Tag: resource development

July 25, 2011 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising

Deja vu and ePhilanthropy

An old friend of mine, Autumn Porter, sent me a Facebook message last week asking for help reconciling two very different ideas — face-to-face solicitations versus online videos & electronic pledge forms. As I stewed on how to respond to her, it dawned on me that resource development professionals, who have come before me, must have had a similar “moment”. I suspect that this deja vu moment probably occurred at the advent of the direct mail era.

First let me frame Autumn’s dilemma. On one hand, she was told that she needs to get out there, roll up her sleeves, infiltrate professional networks, schedule in-person workplace solicitation meetings, and ask … ask … ask. On the other hand, she has been told by a local employer that they are an “electronic workplace” and really think it would be better to ask their employees to view an online video over the company’s internal network and be given the opportunity to complete an electronic pledge form. Here is Autumn’s question:

“How do I begin to merge these two tangents into some sort of donor-centric approach? Are there examples of using social media to tie us directly to their heartstrings? Can we create a lasting connection of the human experience without being in the same square-footage? If people give to people, how do we continue to reach the people with the capacity to give?”

As I said earlier, “deja vu” all over again! With that being said, I suspect that those fundraising professionals who addressed similar questions during the rise of direct mail would probably stand here today with the same advice … “Know Thy Donor” and solicit them in the manner that they would like to be solicited. I also firmly believe that resource development professionals know that face-to-face solicitation is the most effective, efficient and respectful way to solicit. As such, good RD professionals know that there is a threshold when direct mail, email, social media and telephone calls are not respectful and in those circumstances they reach into their solicitation toolkit and use the most appropriate tool.

So, my best advice to Autumn can be summed up by this YouTube video highlighting a psychic, cosmic conversation between Luke Skywalker and Obi Wan Kenobi.

All kidding aside, I plan on using the remainder of this week’s blog posts to talk about ePhilanthropy and social media. In the meantime, I am interested in how you would answer Autumn’s questions. Please use the comment box below to weigh-in with your best world-class advice.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 22, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

I quit

A few days ago, an Executive Director friend of mine from Indiana emailed me a link to an article in Philanthropy Journal titled “Exodus of Executive Directors Expected“. I encourage everyone to read this article in full because it is deeply disturbing. It is also very telling about the state of the non-profit sector.

According to a survey cited in the article, 67-percent of respondents said they plan on resigning their executive director position in the next five years. While there are many reasons cited, I found it most interesting that many of the reasons deal with the board of directors. I suspect much of this originates from conflicts such as:

board members not engaging enough in fundraising and resource development
board volunteers having unrealistic expectations of staff
disagreements over how to address economy related issues (e.g. can we cut our way out of this budget hole versus let’s roll up our sleeves and do some fundraising)

We can go on and on with possible examples, but let’s stop here because all of this really isn’t the issue. There are two bigger problems

Only 17-percent of organizations who participated in the survey have written succession plans.
Fundraising is ALL about relationships and when human capital starts leaving your organization it can impact the relationships your organization has with volunteers and donors.

So, there are a few options I suggest you start considering:

Be proactive and ask your organization’s HR Committee (or set-up an ad hoc committee) to start working on written succession plan. Here is a link to some great resources published by The Foundation Center.
Roll up your sleeves and start doing the hard work associated with engaging and reinvigorating your board. I blogged about this a few weeks ago. Click here if you want to re-read the post I titled “Really? An Exhausted Board?”
Ask different board members and fundraising volunteers to engage in stewardship of your existing big donors. When your most important donors have multiple relationships with board and staff, they are less likely to be upset when their one and only connection to your organization quits.

While it is almost impossible to prepare for someone’s resignation, there are things you can do to get your organization in the best possible position to deal with it when it arrives. And keep your fingers crossed that it doesn’t come in the form of a YouTube video like this one “The BEST EVER way to quit a job!! HOAX“.

Do you sense frustration out there among non-profit staff? Do you agree with the Philanthropy Journal article? Do you think there are ways to avoid the exodus or best prepare for a scenario like this? Please use the comment box below and share your thoughts. We can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 21, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

I will survive

With more than 15-years in the non-profit trenches, I’ve come to the conclusion that non-profit work is incredibly difficult and demanding. This probably explains why most of the “non-profit lifers” I know seem to have a theme song that defines their non-profit spirit and serves as a motivator during the tough times.

My non-profit theme song is none other than “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor. Click here to enjoy a few tracks from this iconic song.

