Ideas to help you ‘Change The Way You Think, Operate And Fund’
Sustainability
Posted by: Tom Suddes October 14, 2006
I see and hear and review a lot of organizations’ plans for “funding”, for a “campaign” and for “fundraising”. It seems like they’re always FOCUSED on a big word, for them: SUSTAINABILITY. For some reason, I hate that word.
“SUSTAINABILITY” is a function of IMPACT! (Not INCOME.)
It seems like every “nonprofit” in the world is looking for “ENDOWMENTS” for “SUSTAINABILITY”.
Rather, if you FOCUS on your IMPACT… and your DELIVER on your IMPACT… there will always be INVESTORS who will help you FUND YOUR VISION.
Casting and Funding a Vision (intro)
Posted by: Nick Fellers September 13, 2006
This introductory teleseminar offers a condensed version of our popular 1/2-day introductory worskhop. Change the way you FUND your Vision with these simple nine guiding principles that range from the For Impact vocabulary to the introduction of the Major Gifts Process.
This seminar is led by Nick Fellers and is 38 minutes in length.
Intro Seminar
MP3 File | Download Call Notes
Think Talent … not Background
Posted by: Tom Suddes January 18, 2006
I recently spoke with one of my favorite people in Development. She’s in the Northwest, responsible for PRINCIPLE (Major) GIFTS, and is very committed, competent, and caring … along with absolutely passionate about her “CAUSE”.
They’ve been without a Vice President for Development for a year. They’ve hired an executive search firm, placed ads in the Chronicle , etc. Can’t get anyone.
This is a great organization, and it would be a great “POSITION”.
HERE’S THE CHALLENGE:
EVERY ‘NONPROFIT’ in the world is looking for a Vice President for Development … a Director of Development … Major Gift Officers … Senior-Level Development Staff!!!
Note: I said “EVERY”. I meant that. Look at the back of any Chronicle of Philanthropy . There are 23 pages of ads with more than 150 “openings”… ALL looking for the same person(s)!!!
The SOLUTION to this CHALLENGE is NOT in trying to WOO “Senior Development People” from their current jobs …with MORE MONEY and perhaps a DIFFERENT TITLE!
You’ve got to CHANGE THE WAY YOU THINK!!!
I suggested to my friend that she is in a city with incredible BUSINESS and ENTREPRENEURIAL TALENT . They need to look at those wonderful individuals who are ready to move from ‘SUCCESS to SIGNIFICANCE’ … bringing with them great experience, a proven skill set and a great ATTITUDE!
I believe there are many, many more talented individuals with SALES, ENTREPRENEURIAL and BUSINESS EXPERIENCE available to the For Impact world … than there are available “Experienced Fundraising/Development Officers”!!!
Remember: HIRE FOR ATTITUDE . TRAIN FOR SKILL.
Don’t want to ramble here, so I’ll make some “bullet points” to support this thought.
- Ideal Profile. Create the IDEAL PROFILE for the position you’re looking for. Use a “HEAD … HEART … HAND” Model (Intelligence, Passion and Skill).*The Ideal Profile for this great For Impact Organization would be somebody who is already been touched or directly involved with the CAUSE, already LED a sales team or a company, understands vision, goals, success, etc. … someone who just “GETS IT”.
- Talent Spectrum. Look at both ends of this spectrum. In this case, they are looking at the right side for the right fit .
- Hollywood Talent Agencies. They hire for the role and the project . Every movie is a project. People come together. Do their best work. Disband.
*I think you could get incredible TALENT with the idea that someone would come in for 1,000 days (not quite 3 years) and make a HUGE IMPACT !
No disrespect intended, but most “experienced Development Officers” have experienced one year of fundraising 15 or 20 times. They also bring a huge amount of “BAGGAGE”, mostly tied to a MODEL that worked in the 1950’s and 1960’s … and never really changed in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.
BOTTOM LINE: You can’t just “THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX”.
You’ve literally got to say, “WHAT BOX?”
As a Donor I want a Relationship
Posted by: Nick Fellers November 25, 2005
Nancy Michalko, Vice President for Advancement at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, shared a wonderful talk given by a philanthropist and Chair of a local Campaign.
I thought you would enjoy these THOUGHTS from the talk.
- A GOOD STORY!
The very first thing I want to hear is a GOOD STORY. Why are you the one cause or organization I should give my time and money towards?
I hear lots of moving stories. Essentially I’m being asked to take a leap of faith that you are the most capable to make the dream come true.”
- INVOLVEMENT!
How do you plan to pull if off?
How can I be INVOLVED to make it happen?”
- STAFF THE VISION!
- INVESTING!
- PEOPLE
All that is good, but never forget it is simply PEOPLE giving to PEOPLE.”
- “CULTIVATION”
“It stands for being indirect and is mildly, to say the least, inauthentic.”
- RELATIONSHIP!
