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Janet Levine Consulting |
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Greetings!
Years of attending school, working in educational institutions, and being married to an academic, means that I still think the year begins in September. Summers, I always think, will be slower (though they never are), and I will have time to think and plan (though I never really do). Still, each September feels like a new beginning, and an opportunity to do things differently, or at the very least, better. But then, reality hits. The too much on your plate that kept you from being as productive as you might be is still too much and you are still not able to be as productive. Or maybe it's that the same old/same old is getting to you, but somehow, you are still not able to get off the dime. And somehow, September is beginning to feel like a slide into an ending, rather than that bright new beginning. What to do? Indian motivational speaker, Shiv Khera, says "Winners don't do different things. They do things differently." So maybe it is time look at things through a different lens. Instead of feeling overwhelmed, look at all you have to do and consider which are the things that only you can own; what things could/should be delegated; what needs to be moved to an entirely different space. You might not be in control of your work-perhaps your boss makes those decisions. That's fine. It's an opportunity to learn to manage up. Or maybe there is no other "up" to manage. You are IT. Chief cook and bottle washer too. So here's a truth that most of us don't want to acknowledge: We all spend time on things that simply do not need to be done. What are those things? How can you free yourself from them? I know, this makes it sound like it is a simple thing-and it is not. Which is why we often need help. Someone outside of what we do to help us see things-yep-differently. Read on and learn how coaching can help you to do just that. *************** Fundraising capacity not where you want it to be? Need help in making Board members comfortable with fundraising?
Contact Janet Levine Consulting for a
free 30-minute meeting
to see how you can broaden your base, increase your capacity and raise more money.
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GET MORE MILEAGE
Janet McIntyre, MA, CPCC, is a certified non-profit coach and consultant. Learn more about her coaching practice at http://www.janetmcintyreconsulting.com Email Janet at janetnami@gmail.com
Just this week I got four brand new tires for my car, the first set of tires I've purchased for my car in several years. What does this have to do with capacity building? Well, I didn't have to buy a new car. Nothing major needed fixing. I just needed to increase its capacity. With some relatively minor adjustments as a result of my auto repair person's training, consulting, and coaching, my car is now getting better mileage and I'm getting more out of my car than I had before. A similar blend of training, consulting, and coaching can help you get more mileage out of your non-profit and staff.
My auto repair person trained me on the basics of tire maintenance especially in my climate. She did a little coaching by asking me important questions about my car and its future which helped me rethink what my intentions are for it. Her staff then selected the right tires for my needs that fit my budget and did all the technical work like putting them on, aligning them, basically consulting me with technical expertise.
Similarly, increasing the capacity of your non-profit can be done with a blend of training, consulting and coaching. Each of these elements play an important role in updating your staff's expertise, getting to the core of root issues and challenges, identifying opportunities, providing technical assistance, and empowering your organization to reach its potential.
Any of these three elements on their own would have left me less informed, less intentional, and perhaps tire-less. It was the combined forces of all three that empowered me with information to make decisions based on my priorities and provided me with technical expertise where I needed it. How can the combination of training, consulting, and coaching help you and your non-profit get back on the road?
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Janet and I--Two Janets, as we've taken to calling ourselves--work together with organizations who are looking to increase their capacity with a program that combines consulting, training and coaching. Contact either Janet McIntyre or Janet Levine for more information on how we can help you to do what you do more effectively!
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RIGHT SIZE YOUR BOARD
Mitch Dorget, EMBA is the PRincipal of Dorger Consulting. He can be reached at mitche@dorger.com
I recently attended a seminar by the president and  CEO of BoardSource, Linda Crompton. As you might imagine, Linda lives and breathes boards of directors and talks all over the country about nonprofit board effectiveness. She said when she talks to people about boards, the most common question she gets is "How big should my board be?" Linda said she always responds to this question by saying, "It depends." (Note 11) That's a good answer, but what are some of the things it depends on?
