October 10, 2007 | Tom Suddes
Your Board is not Responsible for Fundraising
Reader Beware: This is a rant. It’s contrarian. It goes against everything you’ve been taught, read and believe. It is also TRUE. FACT. REALITY.
YOUR BOARD IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FUNDRAISING.
There it is again. It’s out there. Get over it.
- STOP whining that your “Board doesn’t understand that they need to raise money.”STOP complaining that your “Board won’t give or get.”STOP moaning about “asking my Board for names and only getting a few back.”
Three times in the last week, with three really, really good FOR IMPACT ORGANIZATIONS, I have heard all of the above and more.
TELL IT LIKE IT IS.
I shared the following with a group of Executive Directors of a really good FIO last week. One of them looked up after I was finished and said, “Finally, someone is telling it like it is.”
*In fact, one of the best Executive Directors I have met says her Board members all buy LOTTERY TICKETS… as their funding strategy! It would be funny, if it wasn’t so sad.
- ‘TRUTH’. In Book 4 of Metaphysics, Aristotle stated, “To say of what is that it is, and what is not that it is not, is TRUE.”‘FACT’. Less philosophy, and more business-like, are the words of a friend and former mentor Jeff Bernel: “You’ve got to FACE THE BRUTAL FACTS. Anything else is delusional.” (This is backed up by a ton of other business thinkers including Jim Collins’ story about the Stockdale Paradox.)’REAL’. Our own REAL experiences with thousands of Boards and tens of thousands of Board members.
The TRUTH… the FACT… the REALITY is that:
YOUR BOARD IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FUNDRAISING!
- Your Board doesn’t WANT to ‘fundraise’.In fact, Your Board HATES to ‘fundraise’.Your Board would rather spend thousands of hours on a ‘SPECIAL EVENT’ (that’s not ‘special’, not an ‘event’ and raises $1,600…) than ask their friends for money. (Actually, they’d rather crawl through broken glass.)
And they are RIGHT!
To ignore this reality just leads to:
- FRUSTRATION – for you and your Board.STRESS – for you and your Board.UNHAPPINESS – for you and your Board.
THE SOLUTION
I’ll keep this rather SHORT… SIMPLE… and SWEET.
- IMPACT: If your Board is ‘ON BOARD’ rather than ‘ON the BOARD’, they are involved with you because of your IMPACT. They are NOT there because they want to be ‘fundraisers’.Therefore, get them INVOLVED and ENGAGED around your IMPACT. They are on your board for a reason, so engage their talents and abilities to maximize your organization’s IMPACT. Good things will follow…
- CHAMPIONS: Stay focused on your ‘CHAMPIONS’. They are the ones who will lead you to the proverbial ‘Promised Land’. Your Board, as a WHOLE (read ‘MOB’) is worthless (except maybe for rubber stamping some fiduciary gobbley gook).It’s all about the INDIVIDUALS on your Board and, particularly about the CHAMPIONS! As I love to say, “Give me three CHAMPIONS and we will exponentially outperform any ‘BOARD’… 10 fold!”
- ROLE. Every single Board that Nick and I have worked with, without exception, has a fuzzy, ill-defined ROLE vis-a-vis INCOME.We know one thing that is absolutely NOT their role… ASKING THEIR FRIENDS FOR MONEY!Here is one simple, short, sweet way to look at your Board’s (FUNDING) ROLE.
- CHAMPION… Your CAUSE and ORGANIZATION.
- INVITE… Others to be ENGAGED.
- INVEST… with a COMMENSURATE COMMITMENT.
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September 28, 2007 | Nick Fellers
Stop Cultivating and Start Communicating
“Why do we cultivate people?” As Tom always reminds me, “Cultivation is that thing you do with plants and manure.”
I really, truly don’t understand ‘cultivation’. We are in the business of saving, changing and impacting lives. If you can help someone understand your impact then it’s really not about cultivation; it’s about asking whether or not they want to help you with your cause.
I always reduce this to a simple story in order to emphasize my point. Imagine that you and your prospect were walking around a lake and came upon a drowning child. What would that prospect do? It’s likely she would jump in with full commitment to save the life of the child (so would you). I can’t imagine a scenario where you would first try to spend years getting this person interested in saving children (read: cultivation).
So… if you’re saving or changing lives then you can’t really argue that we need more cultivation. I would propose that the issue at hand is really much more about communication. That is, how you communicate your impact in such a way that is clear, concise and compelling. So clear, in fact, the prospect jumps on board (read: into the lake) to make a major investment in your vision.
If you can communicate the impact, the income will follow. If you can communicate the impact, you can ask for any amount of money on the first (sometimes second) visit. The challenge, again, is that we struggle with our message. Or, we might even have the message, but we’re not out visiting with people, one-on-one, to share the message and present the opportunity for them to help (save the child – as it were).
