Author, coach, copy-writer, nonprofit marketing consultant and political junkie, Pamela is the author of “Five Days to Foundation Grants”  and  the creator of Simple Development Systems, the only online coaching program created for the overwhelmed fundraiser in the one-person marketing and development shop.

Pam segued from six years working in programming and communications at a regional grantmaking foundation to the world of fundraising in 2001.  In her first position as a 15-hour a week development director for an agency with a $3 million dollar budget, she increased individual giving by 25% – while reducing costs by 31% – and increased foundation funding by an astonishing 93%! She’s raised over $10 million in funding since then and has been positioning small nonprofit organizations on the path to sustainable funding ever since  with her “Simple Development Systems” of donor-centric fundraising methods.

With an eclectic 20 year background in politics, sales, marketing and philanthropy, Pamela’s greatest satisfaction lies in teaching the small community-based nonprofits how to, in her words,  “market like the big boys” with limited time and resources.

Seven Secrets to Great Nonprofit Leadership

1. The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. RALPH NADER

In other words, let your leaders lead.

I worked as part of a five-person development team for a large organization for twelve long months. During that time period three development directors came and went, not to mention program staff, membership staff, the CFO and more.

The problem? A CEO with a brilliant knack for finding and hiring talent … coupled with an utter inability to let loose of the reins and let her people do their jobs.

2. You learn far more from negative leadership than from positive leadership. Because you learn how not to do it. And, therefore, you learn how to do it. NORMAN SCHWARZKOPF

Learn from bad leadership (see above). But don’t forget the lessons learned by observing a genuinely good leader either.

We’ve all heard the horrible board stories, yet how many “good board” stories have you heard?

I had the good fortune to work with one Executive Director who was nothing short of brilliant at putting together a remarkably cohesive board (and this for a tiny nonprofit agency with a yearly budget of $500,000) of remarkably diverse individuals. Every member of that board brought their own unique gifts to the table, whether it was in terms of connections, education, creative thinking or – let’s be blunt here – plenty of money.

3. Leadership is an active role; ‘lead’ is a verb. But the leader who tries to do it all is headed for burnout, and in a powerful hurry. BILL OWENS

Learn how to delegate. Given half a chance, people will rise to meet the level of your expectations of them.

4. Leadership is unlocking people’s potential to become better. BILL BRADLEY

Allocate for training.

One of my all time favorite employers mandated that every employee take a minimum of two enrichment courses per year. Thanks to her leadership, staff was always up-to-date on the latest software and business techniques.

By the same token, in nearly every nonprofit position that I have held, I have paid out of pocket for books and training (for shame!). Next to your donors, your employees are your greatest resource.

5. No man ever listened himself out of a job. CALVIN COOLIDGE

Listening involves more than sitting down with your board members and staff. Real leaders aren’t stuck in hierarchal notions. Real leaders will occasionally take on receptionist duties or data entry to gain perspective and stock of the public’s perception of them.

6. If there is anything that a man can do well, I say let him do it. Give him a chance. ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Respect creativity and give it a chance. It may work … then again, it may not.
I once proposed setting up an eBay account for a nonprofit organization I was working with. Board members and donors donated items and I photographed, listed them, sold them and shipped them. It netted over $8,000, but was, in the long run, a disappointing venture in terms of the time and effort involved.

7. You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today. ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Prepare for the future by acknowledging that, like fine wine, donor-centric fundraising is your long-term solution – and it takes time.

After a summer off, I’d like to welcome back Gayle Thorsen (pictured at left) to the Step By Step Fundraising Blog.  Over the past year, Gayle has been kind enough to share with us one of her recent articles from her blog ImpactMax.  Today she has one for us about time saving advice for those of us working in the non-profit field.

Gayle has been in the nonprofit communications world for more than 25 years, the last 12 as the communications head for two large foundations:The Minneapolis Foundation and The McKnight Foundation.

Take a few minutes to visit ImpactMax and read all the terrific articles Gayle has posted there. It will be time very well spent!  Thanks, Gayle!

10 Time Management Tips for Nonprofit Communicators

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a consultant (and a former nonprofit communications director), it’s how incredibly busy nonprofit communicators are–-always. There don’t seem to be peaks and valleys, it’s all just climbing, climbing, climbing.

Nonprofit communications professionals are pulled in 17 different directions at any given moment, and it can feel like you don’t have much control over your day. Pretty soon you find yourself working at home in the evening just to stay afloat.

I encourage my clients who call me short-of-breath from work overload tomake the time to rethink how they organize their days. You may not be able to incorporate every tip I’ve described below, but even using a few of them can have an impact. Keep in mind—when you’re waist-deep in project management—that it’s an important part of your job to stay attuned to news, trends, and larger environment. (I’ve aimed these tips at communications managers, but any communication staff member could find them useful.)

