- Call it Advancement, not Development. The role of the fundraising professional is to advance the mission of the organization. This is a much broader responsibility than simply raising money, which is just a means to an end. There needs to be a strategic plan that lays out what the organization will accomplish and what it will take to accomplish that mission. Then seek contributors to join on the path to deliver that mission.

- Similarly, seek investments, not donations. We’re not begging for money, we’re asking people to invest in the mission, to join us.

- All donors aren’t equal. We don’t want to dismiss any of our donors, of course, but the truth is that a very large percentage of gifts come from a few people. One speaker said the old 80/20 rule has become more like 95/5 … 95 percent of contributions will come from 5 percent of donors. Every community has contributors with big potential to give. There are 9 million Americans with over $1 million “in the bank” (not including real estate).

- Techniques that will get small investments are direct mail, phonathons, events, online donations. Large investments always rely on personal meetings. Ideally the advancement director and the head of the organization meet in person with the donor individually (or with their spouse, whichever they prefer). Think about the proper setting and spend a lot of time cultivating that relationship before making the ask. Narrow your list of major donor prospects to just 10-15 people for the entire year.

- Get out there. One speaker said he heard this long ago and still does it … put an index card on your desk that says, “if you can read this, you’re not doing your job,” meaning you need to be out meeting with people. At schools it’s very easy to get caught up doing all the smaller things (like running events). Don’t let the principal (or executive director) suck you into managing events, etc. because then you’ll never be out developing those personal relationships that will result in the major gifts. Tell the principal what you are doing and how you prioritize your work.

- Build personal relationships with your constituents. Building a relationship is reciprocal (give and take), just like building personal relationships with friends. Consider the people in your own life. You might have a large group that you interact with through annual holiday cards. That’s a great way to reach a lot of people. But if your only interaction with them ever is sending Christmas cards, then pretty soon that’s all you’ll get back in return. Nobody would call you to go and see a movie (let alone other activities and commitments indicative of a growing relationship). You need to develop that personal connection by meeting in small groups and one-on-one and by giving the person something of value to them.

- State a good case for your cause. You can start with the logical fact-based case (such as “We are short $800 per student so we need donations”), but you have to make an emotional connection with your donors. “The world needs people like those who come out of this school” goes much further to get at the benefit, and “you can help make this happen” ties it back to the donor’s actions. It’s also critical to inspire action, and often recognition can do this. For really large gifts, it’s putting a name on a new classroom or lab.

- Make the ask. One presenter said he wants the head of the school to be the one making the ask. The advancement director helps lay the groundwork and moves the relationship along, but the ultimate ask should come from the ultimate authority at the school (at least for the biggest gifts). Holy Cross has also come up with a “rule of 7,” meaning there should be seven touches and “thank you’s” to the contributor before asking them for money again.

- Look to your most loyal contributors for planned giving (bequests in a will). People who give consistently year in and year out are likely to be good prospects to make legacy gifts in their wills. Stories abound of the faithful contributor who gave consistently but in low amounts, who surprised the organization with a large gift in his or her will. Go meet with these loyal contributors. Ask why they give. Cultivate that relationship. In line with recognition, create a legacy society of some sort in which you honor those who have made that ultimate gift.

- Sign your letters by hand. Hand signing letters is critical in direct mail campaigns. Personal P.S. notes are even better. Use real postage, not indicia.

Primary contributors to these pearls of wisdom include:

- Larry Furey, Partners in Mission (www.partnersinmission.com)
- Schuyler Lehman, Mission Advancement Partners (missionadvancement.com)
- Michael Guillot, Gadd Guillot (www.gaddguillot.com)

We couldn’t be happier that Leslie won. She can put the camera to good use capturing how wonderful the Ragdale Foundation really is (by all accounts, it is an awesome place–it’s an artist’s retreat just outside Chicago).

We also have a less exciting picture of us standing in front of our booth (that’s me, Nick, on the left and brother Chris on the right):

Donor management was a big point of interest this year; one guy said to us, “Man, donor management is where it’s at this year!” He was a cool guy too, so it must be true. We were happy to reap the benefits of being one of the simplest, and the most affordable, donor management systems on the market and at the conference.