The reason Gloria found her way into my head this morning is because of a conversation I had with a dear friend about services I’m thinking about including in the business plan for my new consulting practice. She said something that really concerned me about the state of our non-profit community. Of course, it was Gloria that used to get me through troubled times, which is why she probably returned this morning to soothe my troubled non-profit soul.

Specifically, the thing she said that still has me in its grips is that most non-profit organizations she works with or watches are in “survival mode” and they don’t seem to have the time or resources to engage in capacity building, technical assistance or training. She went further and shared her observations that non-profits are mostly engaged in budget trimming, downsizing, and complaining about the economy and their “fate”.

On a “personal note” … if this is true, then my new business will have more than a few challenges. It is a good thing I LOVE challenges!

On a “bigger picture note” … if this is true, then we (the non-profit sector) have a bumpy road ahead of us because I’ve always thought that “survival mode” was a euphemism for a slow and painful death. Lou Holtz said it best when he said, “In this world you’re either growing or you’re dying so get in motion and grow.”

So, here I am stuck with many questions in my head and thought I’d pose them to my blog subscribers and anyone listening out there:

Do you share this opinion that non-profits are hunkered down in survival mode and not investing in revenue growth, board development, program development and expansion?
If any, what technical assistance services do you see other non-profits investing their time, energy and money into?
Where do you think non-profits should be focusing their time, energy and resources that will give them the best chance to survive over the long-term? Board development? New donor cultivation efforts? Current donor stewardship efforts? Planned giving? Endowment building? Annual campaign development? ePhilanthropy? Strategic Planning?

Please use the comment box to weigh-in with your thoughts. Your input will help me with my business plan, but I think it can also help others get a better idea on how to “survive” during tough economic times. Because if we fail to see that we can’t “cut our way to better health,” then I will have to alter my version of Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” to something that looks like this … click here to see this ugly alternative ending.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 20, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

NIMBY meets Ant and Grasshopper

Since yesterday’s post I have “cooled off” just a little bit about the charitable tax deduction debate going on in Congress and at the White House. One of my dearest friends — Fred — emailed me last night suggesting the tone in yesterday’s post might have been a little over the top (and I thank Fred for watching my back). Nevertheless, I am not done blogging about this subject, but I will try to do better with my tone today.

As someone who received his formal education in “urban planning,” I learned at a very early age the meaning of the word “NIMBY“. Of course, it is an acronym that stands for “Not In My BackYard and has been stretched to also include people who advocate a policy position but oppose implementation of it in a manner that would affect them or their cause.

Looking at our nation’s fiscal and budgetary situations, I think almost everyone sees that something needs to be done (e.g. spending cuts, tax increases, closing loopholes, etc). Unfortunately, it seems like everyone wants this done in a way where others will be asked to sacrifice while their budget allocations or special tax breaks or loopholes are preserved.

Isn’t this exactly what fundraising professionals are saying to Congress when they lobby to save the charitable tax deduction?

Additionally, as I said yesterday, we (the resource development community) need to keep this issue in perspective. President Obama and the Congress are not proposing the elimination of the deduction. As I understand it, the proposal is simply to cap the deduction at 28%, which means that only those Americans in the 33% and 35% tax brackets will be affected.

While I see both sides of this debate very clearly (and AFP does make some good points which I agree with regarding wealthier donors and tax implications), I think my biggest objections are three-fold:

there is far too much rhetoric and very few facts in this debate,
“Shared” sacrifice is the only our nation will find its way out of this current situation and the non-profit community has more credibility than stooping to NIMBY-like arguments, and
Shouldn’t AFP focus more time helping non-profits prepare for the inevitable day where government grants and preferential tax loopholes dry up?

I also find myself torn on the issue of “subsidizing” other people’s charitable contributions to their churches and social service non-profits. After all, isn’t that really what is happening when Uncle Sam” offered “Joe Q. Public” a tax deduction on anything?

Regardless of whether the end is near or not, there are things I believe non-profit organizations should start doing today in preparation for what I see as an inevitable decision our politicians will need to make one day. Here are just a few of my ideas:

Invest time, energy and money in getting better prospect identification and cultivation
Invest time, energy and money in development and use of an awesome case for support
Invest time, energy and money in donor stewardship
Invest time, energy and money in development of outcomes measurement and an impact assessment model
Double down on board development efforts to recruit new board volunteers with dynamic social networks who are enthusiastic fundraisers
Invest time, energy and money in marketing efforts (e.g. building a marketing committee, creating online social networks, improving transparency via your website, etc)

Let me leave you with this thought … challenges like this one are NOT new. In fact, they are as old as Aesop’s Fable about “The Ant and the Grasshopper”. Take a few minutes to watch this YouTube video and refresh your memory. After you do so, please take a moment to reflect on these questions: “What should you do to prepare?” and “What can I start doing today to begin preparing?”

