by Susan Detwiler | May 31, 2009 | miscellaneous
Where do your donors come from? How did you meet them? How did you meet the person who introduced you to them?
In a previous life, I ran a for-profit market research consulting firm, focusing on medical and healthcare information. This is a fairly specialized field, but it suited my medical device industry background.
About 5 years into the business, I decided to figure out how I was getting new clients. Where did they come from? What prompted that call? How did they hear about my services?
I decided to conduct a genealogical study of my client base.
First, I ranked each client by the amount of business they gave me. Then, for the top clients, I walked backwards through our relationship. When did I get my first job from them? Why did they call me? How did I first meet them? How did they first hear about me? What was the very first contact?
Time consuming? Oh, yes. But it was one of the most worthwhile exercises affecting the future of my business. I discovered that ultimately, about 80% of my business was initially generated by my attendance at one of two particular industry association conferences. I met many clients directly at one of the conferences. A few others had first heard of me because of a session or workshop I had presented there.
What I called second generation clients were those who had been referred to me by one of those first two groups. Then there were third generation clients; those who were referred by one of those second generation clients.
In other words, even if I’d never met client Z at that conference, that conference ultimately led to my work for client Z.
Armed with this new knowledge, I was able to focus marketing dollars and energy on those two industry conferences. I made sure that I attended each and was visible at each. I made sure my existing clients and prospects knew I would be attending. I approached the organizations putting on the conferences and offered to write for their trade journal. Just as important, I allowed myself to stop spending money and time on less efficient venues and activities.
Every dollar that comes into our nonprofits is precious, and I’m not advocating giving up the annual appeal, the 5k runs, or the donor boxes at the door. But I am suggesting that you take the time to do your major donor genealogy. Take advantage of institutional memory that may reside with a long-term employee, board member or past-presidents.
Have them help you conduct a major donor genealogy. Work backwards and consider how you first met this particular donor. Who introduced you? Is there a friendraiser in common among your donors? Is there a function in common? While a major donor is a huge asset to your nonprofit, even greater is a major donor who refers others to your cause.
Then take action. Focus your board and yourself on the most efficient routes to major donors and put yourselves in their path. It’s a powerful way to leverage your time, dollars and energy.
by Susan Detwiler | May 18, 2009 | miscellaneous
One of the great things about the nonprofit sector is how collegial it is. After the last post about Finding That Nonprofit Career, I turned to colleagues on LinkedIn and asked them what books they would recommend to people contemplating the switch from the private sector. Especially helpful were colleagues in the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Chronicles of Philanthropy groups. I recommend that if this is a field you are interested in, you start watching the discussions on these two particular groups on LinkedIn.
One of the first to respond was my own business colleague, Jeff Metz of Bloom Consulting. Others were Andrew Brant, Sandra Larson, Ann Gwinn and Jeff Kern, all with experience in the nonprofit field, and almost all with prior experience in the private sector. Thanks to all for your assistance. Here’s the list developed from their contributions, and my own thoughts.
Managing the Non-Profit Organization: Principles and Practices from Peter Drucker is my own personal favorite. Several others also mentioned Drucker, who took his expertise researching and consulting to private firms into the nonprofit world. Other books originally written for the private sector are also important to the nonprofit world. Two that others suggested are:
Managing as a Performance Art by Peter Vaill
Made to Stick by Heath & Heath
And I would add:
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell as a way of viewing the social dynamics in your organization.
Recommended books specific to nonprofits are:
Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations by John Bryson
Field Guide to Leadership and Supervision for Nonprofit Staff by Carter McNamara
Forces for Good by Crutchfield & Grant
The Executive Director’s Survival Guide by Carlson and Donohoe
Recommended publications specific to finding nonprofit careers:
The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for Sector Switchers
The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-time Job Seekers Both from idealist.org
In the fundraising field “ and so many positions in nonprofit work require some fundraising skills:
The Zen of Fundraising by Ken Burnett
Asking – A 59 minute guide by Jerold Panas
The Ask by Laura Fredricks
Major Gifts by Julia Ingraham Walker
Securing Your Organization’s Future by Michael Seltzer
Donor Centered Fundraising by Burke
And there was one textbook in the bunch:
Nature of the Nonprofit Sector by Ott
Thanks to everyone for being so helpful! And good luck to those making the switch.
by Susan Detwiler | Apr 26, 2009 | miscellaneous
Populating Your Board II: Too Many Lawyers?
Now you have a good idea of what your board should be able to do as a whole: determine Direction, set Policy, provide Oversight, and Fundraise. But what about the specific talents you need?
What wisdom should they have? What work should they know how to do? If all you have are one kind of constituent represented, how do you know that the policy and direction you set will be acceptable to all the different stakeholders? If they’re all lawyers, how do you know you’re setting good financial or technology policy?
Filling vacancies on your board is too important to leave to chance. It should be a systematic process engaged in by many minds. Create a committee of your board and have your Executive Director join you; maybe your Director of Development, as well. Together, begin the process by figuring out who has a stake in your organization’s success.
