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Nonprofit Board Governance NYC Style

2009-07-15T20:31:00.000-07:00

Nonprofit Board Governance NYC Style

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

In a recent article in The New York Times, the New York Philharmonic noted that banker Gary W. Parr, 52 and deputy chairman of Lazard, will be the next chairman. He succeeds Paul B. Guenther who became chair in 1996 and indicated he was seeking to retire from this position several years ago.

As you know, I’m not a believer in board term limits, but I’m not quite sure how the New York City arts world works in terms of board chairs duration and responsibilities. 13 years is a long-time to be volunteer leader of an organization.

And yet, one of my hospital clients in the Los Angeles area has had the same board chair for 25 years.

If your board chair likes the job, is giving generously, and raising money for your organization, then I guess they can stay. If you want great major gifts, keep your best board members . . . forever.

What patterns have you seen? I welcome your comments.

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 2 of a series)

2009-07-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (Part 2 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

This article is part of an ongoing series of excerpts and insights from the recent biography The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business Life by Alice Schroeder.

One of the other business and philanthropic legends of Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.A. is Peter Kiewit. His construction firm, Kiewit Construction is still highly respected throughout the world.

Warren Buffett noted that Peter Kiewit: “. . . it may well be the most profitable business of its type on the country, an achievement possible only because Kiewit was able to transmit, throughout an organization of thousands of employees, an unremitting insistence on excellence and efficiency. Kiewit was overwhelming a producer, not a consumer. Profits went to build the capacity of the organization, not to provide opulence to the owner.”

With assets of over $400 million, the Kiewit Foundation is the second largest charitable foundation in the state of Nebraska.

Mr. Buffett’s view that owners should reinvest in their companies not their salaries or offices should make some nonprofit CEOs pause. Too often, high salaries, fancy large offices, and free-spending contradict a nonprofit organization’s need for contributions from donors.

If Mr. Buffet were to tour your offices next week, what would he find?

Mega Gift Donors -- Trying to Understand Their Values

2009-07-12T18:00:00.000-07:00

Mega Gift Donors -- Trying to Understand Their Values

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

I've never met a billionaire or asked one for a major gift. So, every time I read an article about one of them in a philanthropy context I'm eager to read on.

As some of you know, KT the youngest of our 4 children, is a dancer in New York City with the Rockettes. She's getting ready to start her third season. We get to NYC a couple of times a year and I read The New York Times every day to keep up on The City.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is a very interesting character. He's getting ready to run for a third term as major of New York City. For someone of his wealth, his political work is highly commendable.

I new he was wealthy and I knew he was generous, but I had no idea.

In a recent article in The New York Times, it noted that Mayor Bloomberg had just reported an estimate of his last year's taxes with income and expenses in rough categories. It noted that his networth was $16 billion and that he had lost about $10 million last year in the stock market. That is an amazingly low number compared to most investors last year.

The story went on to say he gave $235 million to 1,221 organizations in 2008. This topped his giving in 2007 of $205 million. Wow. In running for office, he doesn't even mention this generosity.

To provide context. The 2008 amount is 1.5% of his networth. Not huge giving, but remember that networth and liquidity are two different issues. He owns a lot of stock in his company which he cannot spend. So of his liquid assets, this may be pretty spectacular giving. I wish I knew more about his motives and values.

On behalf of my adopted second city, New York. Thanks Mayor.

Critical Role of Physicians in Fundraising (part of the healthcare series)

2009-07-09T18:13:00.000-07:00

Critical Role of Physicians in Fundraising (part of the healthcare series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

One of the most highly respected fundraisers in healthcare is Claudia Looney, senior vice president for development at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. She recently co-authored an article, “The Critical Role of Physicians in Fund Development” in AHP Journal (Spring 2009), with Walter W. Noce, Jr., retired vice chairman, president & CEO of Childrens Hospital LA. They will be co-presenting this topic at the AHP International Conference in San Francisco, September 2009.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles has raised more than $750 million since 2000. “Campaign leaders need to create an environment where employees and physicians realize, and actively support, the notion that philanthropy is the lifeblood of the institution.”

Looney and Noce restate an item I stress in healthcare fundraising – for physicians it’s not so much asking for money as being open to working with the fundraising staff to cultivate donors through formal presentations, facility tours, and informal discussions. They also tackle an important fundraising planning issue.

“At Childrens Los Angeles, we used multiple concurrent campaigns built around strong medical programs. Before we committed to a campaign, each of these programs had to develop a business plan. This effort was physician led. We asked each medical area what their needs would be over the next 5 years; how they would spend the money, if raised; and what the benefits would be to patients and the community. If the physician leaders couldn’t develop a credible case statement, we would not commit to support a mini-campaign.”