Tip #1:  Don’t overload your plate

If you’ve got too much on your plate, acknowledge it and decide what has to go. You risk your own reputation and that of your organization when you take on too many activities to do each of them well.

To help you figure out what you should let go of, organize tasks/projects into a four-quadrant grid with the horizontal axis as URGENT and the vertical axis as IMPORTANT (this axis is where you measure the impact of a project). Your biggest priorities are probably in the quadrant where important and urgent coincide. (If anything falls in the least important, least urgent quadrant, why are you doing it?) Lean toward acting on what’s important first. But keep an eye open for urgent actions that can hold someone else up if they don’t get done—try to be as sensitive to others’ deadlines as you want them to be to yours.

Another skill you absolutely have to master is saying no. When someone pops into your office with a cool idea that’s either not strategic or impossible to add to your already full plate—be straight with them. If the idea’s worth considering at a later time, tell them you’ll do that. Be nice, thank them, but don’t leave them believing you’re going to undertake something you have no resources or time to undertake.

Tip #2:  Sunday evening prep

I know this is off-the-clock time, but by spending 15-30 minutes doing this your Monday morning will be SO much easier. Take a look at new emails and emails from the past week that you’ve flagged for action but not acted on. Listen to new voicemails. Make a quickie online, chronological list (starting with what you need to do early in the week) of the things you have to do related to the content of these emails/voicemails. Flag top priorities.

Tip #3: Monday morning me-time

(Beg your ED not to schedule staff meetings on Monday mornings; Tuesday mornings are more productive. You’re all back into the swing of things and new questions will have arisen.)

Spend your first half- to full-hour figuring out your biggest strategic priorities for the week—this is your big picture thinking time. Your priorities shouldn’t be all implementation—there should be relationship building/management, evaluation, information gathering, budgetary, and planning activities as well. Understand how this week’s tasks fit into your goals for the month and year. This is one way to keep on track with the projects that matter most, without getting mired in the morass of tiny “emergencies” that inevitably crop up.

Tip #4:  Be the first to know

Every workday morning (except Monday), spend your first 15 minutes to half-hour reviewing top news headlines and alerts related to your work in your online reader and on Tweetdeck. There may be developments that present opportunities or require response, and those need to be added to your weekly project grid too. Be the first to know, and share news with whomever in your organization needs to know. (Your colleagues will find this a valuable service.) At 4 pm, revisit these two sources again to keep up with relevant news. (If you tweet, this is a good time to share links of interest with your followers.)

Tip #5:  Tame your tools

Your phone and computer are tools, don’t let them become bosses. If you’re at your desk, resist the temptation to answer the phone or look at emails throughout the day (there are obvious exceptions, if you’re expecting an important call and you see that number flash up,  you answer it). This allows you to move on your priorities. At 11 am, review phone messages first and emails second…and act on what needs response right away. (A lot can wait until the end of the day). If an email response is only going to take a minute, do it then and get it off your to-do list. At 3 pm, do this same routine. Be sure to flag emails that are going to require later action. If you’re on the run a lot, use time between meetings to check emails and voicemails on your smart phone. Try to have gone through all your messages before your day ends.

Tip #6:  Make meetings matter

Schedule meetings between 9:30-11 and 1-3, to give yourself time to catch up on emails, phone calls, and news beforehand. Be selective about scheduling your own or attending others’ meetings—80% of the time they aren’t necessary. Meetings are for making decisions and building relationships, not for sharing information. (There are great ways to do that through other channels.) If you’re not sure how important a meeting you’ve been asked to attend is, ask yourself this: If I don’t attend, what’s the worst that could happen? If the answer to that question isn’t compelling, if your priorities call you elsewhere, and if an important relationship isn’t at risk—consider sending apologies and not going. Be as concerned about not wasting other people’s time with your meetings as you are about wasting your time with theirs.

Always be prepared for and on-time to meetings. It’s a basic sign of professionalism and respect. It also helps speed things along.

Tip #7:  Recognize trouble

It’s easy to get so absorbed in meeting deadlines that when a tiny red flag waves, you don’t see it or just dismiss it and hope it goes away. Always be vigilant for what can go wrong and when you see signs, take a deep breath and sit for a minute. Don’t panic, just let the right course of action come to you (it will). Smart actions are better than knee-jerk responses, they have a greater likelihood of forestalling further problems and will save you time later on. An ounce of prevention…

Tip #8:  Keep chats short

Part of your role as a member of your organization is to contribute to a healthy, enjoyable culture. You can’t just close your door and bar chatty neighbors who may be less busy than you at the moment. But you do have the right to: 1) Tell them you’d love to catch up but you’re facing a deadline, or 2) Limit the chat to no more than a few minutes. Informal exchanges with your colleagues are important for team-building (and sometimes information gathering), so don’t cloister yourself away completely. If it works for you, use your lunch time for informal chats.

