Strategic Fund Development E-Book

Simone P. Joyaux

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 840

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The completely revised and expanded edition of a fundraising classic

Strategic Fund Development became an instant classic the day the first edition was released. Now in this expanded third edition, it has been revised cover-to-cover with relevant new information and useful new tools and resources.

The book addresses the needs for fundraisers of every level of expertise. Experienced development officers find this an invaluable reference tool for educating their colleagues and boards. New fundraisers get firm grounding in best practice and what it really takes to do this work. Executive directors learn how fundraising fits into the organization and what it takes to make fundraising productive.

• Contains in-depth analysis about what makes organizations effective, including things like leadership, organizational culture, decision-making processes, systems thinking, and well-managed change
• Offers comprehensive strategic planning insights, with detailed steps, sample research tools, retreat agendas, and complete plans
• Includes the same tools and resources for fundraising planning

This updated classic provides essential insights, with an extra bonus: purchasers get exclusive access to a website of tools and resources.

Leseprobe

Contents

Cover

Endorsement

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

A Note on This Book’s Companion Website

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Chapter 1: Let’s Start Here

Where to Start

What’s Happening Out in the World

Defining Philanthropy and Fund Development

Why Does This Sector Matter?

Why Does This Sector Matter? Redux

A Sad Truth

Basic Principles of Fund Development

Nothing Can or Should Substitute for Philanthropy

In Conclusion

Summary

Chapter 2: Positioning Your Organization to Survive and Thrive

Are You Slowly Going Out of Business?

Philanthropy Builds Communities

Challenging Philanthropy and the Nonprofit/NGO Sector

Isolating Fundraisers and Fund Development

What You Can Do Now

A Fundamental Truth

Summary

Chapter 3: The First Relationship—Within Your Organization

Making Your Organization Effective

Concept of a Group

Components of an Effective Infrastructure

Shared Values

The Art of Leadership

Commitment to Process

The Learning Organization

Conversation Is a Core Business Practice

Participatory Decision-Making

Well-Managed Change

A Culture of Philanthropy

A Last Word on How to Build an Organization That Will Last

Summary

Chapter 4: The Fund Development Professional

Strengthen the Professional Fundraiser

Look at Your Organization

How Technical Fundraisers Affect the Bottom Line

The Accomplished Fundraiser

The Road to Transformation

Learning Outside the Nonprofit/NGO Sector and the Fund Development Field

Fundraisers as Leaders

Fundraisers and Power

Defining a Profession

Fundraising as a Vocation

Defining Your Philosophy

Summary

Chapter 5: The Art of Leadership

What Is Leadership?

What Do Leaders Do?

Leadership and Diversity

A Special Obligation of Leadership

Leadership in Philanthropic Organizations

Attributes and Skills of Leaders

Leadership and Intelligences

Leaders as Critical Thinkers

Leaders as Reflective Practitioners

Leaders as Communicators

Chaordic Leadership: Understanding Complexity

Connective Leadership

Is Charisma Essential to Leadership?

P.S. Does Leadership Guarantee Success?

Summary

Chapter 6: The Second Relationship—With Your Community

Make Sure Your Organization Is Relevant to the Community

Defining the Process and Benefits for Your Organization

Components of the Written Plan

Roles in the Planning Process

Principal Components of an Effective Strategic Planning Process

Carrying Out Your Strategic Planning Process

Keeping the Plan Alive

Evaluating Your Strategic Planning Process

Challenges to Strategic Planning

Really Important Musings

Summary

Chapter 7: The Third Relationship—With Your Constituents

More Thinking Since the Previous Edition

Defining Constituency Development

Your Relations with Constituents

It’s Not What You’re Selling That Counts

Understanding Marketing

What Donors Want

What Donors Want Might Not Be What You Want

Challenges to Constituency Development

Roles in the Constituency Development Process

The Process of Constituency Development

Getting to Know Your Donors and Prospects

Relationship Building through Communications

Make Sure They Hear You

Building Relationships through Cultivation

Creating Extraordinary Experiences

A Side Step: The Asking Part

Summary

Chapter 8: The Fourth Relationship—With Your Volunteers

Enabling Your Volunteers

Benefits of Enabling

Enabling Functions

Attitudes, Skills, and Behaviors of Enablers

The Challenge of Enabling

Strengthen Enabling

Summary

Entr’acte

Creating the Most Effective Fund Development Program

Chapter 9: Creating the Most Effective Fund Development Plan for Your Organization

The Most Effective Fund Development Program

Defining the Process and Benefits for Your Organization

Our Really Big Fundraising Mistake

Involving the Board and Individual Board Members

The Written Fund Development Plan

Your Fund Development Planning Process

Measuring and Benchmarking for Fund Development

Interfacing Your Fund Development Plan with Your Budgeting Process

Summary

Chapter 10: Going Back to the Beginning

List of Appendices on the Companion Website

Chapter 1: Let’s Start Here: An Important Introduction

Chapter 2: Positioning Your Organization to Survive and Thrive: The Four Relationships That Are Critical to Effective and Productive Fund Development (and Healthy Organizations)

Chapter 3: The First Relationship—Within Your Organization: Creating the Infrastructure That Produces a Healthy Organization

Chapter 4: The Fund Development Professional: Choosing Your Road—Organizational Development Specialist or Just Another Fundraising Technician

Chapter 5: The Art of Leadership: A Critical Element of the First Relationship—Within Your Organization

Chapter 6: The Second Relationship—With Your Community: Ensuring Your Organization’s Relevance through Strategic Planning

Chapter 7: The Third Relationship—With Your Constituents: Nurturing Relationships to Build Loyalty

Chapter 8: The Fourth Relationship—With Your Volunteers: Enabling Them to Take Meaningful Action on Behalf of Your Organization

Chapter 9: Creating the Most Effective Fund Development Plan for Your Organization: A Plan That Produces Ownership and Results

Notes

Chapter 1: Let’s Start Here: An Important Introduction

Chapter 2: Positioning Your Organization to Survive and Thrive: The Four Relationships That Are Critical to Effective and Productive Fund Development (and Healthy Organizations)

Chapter 3: The First Relationship—Within Your Organization: Creating the Infrastructure That Produces a Healthy Organization

Chapter 4: The Fund Development Professional: Choosing Your Road—Organizational Development Specialist or Just Another Fundraising Technician

Chapter 5: The Art of Leadership: A Critical Element of the First Relationship—Within Your Organization

Chapter 6: The Second Relationship—With Your Community: Ensuring Your Organization’s Relevance through Strategic Planning

Chapter 7: The Third Relationship—With Your Constituents: Nurturing Relationships to Build Loyalty

Chapter 8: The Fourth Relationship—With Your Volunteers: Enabling Them to Take Meaningful Action on Behalf of Your Organization

Chapter 9: Creating the Most Effective Fund Development Plan for Your Organization: A Plan That Produces Ownership and Results

Index

Praise forStrategic Fund Development, Third Edition

“Few people understand the totality of fundraising strategy like Simone Joyaux. In the third edition of Strategic Fund Development Simone provides must-have insight into effective decision-making models that will lead you to well-managed and successful development efforts. Most important about this new edition is the insight you will gain to engage board members, staff, and volunteers in meeting organizational goals.”

