Month: April 2014

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1. How Many Development Staff Are Needed…? & 2. Events In Private Homes – Part I

1. How Many Development Staffers Do We Need to Attain Our Fundraising Goals?
by Tony Poderis

I’ve often been asked about a formula/guideline for determining the number of development staff needed relative to an organization’s fundraising goals?

I always reply, strongly, that “there’s no such animal.” There simply cannot be such a formula developed that has any relation to reality. No way!

From the following common nonprofit activities and circumstances, you can see why there is no way to come up with a formula to know exactly, before fundraising goals are set, or when they are presented to the chief development officer, how many development staff s/he should have to meet those goals.

• The basic wide range of operating budgets, from the (few) thousands to the multimillions.

• Whether, in some organizations, there are earned income revenues helping to meet expenses (i.e., universities and hospitals), versus those nonprofits having to raise of 100% of their expenses (abuse shelters, food-banks, etc.).

• Startup costs for new and emerging organizations.

• Initial “investment” costs for new major campaigns, such as for capital, endowment, sponsorships and underwriting.

• The types of fundraising mechanisms – i.e., face-to-face, tele-funding, direct mail, email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.

• How much, how little, or not at all, the Members of the Board of Trustees directly assist and participate in the development activities. (This can make a huge difference.)

• The quality, skills, experience, and capability of any given development staff person are major factors. (This is perhaps, the biggest variable influencing the number of staff needed in a given organization.)

• Whether the “development” person is required to perform other activities within the organization – i.e., marketing, PR, communications, etc.

• The degree of coordination required and desired with fundraising volunteers, and the number of them needed to effectively/fully implement the various campaigns and special events.

And there are, no doubt, even more reasons why you will not find such a formula – or if you do, why you should ignore it.

The number of professionals, and their roles in the development process has everything to do with the funding needs, priorities, available resources, and the capability of the staffers – determined on a case-by-case basis.

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Have a question or comment about the above posting?
You can Ask Tony.
There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website:
Raise-Funds.com
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Have you seen
The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $3.99)
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2. Events In Private Homes: Part I
Education? Cultivation? Solicitation? Stewardship?
by Hank Lewis

An Executive Director, indicating that she doesn’t “have time or resources to expend on a feel-good [event], and very little time for organizing yet another event” of any kind, wrote that, “A donor has offered his home for a private event … [but that she (the ED) has] always shied away from these b/c no one can agree what the purpose/format should be….”

To begin my response, I’d observe that (as in the title of this piece) there are four basic purposes for such an activity … singly or in combination; and, the first issue for consideration should be the determination that there is a need for a specific type of event, with a specific purpose/goal/objective.

Assuming that such a need exists, that the homeowner is someone whose stature/renown could motivate individuals to want to attend, and/or that the home being offered is one that would do the same, the next question to be resolved relates to who would be the appropriate individuals to be invited to an event at that person’s home.

Will the invitees be known to the host? How well? Have they been to the host’s home previously? Why? How often? Are they aware of the host’s relationship with the nonprofit?

What will be the role of the host? Will it be limited to, “Welcome to my home,” will he be the center of the meeting, the presenter and the question answerer, or will it be somewhere in-between ??

Is the event going to be a “fund-raiser” with little substance? Will the attendees leave without having learned a lot about the nonprofit, or will they leave wanting to know more?

If the thought is that the host would ask attendees to “give,” it must be understood that people who are solicited in a group setting are not being (cannot be) asked for a major gift, they can only (all) be asked to give at a specific level … a level that’s likely to be significantly lower than what they’d actually be capable of giving.

[A major gift, by definition, is one that can only be solicited one-on-
one (face-to-face) by the person(s) who has/have been significantly
involved with the cultivation of the (potential) donor.]
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(“Events In Private Homes” continues
in the April 23rd & April 30th postings.)
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Have a comment or a question about starting,
evaluating or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”

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Will GM Walk its Crisis Management Talk?

Team-leader-preparing-a-crisis-speech-with-teammates

Saying you’ll clean up your act is one thing, backing it up is another

General Motors is the latest carmaker to come under fire for failure to address safety issues (and defending that decision) after it was revealed that it had swept reports of defective ignition switches, responsible for some 12 deaths, under the rug for more than a decade.