No More Special Events
Posted by: Nick Fellers September 20, 2003
With special, special thanks to Tom Peters, the man who WOWs me with almost every thought. Yes, the man is a crazy, contrarian, disruptive exclamation point! Which is why I love his thinking.
This is much longer than most of my WOW Emails … but it’s a pretty big “epiphany”
(both mine and Peters’ word). In fact, this WOW Email is itself meant to be
a “Memorable Experience“. As you read deeper, I’m
even hoping it could be a “Transforming Experience“.
I urge you to share it with your Board, your Development Committee, your “Gala”
Committee, your Golf Outing Committee, your Auction Committee. In fact, share
it with everyone and anyone who has ever had to go to a “nonprofit …
fundraising … function“!
Here goes.
NO MORE “SPECIAL EVENTS”. NONE! NADA! ZIPPO! (Not even “One
Big One”, which I used to recommend.)
WHY?
- Special Events are NOT special!
- Special Events are NOT even events! They are time-consuming, staff-burning, volunteer-abusive activities.
NO MORE SPECIAL EVENTS!!!
I always ask the question, “How many of you want to do MORE Special
Events?” I have yet to see a hand raised from thousands of participants.
Admit it. Your “Special Events” are not! They’re the ’same old, same old’ … for you and for your “customers/constituents/stakeholders/prospects/potential investors/ investors”.
NO MORE SPECIAL EVENTS.
The goal of For-Impact leaders within a World Class Development
Office is to create “Memorable Experiences“!!
I have now gone from a “function” (in the old, old, old days)
to a “Special Event” (that is not really special) … to “MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES“!
For-Impact Organizations are all about “MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCES“.
I was “there”. I just couldn’t get the right “word” I was looking for. Tom
Peters found it. I added Memorable to ensure you could
distinguish the difference between a Memorable Experience
and a “not so special, not so event”.
We spend 1,000 man/woman volunteer hours to raise $1,400!
Have you ever actually stopped and asked those “volunteers”
if they wouldn’t rather just give you the $1.40 an hour?
Have you ever actually stopped and asked your staff if they
have more productive ways to spend their time than coordinating
all these events?
“But our Special Event (Auction/Gala/Dinner/Newspaper Sale/Golf
Outing) … is DIFFERENT! We ‘raised’ almost $100,000!”
Yeah??? Do you remember your funding GOAL? ???
Again, you spent a huge amount of volunteer time and energy … AND months and
months of staff time … AND you actually “grossed” $100,000.
Simple business principle: You must deduct ALL costs and expenses from your gross dollars! Yes, that includes your staff time! When you do that, you actually “net” $35,000! Or, in other words, it cost you 65¢ to raise $1.00!!!
AND … (this is the worst)! No one who was at your event “experiences”
anything about your For-Impact Organization! They leave with their auction paddle,
a few golf balls, miscellaneous “stuff” … but no mention of WHAT you
do, WHY you do it or HOW you do it!!
ACTION: Use the “EXPERIENCE” word
to help:
- Communicate your STORY! …
- Share your VISION! …
- WOW the “audience” with what you do, why you do it and how you do it …
I know you think I’ve “lost it” (again!) “You and Tom Peters are both
whacko crazies who throw ideas at us that sound good (even exciting) but they
can’t be acted upon!” I can hear you now: “We can’t do that
… we’re a nonprofit”! “We have no budget”! “Our volunteers won’t go along with
that”! “We’ve always done it this way!” “The Committee expects it.”
Etc., etc., etc. (Think “Sacred Cows”, “whine with your cheese”, etc.)
Blow it up! Abandon it! Re-imagine it! Turn the “Sacred Cow” into hamburger!
I know many of you (and your organizations) see this move from “Function” to
“Special Event” to MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE as a HUGE
LEAP!
It’s not.
Here is the HUGE LEAP: TRANSFORMATION.
From “Special Event” to “Memorable Experience” to
a “TRANSFORMING EXPERIENCE“.
It’s just not “special”. It’s not even just “memorable”. It literally and truly
and actually TRANSFORMS the people through the “experience“.
My first real “experience” with a “Memorable Experience”
was at Notre Dame. Jim Frick and Fr. Hesburgh were so far ahead of the curve
when they began “fly-ins” to Notre Dame. The numbers were staggering: 111 people
brought in. 107 commitments. Over $100 million of commitments (on $130 million
campaign). It was about the “experience” of those who were flown in
for the weekend. Private jets (in 1975!) Mass at the Log Chapel. Dinner on top
of the library with all the lights on campus turned on. Customized tours of
areas of interest, etc., etc., etc.
If any of you have ever been to an American Cancer Society RELAY for Life Experience,
you know what a Memorable Experience is. Twenty-four
hours around a track with luminaries and survivors and families is a MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCE! It’s a moving experience! It adds to the “story”!
They still call it a “Special Event” but that’s because of the size of the bureaucracy.
They’re actually running Relay for Life as a skunk works entrepreneurial venture
separate business unit. Is it working? They raised $275 Million last year; and
hope to raise $1 Billion in the next three years.