—Ted Hart, ACFRE

“Highly functioning nonprofit philanthropic organizations are the cornerstone of any democratic society. With her truly holistic approach toward fundraising and organizational development, Simone presents great insights in building those organizations. This makes her one of the most influential fundraising thinkers globally. This is not a book for North American fundraisers only. It is a must-read for anyone, active at any level, in any nonprofit organization anywhere in the world. By the way, for those who think fundraising is just learning some techniques to raise money, this book explains how wrong that is.”

—Ilja De Coster, Senior Fundraising Consultant and Managing Partner, EthiCom, Belgium

“An indispensable resource! This is the one reference book that I recommend to the students in my course on fundraising campaigns at the Université de Montréal. The book presents a great variety of key features while it interlaces methodology with practical approaches. As such, it is an outstanding resource for any philanthropic endeavor, and it will contribute to the successful planning of great fundraising campaigns.”

—Dominique Richard, Executive Director, Muscular Dystrophy Canada, Québec division

“Simone, thanks again for motivating me, reminding me of my responsibilities as a person and a professional. Thanks for the intellectual workout too often missing in the day-to-day grind.”

—Wendy Zufelt-Baxter, MA, CFRE, Campaign Coaches, Canada

“When the Fundraising Management Certificate curriculum was recently revised, I immediately added your book as required reading for my course. The course focuses on the nuts and bolts of running a fund development office. Your book stresses the need for organizational infrastructure and strong fundamentals, just the message I wanted to deliver. And it reminds students that fundraising professionals must play a broad and strategic role in an organization. I wish it were required reading for CEOs!”

—Cathy Mann, CFRE, Academic Coordinator and Instructor, Ryerson University, Chang School; Fundraising Management Certificate Program and Principal, Cathy Mann & Associates

Copyright © 2011 by Simone P. Joyaux. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Joyaux, Simone P. Strategic fund development : building profitable relationships that last / Simone P. Joyaux.—3rd ed. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-88851-3 (hardback); ISBN 978-1-118-06225-8 (ebk.); ISBN 978-1-118-06226-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-06227-2 (ebk.) 1. Fund raising. I. Title. HG177.J69 2011 658.15′224—dc22 2010053523

Pour Georges qui aurait été si fier de me voir auteur comme lui. C'est la troisième édition, mon Père!

For the six Joyaux siblings, the Big Kids and the Little Kids. We were never in one book together. Separated by years and two editions of Dad's blockbuster.

Foreword

Dear Reader,

This Foreword was written by Tim Burchill—professional colleague and personal friend—and originally appeared in the second edition of Strategic Fund Development (2001).

Tim died suddenly on February 20, 2007. Beyond our reach now. Always remembered with admiration, gratitude, and great affection.

It seems fitting to keep Tim’s foreword for this third edition. First, because of what he said: He so well understood the intent of the book. Second, because his name represents so much of what is good and important about this sector.

As always, thank you, Tim.

In this second edition of her cogent and popular Strategic Fund Development, Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, writes that “visioning is a lively process of sharing what people most care about in a way that creates enthusiasm and shared commitment, a collective sense of what matters to the organization and its participants. … Your organization’s vision is a snapshot of your desired future.”

Another contemporary observer of organizational planning and leadership, Joel Barker, author and futurist, offers a prescription for organizations of all kinds, from governments to multinationals, and from highly endowed universities to grassroots not-for-profit agencies:

Organizations with vision are powerfully enabled.Organizations without vision are at risk.

Simone Joyaux provides those of us who labor in the vineyards of the philanthropic sector with invaluable tools and concepts for translating organizational vision into reality. As one who has enjoyed the privilege of being a colleague of Simone’s in various venues, I view this volume as but one more component of the innumerable contributions she has made to not-for-profit organizations and their stakeholders over the past quarter century.

A foreword is probably not the place to summarize key points of a book. But three central messages in this volume are so critical to a proper perspective of the philanthropic sector that they warrant highlighting:

1. Success in securing philanthropic gifts is not the result of master techniques, deploying the latest technology, or enjoying the most hallowed tradition. Simply stated, successful philanthropic fundraising is the product of the intentional, strategic, and consistent building and nurturing of relationships with an ever-expanding pool of stakeholders.

2. “No organization can survive on mission and vision alone.”

3. Even as the practice of fundraising is emerging as a true and recognized profession, volunteers remain critical to the fundraising process and to the validation of the legitimacy of not-for-profit organizations.

Too much of the literature available in the field today gives scant attention to these three essential paradigms. Yet they constitute the very heart and soul of Simone Joyaux’s writing.

It has been my privilege to work closely with Simone Joyaux in recent years: as fellow members of two boards of directors—the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and CFRE International—and as fellow faculty members in the Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota MA in Philanthropy and Development program. In every venue—as well as in this book—she gives evidence of her limitless commitment to advancing the field of philanthropy. She is a true steward of philanthropy.

Tim J. Burchill, CFRE President, The Metanoia Group Executive Director, Hendrickson Institute for Ethical Leadership Founder and Senior Faculty, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota MA in Philanthropy and Development Winona, Minnesota

Preface

Do You Need This Book?

This book is not just about fundraising.

Yes, fund development is the frame for this book; it’s right there in the title. But the foundation of the book is building effective and sustainable organizations. In fact, parts of this book are pretty much stand-alone publications on specific topics. For example:

Chapter 3 focuses on your internal operations. Use this chapter to learn about organizational culture and good decision-making. Learn what it means to define your organization’s values and why those matter. Use conversation as a core business practice and use questions to stimulate conversation. Do all this well and you’ll be stronger.Chapter 6 focuses on institutional strategic planning. This chapter tells you just about everything you need to know to do effective strategic planning in any organization. Forget fund development. Use this chapter—and its many examples—to carry out strategic planning at your organization. Strategic planning answers questions like: Why do you matter? Where are you going? How will you get to where you’re going? And this chapter shows you how to decide all this and how to develop your plan.Chapter 8 explains how to work with volunteers. Apply these enabling functions well, and you and your volunteers will be far more successful. Use these strategies to get the best governance and fundraising performance from your board members.

