Non-Profit Fundraising Blog

By Mike McCorkle, Principal

People give for different reasons than they used to and ask a lot more questions now. Loyalty giving alone is dead. One organization asks Major Donors to consider the following:

1. Worthy causes must satisfy not just your heart, but also your brain.
2. Even high-minded charity and ministry leaders need to be queried about their organizations.
3. While progressive donors often want to make strategic gifts that break new ground, charities’ greatest needs are usually general operating expenses, or overhead.
4. Saying “no” to a proposal is sometimes the best way to help a charity.
5. Donors like to support “pilot projects,” but charities are rarely good at assessing and reporting on their impact.

OneAccord NFP has responded to this changing landscape with development of the R.A.D.A.R.™ Organizational Assessment process. The R.A.D.A.R.™ Assessment helps organizations:

• Examine revenue and expense allocations and streams
• Assess attitudes and relationships within the bBoard, staff and constituency
• Conduct a details analysis within the organizational operations
• Review alignment of the mission, vision and values with the everyday culture and practices of the organization
• Anaylyze risks facing the organization both internally and externally.

5 Gift Worthiness Indicators -How Does Your Organization Measure Up?

The R.A.D.A.R.™ process is like a look “under the hood,” so to speak. It helps organizations find opportunities to make themselves more attractive to foundations and major donors by preparing them to undergo the kind of scrutiny that is detailed in the questions above. Let’s take a quick look:

1) Worthy causes must satisfy not just your heart, but also your brain.

People are no longer giving, they are investing. Investors expect a return for their investment and today’s donors want to know there is going to be used wisely, produce mission specific results and that they will be able to hear back on those results in some way. Are your systems in place to do this? Including:

• Donor Tracking: who gives what, when and why
• Gift Planning: how is the need or project understood, explained and communicated
• Gift Tracking: do you know where the gift comes in, how it is processed and where it is expensed
• Reporting: what forms and communication process is involved

2) Even high-minded charity and ministry leaders need to be queried about their organizations.

Do the Leadership Executives have the mission, vision and values embedded in their heart? Can they articulate what is happening within the organization and can they articulate where the organization needs to go and why. What do they do to help put the organization as a whole in line with the mission, vision and values? Do they live them out personally? Donors want to know the mission is more than skin deep, but has passion and perseverance behind it.

3) While progressive donors often want to make strategic gifts that break new ground, charities’ greatest needs are usually general operating expenses, or overhead. Donors want to give to projects, but your needs may be funding for operations. To make this gift you must be able to offer proof of your stewardship. Are you a member of the Evangelical Council on Financial Accountability or strive to adhere to their best practices? Do you do an annual review or audit? All of these items speak to your stewardship and use of donor revenue on a daily basis. Donors know that there are basic expenses to achieve mission, can you connect those expenses with your mission objectives?

4) Saying “no” to a proposal is sometimes the best way to help a charity.

Saying “no” probably means you are not “gift worthy” at this time. The R.A.D.A.R.™ process can help you get there. Turn a “no” into an enthusiastic “yes.” Take the initiative today, and become “gift worthy!”

5) Donors like to support “pilot projects,” but charities are rarely good at assessing and reporting on their impact.

If people are investing then they won’t throw money at something that doesn’t have a return. Communicating what you accomplish in line with your mission is the bottom line to their investment. They will cease to invest in your mission if you don’t tell them what is being achieved. A commonly taught axiom in philanthropy is that donors need to be thanked six ways for every gift received. Communicating your results is a form of thank you.

IS YOUR ORGANIZATION “GIFT WORTHY?” If you aren’t sure how your organization would fair under the above scrutiny, then contact OneAccord NFP today and find out more about our R.A.D.A.R.™ Organizational Assessment.

Mike McCorkle has served non-profit organizations for over 30 years in senior leadership roles. He specializes in helping organization with turn arounds, gift-worthiness and interim leadership.

An Interview with Mark Vincent, Acting CEO Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA)

Mark Vincent was appointed Acting CEO of the Christian Leadership Alliance (CLA) at its recent conference in Dallas earlier this year. During the annual meeting, Mark graciously agreed to an interview with John B. Savage, Co-Founder and Managing Principal of OneAccord NFP. Below he shares some of his thoughts on leadership, stewardship and his hopes for the future of CLA.

John: Mark, I want to welcome you and congratulate you on your new role as Acting CEO of Christian Leadership Alliance.