Facing a congressional investigation and the ire of stakeholders, GM CEO Mary Barra is talking the talk, delivering candid messages to both external and internal audiences and announcing sweeping changes in the company. Asked by The Fiscal Times to describe what GM needs to do next, Jonathan Bernstein explained a necessity many overlook – backing up all that talk with real-world action:

“At the end of the day, they need to walk their talk,” says Jonathan Bernstein, the head of Bernstein Crisis Management, a communications consultancy. “When they put profits ahead of safety, they forget that their most important asset isn’t their bank account. It’s their reputation.”

With 13 years of deception under its belt, GM has a big hole to dig out of. Those claims Berra’s making about a commitment to safety and a revision of systems absolutely must be followed up by not only actually putting the projects into motion, but also keeping stakeholders informed as to how these projects are helping to keep them safe, and GM engineers and leadership honest.

GM certainly has the assets to do crisis management for this situation right, but, as Jonathan explained, safety needs to actually and demonstrably be the highest priority if the brand is to recover.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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When Advertising Becomes a Reputation Risk

advertising-advetise-consumer-advertisement-icon

[Editor’s note: We asked to reprint this article from Tony Jaques’ “Managing Outcomes” newsletter because it addresses an issue we constantly see major organizations ignore – the fact that advertising can, and often does, create unnecessary reputation threats.]

Two of Australia’s largest corporations are under fire because of their advertising. The Victorian Supreme Court recently ruled that claims by Singtel Optus about the coverage of its telephone network would have misled the ordinary or reasonable person. And supermarket chain Coles has just been before the Federal Court to defend a charge that bread which has been part-cooked and frozen should not be promoted as “fresh baked.”

Cases of dubious advertising are all too common. However, for major corporations and high profile brands it’s not just about dollars and cents. Corporate reputation can also be at risk.

It hasn’t been a great time for honesty in big-brand advertising. Late last year the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced legal action against Reebok for claiming that walking in a pair of EasyTone shoes would increase the strength and muscle tone of the calves, thighs and buttocks more than with a traditional walking shoe. ACCC also announced action against energy company AGL South Australia for making false or misleading representations to homeowners about the level of discounts off electricity usage charges they could be obtain.

Around the same time came news that the Federal Court upheld the $250,000 fine against high-street jeweller Zamel’s for misuse of “was/now” pricing. The court found the apparent “savings” were false or misleading because Zamel’s had either not sold the item or made only a few sales, at or near the “was” price.

In its original defence, the company claimed it was “widespread industry practice.” In its failed appeal, their lawyers argued that the “was” price should be considered an “offer to treat” rather than the actual price. Got that? Now try to explain it to the ordinary or reasonable consumer.

A few days later, the court handed down a $1 million fine to the group buying website Scoupon, for misleading consumers about their refund rights and the price of goods advertised. Also for telling businesses that there was no cost or risk involved and that 30% of vouchers would not be redeemed, which was not true.

Of course, dodgy advertising has been around since Eve told Adam how good the apple would taste. Yet for corporations, the risk to reputation can easily be under-rated.

Every experienced communicator knows you can try to win in the court of law and risk a terrible loss in the court of public opinion. Let’s not forget when Pringles in the UK appealed to the highest court in the land to try and prove their famous potato chips are not actually a potato product, in order to save a substantial amount of sales tax. They eventually lost, but not before their own lawyers argued that Pringles “don’t look like a chip, don’t feel like a chip and don’t taste like a chip.” That must have really pleased their PR and Marketing people.

In these and so many other examples, the question is: Where were the issue and crisis professionals who should have been asking – “Excuse me boss, but does this really seem like a good idea?” Maybe the Australian cases are not quite so egregious, but they are a blunt reminder that reputation is far too important to be left to over-enthusiastic marketers and over-legalistic lawyers.

Tony Jaques manages Australian-based issue and crisis management consultancy Issue}Outcomes and authors its newsletter Managing Outcomes

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Tips For Creating Standards

a lady creating standard of a product

You go into an organization where there are no standard forms of documentation for communicating. How do you go about creating a standard when there is none? First and foremost, use your excellent communication skills to understand your stakeholders, use your interpersonal skills to collaborate with colleagues to gather information, and use your technical and analytical skills to understand complex technical information and organize it into logical sections.

Should you have a meeting first? Or do you develop a standardization on your own? There are many ways to approach this. Regarding best documentation practices,

  • Meet first and find out what exists already.
  • Then see how you can organize all of it on your own.
  • When that heavy task is completed, create a Style Guide for each piece of material.
  • Plan out what has to be done.