Should you buy this third edition if you already own the second edition? You’ll find lots of new stuff:

More about leadership—in a separate chapter in this new edition.More about the fundraising professional—in a separate chapter in this new edition.More about fund development planning—including measures and tips to involve your board members in the process and implementation.Lots of new examples—keep the second edition for its examples, and check out the new examples in this third edition, posted on the book’s companion website: strategic plans, fund development plans, surveys, and more.New introductory chapter—highlighting key elements of fund development.Lots more cage-rattling questions—to stimulate you, your colleagues and board members, and the profession and sector. (Let’s agitate and make change!)And a website for the book with even more examples.

It’s interesting, writing a third edition of this book. Certainly it’s easier. I’m not starting from the beginning. I’m not creating something totally new. Instead, I’m editing and adjusting and adding. People call this book a “classic” and a “standard” in the profession. Professionals tell me they still use the book regularly, dog-eared copies resting near at hand. For sure, I don’t want to change so much that readers lose what they value.

For me, much of the second edition includes some favorite, always-useful learnings and insights. You’ll find resources, citations, and quotations that are a decade or more old. But old sure doesn’t mean out-of-date. My sources—for inspiration and quotations and information and learning—span many years. I continue using them because they’re good, regardless of the publication date. I continue quoting Shakespeare and Confucius, too, despite their age.

So I’m not starting from the beginning, writing this third edition. But I’ve changed in the intervening years. I’ve learned more and questioned more—and I keep learning and questioning.

I’ve connected with more professionals and volunteers around the world—speaking at conferences, developing curricula, serving clients. I read more research because there’s more to read now. I still consume books and publications—and not just in philanthropy.

All this challenges and stimulates me. I know that philanthropy is my life’s work. I know who I am and accept myself with better understanding and greater grace. I know why I do what I do and with whom I want to do it, whether colleagues, friends, or clients.

All this is reflected in this third edition of Strategic Fund Development. You’ll find more examples and new tools. You’ll find different ways to approach the same old things we always have to do. You’ll find affirmation for some of what you do. But you’ll find challenges—even harsh challenges—to other things you do (or don’t do).

Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last is really a book of many parts, a resource beyond fund development, as well as a resource for fund development. Strategic Fund Development is the precursor to Keep Your Donors—it’s the prequel, if you will. The two books belong together.

Back in 2000, when writing the second edition of this book, I said I was worried and frustrated. I still am. Even more so now. What frustrates and worries me?

Treating philanthropy as a financial transaction and a means to achieve the organization’s mission.Inadequate donor centrism and relationship building.Poor engagement of board members, too often stimulated by inadequate enabling by staff.Lousy governance, even from the supposedly sophisticated and experienced organizations and board members.Excessive focus on how rather than sufficient focus on why.Continuing sense of entitlement on the part of nonprofits/nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Actually, my frustrations and worries are a pretty long list! Just check out my pet peeves (and personal rants) on my home page at www.simonejoyaux.com. Check out my professional tips there, too.

Yes, I’m frustrated and worried. But I’m also optimistic. Keep your own faith; I do. Keep challenging yourself, others, and me, too! Keep learning. Use frustration and worry. Together, we can make changes. Together, we can strengthen fund development, organizations, and communities. Together, we do make a difference.

Why bother? Because the reward is organizational success, not just survival. And organizational success matters because strong philanthropic organizations make a bigger difference in their communities. That’s what matters.

A Note on This Book’s Companion Website

Throughout the book, I refer you to the companion website, which is new to this third edition (separate from my own website at www.simonejoyaux.com). The companion website includes all appendices for this book. For a list of appendices, by chapter, see the list at the end of this print edition.

Please visit www. wiley.com/go/strategic and enter “strategic123” to download an array of sample surveys, strategic plans and fund development plans, and other useful information.

Simone P. Joyaux, ACFREwww.simonejoyaux.com

Acknowledgments

Just like we say when recognizing donors, “This book was made possible by the generous contributions of many.”

First, I start with Tom Ahern. Not because he is my life partner but because of his profession: donor communications specialist. He's taught me to write better, much better. He challenges me professionally. He reads and edits my stuff—including three editions of this book. Thank you, colleague Tom.

Thanks to Sarah C. Coviello, CFRE, excellent collegial resource. Always there to brainstorm and strategize with me; to explore angles and directions. And thanks to dearest friend, Sarah, always there to support me.

Thanks to my clients and my volunteer gigs that graciously gave me permission to use work we produced together: Audubon Society of Rhode Island, Steel Yard, United Way of Dutchess County, Wethersfield (CT) Library, Women's Fund of Rhode Island, Women's Foundation of Southern Arizona, and the YMCA of Greater Providence. Thanks, too, to the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona.

Thank you to the cohorts at Saint Mary's University. You challenge and engage and inspire me. And you give me great ideas and quotes for my writings.

Thank you to the authors and scholars and practitioners in the philanthropic sector. Your research and experience informs my own work.

Most especially, thank you to all who give their time and money and passion in order to build strong, healthy, and vibrant communities.

And finally, thanks again to Tom, this time as my life partner. Best friend and playmate. Passionate philanthropist. Together, we yell our family battle cry and fight for change.

About the Author

Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, is recognized internationally as one of the most thoughtful, inspirational, and provocative leaders in the philanthropic sector. She’s an expert in fund development, strategic planning, and board development. She teaches philanthropy at the university level, speaks at conferences worldwide, and regularly serves on boards.

Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last is considered a classic that deserves regular updating. Her book Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships, received rave reviews. She has also written chapters in Philanthropy in 7 Words and The Fundraising Feasibility Study and is a Web columnist for The Nonprofit Quarterly.

As a volunteer, Joyaux founded the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, a social justice organization. She has been recognized as Rhode Island’s Outstanding Philanthropic Citizen.

Simone’s website is full of free downloadable resources. Her weekly blogs and free e-news provide professional tips, pet peeves, and personal rants.

Chapter 1

Let’s Start Here

An Important Introduction

Philanthropy is the act of individual citizens and local institutions contributing money or goods, along with their time and skills, to promote the well-being of others and the betterment of the community in which they live and work. Philanthropy can be expressed in informal and spontaneous ways or it can also be expressed in formal, organized ways whereby citizens give contributions to local organizations, which in turn use the funds to support projects that improve the quality of life.

