Fundraising - Engaging Board Members

Before I share with you How to Get Your Board Members to be Walking Billboards for Your Nonprofit, School or Church, I want to remind you about my seminar the weekend of March 21st.

I'm taking everything I've learned and developed over the past 10 years of working with schools and nonprofits and I'm teaching it to 75 people - I have lots of seats open!  HELP ME FILL THEM. If you're not interested, please let others know.

I will teach folks a new way to think about resource development (money, student enrollment, community partnerships, building awareness), then share the knowledge you need to put these concepts to work, and then give you a big binder and electronic versions of tools and templates you can use (case statement, elevator pitch, student enrollment strategies, communications tools like Facebook, website, flyers for anything, scripts, applications for grants, and much more).

The cost for my seminar is: PAY WHAT YOU CAN OR WANT and attend one or both dates as well as join us for networking.

Click here and request registration paperwork or hit the BUY NOW button on my blog.  To learn more about what I'll cover and to read or hear testimonials from some of my clients, visit my website or my You Tube Channel.

Now, on to sharing my secrets for inspiring your board members to be walking billboards for your organization.

Understanding How to Inspire Your Board Members to be Active Ambassadors

 FIRST - It's About Confidence

Are your board members out there tirelessly promoting your organization?  I guarantee you don't really know the answer to this question.  Whenever I do a seminar for board members, and I ask them, "How many of you are confident and comfortable sharing your organization's story?" only one-third of the hands go up.  Your board members are the guardians of your organization, but most of them are NOT PROMOTING your organization.  Here's the thing though.  They will never admit it because they think they should know how to do this.

Over the past 10 years of working with nonprofits, schools and churches, I've learned that there is a lot of guilt on boards.  It's crazy, because here are people who volunteer outside of their jobs and families to offer their time, support, money and advice to a cause for which they have much passion.

They get onto the board often with little training and orientation and you can tell they're ready to get to work.  After a few meetings of soaking in everyone else's wisdom and perspectives, they are really feeling ready to go.  But then after a few more meetings, many board members begin feeling unsure about what to actually do to help outside of attending meetings and blessing the budget and activities of the director.  Eventually, many of them begin to feel ineffective and like they're not making a contribution.

What often happens on the other end - the staff end - is the director begins to make assumptions about a lack of commitment to the organization.  I have found that this just is not the case.  Through many board engagement projects and confidential interviews with board members, I have found the issue to be one of a lack of direction, training and tools than anything else.

A Real Story - Connecting Youth, Inc. (Milwaukee)

A few years back I was brought in by the executive director of a small nonprofit called Connecting Youth who needed help engaging the board in the organization's work after quickly growing operations.  This awesome organization is a group home for teens that can't be adequately served in foster care.  After my first meeting with the board and staff, even I fell under the spell of making assumptions about whether the president of the board was committed.  I really thought to myself, "This person is probably going to have to leave."

When we started clarifying the organization's mission, developing a compelling vision for the future and outlining three clear priorities and a committee structure to achieve them, you could just feel the difference in energy and motivation.  As part of our project, I asked the board members to personally invite some folks to an information session for the purpose of recruiting some additional board and committee members.  While just five people came, all five jumped in and got involved.  The really awesome story is the professional woman who was invited by the board president not only recruited her daughter to serve on the board (she had marketing expertise), she mailed in a $1,000 check after just that one meeting.  This was a HUGE donation for them.  With some clarity and tools, this board president was really able to share the story and make connections.  

Another Real Story - Eastbrook Academy (Milwaukee)


My last posting about board engagement is one of my most popular blogs.  I thought about this again recently as I started working with my new awesome client, Eastbrook Academy, a school that has one of the most amazing stories ever.  This school started 16 years ago with just a K4, K5 and 1st grade, and this year their first high school graduating class will graduate from college.  They have a 100% high school graduation rate, 100% college acceptance rate, PLUS they are racially and economically diverse, with one-third of their students qualifying for free and reduced lunch and a large portion of their students coming from wealthy suburbs paying private tuition.  Families that choose to go there state that they don't have to choose between diversity AND student achievement - THEY GET BOTH.