Tip #9:  Take a break at least once a day

At times, it may be impossible to take a lunch break because a project needs to get done, but make those times exceptions. Walking away from your work for at least a half-hour a day can provide mental downtime that increases your clarity, creativity, and productivity. Get away from the office (and outside) during those breaks as much as possible.

Tip #10: Be kind

Just as you’re slammed with deadlines, others in your organization often face the same level of pressure. Watch the tone of your emails and your voice when dealing with unwelcome interruptions and requests. “Lean and mean” behavior may get a project out on time but lose you the long-term cooperation of colleagues. A nonprofit communicator’s success depends on good relationships on every side, internal and external. (Remember, you will needthem at some point, just like they need you now.) So be kind and as helpful as you can.

Any time management tips of your own to add?

One of the worst things you can do, I think, as a non-profit professional is to burrow down inside your own organization, live like you are in a cocoon, and only look from within for ideas.

It is tremendously unhealthy to think that you can run a successful mission-based community without trying to get as much input and inspiration from the outside world as you can. In fact, I think such an attitude demonstrates a horrifying level of institutional arrogance that will ultimately doom the organization.

So, that being said, I think that there is great value in continually keeping an eye on what others are doing that is bringing them success in a variety of areas. I have always suggested undertaking as many collaborative projects as you can, because that act of joining forces can make an individual non-profit much stronger in the long run.

Also, when you work together with another like-minded group, you get the chance to observe personality and leadership traits in others, some of which you admire and respect, while others don’t impress you as much.

Here is a list of traits in non-profit leaders that I have personally experienced that I have tried to incorporate into my own leadership style.

Curiosity. If a leader isn’t interested in what others are doing, he or she won’t bring many good ideas to his or her own group.

Willing to take a risk. If a leader is afraid to fail, nothing great is ever going to happen within that organization.

Willing to learn from everyone on staff. If a leader doesn’t believe in the value of every team member, he or she will never win true loyalty from the staff.

Not defensive. If staff members sense that a leader is thin-skinned, they will never feel comfortable bringing concerns to him or her.

Secure in his/her position. If a leader is worried about keeping his or her job and acts accordingly, he or she will lose sight of directing the entire organization.

Wanting employees to grow, even if that means losing them. A real leader wants to train his or her staff so thoroughly that they can take on increasing responsibilities. This may mean that the rising staff members may need to look elsewhere for employment, but the leader shouldn’t feel threatened by that.

Remembering to compliment, even after an employee screws up. A good leader finds ways to teach staff members through mistakes and errors in judgment, so that learning takes place and everyone maintains their dignity.

What other leadership qualities do you value in others that you’ve observed? Please share with us in our comment section!

Photo by: Celso Flores’ photostream

Here’s a great post from Marc Pitman, aka The Fundraising Coach.  Today, Marc manages to draw a very apt comparison between non-profit fundraising and a Waldorf Salad!

Marc also has a great new post on his site, entitled “How trade shows are like fundraising”, which you should check out.

Marc is a great friend of Step by Step Fundraising.  I hope you take the opportunity to get to know him as we have!

Oh, if you are inclined to Tweet, you can follow @marcapitman.  Thanks, Marc!

Fundraising is like a Waldorf Salad

Forrest Gump could have said,

Momma always said, ‘Fundraising’s like a Waldorf Salad. You gotta mix it up to get the right taste.’

He didn’t, but he could have.

A couple weeks ago, I blogged about email fundraising tips learned from my work on my upcoming class reunion.

Another thing we’ve relearned this spring is: mix it up.

All too often, people seem to approach fundraising as defined by the tool:

• direct-mail fundraising
• email fundraising
• social media fundraising
• face-to-face fundraising

While there is value in studying each approach, it’s important to remember to use all approaches for your campaign.

Not creating more work, just varying communication

It’s not necessarily that we need to create more material. One of the best ways to be more efficient with your communication is to “repurpose” what you write. If you send a letter, you can:

• use that wording on a web page
• post the link to that web page on Twitter, Facebook, and even on the “news section” of your official site
• follow up with a phone call that is reinforcing the letter’s message
• refer to that letter in face-to-face communication

For example, our committee has reunion information up both on the school’s official site and on a Facebook page. Not a lot of “new” content. Most of the Facebook posts are scanned images from the class yearbook. But having reunion information is incredibly important. Check out these statistics from a recent email:

• Email 65% open rate on email: That’s more than twice the “best” open rates in a recent report on email open rates! Clearly people are interested in the class, or at least curious enough to open the email. More people opened the email than went to either web page. So clearly, email is an important part of our class’ communication mix.
• 3 x’s as many people clicked through to the FB page vs the school’s page: Three times as many! If we’d only had information on the school’s site, we’d be sunk. People just wouldn’t go. But having a FB page is a comfortable place for people to get the information. They can’t register for reunion there, nor can they make a contribution to the class gift, so we have those links available. But by coming to the FB page and reconnecting with the class and the school, they’re that much closer to doing both.

