By Joyce Penland, CFRE

As nonprofits celebrate the holiday season and the close of 2013, many make an effort to include donors in the mix.  Some invite donors and prospects to make an additional end-of-year gift.  Others send special Christmas cards to donors and friends.  Here’s a sampling of what some Bacon Lee & Associates clients and friends are undertaking this holiday season.

At San Antonio Academy, donors receive a thank you card featuring artwork created by one of the students during the school’s annual art fair.  The card’s message, thanking donors for their support throughout the year, along with the charming artwork, inspires donors to keep SAA in their year-end thoughts.  Additionally, the boys participate in gift giving to other charities, according to Director of Development Mary Shrader.

Each grade selects a charity and brings gifts ranging from toys for the Sonny Melendrez Foundation, to art supplies for the Children’s Shelter, to socks and underwear for Catholic Worker House.  In addition, the entire school contributes canned goods to support the San Antonio Food Bank.   Shrader says Sonny Melendrez visits SAA to speak to students and personally thank them for their generosity.  “It reminds the students about what the holidays are all about.”

At Texas State Aquarium, where Rocky Kettering is Vice President of Development, the whole community is the beneficiary during the holidays.  Kettering says TSA offers $1 admission several days in December. Recently, during a cold snap in Corpus Christi, several families took advantage of “dollar day” at the Aquarium. As families enjoyed several types of aquatic life native to Texas, numerous people received a free Santa hat for their visit. With the Artic blast, TSA staff had to make special arrangements to assure all of its marine life was kept safe.

During holiday season at the McNay Art Museum, members receive an email offering museum discounts and exhibits.  Members enjoy a holiday “double discount” at the Museum Store, including an extensive selection of art and theatre books.  In addition, Chief Development Officer Colleen Kelly says that the McNay will be showing “a family favorite” The Nightmare Before Christmas in the Tobin Theatre Arts Galleries.  She shared that the McNay admission is always free on Thursdays from 4-9 p.m. courtesy of HEB.

Each year at Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, members of the broader Southwest family contribute meditations and prayers for each day of the Advent season. These reflections are collected and published in booklet and digital form and dispersed to the Southwest family of alumni, friends and supporters. Tara Holley, Vice President of Advancement, explained that each meditation is recorded by its author and then placed on the seminary’s website (www.ssw.edu/advent2013), which is also referenced in daily Twitter and Facebook updates by the school. The project, now in its fifth year, reaches thousands of people around the world and helps raise more than 15 percent of Southwest’s annual fund. Holley says the Advent Meditations booklet that goes out to 6,000 friends, alums and donors is similar to a Christmas card “but it is one that keeps on giving all through Advent leading up to Christmas.”

SSW also includes personal visits, lunches and simple gifts to its leadership donors with an emphasis on those who are very elderly and not able to get out. SSW’s Dean and the Advancement staff participates in this effort to at least 50 individuals and families, some long-supporters of the school.  Says Holley, “Everyone receives the Advent Mediation booklet. However, we spend every extra moment during the month of December reaching out to those who make a difference in the life of the Seminary throughout the year.”

What traditions are important to your organization?  Let us hear about your special customs and we’ll include them in a future article.  Email us at jpenland@baconlee.com

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: it must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”

William Faulkner

Honestly, the best part of our work is thanking. If anyone ever offered me the job of Chief Thanking Officer, I would take it and never look back!  Many of us in the nonprofit world truly believe that we are in relationship with generous people, foundations and corporations that support our causes so thanking them is an essential part of building and strengthening those relationships.

What have you done to thank donors in a creative way?  We suggest personalizing appreciation when appropriate and keeping it low cost.  Often, donors do not want you to spend money thanking them for supporting your charity.  Instead, donors respond to:

• A thank you phone call from a board member
• A thank you phone call from staff the day the gift is received
• A handwritten note from a board member or staff member

As we approach Thanksgiving, I asked the Bacon Lee & Associates team for thoughts on creative thanking.  Sometimes, just hearing a story of how a nonprofit showed true appreciation can inspire us to think more intentionally about the ways in which we thank donors.