The first thing is human nature. After all, a board is nothing more than a group of human beings trying to work together to create the best results for the organization they are charged with directing and protecting. Human beings work best in groups of a certain size. Over the years a number of studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of group decision making. One such study by the authors of Decide and Deliver: 5 Steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your Organization determined that the optimum size for a decision-making group was seven people and that for each person added above this, the group's decision making effectiveness was reduced by 10%. (Note 3) Another study found that the most effective number was five, but their data showed that the effectiveness of the decision making in groups between five and eight neither increased nor decreased. (Notes 7 and 8) Drawing from these studies, it would seem that the ideal board size as far as human decision making is somewhere between five and eight. But it's not that simple.
Another factor in determining board size is the depth and complexity of the issues facing the corporation. In a recent panel discussion of board governance, William Hawfield, a founder of The Board Group - a consulting firm which has helped create more than 100 boards for both private and public corporations - recommended that for small to medium size corporations with relatively straightforward missions the board size should be no more than five people. (Note 12) Note that this corresponds to the number recommended in one of the two academic studies mentioned above.
But as corporations grow in size and complexity, it is likely that the board will also grow. This was the finding of a group of scholars in 2005. Specifically they noted that the complexities of the new regulatory environment created after the Sarbanes Oxley legislation in 2002 had a tendency to increase the size of boards. This same study indicated that corporations increasing the complexity of their operations by introducing new product lines or expanding into new territories had a tendency to increase the size of corporate boards. (Note 4) Also impacting the size of public corporation boards has been activist investors such as TIAA-CREF and CALPERS, both of which have shown an interest in increasing the percentage of independent outside directors on corporate boards.
So what size are the boards of the big, complex publicly held corporations? (READ MORE)
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TREADING WATER
The 2011 Fundraising Effectiveness Project survey has some good news-compared to the results found in 2010. Note that the 2011 survey covers year-to-year fundraising results for 2010, and 2010 results are for the same period in 2009. In calendar year 2009, for every $4.50 raised in new dollars, increased gifts and gifts from lapsed donors, $6.00 was lost in attrition.
Results for 2010 were better-though still nothing to cheer about. For every $5.50 nonprofit organizations gained in upgraded, new and recovered gifts, $5.64 was lost in downgraded and lapsed gifts. Not only money was lost, however. Almost 6 donors were lost through attrition for every 5.5 new donors recruited.
Size does matter. The larger the nonprofit, the lower the loss ratio. Organizations that raised over half a million had an 8% gain while those raising under $100,000 had a 12.2% loss.
It's not just that larger organizations have more money. Typically, they also have more staff focused on fundraising. That means that, generally, they are cultivating more donors. It probably also means that they have a more sophisticated stewardship program. Or maybe it is just that they have a stewardship program.
Stewardship-taking care of something entrusted to one's care-is quite possibly the most important part of fundraising. Yet, it is the piece least discussed. Indeed, in the model most often used to describe the fundraising cycle, it is not even mentioned. The "Five  I's" of fundraising talks about identification through inviting the person or group identified to invest in your organization, but it doesn't tell you what to do once that invitation is made.
Loyalty is one of the indicators of likely larger donors. They are also the most likely of your donors to volunteer for your organization, introduce their friends to you, and to leave a legacy by naming your organization in their will. That alone would be reason enough to convince anyone to make nice. Add to that the fact that it generally costs less to keep and inspire an existing donor to make a gift than to attract a new one, and you can see how much sense it makes to invest in a stewardship program.
Stewardship, of course, starts with a thank you (and a tax receipt). But it is much more than that.
In a perfect development world, prospecting, cultivating, soliciting and stewardship are like overlapping circles:
and the things you are doing to get someone involved with you are generally the very same things you will be doing to keep them involved.
Those will include having your Board members reach out to certain donors to inviting donors to special events and all manner of things in-between.
What sort of things will, of course, depend heavily on your organization. As you are working on a stewardship plan, you want to first think about providing the appropriate recognition for the gift. Oftentimes, that will be simply the thank you letter and a mention in your organization's annual honor roll. But sometimes it will be far more elaborate. For example, for a large enough gift, the donor may end up with her name in lights-or at the least, adorning an entire building. Along with that would go a lot of press coverage, a story on your website, perhaps a radio interview or two. (READ MORE)
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Have Your Say
 Inquiring minds do want to know--what is on your mind?
Send me your article (200-800 words) on any topic of interest to those who work for or with nonprofit organizations.
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Are your fundraising results down? Board members bored? Or are thinking about a campaign? Whatever your capacity building needs, 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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