And in our experience, phone calls are more effective for actually raising money for the class gift. But the emails, letters, and web presence helps prepare the way. And most of those contacted by phone are going online to make the gift.

Fundraising is like a Waldorf salad

Like the ingredients in a Waldorf Salad, each of the tools will be distinct and separate, but you’ve got to mix them up together to make the delicious dish.

Intellectually, we know this. But look back at your calendar. How much time in the last month did you spend on each type of fundraising? Or did you mix it up? Or did you fall into the habit of just approaching people by phone or email?

This week, I challenge you to mix it up. Choose to experiment with a fundraising ingredient you don’t use as frequently

If you look at your calendar and realize you’re not asking enough, check out Fundraising Kick. It’s a weekly email designed specifically to give you the kick you need to get out their fundraising!

Everybody knows that you should send a thank you note to a donor. Along with the fundraising “ask” letter, these two kinds of letters are the bookends. However these not be the only times you make contact with your supporters.

The following is a list of ten reasons you should stay in contact with your existing donors, without hitting them up for another donation.

1. Birthday Wishes

You should make an effort to find out your donors’ birthdays. It shows that you are considerate and thoughtful when you remember them on that special day with a nice card. Set up a tickler in your appointment calendar to remind you at least two weeks in advance, so you have time to buy a card, write a short note, sign it, and mail it. To be better prepared, I suggest you buy a stash of cards and stick them in your desk drawer, so you’ve always got one handy. Also, a quick, handwritten note shows a great personal touch.

Along with the birthday cards, sympathy and congratulations notes are a nice gesture, as well. It is a good habit to scan your local paper for obituaries and announcements. In the case of a donor or a donor’s relative passing away, you will be alerted so you can send a sympathy card right away. You can also use this information to update your database.

If your donor gets his name or photo in the paper for a special award or a new position, remember to also send a note- this time for congratualtions.

2. Regular Updates on Your Organizational News

Do you produce a monthly or quarterly newsletter? Do you send out communications that are important to your families? If you do, you should consider including your donors on the mailing list. By receiving the regular newsletters, the donors can stay “in the loop” about what’s happening and feel included.

While this seems like this would be a no-brainer, I do think you should ask each individual donor if he would like to receive your newsletter in the mail (or by email). Some donors may feel that although they made a donation, they don’t want to be bothered on a continual basis. There are those kinds of donors out there. However, my experience is that the majority like to be kept up-to-date on issues concerning the organization they contributed to.

3. Advice on an Internal Matter

If a person is able to make a donation to your organization, chances are that that person has some wisdom and life experience. I have found that many donors like to be consulted for advice now and again. Be careful not to become a pest, but if you are facing a situation that needs careful deliberation, think about asking for some outside advice from your donor base. Most of the time, you can be sure that since they have already given you their money, they will also be willing to share some of their wisdom, as well. It goes a long way toward erasing any feelings a donor may have that you only care about their money.

You may want to consult your board of directors before sharing any sensitive issues with the donors. Be careful not to treat your advice request as a gossip session. This can turn donors right off.

4. Update on a Previous Contribution the Donor Made

Many times, an organization will receive a donation, the donation will be put to use, and the donor will never hear about the effects of the donation again. You have to remember that when your donor was thinking about whether or not he would donate to your group in the first place, he must have been excited by what you were planning or else he wouldn’t have given. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the donor would like to be kept abreast of any developments within the scope of his donation. Many times, a quick note, an email, or a phone call will do fine. The point is to let donors know what a significant difference their gift made.

5. Interesting News Item to Pass Along

Once you have gone through the initial process of working with a donor, you have established a bond with him. In many cases, you probably had several conversations with him, shared your own personal story with him, and learned about his life a little. In some ways, you have begun to cultivate a friendship. And just like any friendship, you have to pay attention to it or else it will wither. Therefore, I think it is wise to occasionally pass along an interesting piece of news to the donor that you think he might find interesting. This news can have absolutely nothing to do with your group or any kind of donation. It could be about sports or culture or something you know the donor likes. You know- “Saw this and thought of you” kind of note.

Be careful, however, not to send something potentially controversial and be very careful with any use of humor. People can be easily offended, and the last thing you want to do is offend one of your donors. Never go for a laugh unless you are 100% positive you’ll hit the mark.

6. Personal Story of How a Person in Your Organization Achieved Something Great or Overcame an Obstacle

One of the reasons your donor was drawn to your group in the first place was the community of people. Organizations, in and of themselves, are non-living entities. It’s not until you fill it with people that the community springs to life. At some point, your donor must have made a connection with a person or a group of people there.

