Rachel Muir

Priming Your Board for Fundraising

When we think about having a strong fundraising board it can be tempting to think about filling your board with lots of big name individuals that you expect to write huge checks. In reality, these people may have no real connection to your cause. And if you are lucky enough that they do, they may be too busy to either commit to board services or worse, they’ll commit and never show up at meetings. 

Too often, eager to fill a vacant seat or secure a well-known name, we fail to clearly articulate expectations of service to prospective board members, or downplay the expectations of service.

“There is no question that orienting new board members to their responsibilities, especially around fundraising, is critical,” says Linda Crompton, BoardSource President and CEO. “In our 2010 Nonprofit Governance Index, BoardSource found that 90% of the boards with a structured orientation process were rated as effective, compared to only 67% of the boards without such a process.”

In addition to a job description, prospective board members should receive a board manual and board contract to help them understand and be successful in their role.

Board Manual

“Board manuals can be a key resource in facilitating the work of a board member. New members should receive a manual when they join the board and be encouraged to use it to track or manage all of their work. A board manual can also be used as the basis for an orientation training session. Board members report higher satisfaction when they participate in a formal, in-person orientation, and reviewing the content of the board manual will ensure that new members are consistently and thoroughly oriented to the work of the board and the organization.” –Greenlights for Nonprofit Success

Templates for organizing your board manual are available through many organizations. For one set of examples, check out the free board resources from our friends at Greenlights for Nonprofit Success.

Board Contract

One of the most critical pieces of content in your board manual is your board contract.  Ideally your contract lays out the following:

• Individual gifts the board member will make
• Fundraising the board member performs on behalf of the organization
• Program attendance
• Committee participation

Don’t forget the signature at the end, and make sure you each get a copy. 

Board members are your most committed volunteers. By providing them with excellent training and clear expectations, you are showing that you value them as exactly that.

I Quit

I quit.

Two words a board chair never wants to hear from their ED. Few things can be as disruptive to an organizations success as an Executive Director transition. The staff may be crushed. Your board chair will likely feel horrible this happened on their watch. Mine did three years ago when I told my board chair that after 12 years at the helm I was leaving the organization. 

I’m not alone. According to the 2011 Daring to Lead report, 34% of nonprofit executives will depart within 2 years. You might be surprised to learn that your for-profit leadership peers were pegged at lower attrition, only 25% according to the Corporate Executive Board.  What’s really shocking is only 17% of organizations have a documented succession plan. 

Winston Churchill said, “I am always ready to learn but I do not always like being taught.” Leadership transitions are painful but they can teach us a lot. People change jobs; it’s a fact of life. How can you be prepared? 

5 simple steps to take now:

1. Keep up to date job descriptions.
2. Make sure key internal process are accurately documented: passwords,  signing authority, key documentation and procedures, etc.  
3. Have an airtight communications plan to thoughtfully communicate your change to the appropriate groups, moving from your inner circle of closest supporters outward. Leverage this important time to show gratitude to your outgoing leader, your positive outlook on your future and confidence in your temporary or incoming leadership. 
4. Develop an Emergency Succession Plan that addresses your temporary staffing structure in case of emergency, including authority and restrictions of the Executive Director.
5. Considering hiring an Interim Executive Director. Times of transition are critical opportunities for reflection and growth. With the expertise of a seasoned external leader to come in and provide leadership and assess the organizations health, priorities sand opportunities the staff and board can get an unbiased impartial look crucial for making decisions about what kind of leadership and direction are needed. Even better? It’s already budgeted!  Learn more about Interim Executive Director programs from our friends at Greenlights. 

Feel prepared? Take my colleague Jennifer Darrouzet’s “7 questions” quiz to see if your organization can pass the test! 

Mission Statements That Matter

Why is our industry plagued with so many terrible mission statements? You know the ones…they include meaningless words like “outreach” or “integrity.” Wordy, vague, fuzzy, with a gratuitous gloss of inspiration layered thick on the top. Completely forgettable and even our staff stumble on their words to get it out. If they do recite it correctly it’s a feat and you can forget about anyone getting truly inspired by it.     

Here’s one reason: too many cooks in the kitchen. Everyone gets together around a conference table, or a board retreat after a long day of strategic planning and suddenly it’s a war of the words.  Even more likely it’s a passive aggressive battle of wills. Each side is pushing for their favorite quasi-jargon and in the end you get a collection of cobbled together buzzwords that together say nothing concrete.  

Walt Disney has my favorite mission statement of all time, “to make people happy.”  Short, succinct, clear as bell. I can’t help but smile when I get to the word “happy.” Another favorite is the Ritz Carlton Hotels: “We are ladies and gentleman serving ladies and gentleman.” Can’t you just feel the 800 thread count sheets? 

