June 29, 2011

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CEO, Keene, NH
Scope of responsibility for this CEO position includes: leading facility operational planning, consistent with organizational priorities; promoting high performance expectations in order to achieve goals and objectives, directing and overseeing financial stewardship with an emphasis on providing efficient utilization of resources.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. To date, the Conservancy and its over one million members have been responsible for the protection of over 18 million acres in the U.S. and have helped preserve over 117 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Jed Dorney (914) 925-2476.

It's not just enough nowadays to have a transactional cause marketing campaign that donates a percentage or dollar amount of a purchase to a nonprofit organization. Not only do these types of donations amount to little in terms of long-term growth, but also tremendously difficult to convert these one-time donors into long-time supporters of your organization.

Describing her organization as “small and mighty,” Sherri Wood, president and national coordinator of the San Francisco, Calif.-based, One Warm Coat, said that her organization rarely does advertising or marketing pitches, yet was able to win a 2007 Gold Halo Award for Best National/Local integration of a cause marketing campaign.

Providing organizational resources to parties seeking to set up a coat drive in their community, through corporate partnerships with retail giants Burlington Coat Factory, Aéropostale and Old Navy, the six-person nonprofit has donated more than 2.5 million coats to people in need and hopes to reach 3 million by the fall.

Despite the need for major gifts and foundation support, nonprofits still depend on the contributions they receive from individual donors, from that $5 check on up.

Speaking at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Fund Raising Day in New York 2011, Margaret Holman of Holman Consulting Inc. discussed trends that are holding in individual giving through the nonprofit sector. For example:

• Major donors continue to give, but they are narrowing their focus to fewer charities where they can make a bigger impact.

• People give when they have a sense of security and optimism about the future. The economic crash and rising health care costs have left few Americans with any sense of financial security.

• Lower-income people tend to be more generous than higher-income individuals.

• The most generous donors are more likely to give by mail and less likely than average to give online.

• More generous donors are more intentional about planning their support.

• Giving still happens because donors are involved with their organizations.

• Demographics still matter.

• People check out charities in the following ways: talking to someone who supports the charity, visiting a Website or searching the Internet, checking a watchdog organization or visiting the organization in person.

The task was to launch a $1 billion campaign. The obstacle was a limited history of principal gift fundraising.

That was the problem facing Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City when officials decided to make a major investment in both clinical areas and research in 2001.

During  the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Fund Raising Day in New York 2011, Richard Naum, vice president of MSKCC, and Kate Chamberlain, campaign strategic research director, outlined the Center’s approach.

Before this, fundraising at MSKCC was direct mail based with limited major gift or patient-oriented programs.

The new approach took two perspectives: capacity estimates of donors and a major gifts model for prioritization.

The campaign surpassed its $1 billion goal in August of 2006. Following are highlights from the two thrusts of the campaign. Capacity estimate for a five-year pledge included:

• Giving history

• Income and home value based in ZIP code

• Screening data from pervious years, to include real estate, stockholdings and private company sales.

Major gifts uncovered and refuted several myths:

• Major gift donors are new to the file. A whopping 86 percent had made a gift before their first $1 million gift.

• Major gift donors don’t give to direct mail. Some 58 percent had made at least one direct mail gift.

• Major gift donors don’t make tribute gifts. More than half (53%) did.

“This company would be a great place if not for those employees who keep showing up every day.”

Most of us have worked for a company that has that attitude – and if you never did, write and tell us how you accomplished it. By the same token, however, many people who make their living as consultants find themselves having the same mindset as Hank Goldstein, who is a principal in The Oram Group, Inc. and who has written a book, So You Want to Be a Consultant!: Consulting. He wrote that it would be a great business if it weren’t for clients.

Goldstein shared his thoughts on consulting at the Association for Fundraising Professionals (AFP) 2011 Fund Raising Day in New York.

His thoughts can be helpful to nonprofits, many of which rely on consultants to varying degrees, because he discussed both why the client-consultant relationship succeeds and why it (sometimes) fails.

The reasons for success:

• Correct diagnosis

• Clear expectations

• Attainable goals and objectives

• Reasonable fees and expenses

• Attentive professional service

• Great (or at least good) chemistry

And those reasons for failure:

• Client ignores or rejects advice

• Unrealistic expectations

• Unattainable goals and objectives

• Client demanding more time or more service for the same fee

• Board or staff leadership lacking