Compelling Client Stories

We just published our February eNewsletter which had three compelling client stories.  I think they captured the essence of the transformation that GiftWorks can help inject into an organization. I am going to reprint them here this week just in case you're not on our email list or you zipped through your inbox before reading the whole enewsletter.  (You can get on the email list by subscribing here).

The story below emphasizes the efficiencies an organization gains by using the right software.  If a nonprofit spends hours or days on activities that really should take alot less, it might not be serving its mission as well as is could be.  If you could save 5 hours a week, or 1 whole day a week, what would you do with it? I suspect you would do alot...

Please comment if your organization has identified or implemented operational efficiencies that others may benefit from! 

Haiti: Emergency Aid and In It For the Long Term
In a critical time for its mission, Health and Education for Haiti is thankful for the efficiencies that GiftWorks has brought to their operation.

"This month Health and Education for Haiti has three medical teams operating in the Jeremie area of Haiti (approximately 100 miles west of Port-au-Prince)," reports Treasurer Richard P. Gustafson. Each team (consisting of 8-14 health care professionals — doctors, nurses, pharmacists) serves one week — providing basic medical care; in more challenging cases (requiring surgery or ongoing care), they refer patients to other providers in the region--and cover the costs of the patient's care.   

Since their organization relies so heavily on outside help, the GiftWorks Volunteers Add-in is especially valuable. "The ability to track all of our volunteers and their skill sets is critical.  Our medical mission coordinator can easily identify which doctors have gone on missions, their specialties, and our experiences with them.  It enables us to fill our missions, such as the current crisis, with the right providers at the right time," according to Gustafson.

Health and Education for Haiti was founded in 2008 to provide medical services, education, infrastructure, and basic needs to less privileged Haitian citizens. In many areas of Haiti, the only functioning organizations in the lives of the villagers are their local Catholic parishes; Health and Education for Haiti works with these parishes to provide better lives for Haiti's citizens.

Beyond the current crisis, Health and Education for Haiti works in four program areas: medical missions, education (sponsoring students and supporting teachers), infrastructure(communications, water, power), and basic needs (developing sustainable food and shelter). They work primarily in the Grande-Anse Department (province) in Haiti, which has historically been underserved by both the Haitian Government and International Non-Government Organizations (NGOs).

Donations are received online and elsewhere — and 100% of donated funds goes directly to the services in Haiti. The Board itself underwrites all of their fundraising, general, and administrative expenses.

Health and Education for Haiti has used GiftWorks software for about eight months; "it's really helped us to improve our focus on mission delivery.  The software has reduced the administrative tasks around our fundraising.  The integration between GiftWorks and QuickBooks has enabled us to enter information once and have it appear everywhere we need it. ("Before using GiftWorks we had to enter our donor information into QuickBooks and Excel [for mail merge], and also enter the donation information into QuickBooks and Word [for receipts and thank you letters].) Now we are able to enter all of this information once into GiftWorks, and it manages all the other activities for us."

For more information or to donate to Health and Education for Haiti, visit http://site.hehonline.org. 

 

Newest Endorsement: Alabama Association of Nonprofits

The GiftWorks Team is proud to announce our newest endorsement and partnership with the Alabama Association of Nonprofits!  This is the 14th state nonprofit association to partner with GiftWorks to bring simple, powerful (and affordable!) fundraising software to its membership.  We welcome the Alabama Association and all Alabama nonprofit organizations into our fun, knowledgeable, and ever-growing community.  

Let me once again encourage our US readers to join your state nonprofit association or the National  Council of Nonprofits.  The nonprofit sector speaks louder and more forcefully when it speaks together, and these association are true advocates for the sector in many, many ways.  Never has it been more important for nonprofits to stick together and work together. Joining provides significant benefits too - well, just check out Alabama Association of Nonprofits website to get an idea of the value a membership provides.

Next Topic: Building a Development Committee

We've had alot of interest in learning about the role of the board in fundraising.  The obvious next step is building your organization's development committee.  I have served on multiple development committees, some highly productive, and others, well highly dysfunctional.  I have personally found that when the board and staff are fully working together and understand the value and expected contribution of each role makes for an exciting and truly successful committee.

So, how do you establish this successful development committee?  Who should serve?  What are the roles, responsibilities and desired outcomes?