The best nonprofit mission statements demonstrate the essence of why the organization exists and how it makes an impact in as few words as possible. Is it clear? Is it useful? Is it succinct? Can it fit on a t-shirt? Do you have a meaningless “while” in there to conjoin two filler aspirations? 

It’s a formidable challenge. The mission must speak to your uniqueness and core competitive advantages. Clarity is your greatest strength: it should guide the organization in making decisions. I started and led a nonprofit called Girlstart for 12 years; our mission was to empower girls in math, science, engineering and technology.  Simple but clear, so when presented with opportunities for character building programs we knew it was out of our mission.

Junior Achievement’s mission statement is “Educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics to improve the quality of their lives.”  They had me at free enterprise.  

3 tips for better mission statements

1. Be concise. Strive for one sentence. The “extras” you don’t want to part with can find a home in your core values.   
2. Focus on something quantifiable. Microsoft’s ambition is clear: “A computer on every desk and in every home, all running Microsoft software.” 
3. Make it reflect the difference you want to make.   

Check out this fun video I originally saw on Katya’s blog for more ideas about writing a better mission statement.

Golden Rule of Stewardship

The best source for your next gift is the person who gave you your last gift. Sounds easy right?

But according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), in 2008 for every $6 raised by charities, they lost $5 through attrition and the 2009 numbers didn’t look any better – with $6 lost through attrition for ever $4.50 raised. If your losses are outpaced by your gains, how much are you actually accomplishing?

The longer you keep your donors and cultivate them effectively, the more they will give over time. As advocates, volunteers, through upgraded gifts, legacy investments and sustained giving. Two simple words can ensure you’re getting off on the right foot: thank you. We all like to think we’re showing donors how much we appreciate their generosity, but there are some simple steps you can follow to master the art of appreciation:

• Make sure your thank you is prompt, accurate and sincere. Try to acknowledge a gift in a meaningful way within 24-48 hours of receipt.
• Be transparent and provide insight as to how the gift was used. Show the gift in action and detail results. If possible include a personal touch, whether it’s a photo of your founder or someone the organization has helped through the mission.
• Acknowledge that the gift will be used as the donor intended – this is key.

Interested in learning more? Join us at today's Convio Summit for the Golden Rule of Stewardship (2:45 p.m. Harborside Saloon E) or flip through the slides below.  A simple “thank you” can be the spark that lights your moves management efforts. 

Art & Science of Moves Management

Does your moves management program look something like this line up from The Usual Suspects? We go to the well yet again, and ask the same donors we just asked to support our most recent campaign.  Our donors may even call us on the carpet and tell us we need to widen our circle of friends. We nod and agree, but do we follow up to meaningfully engage them in actually helping us build our network?   

Here’s the million dollar question: when was the last time you spent time with your donor without the intent of asking them for a gift? How well do you really know them? Do you know what program you have that they are most passionate about? Are they getting prompt meaningful acknowledgement for their gifts? If you are properly (and promptly) receipting and acknowledging your gifts you are performing better than your peers but before you pat yourself on the back, are you personally contacting the donor to let them know how their gift had an impact? When was the last time one of your program managers contacted them to update them on their pet project?       

We don’t want donors to feel like an ATM for the nonprofits they support. Want to learn what your major giving program might be doing wrong and how to change it? No one makes the case better than Jeff Schreifels, senior partner at the Veritas Group and veteran fundraiser, in his post 10 reasons why major giving programs suck.

If you are hanging your head in shame you aren’t alone. You can’t have a methodical moves management program without the right tools. That’s like trying to fish with your hands. No tool is more important to a robust moves management program than a Constituent Relationship Management System, or CRM. If fundraising is part art and part science, CRM is the science. Let’s face it; you can’t track or strategize how to cultivate a prospect using sticky notes. And spreadsheets will only get you so far. You need a system that gives you a 360 degree view of your constituents so you can deepen your relationship with them and connect with their networks to widen your circle of friends. A strong CRM system like Common Ground allows you to streamline the process to pinpoint the donors who can have the greatest affinity and capacity to give and create step by step replicable moves to cultivate them to make a major gift to your cause. (To learn more about how Common Ground helps you implement moves management read our whitepaper.)

Having the right system in place to manage your relationships is the first part of the equation. The real art of fundraising is creating meaningful touches to move a prospect closer to a gift. To inspire you with a meaningful touch I challenge you to surprise a major donor today by doing something nice for them they don’t expect.