“Open ended, undocumented requests for money are simply not acceptable. But if physician leaders can clearly articulate goals, and the resources required to achieve them, the organization can confidently commit resources to try to raise philanthropic dollars.”

“All the mini-campaigns we ran concurrently at Childrens Los Angeles had physician co-chairs. These campaigns needed a physician spokesperson for the community, as well as a peer leader who would ask colleagues to get involved.”

“Physicians have the credibility to explain how patients will benefit from a new building, a new piece of diagnostic equipment, or a new specialist being recruited.”

“It is important to continually point out to all physicians that their engagement is the driver. Physicians who are active in fundraising activities generate more donor prospects.”

“If a physician’s program receives significant donations, they need to participate in developing the stewardship report.”

“At Childrens Los Angeles, like most institutions, we never asked physicians to directly request a gift from one of their patients, although some did so voluntarily. We did ask them to be alert for grateful patients expressing an interest in helping.”

Congratulations Claudia for your great fundraising work on behalf of the children of the LA Basin. You’re a real pro.

Structural Foundation Proposals: Why they are important to major gift fundraising

2009-07-08T18:06:00.000-07:00

Structural Foundation Proposals: Why they are important to major gift fundraising

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

A reader asked what I meant by a structural foundation proposal. It's a great question.

Many foundation proposals go to family foundations and therefore need to be very brief. Other philanthropic foundations (defined as highly staffed foundations with a rigorous, formal review process) require an in-depth proposal, a structural proposal, that covers all aspects of the project and your fundraising for it.

A U.S. national foundation that puts you through this process is the Kresge Foundation of Michigan. In the American Pacific Northwest, the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, is one of the toughest and most thorough. Serving Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana the Murdock Trust has a long and storied history of kind, but tough-minded trustees and program officers.

After a letter of inquiry (LOI) to Murdock, a full proposal can take up to 20 pages to complete. Staff reviews your proposal over 6 to 9 months and will come for a site visit of several hours to interview team members involved with the project. Follow up questions and clarifications are all part of their due diligence.

I've had another foundation give a client a million dollars for a project then go to the Murdock Trust with an updated proposal only to find we had to do 15 drafts to get all of the details in place. After two sets of written questions with 10 pages responses each, we finally had our act together and eventually got funding.

While the Murdock Trust asks for 40% of the project to be funded before approaching them (and the Kresge Foundation 65%, although this may be changing now with new leadership), I always encourage my client to start drafting these "structural" proposals early in the campaign as they force the organization to be thorough. These proposals can be used for donors who want the whole story and as a template for shorter, less rigorous foundation proposals.

Let me know if this answers the question.

Philanthropic Fundraising from Investor Types

2009-07-07T08:48:00.000-07:00

Philanthropic Fundraising from Investor Types

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Having worked on the West Coast of the United States for more than 20 years now, I’ve had the opportunity to work with many venture capital investors, angel investors, and mid-cap investors. In presenting a major gifts proposition to them there are unique challenges.

What I’ve found that works well is:

12 to 20 slide PowerPoint outline presentation with pictures, charts, graphs to be able to engage the potential investor (major gift donor) in our organization, its impact, its challenges, and its return on investment for society.

An everything you might want to know set of documents that enable a serious investor “to go deep.” Structural proposals to your toughest area foundation work well as a basis for this document.

A comprehensive internal team of both management and all employees and staff so when the investor does their due diligence by wandering around (either on person or on the phone) they are getting a consistent, unified response from all parties within your organization no matter what the job level.

Be respectful but be ready to push back if unreasonable questions are asked. This means you have to have done your homework. A strong institutional and project plan are critical to knowing what you know and what you don’t know. It’s okay to say “we haven’t thought about that yet.” Or, “I don’t know, that’s a great question.” Sometimes these investors want to see how tough you are.

A recent article in The New York Times “In Pitching to Angel Investors, Preparation Outweighs Zeal” by Brent Bowers brought back some of these concepts. Mr. Bowers noted:

“Don’t get carried away when you pitch your product as your investors may lose interest.”

“One misstep – like stammering a vague reply instead of saying you do not know the answer, can also kill the deal.”

There are an estimated 260,500 active angel investors in the United States according to Jeffrey Sohl, director of the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. In 2008 $19 billion was invested in 55,000 ventures; in 2007 $26 billion. Mr. Sohl noted:

“With time at a premium, it is imperative for entrepreneurs to come to both meetings (an informal session to see if an idea has promise and then a PowerPoint presentation followed by a Q&A) with solid arguments.”