Your job is to communicate the impact, not spread manure. I know that’s blunt but I want to motivate you to action with this idea. You’re doing great things… so present the opportunity for someone to help… now.
People come from all over the world to the For Impact Boot Camp because they need more money. In order to do that we spend almost half of the Camp talking about HOW to COMMUNICATE the IMPACT.communication and why attendees have success when leaving. They have the ability to communicate their impact in such a way that it is as clear as saving a drowning child.
PS – If you think my example is too simplistic or unrealistic please know that this same example is what set into motion the greatest philanthropist of our era – I’ve altered the lake example somewhat but stole that from noted philosopher and ethicist Peter Singer who wrote an amazing article last year in the New York Times: What Should a Billionaire Give – and What Should You? In that article he also explains Bill Gates’ moment of clarity around impact that moved him to action.
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September 10, 2007 | Tom Suddes
The Three Big (Business) Questions
Here are three big questions for you think about this week.
- WHAT BUSINESS ARE YOU IN?
- WHY ARE YOU IN BUSINESS?
- HOW DOES YOUR BUSINESS WORK?
Nick and I have been working with a lot of wonderful organizations in the last 60 days… especially helping them with their MESSAGE, PRIORITIES and FUNDING PLAN.
It struck me this morning that IF every one of us and our organizations could answer ‘THE THREE BIG QUESTIONS‘… it would help us:
- COMMUNICATE OUR MESSAGE.
- FOCUS ON OUR PRIORITIES.
- MAKE BUSINESS DECISIONS/CHOICES.
I know that somewhere in the back of my (old) brain… these questions are driven by Peter Drucker, Jim Collins, Tom Peters and others.
However, I don’t know that I’ve ever stated them this clearly.
My CHALLENGE for you this week:
ANSWER THESE THREE BUSINESS QUESTIONS (as best you can)!!!
Three Quick Notes:
- WHAT business are you in… should be answered at the HIGHEST LEVEL!!! (Drucker’s old line about being in the ‘RAILROAD’ business or in the ‘TRANSPORTATION’ business might help.)
- WHY are you in business… is all about your VISION and your IMPACT and your RAISON D’ETRE.
- HOW does your business work… is all about your BUSINESS MODEL and your BUSINESS PLAN and your FUNDING/REVENUE STREAMS.
P.S. Collins uses three CIRCLES.
I think this also works.
Let me know if this helps CHANGE THE GAME!
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August 30, 2007 | Nick Fellers
How to be an Immediate Sales Expert
This nugget focuses on the power of one idea: authenticity.
At training camp we have everyone practice their presentations, remembering some important keys to success:
- Listening (including discovery)
- The simple process: Share the story then present the opportunity
- Authenticity
I want to highlight authenticity because if you get this one idea it makes you an immediate sales (major gifts) expert!
I’ve found so many people have call reluctance because they fear “screwing up.” If you are authentic:
- You can’t mess up – at least not in a way that you cannot recover. If you are earnestly communicating an opportunity to save lives, change lives or impact lives how can that be messed up?
If you’re authentic you can say, “Let me call a time-out and back up. I’m not sure I’m communicating [insert point] clearly.”
- You have a REAL dialogue. I’ve watched so many people give robot-canned-spiels. That’s not authentic.
- You tell your own story, not someone else’s. Authenticity allows you to make a wonderful visit your third day on the job. You can say, “This is only my third day with [org] but I’m loving what we’re doing and I’m thrilled (but also a little nervous) to be sitting with you today.”
How can someone not respect that candor? It also means you don’t have to be the founder or at the organization for 15 years to make a visit.
You will also find authenticity to be incredibly disarming to the person you’re with. It changes the dynamic of the visit from ‘eyeball-to-eyeball’ to ‘shoulder-to-shoulder.’ Think about that dynamic!
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August 11, 2007 | Nick Fellers
The Simple Idea that Changes Everything
Last week Tom and I were with a Benedictine prep school in New Jersey. We were discussing the importance of focusing on top prospects in the development plan when one of the board members asked this question:
“What type of results should we expect if we visit with each of our top 100 prospects?”
Being the ‘helpful outsider’, I gave that wonderfully ambiguous answer: “It depends.”
After thinking for a moment I was able to offer an epiphany that was a bit more insightful…
I’ve never been with an organization which made a commitment to focus on its top 10 prospects that wasn’t completely and totally transformed (in ways beyond funding results).
That’s a long-winded epiphany — I will restate: If you focus on your top 10 prospects it will transform your organization (period).
This is a simple (not easy) idea that changes everything.
The secondary epiphany is that most organizations gloss over their top 10 prospects to make selective visits with prospects 11-100 (if and when they’re making visits).
