Archive for the ‘Weblog’ Category

An Executive’s Guide to Fundraising Operations – Not Exclusively for Executives [Book Review]

Jul 18, 2011 Weblog

It’s no secret that there’s a shortage of quality books addressing the topic of fundraising operations (also called development or advancement services). This book is a welcome relief to this shortage. An Executive’s Guide to Fundraising Operations: Principles, Tools & Trends (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series) fills the gap nicely with a well organized and well researched text. This book isn’t just another “how-to,” but includes perspectives from the field in the chapter titled “Decision Advice from the Field.” These contributions from practitioners in the field help bring additional context to the terms, concepts, and examples showcased elsewhere in the text.

I believe this book of great value, not just for the non-profit executive manger as the title suggests, but also for front line fundraisers. Regardless of your position in the organization, this book will help you better appreciate the theory and application of effective fundraising operations and will help you better utilize this organizational asset for accurate and timely information and help ensure donor satisfaction and retention.

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Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding – Valueable, but Not for Obvious Reasons [Book Review]

Jul 11, 2011 Weblog

I’ll preface my review by disclosing I personally believe that the public, private and non-profit sectors serve as a system of checks and balances between one another. As a result I am not in favor of cause marketing because of how it blurs the boundaries between the private and non-profit sector. Cause marketing is attractive to non-profits because it appears to be a mutually beneficial arrangement–non-profits create another revenue stream and for-profits sell more products and make consumers feel good about their purchase. However, since the motivations of the private and non-profit sectors are so disparate (shareholder profits versus and the greater good), the non-profit sector loses more than it gains because it discounts (in my view) its most valuable asset, philanthropy.

Despite my bias, I approached this book with an open mind and was pleasantly surprised to find tremendous value in Breakthrough Nonprofit Branding: Seven Principles to Power Extraordinary Results (The AFP/Wiley Fund Development Series). It is clear that Daw and Cone are highly experienced in the area of cause marketing. However, the elements I most appreciate about this book had nothing to do with cause marketing. The way the authors addressed the topic is what brought me the most benefit. I appreciate that this book uses a Jim Collins-esque approach of selecting top performing organizations to case study–this brought great credibility to the methods these organizations utilized. The authors don’t just explain key concepts, but apply them in a way that makes the principles of engagement, loyalty, and community real and actionable. These elements help seasoned fundraisers understand how to better communicate a non-profit organization’s case for support by adopting strengths from the private sector–this helps us view communication strategies through the “branding” lens of the private sector.

If you are a business looking to partner with a charitable organization, a non-profit looking to give your organizational mission more richness through a strategic partnership in the private sector, or like myself looking to better articulate the non-profit organizational brand by borrowing from the private sector, I believe this book is a must read.

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Being Deliberate About Non-profit Organizational Culture

Jul 6, 2011 Weblog

My wife, an apologist for how non-profits would be lost without development operations, was stressing to me last night the role gift acceptance policies have on influencing organizational culture. Noting the validity of her perspective, I accidentally tweeted a weblog title as a place holder for a future article. Truth is, I had been thinking about organizational culture for a few weeks now.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal, found through Lifehacker, touches on the importance of considering culture when trying to transition from a temporary job to a full-time position. This led me to consider what elements might impact the culture of a non-profit organization, not in relation to temporary employees, but with regard to maintaining organizational health for existing staff. A side effect of a healthy organizational culture, actions speak louder than words and organizational culture can be very telling externally (which should help in donor attraction and retention).

I began thinking about organizational culture a few weeks ago when the July 2011 edition of the Harvard Business Review arrived in my mail box. I encourage you to purchase this edition or at least check out the articles on collaboration. I was reminded about the impact of organizational culture again this week by a news report regarding an culture of alleged cheating in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS).

Area superintendents, who oversee clusters of schools, enforced a code of silence. One made a whistle-blower alter his reports of cheating and placed a reprimand in his file — and not the cheater’s. Another told a teacher who saw tampering that if she did not “keep her mouth shut,” she would “be gone.”

“In sum, a culture of fear, intimidation and retaliation permeated the APS system from the highest ranks down,” the investigators wrote. “Cheating was allowed to proliferate until, in the words of one former APS principal, ‘it became intertwined in Atlanta Public Schools … a part of what the culture is all about.’ ”

In the case of the APS, it seems that organizational leadership set the tone for the culture. During my time working in the non-profit sector I’ve noticed a few other things that shape organizational culture.