Given your long history with CLA, please share with The COMPASS readers what resonates with you most about Christians in leadership, as well as the most important aspects of the broad role ministry organizations have in leadership and stewardship.

Mark: I think the simplest thing that most of us would rush to, if we spend any time at all in the Scriptures, is a leadership that serves rather than takes or demands. That really is a starting point or an orienting point that can lead people down very different paths. If I am taking and demanding, then what I will track and mark as the achievements of a leadership career would be very different than if I’m starting with a point of serving and helping to build up other people. To me, that is the really big distinction, particularly for Christian Leadership Alliance in what it seeks to create and foster in people, whether or not they’re serving in business, in a ministry situation or in a secular nonprofit. It’s about giving one’s life for the service and well-being of others – following the example of Jesus, who has done that for all of us. So, that to me more than anything, is the thing that is most resonant and that I want to see fostered by CLA.

We could also talk about this in terms of being a steward leader, which means I am carefully guarding, protecting and managing all the assets that I would bring or have available to me, so that that service can be rendered and that the mission can be achieved for God’s glory.

John: Using that framework, how do you see the state of Christian stewardship and leadership in America today?

Mark: You can point to things that are going well or are improving and things that are very troubling, and it’s amazing to me how those can advance together side by side. It may seem like they’re contradicting each other, like there’s a push and a pull. Yet both are present. So what I find hopeful, strong and wonderful is a growing awareness of this idea of being a steward as one leads, along with a service ethic. Even when you’re inviting people to give, you’re not trying to get from them, but you’re trying to help them grow into the life of giving. So those are good things. It’s nice to see deeply committed professionals within our ministries who are willing to make changes and how they work to go more in that direction.

John: What are some of these changes?

Mark: I like the robust conversations that are out there and I’m particularly enthusiastic about the youngest generation of adults, who seem to value service and a return to community as a way of life. They seem to be defining family a little bit differently than some previous generations, but they care a lot about relationships and community and making the world better. They seem to be organizing their lives in such a way as to really try to make a difference and to live with integrity. I’m very hopeful about that.

John: You also alluded to concerns about stewardship and leadership. What are those concerns?

Mark: What I find troubling – and is of a great concern to me – is that I think a lot of us who are leading, and particularly in Christian ministries, are significantly out of touch with the average person in the pew and the average congregation. This is where almost all of the support for ministry comes from in one form or another. That’s where Christian education takes place and discipleship takes place (or fails to take place). I’m particularly thinking about those occasions when it is not taking place and you have people whose lives are not very well-integrated with the true gospel. In those cases, many are living out the echoes of church attendance, and pastors are struggling to hold any kind of significant program and community fabric together where one experiences deep relationships with people. The average church is becoming very, very production-centered rather than quality-of-life centered. That seems to further fray the whole sense of this being a way of life and that we’re in a common cause together.

John: What are some other problem areas you see in this framework?

Mark: Christian ministry organizations have benefited for so long from helping churches. But most have not invested in the health of the congregations that support them or the people that have supported them. They don’t really understand what the average congregation is living with and how deteriorated the structure is. But I also sense that ministry organizations don’t have a lot of patience with that kind of involvement. They don’t want to be troubled by the person who would be a drain on time or who is trying to figure out how to hold his or her family together while dealing with a rebellious child. Or someone trying to blend a remarried family with all the dynamics that goes with that. I just get this sense among our Christian ministries that there’s not a lot of patience or understanding or room for that hard work of strengthening the church all over again.

John: I appreciate your holistic view of the Church and the Body of Christ – and that CLA is not outside that circle but very much a part of it. In light of that view, is there a direct correlation between the integrity of the partnership of CLA ministries and churches on the one hand and healthy congregations that can result from such partnerships on the other?

Mark: Yes. We all need to work to think of what comes next? What do we have to be pushing out into the future? The thing I find myself thinking about the most is how to help ministries understand that they need to think about church relations as an investment in the congregations, rather than just a communication tool. How that can be improved and seen as a critical tool rather than a nuisance is one of the futures that we’ve got to figure out.

We have benefited from receiving interest from other people’s deposits and we need to be making deposits in new and creative and partnership-driven ways. I’m hoping that among the next wave of resources and conversations will be a real commitment to reclaim some of that kind of territory without apology.

John: Certainly, within the historical membership of the Christian Management Association and the Christian Stewardship Association (the partners who merged to form the Christian Leadership Alliance) there is abundant church leadership with which those types of conversations can be raised and be relevant. In light of that, what is your great hope for Christian ministries and what role do you think CLA might play to bring that about?