What this means is, who cares what you do and how you do it, and are these groups important to your organization? For example, your clients are a likely stakeholder group. In a food bank, that may be a food recipient; in a school, that may be the students (or their parents). Other stakeholders are less apparent. In a university based social/religious organization I once served, we decided our constituents were students, alumni, parents, faculty/administration, community members, and clergy. For long-term viability and relevance, we needed people in each decade of life “ 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, etc. So we determined that as much as possible, individuals from each of these groups should be represented in our board mix. Having this mix allowed each set of stakeholders to feel that they had a say in our policy and direction, and that their point of view was being heard.
But again, if all of those stakeholders are lawyers, how do you know you’re setting good financial, human resources or technology policy? That’s when the committee and ED take a good, hard look at all the different kinds of decisions the board and executive have to make, and determine what kind of expertise you need to have on the board to make those decisions and provide oversight for their execution?
Do you have to make IT decisions? It would help to have an IT person on board. Do you have to make fiscal policy? A CPA will help. Do you have personnel decisions to make? Look for Human Resources expertise. And despite my kidding around, yes, you should have a lawyer on the board. Then look at your board and see where there are holes.
Here’s an easy way to start; open up an Excel spreadsheet and make a grid. Down the left hand column, list all the expertise you’d like to have on your board, and all the different stakeholder groups you can think of. Next, across the top of the sheet, in each column, list the name of a board member. Go down each column, and put an ˜X’ in each constituency and each expertise that particular board member can represent. Two-fers are good! A 50 year-old alumna who is a parent and also a marketing expert is a bonus. A 40 year-old community member CPA who conducts IT audits as part of his firm’s consulting practice is a nice plus.
Now, look for the holes. What expertise and constituents are you missing? Using this rough grid, you’ve made a start on figuring out the kinds of people you should seek out to join your board.
Will remaking your board happen in a single election cycle? Of course not. But by being systematic about the process, your ED and each member of the board can keep an eye out for likely prospects and your nominating committee will have good direction. When nominating time comes, your committee will have a way to think about whether an individual who is passionate about your cause can also bring something fresh to the board.
Of course, there are still some things that remain to be considered. How do you reach beyond the usual suspects? How do you go beyond the old girls’ network to find truly new people to consider? Stay tuned¦that’s another post!
by Susan Detwiler | Apr 22, 2009 | miscellaneous
What should your board members be able to do?
A lot of nonprofit organizations don’t appear to systematically consider who should be on their boards and how to go about getting them. Since entire workshops are conducted on this topic, I started to write an overview. It still turned into a longer post than I anticipated, so here’s Part I. What should your prospective board members be able to do? More in subsequent posts!
How do you populate your board of directors? There’s always the old girls’ (or old boys’) network. That’s worked in the past, or at least you were comfortable with the people you brought on. It’s hard to argue with past success.
But I’m going to argue anyway.
Classic wisdom says that seeking new board members is a case of looking for the 3 Ts: Time, Talent and Treasure, or the 3Ws: Work, Wisdom and Wealth. Each board member should have at least 2 of the 3, and the board mix should have all three well represented. It is true, many boards do a good job of looking for those three characteristics as they seek new directors among their friends.
However, to really have an effective board, you need a more systematic approach. Fundamentally, you need to find people who understand and care about the mission. But beyond that, they also need to understand and fulfill the major roles of a nonprofit board of directors: Direction, Policy, Oversight and Fundraising.
In terms of Direction, you need forward looking people who can think top level, in order to direct the organization to fulfilling its mission in the future. Sure, there are people who have been with the organization since it began 40 years ago, and having historical perspective is helpful. But understand that the world changes and your organization will also change. That glorious past is prologue¦what was, isn’t necessarily what should be now or in the future. Your prospective directors need the ability to understand where you are now and work together to provide direction for the future.
Setting Policy is the second aspect of board responsibilities. The Executive Director is hired to be the Chief Executive Officer. It is the board that sets the policies that the ED executes. What should be the policy on security, on personnel, on finances, on client care, on community relations? Your prospective directors should include people with a wide variety of experience in all the different areas of operation, in order to set sensible policies for execution, and be in-house resources to the ED for setting guidelines.
Concurrent with setting Policy is Oversight. Once you set Policy and hire the Executive Director, the board must make sure that those policies are being executed properly. Just like commercial corporations such as Enron, Bank of America, and others of their ilk, the boards of directors of nonprofits organizations are enjoined to oversee their operations, and make sure that their policies are properly enforced. There is a reason nonprofit boards need Directors & Officers insurance “ the Directors and Officers are ultimately responsible for the operations of the nonprofit. As with setting Policy, prospective directors should include people with experience in all the different areas of operation, so they can provide proper Oversight of each area.
Now we come to Fundraising. Raising funds is paramount to a nonprofit organization. In fact, when you ask some people what the role of a nonprofit board is, many will say, Fundraising, and stop there. No matter how much good will your directors have towards your mission, unless you have the dollars available to execute that mission, you will fold. While prospective directors may have deep pockets themselves, they cannot and should not be asked to carry the entire burden on their backs. This means that as you seek new directors, you must find those who understand their roles as chief cheerleaders and fundraisers for your mission.
Contemplating your current board of directors, consider whether each member understands each of these roles, and consciously accepts them. Whether you need to replace directors or fill vacancies, the next step is finding new directors who can fulfill these roles. Broadening your search to get the best possible talent pool means thinking strategically. How do you determine which skills you need on your board? How do you find the people who have these skills? How do you entice them to make your organization a priority? That’s fodder for another post.
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