Here are some intriguing examples:

Amy Phipps, former Executive Director of the Zachry Foundation, shared, “The best thank-you’s are the ones that get sent!  From a typical grant slate of 40-50 organizations, there would always be several who never sent ANYTHING.  Their absence was noticed, and we would always follow up to make sure that there had been no hiccups in receipt.  To me, the language on the thank you letters we did receive was almost immaterial.  The important thing was that they were sent.”

Beverly Seffel spent 32 years at the Lower Colorado River Authority, helping connect employee dollars to nonprofit causes.  She explained, “An organization we funded left a small potted tulip for me that just said “thank you” at the front desk.  They didn’t intrude on my day; they just left it and went on their way.  I also had a group whose volunteers bake cookies during the holidays and deliver them to donors.  It was a treat for the whole office.”

Barbara Anne Stephens, a mentor of mine who recently retired from our firm, loves creative thanking.  She shared several stories of excellent and imaginative thanking:

• When I was working at the Witte Museum, we reached a milestone–our 50,000th visitor to the HEB Science Treehouse.  I sent a handwritten note to Charles Butt, “Dear Mr. Butt, I thought you’d like to know that today our 50,000 guest played in the HEB Science Treehouse.  Thank you for your extraordinary gift to our community.” He read the note, circled 50,000 with a red marker and wrote back “WOW!  Thanks for letting me know.”
• As a major donor to a local university was becoming more infirm, she was consistently visited by the wife of the President.  One day the President’s wife asked, “Isn’t there something I can do for you?”  The donor said, “I have this glorious grand piano and no one to play it.”  The President’s wife went to the chair of the Music Department to find a student to play for the donor, and arranged for the personal concert.  The donor was delighted and the student got to perform for one of the University’s most generous supporters.

The point is this: find a way to make a real connection between your organization and your donors.  Most nonprofits send out a timely receipt and thank you note.  What can YOU do that is different and unique?

By Joyce Penland, CFRE

The bookshelf at the Bacon Lee & Associates office contains a variety of books by leaders in the nonprofit industry to help inspire our fundraising work, covering topics from how to make a successful solicitation visit to how to build stronger governing boards.  But in addition to the hard or soft cover volume, what else should a savvy development professional take time to read?

A survey of our principals and associates resulted in these book recommendations:

• Asking: A 50-Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers, and Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift by Jerold Panas

• Donor Centered Fundraising and Donor Centered Leadership by Penelope Burk

• Capital Campaigns:  Strategies That Work by Andrea Kihlstedt

• The Artful Journey: Cultivating And Soliciting The Major Gift by Bill Sturtevant

• How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters by Mal Warwick

• The Seven Faces of Philanthropy by Russ Alan Prince and Karen Maru File

In addition, here are some tips that can help knowledgeable development professionals in your daily work.

• We are strong advocates of Advancing Philanthropy, the quarterly magazine of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, as well as its weekly AFP e-Wire.  Both are good sources of “how to” articles, as well as the often-needed inspirational boost.

• The same advice goes for the Chronicle of Philanthropy and the Chronicle of Higher Education, for those in colleges and universities.  Staying abreast of major charitable contributors and the causes they support is important in our work.

• It might sound a bit morbid but smart fundraisers should make it a habit to read the daily obituaries.  Knowing that the spouse of one of your major donors has died can help you be sensitive to her needs and guide your approach in future visits.

• Reading the city’s business journal also makes good fundraising sense.  Seeing what plans and issues are impacting your prospects and donors can advise your organization’s next steps.  For example, when you see that your board chair has recently sold his company, you can think strategically about offering gift opportunities that benefit you both.