Here are some Hewlett Packard WHAT IF’s:
WHAT IF … you are a For-Impact Organization?
WHAT IF … you have a social entrepreneur’s mentality?
WHAT IF … you use creativity, not money?
WHAT IF … you bought into this whole “Memorable Experience”
thing?
WHAT IF … you carried it beyond your ‘events’???
WHAT IF … everything you did in your World Class Development
Office was a Memorable Experience?! Your Annual Report?!
Your Mailings?! Your Leadership Society WOW Packets?!
Your Recognition Events?!
WHAT IF … you turn a simple “tour” of your facility or new
building or whatever into a MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE???
This is what the Red Cross is doing in Maine as they move from a simple “event”
in their new building to a truly Memorable Experience
… which shows off the building as the “place” where they provide
training, services, and administer disaster relief. (They’re
not only going to invite Qualified Prospects/Investors but their families,
spouses and children to see the WHAT,
WHY and HOW of the American Red Cross in their community!!!)
WHAT IF … it went beyond your Development Office??? To your
organization?
- Your reception (area or receptionist) was a Memorable Experience?
- Your introduction to your stakeholders was a Memorable Experience?
- Every “Moment of Truth” (from Jan Carlson) was
a Memorable Experience?
WHAT IF … every Board Meeting was a MEMORABLE
EXPERIENCE? Now you’ll get attendance! Now you’ll get people who
actually enjoy going to Board Meetings vs. the same old boring information
dissemination that exists at most Board Meetings.
(I speak from some personal experience here. I’m on the Board of one of the
finest For-Impact Organizations in the world. Its cause is unbelievable. Its
staff is the best! Its founder and key Board members are truly exceptional!
And … its Board Meetings are dull, boring and forgettable. Who wants to drive
45 minutes to a “Board Meeting” to “review the financials” … to “listen to Committee
Reports” … to, occasionally, “hear about our impact???” No
ONE.)
Here’s the tip/idea/lesson: If you could make every one of your Board Meetings
a truly MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE … with PARTICIPATION
… FEEDBACK … ACTUAL CONTACT with those you
serve, those who deliver, those who partner,
etc., wouldn’t that be awesome?
A Special, Special, Special Note!
| MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES require Creativity! Innovation! WOWs! Artists! Mavericks! Which means … You cannot create Memorable Experiences with the same group of volunteers who have run your not-so-Special Events for the last ten years! You cannot create Memorable Experiences if they are led by your Accounting Office … your Finance Office … your HR Department!! Think artists! Think theatre! Think young! (Give that new staff person a chance to show off their creativity!) |
If you’ve ever been touched by the Suddes Experience, you know I love to change your vocabulary … change the way you think … change how you speak and then act.
Here are some closing thoughts on old words and new words that could help you “get it”.
(But, remember the immortal words of Kevin Kelley, another great thinker/writer: “It’s much easier to KILL an organization than to change it substantially.”)
OLD
- Special Events
- A “Nice” Function (Read Gala, Golf Outing, Fundraising Dinner, etc., etc., etc.)
- A Motorcycle
- Shoes
- A Cup of Coffee
- A Costly Airplane Ride
- A Circus (with 3 Rings and some Animals)
NEW
- Memorable Experiences
- A Knock Your Socks Off … Incredible WOW … Transforming Experiences!
- The Harley Davidson Experience
- The Nike Experience
- The Starbucks Experience
- The Southwest/Jet Blue Experience
- *The Cirque Du Soleil Experience
*If you have not been to a Cirque Du Soleil “Experience” … go to one as soon as you possibly can! They’re in Vegas. Orlando. Multiple road shows around the country. You cannot attend a Cirque Du Soleil performance and not understand the word “Experience“.
I want you to think about these three things:
- Memorable Experiences as a truly transforming idea. (Change the Way you THINK!)
- Memorable Experiences as a very big deal in your For-Impact Organization … and within your World Class Development Office! (Change the Way you OPERATE!)
- Memorable Experiences as an incredible PREDISPOSITION IDEA … and a mantra for PRESENTING THE OPPORTUNITY. (Change the Way you FUND!)
This last is pretty exciting! It turns a Not-So-Special Event into a Memorable Experience … which is then used as PREDISPOSITION to PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY!
(I know you’re tired of WOW! But I truly believe this is a WOW!)
This PREDISPOSITION is a big, big, big deal! Think about your Memorable Experiences as perhaps the BEST way to predispose for the presentation of the opportunity!
*Again, that means your Memorable Experience has to be tied directly to your For-Impact Organization’s reason for existence … (as opposed to an event tied to Golf or Gala or Dinner!)
Here’s the proverbial (SIMPLE) bottom line. Create Memorable Experiences!
Make them a showcase for both your cause and your organization!
Turn them into unbelievable PRESENTATION TOOLS … perfect PREDISPOSITION … and the OPPORTUNITY!!!
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Just Added
Tom Suddes Video sharing the For Impact Point of View
