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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. MQXMVUMXP8GV
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 DirectorsBy 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.
We were delighted today to have hundreds and hundreds (wow!) of organizations attend our webinar on "The Development Plan: The Foundation of Success." Presenter Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE, is a real fundraising guru who was able to make the all-too-often intimidating planning process clear and achievable for organizations of all sizes. The foundation of your success really is a good plan - please email us at info@missionresearch.com if you would like a copy of Linda's powerpoint. Also please comment here if you attended and would like to share a key take-away with your peers.
We will be offering webinars with top-notch gurus like Linda every month going forward. Do let us know via email or by commenting here if there is a topic you would find helpful to you as you work to achieve your mission.
For January, we will have Ruthellen Rubin, CFRE, presenting on how to get your Board of Directors involved and engaged in your fundraising efforts - another popular and timely subject! Stay tuned for more information!
On Friday night I attended an auction for the benefit of the Milagro House, an amazing organization that offers a "long-term, education-based program committed to restoring the lives of homeless women and children." I, probably like you, have attended many, many auction events over the years, and I expected this one to be the same. I intended buy some items just to support the worthwhile mission of Milagro House, but honestly, I just didn't need any more stuff.
But the event Executive Director Polly Lauer and her committee offered on Friday was not your typical auction. All of the items available for silent bidding were things needed by the people Milagro House serves. Instead of bidding on restaurant gift certificates and upscale services, we bid on a year's supply of diapers and driving lessons for a young mother seeking to achieve independence. We bid on GED courses and educational toys and electric bills. I was thrilled to see the bidding wars on such atypical items. It created a whole different vibe and spirit that was contagious, generous and fun.
Then, for every $25 in bid or increased bid you made in the evening, your name was entered into a drawing for 6 grand prizes. There you found your vacation homes and $1000 wine baskets. So, the more you bid, the better your chance of winning!
It was a great evening all around and very relevant given the economic situation and the increased awareness of the needs of others. A big thank you to Polly Lauer and Milagro House for a wonderful event - it truly was my honor to attend.
Please share any ideas you have on updating the traditional auction!
Every day the GiftWorks team helps nonprofits struggling with the inadequacies of using Excel to manage their fundraising efforts.
You can imagine the scenario: One spreadsheet for annual fund donations, another for the gala event attendees, one more for golf outing sponsorships, and yet another for volunteers. What if one person supported all of the above? Would you ever be able to realize the richness of her contributions? Would you be able to identify giving, attendance and volunteer trends and act on them? Would anyone ever be able to find and decipher your spreadsheets if you were no longer there?
Robert Weiner has written an excellent article for Idealware on resisting the temptation to use Excel to manage donor data. Please check it out and pass it along. Your friends will thank you!
I have long been a believer in events which gather donors and prospects and mix them together. From my early fundraising involvement with a longstanding annual donor recognition dinner event to experience with annual fundraising auction events and even a more focused 100th anniversary celebratory Gala, the intent I saw as always the same. First, to affirm the committed, honor the "doers", build affiliation, educate and, secondarily, raise money.
It didn't always work well. All too often, the raising money agenda squeezed attention away from the cultivation and stewardship functions that needed to be served. In small shops, especially with a paucity of volunteer help, a fundraiser will likely have problems juggling all the competing goals. Luckily, there is help available.
For the fundraiser with the need to grow fundraising but, perhaps, without current buy-in from board and leadership, consider Terry Axelrod's "Raising More Money" strategy now offered by Benevon. It provides clear, defined strategies and proven processes along with great opportunities to engage your board and leadership in non-threatening involvement. With appropriate leadership and support, this professionally developed program can help you build a new pervasive fundraising culture for your organization.
For the fundraiser with some current buy-in from board and leadership but no processes in place, Nancy E. Schwartz's "Put House Parties to Work for You Nonprofit - Here's Our Pre-Primary Party Concept" article is a great idea-generator to help you invent your own processes. On her Getting Attention marketing blog for nonprofits, she describes in detail how this event works. I found it very insightful in terms of all the ways her event engages people to interact, speak their minds, affirm their views, and all in a venue that left no bruises. Just the thing we hope for all our friend-raising events. Consider how this can be adapted to give leadership and board members hosting roles and engaging them in the critical business of cultivating donor relationships.
Of course, neither of these approaches can do you much good if you are not recording, tracking and communicating. Whichever path you pick, without doubt, GiftWorks can help get you there.
Ever feel that way about your mission? You and colleagues know that your mission is great and worthy and now you and everyone on your board is getting the pr bug. You know the drill..."if we had a great pr program to really tell our story we could achieve the recognition and fiscal support we deserve from our community".
