January 26, 2010 | Tom Suddes
Read 52 RULES OF THUMB by Alan Webber over the holidays. Really good stuff. (More later.)
I was particularly struck by this powerful nugget:
If the only thing you need to solve a problem is money, then it’s not a problem.
I’ve used this quite a bit in the last few weeks with a myriad of organizations. Here’s my interpretation:
IMPACT drives INCOME. The IMPACT/SOLUTION/IDEA is the hard part. Once you demonstrate that, there is plenty of money for good or great solutions.
Here’s a great example of this Rule of Thumb that has received constant international coverage for the last few weeks… the Haiti earthquake.
The problem is really not money or aid… it’s INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, WEATHER, etc.
The problems in Haiti demand creative and innovation SOLUTIONS… not more money.
To me, this means they need smart people and bright ideas. The whole ‘disaster relief’ is really a DESIGN PROBLEM. (What do we fix first? What we do with the deceased? How do we get all of the donated supplies from the airport to people who need them? Etc.)
If it were me, I’d send the best design firm in the world, IDEO, to figure out how to make this work. The SOLUTION needs to be FAST and SIMPLE! (Note to Tim Burn and David Kelley: ‘Skinny Dip’ not a ‘Deep Dive’.)
Note: As a side note to the whole money/problem thing, Haitian money is worthless. The most valuable commodity in Haiti? Clean water.
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January 25, 2010 | Kerry Suddes
Back by popular demand – Teleseminars! Tuesday, February 2 from 1:00 – 1:45 pm Eastern Time.
For Impact teleseminars are 45 minutes of fast paced, motivational and immediately applicable nuggets to help you fund your vision.
Our intro teleseminar, Casting and Funding a Vision, is designed to share the key concepts and ideas that have helped The Suddes Group to raise more than $1Billion and coach organizations to raise $1Billion more.
Development officers, senior staff or board members seeking to build a sustainable funding model should participate.
In this seminar we share:
- A different perspective on fundraising that changes the game
- Ways to simplify your funding message — making it more attractive to potential funders
- Ways to leverage the board and champion support
- A challenge to THINK BIG! We discuss $1Million success stories
- How to generate more (qualified) prospect names
Beginning tuesday, we will offer this teleseminar once every month – Check the Events page for upcoming dates.
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January 22, 2010 | Tom Suddes
Set your politics aside. Most of the pundits agreed that one of the keys for his victory was his AUTHENTICITY. ‘Tell it like it is – drive an old pick-up truck – get out in the streets with the common man/woman.’
In our FRAMEWORK for the Presentation… that word AUTHENTICITY is in gold and it hangs above the triangle of DISCOVERY – SHARE THE STORY – PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY.
As I told the group in Ireland last week, ‘AUTHENTICITY’ is the magic elixir/secret sauce of great presentations.
You cannot mess up a visit or presentation as long as you are AUTHENTIC.
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January 12, 2010 | Tom Suddes
I’m heading off to Ireland today for some coaching and some training.
One of the ‘VISUALS’ that we did was the idea of ROE and ROI… RETURN ON ENERGY and RETURN ON INVESTMENT.
Here is the CURRENT ‘Model’ for most nonprofits and non-governmental organizations.
Here’s the way it should look… in the FUTURE!
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January 11, 2010 | Tom Suddes
This is the year. All of us are coming off a challenging, to say the least, 2009 (and 2008!). Now is the time to RE-FOCUS… RE-DESIGN… RE-ENGAGE!
Nick and I are RE-COMMITTING to provide all of our ‘followers’ (new and old) as much support, encouragement and motivation as possible in 2010.
To get you started, here’s a free copy of our revised e-pamphlet on RULES OF ENGAGEMENT. This was a big hit last year… and we hope it gives you the boost you need to make 2010 a great year of ENGAGEMENT!!!
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January 11, 2010 | Nick Fellers
Time is money – true enough… but what if you don’t know the relationship between the two? What if you’re embarking on a new major gifts effort – engaging leadership for the first time? How long will it take to reach the goal?
Sometimes it makes more sense to reverse the question.
How much money can we raise in X amount of time?
In three campaigns we’re working on right now we’ve implemented a ‘momentum round of funding’. In some ways, you could find parallels to the old ‘silent phase’ of a campaign – the idea there was that you were trying to see how much money you could raise before ‘going public’ – but typically you had a set time frame, say 6-12 months. The momentum round is a little different – not about ‘silent’ – all about momentum.
- “We’re asking each person to make a commitment by March 31, 2010.”