  • Meetings – The time we spend together with coworkers in meetings allows group dynamics play out. Aspects of meetings that contribute to culture… the regularity of meetings, meeting format (don’t get me started on Robert’s Rules). Even the person chosen to lead a meeting speaks volumes about organizational culture. Does the same person chair the meeting month to month and year to year? or is this responsibility shared among the team and in reflection to individual team member strengths?
  • Communication – How people refer to one another, are formal titles used broadly or selectively or are staff on first-name basis with one another? The words and terminology we use can reflect organizational culture (e.g. director of development versus director of philanthropy). How is information shared across the organization? Is it timely? Is it done face-to-face? Is it done over E-mail? Is it hierarchical in how it’s disseminated?
  • Cornerstones – For a lack of a better term I’ll use this term to refer to the policies, procedures, protocols, norms, and mores. Has your organization adopted gift acceptance policies, the donor bill of rights, the code of ethical principles and standards? Better yet, are these cornerstones referenced and adhered to? How about the intangibles that affect staff morale… Like the example of the Atlanta Public Schools, do you reward bad behavior and promote under-performers? Do you encourage diversity if thought and promote innovation? or does your organization deliberate about minimizing exposure to risk and new ideas?

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Reconsidering the Titles We Give Professional Fundraisers

Jul 6, 2011 Weblog

Yet another member of the front-line fundraising team at my organization is departing for a position at another institution. So, as we’ve done in the past, the team gathered last night to bid farewell to Sharon — a valued colleague, trusted confidant, loyal friend, and in my case… my fundraiser?

About two years ago I decided that if I was going to be supporting my institution with philanthropic support, I should have a contact that could help set up my gift and would steward my support. Even though the research I wanted to support was literally thirty feet from my office door, I felt I should still have a chance to have a full donor experience and get to work with a fundraiser in that journey. I asked Sharon if she would be that person.

In Sharon’s departure I’ve had to consider who I’d want to represent my philanthropic interests with the organization. I believe I know who I’ll ask, but the hard part is figuring out the right way to pose the question.

Within the profession we use awkward terminology to refer to the relationship donors share with the person that represents their connection with the organization (e.g. development director and major gifts officer). Neither of these titles reflect the balance professional fundraisers negotiate between donor intent and organizational need… a highly difficult task in light of donor advised funds, restricted gifts, and performance-driven grant making. These titles also fail to address the other aspects of the fundraising profession, the trust relationship.

Look at any other professional field. Let’s say you were talking with a close friend and wanted to make reference to your doctor or accountant. You would be inclined to use a possessive pronoun. “I have to schedule an appointment to see MY doctor.”

Professional titles (doctor, accountant, lawyer) brings with it connotations of trust, confidentiality, expertise, and ethics. I proudly wear the banner of “fundraiser,” but know that this title is not fully descriptive of my profession and of my responsibilities. This became clearer last night as I considered who among my colleagues I would want to represent my interests as I continue giving to my institution.

Those that know me also know how I’ve described my job when asked by those that don’t understand the concept of a major gift officer (no, I don’t have a badge to prove it). I have settled on using the term “philanthropic adviser.” This is in large part why my current working title is now “director of philanthropy and development” not just “director of development.” I’m quite pleased with the prospect of referring to Sharon in the past tense as my philanthropic adviser. I am also confident that when I ask one of my colleagues to represent my support to the institution as my philanthropic adviser, they will be quite clear with what I am asking of them. However, I still wonder if a better term exists for professional fundraisers.

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Questioning Diversity in Fundraising

Jun 21, 2011 Weblog

I’m currently on vacation so, the past couple days, I’ve been working my way through Cultivating Diversity in Fundraising by Janice Gow Pettey. As I read her book, several questions keep coming to mind. Anybody that really knows me will appreciate that I tend to ask a lot of questions to challenge my own assumptions. This isn’t to say I disagree with my assumptions, rather I think it’s important to be on a continual quest for knowledge and questioning is one of the ways I learn best. With that said…

One of the underlying themes of Janice’s book is that, by bring diversity to fundraising we will improve donor experience, fundraiser performance, and organizational sustainability.

If this is true, then:

  • Why don’t I see more AFP or CASE conferences, seminars, or webinars discussing best practices of incorporating diversity into a nonprofit’s organizational culture?
  • Why don’t leading charity evaluation tools (e.g. GiveWell or GuideStar) have measures for diversity as it applies to organizational performance, donor experience, or sustainability?
  • Are we demonstrating an ethical dilemma by not seriously considering diversity in our organizational strategic plans?

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