I used to feel that way too. But now I have a different view of the process that needs to happen for nonprofits (or any other organization for that matter). Remeber that old consultive sales mantra "Tellin' ain't sellin', asking is." The core notion was that an orgrnaization will get more sales, in our case more community partnership, if they talk with their prospects rather than to their prospects and begin to not only appreciate but react to their view.
I was reminded of this principle once again when I recently ran across this vintage (October 2006!) article on the Public Agenda site (http://publicagenda.org/aboutpa/aboutpa_articles_detail.cfm?list=35) authored by Barbara Wadsworth. It is aptly titled "Toss Out the PR Playbook: Send in the Public Engagment Team. Though addressed to an audience wrapped in the significant challenges facing public education, she outlines an understanding easily adaptable to America's burgeoning nonprofit community.
Read it...and take away a much broader sense of what PR should mean to your organization and your mission.
Hi Folks: (Originally posted 10/2/06)
What's that doing in a development/advancement post? Its an allusion to the Pyramid at Giza in Egypt
The term "pyramid" comes up often in strategic or conceptual discussions of fundraising. Off-hand, I can think of three. There's the traditional Gift Pyramid, the general Giving Stages Pyramid, and the Campaign Pyramid...and they come from various environments: Yours, your nonprofit cohort community, and nonprofits at large. For now, I just want to establish some definitions for our discussion so we can discuss their value and the processes required to construct them.
The first pyramid is closest to you. Often limited to a time span of one year, it depicts the number of gifts, sorting them in terms of size, largest at the top, divided into ranges. It is a simple, yet powerful, graphic that is easy to construct. Using similar charting from year to year can often reveal trends.
The Giving Stages Pyramid refers to that oft-used graphic discription of the affiliation and commitment of donors. The "grass-roots" Occasional Giver community forms the broader base. Your Annual Giving group typically occupies the next narrower level. In the simple scheme, the next narrower level are Major Donors. And the top of the pyramid is occupied by Planned Givers. This pyramid depicts what is typically the case.
The Campaign Pyramid is a tool often used by campaign consultants to depict the scarcity and likelihood of gifts needed at various levels to complete your campaign successfully. For example, working from the top, for a $5 million effort, there might be projected a single lead gift of $1.5 million. At the second level, you could see two $500,000 gifts. Perhaps a third level will propose four commitments of $250,000. And so on. These projections are based upon your organization's past experience, past campaign experience, feasibility interviews with key constituents and the considerable experience that consultants can bring to the process.
In future posts, I plan to look more in depth about what each pyramid really shows and how you can use them to help you--and your Board and leadership--come to terms with the resource development challenges you face.
Your comments and observations about this perspective are most welcome...
I'm on the boards of a number of nonprofits. Over the past year two of them have had some serious issues arise which could lead to lower fundraising revenues. In one case, a significant number of longtime supporters are unhappy about one of the nonprofit's employees, and have discussed moving their support to another organization. The move would mean a loss of important supporters, their funds, and part or all of the program they support.
In the other case, the nonprofit has a significantly undersold event and is struggling to hit break even. A thin crowd could weaken its work, and a loss would truly hurt it. Unfortunately I can't help them that much because I'm in a completely different part of the country and can't help fill seats.
In the first case, I recommended either moving or removing the employee. The longtime supporters have a decent beef and should be respected through action, and their participation is too critical to just let it pass. In the second case, I recommended hitting the airwaves, while developing a contingency plan to give away tickets cheap or free, with the hope that the attendees will pitch in once they get to the place. It's more important at this point to get a strong showing and promote ideas than to hold on tightly to the ticket price.
What disasters have you encountered? What did you do to solve or avoid them?
giftworks | nptech | nonprofit | fundraising | software |
You've planned, you've sweated, you've mailed, and now people are showing up at your events. So what now? Take notes at the events. Make sure you know and connect with your top donors--the ones who provide 50 to 80% of your funding. Know them by name. Introduce them to your key staff. Thank them for enabling your work, and mention specific successes. Do this one on one, not just in your speech during the event.
When the event is over, hold a post-event review with your staff about who attended, who expressed additional interest, who might be great future supporters, etc. Send a special mailing to these folks and give them a call, and make sure you contact other attendees as well. Reaffirm your commitment to the mission they are supporting, and thank them again for their continued support.
This series of positive, reaffirming touches will help strengthen your relationships with your donors, and, likely, will lead to more consistent and larger donations over time. The cost is minimal, and the effort well worth it. I'm personally applying these practices in my advocacy for universal healthcare, and I can tell you it works.
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