I encourage you to share some of your thoughts using the comment box for this blog. We can all learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 19, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Romper Room time for fundraisers

“Romper bomper stomper boo! Tell me, tell me, tell me do. Magic mirror tell me today …”

Ah, now that brings back childhood memories of watching “Romper Room“. Sadly, I was always afraid of that last bit to end the show where the host recites those magic words and allegedly turn our TV set into a two-way window where she could see things that in reality really weren’t there. It was kind of like a magic crystal ball.

After reading an article on PNNOnline this morning about the future of the charitable tax deduction as part of the debt ceiling and budget debates, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is “Romper Room” time for the philanthropy community. Why? Quite simply, I believe everyone is pulling out their magic mirrors, trying to predict what “might happen” and how that “might impact” charitable giving, and weighing in with an opinion wrapped in rhetoric. Here is just one example from the PNNOnline article:

“The White House and Congress must understand that limiting the value of itemized deductions for charitable contributions will dramatically affect the charitable sector and those it serves,” said Andrew Watt, FInstF, president and CEO of AFP.

OMG … it is Godzilla! Run!

Additionally, AFP asked its members what they thought using a “web poll,” and more than half said they thought a reduction in the charitable deduction would result in a 10-percent drop in charitable contributions to their charities.

Seriously?!? There is no way that anyone including the President & CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) can make statements with that much certainty. I need everyone to take a deep breath and consider the following:

It is a web poll … how scientific can that be?
Do we need to talk about the shortcomings of survey data? If so, there are two great reading assignments for you — assignment #1 and assignment #2. A piece of advice … this is bedtime reading. Zzzzzzzzz! Please trust me when I say the results are garbage.
Very few people make charitable contributions because of the tax code. They give because it makes them happy, they want to change the world around them, the right person just so happened to ask them, and the list goes on and on. Sandra Sims at Step By Step Fundraising did a nice job make this point in her blog on what motivates people to give.
While it is impossible to say with certainty, a large number of Americans don’t itemize their taxes and receive no tax benefit for making their charitable contributions.
There have been many “scientific studies” done on the effects of tax policy on philanthropic giving. Needless to say, their conclusions are all wishy-washy because there are too many factors to consider including: the state of the economy, income, perceived personal wealth, state of mind (e.g. consumer confidence), quality and degree of training of the non-profit volunteer solicitor, etc etc etc. Click here to read an academic paper by Lise Vesterlund based on the scientific method and psychology. Go ahead and try to read all 70-pages objectively. If you were being honest and fair, you’d agree that the conclusions should best be summed up by saying “I dunno!”

The fact of the matter is that the tax rates bounced all over the place in the 1980s and there didn’t seem to be much of a noticeable change in charitable giving.

So, if you are one of my fellow resource development colleagues running around like Chicken Little, I beg you to please sit down, take a pill and put down your Romper Room magic mirrors. There is no need for hysteria, and let’s stop trying to use science to bolster opinions because the reality is that human behavior is too difficult to explain by using “web polls” and rhetoric.

Tomorrow, I will continue this discussion and even try to play devil’s advocate. In the meantime, please use the comment box and weigh-in with you thoughts on this subject. Am I being too dismissive? Have you seen more convincing evidence? Do you have a strong opinion on how your non-profit might be affected? If so, what do you base it on?

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 18, 2011 DonorDreams Board development, volunteers

Who’s on first?

Since I quit my job and started work on opening a consulting practice, I decided to take some time-off this summer to work on “me” which included getting involved in a few volunteer opportunities and miscellaneous projects. I am so glad I decided to do this because it has served as a gentle reminder that well-run meetings and a sense of organization is critical for any non-profit organization to engage and inspire volunteers.

Have you ever found yourself sitting in the middle of meeting thinking that you are in the middle of this very famous Abbott & Costello sketch titled “Who’s On First“?