Mark: My big hope is that we really do care about sustaining long careers as leaders that leave a legacy of other people who have been developed to serve as leaders as well. The real measurement of one as a leader as opposed to a manager is that there is a corps of leaders who now exist in their wake, who’ve been given opportunities to lead. There are those leaders that they’re going to develop who we hope are willing to take the risks of losing their role (and finding a new one) so that others can find their own roles.

John: These leaders, then, must make self-sacrifice and dedicated mentorship a part of their legacy?

Mark: I go back to 2 Timothy 2:2, which isn’t just about a discipleship model for replicating one’s self as a Christian. It also is a bishop or an apostle talking to a bishop who is preparing pastors. So you’ve got this idea, which you heard from me, “Take a path along with reliable people who will pass it along as well.” So the real measurement is a legacy of people, not buildings or budgets. I need to be engaged in helping to call out, prepare, develop, equip, and get people launched in such a way that the measure of their success isn’t, “Oh, I got a big promotion. I got a larger salary in a Christian ministry organization,” but their own legacy of people that they’ve helped to raise up.

So, I think CLA’s critical role in this next significant season is in preparing the right kind of training experiences, holding up the right role models and keeping the networks alive with people who care deeply about this role. I think that is the real calling, and what I really hope to be a part of.

John: What I hear you saying is the key to sustainability of any organization or ministry is really the sustainability of its leadership, correct?

Mark:That’s right, but if we’re not developing the Church, we’re not going to be able to identify leaders. If we can’t identify leaders, then whatever we have will just slowly deteriorate. There’s plenty of evidence that we are in a deterioration mode rather than in an expansion mode. Allow me to be a harbinger of doom. It’s just that we can point to a number of things that are not sustainable. The only way we’re going to make them so, is by partnering up to hold the line against cost-cutting or expense-raising – and that kind of thing – and turn around and re-invest in what makes all the difference in the world, which is people.

John: Mark, I appreciate the timing of your thoughts as we move forward. Thanks for your vision, and for serving as the Acting CEO of Christian Leadership Alliance.

By Shelley Cochrane, OneAccord NFP Principal

I have had the distinct privilege of coaching three ministry leaders in recent months: two men and one woman, all forty-something, all in new leadership roles in their organizations. Two of the organizations are large and structured; one is a new start-up. The two men are seasoned leaders who are changing fields; the woman has not previously served in a leadership role.

At the onset of the relationship we identified the content to be covered in our conversations along with timeframes and deliverables to measure the results. What I did not account for, however, is how enriched I would be from sharing their experience along the way.

Observation #1
Two of the ministries share their new leaders with another organization. These leaders divide their time between two job descriptions and supervisors and two organizational structures and cultures. Costs are shared. Everyone is satisfied with the arrangements.

Observation #2
All three ministries see the benefit of providing a coach for the person they deem the right fit.  The person did not have the applicable expertise when he or she started but the coaching content was customized to fit each situation. Get the right person and then ramp ‘em up.

Observation #3
All three organizations value innovation and take appropriate risks in order to accomplish their mission. They would rather face some ups and downs while their new leaders ramp up than miss out on lost opportunity from holding back.

Observation #4
All three leaders display flexibility, creativity, and initiative at accomplishing their goals in fluid, ambiguous contexts. They are not the profile of a traditional worker who needs everything neatly structured and wants the perks of an outfitted office and lunchroom where the coffee is always on. These leaders are productive wherever they land on a day.

Take-aways
Productive leaders propel organizations forward.  Organizational health boils down to who your leaders are and how well they lead. If you are concerned for the future of your organization, tend to your leaders and provide what they need to succeed.

If you have the right people, commit to ramp them up. Flex the organizational structures to accommodate their productivity.

Examine your assumptions on who has potential-don’t overlook someone who would lead well after she acquires the expertise and coaching to master her role.

Consider the risk tolerance of your organization-you may be forfeiting more opportunity than you realize out of fear of incurring setbacks along the way.

As you look toward the New Year, our team at OneAccord NFP wants to encourage and equip you to embrace it with an attitude of abundance! In my own life, I often use a frame work that gives me perspective in time and space…in particular, the past, present and future. Allow me to share ten areas of focus that should make your year – and those to follow – more rich and abundant in your personal and professional life!