A big thank you to the folks at NTEN for putting on such a great event, and to all the attendees who stopped by to talk to us and helped make the conference such a huge success for us.

LGL attracted steady interest from a wide range of people who came by our booth and asked great questions. Some were development professionals, others were consultants to non-profits, and still others were searching for tech solutions to help their non-profits achieve the mission.

We gave away a box of T-shirts and collected a pile of business cards from folks who were interested in LGL and registered to win our green iPod Nano. By the end of the Science Fair, we had engaged dozens of people in serious conversation about LGL and how it can help them do donor management better.

An interesting pattern emerged in our conversations:

• People were really excited about the unique collaboration aspect of LGL.
• The project management/task management orientation in LGL made a big impact on people: they want to use their data effectively as both a management and reporting tool!
• The cost surprised people; they had assumed our subscription rate was a per-person fee, and they were impressed we can offer such a high-quality product at an affordable price.

Nick hangs the banner

Chris setting up the computer

Chris talks to an interested conference attendee

Nick presenting the iPod Nano to Dennis Chyba of adcieo

Nick "lives" in the computer

After 18 months of development, we at the Bicknell Information Group are proud to announce that the beta period for little green light™ (LGL) is over and we are open for business!

LGL combines donor management, constituent relationship management, and fundraising campaign management in one unified, easy-to-use interface. No extra configuration or software is required to begin using it.  LGL makes it easy for non-profit staff, board members, and volunteers to plan and track their fundraising work together by letting them collaborate 24 hours a day from any location.  LGL is designed for your whole team to communicate about constituents with continual access to giving history, letters, and current contact information, providing real-time tracking and reporting on fundraising status and activities.

In summary, with LGL you can enjoy the following benefits:

• Easy setup. Import your data from Excel, Access, or another system and get to work right away.
• Engage your whole team. Keep staff, board members, and volunteers involved and up to date.
• See who’s doing what, when. Track your fundraising status in real time.
• Web-based, hosted, and secure. No installation necessary. Accessible from anywhere. SSL security.
• Affordable. Plans start at $19.95 per month. No fee for additional users.

In the words of one of our beta customers, Amory Rowe (Founder, In the Arena):

“Little Green Light preserves that most precious of all resources (especially for those of us in the independent sector): time.”

If you want to give it a spin, it’s easy to sign up for a free 30 day trial. After a free 30-day trial, the cost for a monthly subscription is modest and geared toward your operating budget. All accounts include SSL secure web access and there is no limit to your number of users.

1. The massive growth in the nonprofit sector in terms of number of organizations and associated philanthropy
2. Leadership concepts to help your nonprofit stay focused and achieve a sustainable future

Growth, Innovation, Excellence – some “wow” trends

According to Mr. Tierney, we are seeing a “wave of change” like an “industrial revolution” for nonprofits. There are several rather staggering statistics Mr. Tierney cited.

• There are 3,000 new foundations in the last 10 years and $20 billion held in donor-advised funds
• The number of nonprofits over the last 20 years has tripled and we are seeing almost 98 new nonprofits a day
• Volunteerism is at a 30 year high

Leadership Concepts you can use today

Mr. Tierney doesn’t see a pattern (or template) of how nonprofits successfully deliver results. However, they have found through their intensive study and work with nonprofits that there is a pattern of questions that the leadership can and must engage in answering on a regular basis. A bold, overarching question a nonprofit might ask itself is, “how do we double our impact in 10 years?” The four questions Mr. Tierney recommends are:

1. What results are we holding ourselves accountable for? If we can’t answer this question then we are dealing with too much ambiguity.
2. How will we achieve the results we’re holding ourselves accountable for? This might include the concepts of logic model or theory of change. We must engage in continuous learning and we can, and should, use field knowledge and not assume we always need an expensive evaluation.
3. What will these results really cost? How will we fund them? Too often we take a $10 million problem and convince ourselves that we can only raise $1 million; we do that and then we under-deliver. This creates a cycle of mediocrity and eventual decline. An example was an organization that decided to sell salad dressing for $3.50. They thought they were making it for $3.15. However, when you factored in all the costs necessary to produce 1 bottle of salad dressing (wastage, salaries, rent) it actually cost $90!
4. How do we build the organization we need to deliver our results? Executive Directors often start to get burned out, want a Chief Operating Officer and the Board says “that’s too expensive.” Often organizations are “strongly led and under-managed” with a concept like a founder and executive of an environmental organization who said to Mr. Tierney “I like trees not people!”