• Take note of what your “competitors” are doing.  Go onto the websites or Facebook pages of institutions like your own and read about their projects and programs.  We’re not advocating “stealing” their great ideas, but knowing what others are offering can inspire you to “work smarter.”

• Make it a habit to note how the stock market is doing.  Offering a hearty slap on the back and toothy smile to your donor who may have taken a beating in the market can make you appear thoughtless and a bit “out of the loop.”

Finally, read your own press.  Read the news releases that your public relations office generates.  Read your organization’s 990 and know it backwards and forwards.  Read your organization’s profile on Guidestar.  (Donors will look at this profile to help them determine whether your organization is worthy of funding.)  Too often nonprofits ignore this opportunity to “toot their own horns.”  Read the colorful brochure that your project coordinator has just sent to your clients.  Read the “state of the organization” letter your CEO mailed to legislators and supporters.

The savvy development professional will stay current with the printed materials your own organization is creating and will be able to articulate its mission, vision and goals with clarity and enthusiasm.

We’d like to hear about the items on YOUR nonprofit’s bookshelf.  Send us a note about what you’re reading, and we’ll include in a future article.

By Mike Bacon, CFRE

Imagine showing up for a job interview.  You’re on time (even early) but you are kept waiting for 30 minutes.  The candidate who was just interviewed walks through the lobby, giving you “the eye” as she departs.  You enter a conference room to face what seems to be a firing squad of a Search Committee.  There are no real introductions and they start asking you questions immediately.   You sense an almost antagonistic edge to the questions.  And when you ask them a few carefully planned questions, they seem caught off guard. You leave wondering if you made the right choice in applying.   Any of this sound familiar?

In our recruitment work, we often hear negative stories like this.  Great candidates are treated poorly during the interview process and are turned off by what they perceive to be the nonprofit’s less-than-caring culture.  In a job market that desperately needs qualified and experienced fundraisers, candidates are actually interviewing the nonprofits too.

Here are four areas where nonprofits must prove themselves to candidates:

Credibility: Can the candidate see your financials in advance?  Is the Board/staff able to answer questions about those revenue and expense lines?  Is your board list available online?  How does your external reputation hold up in the community?

Vision: Is there an exciting plan for the future?  Can the candidate see your most recent strategic plan…or is it out-of-date and obsolete?  Are the Executive Director and the Board passionate about where the nonprofit is headed?  How can you convey that enthusiasm to  candidates during their interviews?

Cultural Fit: Did the candidate get a tour?  Did you share an organizational chart in advance?  Can potential hires meet members of the senior staff to get a sense of their caliber and personalities?  Remember, candidates are trying to figure out if they will like working for you.  Will they be valued?  Will they fit in with the team already in place?

Transparency: Can the candidate get an honest answer from the staff and Search Committee?  Were people open about the challenges the nonprofit faces?  Or did the experience seem too good to be true?

We know of a search where a qualified candidate ended his day with the President/CEO.  In their conversation, the President made it clear that he wanted very little do with fundraising and hoped that the department would get its work done without “bothering” him.  Needless to say, the candidate withdrew from the search the next day.

If the Bacon Lee & Associates team can assist you with a job search, please contact us at www.baconlee.com.

By Joyce Penland, CFRE

Charitable giving was up 3.5% last year—to  $316.23 billion—but down from a peak of $344.48 million in 2007,  an indicator of the nation’s slow economic recovery, according to the 2013 Giving USA report from the Center for Philanthropy at Indiana University. Gregg Carlson, chair of the Lily Foundation, which funds the annual report, said, “The small increase in giving showed the healing continues, with the prognosis being good. Giving, as a general rule, follows the economy and consumer confidence.”

Despite the nation’s stubborn unemployment rate, giving from individuals, foundations and corporations was up.

• Individuals in the U.S. are still the most generous segment of the giving “pie” contributing $228.9 billion last year, a 3.9 percent increase from $220.3 billion in 2011.  We at Bacon Lee & Associates continue to encourage our clients to  always focus first on cultivating, asking and stewarding individual donors.