Why aren’t more organizations transformed by their top 10?
- They don’t stop to ask the question, “Who are our top 10 prospects?”
- It’s easier to focus on prospects 11-100.
- They give up on the top 10 at the first sign of uncertainty. (eg. “The prospect did not return our phone call… she must not be interested.”)
- They have not yet committed to ‘sales’ and are therefore not out making asks.
- They have ‘top of the pyramid’ call reluctance because:
- They can’t communicate the vision/mission/message.
- They haven’t been trained to sell and therefore fear messing it up.
Action:
- Make a commitment today to focus your energy on your top 10 prospects.
- Make a commitment to visit with them, share the story, and present the opportunity within the next year.
- Don’t back down from this commitment*.
- E-mail me (nick@forimpact.org) on August 13, 2008 with your transformational success story. I would be equally interested (and very surprised) to hear from you if you truly made this commitment and weren’t wildly successful in your funding efforts.
*If you have encounter any of the challenges above join us at a training camp to remove the challenges [more powerful than a plug; it's a statement of action].
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July 25, 2007 | Nick Fellers
How to Answer the Most Important Question of Every Investor
One of the most important questions of every investor asks is
“WHERE does the money go?”
Parenthetically, they’re also asking “WHY does it go there?”
In our all of our recent trainings, we have boiled down the PRESENTATION to PURPOSE… PRIORITIES… PLAN.
‘PRIORITIES’ is where we answer the question about “Where does the money go?” (Use of Funds). One of our metaphors for this answer is YOUR THREE BUCKETS. The three Buckets represent the most important priorities to be funded. These symbolic ‘buckets’ literally represent the ‘HOW’ you do ‘WHAT’ you do.
Lately, we have been illustrating the three buckets as three connected circles. Regardless of the visual or the design, the important thing is to have three things that can be simply stated to create engagement and dialogue.
Some examples might include:
- Research
- Education
- Service
- Education
- Training
- Disaster Relief
- Students
- Faculty
- Campus
Note: The students/faculty/campus example works for every school.
- People
- Programs
- Place
This last example (PEOPLE, PROGRAMS, PLACE) is a very simple way to capture almost every FOR IMPACT ORGANIZATION’S PRIORITIES.
P.S. One terrific way to see if this works is to take your Operating Budget and see if you can “fit” almost every line item into one of your Three Buckets.
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July 17, 2007 | Nick Fellers
Altitude: For visits, business and board meetings
Altitude – for your board meetings, business, presentations and, well… everything!
We want to remind you of one great framework that will change the way you run meetings, provide coaching/counsel and order your presentations. It may even change the way you do business.
(In its simplest form):
| 30,000′ | The WHY | Vision |
 |
Think ‘big picture / blue sky’. Planes fly at 30,000′. |
|
| 14,000′ | The WHAT | Strategy |
|
Think ‘top of the mountain’. | |
| 33′ | The HOW | Tactics |
| Think ‘nap of the earth’ (NOE). | ||
As this applies to your MESSAGE:
You are so immersed in your programs that you want to talk about the HOW (programs) at 33′. You need to stop! Go back up to 30,000′ and start with the WHY (your purpose, cause, message, etc.). If someone doesn’t understand or buy-in at the 30,000′ level then there is NO POINT in dropping down to 14,000′ (or 33′!).
As this applies to your PRESENTATION FLOW (on a visit):
Use this to create call flow. Start at 30,000′, then continue to 14,000′ and then 33′.
As this applies to your BUSINESS or ORGANIZATION:
WHY are you in business? WHY are you in this funding campaign? Answer this at the 30,000′ level. We challenge you to take five minutes and answer this question right now. To make a point: 50% of those reading this email cannot answer the WHY question. 98% can’t answer it clearly and concisely. If you have no clue, then drop everything and call a time-out.
“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”
- Peter Drucker
As this applies to BOARD MEETINGS:
Run these at 30,000′… occasionally dipping down to 14,000′. A board meeting should never get to 33′ (even though many run at three inches!!!).
There are literally so many WOW ideas as you start applying the altitude framework.
Let us know how this applies to you, your plan, or your organization.
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June 26, 2007 | Tom Suddes
This is a really BIG DEAL to US and to EVERYONE we’ve trained.
THE WHY
IF you’re out making VISITS and PRESENTING THE OPPORTUNITY (which all of you should be), you need a SIMPLE… POWERFUL… ENGAGING…
ENGAGEMENT TOOL!
You don’t have one now.
This is not about PowerPoints, Campaign Brochures, 3-Ring Binders, or ‘stuff’ from National’s Communication/Marketing Department.
It’s about TOOLS you can use to Present the Opportunity ‘shoulder-to-shoulder.’
As Tim Allen of Tool Time says, “The RIGHT TOOL for the RIGHT JOB.”