For instance, if you are running a school and you have a student who won a county spelling bee or got a silver medal in ice skating at the state level or made Eagle Scout, it’s very possible that your donor would love to hear about that. Even better, make sure to share a story of a student at your school who was struggling mightily in some capacity, but through hard work and the teacher’s perseverance, overcame the challenge.

By being included in these success stories, your donor will keep that personal connection alive with your school.

7. Invitation to Go to Lunch/Meet for Coffee

Everybody’s got to eat lunch, right? I think it is wise to plan a time each month where you take a donor out to lunch or meet them for coffee. Set up a rotation schedule for yourself. During this time together, don’t ask for anything for your organization. Just keep developing the relationship you have with the donor. The more often you get together and the more often you talk about other issues, the easier it will be to go back to the donor when you need something. The donor will have seen a pattern of continuing and sincere communication from you, and that will ultimately work in your benefit.

8. Bounce a Creative Idea Off of Them

I always loved to call up a donor and share with him a crazy new idea I had for my organization. Even if it was a “pie-in-the-sky” plan with no real shot of ever getting done, I got a charge from brainstorming with donors. As I alluded to earlier, most donors became donors because they had the ability to make lots of money. This implies that many donors have an entrepreneurial streak in them. And entrepreneurs love to brainstorm- even if it never goes anywhere- it’s just how they’re wired.

Whenever I have made these kinds of phone calls and have been really enthusiastic about my idea, I have always been met in kind with energy, enthusiasm, and support. Besides, you never know, one of your crazy ideas might really appeal to the donor, and he may decide to fund it!

9. Share Marketing or Enrollment Material with Them

Whenever I would come out with a new marketing piece, I would always make sure my donors got a copy of it as soon as possible. By doing this, the donor is able to stay current with any new slogans, pricing structures, or programs. I have found that many donors like to be able to talk about your organization out in public. If they have the latest version of your marketing material, they will be able to be better salespeople for you.

10. To Inform Them if There’s Been Some Sort of Problem Within Your Organization

While this is the least pleasant of all of my suggestions, I do think it is important that you alert your donors whenever something significantly negative happens in your group. You’ll have to use your best judgment as to what the donors should know and when they should know it, but it is often better that a donor hear from you about a potentially negative incident personally, rather than by rumor or even possibly on the news.

By hearing about the situation from you first, you can explain the entire story and offer your solutions. The donor will not get this kind of thorough message in any other manner. Bad news happens- it is inevitable. However, if you desire to keep the relationship with your donor stable, you must remember to keep in touch during both the good times and the bad.

Again, you never know, a donor may actually have experience in handling a situation like what you’re going through and could offer great wisdom to you. In any regard, it’s much better to get in front of a story than to be chasing behind it every step of the way.

Conclusion

I strongly believe that your relationship with each donor needs to be sincere, active, and dynamic. When a person makes his first contribution to your group, it is vitally important that you develop a strategy to get to know that person much better. Don’t let an initial “ask” letter and a thank you note be the extent of your relationship with him. Look for every opportunity to make your donor a part of your community. In the long run, everyone at the school will be much richer for it.

In the last installment of this series, I wrote about the first couple of ways that a team-building retreat can benefit your non-profit staff. Specifically, I gave these two reasons:

• Most people are not good communicators to begin with, so they need lots of instruction and practice
• A team-building retreat is a shared experience outside of the workplace environment

If you haven’t read the first part, I suggest you click here to catch up.

Today, I will share two more reasons that scheduling a team-building retreat will greatly benefit your non-profit organization.

3. The third benefit is that a team-building retreat allows the people on your staff to see each other in a very different light. From day to day, under your normal working conditions, people often fall into very predictable roles. Much of this has to do with the routines that we discussed in the previous article. People get comfortable with how others view them and are generally reluctant to accept change in their co-workers.

This locks individuals into very narrow patterns of behavior, and it ultimately lessens a person’s creativity and initiative.

However, a team-building retreat can change all this. Because the activities presented during a retreat are so outside the norm for your staff, and because they are designed to be challenging in nature, your employees have no choice but to “think outside the box” they came in.

In addition, the facilitator has most likely never met the members of your staff before, so he or she has no idea who the problem solver is or who is incredibly shy. Everyone starts with a blank slate. In this way, people can actually surprise others with their unpredictable behavior- in a good and helpful way.

For instance, perhaps the shy person has a brilliant idea on how to solve a particular challenge. Normally, he or she wouldn’t speak up. But, the facilitator is trained to spot the person with the good idea and then help coax that shy person out of his or her shell. Once their suggestion is made, other people will see that the shy person has a side that he or she had never presented before. And that can lead to real change back in your work place. Now imagine this same ground-breaking scenario with almost every person on your staff. The results can be astounding. In many ways, a team-building retreat can be a day of re-birth and re-invention for many people in your organization.

