Learn how to SUCCESSFULLY plan and write grants!
|  | Buy NOW
|
| The more you know... |  | Check out the classes and workshops offered by Janet at
Janet Levine Consulting |
|
Greetings!
Every so often, as I am mired in one of the more odious (to me) tasks of my work, I think, "wouldn't it be smart to hire an assistant?" Then I remember what it was like having staff. For the most part, it didn't free me up at all. On the contrary. Most studies, in fact, show that of all of jobs that managers do, the hardest, most frustrating and least prone to providing satisfaction are those related to human resources. In the recently released Daring to Lead Brief "Inside the Executive Director Job" HR was by far the most draining of all aspects of the job. Sixty-three percent of responding Executive Directors found it somewhat or completely depleting. Managing is hard work, and it is harder still to get it right. And then there is the depressing fact that more staff doesn't necessarily lead to more work getting done. In fact, Parkinson's Law famously says that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." While I think that can be true, I think it is more true that most of us talk about the work we need to do until we are almost at its deadline for completion; then we work like mad people to get it done on time. So if one deadline is 3 months away, and a second only 3 days from now, it's not that you work more hours finishing the former, it is just that you must actually work on the latter sooner. Parkinson's Law, however, also posits that more staff doesn't necessarily mean less work for any one individual. Indeed, for the manager, it often leads to far more work. Parkinson calls that "The Law of Multiplication of Work." You know this one. It's where first you have to explain the work to someone. Then, once they understand your explanation, they can begin to do the work. But then you need to check the work, often having to explain further what you really wanted. They redo the work...and then...well, you get the picture. Of course, that isn't always the case. In my life, I have had staff who needed only to be empowered to do fantastic and much needed work. They both made my life and the organization far better. The secret was good people combined with a clarity of what they needed to accomplish. That clarity is what is too often missing. It's what gets lost when we focus too much on activities and too little on what those activities or tasks are supposed to achieve. When I used to interview for full time positions, the one question I used to always ask was "What will I have accomplished over (some period of time) that will make you say, 'yes! we hired the right person?'" We should ask a similar question about the work we and our staff do. "What will I/he/she accomplish will make me feel that I/we have spent my/our time doing the right things?" Marla Kaminsky knows that one of the most important right things a fundraiser can do is to listen to our donors. I first read her piece on the PEJE blog and immediately emailed her for permission to publish it here. It's a really important lesson we all need to learn, remember, relearn. Richard Garcia, who I first met at during Social Media week when he was part of a panel on Web-based fundraising at the Center for Nonprofit Management in LA. I was so impressed by his wisdom, I sought him out, and then asked him to write something for this newsletter. In less than 500 words he is able to make clear how nonprofits can help to optimize and energize their donor base by using social media. And if you are working with an organization outside the US, Bo Morton-my longtime co-teacher of our Get Grants! Online class-will help to guide you as you master a new language of grantspeak and a whole new world of funders. *************** 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.
|
|
LEARN TO LISTEN
Marla Kaminsky is a development professional (and sometimes therapist) at Bornblum Solomon Schechter School in Memphis, Tennessee. She does not have a southern accent and prefers Pepsi over Coke. This article first appeared on the PEJE blog.
A couple of years back I attended, as a volunteer, a federation campaign training seminar. A prominent, very well-spoken consultant led the session. I liked her a lot. But when the topic of overcoming objections from upset donors came up, I had to interrupt her speech. My hand shot up.
"My experience, as both a volunteer and development professional," I began, "has taught me that, many times, donors just want to be heard."
In other words, sometimes we just need to just shut up and listen.
Our speaker took this in, thought for a second, and then made the following remark: "We are not therapists."
I begged to differ then, and I beg to differ now as I write this.
The ability to listen without judgment-without the need to be "right"-is an essential skill, regardless of one's profession. It's certainly one of the best tools that we development professionals can pass along to our cadre of volunteers.
Where, you might ask, did I learn this skill?
I was fortunate to work at a hospital where I was required to take part in the same Service Excellence seminars that nurses and other patient care staff received. I know, I know, I still roll my eyes at the term "Service Excellence," but bear with me. This training has proven to be some of the most applicable knowledge I've ever received.
It was in this seminar that I learned to H.E.A.R.T.-Hear, Empathize, Apologize, Resolve, and Thank. I learned to use listening language like, "I can imagine this is frustrating for you; thank you for sharing this with me"; "I am so sorry you feel that way"; and "Does this solution feel good to you?"
Having fruitfully applied these lessons to Jewish day school donors and prospects, I am honored to offer you my top five "Service Excellence" (commence the eye roll) recommendations for your consideration:
1. Don't tell a donor they are wrong unless they are misquoting a fact. Let's face it: people simply don't like to be told they are wrong-just ask my husband.