• Companies and their foundations increased their giving to nearly $18.2 billion in 2012, compared with $16.2 billion the year before.  Our caution to corporate support seekers is to consider the corporation’s goals in addition to your own nonprofit’s dreams and desires.  My colleague, Amy Phipps, noted in an earlier article in this newsletter, “You’ll find that corporations are looking to leverage their nonprofit involvement with partnerships producing a “triple bottom line” benefiting not just the community, but business and employee interests as well.”

• Giving by charitable foundations was up 4.4 percent to a total $45.7 billion in 2012, and nonprofits should continue to develop specific approaches when targeting foundation support.  Savvy development shops will work continuously to identify foundations with interests that align with your organization’s programs and services.

In our region, giving shows a rosier picture than elsewhere in the nation.   “Here in Austin we’ve been lucky to enjoy a healthier economy than other places in the country,” says MariBen Ramsey, Vice President and General Counsel at Austin Community Foundation. “We are definitely seeing giving on the increase – already this year we have awarded $16 million in grants while during all of last year we gave $23 million.”

Beth Keough, Development Director at Seton Home in San Antonio, says the same is true for her organization.  “Each area saw increased giving levels this past year—annual giving, giving by corporations, and new gifts from foundations.  Our special events, including our luncheon and our gala, also surpassed expectations.  Our total dollars are significantly higher this year.”

While you and I individually can do our part to boost the economy (I hope to buy a new car this year), and boost philanthropy through our own giving to causes we love, these figures indicate that our efforts to encourage our  donors to stay the course is also paying dividends, albeit slowly.

Giving USA is the longest-running report about charitable giving in the U.S. The study analyzed U.S. tax data from the Internal Revenue Service, government economic indicators, and other research.  For the complete report, head to www.givingusa.com

And, if your shop needs help finding ways to encourage your donors to increase their giving, let us hear from you at www.baconlee.com.

By Marion Lee, CFRE

It is just numbers–right?–those pesky monthly or quarterly financial statements from the nonprofit that we serve as Board members.  Receiving, reading and understanding financial statement remains one of the single greatest obstacles that we face in nonprofit management today.

Across the state, we continue to discover that nonprofit organizations find that producing accurate and up-to-date financial statements is a daunting challenge.  We also find that Board members are not insisting on timely accurate records and do not realize the importance of this information.

As an Executive Director or development professional, it is important to you and the health of your organization to spend the time needed to produce accurate financial records and reports, and to make sure that your Board understands its responsibility as a good steward of the organization’s assets.  We would like to offer a few suggestions and recommendations to help you ease the fears of numbers.

1.     It is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to understand your organization’s financial picture, set budgets and approve expenditures.  No one here is advocating micromanagement of the daily running of the office, but we do strongly believe that the Board must know the true picture so that it can make the best decisions.   Board members should:

• Receive a copy of the most recent financial statements during a Board orientation.  And while we are on that subject, they should be told during the getting to know you phase of Board nominations, what is the annual budget, revenue break-out and general expenses;
• Receive a Board member job description that specifically states that they are responsible for the fiduciary health of the organization.  This includes their role in choosing an independent auditor, if you have audited financial statements;
• Receive training, if needed, on how to read the financial statements;
• Be empowered to ask questions and give support and advice, and, most important,
• Have a clear picture of the organization’s assets: land, building, equipment, and people.

2.    The Executive Director and senior staff must understand their role in the process of strong financial management.  Key points to making sure situations do not get out of hand are:

• Beware of the tendency to “hide” or dissimulate financial details. We all want to put our best foot forward and no one wants to disappoint the Board, but it is not your job to “protect” the Board from reality;
• Be upfront in assessing the organization’s assets and communicating the strengths of those assets to the Board;
• Take care not to take on more and more work, without asking for additional help or resources.  Hey, we all want to do this in the most efficient way, but stretching resources too thin can have serious consequences;
• Make sure the Board receives the financial statements prior to Board meetings and votes on them during the meeting, and
• Ask for help.  Resources can be found, either through funding or volunteer support to help you sort out even the most complex situations.