GREAT ENGAGEMENT TOOLS can:
- Create a terrific FRAMEWORK for the FLOW of the VISIT
- FACILITATE terrific DIALOGUE
- Create ENGAGEMENT and INTERACTION
- COMMUNICATE stats & stories, logic & magic, and more
- GRAB PEOPLE’S ATTENTION!
THE WHAT
Nick and I organize our ENGAGEMENT TOOLS around these three things:
- A NAPKIN
- A FLOW SHEET
- An ALTITUDE MAP
You can download an EXAMPLE of each one of these.
THE HOW
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May 21, 2007 | Nick Fellers
9 Guiding Principles for Sales Success
Here are my 9 GUIDING PRINCIPLES to help you ‘sell’ your VISION, your MESSAGE, your PRIORITIES…
Pretty self-explanatory, but there are some ‘notes’ at the end.
Action: You can print this out and carry with you as a REMINDER.
| GP #1 | CHANGE YOUR VOCABULARY!WORDS ARE IMPORTANT! Stop using all the typical ‘nonprofit’ industry jargon. Start using ‘sales’ terms, ‘business’ terms, ‘common sense’ terms.
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| GP #2 | THINK BIG. BUILD SIMPLE. ACT NOW!My absolute favorite Entrepreneur’s Mantra. Also works great for SALES. THINK. BUILD. ACT. BIG. SIMPLE. NOW. | ||||||
| GP #3 | THE RULE OF 3!This principle alone is worth the price of admission! ‘FORCE’ everything you do into groups of 3! Your Message Points. Your Priorities. Your Buckets. Your Sales Presentation. Trust me. It works. | ||||||
| GP #4 | NO TIMEOUTS. NO SUBSTITUTIONS. NO EXCUSES.My Notre Dame Boxers’ Mantra. Works for sales. Take responsibility for your life. Your actions. Your results. | ||||||
| GP #5 | PREPARE. PRACTICE. PERFORM. You get PREPARE and PERFORM. What we never, ever, ever do (in our world) is PRACTICE! PRACTICE YOUR PRESENTATION. Your response to objections and challenges. Your opening. Your close. | ||||||
| GP #6 | FIRST WITH THE HEART. THEN WITH THE HEAD.This is the corollary to a great line in my favorite book, THE POWER OF ONE. Zig Ziglar, über sales trainer, says it perfectly: “People buy on emotion, then justify with logic.” | ||||||
| GP #7 | DO THE MATH.You can’t ‘SELL’ unless you understand all the ‘NUMBERS’! This is about goals, self-fulfilling prophecy, and the Stockdale Paradox (Face the Brutal Facts). | ||||||
| GP #8 | ASK QUESTIONS. (ACTUALLY) LISTEN TO ANSWERS.This is, without question, the greatest ‘SALES TIP’… ever! | ||||||
| GP #9 | SHARE THE STORY. PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY.No explanation necessary. Just do it. |
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May 4, 2007 | Tom Suddes
Board Roles and Responsibilities
I just gave two sessions on COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP at the Franklin University Symposium on Leadership.
Almost every ‘COMMUNITY LEADER’ I know is engaged on some BOARD for their church, school, United Way, social service agency, whatever.
Special Note: I led off my session on COMMUNITY LEADERSHIP by simply writing this on a flip chart:
BOARD RESPONSIBILITY (read more PDF)
- THINK… and GROW RICH
- FOCUS… at APPROPRIATE ALTITUDE
- COUNSEL… based on EXPERIENCE/EXPERTISE
- Be a CHAMPION… for the CAUSE and for the CASE.
- INVITE others… to get INVOLVED & ENGAGED.
- Make a COMMENSURATE COMMITMENT…
to help FUND THE VISION.
| 30,000′ | THE WHY (Think View from an Airplane) |
VISION |
| 14,000′ | THE WHAT (Think Top of the Mountain) |
STRATEGY |
| 33′ | THE HOW (Think Nap of the Earth) |
EXECUTION |
I am always AMAZED… STUNNED… OVERWHELMED… that there does not seem to be a SINGLE ‘NOT FOR PROFIT‘ that has figured out the ROLE and RESPONSIBILITY of the BOARD!!!
I have done a considerable amount of work with colleges, large national associations, almost every Catholic secondary school in America (at least that’s what it seems like), the leaders and national models in cancer research, international education, homelessness, healthcare, museums and much more.
Every single one of these groups… along with pretty much every organization who has attended our workshops or training camps… has a HUGE PROBLEM with this whole BOARD ROLE & RESPONSIBILITY.
ACTION:
You can share this WOW E-Mail with your team, board members and other community leaders.
I’ve also provided stand-alone one-pagers to go deeper on each of these.
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About For Impact
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.
