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Greetings!
 We're in the midst of a long-needed and too long postponed
house remodel. While the
construction crew is busy de-constructing my house, my husband and I have been
equally busy at work in our backyard.
These days of what my husband calls extreme gardening are
both scary and liberating. We really have let things go back there. As we hack and haul and
clear out the debris I'm astonished to find that it's not quite as teensy as it
had been looking and suddenly, as outer walls reappear, I am beginning to see
possibilities.
With that, of course, comes indecision. What should we do? What can we afford to do? What are the things that are absolute musts?
A few of my clients are undergoing "extreme fundraising
makeovers" and asking some very similar questions. Like me, they see the possibilities; like me they worried if
they have enough resources to do what they need to do.
Whether you are creating your first ever development plan,
embarking on a capital campaign or just plain trying to do it better, the most important piece of this is
getting everyone on the same page.
That's not, alas, always as easy as it seems.
You are thinking about a comprehensive plan, with many
different ways of approaching prospects; they are thinking you should simply
write another grant or perhaps, have another special event. People get hung up on comparisons-such and
such an organization does this, so should you-or pulling out every possibility,
whether or not it meets your organization's needs and resources.
In my
home remodel, we have a blueprint, which does get tweaked and changed as
problems manifest themselves or opportunities to make it even better
appear. Making sure you have your development blueprint will help to guarantee that you will actually get the fundraising program you both need and
want.
What is your organization doing to make your fund
development program stronger? I'd
love to hear from you. Email me at
janet@janetlevineconsulting.com.
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What Story Does Your Resume Tell?
Ruth Loomis is a matchmaker. For over 20 years, Ruth has been an executive
search consultant, matching nonprofit organizations with the right executives. A big part of her work with Opportunity Resources is reading and reviewing resumes-and helping
candidates develop resumes that tell the same story she hears in her personal
candidate interviews.
"Resumes should show potential employers how the candidate's experiences meets
their needs," Ruth says. "But too often, they are just listings of job
dates and duties."
Instead, you want to highlight your skills and abilities to show that you are
the right candidate. That means your resume needs to give an historical context
that illustrates your work trajectory and highlights the benefits you brought
to each employer.
"Accomplishments-how you succeeded, are so much more important than the tasks
you performed," says Ruth. "In fact, at a senior level, it is virtually a
given that you can do the tasks-the question is what do you bring beyond that?"
According to Ruth, there are 10
top things that you need to know about writing your resume. "The most important
one," she says, "is that it must have a narrative "
You want to ensure that your resume presents an understandable and
coherent storyline. That may mean explaining a bit about the organization
and the resources you had in order to be successful at your job.
Most critically, your resume should not be about you, Ruth comments. "It
should be about what you can do for your potential employer. " This is
especially important in the nonprofit sector where too often we are doing more
with less.
The resume, however, is only part of the package.Read More
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Make that Eight
Last issue I wrote about Seven True Things About Fundraising and asked if you could add to the list. "Yes," wrote one reader, "Answer every single phone call."
Rori Roje, Development Director for the Switzer Learning Center wrote about a call she returned. The caller, it turned out, was an
actor, wanting to know if the school could help in the formulation of a
character for their play.
"Long
story short," Rori reports, "this theater is very well respected, with
celebrities galore." Better still,
their mailing list and publicity reach includes the geographic area that
Switzer Learning Center serves. The theater group is very grateful for the help that Switzer gave them and, Rori
reports, "Our school now has the attention of their mailing list and audience."
On a last note, Rori notes that when
she asked the actor how many other schools he had contacted, he told her over 10. "And," he said, "You were the only one
to call me back."
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Stingy is Bad for Your Health
 It's official. Not being charitable makes you sick.
OK, so I'm overstating the data a bit, but according to a
study led
by Elizabeth Dunn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, people
who keep money for themselves rather than giving it away may suffer a more
negative affect and more shame than those who are more generous. In other words, being stingy is bad for
you-as well as being bad for nonprofits.
As a friend of mine always says, "And that means?" Obviously, one thing it means is that asking people to become a donor is
an act of good will. If they give
your organization the money instead of keeping for themselves, they will have a
more positive affect and less shame. Clearly a better outcome for all.
If you believe as I do, that fundraising is all about giving
people an opportunity to support a terrific organization, then you already know
this is true. If, however, you
fear that asking someone for support is akin to "hitting on them," or worse,
begging, fear no longer. If stingy
is bad for you, generosity must, therefore, be good. Read More
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Are your fundraising results down? Janet Levine Consulting can help. Email or give me a call at 310-990-9151 to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
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