Anyway, this school is kind of shy about promoting itself.  They have quietly known that they are doing something really awesome, and their recent accreditation brought accolades from the accrediting association.  But they're still kind of shy, and it's my job to tell them how awesome they are and to teach them how to engage the rest of the world in their amazing story.

In the short time I've been there, there are already getting more results just by encouraging them.  They just held their annual event, which had been on a downward trend for various reasons.  Three weeks before the event, I provided the board members with a script and they signed up to make some personal calls to invite people to come to the event.  That made all the difference.  When the board president went to his company for sponsorship, he said all he had to do was write down some of the achievements of the school and the company said yes right away.  They exceeded their goal!

SECOND - Two Tools for Building Confidence

A past board member of Eastbrook Academy admitted that one of the reasons he left the board was because he didn't know how to share the story.  I'm so glad he admitted that.  You can have all the passion in the world, but if you don't know what to say, then you don't share.

There are three tools that really help your ambassasdors share the story:

1. Professional Case Statement.  Click here to go to my first blog posting about developing case statements. 
2. Elevator Pitch.  Click here to go to my blog posting about developing an elevator pitch. 
3. FAQ (frequently asked questions).  This is another great tool to have available to consistently address common questions that come up.  Click here to send me an email for a sample of an FAQ document.  

THIRD - Professional Nagging and Support Bring Credibility

Years back I read something about all the research that was done on all the millions companies spend on professional development programs for their employees.  Unfortunately, the research showed that most of that money was probably being wasted because there were no long-term changes in behavior and results.  The research did however identify the difference in what did bring lasting results and that was followup and support.  

We all intuitively know that changing behaviors and habits is really, really difficult.  We know that the majority of people who want to lose weight end up putting it back on, many people who try to quit smoking don't succeed until many attempts.  Just think about how unrealistic it is to expect people to expertly manage their time after going to a weekend seminar.  Or expecting harmony in the workplace to go up after sending employees to even a six-week program on how to have difficult conversations.  Without the followup and support from a manager, real change is unlikely. 

So even when you provide your board members with a beautiful case statement and elevator pitch, likely not much will happen - even though they're all motivated and excited about their new tools.  They may have every great intention, but when they get out there your board members will get stuck.  And remember, they won't tell you - they're too embarassed.  

I recommend these three follow-up steps to build the confidence and ensure your board members become active ambassadors for your organization.  If they do, you will definitely see new results.  

FIRST - Build in time to report back to each other on how it's going.  You could add a regular agenda item called "Community Engagement" or "Relationship Cultivation" or "Sharing the Story."  During this time, board members can share their experience of using the case statement and elevator pitch and what results they're experiencing.  How many new people have they shared the story with for example.  I like to actually add a little competition to the mix.  Set a weekly goal for the board members when it comes to sharing the story with new people.  

SECOND - Capture all new relationships in a tracking.  Your board members should know that when they have a meaningful conversation with someone that they are to ask them if it's okay to contact them in the future or put them on the mailing list (this is in the elevator pitch).  This contact information should be passed along to the person who is in charge of the relationship tracking so there is immediately a next step for this relationship.  To get a sample elevator pitch, click here and send me an email.    

THIRD - Celebrate success to build more confidence.  I can't believe how often organizations downplay their successes.  My client just exceeded their goal for an event, and the email that went out from the fund development director was very professional and detailed, but it did not scream - WE EXCEEDED OUR GOAL!  The fact that the board members actively made personal phone calls was something that was new and their efforts resulted in more tables being sold at the event, more attendees and a brand new donation!  THIS IS AWESOME!  Celebrating your successes is important for lots of reasons, but most importantly for helping your board members know that THEY MADE A MEANINGFUL CONTRIBUTION.  When they see that, they will be happy to do it again.  

Your board members are your most important tool for inspiring others to get involved in your organization.  I often remind organizations and board members that it's NOT the job of the fund development director to raise money.  It's her or his job to drive the fundraising plan and to empower as many people as possible to share the story, make connections and cultivate relationships.  The organizations that take this to heart have more donors than they can handle.  

As always, I love to hear your own success stories.  

Please consider coming to my seminar or helping me promote it.  I've got a week and a half to fill my 75 seats.  With a price of PAY WHAT YOU CAN and a guarantee that you'll receive inspiration and knowledge and materials worth thousands there are lots of organizations that can benefit. 