Well, I have felt this way on a few very recent occasions and it can be very frustrating, which is why I thought I’d share some thoughts today on how to stop chasing your volunteers from the room. Here are just a few simple ideas:

Develop an agenda — this way people know what is being discussed and decided.
Send the agenda out in advance of the meeting — this way participants can formulate and focus their thoughts and not just organically babble.
Recruit a volunteer leader who can stick to the agenda — this minimizes time “down the rabbit hole” and keeps people’s time from being wasted.
Take meeting notes — meeting notes with a section focused solely on “action items” will remind participants who agreed to do what and by when. It will also ensure we didn’t just meet for no reason and keep us focused on actionable tasks. Send the meeting notes out immediately after the meeting as a reminder rather than handing them out at the beginning of the next meeting.
Honest recruiting — be clear in writing with a volunteer job description during the recruitment process. There is nothing worse than showing up to a meeting and finding out it is something very different (and more involved) than what you thought you had agreed to do.
Find painless ways to coordinate schedules and schedule future meetings — Try setting a future meeting date/time while you have everyone in the room. If that isn’t possible, use easy and free technology tools like Doodle or Tungle. Stop the endless and confusing email threads.

As the Baby Boom generation retires (e.g. potential volunteers) and the volunteer-minded Millennial generation comes of age, non-profit organizations need to get better at volunteer management. Those who fail to do so will fall short in the following areas: board development, program/operations, and fundraising & resource development (e.g. annual campaigns, special events, etc).

Here is one interesting handbook resource I ran across online from the University of Texas at Austin titled “An Executive Director’s Guide to Maximizing Volunteer Engagement“. I thought I’d point those of you toward this manual just in case someone you know wants to stem the tide of volunteers who have been seen running and screaming after meetings.

The ideas in today’s post are only the tip of the iceberg. Please use the comment box to share how you have dealt with a frustrating volunteer opportunity. If you are a non-profit professional, please weigh-in with additional engagement strategies or things to avoid. We can learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 15, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

Recruit dogs to serve on your board

Yesterday, I made a quick trip to PETCO because I needed to purchase dog food and cat food. When I got home, I checked my receipt and discovered that the cashier had added 22 cents to my bill as a donation to the PETCO Foundation. Hmmmm? I didn’t remember agreeing to make that donation. So, I decided to call the store just in case they were experiencing a glitch in their cash register software.

Needless to say, there was no glitch in the store’s software program. I was informed that every cashier is “supposed to” ask each customer if they would like to round their bill up to the nearest dollar amount and donate that amount to the PETCO Foundation. While I definitely didn’t agree to make any donation, I also didn’t want to make trouble for a minimum wage employee or make a big deal out of 22 cents. However, this experience did get me thinking:

I wonder how many of us accidentally make charitable contributions as a result of a cash register promotion and a clerical mistake? I bet this happens often and all of us should heed the old warning of “Buyer Beware!”
I started wondering whether or not a cash register promotion is a successful fundraising solicitation tool. Well, guess what … The PETCO Foundation took in $10,473,709 according to their last 990 tax document. While this revenue came in from many sources, I can’t help thinking that chump change apparently must add up quickly.
Finally, I started thinking that these darn dogs are so clever! They have us trained to provide them with food, shelter, love and now they’ve become really successful at fundraising.

For those of you who think I am just being silly with the last bullet point, then please take a moment to watch this YouTube video and I challenge you to tell me that I am wrong. LOL

Here is the sad truth about everything I’ve just written today … The dog in the video is 10-times more effective at fundraising than those volunteers who serve on your board of directors who continually say: “I’ll do anything else, but please don’t ask me to fundraise”. The next time you find yourself fretting about board engagement in your organization’s resource development efforts just remember that the problem might not be your resource development program. The problem might just be your board development efforts. It could also be that you don’t have enough dogs sitting around your board room table!

Is your organization successful at board development? Is 100% of your board room packed with what you would consider fundraising rock stars? If so, please share your secret best practices around prospecting, recruiting, orientation, evaluation, etc! We can learn from each other. Please use the comment box below to weigh-in with your thoughts on these questions or anything I said earlier about cash register campaigns, etc.

(By the way, the picture in today’s blog is our dog “Lady Betrys of Cardiff”. We call her Betrys, and this is her big internet debut. LOL)

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 14, 2011 DonorDreams Board development

Really? An exhausted board?

I opened a LinkedIn message from an old friend yesterday who asked me the following question: “I’ve got a board member that wants to give a challenge gift. What is the best way to present this to the board of directors that is exhausted of giving?”

