Successful Philanthropy - Steve Mourning

It is always worth reading the words of great people This is a tribute to Steve and his view of Philanthropy who was a great friend to Australian Fundraisers. 'Fletch'

I am finding, more and more, that the real test of executive leadership for those engaged in healthcare philanthropy is not so much how much money is being raised as it is how volunteer leadership responds to your efforts to focus them on the most productive and effective strategic issues and resolution.  For instance, in your question, it is clear that your leaders recognize a need for distinctiveness, but don’t recognize that the solution is sitting in each of their chairs.

In my experience, it has become clear to me – at least – that there are only four significant elements in successful philanthropy, healthcare-related or otherwise. 

One – and the one most people believe is singularly important – is your Case for Giving and the way it is perceived in your community relative to the customs and practices of philanthropy, there.  Is it relatively compelling and urgent?  Relative; that is, to the cases offered by other organizations that compete for the support of your donors and possible donors?  Does it focus on imperatives that are expressed from donors’ point of view or as needs of the healthcare organization?  Does it speak to the needs of your community and its well-being or does it – in reality – position gifts as important assets in your organization being able to compete with the hospital down the road?  These are important issues to resolve because the right answers can and will give you some distinctiveness in your donor market’s eyes and hearts.

The Second crucial element is the resources you invest in your development program, in general, and in creating and nurturing philanthropic relationships with donors of substantial giving capacity, specifically.  One way to think of your development program is as a “retirement account for the Hospital” . . . just as you want your retirement account to be a source of support for you when you’re enjoying bingo at the senior center, one important goal for healthcare foundations is to be a source of capital and other support for your healthcare institution in the future.  It’s crucial to invest in a solid and supportive infrastructure that creates an environment for success, excellent staff resources, and donor-centered programs and materials, to secure long-term philanthropic support.

The Third element is your probable donors . . . we used to call them prospects but guess what?  Most people don’t like being called prospects for anything.  Sounds like you’ve got them in some kind of targeting process.  You may be doing just that, but it’s just better not to talk about some things in polite company.  Add “prospect” to politics and religion as something to be avoided.  For this purpose, it is crucial that you have probable donors (people who have the ability to make large gifts, motivation to give that’s extant or achievable, and an opportunity to develop a relationship and ask) adequate to your resource development goals, downstream, or the money won’t be there.  Because of the nature of healthcare and the distinctive arena of major gifts and those who make them, healthcare philanthropy is generally a “low volume, high average gift” fund raising process.  Any attempt to deny that or to achieve remarkable success using a “high volume, low average gift” is probably doomed to failure, out of the blocks.  The short of it is:  you have to find those who can make big gifts and already love you, or who will fall in love with you, and let them express that affection – actually, it’s commitment – to you in the form of philanthropy.

The Fourth element and the one that distinguishes your organization the most is leadership.  Your case doesn’t distinguish you in most people’s minds as much as anyone “inside the tent” wants simply because it’s a very competitive environment and most people out there (Russ Prince says it’s about 91% of those in your donor market) simply care a lot more about what they need and want rather than what your organization needs and wants.  I like to think of the case as your ticket to the philanthropic dance.  Those who dance well once they gain admission, well, they’re the organizations that will succeed.  Hospitals and Foundations don’t dance.  Annual Giving or Major Gifts programs don’t dance.  People dance.  People talk.  Smart people listen.  If your leadership – and you’re part of that – builds strong, donor-centered philanthropic relationships with a coterie of solid probable donors, you will have achieved a level of distinctiveness that is unassailable.  “Innovative” names for your foundation or fund raising programs may make your leaders feel good, but they will do little to encourage the philanthropic support you seek.  “New” names for your special events or a radical departure from generally accepted annual giving processes may warm you like the sun for a while, but both will have only momentary effects.  Logos only mean much to those who design them and see them very often, as your leaders do.