Mr. Tierney also talked about a number of leadership ideas we might take with us and attempt to use in our everyday efforts to do good in this world.

• An important principle for sticking with these questions is the ability to just say “no” to ideas, stakeholders, and even funding that pushes the organization away from the results it sets out to achieve.
• Fundamental concepts from management consulting hold true in nonprofits as well. For instance it is very clear that just like in the business world the “who” matters a great deal. Strong and united leaders will have little trouble with a less than “perfect” strategy but a perfect strategy will fall flat on its face without talented people.
• Financial incentives motivate people less than “culture” (how we do things here).
• We as leaders send daily signals (it is not what you say but what you do) and we must be courageous enough to deal with conflict. You must seek out performance feedback loops on yourself–constructive criticism is key.
• We have a span of influence, maybe 10 or 25 people, who will do the most to keep our organization vibrant and impactful. We should concentrate a lot of our time on these people and be ruthless about saying “no” to those outside this sphere!
• Ask yourself after a month or so, “what was the bottom quartile of my time?” You have one. Look for ways to spend more time in the top quartile.
• Focusing on the “leadership supply” is extremely important. Businesses select over 2/3 of their new leaders from within; nonprofits select over 2/3 of their new leaders from without–when culture is so important nonprofits try to bring in a new leader that often! Looking for the “right person in the right job at the right time” isn’t easy, but if you find yourself looking at your management group and thinking you wouldn’t hire them again if they interviewed for the job they’re in you are in trouble.

In closing, Mr. Tierney told a story about a top program officer at the Gates Foundation who keeps a very large photo of a young child in Africa in her office. She calls this child “the boss” and tries to do her best to make “the boss” happy. Everything is about “the boss” and we all have one just like she does. It is not the funder, the Board member or anyone else, it is the person, the life, on whom our work is making an impact.

All in all this was a very positive three hours spent learning about trends and leadership practices for nonprofits. I encourage you to visit The Bridgespan Group‘s website. Also, Mr. Tierney gave a wonderful talk that is available via podcast at the Stanford Social Innovation Review which is, in itself, a marvelous resource.

Thanks also to the NH Center for Nonprofits for putting on this great day.

The conference was an important opportunity to hear from funders and non-profits alike on topics such as:

• Funders Collaborate?!
• Nonprofit Collaboration – Making It Real and Making It Work: Experiences from the Field
• Listening to Your Partner: What Nonprofits and Funders Value Most About Each Other
• Building Nonprofit Capacity: How Grantmakers are Strengthening the Sector
• Project vs. Operating Support: The Oldest Debate in Grantmaking
• Nonprofit Mergers – By Choice or by Necessity But Not a Dirty Word Anymore
• Investing in Change: Grantmaking and Public Policy

The tone for the conference was set by Rip Rapson, head of the Kresge Foundation who spoke about how foundations needed to change a great deal to really help non-profits achieve the greatest impact possible.

As you can see from the headings of sessions listed above, collaboration was a key theme of the day. Funders spoke of their need to collaborate to tackle big problems and non-profits spoke of their collaborative efforts–both successful and unsuccessful.

One participant asked the collaborator funders to comment on how much time it takes for non-profit people to collaborate and wondered if there was some technology answer that would help build community and trust while also saving some time. The answer from one of the funders (who was recently wowed by Little Green Light) was that “Yes!” Technology can help and is being used in a project he’s working on to increase communication and knowledge sharing among distant participants of a network.

Several other funders stated it simply: “Non-profits who really collaborate shouldn’t worry that their ‘slice of the pie’ will decrease. In fact, they all agreed they would give more money in new and more challenging places to true collaborative projects.”

We at Little Green Light find this to be very encouraging and we’re pleased we’ve designed an easy to use tool for our clients to use when they work together on projects. The communication is so simple and the transparency among partner organizations so complete–trust comes naturally!

Best,

Chris Bicknell