Below are some suggestions and questions to ask.

Whether there are existing or just a few brief documents, find out:

  • What is the organizations’ environment, e.g., global, marketing, technical?
  • Where all the documents located.
  • Who is your target audience? Who were the existing documents created for previously, e.g., testers, users, developers, engineers, financial or pharmaceutical personnel, managers? Try to narrow down the stakeholders.
  • Do compliances have to be met, e.g., within a pharmaceutical or manufacturing company.
  • Are there any security issues?

If there are existing documents:

  • Ask and ensure that the existing documents are accurate.
  • Next, perform a general examination of all the documents.
  • Think about how you would rearrange the material.to make it more appealing.
  • Did you find any consistencies within the documents, i.e., style of writing, formatting? If so, note it down, as this information might become part of a style guide for certain types of documents.
  • Also note down any formatting differences to see if there is a preference
  • Organize the documents into categories, e.g., user guides, standard operating procedures, technical, sales, customer service documents, etc.
  • Create an outline or draw a map of the categories to help maintain order.
  • Ensure that the content fits into the category.
  • When ready, work on each piece of document one at a time.
  • Ensure that the purpose of each document is successful and does what it is supposed to do, i.e., guide, develop, help, quantify, educate, or demonstrate.

Questions to ask about the documents:

  • Are there certain styles or types of documents that they do not want? Maybe they only want user or training material and not technical nor procedural documents.
  • Are there particular formats they do not want, i.e., within outlines (wanting alphabetical as opposed to numerical)?
  • Does length matter/? Maybe they only want short concise documents and not lengthy ones where you have to look at a table of contents.

As a final note:

  • The document you standardize should fit the philosophy of the organization; global or national.
  • Plan out your documents and create guidelines for approval, and determine ahead of time how to manage changes.
  • Be flexible, especially when working in a global organization. One culture may like explicit detailed longer explanations, whereas another may not and prefer illustrations instead of words, or both, or videos instead.

What are your experiences in working with non-standardized documents?

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Cyber Crisis – EA Servers Used to Phish Apple IDs

a-cyber-criminal-stealing-information.j

Example of how the cybersecurity issues of others can quickly become your own

As cybercrime becomes ever more lucrative, hackers are seeking to attack specific targets in any way possible. In a reminder of the reality that, even if your systems are secure, there are ways for criminals to target your customers from other angles, it appears a server belonging to EA Games is actually being used to steal personal information from Apple ID users.

Information security firm Netcraft discovered the situation, and shared details on its blog:

An EA Games server has been compromised by hackers and is now hosting a phishing site which targets Apple ID account holders.

The compromised server is used by two websites in the ea.com domain, and is ordinarily used to host a calendar based on WebCalendar 1.2.0. This version was released in September 2008 and contains several security vulnerabilities which have been addressed in subsequent releases.

The phishing site attempts to trick a victim into submitting his Apple ID and password. It then presents a second form which asks the victim to verify his full name, card number, expiration date, verification code, date of birth, phone number, mother’s maiden name, plus other details that would be useful to a fraudster. After submitting these details, the victim is redirected to the legitimate Apple ID website at https://appleid.apple.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/MyAppleId.woa/

You can only imagine the kind of access a hacker would have with all of this information, and considering the phishing site looks and behaves much like the real Apple page, who do you think the average user is going to be upset with when they find their information’s been stolen and used to wreack as much financial havoc as possible across the web?

There is only so much you can do to protect your organization and stakeholders from truly zealous cyber criminals. Data theft, phishing, and exposure of personal information are just a few of the very real possibilities, and as you can see from this case, the attack could come from very unexpected places.

Stomach the thought that you could very well be the next victim, prepare to react, and you’ll mitigate the potential damage that much faster when the threat does come. It’s that simple.

P.S. Never, ever let a website store your credit card data. Some of the allegedly most-secure servers in the world have been the target of credit card and identify theft.

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For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Crisis Management
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[Jonathan Bernstein is president of Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc., an international crisis management consultancy, author of Manager’s Guide to Crisis Management and Keeping the Wolves at Bay – Media Training. Erik Bernstein is Social Media Manager for the firm, and also editor of its newsletter, Crisis Manager]

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1. Effective Conference Fundraising & 2. Your CFC Ambassadors

1. Making Your Nonprofit Conference A Special Event
by Natalie Lewis

We in the nonprofit sector attend (and often arrange) our fair share of conferences; and, how many times have we walked thru an exhibit hall door and thought, “This place looks exactly like most of the other (boring) exhibit halls I’ve seen.”