Clean up the Past

1. Develop and Launch a Plan to Clean up any outstanding Debt – Sometimes this may take more than one year, but if you don’t have a plan and commitment to move in that direction your organization may forever be saddled with the burden that inhibits your ability to bless others. While debt related to appreciating assets (like real estate) may work, examine the root of any symptoms of other debt that indicate problems with your organizational health.
2. Identify relational breaches at home or with staff, donors, clients, board members, neighbors or agency peers…and commit to reconcile this year! - This, too, is actually a form of “debt” or obligation that needs resolution. Throughout scripture, we are directed to make amends whenever one has something against us or we hold something against another. Nonprofit (as well as for-profit) organizations are fundamentally purposed to draw people of like values into community. The internet has given us the ability to build up or tear down that community at a faster rate than ever before! Consequently, it is critical that your organization know the state of relationships within each sector at all times. Some even refer to “social equity” as the valuation of your organizational or personal reputation within society. The ability to sustain a ministry or charity is directly related to the public’s support of the leadership and management who carry out the mission. If relationships are damaged (in any sector) that capacity is diminished. In all humility, it is helpful to simply ask those within your community if there are areas that need improvement or correction.
3. Get rid of guilt, regret or garbage. – Many of us can have a tendency to hang on to things we really should get rid of. That to which you are still holding on is holding you back. Go through your mind, your office, your emotions, your board minutes or wherever you are “storing” things that are now in the past. Don’t take them with you into 2011 if they won’t help you achieve your goals and fulfill your agency or ministry dreams.

Abide in the Present

1. Wherever you are…..Be There! - I coined this phrase some years ago to remind me to be emotionally and physically “present” whenever I was with others. In my childhood, this could have been the proverbial father who was more engaged with the newspaper than the family. This is even more important today as so many of us are connected with those present elsewhere by way of our mobile devices. Whatever is distracting you or keeping you from being fully engaged is limiting your influence and potential. When others are expecting your mind and emotions to follow your body, silence your phone and fully engage with those around you!
2. Self-Care & Self-Improvement – If you are in a leadership role, the care of your self and your staff is critical. As you venture into the New Year, create a plan to make the people in your life and organization more sustainable, competent, and professional. You have an important job to do, and we need you around for a long time to come!
3. Be more proactive and responsive than reactive – This should go without saying, for those in leadership, but many of us allow others to take the initiative. When that occurs, we can only follow with a response or reaction (which is following, not leading). Additionally, a “response” is thoughtful and appropriate while a “reaction” is typically impulsive and emotional. Whether you are leading or following, consider your professional relationships and behavior in a proactive manner as you tackle the challenges of this year.
4. Know what’s going on around you – In like manner, those in leadership (or aspiring to serve in leadership) must have access to reports and relationships that provide objective and subjective feedback or metrics about the world they influence or manage. So often, when we partner with a client organization we find that the leadership is lacking organizational or personal self-awareness. Be intentional about measuring and “knowing” how you are performing against your mission, how others view your service, and what evidence there is that you are being “successful.”

Embrace the Future

1. Build a Community of Donors – Regardless of what your business model looks like, there are people who care for the same things you do! It would be wise to bring them with you into the future because without the support of others who will invest their time, wisdom, reputation & influence, relationships, assets or dollars…there will be no future.
2. Plan to Offer Gift Planning – I began my formal nonprofit career as a Director of Gift Planning nearly 25 years ago. Even then, many were forecasting the pending and immense transfer of wealth. This wave is only growing, and it is good stewardship of your organizational future to be sure that your supporters are aware of and encouraged to include you in their estate plans. Ironically, even those donors with long histories and strong relationships with agencies and ministries don’t often include an organization in their will if the organization never suggested they do so! Make a commitment today to launch a legacy-based gift planning program to serve your donors who already consider you “family,” but haven’t been invited to name you in their plans.
3. Bring Online Upstream – There are so many ways in which you can begin to participate in the world that is increasingly internet resident. Your ministry needs an online presence because your donors are present online!

To sum it all up, the Principals of OneAccord NFP encourage you to Embrace, Cast and Execute a huge vision as we step into this next decade. So many are depending on you to bring them hope and opportunity in measures they don’t have today. Be true to your calling. Only you can do what you’re called to do in the manner in which you do it!

- John B. Savage, Co-Founder & Principal

For more on how to prepare your organization for 2011, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

Amy Karjala

I have a confession. Grant writers don’t have special powers.  There are a lot of myths surrounding successful grant writers and grants programs.  But, let’s bust that myth right now.  Successful grants programs bring in money not because a writer has the gift, but because the program is built like any other successful program – with vision, solid planning, discipline and follow-through.

