May 13, 2010

 

 

 May 13, 2010

 

 

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Starving To Be Politically Correct

By Thomas K. Keller, CFRE

“The happy man feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burdens in silence, and without that silence happiness would be impossible.”

The quote is from Anton Chekhov in “Gooseberries,” a classic Russian story that reminds me of a blunt line from Paul Simon’s song, “The Boxer,” written in 1968 while I was away doing my country’s bidding in Asia: “A man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest.”

I was a writer in the armed forces then, I’m still a writer now. I still write about war, but I’ve added several other tragic topics while plodding through a career as a professional do-gooder. There’s disease, ignorance and all kinds of misery.
And then, there are people who are poor and starving.

My little company writes a great deal about people who are poor and starving. But we’re not allowed to use the words “poor” or “starving” unless these unfortunate people live somewhere outside the United States.
If these people are our neighbors inside our own country, they’re economically challenged and they’re dealing with food insecurity. Countries in Europe, picking up on the language preferences of social service bureaucracies, are starting to talk this way, too.

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Volunteer Management …
They’ve raised their hands, help them fundraise

As with a healthy environment, a stable and just society and good latte, everyone can agree on the need but many people diverge on just what constitutes the best of each as well as how to secure it.

So it is with volunteers and making the best use of their talents, passion and availability: everyone agrees that getting the best out of them is essential, but many also disagree on just what that is. And, many will disagree on how to evaluate or measure volunteer contributions.

During the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ recent International Conference on Fundraising, Caroline Bolas of LEVELheaded Inc., said that evaluation should form a core aspect of the organizational culture and therefore the impact of any changes, as well as performance against the agreed objectives, must be regularly evaluated.

Bolas suggested the following approaches to evaluation:

  • Establish a clear baseline. This needs to include input from all levels of the organization.
  • Ensure the evaluation is purposeful. Prior to beginning the evaluation, it should be determined how the information will be used to aid learning and improvements.
  • Ensure the approach is transparent. To be effective, evaluations have to ask “tough” questions.\
  • Agree on clear success criteria. If not already in place, clear criteria should be agreed that would enable a judgment to be made as to whether an acceptable level of success is being achieved.
  • Agree how data will be collected. Whenever possible, it makes sense to use data what already exists and so limit additional burdens on people's time.

Management …
10 ways to help the CEO get involved in fundraising

The responsibilities of a nonprofit chief executive are as difficult as they are innumerable: fulfill the mission, keep the money coming in, make sure staff is happy and, the one that has so far proven impossible, get politicians to stop grandstanding by badmouthing nonprofits.

During the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ recent International Conference on Fundraising, J. Patrick Ryan of Skystone Ryan Inc., said there are four areas where a fundraising program will benefit from the leadership of a president/CEO: planning, engaging and recruiting volunteer leaders, nurturing key prospects and soliciting key prospects.

Further, Ryan suggested 10 ways by which a manager can help the president take the lead in fundraising:

  • Understand the CEO’s agenda, and anxiety about fundraising, if it exists.
  • Truly own the fact the person is prepared to give time, cultivate prospects, interact with volunteer leaders, solicit prospects attend events and be the organization's spokesperson.
  • Meet weekly with the CEO
  • Be organized, and show it.
  • Share information; it makes you the president's friend and trusted colleague.
  • Do for your president what you would do for your volunteer fundraising leaders.
  • Be clear with your president about how the fundraising program is being carried out, and what the CEO’s role is with each phase.
  • Make it easy for him/her to learn about fundraising.
  • Help the boss to understand the various types of gifts that are being sought, at least on a layman's level.
  • Be available as your president’s confidant.

Premiums …
Travel fundraising has donors going places

As fundraising becomes more innovative, and donors want more bang for their buck, travel auctions and similar types of packages are becoming popular with prospects as well as beneficial to nonprofits.

Speaking during the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals International Conference on Fundraising, Alyssa Johnson of Trips4Fundraising and Matt Holiday of Holiday Auctions discussed some of the varieties of travel packages that are becoming available as fundraising vehicles.

Among the possibilities.

  • Travel auctions used as additional fundraising activity. They can be added to a golf tournament or dinner, for example, or added to a Web site as an online auction and can be done live, silent or in combination.
  • Fundraising using travel packages. They can include marketing tips, social media tips and revenue enhancers. They can help with setting reserves or consignment enhancers.
  • Group member, donor and volunteer trips. These provide a fundraising opportunity as well as a chance to bond with and educate donors, members and volunteers. They ensure that travelers are invested in the success of the organization. A popular founder, director or other leader could be just the person to lead a trip and seamlessly recruit other travelers.
  • Your own branded trips. They can provide fundraising activity year-round with a little marketing effort. They can be promoted through your Web site, newsletter, events, advertisements and social media networks.

According to Michele Cohen, president of travel and auction fundraiser Mitch-Stuart Inc., who was also at the conference, any trip can be customized to meet the needs of your donor base depending on the demographics provided.

 

 

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