—European Foundation Centre, Brussels

Where to Start

Should all books begin at the beginning, especially professional books? My book Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships (co-authored with Tom Ahern; John Wiley & Sons, 2008) began at the beginning, even using that title for the first chapter: beginning at the beginning.

So what’s the beginning to this third edition of Strategic Fund Development? I’ll start with a mini overview of definitions, resources, and happenings. Not all-inclusive nor even fairly comprehensive. Just some thoughts and perceptions that set the context for what comes next.

What’s Happening Out in the World

Does that sound too big? Well, it isn’t. This is the place to start: the environment in which you and your organization operate.

Think about world events like the great recession (its name in the United States) or the global economic crisis (with its own acronym, GEC). The economy affects your community and your organization.

Think about demographics and lifestyles. What do you know about Baby Boomers, Millennials, and gender differences? What are the implications for serving your clients and hiring employees? What trends affect your fund development program and marketing/communications? Think about politics and public policy. How will legislation and regulation affect your clients and donors, your programs and advocacy?

How about technology? Think about the Internet, Google and googling, YouTube, and social media. What’s the effect on your programming and administration, your relationship building, and your marketing/communications? And there’s more, of course: Think about war, safety, security, science, and religion. Think about all the elements in your environment that you cannot control but do have to manage. See Exhibit 1.1, a tiny snapshot just for fun. How out of date is this snapshot as you read it right now or again in six months or later?

Exhibit 1.1 Tiny Snapshot of What’s Happening in the World

Ten Trends You Have to Watch

1. Globalization under fire.

2. Resources feeling the strain.

3. Trust in business running out.

4. A bigger role for government.

5. Shifting consumption patterns.

6. Management as a science.

7. Asia rising.

8. Industries taking new shape.

9. Price stability in question.

10. Innovation marching on.

Curious about what this means? Read “The 10 Trends You Have to Watch,” by Erick Beinhocker, Ian Davis, and Lenny Mendonca, Harvard Business Review (July–August 2009). “After a full year in heads-down crisis mode,” many business executives think the result is a “restructuring of the economic order.” What do you think? How do these affect your nongovernmental enterprise (NGO) and its environment? Read the article. Check with McKinsey & Company as it tracks these forces.

Five Trends That Will Reshape the Nonprofit/NGO Sector

1. Demographic shifts redefine participation.

2. Technological advances abound.

3. Networks enable work to be organized in new ways.

4. Interest in civic engagement and volunteerism is rising.

5. Sector boundaries are blurring.

Curious about these? Read “Convergence: How Five Trends Will Reshape the Social Sector,” by Heather Gowdy, Alex Hildebrand, David La Piana, and Melissa Mendes Campos of LaPiana Consulting (November 2009). What do you think?

Where do you get your information about what’s happening in the world? What research sources help you the most? How do you nurture strategic conversations to talk about issues, trends, and their implications for your community and your organization?

By the time you read this book, resources I suggest may no longer exist or may not be so great. But you’ll find more. That’s part of your job. For now, here are just two examples:

1. Pew Research Center (www.pewresearch.org): Nonpartisan fact tank that provides information through public opinion polling on the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the United States and the world.

2. Center on Philanthropy, Indiana University ([email protected]): Resource center for increasing the understanding of philanthropy and improving its practice through research and education.

Visit the various associations and resource centers around the world that focus on the nonprofit/NGO sector. Look at their research and publications. Then go beyond the nonprofit/NGO sector. Stay on top of business theory and happenings in the for-profit sector. Check out my home page blogs and “newsyletter” for recommended research, resources, and readings. See the booklists and links on my website at www.simonejoyaux.com.

Defining Philanthropy and Fund Development

Years ago when speaking in Mexico City, I heard philanthropist Don Manuel Arango Arias talk about philanthropy as “freeing the talent of the citizenry.” That goes well with my favorite definition of philanthropy, coined by Robert L. Payton, that philanthropy is “voluntary action for the common good.”1 Consider, too, what other leading sector experts say: John Gardner talks about “private initiatives for the public good,” Lester Salamon refers to “the private giving of time or valuables … for public purposes” and Robert Bremner notes that “the aim of philanthropy … is improvement in the quality of human life.”2

Philanthropy is not defined by wealth. Everyone can give. Many choose to give. And it is hoped that organizations value all donors and respect all gifts. As Alfre Woodard says in the preface to Robin Hood Was Right, one of the best books you’ll ever read: “Giving isn’t a posture reserved for the rich or powerful. It is the responsibility and privilege of every man, woman, and child to participate in the task of building more just and humane societies.”3 The concept of justice—too often excluded from philanthropy—broadens our horizons.4 The common good demands our attention. And Woodard continues, “Charity is good, but supporting and creating social change are about power. Power can infuse lives with purpose and dignity. That opens up the possibility of joy. The life of the giver, as well as that of the receiver, is transformed.”5

While the word philanthropy comes from the Greek, the philanthropic tradition is neither a Western invention nor Western-dominated. Think about Islam’s Zakat. Think about Confucianism and Buddhism. Imagine the earliest societies working together to help each other.

What Is Fund Development?

Hank Rosso described fundraising as the servant of philanthropy.6 I don’t much like the term fundraising. I prefer fund development, which seems more strategic and encompassing.

What’s most important is that philanthropy and fund development belong together. Fund development helps engage people in philanthropy. Do your staff and board members understand this partnership? Do your staff colleagues and board members honor fund development as much as they honor philanthropy?

When I combine philanthropy and development, here’s my definition. Philanthropy means voluntary action for the common good, freeing the talents of the citizenry. Fund development is the essential partner of philanthropy. Fund development makes philanthropy possible by bringing together a particular cause and donors and prospects who are willing to invest in the cause.

Perhaps it’s called “development” because we never find the answer … only questions that lead to more questions.

—Cohort 20, Master of Arts in Philanthropy and Development, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota

The goal of fund development is to acquire donors of time and money who stay with the charity. This is done through the process of relationship building. With the donor at the center, fund development nurtures loyalty and lifetime value, thus facilitating philanthropy. You know if your relationship building works, because your retention rates and the lifetime value of your donors and volunteers increase.

Philanthropy and Mission

Philanthropy—and its essential partner, fund development—do not merely serve your organization’s “greater purpose” or its “true mission.” Your organization’s mission is not just about saving the whales or feeding and sheltering the homeless or educating youth. Your organization has two missions: saving the whales + philanthropy and fund development. Or educating you + philanthropy and fund development. Never forget this!