In my response, I encouraged him to engage the donor as well as a few key board members in answering this question. However, this email weighed on my mind during a sleepless night and I awoke this morning both tired and with many more questions such as:

How exhausting can it be to open a checkbook and write a check? It isn’t like running a marathon! You have to watch this YouTube video on “Marathon Exhaustion“. If this is what your board looks like during any of your fundraising campaigns, then we have to talk soon! LOL
Who is responsible for situations like this one? Is there shared blame between volunteers and staff? Or can this quite simply be a case of bad staff leadership?
Is it possible that a “challenge gift” can solve a board burnout issue? What should be done to inspire and engage board members to once again become enthusiastic donors and volunteer solicitors?

After giving it some thought, I came to the realization that I’ve seen situations like this too many times. Oftentimes, this is what is going on:

Both staff and board lose sight of mission and they skip from fundraiser-to-fundraiser. It almost sounds like that “It’s time to make the donuts” commercial that Dunkin Donuts ran forever ago.
Board and staff start taking each other for granted and the tension builds.
Apathy sets in … board volunteers fall short on a few fundraisers and staff somehow magically find solutions by either trimming expenses or going out on solicitation calls by themselves. This creates a negative feedback loop and the cycle has begun.
Everyone has gotten too cozy with each other and board development efforts have been put on ice. New volunteer prospects aren’t identified or they come from the same old inbred circles. Volunteer training opportunities are not invested in. Annual board volunteer evaluation systems are shelved.

While I can make a living by blogging on this topic alone, let me just share a few things for you to think about. There are 9-keys to inspiring your volunteers and you need to be firing on all nine cylinders to be successful: 1) maintain mission-focus, 2) involve everyone in planning, 3) create a sense of “positive” urgency, 4) develop accountability tools, 5) celebrate ALL efforts (both successes and failures), 6) bring a sense of organization to everything, 7) make sure all meetings are well run and important, 8 ) set expectations up front during the recruitment process (stop ‘soft selling’ people), and 9) invest both time and money in training opportunities for volunteers. I want to thank Boys & Girls Clubs of America for teaching me these 9-keys because they have forever changed my life.

Here are two additional articles on this subject that I thought were pretty good:

Gail Perry Associates FIRED-UP FUNDRAISING: “How to unleash your board members energy for fundraising“
Fundsraiser cyberzine: “5 steps for preventing volunteer burnout“

So, if the shoe was on the other foot, how would you have advised my friend? Do you have any thoughts you’d like to share? How have you dealt with similar sitations at your organization? What have you done to put the “FUN” back in fun-draising? How have you continually kept mission-focus? Please use the comment box to weigh-in. We can learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 13, 2011 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising

The big stewardship mistake

Oftentimes, I’ve been told by non-profit organizations that they have limited resources and cannot implement a donor-centered communication program to steward their donors. After trying hard not to roll my eyes, I find myself forcing a smile and encouraging them to segment their range of gifts (ROG) chart and get as personal as possible (e.g. handwritten notes, periodic phone calls, and a face-to-face visit or two) with their largest donors. This seems to work and it moves them in the right direction, however …

It was not the BEST advice I could have given them!

Penelope Burk says it best on page 111 of her book “Donor Centered Fundraising“:

“Which donors need the most diligent investment from you? The answer is the ones whose loyalty is not yet secure, the ones whose current affiliation with your not-for-profit may still be tenuous. And who are they? They are your first time donors, those new contributors who demonstrate the highest rate of attrition between the first gift and the next ask.”

So, if I could go back in time or hit the “do over” button, I would tell those non-profit and resource development professionals to get really personal with the top 10% or so of their ROG chart. The after taking a cleansing breath, I would double down and tell them to put together a special stewardship program for first time donors. And by special, I mean more than just the typical gift acknowledgement letter and flurry of newsletters. Here are just a few crazy ideas I’ve had:

Create a special Donor Recognition Society for first time donors with a bunch of special “courtesies”.
Host a special town hall meeting (b/c I just hate “open houses”) for first time donors to hear first hand, witness and participate in mission-oriented messages and activities. This should help them see exactly what they have invested in.
Develop a donor communications series aimed only at first time donors with testimonials from larger, very influential donors talking about their excitement about various ROI success stories and their sense of fulfillment as a donor.
Institute a policy that all first time donors get a phone call from a board volunteer somewhere between three and six months after a donor’s first contribution. This phone call should include ROI-based information as well as the offer to answer any questions the donor may have. It would also be a nice touch to ask the donor if there is any feedback they might have for the non-profit and if there is anything they might want to get involved in.
Host a quarterly focus group session with first time donors and report the results and findings back to all first time donors.

And the ideas can go on and on … what do you do to help retain first time donors? How successful have you been at retaining first time donors? Please feel free to add onto the list of ideas that I just started by using the comment section of this blog. We can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

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