By Mollie O’Hara Butler, CFRE

It’s the time of year when I am frequently contacted by recent college graduates.  They are looking for their dream jobs or just figuring out what their dream looks like.  This year I had the wonderful opportunity to speak with an entire class of graduating seniors (and a handful of ambitious juniors).  Hannah Nokes, Vice President of Development and Marketing for Leadership Austin and adjunct professor at St. Edward’s University, asked me to guest lecture in her non-profit management class.  I shared the following advice with the seniors and wished them the best of luck on their job searches in the non-profit community.  Perhaps it will help the recent graduate in your family or neighborhood.

First you must chart your course.  Your job search must be targeted to both the type of organization you wish to serve and the type of position you’ll fill.

Think about the mission you care most about. You’re more likely to be successful when you’re passionate so identify organizations whose mission matches your personal interests.  Your consideration should not only include the category of non-profit (human services, education, environmental, etc.) but also the target populations you desire to serve (age, ethnicity, etc.) and the service area (local, statewide, national).  Once you narrow your job search within the non-profit community, then you can look at what positions these organizations have available and consider how you meet the posted qualifications.

Evaluate your strengths so you can best promote yourself as a match for the organization’s needs.  Are you best suited for face to face fundraising?  Or do you prefer a more behind the scenes role in fundraising?  Are you an event planner or a prospect researcher?  Do you enjoy databases and using technology? Search to your strengths and seek positions that are a natural fit for your experience and background.

And then, perhaps more importantly, evaluate your weaknesses.  I like to think of weaknesses as opportunities for improvement and as one transitions in to a new career field or job, it’s an opportunity to overcome weaknesses.  If you know you need help in a certain area, make sure there are resources there that will ensure your growth and success.  Is there a seasoned professional in the office that can mentor and train you?  Does the budget allow for professional development and training?  How will this position allow you to develop new skills?  Is the scope of the position narrow allowing you to focus easily and deepen your experience or is it broad giving you an array of experiences?

Once you’ve identified the organizations that interest you most and you’re able to make a case for why the positions being offered are a good fit for your strengths (and weaknesses), then it’s time to engage others in your job search.

Establish a network of professional contacts who will do the following:

• Provide feedback on your resume and cover letter
• Proactively introduce you to others
• Conduct informational interviews with you and/or set them up with others

The extra set of eyes on your resume is important.  Others can point out areas needing further explanation or simple mistakes you may have overlooked.  Your resume should include work experience, education, volunteer roles, leadership experience and appropriate references.  Make sure to include measurable statistics that represent your success.  Your cover letter is like a one minute audition.  I’ve often leaned on others to help me self promote in my cover letters.  It’s not the time to be modest and understate your success.  Have someone help you brag about yourself.

When your resume is ready to go, start sharing it widely.  Determine who you know in the non-profit community and who they know.  Ask your professional contacts to introduce you to others and to set up informational interviews. “This is my colleague Mollie. She is interested in working in the non-profit field and I am asking if you’ll spend 30 minutes with her.  Tell her about your organization and how you became involved.  Please share some advice for how she may get started.”

I recommend talking with staff, board members, donors, people who’ve used the services of the non-profit, and previous staff when you are interviewing an organization.  You should be interviewing the organization as much as they are interviewing you.  Your first job in the non-profit community is an important one and you want to make sure it’s the right match.  Among your questions, make sure to ask about the stability of the organization (often judged financially and by the longevity of the staff), budget and other resources, attitude toward fundraising, history of fundraising, public opinion about the organization, and performance goals and metrics.

My final bit of advice to recent graduates is to get involved in the non-profit professional organizations such as the Association of Fundraising Professionals and Greenlights for Nonprofit Success.  They offer training in non-profit best practices and facilitate professional networking.  You’ll align yourself with some of the most respected fundraising professionals in our community.  I’ve found both AFP and Greenlights to be significant resources at every point in my career.

By Michael Bacon, CFRE

Recent events have underscored, for me, the importance of having a knowledgeable and engaged Board…a Board that understands its fiduciary role, its managerial role and even its fundraising role.  As we are engaged with clients in training their boards, we always talk about how boards, as a whole, should have three things:

• Expertise – A successful Board has knowledge and experience so that when a nonprofit needs to make tough decisions, you have the right brains in the room.  You want a CPA, an attorney, someone who knows marketing, someone who understands physical plants or construction, and other Board members who have knowledge of the service you provide as a nonprofit.  If your mission is social services, you might have medical experts.  If you are a conservation group, you might have Board members with experience in wildlife or land stewardship.
• Influence – As a nonprofit raises money, it is critical to have Board members with different spheres of influence.  Too often, nonprofit boards end up recruiting friends, relatives, and co-workers to fill empty spots.  While that may be expedient, the result is that the Board members all know the same people.  You want trustees who know different circles of people and have different groups of friends.  This widens your reach and connects you to a broader group of potential supporters.  This is yet another reason to emphasize diversity on your Board, ethnically, age-wise and geographically within your community.
• Affluence – At some point, your nonprofit may hit a financial crunch.  Or it could be launching a new program, renovating space or even building a new facility.  The point is, there should be a core of people on the Board who can put money on the table at critical moments.  Many funders believe that a Board should only commit to capital project goals where at least one-third of the money comes from the Board itself.  That can slow you down if you don’t have financial ability in at least some members of your Board.