2. Recognize when a donor just wants to vent. And when they do let it roll, simply listen. In fact, try using another Service Excellence skill: Q-TIP, or Quit Taking It Personally. [Side story: I have found that once a donor vents, even if I haven't solved their problem, they see more clearly. It's a fascinating dynamic. In fact, in more than one case, a venting session has produced a gift soon after the venting session. Go figure!] (READ MORE)
|
|
Optimizing and Energizing
How Nonprofits Should Use Social Media
Richard Garcia is a Partner with the The Qualia Group, a Los Angeles-based public relations and public advocacy firm specializing in nonprofit outreach needs. Richard can be reached at Richard.garcia@qualiagroup.net.
Since their launch in 2004, 2005 and 2006 respectively, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have continued to evolve presenting variable options to interact with the world.
Although your kids have probably mastered the simplicity of messaging to friends, businesses and nonprofits are the ones struggling most when it comes to finding the right mix of dialogue and messaging to engage audiences.
For nonprofits social media, or new media, is a quick, easy and inexpensive way to optimize and energize your donor and volunteer base in these trying economic times.
Follow some of these basic rules and you and your organization can start or build upon your current base:
- Provide a brief, but effective, summary of what your organization does in the description portion of your profiles. This will give friends, followers and viewers a quick understanding of what services you offer.
- Quickly follow or friend national groups that serve similar missions, funders, local area news writers (TV, radio and print) and bloggers that write about your area of service, and elected officials to gain news feeds and eyeballs (their readers/followers).
- Update your social media sites daily, a minimum of two times a day with original content (news from the organization, shout outs to funders, volunteers or calls to action), or with sourced information from credible news groups on topics related to your service area (you can retransmit from the sites you now follow).
- Ensure that messaging on all sites is consistent (what appears on Twitter should also run on Facebook with similar language and links).
A key to gaining new followers is to link to local groups (news, private sector, service groups, elected officials, etc.) and engage in their online conversations while at the same time posting engaging feeds on your sites to attract followers. This is the beginning of the echo effect. Once a new user begins to follow you and finds items of interest in your posts he/she will resend your messaging to their networks and so on. (READ MORE)
|
Going Global With Grants
Bo Morton specializes in working with international organizations and educational institutions. Find out more at http://www.linked2grow.com
I had worked with grants for more than 15 years when at the beginning of this year I decided to go international. Following my interests, I decided to focus on getting grant funding for organizations working outside the United States. Little did I know that I will have to master a whole new language of grantspeak and a whole new and different world of funders.
The Language
We, grant professionals in the US, have our own jargon. Not surprisingly, there are parallel jargons in other parts of the world. Just as an example, what I would call a preproposal or preliminary proposal is referred to as a "concept note" by non-US funders. In several cases, particularly in the European Commission grant proposals, I came across a matrix called Logical Framework Analysis (LFA or logframe), which to me looks like a combination of a logic model and an implementation schedule that I used to do for American federal grants. Supposedly this LFA format has actually been developed in the US (by USAID) in the 1970s, and it seems to have become an international hit.
Another aspect that seems to be much more important when developing proposals for international NGOs is the gender factor. Since the situation of women and girls in many countries of the developing world is so different from that of men and boys, many funders are very sensitive to gender issues in project design and delivery. We have to always consciously keep it in mind and explicitly address equitability of participation in the project and distribution of resources.
Funders and where to find them
International NGOs get their funding from anywhere they can (Isn't it what everybody does?) While American nonprofits seem to mostly rely on US funders, international NGOs look everywhere. Even though I worked on many international projects before, they were always funded by US funders and always managed by an American organization, in most cases an educational institution. It was quite an eye opener for me to delve into the world of international funders. There are several categories of funders to consider.
First, there are multilateral development banks. They are called multilateral because they are financed by many governments. Their geographic focus can be global or regional. Examples of such banks are the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Development Bank. Their main business is to provide loans and advice to client governments, but their local country offices often make grants to NGOs. Their grant programs are not necessarily easy to find on their websites so it takes some digging to get the information, but it's worth the effort. Many of them also have excellent background research for specific regions and countries that is much more current than information on the US State Department or USAID sites.
Some multilateral agencies also fund NGOs, for example United Nation's International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), United Nation's Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and World Health Organization (WHO). Navigating the huge UN bureaucracy can be difficult, but once the relationship is established, it can last for many years. Other agencies, such as OPEC, for example, also have grant programs for NGOs.
There are also Official Development Assistance (ODA) Agencies of governments of wealthy countries, which usually have well developed websites with information on funding initiatives and application processes. Some of the NGOs I have worked with received funding from Scandinavian development agencies, the Australian AusAID, and the Canadian International Development Agency. The truth is that many other governments are much more generous with their international aid that our government.
Private foundations exist not only in the United States. Some of my client NGOs received grants from foundations in Switzerland, Germany, UK or the Netherlands. Searching for these foundations is more complicated as there is no good database that includes all of them. (READ MORE)
|
|
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.
|
|
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.
|
|
|