Some Basic Definitions and Distinctions

Constituents are different from prospects, but there are similarities. Prospects may not be what you think (or hope) they are. Maybe you’ve confused prospects and the predisposed. Your organization needs a shared vocabulary to move conversation and decision-making forward. Try these:

Constituent: Someone who relates to or cares about your organization. Can be an individual, business, service organization, mosque, or other entity.

Constituency: Group of constituents.

Stakeholder: Not so different from a constituent. Someone who has a direct interest in your organization or your cause. The AFP Fundraising Dictionary has a nice angle: “a person who has a special interest in the activities and decisions of an organization.”7 Stakeholders are actually interested in the decisions that your organization makes. Do you think your organization understands that? What would happen if your organization actually reported on the decisions it makes? What would happen if your stakeholders actually watched your organization make decisions? Would your organization perform better if stakeholders were watching how the sausage really got made?

Predisposed: An individual, business, or some other entity whose interests and actions suggest a possible inclination or susceptibility toward your organization’s cause or mission. “Suspect” is common fundraising terminology. But who wants to hear anyone referred to in such a pejorative manner? So I’ve invented this alternative term. In The AFP Fundraising Dictionary, a suspect is defined as “a possible source of support whose philanthropic interests appear to match those of a particular organization but whose linkages, giving ability, and interests have not yet been confirmed.”

Prospect: An individual, business, or some other entity that has demonstrated an interest in your cause or organization. The individual has raised his or her hand by buying your services or asking to join the mailing list. In some manner, in some way, the individual, business, or entity has signaled an interest in your cause and your organization. Think of a prospect as a constituent who has moved along the constituency development continuum and is now considered qualified to receive a request of some sort. For example, a request to join your board or to give a financial contribution. The Visual Thesaurus (www.visualthesaurus.com) uses the phrase “the possibility of future success,” also defined as somebody or something with potential.

Donor: Here comes our favorite definition, right? Donor: an individual, business, or some other entity that has given a gift of time or money or service to your organization. (So when this book refers to “people,” I mean individuals, foundations, corporations, civic groups, whatever.) A donor of time is usually called a volunteer. But remember, a volunteer is a donor. Donors may be called contributors and investors, too.

And just a little P.S. What’s a customer? Someone who uses or pays for goods or services. Watch the little diagram at www.visualthesaurus.com shift. Follow the other words for customer, for example: client, consumer, patron, user, subscriber, frequenter, business relation.

Naming the Sector and Its Organizations

Over the years, many have questioned the sector’s name. It seems strange to define an entire sector by what it isn’t and what it doesn’t do (e.g., “not-for-profit” or “nonprofit” or “nongovernmental”). Others have proposed alternative terms like “independent sector” or “third sector.” But these terms never seem to stick. I suspect “nonprofit” and “nongovernmental” are here to stay. And it isn’t a battle I want to fight. In this book, I use nonprofit/NGO.

How about those terms “earned” and “unearned” income? “Unearned” references charitable gifts. Hey, nonprofits “earn” those gifts through very hard work! I say “income” with two subsets: revenue (referencing fees and tuition and box office, etc.) and public support/charitable contributions. Both equally earned, thank you!

By the way, it’s okay that organizations generate excess income over expense. In fact, healthy organizations do just that. I wonder how well those outside the sector understand that. Actually, I wonder how many outside the sector understand how the nonprofit/NGO sector is financed. I wonder how well those outside (and inside) the sector understand the financing conflicts, the lack of capitalization, the inadequacy of resources, and the inappropriate expectations forced upon the sector.8

Why Does This Sector Matter?

The third sector has been called the “keystone of a caring society,”9 as contrasted with the for-profit and government sectors, which might not be so caring. The nonprofit/NGO sector is essential for the “spirit and character of our society and for the freedom and fulfillment of each of us.”10 So says Waldemar A. Nielsen in his marvelous paean to the sector. The third sector is comprised of a myriad of organizations large and small, focused on education and human services, arts and culture, public society/benefit and health, and more. The third sector is essential to a healthy community.

Nielsen describes the sector as doing three key things:

1. Delivering a wide range of services to people—often bridging the gap between government investment and actual community needs.

2. Strengthening the other two sectors—the for-profit marketplace and government—often producing corrective and compensatory effects.

3. Serving as a humanizing force—offering people an opportunity to give. (Nielsen uses the phrase “an outlet for the nearly universal impulse to altruism.”11)

More than two decades ago, Nielsen ended his remarks with the following: “The Third Sector is now in serious difficulty—under simultaneous assault by inflation, government regulation and competition and the negative effects of some misbegotten tax policies. [The Third Sector’s] own mismanagement of its affairs is another worrisome problem. To preserve its freedom and vitality will require a long determined and persevering struggle by all of us who are committed to the preservation of a humane, compassionate, and free society in this country. That cause is eminently worth fighting for.”12

What might you say today? Something very similar. The third sector is in serious difficulty. As the saying goes, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.13 The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Think about Nielsen’s statement that the nonprofit/NGO sector provides corrective and compensatory benefits to the marketplace and government. During his 1979 remarks, Nielsen cited Kenneth Boulding, noting that without the nonprofit sector, the economy would quickly develop “conditions that would be widely regarded as pathological … [the economy] might easily produce distributions of income which would be regarded as unacceptable.”14

Isn’t that where we are in 2010, as I write this third edition? In the United States, this unjust economic situation has been developing for many years. And there’s injustice everywhere in the world. As Nielsen said, the nonprofit sector is the counterbalance to government and the for-profit sector. A critical role of the nonprofit/NGO sector must be questioning the status quo. A major role for the sector must be advocating appropriate public policy.

Nonprofits and Democracy

Without a doubt, the nonprofit/NGO sector plays a critical role in creating and sustaining democracy.15 Through voluntary association, citizens gather together and question, rally, and act.

In his nineteenth-century examination of life in the United States, Alexis de Tocqueville wrote extensively about voluntary associations. Beginning with the act of associating, de Tocqueville notes:

The most natural privilege of man, next to the right of acting for himself, is that of combining his exertions with those of his fellow creatures and of acting in common with them. The right of association therefore appears to me almost as inalienable in its nature as the right of personal liberty. No legislator can attack it without impairing the foundations of society.16

De Tocqueville goes on to say:

In democratic countries the science of association is the mother science; the progress of all the others depends on the progress of that one. Among the laws that rule human societies there is one that seems more precise and clearer than all the others. In order that men remain civilized or become so, the art of associating must be developed and perfected among them in the same ratio as equality of conditions increases.17

Through the right of associating, people push back against issues as diverse as laws and elected officials, corporations and their acts. By associating voluntarily, people exercise their right to question and critique, advocate and lobby. As associations—not just individuals—people can hold accountable their government as well as the marketplace.