I would not expect every single Board member to embody each of these traits.  However, as a thriving, decision-making, fundraising body, your Board should encompass all of these traits.  And if it has them, then chances are, your Board will make good, well-informed decisions.  It will embrace its role in raising money because it can make projects happen.  Good Boards don’t just happen.  With leadership, ample training, and a deep commitment to your mission, they form and strengthen over time.

One of our principals, Michael Bacon, was recently featured on Channel 8, the Austin area’s Time Warner News station, about the giving climate in San Antonio  and Austin.  Mike observed that there are unique differences in what motivates philanthropy, despite the short distance between the two cities. 

To watch the clip, you may go to the following link.  Afterwards, feel free to share your thoughts about what motivates giving from your point of view.

http://news8austin.com/content/top_stories/271136/nonprofits-tap-into-many-motivations-for-giving

By Barbara Anne Stephens

As my colleague, Joyce Penland, CFRE, is fond of saying, “Fundraisers have a myriad of tools in their toolbox” and foundation grant writing is one of those tools.  Like all fundraising, foundation grant seeking is at its best when there is a strong relationship of mutual interest and respect between the nonprofit organization and the foundation.  Developing that relationship takes time and tender care.

Before you have that completed foundation request prepared for delivery to the foundation offices certified mail, signature required, you may want to consider the following tips from the BL&A principals and associates:

• Do sufficient research.  It’s not enough to simply consult the foundation directories or websites.  Talk with colleagues who have received funding.  Research the Foundation’s 990
• Speak directly with foundation grants officers and executive and ask questions.  Remember they are the first decision makers for the foundation.
• Work with your Board Members to see if they know any of the Foundation’s trustees.  Ask the Board Members to contact the trustees but prepare your Board Members!
• Visit the Foundation and take your best advocate with you—the proverbial person who is “hard to say no to.”   Remember to send a letter thanking the foundation for the meeting.
• Take accurate cost estimates and budgets that are of recent vintage.  Your credibility depends on it!
• Think beyond your immediate need.  How does the new building impact your operations budget and what will be the source of that new revenue?  If you are seeking program dollars, what happens to the program when the funding ends?
• If you receive a rejection letter, wait a few days and then telephone the foundation.  Thank them for considering your request FIRST! Ask for any recommendations in the future.  Follow-up with a personal “thank you” note.

The first fundraising axiom that most development officers learn is “People give money to people.”  And so it is with foundations.  We need to stop thinking of foundations as a mailbox slot.  We must remember that individuals make the decisions at foundations and it’s our responsibility as development professionals to establish a relationship with those individuals.

Foundation grantmaking. . .was $41.21 billion, an estimated 3 percent increase in current dollars but a drop of 0.8 percent adjusted for inflation. It is 13 percent of total giving for 2008.

By comparison, individuals gave 75 percent of the $307 billion and bequests added an additional 7 percent; therefore, we need to budget our time wisely when working on foundation requests.

By R. Michael Patterson

Non-profit organizations should have a giving level to recognize individuals who make planned gifts.

A planned gift society enables you to formally thank individuals as well as steward them through appreciation events, such as luncheons or dinners.

The society also is a door opener to talking to your prospects about a planned gift.

For example, when you call your donors to thank them for an annual gift or major gift, ask them if they’re familiar with your planned giving society.  (This avoids the awkward question of asking if they’ve ever thought including your organization in their will.)   If they’re not familiar, you have an opportunity to explain that the society honors those who have remembered your organization in their wills or estate plans.  Then, offer to send them more information or even sample bequest language they can share with their attorney.

(You might even have a pleasant surprise:  Some might tell you that they’ve already included your organization in their plans!)

Finally, follow up what you send in a week or two.  Ask them open-ended questions:  What do they think about the society?  What questions do they have about planned giving or your organization?  What are they thinking in terms of estate planning?

Don’t be discouraged if this seems like a slow process.  People often take months, if not years, to think about and plan their estates.  The best practice is to be patient, periodically check in with them, steward them for their outright gifts and continue to cultivate them over the long term.

By Joyce Penland

Despite the uncertainties of today’s economic climate and the ensuing impact it has had on the nonprofit community, we at Bacon Lee & Associates find that our work is still  exciting, significant and worthwhile.  We encourage young people to consider a career in the nonprofit sector and we act as mentors for a number of new fundraisers.

Recently we discussed what advice we would offer a new person just entering the fundraising profession.  Here are some valuable observations by members of our team.  We like to hear what YOUR advice would be, so please weigh in!