Could your organization benefit from additional grant dollars?  Absolutely!  But, there are no shortcuts to the land of plenty.   Working with donors – major, foundation or otherwise – is work.   When you are ready to get started or take a fresh look at your grants program, here are five rules that, if followed, will set your program apart.

1) FOLLOW THE RULES

If you can learn only one thing about grant writing today, let it be this.  Effective grant writers aren’t magicians, they are ordinary people who have disciplined themselves to follow directions incredibly well.

Foundation program officers have stacks of requests for great projects from wonderful organizations.  They have to weed through the stack quickly, and the first proposals in the recycling bin are the ones that didn’t follow the directions.

2) EMBRACE THE NEW MATH:  YOUR ORGANIZATION ? YOUR CAUSE

I’ll be blunt.  Foundations and donors aren’t supposed to care about your organization. They should care about your CAUSE.  Too often, not-for-profit organizations forget there is even a distinction.    It isn’t a foundation’s job to make sure you meet your annual campaign goal.  It is your job to, equip them to address your shared cause together.

But what is your cause?  Your cause is the problem you are trying to solve.  Your cause answers the “why” question — the reason you do what you do.  It’s only after embracing the “why” that anyone will care about the “how,” the way your organization goes about addressing the cause.  Having trouble sorting this out?  Ask for help. Talk to people who have led other organizations you admire.   Ask them to help you understand your core cause.

I’ve reviewed hundreds of proposals and the best ones have been the ones who present their organizations the way funders see them – as one implement in a toolkit of approaches to addressing a broader cause.

3) DON’T CHASE SHINY OBJECTS

Too often, organizations seek grants when they are looking for a shortcut to meet a looming budget crisis.  Grants don’t work that way.  In these times, organizations often chase potential grant opportunities that only marginally fit their mission.  It rarely works because most funders see through it.   When it does work, the grant often becomes a burden and shifts resources from the organization’s core mission.  Grants can be enticing and flashy, but they also will define your organization.   Make sure you like what they say about you.

4) FOUNDATIONS ARE PEOPLE TOO

Two things you need to know about foundations: 1. They are founded and run by humans — people who think AND feel.  2. They are founded to accomplish their own objectives, which may or may not align with yours.

Communicate with, write to and engage foundations and their staffs like they are human beings.  And, make sure you reveal your own humanity too.  Share your organization’s challenges.  Foundations are pretty good at spotting weaknesses anyway, so being upfront about them shows you are realistic.

5) FOLLOW THE RULES

Did I already mention that?  I can’t stress this enough.  Pamela Grow, a former foundation program officer and current grant writing blogger, says the biggest problem she saw when reviewing proposals was organizations that didn’t follow the guidelines.  Don’t give funders a reason to toss your proposal.

So, successful grants programs contain the same components as any successful programs — vision, planning, discipline and follow-through. They require leadership, solid financial management and strong strategic planning.  They do not require special powers.

- Amy Karjala

For more on grant writing assessments, revenue growth, and interim executive leadership, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

Janel Curry

I serve on the planning commission for a mid-sized city. On our recent annual retreat we travelled around the city looking at the results of major decisions but also at areas of the city around which future deliberations are bound to occur. As we reviewed the past and contemplated the future I was struck by the lessons that I have learned from serving with my fellow commissioners.

If you don’t know what a planning commission does, let me give you some examples. The planning commission considers special land use requests at public hearings. These can involve approving anything from sign plans for developments, to a request to tear down a house, to an area-specific plan for a neighborhood. So what have I learned?

Aesthetics matter. For example, signs make huge impacts on business districts or neighborhoods. They either signal that this is a community that is inviting, or they signal a lack of individual and communal concern in a neighborhood—a free-for-all. The same is true with landscaping and the placement of buildings. How things look make a difference.

Safety comes with transparency. This is often counter intuitive to many people. Transparency can refer to the nature of decision-making in a public meeting, or it can refer to actual building transparency through the percent of square feet on the side of a building that are windows. Both have been found to ensure greater safety for the public. If you can see what is happening, if transparency is greater, then confidence and trust increase.

Decision-making must be tied to standards and principles. The planning commission works from the master plan of the city, the city ordinances, and also attempts to be consistent in its granting exceptions to these frameworks. Exceptions are made within the framework of meeting the overarching principles and this is transparent, and in fact, must be stated as part of the public record. In fact, random and unprincipled decision-making gets overturned by the zoning appeals board.