Deb 

  

#1 Fundraising Tool - Part IV - What to Do With the Case Statement

Would you like a guaranteed way to get MORE AND BIGGER RESULTS for your nonprofit, school or church - like financial contributions, engaged board members, new students, in-kind donations, volunteers and increased awareness?  

I noticed that some of my most popular blog postings were about the PROFESSIONAL CASE STATEMENT, the most basic AND most important fundraising tool for nonprofits, schools and churches.  But I never really told you exactly what to do with it when after you wrote it.  

I've decided that I am going to devote the next four weeks to sharing everything you need to know about how to use it and the results you can expect.


The Case Statement is About Sharing Your Story in a Way that Inspires People

How do you feel when you learn about the impact these students are having on their community?  It gives me goose bumps.  That's what you want.  

Did you know . . .

Highland Students are changing the world NOW!

Within two years, students have literally changed the landscape of Highland School District.  When rain runoff, threatened the school grounds and the school building’s infrastructure, students, staff, and experts worked together to implement a solution.

Multi-age teams of students and staff surveyed the land, worked with experts to identify a solution, and coordinated with the Buildings and Grounds committee to build a rain-garden that would safely transport rain away from the building.  This school-wide project not only educated the community on environmental solutions, but also provided generations of students with a garden full of hands on research opportunities in the future.

Review of How to Create the Professional Case Statement 

Before you go any further, you may want to go back and review the first three postings I wrote about how to create a case statement for your organization.

#1 Fundraising Tool - Part I - Did you Know section

#1 Fundraising Tool - Part II - Mission, Vision and Unique Approach sections

#1 Fundraising Tool - Part III - Success Stories, Goals, How You Can Help sections and Credibility Box



What to Do With Your New Case Statement 

It's not the case statement DOCUMENT that gets results for you.  Often, nonprofits, schools and churches look to MARKETING as the answer.  In fact, organizations spend WAY TOO MUCH ON MARKETING.  You don't need fancy materials.  The materials don't do anything for you.  It's ABOUT YOU AND WHAT YOU DO with the marketing materials.  It's your job to bring your story to life, and the case statement is just a tool to help you do that. 

So, here are two ways to use the case statement right away.   


Use the case statement as an introduction piece.  

Give it to anyone and everyone.  Keep a pile in the reception area of your organization's office.  Carry them with you.  Make sure your board members and staff people have an electronic version of the document.  Allow people to download the case statement from your website.  

A really good way to use the case statement is as a followup to a conversation with someone.  For example, you may have just returned from a luncheon where you had the opportunity to network or just have good conversation with several people.  When you get back to the office (I recommend setting aside an hour on Friday's to pull all those business cards out of your purse/wallet and send follow-up emails to those folks that include an attachment with your case statement), send a short email to the people you met, refer to something interesting they said and then tell them you were excited to share your organization's story and that you're attaching a document that tells them a little more.  That's it.  Don't expect a response - don't expect any outcome at all.  It's just an opportunity to share the story.  You JUST NEVER KNOW WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN.  

The case statement is a really useful tool for board members.  When I do workshops for board members of nonprofits, schools and churches, and I ask the question, "How many of your are comfortable sharing your organization's story," only ONE-THIRD of the hands go up.  It never fails to surprise me.  These are the most important ambassadors for the organization, and the majority of them do not feel comfortable sharing the organization's story.  The sad thing is though that they will never admit that to their fellow board members.  Anyway, I've been told by many board members that the case statement made it so much easier for them to talk about the organization. 

In my next posting, I'll be talking about how to verbally share the story in an elevator pitch - a more casual and natural way for especially volunteers to share the story of their nonprofit, school or church.  


Integrate the case statement language into all communications materials.  

Now that you've figured out how to share your amazing story in a more effective manner - compelling, concise and consistent - YOU MUST MAKE SURE ALL YOUR OTHER COMMUNICATIONS MATERIALS ARE IN ALIGNMENT WITH YOUR CASE STATEMENT.  In fact, the case statement is the starting point for all communications materials.  It's how you have discovered how to communicate the essence - YOUR SPECIAL SAUCE - of your organization to others in a way that will inspire them to want to help.  For example, be sure that you communicate you use the themes in the Did You Know section and communicate your mission the same way in all of your materials - brochures, fundraising materials, website, facebook page, etc.  