When was the last time you went to a conference, walked into the exhibit hall and were pleasantly surprised that it looked new, different or interesting?

The old format of long rows of booths or six-foot tables is being replaced with some real imagination and creativity. Exhibitors are sharing space with cafes and other street scenes including park benches and a coffee bar. Attendees are following walking paths that curve and bend and lead to a cluster of exhibitors or a sound stage or an author’s corner.

Gone is the boredom that hit you at the door when you looked out and saw a mass of booths and tables with water stations. Instead, you can now see a village with storefronts, cafes, lounge areas, and of course, the vendors … who are happy to see people (potential buyers) visiting and revisiting the area. Sales/contacts are up, vendors feel loved, and they’ll want to come back. What could be better?

Strolling through the exhibit hall has become an activity beyond purchasing or learning about new products. There is more time to network and grab a cup of coffee or a sandwich. It is a place to which you want to return, many times, before the conference is over. It is a happening, and a destination.

We recently did a conference and turned the exhibit hall into a village with space for vendors, cafes and some intimate learning sessions over continental breakfast. The exhibitors were thrilled with the new model and the increased traffic, while the attendees (repeatedly) found themselves checking out the village to see what was going on.

Keep your vendors happy; show others that they could really benefit from being one of your conference exhibitors, and there will be more vendors who will be wanting to “sign up.” Would you object to having those additional vendor fees ??

Just because “we’ve always done it the way we’ve done it,” doesn’t mean we should continue with the same-old-same-old. It is always time for a change. Your attendees and vendors will thank you for the redo!

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Have a comment or a question about creating
or expanding your special event?
Ask Natalie.
With over 30 years in conference and event planning,
she can help you turn your vision into reality.
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Look for Natalie’s ebook on Special Events.
It’s part of
The Fundraising Series of ebooks
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99 – $4.99)
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2. Your CFC Ambassadors
by Bill Huddleston

Where the basic definition of ambassador refers to the relations between countries, the definition, in its broad sense, more accurately fits everyone associated with a non-profit. All are, in some way, actual representatives of your organization. Hopefully, they are “ambassadors” of goodwill.

Since everyone associated with your non-profit (paid staff, volunteers and board members) will talk to others about “their” organization, do you make sure they have the proper/appropriate training and orientation?

In many instances, the training program you have for your volunteers may be the most important training program you have. Why? Because the volunteers don’t sit in on staff meetings or receive the staff-mail messages; and, with the exception of your board members, they are not at board meetings. So, they may be getting a more limited view of your non-profit than is ideal for your “ambassadors.”

What is the relationship between the paid staff and the volunteer staff? Obviously, in some non-profits it’s great, while in others, it’s dismal.

Obviously the first-step is to have a great non-profit, with a compelling mission and a dedicated and passionate staff. But that’s still not enough, once you’ve taken care of those basics, how are you going to tell your stories? Through your people, and “your people” includes everyone who’s associated with your organization.

This does not mean that everyone should be empowered to talk to a reporter who calls, far from it.

You need to have controls and procedures in place for that circumstance, but you also want to let your dedicated volunteers know what the top three priorities are for the year, and how they are helping “their” non-profit achieve them!

In our next couple of CFC postings, we’ll look at some ways to assess your CFC effort as part of your non-profit’s overall sustainability program.

Resources:
http://www.pointsoflight.org/signature-events/national-volunteer-week
http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/nvw_celebrate_service_resourceguide10jan13.pdf
Global Youth Service Day GYSD.org April 11-13, 2014

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach,
served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal
Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions,
contact Bill Huddleston
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks.
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

If you would like to comment/expand on either-or-both of the above pieces, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subjects of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply.”

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What March Madness teaches us about facilitation

Basketball-hoop-in-a-basketball-court

Here we go. We’ve completed March, and now, it’s down to the Final Four in this year’s NCAA March Madness. As I analyze the four remaining teams and highlights of their seasons (and take a look at my butchered bracket!), I think about how March Madness and – more importantly – the game of basketball really does embody what we know about facilitation.