Set the bar high. The goal is to serve the larger public good and through doing this we must ensure that the standards for the whole are maintained. For example, one company wanted to put a cell tower up on the outside of an inner city church at the lowest possible cost, saying anything else was impossible. It would benefit the church. It would possibly provide cheap cell phone coverage for the city. But aesthetically it was not up to the standard that would be required in a wealthier neighborhood. We said “no.” They came back with a different plan that maintained the architectural integrity of the building and neighborhood. We maintained consistent and high standards for all.

Seek consensus but respect dissent. Usually we can come to a consensus, but different commissioners play different roles—some are mediators amongst us, some are the prophets. And it depends on the issue as to what role each plays. Yet, the commissioners themselves respect the roles that each chooses to play with each case. We do not always agree with each other on every decision, but we do always agree to support the work of the commission as a whole and respect each individual.

Be visionary but pragmatic. A planning commission is always making incremental decisions that push toward a larger master plan for the city. They could decide that there are no exceptions and leave no flexibility in moving toward that vision, or they could be pragmatic and see the vision as unattainable. These extremes lead to either public frustration or neighborhood decline. In one instance someone came to the commission for permission to add onto a building in the inner city. The commission could have given permission with the stipulation that he brought the entire building up to the transparency code, putting in more windows. But the neighborhood is in a “not yet” state. It has potential for improvement but it is not quite there. Additional windows at this point would only lead to more broken windows. The commission had to maintain the vision of what this neighborhood will be in the future, but hold this in tension with the realities of today, supporting someone who has maintained a commitment to stay in the difficult neighborhood.

How things look make a difference. Safety comes from transparency. Decision-making must be tied to principles and standards that are public. The bar should be set high everywhere for everyone. The culture should support consensus-building, which includes respecting dissent. We must be visionary but pragmatic, holding the realities of the present in tension with the vision for the future. These are the lessons learned from being on the planning commission.

- Jan Curry

For more on keys to organizational success, revenue growth, and interim executive leadership, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

Scott Rodin

As nonprofit organizations face growing challenges in raising resources, securing board members and communicating the uniqueness of their mission, there is a growing interest in the opportunities available through collaboration and cooperation with one another. More than perhaps any time in the history of the not-for-profit sector in our country, there is an openness to explore the possibility of mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances.

The Not-For-Profit Practice of OneAccord specializes in helping organizations investigate these options and, when appropriate, to walk through step-by-step the complex process of completing a merger, acquisition or strategic alliance. Here is a brief primer on the process.

Step one, choose the appropriate structure and do so for the right reasons. Of the three options listed above, every organization will need to decide which will best serve the furthering of their mission. An acquisition allows stronger organizations to bring smaller organizations in under their 501(c) 3 umbrella. A merger produces a new organization that emerges out of the merging of two existing organizations, and a strategic alliance allows two nonprofits to work together in substantive ways without either having to set aside their identity or legal structure. All three have their unique purposes and your organization will need to choose which one best serves the intention and goals of a collaborative effort.

Step two, organizational preparation. In this step we help nonprofits walk through five activities that will best prepare them for the significant work that lies ahead. These are: prayerful discernment, strategic planning, partner identification, selection of the process to be followed, and the initial approach to the potential partner. When these steps are followed carefully an organization is ready to begin the serious work of completing a collaborative effort with the selected partner.

Step three, the OneAccord DISCERN Process. Through our experience of working with nonprofits in these collaborative efforts, we have designed a seven step process. They are: Discovery, Issue Identification, Stakeholder Involvement, Communication, Evaluation, Resolve and Negotiation. Underneath each one of these seven steps is a carefully designed process that will help your organization move carefully and prayerfully as it discerns and evaluates the risks and benefits of a collaborative effort at every point.

The end result is a new relationship that has been carefully thought through, well planned, skillfully executed and prayerfully implemented. Taking your organization through a merger, acquisition or strategic alliance is one of the most demanding efforts ever to be undertaken by an organization. However, the end result can position you to fulfill your mission in greater ways than you may have ever imagined. If you’re interested in exploring a merger, acquisition or strategic alliance, OneAccord stands ready to guide you through from initial interest to final result.