Bacon Lee & Associates was founded to provide counsel and support to nonprofit organizations.  We can help you and your Board find the comfort zone with financial reporting at www.baconlee.com.

By Joyce Penland, CFRE

What makes your palms sweat, causes your heart to race, and turns your knees to jelly?  For me it’s riding a roller coaster.  Or seeing any kind of rodent or snake.  Both of those things frighten me more than I’m willing to admit.  But for your organization’s executive director, your board and even for some of your staff, what scares them most is making a solicitation visit.

As the development professional in your nonprofit, this phenomenon offers an opportunity to deliver guidance and training so that your entire team can be effective in asking for support.  So how do you go about it?  We recommend going back to the basics:  divide and conquer.

1.  Ask your Executive Director to give you 30 minutes each week to work with her one-on-one to build her comfort level in making calls.  Review with her the dynamics of the fundraising visit:

• asking questions,
• building rapport,
• listening and responding to the prospect,
• sharing your organization’s “case for support” and then
• inviting the investment.

There are many tools on the web and several excellent books that outline the ABC’s of the solicitation visit that can help you train your boss.  Once she’s comfortable in this role, you can use those 30 minutes to brief her on upcoming visits or allow her to share any challenges.

2.  For your Board members, it’s important to stress that fundraising is an expectation from the very start of their terms, so that this is not an unwelcome surprise.  Setting aside a specific time during the board’s regular meetings for training and coaching is essential to alleviating their fears and building their confidence in asking.  We recommend a combination of teaching them the basics above, along with role-playing to help diminish their fears.  Your responsibility is to remind them that they are not asking for themselves but for the people you serve.  Give them tools that include:

• compelling stories of clients served by your organization,
• relevant statistics that reveal your strengths, and, most of all,
• a convincing case for support to propel them out the door.

Pairing board members with your Executive Director on visits will allow them to play to their strengths.  We often encourage the Executive Director to articulate the nonprofit’s mission and vision, while the Board member makes “the ask” for the gift.

3.  Your nonprofit’s colleagues can benefit from learning the art and science of the fundraising visit.  Make time during staff meetings to share the outcomes of a few of your most successful fundraising calls with the data entry clerk, the research associate, and other front-line fundraising staff.  This allows them see that the time you and others spend cultivating prospects and donors leads to tangible results.  Don’t forget to share a few of those “not so successful” visits as well.  As we all know, even talented askers are told “no” or “not now” far more often that they’re told “yes.”  Sharing the “stories” of your fundraising visits can help personalize donors among your back office staff who may not have the opportunity to know them.  And it makes the work more enjoyable!

If the team at Bacon Lee & Associates can assist you in taking the fear out of fundraising for your boss, your board, or your staff, contact us at www.baconlee.com.

By Joyce Penland, CFRE

Fundraising guru Jerold Panas opines that the only reason fundraising professionals should spend much time behind their desks is if they have a safe full of money located there.  Otherwise, they shouldn’t become too comfortable in their desk chairs.  This is especially wise counsel for executive directors and development officers in their first 90 days in a new nonprofit.

Savvy new hires will make the most of their “I’m new around here” status by getting out of their offices.  Here are some tips we’ve amassed through our work with new executive directors, development directors and other fundraising staff.

Make appointments with each of your board members.

• Ask them what inspires them to serve on your board.
• Ask their advice on how you can be most effective in your new role.
• Seek their help in opening other doors for you.

Ask for a list of the organization’s Top 50 donors and visit with them in their offices and homes to introduce yourself and to seek their feedback.