Look at the movements that forced government to change and forced the for-profit sector to change somewhat. Think about the antismoking and environmental movements. Think about the Civil Rights movement. Look at the marriage equality movement and the antiwar movement. Remember the fall of the Berlin Wall. Look at the freedom movements around the world.

Citizens voluntarily engage in nonprofit organizations. NGOs fight and fight hard, including protests and litigation. And change happens. With change sometimes come—one hopes—stronger democracies and more justice. Thanks to the third sector. But still more must be done. The third sector must fight harder. More nonprofits must join in.

What stops NGOs from embracing their role in democracy? Why doesn’t the sector step up and fight harder? Lots of reasons: Insufficient time. Not enough resources—after all, big funders (especially foundations) don’t always support advocacy and public policy work. Why else? Fear of donor reaction. Lots of donors give to direct service and don’t want to make systemic change. Systemic change means questioning the status quo, and lots of donors are the status quo. Why else? Regulatory threats. For example, the U.S. government invents laws and regulations to reduce the advocacy power of nonprofits. And nonprofits often don’t find the wherewithal and motivation to fight this. On and on it goes.

The nonprofit/NGO sector does not live up to its potential to fight government. But let’s not just blame the sector. The people—our donors and volunteers and voters—must stand up and speak out on behalf of the sector and on behalf of democracy, which is reinforced by this unique sector. The time is always now.

Why Does This Sector Matter? Redux

Read Michael Edwards’s book Small Change: Why Business Won’t Save the World.18 It’s his response (critical, fortunately) to the philanthrocapitalism movement. It’s his challenge (come on, people, let’s wake up) to society. It’s an invitation (a much-needed battle cry) to you and me to fight.

For a society so enamored of capitalism, the United States is particularly vulnerable to the fascination of social entrepreneurship and philanthrocapitalism. I must ask my international colleagues if they are so easily seduced. I hope that they aren’t. And I’m sad that the United States is.

Like me, Edwards wants to provoke conversations so there’s public discourse. And through public discourse, we can hear each other, learn from each, and ensure a stronger future for philanthropy and its results.

In sum, philanthrocapitalism claims that the “traditional ways of solving social problems do not work, so business thinking and market forces should be added to the mix.”19 Or, in other words, “business thinking and market methods will save the world.”20 (And make a lot of money for a limited number of people, too!)

Now, that’s where I get stuck, and so does Edwards: the excessive admiration for business thinking and market methods. Let’s see. … Would that be General Motors’ almost-bankruptcy and the 2010 BP Gulf oil spill?

I guess all those philanthropic responses to natural disasters, civil rights, poverty, education, the arts—from NGOs and millions of people—don’t count for much? Weren’t sufficiently efficient? Didn’t produce meaningful and long-lasting results?

It’s human to want quick solutions and facile answers. Nonetheless, it reflects a dangerous naïveté and a lack of understanding about what is required to make change. For example: This philanthrocapitalist approach hopes to fix the problems caused by capitalism. Honestly, I’m not trusting that. This approach fixes problems but doesn’t change the underlying systems like racism or sexism. I want more than Band-Aids; I want real change. Moreover, philanthrocapitalists represent only a small portion of our society, but hold a disproportionate amount of control. That doesn’t work for me. I believe everyone should and must have access. Philanthropy—and the value of the nonprofit/NGO sector—is about social transformation. Edwards justifiably asks, “Can these new approaches transform societies, or do they simply treat the symptoms of social problems in more efficient ways?”21 I know my answer. What’s yours?

Sure, philanthrocapitalism can make a difference. It can find cures for various diseases and produce jobs. But that doesn’t fix the systemic issues that confront our society—things like greed and inequality, fear and prejudice, privilege and disadvantage.

Few areas of business expertise translate well into the very complex social and political problems, where solutions have to be fought for and negotiated—not produced, packaged, and sold. And, so far at least, there aren’t many philanthrocapitalists who are prepared to invest in the challenges of long-term institution building, the deepening of democracy, or the development of a different form of economy in which inequality is systematically attacked.22

Economic growth doesn’t fix racism, sexism, homophobia, and the fundamental inequities of our world. Economic growth doesn’t fix poverty, either—just look at the growing disparity in income over the past few decades. As Edwards notes, “no great social cause was mobilized through the market in the twentieth century.”23 And I don’t believe that the market will ever mobilize any great social transformation. But that’s okay. That’s okay as long as philanthrocapitalists quit promoting their excessive value and societies stop looking for quick fixes. Business thinking is different from nonprofit/NGO sector thinking. Capitalism—even philanthrocapitalism—focuses on the financial bottom line first. The bottom line in the nonprofit sector is different. The bottom line is mission, not money. The bottom line is the common good, not the marketplace’s good. The result is social transformation, not reinforcement of the status quo. Certainly, nonprofits need to follow some good business practices, to stay healthy. But the bottom line is fundamentally different.

Edwards asks us to reflect on what is meant by the nonprofit sector, often called civil society. He defines civil society as “the things we do together, not because we want to make a profit or earn a material reward, but because we care enough about something to take collective action. … [Civil society] provides a space free of government control and the pressures of the market, a space in which private citizens can organization for public work. … It’s that independence that enables civil society groups to hold government and business accountable for their actions and to act as crucibles for new or unpopular ideas, for democratic politics and the birth of social movements, and for speaking truth to power.”24

Compare Edwards’s remarks to Nielsen’s. Look at de Tocqueville’s commentaries. Read the recommended articles about the nonprofit sector’s role in democracy. Review my monograph about “philanthropy’s moral dilemma.” What do you think? Are you ready for renewed battle? I hope so.

We must reject the idea—well intentioned, but dead wrong—that the primary path to greatness in the social sectors is to become “more like a business.”

From Good to Great and the Social Sectors: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great, by Jim Collins (New York: HarperCollins, 2005), 1

A Sad Truth

“Is there something in society’s subconscious that expects nonprofits to operate in ‘poverty-like ways’?” That question was a showstopper in the Cohort 20 classroom (Master of Arts in Philanthropy and Development, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota), summer 2010.