- R. Scott Rodin, Managing Principal

For more on mergers, interim executive leadership, and revenue growth, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

Michael Liimatta

How do we measure success at rescue mission? (Part 1)

When I visit rescue missions, I frequently ask, “How is your mission doing?” I’m usually told sure things as how many meals they served, how many nights of lodging they provided, how many food boxes were given away, etc. Sometimes I’m told about how the budget was met or exceeded, how many the staff has grown and about expanded their facilities. That’s when I ask what they believe is the purpose of their mission. The most common response is evangelism and discipleship. So, I ask, “How many people have made decisions for Christ this year at your mission?” I’ve found some missions that did not even keep a record of this! And, I ask the hardest question of all, “How many of them have been sober for at least a year, involved with church and living responsible Christian lives?” Very few mission staff members and director have been able to give me a definitive answer.

Today, missions are engaged in an increasingly wide array of programs. Yet, I contend that we must never lose sight of our ultimate reason for being – to fulfill the Great Commission. (Matt. 28:19). Preaching the Gospel is what differentiates missions from other social agencies, especially from others who work with the homeless. I believe everything we do at the rescue mission should somehow tie directly into our main objectives of evangelism and discipleship. This means looking at each activity and asking, “How is this program helping people to know Christ and to grow as His disciple?”

Peter Drucker encourages nonprofit organizations to adopt a “results-oriented mind set”. To him, success is defined by how well we accomplish our stated purpose for existing, which, ideally, is embodied in an organization’s Mission Statement. To measure effectiveness, we must develop a simple list of identifiable results that show us how well we’re doing in fulfilling our organization’s reason for being. This might be a good time to revisit your organization’s Mission Statement. How well are you doing in fulfilling it? Have you defined measurable results that show how your purpose is being fulfilled? Do you have records of actual results that give you a factual basis for evaluating your success?

Someone once challenged me by saying, “How can you put a success ratio on discipleship?” My answer, of course was, “If what you’re doing is real and you’re meeting real needs, it should be evidenced by changed lives.” People who love the Lord who are sober and growing. And that’s what it’s all about. And that’s always got to be our focus. Here’s a few suggested areas for to measure in our follow-up efforts:

1. Continuous sobriety after program completion

2. Employment and employability

3. Christian involvement

4. Improved personal and family relations

Historically rescue missions have not been required to document the results of their programs. Unlike secular agencies, they aren’t required to develop such reports as a condition for funding. Additionally, missions have not viewed follow-up on program graduates as all that important, assuming that if they make it through the programs, they will do just fine when they leave.

Still, there are a few very good reasons for maintaining such records.

A. Program Evaluation – We should never assume that we have somehow developed the ideal program. Our perspective ought to be one of on-going evaluation, leading to constant upgrading. The homeless population we serve is changing. Those we help are younger than ever and they have a host of problems that we didn’t see just ten or fifteen years ago. If we are to truly meet their needs, we must understand them. Understanding how our graduates do after they leave our facilities will help us to improve our programs.

B. Show continuing concern for graduates - A follow-up contact from someone at the mission can be a real opportunity to encourage graduates, especially for those who may be struggling.

C. Substantiate fund-raising claims - There is a phenomenon throughout the country right that’s going to affect all of us, I think. It’s being called “compassion fatigue.” We’ve seen is bigger metro areas like New York and Los Angeles. But, it is becoming more evident in smaller cities, as well. Throughout America people are saying, “OK, now that we’ve spent all these millions of dollars on the homeless, what have we got to show for it? Homelessness is on the increase.” The best way to counter this is to show that the homeless really are changing at our rescue missions. While many have begun saying this, it is important to back up these claims with real numbers.

D. Charitable Choice – With sweeping changes in the welfare system, it appears that Christian organizations will be eligible to receive government funds without having to compromise on their spiritual emphasis. If your mission does choose to pursue some of this money, having good records that substantiate the successful results of your efforts will improve you chances of getting some.

E. Witness to the world - Does Christ really change lives? I believe He does! You can’t survive very long as a mission worker if you don’t. Having concrete numbers to substantiate this fact is a genuine testimony of God at work in our fallen world.

- Michael Liimatta, Director of Education, International Union of Gospel Missions

For more information on fundraising for your organization, interim executive leadership, and strategic planning, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

Janel Curry

My daughter recently had to write an essay on the movie, The Truman Show, for a religion class and use the movie as a platform to reflect on views on God’s sovereignty. We ended up have an extensive discussion on the two different traditions—either God is a strong, controlling boss of the Calvinist variety or God is the absent watchmaker of the Deist tradition. Haven’t we all had CEOs who are one or the other? Alternatives do exist.