What really matters is the quality and number of philanthropic relationships those leaders build with qualified probable donors, using your case for giving and the resources your organization invests ahead of the charitable gift revenue curve.  I believe the job of the development professional is to create and facilitate the processes of bring probable donors and leaders together in productive interactions.  That’s what brings home the gifts that make you successful and gives communities the opportunity to experience high quality healthcare.  Distinguish yourself where it matters – in people’s hearts and minds – because they have developed a commitment to your mission.  Changing things at the edges won’t help, but going to the core and making it effective will deliver the goods, every time. 

Steven L. Mourning, FAHP (2005)

The Think-Big Board

Being a small nonprofit does not mean that you have to think small in terms of your fundraising, says Sean Hammerle, CFRE. He offers some ways to help you and your board think big.

Recently, Hammerle sat down with the board members of a small nonprofit in Houston and said that he wanted to hold an event for 40 people where attendees would each pay $3,500 to attend. What proved to be the biggest stumbling block? Not the donors' ability to wrap their head around the ticket price, but rather the boards'. "It will never work...who would pay that much?" board members exclaimed.

In six weeks, the event sold out. What was the difference between Hammerle and his board? He knew, from experience, what the right connections and the right fundraising conditions can achieve for a nonprofit--even a very small organization. As for his board members, they're not going to be afraid to think big next time.

"Small nonprofits tend to think like small nonprofits," Hammerle says. "Especially for first-time board members, if they have never seen the way boards play an integral role in fundraising, they may be resistant to getting involved in development at all, let alone being able to imagine that donors to their organization could be so generous."

Often it is the mindset of the staff and board that determines the revenue limit, not the giving capacity of donors, he says. The first step to changing that mindset and having your board members think big is to start with good communication.

Knowing What They Don't Know

Fundraisers are often too quick to assume that board members understand the development function. When was the last time that you sat down to have a one-on-one conversation with one or more, or ideally every member of your board to get their thoughts and discuss fundraising opportunities? If the answer is two years ago, or even one year ago, realize that a lot can change.

"It is our job as Fundraisers to educate board members about development and the pivotal role they play in that process," Hammerle says. "We get frustrated when boards are always jumping from crisis to crisis and clamoring for a special event that will be the magic bullet for funding. But we forget that they don't know what we know-that fundraising takes long-term strategy and effort."

As the fundraiser, you can hold a training for board members. You can educate them about the development function. Most importantly, you can start the conversation with members individually to find out what they want, how they view the organization's progress, and how big things can happen when they get involved.

Seeing is Believing

Hammerle also advises fundraisers that thinking big as a board member is much more likely to happen when they see what is possible with their own eyes. Set your board member up for success--send him or her out to make an ask when you know the donor is likely to make a large gift. Or, go out and find a donor who commits to a large challenge gift to get the ball rolling.

When the board sees that first large gift come in, it's like a football team up against a difficult opponent-one touchdown early in the game gives the team real confidence that winning is possible, Hammerle says. It's a great motivator.

The lesson? You, too, can have a think-big board. Don't expect them to "get it" automatically. You are in a position to show them what is possible.

Feb 8 2011

Sean D. Hammerle, CFRE, is chief development officer at Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. 

The Importance of 'Knowledge Management'

In the Not for profit sector we have not developed a good history of looking after our fundraising professionals, figures from around the world indicate that the average stay in fundraising is less than two years.  The fundraising profession in many countries has for many years tried to develop educational programs that will help to keep people in the profession but it does not seem to have transferred to the wider sector with salaries less than average for the comparative work required if we compare it with the ‘outside world’.

Even within the profession people move around so quickly that at each annual conference you have to read peoples name badges to know what organisation they are with this year.  I see the conference bio of a 15 year fundraising professional and it highlights the fact that it has been in 13 organisations.  It is, in some circles, seen as a sign of mediocrity if people aren’t moving on and up on a regular basis, finally achieving the top fundraising position or title.