4. The fourth reason a team-building retreat is such a good idea is that it gives your staff experience talking to each other in different ways. The most obvious example of this is the Full Value Agreement, which is very common at many retreat centers. One part of this agreement is that the facilitators asks the group to keep each other “emotionally” safe during the day, which means that everyone agrees to only use encouraging language.

Believe it or not, adults are really bad at this. Worse than kids. Adults can really go after each other verbally. Usually it’s done under the guise of humor, but the results can be very destructive. It becomes so commonplace, that many grown-ups struggle to even become aware they are hurting someone else.

Other people use language to denigrate themselves.  I know that self-deprecation can be very funny, but there is often underlying insecurity and poor self-esteem in the hearts of the people making these kinds of comments.

But, during a team-building retreat, the facilitator will put an immediate stop to these kinds of communication. And if someone does say something negative or hurtful, the activity stops and the facilitator (or anyone else in the group) can call the perpetrator out on his or her comments.

Usually just one transgression is enough to stop the offensive behavior.

After an entire day of this positive, re-enforcing conversation, people start to change their attitudes. They see that more good comes from encouraging people than does tearing them down. This very important lesson can be built upon back at the workplace and the possibility for real, positive change is available to you.

To be continued…

For more ideas on the value of team-building for your non-profit staff, check back here soon!

Photo by: michaelcardus

I had just given the group of 12 adults their instructions to put on their blindfolds, cinch them up tight, and take hold of a 50 foot length of rope. I could tell that some of them were pretty nervous.

I told them their mission was to form as close to a perfect square as they could while blindfolded. They could talk to one another, but they could not see.

Once they thought they had the formed the perfect square, they were to lay the rope down on the ground and agree, as a group, to remove their blindfolds to check their work.

So off they went. I moved around the large room, making sure no one ran into a wall or a chair.

Now, to explain: this group was made up of social workers from a large non-profit service organization. The leader of this group “Cathy” had contacted me and told me that their group was having communication problems. Their inability to talk effectively to each other was hurting their ability to service their clients. She didn’t know the root of the problem, but she knew that something had to be done.  She emphatically told me to “fix” them.

With that information in mind, I created a three hour program that would help us get to the bottom of their communication problem and hopefully come up with some acceptable solutions.

“The Blindfolded Square”, as it’s called, is just one of several activities that show me how the group collectively handles stress. And, in this case, boy, did it.

At first, the group was rational. They found the ends of the rope and then started to make an effort to form “corners”. This is a good strategy. However, at some point, one of the women lost hold of the rope, which she wasn’t supposed to have done, and she quickly got disoriented, as she was still blindfolded. “Susan” ended up walking away from the group, instead of toward it. I watched her the entire time, but I didn’t speak to her or help her back. I just made sure she didn’t inadvertently walk out the door into the parking lot.

Susan’s body language told me she was scared. I’m sure that she was also embarrassed to have become separated and didn’t want to call out that she was lost. That raised a red flag for me right then. Why wouldn’t she call for help to her teammates? But, I waited and let the situation play itself out.

Cathy, the supervisor of this group, was also the dominant force in this activity. I was surprised how she repeatedly talked over her team members and almost shouted down their suggestions. After only a few minutes, the group had pretty much given up trying to solve the problem and just let her tell them what to do.

Shortly after Susan had become separated from the group and was standing alone in a corner, Cathy called out to assign her a job. Susan didn’t respond at first. Her hands were trembling.

Cathy called out again, this time with anger and frustration in her voice. “Susan! Where are you!” Finally, Susan said quietly, almost to herself, “I’m here.”

“Susan! Why are you so far away? What are you doing?” The rest of the group was silent.

“I, I accidentally let go of the rope,” Susan stammered.

Then Cathy uttered an expletive that is not allowed to be printed on this family website.

“Typical. Just typical! If anyone was going to screw up, I should have known it was going to be you! Now, take your blindfold off and get over here!”

Wow! I was floored at what I had just seen.

I didn’t have to guess anymore at what the problem was for this particular group.

Susan was humiliated. The rest of the group was embarrassed to have been present for this. I’m sure they were all glad they were blindfolded. No one spoke up.

Well, I stopped the activity and offered them a bathroom and coffee break. We needed to diffuse the situation.

After that, I moved onto other activities that offered them a greater chance of success, while still working on how to respect one another. As often as I could I directed Cathy to be more empathetic toward her employees/staff members. I realized that this entire training was about getting her to treat her staff with respect and getting her staff to speak up and not accept this kind of verbal and emotional abuse.

Perhaps your work environment isn’t quite so dysfunctional, but remember that often times, the problem we are having in our work has roots in our own behavior.  I’ve seen this proven in case after case.