Studies show that actual on-the-job effectiveness measures are correlated to what is called transformational leadership.  These studies identify transformational leadership as leadership that focuses on idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (focus on where we are going–the ideal) in contrast to a leadership style which focuses on policing boundaries and exceptions and misbehavior (corrective focus). Transformational leaders Inspire to ensure that all are pulling in the same direction, Enable and Empower people to complete their tasks by providing resources and other support, Model flexibility in envisioning the various routes possible to reach the goal, Challenge processes, not people, and Celebrate successes. When organizations are led by transformational leaders, all are changed in the communal, interactive process. And vision, mission, organizational capacity, and future leadership are built along the route!

What leadership style does you organization support? Is it one of tight control or alternatively, one that exhibits an absent, disengaged leadership style? Or does your organization have a leadership culture where authority is used to ensure process, direction, empowerment, creativity? Which type of organization would you want to join?

- Jan Curry

For more on transformational leadership, revenue growth, and interim executive leadership, please visit:

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP

I’ve been observing and learning from relationship mistakes in fund raising for 30 years, and there is usually a good intention behind every mistake that is made.

Often mistakes are made by well-motivated professionals who want to see the mission of their organization advanced. Many of these could be avoided by heeding the counsel of a seasoned coach, mentor, or teacher. I have had some of the best counsel a professional could dream of, and I will share a little of what I have seen and experienced with you.

It is my hope that by recognizing and steering clear of these common oversights, you may be able to be more effective in wooing financial partners to help expand the reach of your mission and vision.

Mistake #1— Neglecting to help the CEO and board members be successful in their role as fund raisers.

Remedy—Be proactive in helping them “win” with your supporters.

With so many priorities demanding their attention, the CEO and board members will welcome your setting aside time and energy to focus on this critical aspect for them.

There are some relationships only the CEO or a board member can cultivate effectively. Identify and collaborate on who they should stay in touch with, and then systematically prompt those calls and visits.

The result will be stronger relationships with donors—ultimately generating more resources for important ministry projects.

Mistake #2—Talking about facts and figures rather than reporting on the lives that are different as a result of your partnership with the giver.

Remedy—Focus more on stories about changed lives and less on details of programs or events.

Frequently asking “So what?” as you write newsletters and reports will help you and your team stay centered what your story needs to say to communicate the impact that the giver has made with their partnership.

The most compelling “so what’s” are related to lives that are touched because someone from your organization had an influence. Those may be hard to describe, but the impact of that kind of report makes it worthwhile to spend the extra time.

It is easier to write about facts and figures. It takes more thinking and more time to research the stories that describe significant changes that are taking place in people’s lives.

Mistake #3—Failing to have regular contact with your financial partners and supporters.

Remedy—pick up the telephone to call a giver quickly and often to say “thank you” or just to see how things are going.

It is so easy to put this off: I’ll do that tomorrow; I’ll put it on my “to do” list; The newsletter is coming out soon; They got a thank you in their receipt; They know “Bob,” and he will tell them thank you; I have pressing deadlines today.

This really doesn’t take that much time and these are such satisfying calls to make—for you as well as for the giver! A call is second in warmth only to a personal visit. If you make this a part of each day, you and your supporters will be happier. I can guarantee it.

Mistake #4—Not taking someone with you when you visit a donor.

Remedy—Don’t go by yourself. You know you can have a meaningful conversation with most people interested in your cause. But when you take someone along whose life is different today because of your organization’s outreach, or when you take a staff member who is on the front lines and can give an eyewitness account to the difference your programs are making, it is memorable and satisfying for the giver.

It takes more time, effort, and, sometimes more money to schedule a three-way appointment. It is worth it.

In other words, put the relationship with the giver at the center of all you do. This may seem pretty basic, but it is often disregarded.

Cultivating a culture of the basics provides a firm foundation for your fund raising dreams and aspirations.

Other often-overlooked basics include: developing a sound internal philosophy of fund raising, planning a well-rounded strategy, integrating your message across all channels, and getting the right people on your team. We’ll talk about these in future newsletters.

The other principals at OneAccord’s Not-For-Profit Practice and I know firsthand that the life-changing work our organizations accomplish depends on our effectiveness in recognizing and avoiding common mistakes.

We’d love to help you avoid as many as possible. The best guides are those who have been there before. Drop me an email and let’s chat.

–Denise.Kuhn@OneAccordPartners.com

- Denise Kuhn, CFRE

www.OneAccordPartners.com/NFP