There are many downsides to this regular movement of fundraisers, either to other organisations or out of the profession altogether, lack of confidence by donors, lack of continuity of program, and many more but by far the biggest negative is the loss of knowledge.  Unfortunately we have failed to recognise this phenomenon for too long and now we have to catch up really quickly.  It has often been said the knowledge is power and it was Andrew Carnegie who once said;

…..“The only irreplaceable capital an organization possesses is the knowledge and ability of its people. The productivity of that capital depends on how effectively people share their competence with those who can use it.”

Now it is easy to advertise for the best fundraiser and then try and entice them to a more senior position but how are we going to capitalise on their knowledge when they are enticed somewhere else?  How are we going to use their capabilities for the benefit of the organisation for the years after they have left for ‘greener pastures’? 

It has been estimated that when someone leaves an organisation, particularly in a creative leadership role that a huge percentage of the knowledge capital that they have developed in their tenure walks out the door with them.  This can be disastrous for the organisation and the always hoped for year on year increase in financial support. 

I was with an organisation that was in the habit of rotating its staff every two-three years.  Long term statistics indicated that most incumbents were able to make an increase in income each consecutive year that they were in that particular position; however when a new person took over the role there was a significant drop in income in their first year.  Their second year was better but you always knew that when that person was moved on there would be a significant drop in income.

This of course hampered the continued growth of the organisation and needed to be addressed.

Knowledge Management has been recognized as an essential component of a proactively managed organization. The key concepts include converting data, organizational insight, experience and expertise into reusable and useful knowledge that is distributed and shared with the people who need it.

Today most thinking organisations will recognise the importance of the management of the knowledge that is held by all the staff in the organisation and will take significant steps to guard, and preserve it for the future health of the organisation.  To gain the competitive edge in today’s world it no longer is good enough to employ the best people and have the biggest financial turnover in this financial year but it is all about ‘long term sustainability’.  By its very definition this means gathering and protecting all the information that will be required for the future health of the organisation; whether it is in the ‘Not for Profit world’ or the for ‘Profit world’.  A number of years ago it was predicted that by the year 2010, one-third of the workforce in the United States will be comprised of knowledge professionals. It is incumbent upon all organizations to embrace this need for managing knowledge.

So what does this mean?  I guess that for many organisations it means getting into the 20^th century or for some being dragged kicking and screaming into the 20^th Century.  No longer is it the lowly role of a data entry operator, who is looked at as a starter in the organisation with a suitable lowly title of Administration Assistant, they need to be recognised for the significant role that they play and a title such as ‘Guardian of the Organisations Treasure’ because that is what that is what the Knowledge Managers role really is; without doubt.  There is now no excuse for employees to be ignorant of the importance of guarding the organisations jewels in regard to the future sustainability of the organisation.

I said a long time ago that I believe the Fundraiser of the future will not be known for the amount of money that they have raised – but for how far that they can see into the future’.  I still stand by that but maybe I could be permitted to re write the quote, seeing as I made it in the first place.  It will be along the lines more about how they can preserve the current knowledge to benefit all future dreams, plans and actions of the organisation.

There will come a time when an organisation will not simply be known for its logo or for who works there, but for how well they preserve their knowledge to benefit future growth and development of the organisation; where all the staff have confidence that all the current knowledge is recorded, accessible and usable in future years.  Not just by the ‘Data Base Entry Person’.

Knowledge professionals will become the dominant force behind the new economy, not unlike the farmer who changed the face of farming by developing a plough.  Everything changed forever.

 It is incumbent upon all organizations to embrace this need for managing knowledge. Just take a look at those organizations that seem to create value against the competition. You will invariably find a strong emphasis on ‘knowledge management’.

At last it seems like the humble data base has come of age, but will organisations and their staff keep up with it because it does not require nimble fingers to manipulate a keyboard but a nimble brain to see the possibilities for all that we are involved with.

Nimble fingers are easy; but ..........