SuddesGroup

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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New e-book: Change (the) Rules

November 7, 2008 | Nick Fellers

Yesterday, Tom was in Colorado Springs speaking to the AFP with Robbert Egger about Change. Today, I’m at AFP in NW Ohio talking about more of the same. However, I think Tom had more gumption. He put together an entire e-book on change

Change (the) Rules (DRAFT) includes all the ‘no-mores’, quotes on change and lots more vocabulary. Tom and I have both been framing our discussions around this quote from Tim Kight:

“Every Organization is Perfectly Designed to Get the Results that it’s Getting.”

Our message, this book and just about everything else we’re doing is about CHANGE, specifically the CHANGE we make to get different results…. Change RULES!

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No More Major Gift Officers

November 21, 2006 | Tom Suddes

Don’t freak out! If you ARE a Major Gift Officer … or have just HIRED a Major Gift Officer … or HAVE multiple Major Gift Officers … THAT’S GREAT!!!

What I’m strongly urging you to do is to CHANGE THEIR TITLE!!!

• It’s soooooo development-y and fundraise-y!
• It’s such an insider’s word.

We should wear a sandwich board that says “I’m a MAJOR GIFT OFFICER. I’m coming to ask you for a Major Gift. Get ready.”

Nobody OUTSIDE your organization deals with “MAJOR GIFTS”.

Nobody INSIDE even knows what they are.

As always, I challenge you with the NO MORE … but offer an alternative SOLUTION.

Change the TITLE of your “MAJOR GIFT OFFICERS” to something that includes the word RELATIONSHIP!!!

• Could be a CRO: Chief Relationship Officer.
• Could be a RRO: Regional Relationship Officer
• Could be RDOR: Regional Director of Relationships
• Could be a CRO: College Relationship Officer
• Could be just R.O.: Relationship Officer

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No More Mission Statements

January 20, 2006 | Tom Suddes

vs. CLEAR, CONCISE, COMPELLING MESSAGES!!!

THAT GRAB YOUR ATTENTION!!!

(Everyone gets 3,000 marketing ‘messages’ a day; 1,000,000 a year!)
“STAY ON MESSAGE!!!”

(One, and only? Lesson from world of politics!)

A customer can say “NO” because the offer doesn’t apply to them;

but NEVER because they didn’t UNDERSTAND IT!!!

Doug Hall, Jumpstart Your Brain

In our world, that means someone can say, “not now” or “not a priority” for legitimate reasons, but never because they didn’t UNDERSTAND the VISION/MISSION/ MESSAGE!!!

SIMPLICITY

BREVITY

CLARITY

“WE CAN’T POSSIBLY DO WHAT YOU’RE SUGGESTING, TOM. WE ARE JUST ‘TOO BIG’, ‘TOO IMPORTANT, TOO COMPLEX’.”
“OH, YEAH?”

GETTYSBURG ADDRESS (One Nation . Indivisible . with Liberty & Justice for All; 9 Words)	276 WORDS!!!
WASHINGTON’S INAUGURAL SPEECH: (Our 1st President!)	134 WORDS!!!
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE LIFE, LIBERTY & the Pursuit of HAPPINESS	3 BIG WORDS!!!
EINSTEIN’S THEORY OF RELATIVITY Energy = MC²	3 PAGES!!! 3 LETTERS
Note on Einstein: 3 PAGES!!! 3 LETTERS!!!

*It takes us 3 pages just to “introduce” our organization as a preface to a 30-page proposal or grant request!!! (for $10,000!!!)
TAGLINES . BATTLE CRIES . AHA!!!
“We’ll put a man on the moon before THE end of decade.”
“I have a dream.”
“Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”
“He’s not heavy, he’s my brother.”
“1,000 Points of Light.”
“Just Do It.”
“Like a Rock.”
“Live to Ride. Ride to Live.”
Bottom line: WHAT’S your MESSAGE???
P.S. There are 130 words since Simplicity, Brevity, Clarity.
Note: Please send me more messages, taglines, battle cries that MOVE you or your organization.

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No More Special Events

September 20, 2003 | Tom Suddes

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:

1. Communicate your STORY! …
2. Share your VISION! …
3. 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 finances” … 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:

1. Memorable Experiences as a truly transforming idea. (Change the Way you THINK!)
2. Memorable Experiences as a very big deal in your For-Impact Organization … and within your World Class Development Office! (Change the Way you OPERATE!)
3. 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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