All too often well intentioned staff or board members will come to you, the seasoned fundraising professional asking for help securing funds for a need not originally in the strategic plan and more specifically, the integrated development plan.

These requests are usually for last minute programs, non-budgeted expenses, “silver bullet” fundraising events, and my personal favorite consultant fees… upfront payment for somebody promising to write grant requests.

When these requests come across my desk I’ll typically ask these questions:

Is the (insert urgent need here) worth alienating the donor most likely to fund the request? Not usually. If you have been properly cultivating and stewarding your donors you might have somebody interested in helping with urgent needs. If this is true, be sure to link the funding need to your mission and provide a clear case for support that resonates with your donor’s personal interests.

Why wasn’t this in our original budget? Usually last minute financial needs are not considered in the original budget because they are not essential to your ability to satisfy the organizational mission. If the emerging need is critical for organizational success, ask yourself (and the board) “what can we cut from the planned budget to fund this unplanned item?”

If we pay upfront for somebody to write grant requests, how do we keep them accountable for meeting performance benchmarks? You can’t. Staff performance should be built into the strategic plan and should be reviewed by the board at least quarterly. Adding staff or consultants to the payroll without clear performance expectations, and which are paid irrespective of performance sends a terrible message to the remainder of the organizational staff being held accountable by the strategic plan and proper board governance.

So when I’m asked “how long will it take you to raise the money?” I typically respond that it will take anywhere between four months and a year. This range varies depending on how the specific item relates to organizational mission, strategic plan, integrated development plan, budget priorities, board oversight, and donor linkage, ability and interest.

I have finally narrowed down all my research to a focused research topic. Please give me your feedback on the research title shown below. Feel free to leave a comment here or reply to @GivingThree on Twitter.

Cultural Dimensions Informing the Context of Philanthropy in Ghana: Evolving From Social Reciprocity to a Western Construct of Organized Benevolence

This post is an open request for feedback from people who have never worked for a nonprofit and are inclined to say “philanthropy” is an awkward word.

I remember when I first started working in the nonprofit sector. I entered the third sector workforce thinking of it as a short-term thing… you know, until I found a real job. However, I stuck with that first job for five years. During that time I learned that nonprofit organizations are no less professional than the private sector.

According to my boss at the time, I made important contributions to the organization. He frequently reminded me that the reasons he hired me were because I had the technical ability and personality to do the work, but mostly important – I brought a fresh set of eyes to the organization.

Having spent the better part of the past ten years as a fundraiser, board member, consultant, member of nonprofit professional societies, and student of philanthropy my “fresh eyes” are getting tired. I run the risk of developing tunnel vision. Buzz words and the “body of knowledge” are my blinders.

The following requests are directed to those with questions about nonprofit organizations, philanthropy, or any of the words nonprofit professionals throw around. Since you have the fresh eyes, I need your help.

• I need you to ask what we do, why we do it, and how it impacts the public and private sectors.
• I need you to ask questions that challenge nonprofits to be transparent, accountable, and innovative.
• When request for your philanthropy of time, money, and talent arrive in your mailbox, inbox, or through some other media, tell me what you like.
• If these requests don’t ring true, tell me why.
• When you see a nonprofit do something you like please share and explain what resonates with you.

Just finished listening to the latest podcast from Fundraising is Beautiful entitled Back from the brink: How a sick organization got better. It is over twenty-six minutes, but the first ten is worth it.

In discussing how he addressed the dreaded death spiral of an ineffective fundraising strategy, Chris Doyle, President and CEO of American Leprosy Missions revealed that the problem was their disregard for the fundraising basics.

By “fundraising basics” of of course am referring to the donor cycle. In the interview Doyle states that, for his organization,”the donor cycle was neglected. [...] It was money and people passing through rather than a comprehensive donor plan which included the cultivation of these donor and retention of these donors.”

Don’t marginalize the importance of stewardship and cultivation.

In my experience Doyle is right on target about how organizations behave as they realize they are in a death spiral. “When organizations get into crisis… they run around looking for the silver bullet that’s going to solve all the problems rather than just stopping, stepping back and assessing ‘what are we doing wrong here and how do we fix that?’ rather than looking for some new idea or something that is going to fix things.” I have seen this trend more times than I care as organizations respond to decreased donor interest and support.

It’s not the economy, it’s how you treat donors that invest their philanthropy in your organization. If things are looking bad, focus on the mission. If your fund raising efforts don’t connect directly to the mission, they aren’t sustainable.

My initial experience with Twitter echos this statistic. I tried out the service and quickly grew frustrated and gave up on my account. However I rediscovered Twitter about four months later.

The difference between my first and second attempt was that when I returned I only shared “purpose-filled tweets.”

Like my mother would say “if you don’t have anything [nice] to say then don’t say anything at all.” I think this also applies to Twitter. It is a good idea to know how you will use the service before you sign up. For the person on the street, Micro-blogging can quickly become much like shouting into hurricane-force winds, an exercise in futility. If you have purpose behind each and every post it can actually add value to your personal and/or professional networks.