In future posts, I will be writing about the various ways a team building retreat can benefit any non-profit team.

Photo by: Natalie Vella

In parts I & II of this article, I have listed six different goals that should be set at a community-wide non-profit summit meeting.  These goals so far are:

1. Make a thorough introduction of each group and person that goes beyond the casual niceties of most meetings.
2. Launch a brainstorming session that lists the problems facing your community.
3. Actively seek out opportunities for collaborative projects between groups with similar missions.
4. Look for ways that the non-profits can combine services in order to save money.
5. Thoroughly review and compare all the groups fundraising calendars to eliminate unnecessary conflict and competition.
6. Create a unified front of the non-profit community in your area, so the public knows all groups are on the same page.

Now for the conclusion of this list.

7. This leads me to the seventh goal that should come out of this summit. That is, the groups should agree to help support each other in mission-based ways. For instance, if a family is involved with one non-profit, and the director of that non-profit thinks that the family could benefit from the services of another non-profit, he should definitely make a referral to the family. Or more directly, if a client of one group has a question that would best be answered by another non-profit director, the client should be referred there.

If employees at all non-profits were to act like this, there would be a greater sense of cooperation, and people would get the help that they needed but didn’t know how to ask for. If you think that this goal should already be in practice, I agree with you, but sadly, in many cases, non-profits operate almost exclusively in their own little circle and don’t poke their noses out very far or very often.

As I mentioned in goal number six above, your community will eventually pick up on this cooperative spirit and will support your efforts at unification and cooperation. And that, overall, will benefit everyone.

8. The eighth goal I suggest you shoot for at a non-profit summit goes all the way back to the initial introduction I talked about in goal number one. And that is, after all this working together, sharing resources, and demonstrating solidarity, the leaders of the non-profits should use the summit to establish an active and dynamic networking infrastructure.

Whenever one executive director is having a problem of some professional sort, he or she should be able to pick up the phone and get the help that is needed. Ideas for new fundraisers or new projects should be bounced around back and forth like a pinball among the groups in this new “coalition”.

This kind of relationship building is free and easy to build. After all, everyone in this “group” is a non-profit professional. Even if the missions of the various organizations are different, the individual people probably all have a lot in common. And, the more the leaders of these non-profits talk to one another, the more likely they will be to want to work together on collaborative projects or to share cost-saving services.

9. I know I said I’d give you eight different goals you should have at a non-profit summit, but here’s a bonus one. Make sure that you plan to meet again, as a group, soon. Don’t let all the good will and progress you established at the first meeting fade away.

Overtime, directors find new jobs, board members resign, and challenges within the community itself change. If you want to maintain a lasting and unified front of non-profit organizations that are aware of each other, build on each other’s strengths, and work as a cohesive unit within the community, then you will have to work at it continually.

Don’t let the group leave that first meeting at the VFW hall without a commitment to meet again on a certain date in the not too distant future.

Photo by: gsqi

In the first part of this article, I recommended that you/your non-profit organization plan to host a summit meeting with as many of the non-profit groups in your community as you can gather in one place at one time. Once at this summit, I started listing goals that you should strive to accomplish. The first four of these goals were:

1. Make a thorough introduction of each group and person that goes beyond the casual niceties of most meetings.
2. Launch a brainstorming session that lists the problems facing your community.
3. Actively seek out opportunities for collaborative projects between groups with similar missions.
4. Look for ways that the non-profits can combine services in order to save money.

In the second part of this article, I will continue this list.

5. The fifth goal that I recommend this summit address is a thorough review of all fundraising calendars. Every group should be prepared to share the dates and the kind of fundraisers that they are planning to run in the upcoming year (groups should bring printed copies of their schedule to pass out).

This could catch some groups unprepared, as not every non-profit is used to thinking ahead like this, so you should make this part of the invitation. Announce that you would like to create a master community fundraising calendar so that no groups conflict with each other, any more than is absolutely unavoidable. Then, give the groups time to put their calendars together before the summit date.

At the meeting, ask everyone to pass around the copies of their calendar. From there, start discussing which dates, if any, are in conflict.

The most important things to look for in this process are clashing dates of major fundraising events between groups and a repeat of the kinds of fundraisers that are being run. It’s just poor planning if four different non-profits are holding a silent auction in the spring- trust me, I’ve seen that exact situation happen. People in the community start rolling their eyes and saying “Oh no, not again!” Business owners cringe when their front doors open, because they know it’s yet another group asking for a donation. If you don’t want this fundraising logjam to pile up in your community, you’ve got to compare notes with the other organizations.

This is also an exercise that will encourage groups to get creative. If you all decide that four silent auctions is just too much to foist upon any one town, then two or three groups will have to come up with something different. And that’s a good thing! There are so many different kinds of events or sales or other methods that can raise just as much money as a silent auction. People just have to be willing to try something new.