We were talking about the starvation mentality in so many nonprofits. You know, things like: really old, rather dysfunctional computers; such poor wages that employees cannot afford a reasonable mortgage and may have to visit the soup kitchen for a meal. We talked about the chronic underfunding of necessary infrastructure and overhead. We ranted against Guidestar, Charity Navigator, and their ilk that rate nonprofits based on spurious ratios. We recognized that inadequate infrastructure causes employees to work excessively long hours with poor tools and insufficient professional development. And we realized how hard it is to explain this to boards that make decisions.

There in the classroom, members of Cohort 20 explored why this happens. Who decided that 90 percent of the charitable gift must go to direct service, thus starving the organization and its employees of necessary resources? Who decided it was okay to pay less than a living wage to people who work in nonprofits?

One cohort member asked: “Does society think nonprofit employees should be paid low wages because then the employees will relate better to the clients?” Another cohort member observed: “Why does a willingness to accept lower wages (much lower wages than for-profits) seem to be an indicator or qualification for one’s job in the nonprofit sector?” This is terrible. And unjust.

Is this a holdover from religion? (Although why should religious orders take a vow of poverty?) Is this some implied mandate from government that because the nonprofit sector gets certain benefits, the working conditions and wages can be lousy? What’s going on?

I believe in a living wage for everyone, including employees in the nonprofit/NGO sector. I believe that adequate infrastructure is necessary to support the programs and services provided to fulfill the mission. And by the way, I believe that competent people work in the nonprofit sector, just like competent people work in the for-profit sector. I also believe that there are incompetent performers in both sectors. I also expect that wages in the nonprofit/NGO sector will not be outrageous. I think it’s a violation of the integrity and ethics of the nonprofit/NGO sector to pay the excessive salaries, benefits, and bonuses found in some for-profit jobs. That said, I have no problem with a decent wage, a darn decent wage for nonprofit staff.

It’s time for the sector to fight this. It’s time for nonprofits to invest in infrastructure and demand fair wages for their employees. It’s time to stop honoring the unrealistic expectations of government contractors and scared boards. I believe we can explain this to our donors. Let’s get it together and make change.

Basic Principles of Fund Development

What are the key messages that you want your staff and board members to understand? How do you define the basic principles of fund development? Here’s my current list—current, I say, because as time passes, maybe I’ll modify it. To check for any modifications, visit my website at www.simonejoyaux.com. For now, read on. Use Appendix 1-A, “Basic Principles of Fund Development,” on this book’s website to stimulate conversation with your staff and board. Make sure everyone is using common vocabulary for your conversations. Check the definitions earlier in this chapter.

Culture of Philanthropy

The right attitude matters as much as anything. Culture refers to the personality and attitude of your organization. A culture of philanthropy means that everyone accepts and celebrates the beauty of philanthropy and donors, no matter the type or size of the gift. It’s your job as a leader to nurture a culture of philanthropy in your organization. See Chapter 3 for more.

Donor-Centered Organization

Successful fund development requires donor centrism.25 Focus on the donor or prospective donor. “It’s not what your organization is selling; it’s what I’m buying that counts. I’m interested in my interests, my motivations, and my aspirations. Match those and then I’ll give to you. Otherwise, leave me alone!”

Don’t universalize your own passion. Not everyone is interested in your cause, no matter how convincing you are. Do not try to convince them! That’s offensive. Instead, find those who share your passion.

Emotions as Key Decision-Makers

Giving is an emotional act not a financial transaction. Your organization is the means by which donors live out their own interests and aspirations. Your organization is the conduct to achieve the donor’s desires.

Neuroscience and psychological research document that all human decisions are triggered by emotions.26 Then rationale steps in.

Emotion is multi-dimensional: it focuses on a person’s core goals, directs attention and interest, arouses the body for action, and integrates social group and cultural factors. It is thus a central component of meaning making.

From “Emotional Dimensions of Watching Zoo Animals: An Experience Sampling Study Building on Insights from Psychology,” by Olin Eugene Myers Jr., Carol D. Saunders, and Andrej A. Birjulin, Curator: The Museum Journal 47, Issue 3 (July 2004): 299–321

Research from the direct mail industry says that people give in response to one or more of seven emotions: greed, guilt, anger, fear, flattery, exclusivity, and salvation. These really resonate with me. And for those who say, “Those emotions are so negative,” get over it. They’re emotions, feelings—neither positive nor negative. (By the way, I imagine that both Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. were angry, very angry. And look what they accomplished.)

People move from one emotion (e.g., anger) to hope, by using your agency as the means to make change. Tom Ahern refers to this partnering of emotions as “twin sets.”

Importance of Volunteers

Remember, philanthropy is defined as voluntary action for the common good. Volunteer participation is critical. Engage volunteers, including board members and others in the fund development process.

Make sure your staff effectively enables volunteers to participate in this meaningful work of identifying, cultivating, and soliciting. See Chapter 8 for a complete description of enabling volunteers.

Trespassing

Don’t do it! Don’t ask your board members and other volunteers to trespass on their personal and professional relationships. Don’t you do it, either.

This favor exchange doesn’t focus on donor interests, instead relying on personal relationships. What happens once the favor giver or receiver feels no further reciprocal obligation? Or when the solicitor asking for the favor is no longer affiliated with your organization? Instead, use connections to identify those who might be predisposed to your cause. If you cannot qualify them as prospects (and it’s their choice!), then leave them alone. Nurture relationships between prospects and your organization, getting them ready to be asked and asked again.

Permission Marketing

Effective fund development is like permission marketing: People opt in or opt out. Seth Godin explored this term in his 1999 book of the same name. Godin contrasts permission marketing to interruption marketing, the traditional advertising/marketing approach. You know, the billboards and glitzy ads—and sending me a newsletter that I didn’t ask for.

Godin observes: “Rather than simply interrupting a television show with a commercial or barging into the consumer’s life with an unaccounted phone call or letter [or in fundraising, the uninvited newsletter or a solicitation], tomorrow’s marketer [and top-notch fundraiser] will first try to gain the consumer’s consent to participate in the selling process.”27

So you identify the predisposed—those you suspect might have interests similar to your cause or organization—and introduce yourself.28 Then, if the person (or corporation or foundation, etc.) expresses interest, that gives you permission.

Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them … treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention. Permission doesn’t have to be formal but it has to be obvious.