Let’s consider that thought for these reasons:

1. What we call engagement strategies, the players call pre-game activities – like pre-game warm-ups and pre-game rituals. The warm-ups are methodical drills that help the players get in rhythm, exercise their skills, and engage with each other – from stretching to laps to shooting. Many teams also have traditional, superstitious activities that must be done before any game – some are peculiar, some are funny, some stir the spirit outside of the locker room and are felt by the fans. They are just like engagement strategies, which facilitators love because they help focus and motivate the group and the result wanting to be achieved. We have a whole manual on strategies that engage a group, get them “warmed up” and thinking, and prevent boredom. Because pre-game warm-ups and rituals are often performed at the beginning before the game starts, they are also like opening statements because they produce the IEEI – the inform, excite, empower, and involve – that we teach in facilitation training, like The Effective Facilitator. What are the best warm-ups or rituals you’ve seen?

2. Even the word “facilitator” is used to describe the point guard’s position. Some even argue that, because of this, the point guard has the most important role on the floor. The point guard has the ball in his/her hands the most, and therefore, he/she must guide the team play by play. The point guard’s play-making decisions and actions influence the other four teammates on the court. Similarly, a meeting facilitator possesses this same critical responsibility (along with other unique roles) – the facilitator must guide the group throughout the session, and the meeting participants will look to the facilitator to “make plays” to achieve the group’s meeting purpose.

3. There will be dysfunction. Whether a personal foul, a poor officiating call, a technical foul, etc. – there will be dysfunction on and off the court, as there will be in meetings (in and out of the room). What happens when a team is assessed a foul? Turnovers, free throws, and a lot of frustration, as I’m sure Kansas State can attest to after that odd, technical call the team was given before the game even started. In basketball, fouls happen, and just like in meetings, they interrupt the group’s momentum and overall purpose. The team must find ways to overcome dysfunction – whether it be shifting player match-ups, utilizing your bench, or strengthening your defensive techniques. The good news for meeting facilitators is that we’ve found ways to manage dysfunction. Unfortunately, there is no officiating crew in meetings who assesses fouls on participants and rewards the other participants with free throws. Instead, we rely on facilitation methods to prevent and manage dysfunction to keep the meeting productive, as outlined in this eBook. Note – unlike in basketball, it is important that meeting participants not strategically try to draw dysfunction/fouls as part of their game plan!

4. Upsets happen in meetings too, as they do in in the Big Dance. Of course, my bracket this year is a prime example of that. Always count on a wild card or that Cinderella team – i.e. this year’s Dayton Flyers – that will go on an impressive run and upset the leading teams predicted to be in contention – i.e. Ohio State and Syracuse. You will find this in meetings as well – there may be participants expected to come up with the most innovative idea or the solution to the problem, but in a facilitated session, all bets are off – it’s no longer about competition. It’s about consensus. And, true consensus means that everyone has a say. You may be in a brainstorming session with senior-level executives in the room expecting to get approval on their implementation plan, but the chosen ideas born from that meeting might come from the new, entry-level person who had a chance to speak up, suggest brilliant ideas, and gain buy-in from the group. That’s the power of facilitation – helping all participants get to the answers through a structured process.

5. Hope is not a strategy on the court nor in the meeting room. Coach Billy Donovan will certainly not depend on his Gators to run up and down the court “hoping” the ball will find its way through the rim. He will come up with other strategies for their Final Four game against the historic powerhouse that is UConn. Similarly, as meeting facilitators, we cannot “hope for hope.” Come prepared for your participants in the room. Have your purpose clear and your meeting agenda ready. Like good basketball players, you have to know what you’re up against on the court. A good meeting facilitator is aware of everything in his/her room – from the participants to the flip charts. Use this checklist for meeting preparing and agenda setting.

So, who will advance after this weekend – Florida, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Kentucky? Who will facilitate their way to the national championship?

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Certified Master Facilitator Michael Wilkinson is the CEO and Managing Director of Leadership Strategies, Inc., The Facilitation Company and author of The Secrets of Facilitation 2nd Edition, The Secrets to Masterful Meetings, and The Executive Guide to Facilitating Strategy. Leadership Strategies is a global leader in facilitation services, providing companies with dynamic professional facilitators who lead executive teams and task forces in areas like strategic planning, issue resolution, process improvement and others. The company is also a leading provider of facilitation training in the United States, having trained over 18,000 individuals.