants Coordinator at Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Anne looks it over, signs up and forwards it to one of her favorite non-profit bloggers . . . which is ME, of course. I look it over and get excited. I sign-up for the free “Monday Movies for Development Directors” program and decide to blog about it.

Ta-da! This is what is meant by “going viral” with an idea, product or fundraising campaign. It feels very similar to a snowball rolling downhill, gaining speed and size.

Let me backtrack and talk a little bit about “Monday Movies for Development Directors“. This is a free service provided by Chris Davenport over at 501 Videos. Click the link I just provided, scroll down to the bottom of their landing page, give them your contact information, and every Monday they will send you a short clip of a fundraising interview focused on any number of resource development topics including (but not limited to):

finding donors
special events
social media
major gifts

The list literally goes on and on.

As Ron Popeil used to say, “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!”

The free clips you receive on Mondays are what people in the industry call “teasers”. You get some valuable information, but you are left wanting more because what you just tasted was so darn yummy! Of course, there is always more to consume, but it isn’t free anymore . . . you can have to pay a small price for it. In this instance, 501 Videos seems to be selling a number of different products including:

Movie Mondays Pro (online access to more detailed videos related to your Monday movie clips)
DVDs including “Top 10 Best Movies for Helping Board Members”
Movie making services to produce a marketing video focused on your non-profit and its services

Please don’t misinterpret the Ron Popeil reference. I am not being snarky or critical of Chris Davenport or 501 Services. “Sampling” is a common practice (heck, it is a best practice) when it comes to marketing. Chris’ heart even seems to be in the right place if you read about his story on his webpage.

Yes, I’ve signed up for Chris’ “Monday Movies for Development Directors”. So far, I like what I see . . . I might even purchase a few DVDs if I continue liking what washes into my inbox every Monday.

If you want to see a little sneak preview, click here and you’ll see a short clip titled “Strengthening Donor Relationships with Questions”. It really is quite good.

I’d like to thank both Johanna and Anne for directing this viral snowball in my direction. If you like what you see and want others to catch what you’ve caught, then post this blog to your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Pinterest accounts. In addition to Chris getting some business out of it, perhaps I can get a few more people to subscribe to my blog. 😉

Does your non-profit access other FREE fundraising resources? If so, please use the comment box below and share that information with your fellow fundraising and non-profit professionals. Come on . . . pay it forwards! You’ll feel after sharing, which is what philanthropy is all about.

Here’s to your health! ACHOO . . . I think I’m catching a virus!?!? (Yes, this last link is to a funny YouTube video about sneezing. Enjoy!)

Happy Birthday to ME! And what can non-profits do with THAT?

May 8, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Yesterday, one of my favorite non-profit executive directors took the time to wish me an early happy birthday and surprised me with a bottle of wine — La Crema Pinot Noir. It was a thoughtful gesture because my partner and I are big “winos”.

The reason I bring it up today can be summarized in one simple word:

STEWARDSHIP

Over the last decade, my partner and I have personally contributed $40,000 to this non-profit organization. In addition to our money, we’ve both contributed our time by helping with special events and working pledge cards for their annual campaign. To say “we’ve drank the Kool-Aid” is probably an understatement.

While we both like to hear about this organization’s program outcomes and community impact, we really get more excited when we hear testimonials or success stories. In other words, numbers and stats are nice, but stories are the payday we crave more than anything.

While the bottle of wine was very thoughtful and much appreciated, a simple birthday card probably would’ve sufficed. A phone call would’ve been really nice, especially if the conversation would’ve included a recent fun success story. The bottom line is that the birthday wishes from this non-profit organization sends a clear message that I’m a valued part of their family. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like being thought of that way.

As I bask in the after-glow of this stewardship touch, I find myself wondering what else could non-profit organizations do around a donor’s birthday? The following is a short, incomplete list representing just a few thoughts:

Send them a birthday card or call them . . . make sure to weave in a story about how their support makes a difference for your clients
If the donor doesn’t like “gift giving and receiving,” then this could be a tribute gift opportunity for your agency. This is, of course, where the donor tells their friends that in lieu of a birthday gift they’d appreciate contributions be made to your non-profit organization instead.
If your agency runs a “birthday club” for clients, then there might be an opportunity to fold donors into the same program using birthday recognition walls or inviting them to attend an organization-wide birthday party where they can interact with clients.
It could be an opportunity to turn a major donor’s birthday into a special event tribute party. The Elgin Symphony Orchestra is doing exactly this in a few weeks by inviting supporters to purchase tickets and attend a birthday bash for Harry Blizzard who is one of their biggest donors and supporters.

What does your non-profit organization do for donors around their birthdays? How do you go about capturing birth dates from donors? What systems do you use to remind yourself of this information? Please scroll down and use the comment box to answer a few of these questions.

Here’s to your health! (Oh, and thanks for the wine, Rose!)