• Join the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  Your colleagues have been through the “fire” and have valuable insight that we will happily share with new fundraisers.
• Be flexible!  Be willing to wear many hats.  Learn to walk in the shoes of everyone in your organization.
• Be a sponge!  Attend as many seminars and workshops as you can.  Be willing to pay for your professional development if your organization won’t pay your way.  We should all be lifetime learners.
• Know those whom you serve.  Make time to know the people who benefit from your work and those donors who support your mission.  Ask for personal interviews with the organization’s board of directors.
• Get as much broad-based experience as possible:  special events, direct mail, annual fund, gift solicitation, stewardship, etc.  As a new fundraiser, be a generalist, rather than a specialist in order to get the lay of the land.
• Know thyself!  Over the course of one’s career you will hear “no” many more times than you will hear “yes” so learn not to take setbacks personally.
• Ask a valued colleague to mentor you.  We’ve been where you are now and we’re willing to share our expertise.
  • Give of yourself!  Be a volunteer and make gifts to nonprofit organizations that are important to you.  This provides a remarkable looking glass from which to see your organization as donors do.
  • Celebrate your successes!   Remember, that you are an important part of a much bigger picture.
  • Remember, special events are the most difficult way to raise money.  If you start your career in special events, be sure to intentionally expand your experience to include annual fundraising, direct mail and online fundraising.

February, 9, 2010 by Michael Bacon

Recently, a member of our firm shared that her niece is considering entering the nonprofit world.   The young woman is graduating from college and asked Joyce’s advice on what she liked about her work with nonprofits.  Joyce then asked several of us to share our likes and dislikes about fundraising in the nonprofit arena.

As I read the responses from my colleagues, I realized that there are lessons here for all of us.  Some of these will make you smile and others will cause you to grimace because you know… you’ve been there before too!

Please add your own likes and dislikes and share your story with us.

What we like BEST about fundraising for nonprofits:

• People who are passionate about serving others

• Willingness to share what we have learned with one another

• The joy of giving makes people happy and fulfilled

• Knowing at the end of the day that you have made a difference

• The people one works with in the organization and also development colleagues tend to have “giving” spirits, more so than in the for-profit world

• Knowing specific examples of lives being changed is a great motivator

• The field contains both “art” and “science” which makes for variety in working with donors, board members and other staff

• Working for a “greater good” and knowing that lives are changed for the better by your efforts

• Excellent field for women

• Always interesting and challenging as boards, volunteers, and economics change

• Working for a good cause

• Colleagues

• Creative challenges

What we like LEAST about fundraising for nonprofits:

• After about five years I had to “gear myself up” for another gala or golf tournament

• The stress of whether or not you’ll “make budget” and the weight of responsibility that comes with that

• Working with volunteers who “are not on the same page” as you need them to be

• The pressure to reach an arbitrary fundraising goal with no basis in reality and little input from the fundraising staff itself

• When volunteers fail to do their jobs, you must pick up the ball

• Many nonprofits have huge financial challenges

• It takes time to achieve success

• Lack of advancement potential at most non-profits

• Lower pay than private sector; no financial incentives as in private sector (year-end bonuses, etc.)

• Limited job opportunities in smaller cities

• A lot of turnover in staff – people move jobs too frequently

• Boards can create just as many problems for nonprofits as they can help solve problems

• Sometimes funders/donors/foundations think they know better how to solve an issue because they have the money.  They forget that the staff at the nonprofit is in the trenches and working with that issue every day

As principals and associates of Bacon Lee & Associates, we hope that our reflections and observations help give you insight into the remarkable world of fundraising and philanthropy, as well as how Bacon Lee can assist you in meeting the challenges of the fundraising profession. We welcome your comments and feedback.

Jan 22, 2010 by Marion Lee

Recently, I was asked  to facilitate a roundtable discussion for a local civic group. This is an organization of women leaders in business, education, nonprofit, science and almost any profession you could name. With less than a day to consider a topic, I chose one that has been on my mind a lot lately: How is the economy really affecting your giving?

As fate would have it, I ended up with a stellar group: Three bank professionals in charge of philanthropic trusts, one former corporate foundation leader, and the rest a group of diverse, generous, active women who have made philanthropy a part of their lives. And this is what they said:

• We are still giving at the same level, but are more cautious where we give it.
• We are more thoughtful about making multi-year pledges.
• We give more where we are most active.
• We are concerned for the organizations that depend so heavily on state, federal or local funding.
• We are giving less or not at all to organizations that have passive or inactive boards.

Some of the responses echo what we are all hearing through the Association of Fundraising Professionals and other resources, but it’s one thing to hear it secondhand and another to have the donors tell you what they are actually doing.

Most interesting to me was the concern for organizations that are dependent upon government funding and the concern for board participation. Are any of you seeing this trend or having one-on-one discussions with your donor base to discover their perspective?