- Note: doesn’t have to be ‘THE’ commitment. You could keep working toward a million dollar figure while securing a $200K commitment.
- Can say to your very best, “We’ve met with some 20 prospects and have numbers on the table. I can leverage your commitment – IMMEDIATELY – with 19 others.”
- Provides a TIMEFRAME in the rationale. HUGE! Otherwise, gifts could be pending FOREVER and you don’t know what to make of them.
- Also gives you a great baseline on which to build your major gifts / campaign / funding model (goal and timeline).
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January 10, 2010 | Nick Fellers
Mailbag: If you know prospect has a number, do you ask first?
Got this one from a boot camp alum.
QUESTION: When is it appropriate to do a preemptive BIG ASK?
Going into this visit I knew [prospect] was going to offer $10k. I knew I didn’t even have to ask. In fact, I didn’t ask b/c I was concerned that if I did go for $100k he would say, “Geez, I came here to offer you $10k! Isn’t that pretty generous for a 1st-time gift?”
I don’t think it’s about trying to be preemptive vs. reactive.
I think the answer, instead, is all about nailing the funding rationale.
To make a point that will translate via the blog to all readers…
Let’s say you needed $100,000 to fully fund a project that would save 30 lives. You (for whatever reason) need that money from one funder. You meet with this funder – and know he has capacity. He agrees that this is an important project and gives you a check for $10K before you ask.
What do you do????
Say, THANK YOU. And then proceed to make the case for $100K — because you can rationalize it.
Or, let’s say you’re running a $1M funding round that needs a $100K leader. You meet with someone, he says he loves what you do and you feel he’s your absolute strongest candidate to represent that lead funding position. You need to tell him as much and rationalize to him why you would like to be so bold as to see about the $100K — because it will allow you to bring in other funders… have XYZ impact, etc.
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December 31, 2009 | Nick Fellers
Year End Exercise — 100 Memories
I posted this last year – got a lot of positive feedback so I’m posting again this New Year’s Eve.
Every year-end I make a list of 100 memories from the year. These could be events, moments, firsts, lasts, etc. etc.
It’s a great way to reflect on the year and prepare for the next.
This tradition was inspired by Michael Gelb’s How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. He says one of Leo’s brainstorming exercises was to come up with 100 big questions about life, the universe, etc. The idea is that the first 30 will be easy. The next 30 will be cool and the remaining questions will be profound, insightful and guiding. You will see telling themes emerge.
The same is true of the 100 memories list. After you get past obvious moments like weddings, travels and births the really some great insights about what you value/treasure start to emerge. Watch those themes and design your 09 to make more memories like these!
You can do this solo, with your team or family. And, it will probably take you a few hours. If you don’t have time for that, just do a top 30 – still great to capture at least those memories!
I won’t bore you with my list except to say many of my memories come from meeting cool For Impact leaders on-the-road… so many smart, passionate and inspiring people changing the world. Thanks for 2008.
I would love to hear about some of the adventures/memories/reflections from this year. We have some pretty ‘crazy’ (cool) social entrepreneurs reading the WOW. What’s on your list?
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December 30, 2009 | Nick Fellers
I’m cleaning out some old files this week winding my way down through 2009. I came across an article from Portfolio Magazine about Eddie Lampert and the restructuring he was doing with Sears and K-Mart in 2009.
There’s a great line about vision… or the lack thereof.
“In the absence of a vision, what comes out are multiple ideas being tested. On the one hand, that’s better than nothing but there comes a time when the time to test runs out, and you have to lock and load with the best answer for the company.”
What a great line. I came across a lot of organizations in 2009 that were testing ideas.
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December 9, 2009 | Tom Suddes
The World’s Greatest Philanthropist
I love Bill and Melinda Gates. This has nothing to do with Microsoft… but everything to do with their commitment to literally change the world.
Philanthropy is Greek for ‘friend of mankind’, and nobody are bigger friends of mankind than Bill and Melinda.
Jeff Raikes was named CEO of the Gates Foundation within the last year. There is a terrific article/interview in Stanford Social Innovation Review that you need to read if you’re in the Third Sector… and have any interest in fundraising, development, philanthropy and philanthropists, and funding your vision.
Special Note: Talks about how much he really likes his “Impact Planning and Improvement Group”. It’s all about the IMPACT!
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We help "nonprofits" fund their visions through training, coaching and consulting based on 25+ years of experience and $1Billion+ raised directly and $1Billion via coaching/training. For Impact is also our message, our commitment and a movement.