I hope you can join us for a free webinar covering all of this are more on Thursday, February 11 at noon ET.  Our expert presenter is Linda Lysakowski, AFCRE and CEO of Capital Venture.  She's a true guru and also a very engaging speaker.  Board and staff alike will benefit and all are welcome to attend.  Space is limited, though, so please register now here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/494294552.

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The Role of the Board in Fundraising

If this is a topic of interest to you, please come to our webinar tomorrow (January 20), Getting Your Board Onboard with Fundraising at noon ET. Our expert presenter is Ruthellen S. Rubin, CFRE. We invite you to sign up for the webinar at GoToMeeting.

If you are reading this after January 20, we would be glad to share the visual part of presentation with you—please e-mail us at info@missionresearch.com to request it.

Finally, below is an article on the role of the board in fundraising that Ruthellen wrote for the GiftWorks January eNewsletter. Do share your comments!

Success in Fundraising Starts with the Board of Directors

By Ruthellen S. Rubin, CFRE

The last decade was characterized as a time of plenty in the charitable arena: plenty of good causes, plenty of organizations, plenty of government support, plenty of corporate and foundation money, and plenty of individual giving.

Well, guess what? The party's over. Unquestionably, we are in the midst of a worrisome rebalancing and readjustment of charitable dollars. To succeed in this and the impending economic climate, nonprofits must renew their commitment to the basic fundamentals of fundraising. It starts with the board of directors.

Make sure that your board members agree to adopt best practices with regard to their responsibilities. In the area of fundraising, this means that the board must ensure that the culture of philanthropy and the commitment to the case for support of the organization start in the boardroom. Before board members can turn to their loyal donors and new prospective donors, they must clearly and unequivocally demonstrate their own support of the organization. This has never been more important than it is right now.

"The board must ensure that the culture of philanthropy and the commitment to the case for support of the organization start in the boardroom."

Donations are down, government funding is tentative and foundations have less money. At the same time, the demand for services, scholarships, programs and advocacy is soaring. Funders are asking, "Is your organization a good investment for me?" Potential donors are asking organizations to demonstrate how they have planned to meet the needs of the community and simultaneously positioned themselves to survive possible funding cuts. It is vital for board members to publicly demonstrate their confidence in and financial support of their own organizations.

Following are some tips for creating and maintaining the most valuable kind of board for your organization.

1. Board member giving
One of the key responsibilities of every board member is to ensure sound resources and finances for the organization. That means the board is responsible for seeing to it that the organization has the funds to carry out its mission. Before board members can begin to fundraise externally, each must make a personal financial commitment. The old ideas — "I give my time, so I don't have to give my money," "I'm on a lot of boards, so I can't give much," "You should appreciate me for my good ideas ... that's enough" — are out. O-U-T ... out. Each and every board member must make a financial contribution annually that is personally significant and meaningful.

2. Annual board orientation
No matter how mature, well-heeled or experienced your board is, there should be an Annual Board Orientation scheduled every single year. Ideally, this is when you bring in your new members, so everyone can start the year on equal footing. This is the time for a review of the responsibilities your organization has set forth for board members, reaffirmation of your board giving policy, agreement to a strategic fund development initiative and, above all, a recommitment to the mission of your organization.

3. Board expansion and diversification
The dynamic nonprofit board enforces term limits, rotates leadership and actively recruits new members. Thereby the board enlarges its circle of influence, attracts new skill sets, expands funding sources and strengthens its organization. The responsibility for new-member recruitment must be shared by all. Each board member should be an ambassador for the organization and dedicate the time and energy to cultivating new members in much the same way you would cultivate a prospect for a major gift.

4. Contingency plan
Every nonprofit organization, school, congregation and public benefit group should be actively rethinking its activities and creating contingency plans based on the new economic realities. Fiscal Management Associates and the Nonprofit Finance Fund offer tools, checklists, tips and a free webinar from their December 2008 event: The 2009 Nonprofit Economic Climate: Managing Through the Downturn. Take advantage of these free resources, and put these topics on your agenda for your next board meeting.

"The elevator speech won't be enough in this environment."

5. Board training
Budget and plan for training sessions for your board members to continue to build the skills needed to create and articulate the case for support (the elevator speech won't be enough in this environment), and learn how to be strong ambassadors for your cause. Training will help them learn how best to support your organization's fundraising initiatives and ensure your development office has the resources and technology needed to succeed.

Ruthellen S. Rubin, CFRE, is a consultant to nonprofit organizations specializing in fund development, technology and board training, and a professor of fundraising and philanthropy at New York University.