Of course, this could also lead to in-fighting amongst the participating non-profits. That is the least desirable outcome of a summit, so try to avoid this, if possible. Each group should be willing to compromise a little to gain a lot. If you learn of groups fighting over dates, see if you can help negotiate a settlement or just let them keep their dates. A damaged relationship is not worth it.

6. The sixth goal that should come out of this summit is one that will have to be expressed to the public at large, and that is the creation of a unified front of the non-profit community in your area. Eventually, everyone will realize that the wide array of 501(c)(3)s are working together for a greater good. They will become aware of a fundraising atmosphere in the town that is thoughtful of donors and of the other non-profits.

And, if a new non-profit group were to suddenly spring up, the leaders of that organization would have an excellent resource to plug into and they would quickly learn how not to step on other groups’ collective toes.

However, this kind of a unified front will take time, effort, and persistence to build. There will be plenty of opposition to making this kind of a move, because it require compromise and change, and many people don’t like those two words. So, the groups present at this meeting will have to agree to “sell” this notion of unity within their own organizations, and every time they do a press interview going forward, they should find a way to mention the wonderful non-profit community that exists in their town. After a while, people will pick up on this new ear of communication and cooperation.

To be continued…

Check back soon for the conclusion to this article.

Photo by: galleryquantum

I have a suggestion for anyone working at a non-profit organization in a town that has multiple non-profits. I think you should get together and schedule a non-profit summit. And you, yes you- the person reading this article- should be the one to make the phone calls to put it together.  Why you?  Well, if you don’t do it, probably no one else will.  So, take the initiative and git ‘er done.

It doesn’t have to be fancy. Call a local hotel and ask them to donate a meeting room for a day. Or if there isn’t a hotel in town, ask the VFW for a place to meet. Or whatever. Get some bottled water and ask someone to bake a couple dozen cookies.

Then all you have to do is put an agenda together that leaves lots of room for open discussion.

So, what should you accomplish at the first ever Non-profit Summit? That’s a great question. Here are eight goals that I can think of, right off the bat. I’m sure you can come up with many more, given your knowledge of your own local area.

1. First of all, the group of you (and by “group” I mean all the non-profits you can rustle up: schools, churches, scouts, sports teams, hospitals, human service agencies, animal shelters, you-name-it- anyone with a 501(c)(3) designation) should really get to know one another. Perhaps a few of you from different groups are already acquainted or maybe even friends, but I’m talking about a genuine and full introduction of all non-profit professionals in your community.

You need to get to know who the other groups are and what they do- exactly. Until you get a good picture in your mind of who the various players in your community are, you won’t be able to take full advantage of all the potential resources. So, that’s the first order of business, and it should not be rushed through.

I’ve attended meetings like this, in which representatives from different groups introduce themselves, and it’s always been very surface-y. I give my name, the company I work for, how long I’ve been there, and maybe a fun fact about myself, like who my favorite Muppet is. That’s no good.

I would suggest coming up with a specific list of items that people must mention during their introductions that really mean something. I would want to hear what each group is currently working on that they think is dynamite and what challenges have them truly stumped at the moment. This honesty could really open up some quality discussion.

2. Next, I’d want to move on to discussing issues that are currently troubling your community. With a room full of non-profit execs, I’m sure coming up with a few societal ills wouldn’t be too tough. Having this discussion will reveal what the various priorities are in the room. You will see that some groups agree on certain items, while other groups will point out problems that nobody else has experienced. One group’s concerns could spark a solution from another group. Just coming up with a master list of problems that your community is dealing with could take all day!

3. Take a minute and think of all the good things that could spring up from this conversation! There could be two groups that had never really interacted with each other before the summit. But, because they found out that they had similar concerns in the community at large, they realize that they might be able to work on some solutions together. And that’s the third goal that you should have when scheduling this get-together: developing collaborations.

There are so many upsides to non-profits working together to solve common problems, that the opportunities must be explored. (For more on this topic of collaboration, please read my articles 5 Reasons You Should Collaborate with Another Non-profit in 2011- Part I and II.) Without holding this summit, these two groups might never have had the chance to work together.

4. The fourth goal of a non-profit summit would be to have a frank and open conversation about the numerous administrative challenges each organization is facing. For instance, perhaps several of the groups present struggle with having a strong web presence, due to the high cost involved and the technical skills required to keep an active website up and going. Maybe no one group could afford to hire a web developer on its own, but if they all went in together on one talented freelancer, suddenly they have leverage to negotiate a much more affordable rate. This kind of cooperative solution can be applied to many different scenarios. I’m not talking about all the groups merging into one mega-non-profit, but there are places where costs and services can be shared for mutual benefit.

To be continued….

To read more goals for a non-profit summit in your community, check back here soon.

Photo By: MarriottSandestin