• Ask them what motivates them to support your nonprofit.
• Take the time to learn about previous meaningful relationships they’ve had within your organization, so that you can build upon that foundation.

Learn everything you can about your organization’s operation by talking not only with your staff and boss, but also with the clients you serve.

• If you’re in a university, talk with faculty, alumni and students.
• If you’re in a homeless shelter, talk with the men and women who are no longer on the streets.
• If you’re in a hospital, talk with doctors, nurses and grateful patients.  These powerful stories will become the heart of your discussions with prospective donors.

Make time to visit one–on–one with the staff you may have inherited.  Ask them to share their résumés with you.  All too often new directors overlook the talent within their own staffs because they haven’t taken the time to “mine” the diamonds they already have.

The effort that new hires take during their first few months on the new job will likely lead to greater professional success for them personally, and greater involvement and investment by donors in the causes they represent.  Seasoned professionals, who have been with their organizations long beyond the first 90 days, can utilize these tips to maximize their fundraising effectiveness as well.

By Priscilla Guajardo Cortez

“The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” – Robert Burns

Serving in a consulting capacity, my colleagues and I have come to know well the importance of planning in fundraising efforts, especially in anticipation of a capital campaign.  If done right, early planning should provide the roadmap for meeting, and in some cases, exceeding the organization’s campaign goals.  But, even with the best planning and a solid foundation laid for the quiet phase, the excitement of a new campaign can and does wear off and your campaign can begin to stall.

Organizational leadership may ask themselves, how did we get here?  While there will be plenty of signs indicating that your campaign has stalled – no new gifts have been received in some time, attendance at campaign committee meetings starts to dwindle, and/or no one is certain how and when the campaign will end – most organizations struggle to identify or address those things that are contributing to the slowing down of their campaign process.

This is about the time when we get the phone call to help save the day!  And while my colleagues and I can bring a fresh perspective, excitement and expertise to help wrap-up the project, it is more effective if the volunteer leadership and organizational staff running the campaign are willing to work to address the underlying issues.

Here are the most common campaign elements that may be contributing to a stalled campaign:

1. Campaign Plan. From the feasibility study, the outline of a campaign plan usually emerges.  Campaign plans should include a:  1) description of the campaign structure; 2) work plan with specific strategies and tactics; 3) a timetable; 4) assignments and prospect lists; 5) compelling case statement (revised after feasibility study); 6) naming opportunities, and 7) fundraising goals by giving sector (individuals, foundations, corporations).  Most ineffective campaign plans suffer from a lack of specificity and accountability, and are often abandoned when deviations are necessary.  The need to revise the campaign plan will arise and it is not only appropriate, but necessary to achieve fundraising success.
2. Case for Support. Nonprofit organizations develop a core case for support to share the many reasons why their organization is worthy of a donor’s resources.  An effective case for support should provide enough information to allow prospects to respond emotionally first, and then logically, empowering them to be a part of addressing the identified, unmet community need.  At various stages of a capital campaign, leadership must take the time to rethink how to articulate the organization’s vision so that broad community support is gained for its project.  Not all messaging will resonate the same among diverse audiences and it is imperative to refresh the overall or elements of the case for giving.
3. Communication. Regular progress reports and updates are critical communication tools in keeping up the sense of urgency, enthusiasm and excitement among campaign staff, volunteers, and donors.  Without it, they may move on to other pressing needs or other projects.
4. Project Scope. As campaigns progress, the project scope may change in an effort to reduce the project budget.  This is done by a process of re-examining the assumptions about the importance of each feature in the project. Thoughtful revisions to the project plans, especially those that take into consideration the current economy, will be well received by prospective donors and strengthen the organization’s credibility as good financial stewards.

While we at Bacon Lee & Associates stand ready to provide counsel in times of need, it is our belief that nonprofit organizations can look internally first to identify potential problem areas, such as the ones described above, and begin to work toward a solution to get the campaign back on track.