Building awareness is all about hearing things a million times.  While you may feel like you're being repetitive, that's exactly how you build a buzz about your organization.  People begin to think, "I just heard someone else talking about the Interfaith Neighborhood Outreach Program.  There must be doing exciting things."     


Now, It's Time to Try This

If you simply start doing these two things, you will notice new results.  In fact, please be sure to share your stories in the comments part of this posting.  It inspires people to try new things when others share that it wasn't has uncomfortable was they thought it would be.  Remember, NO NEW RESULTS WITHOUT TRYING SOMETHING NEW!  

Next Post - How to Create and Use an Elevator Pitch

In my next posting, I'll be talking about how to verbally share the story in an elevator pitch - a more casual and natural way for especially volunteers to share the story of their nonprofit, school or church.

I'd love to hear what happens when you try this.  Feel free to share your success story or let me know if you have questions in the comment section of my blog posting or send me an email by via this link.  


Deb

alinea, LLC

P.S.  Click here if you are interested in purchasing my workbook - complete instructions on how to apply alinea's formula of Story + Direction + Relationships.  Let me know you're interested in purchasing the workbook for $7.95 and I'll follow up with you.

Fundraising: Keeping Your Endowment or Reserves Safe

• Does your church, nonprofit or school have an endowment or reserve fund? 

• Do you know what rate of return you need and what asset allocation will get that return? 

• Is your investment advisor also a member of your board? 

I met Dick Kinney, Principal of Legacy Wealthy Management, LLC, a couple years ago.  He's a board member for a school that serves the students that just can't make it anywhere else, and I love that about him.  I was really intrigued by his passion for helping nonprofits, churches and schools protect their assets.  I hadn't really thought about this too much, as my focus is usually on generating new revenue.

Dick and a few other impressive experts in the Milwaukee Community are sponsoring a seminar on September 18th at Concordia University about this very topic, and I have been invited to share my message of effective community engagement, along with quite a few other respected nonprofit consultants.

Sneak Preview of September 18th Seminar 
(For more details click here and request a flyer for the seminar)

I thought I'd give you a taste of Dick's message by inviting him to share some key concepts he shared in an article he wrote called The Eight Sins of Church (Nonprofit, School) Investment Committees.  


The Eight Sins - Are you Guilty? 

While over the years, clergy and church leaders have expressed frustration about their investment committee's approach to managing their endowment or reserve funds (e.g., lack of transparency, poor results, nonexistent reporting, substandard fiduciary practices, lack of purpose and direction for the funds), media attention of the increasing number of fraud and embezzlement stories has moved me to get the word out to prevent nonprofits, schools and churches from getting into these situations in the first place.

#1 - Conflicts of interest.  I never understand why the members of a church council (nonprofit board) would hire an investment advisor that is a member of the church, but this happens a lot.  You have to ask yourself, "How do you fire a fellow member of your church, who is sitting on the other end of the pew from you, when something goes wrong?"  DON'T HIRE THAT PERSON.  This is just one of the many mistakes that get repeated over and over.


#2 - NOT having a review process in place to prevent fraud.  It's not uncommon to learn that hundreds of thousands of dollars have been stolen from a church endowment (nonprofit, school) by its own fellow church member (board member), who was the money manager.  What's worse is that the fraud often is not found out for sometimes years after the fund is drained, and the defense for not finding out sooner is, "We trusted the guy . . . he was a pillar of the community . . ."  PUT A PLAN IN PLACE TO MAKE SURE AT LEAST TWO DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR REVIEWING AND REPORTING THE RESULTS TO THE CHURCH COUNCIL (nonprofit or school board).


#3 - NOT knowing what you own.  While it is common practice to invest permanent funds in large co-mingled funds, there is a lack of transparency and long-term performance may be questionable.  In order to judge the success of your investment strategy, it is necessary to KNOW WHAT YOU OWN.




