SuddesGroup

Don’t un-start your Campaign because of a Recession

December 2, 2008 | Nick Fellers

I’m on a west coast this trip, meeting with and working with several organizations. This morning, I’m having coffee with the leadership from an organization that has been prepping for a $75M campaign for three years. The org was ready to ‘launch’ and then decided to hold citing ‘the economy’. They were worried it might be ‘insensitive’ to announce a campaign.

To our friends at this organization (they know who they are): Don’t let ‘a recession’ determine your timeline for saving lives, changing lives and impacting lives…

• A campaign is a time to build and maximize relationships. This begs the question, when would you NOT want to be building and maximizing relationships? We should be funding the vision – always. Note: Get more on Funding The Vision with Tom’s Campaign book.
• You need to be out selling. If I were to put that in a softer way that might be more widely received I would say you need to be out telling the story… or even just making visits.
• 16 months. This is how long it’s taken me to schedule a visit with my best project on one particular project. 16 months of persistence, gate keepers, put-off’s, delays. We persisted because the prospect was our top prospect (we knew/believed this). When we FINALLY got the visit the prospect thanked us for our tenacity… it turned into a $2.1M commitment. If you wait until we’re out of a recession to start ‘working the list’ what happens?
• 4 months. This is about how long it takes from the time you ASK to the time a six-figure gift is closed. Note: This is of course a little arbitrary and a complete generalization. I took a composite of my own experiences plus stories from funding boot camp alums – representing orgs of every shape and size. My point is, if you need the money in April you can’t start visiting in March.
• Fine. Don’t call it a campaign. If you’re that worried about perception just don’t call it a campaign.
• December 6, 1994. This was the day Orange County declared bankruptcy. It was also the same day The Suddes Group started a successful economic development campaign in that same county. I share this and could share dozens of other stories about being out in every economic climate. I’m not just typing a bunch of empty thoughts. We’ve been out there. We are out there – now. I’m damned straight playing the credibility card on this one… now more than ever you need to be out making visits. We’ve put together an entire seminar/publication around these stories.
• If you’re worried, be authentic. Let me assure you. No one is going to throw you out of his or her office or home because you’re there on behalf of a worthy cause during “a recession”. And, I PROMISE no one is going to ask, “How dare you come to me right now?” But, if it helps, work up your response and your security blanket. “We can’t stop telling our story because of the market and quite frankly, it’s not the market that’s driving us. It’s [CANCER] [HOMELESSNESS] [EDUCATION] [HOPE] [BEAUTY (arts)].”
• Finally, remember this is about RELATIONSHIPS, not transactions. The RELATIONSHIP to your CAUSE has nothing to do with the economy.



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Trends v. Fundamentals in Nonprofit Funding

November 26, 2008 | Nick Fellers

We’re asked to talk about ‘trends in philanthropy’ or ‘trends in fundraising’ which troubles me because the social sector needs more discussion about fundamentals – not trends. If you ask me to talk about ‘trends’ I will use this as a lens to highlight the lack of fundamentals – think of it as me spinning the conversation – it’s all good.

Every business in and sector lives and breaths by fundamentals, first.

• A clear vision/direction (illustrated a clear MESSAGE).
• A clear revenue MODEL.
• A clear PLAN including an understanding of the MATH (impact math and income math) to get there (e.g. goals, levels, etc.)

As I’m writing this to compare and contrast trends and fundamentals I realize most of the trends (that get discussed) are really fads because too often they’re ‘the next big thing’ and don’t have staying power. These could include:

• Earned Income (Social Enterprise)
• Lance Armstrong’s bracelets
• 5K races
• Social Networking Funding (The Obama effect)

Maybe if they were backed on a case-by-case basis with fundamentals they would be true trends and not fads.

Example - Earned Income: I went to a Social Enterprise Alliance gathering four years ago. What I witnessed were some orgs starting earned income ventures without attention to fundamentals, no clear plan and no willingness to do the math to see that they were losing $50 on every widget they produced. On top of that, one speaker cautioned, “It’s hard enough to start a business with people that have their lives together let alone those that don’t.” Four years later 16 out of 17 orgs I interviewed abandoned the earned income stream – each for the lack the fundamentals outlined above.

The reason most small businesses fail is because they don’t have a grasp on fundamentals. Nonprofits often don’t ‘fail’ in the same sense that for-profit businesses do [running out of money]. Instead, they limp along for years longer, subsidized by passion, volunteerism and employees on the fast-track to burnout (human capital model)… this unique resource model is often a masking agent for a lack of fundamentals.

If you’re a board member, a senior staff person or development officer you can do a great service to your organization, your team and your cause by leading a discussion on the fundamentals… by leading a discussion to clarify the direction or purpose of the organization, by clarifying the model and by working through the math. This discussion is simple, not easy.

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Archived Seminar: Build Your Funding Strategy/Plan

November 12, 2008 | Nick Fellers

We had a great seminar today - lots of participation and discussion around a relationship-based funding model and how to build your funding strategy and funding plan. Some teleseminars are live only (not archived). Others are archived. We’re going to archive this for three days only then move it over to the Online Learning Center ($).

In this seminar we discuss:

• A new look at “conventional” nonprofit funding silos (annual fund, special events, direct mail, grants, major gifts, endowment, planned giving, campaigns)
• A 100 Day funding plan to generate $100,000
• The triple ask (operations, projects & endowment)
• How to build a funding plan
• Top-down focus (not bottom-up)
• The master prospect list
• Simplicity, focus and return-on-energy
• Edit: “Year-end Funding Strategy”

Read more

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Board Roles and Responsibilities

May 4, 2007 | Tom Suddes

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:

“LEADERS LEAD.” (Any questions?)Here’s what I shared with them.

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.

• BOARD RESPONSIBILITY
• BOARDING (FUNDING) ROLE
• ALTITUDE / ATTITUDE

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