From a blog by Seth Godin called “Permission Marketing” on January 31, 2008, www.sethgodin.com

Visibility

Visibility does not produce more contributions. Everyone focuses on his or her own interests. Your agency can be more and more visible—but if I’m not interested, I’m not paying attention. And I sure won’t send money. Just take a look at Exhibit 1.2, “Simone, Sports, and the Myth of Visibility.”

Exhibit 1.2 Simone, Sports, and the Myth of Visibility

First, here’s the backstory.

Every spring in the United States, March Madness, engulfs sports enthusiasts. This is the month for the annual collegiate basketball playoffs. The actual formal title is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball championship. Board members change board meeting dates to stay home and watch the games on television. Television networks battle with big bucks fighting for the rights to televise. Employees talk about the games at work. And apparently, all the media participate in March Madness at equally frenzied levels. Headlines, feature stories, newscasts. Evidently this is quite a show. I, however, don’t pay attention. Why? Because I’m not interested.

I don’t like sports. I don’t watch them—nope, not even the Super Bowl thing. I don’t engage in sports chatter. Often I don’t know if a sports team is football, basketball, or baseball. Actually, I had to get my sister to verify that I correctly recited the backstory! So here’s my story about the NCAA basketball championship.

In March a few years ago (see, I don’t even remember which year!) my sister Nicole called me. I could tell she was very excited.

“Hey, Simone, I know you don’t pay any attention to sports, but guess what?”

“What?” I responded with no enthusiasm whatsoever.

“MSU is one of the teams in the final game of the NCAA basketball championship!”

Unless you’re familiar with the NCAA basketball championship, you probably wonder what MSU is. It’s Michigan State University. I’m an alumna and so are most of my siblings. But it’s bigger than that. My dad was a professor at MSU. I grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, home of MSU. The campus dominated the landscape because of its land mass and numbers of students. My family socialized with MSU professors. I visited my dad in his office at MSU, beginning, I assume, in my infancy.

I’m actually very interested in MSU! I even approach strangers wearing Spartan sweatshirts. You would think, given my deep attachment to MSU, that I would have noticed its name blaring at me in such a highly promoted activity as the NCAA basketball championship. But I didn’t. Even though I’m very interested in Michigan State University, I didn’t even notice its name when it was all over every single form of sports media for weeks. Because I—along with all other people—pay attention to what interests oneself, and little else.

Here’s another sports example: World Cup football, probably the major sporting event worldwide. In June 2006, Tom and I were visiting our home in Valros, France, a tiny village in the Languedoc region. There was a big outdoor movie screen in the center of the town square. Traffic no longer passed that way. This was really weird.

I asked a neighbor what was going on. He looked at me strangely, very strangely. “Mais madame, c’est le Coupe du Monde ce soir. Et l’équipe de France joue.” Ah, the French team—les Bleus—was playing in the World Cup. The World Cup of soccer. Soccer, the biggest sport worldwide. The World Cup arguably the biggest global sporting event. The outdoor screen in Valros stayed up for two games, the semifinal and the final. In Paris, people crowded the Champs-Elysées to watch the final game on big screens. That’s the year that Zinédine Zidane head-butted the Italian player in the chest. Les Bleus lost.

What’s the moral of these stories? People pay attention to what interests them, and little else. If sports don’t matter to you, the NCAA March Madness basketball playoffs or World Cup football, among the world’s most heavily publicized events, simply disappear.

Source: Modified from Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships, by Tom Ahern and Simone Joyaux (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008).

It’s okay if someone doesn’t know who your agency is or what it does. Tell them, if they seem interested. That’s identifying the predisposed. By the way, do not solicit someone unless you know for sure that the person knows about your agency.

Where do you need to be visible? Among your current donors, because you want to build their loyalty. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder—it’s out of sight, out of mind! Nurture these donor relationships. Do you need more convincing? Are you hounded by board members who talk about community awareness? Is some marketing/public relations firm telling you it can help increase your marketplace position, thus making it easier to raise more money? Just read Tom Ahern’s comments in Appendix 1-B on this book’s website.

Give before Asking

You have to give first. You means each board member, the CEO and development officers, and fundraising volunteers. Why? Because you cannot represent an agency or cause without demonstrating your own financial and volunteer investment.

Every board member can afford to give a financial contribution every year—whether it’s 5 euros, 500 Indian rupees, or 50,000 Kuwaiti dinars. I once listened to a single mother on welfare tell her fellow board members to quit patronizing her. “I can give, even if it’s only two dollars. Just don’t compare my gift size to someone else’s gift size.”

Yes, volunteering time is giving. But that gift of time does not substitute for a gift of money. Both are necessary. Both are expected of all board members. Give to the best of your personal ability. And make this nonprofit/NGO one of your top commitments.

Ask to Receive

Why do most people give? Because they are asked. It’s really that simple. But ask only those who are interested. Ask the right prospect for the right amount at the right time for the right project in the right way with the right solicitor.

An Individual Giving Program

Build an individual giving program. Each year, individuals, not foundations or corporations, give the largest portion of philanthropic gifts in North America. What about elsewhere? What’s happening in your country? Can you afford to ignore—or postpone—the importance of individual participation? By the way, in my experience, individuals are more loyal donors than foundations or corporations or any other source of charitable gifts. Yes, individuals continuing giving, even in a bad economy.

Profession

Fund development is a profession. Like any profession, fund development relies on a well-researched body of knowledge,29 has a code of ethical principles and standards,30 and protects the public through voluntary certification31 of professionals.

The documented body of knowledge and best practices guide the profession. Research tests new ideas, and validates and adds to the body of knowledge.

So what about personal opinions? You know, those comments about what your boss or your board member likes or doesn’t like, but couched in terms of “what works” and “what is best.” Qualified opinions from people who know the body of knowledge and possess the particular skills and expertise—those opinions matter. Strategic questions about the body of knowledge—exploring why and testing new ideas—they’re okay, too. But personal opinions without knowledge and expertise are rarely germane, often distracting, and mostly inappropriate. Facts trump opinions. Expertise in the particular subject matters more than position and power. Personal opinion—without the body of knowledge—doesn’t and shouldn’t count for much.

Balanced Funding Mix

You know the maxim “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Your organization needs a balanced mix of funding sources and solicitation strategies. That balanced mix fosters stability and credibility. However, a balanced mix does not mean equally apportioned between source and strategy. Different organizations have different funding models. For example, as a human services provider, your organization might rely more heavily on government contracts. Most educational institutions rely more heavily on tuition. Some performing arts institutions depend on box office receipts. Check out “Ten Nonprofit Funding Models”32 in the spring 2009 Stanford Social Innovation Review.