#4 - NOT asking the right questions.  Often when I meet with a nonprofit investment committee, the basic question of "How do you measure whether an investment strategy is successful" has not been asked.  An investment committee needs to understand the inflows (gifts coming into the fund), outflows (the spending) and the required rate of return needed to maintain the purchasing power of the fund.  KNOW THE RATE OF RETURN YOU NEED so you can you judge whether you have the proper asset allocation.





#5 - NOT having the appropriate spending policy to support the endowment purpose.  An example of a spending policy would be:  The fund will take out 4.5% per year on December 31st, and the 4.5% will be based on an average account balance over the past three years.  It is important for the investment committee and the church council (nonprofit board) to AGREE ON THIS FORMULA and the formula confirms to the desire and mission of the church.


#6 - NOT keeping track of the donor's intent for past gifts.  It is important to have a gift acceptance policy, which will identify the donor's intent and records it for future reference.  Ideally, all gifts would be unrestricted, but for restricted gifts, have the restriction be time limited if possible.  HAVE A GIFT ACCEPTANCE POLICY.


#7 - NOT having a Big Idea to excite members to give or leave legacy gifts.  Successful organizations think long term!  Successful endowments engage donors with a string of ideas that the congregation (supporters) WANT to support over a long period of time.  HAVE A BHAG - BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOAL (that's Deb Lukovich talk).


#8 - NOT having the right kind of expertise on the investment committee.  The best investment committees have a mixture of professionals and non-professionals.  I believe it's good for professionals to have to explain their thinking to non-professionals.  The questions asked by nonprofessionals help legitimize the investment process for the church as a whole.  The committee agenda should focus on this question:  "Are we invested in the right asset allocation (investment mix) with the appropriate amount of risk to achieve our required rate of return?"  What often sounds like "dumb" questions get to the core.  HAVE SMART NON-PROFESSIONALS ON THE COMMITTEE THAT ARE COURAGEOUS ENOUGH TO ASK THE DUMB QUESTIONS.


Hopefully, some of these RED FLAGS will help you feel more comfortable about your own investment practices, or tip you off to something that's not quite right before it's too late.

Hope to see you on September 18th!

Dick Kinney
Principal
Legacy Wealth Management, LLC
www.legacywlth.com

I hope you enjoyed this perspective.  Click here to request a flyer about the September 18th seminar.  If you are interested in putting my formula for effective community engagement to work for yourself or your organization, consider purchasing my Sustainability Workbook (click on the BUY NOW button at the top of this page).  It's just $7.95.

Deb

alinea, LLC
www.alineaconnect.com

ALINEA, LLC OFFERS A FREE SEMINAR ON FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALINEA, LLC OFFERS A FREE SEMINAR ON FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

For staff leadership and board members of nonprofits, schools, and churches

Milwaukee, WI November 1, 2012- Deb Lukovich, Peter Larson, Heather Nill and Dan Brophey have teamed up for a free seminar taking place at 4:00 pm on November 14, 2012 at The Wisconsin Club.  Attendees will learn to see red flags in financial statements, cash flow strategies that ensure money is there when they need it, choose accounting services that save money and increase control, and how to make it easy for people to donate money and time. All attendees will receive a workbook to take back to their boards to help implement these strategies right away.

DebLukovich is the Founder/Owner of alinea, LLC and also author of The Secret to Better Schools; A New Mindsetfor Engaging the Community.  PeterLarson is the Senior Wealth Planner at PNC Bank, Heather Nill is the VP Business Banking at PNC Bank and Dan Brophey is Partner at Reilley, Penner andBenton.  

Together, the speakers will address common mistakes organizations make along with providing guidance to success. Lukovich stated, "I look forward to leading this super inspiring and useful workshop.  Attendees will walk out of the session with specific actions to take to improve their financial position."  All participants such as board members, key volunteers and leaders of nonprofits, schools and churches will receive a free workbook to implement the strategies.

alinea, LLC loves helping schools and nonprofits attract more resources.  They teach clients how to inspire people with stories, be clearer about what they need and how to help, and strategically cultivate relationships.  The philosophy of alinea is Optimism + Engagement = Unlimited possibilities. 

# # #

To order free tickets and find more information about this event please visit secret2sustainability.eventbrite.com.  If you would like more information about this topic or to schedule an interview with Deb Lukovich, please call alinea, LLC at (414) 803-3229 or visit www.alineaconnect.com.