At a Babson College conference Richard Sudek, an angel investor and assistant professor of entrepreneurship at Chapman University in Orange, California stated: “We like you to show excitement but don’t force it. Being authentic is much more important. There is such a thing as quiet passion. Anything that comes across as slickness is a negative. Angels put a high value on trustworthiness. If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so, and promise to get back to them. Don’t fake it. In fact, acknowledging gaps in your knowledge and other weakness, and letting angels know you need their help, can add to your credibility.”

Advice from three research studies presented at the Babson College entrepreneurship conference include.

Memorize an “elevator pitch” of 90 seconds or less
Consider hiring a speech coach
Attend pitching contests
Be upbeat but realistic in your revenue projections showing optimistic, middle-ground, and pessimistic projections
Don’t ask people for money unless you have invested your own
The business plan should be precise (look at the software on Angelsoft.net)
If you get a “no,” ask for suggestions on where else to make a presentation, get referrals of other investors to see

I love these articles that have nothing to do with major gift fundraising . . . and everything to do with it.

U.S. Giving to Nonprofits in 2008

2009-07-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

U.S. Giving to Nonprofits in 2008

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

The Giving U.S.A. Foundation reported their yearly research results in June 2009 for contributions in calendar 2008. This work is done through the University of Indiana Center on Philanthropy. Giving research has been done for nearly 60 years. 2008 was only the second time a decline in giving was measured.

As the chart above shows, an estimated $308 Billion was contributed with a third of that money going to religious causes from individual donors.

An ongoing trend is the great proportion of dollars contributed by individuals through direct giving (75%) and bequests (7%). With 13% coming from foundations, separate research by The Foundation Center shows that half of foundation funders are still alive and three-quarters of founders and their families members are still around – all individuals that you could talk to about a gift for your nonprofit organization.

Corporate giving continues its downward trend standing at 5%. This proportion as displayed on the chart above is critical information that must be understood by nonprofit board members and staff leaders. The small value of corporate giving is counter intuitive as most corporate giving tends to be noisy and expanded through non-charitable sponsorships and marketing support of nonprofit organizations. Individual giving “feels” smaller because 50% comes through small donations from people making less than $100,000; and many large donors wish their giving to be either anonymous or low-key.

A year ago Giving U.S.A. announced giving of $306 Billion. But, as usual they keep collecting data and announced an adjusted 2007 number of $314 Billion (an adjustment rate of about 2%). Thus, the newly announced total is about 2% lower than last year’s giving.

Most of this decline came in the 4th quarter of 2008 and this trend can be expected to continue in 2009.

What will we see a year from now? Another 5% to 10% decline in giving could easily happen again. Many corporations have cut back this year and foundations are challenged because of the asset drop many experienced. While the market is coming back, foundations will be far more conservative as many learned that multi-year future grant commitments have put many into a “giving glacier.” It’s moving, but extremely slowly and to the outside world appears to be frozen.

Even with a 10% drop, there will still be nearly $300 Billion contributed to nonprofits in 2009 so keep connecting with donors. Ask for a major gift that fits their econonic situation to help your nonprofit achieve its mission.

Understanding Short Term Philanthropic Foundations

2009-07-06T07:54:00.000-07:00

Understanding Short Term Philanthropic Foundations

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

When major gifts officers seek mega gifts now and/or legacy gifts through a planned estate gift, a key question of the donor is the importance of perpetuity.

Everyone assumes that all donors want an endowment fund, or a personal foundation to last forever, but for many donors this long-term vision isn't the right one. They want impact now, in the next 10 years, not small doses of help over centuries.

The Beldon Fund, is a good example of this donor viewpoint. An article in The New York Times noted that this fund, started by John Hunter of the Steelcase office furniture family, recently closed its doors after spending its $100 million of assets. The article noted a similar pattern for the now closed John M. Olin Foundation and for a current active foundation, the Atlantic Philanthropies.

To learn more about Mr. Hunter's motivations in running a short-term philanthropic foundation, check out the Beldon Fund website by clicking here.

"When I decided in 1998 to spend the Beldon Fund’s $100 million endowment in ten years, the goal was to use these resources to help build public and policy support for environmental protection. The decision reflected my belief in the urgency of this mission and a strong sense that making large investments over a shorter period of time would be more effective than making smaller grants over many years. Looking back on the Beldon Fund’s 10-year arc, and with the benefit of three external evaluations conducted in our last year, I can see that spending out and focusing on policy change had a synergistic effect. By spending out, Beldon was able to concentrate the resources necessary to strengthen environmental advocacy. And by focusing on public policy, the foundation’s programs were able to achieve some concrete results that will last long after our exit. As the Beldon Fund prepares to close its doors, I thought it might be helpful to share with others what we learned from our spend-out experience."

Also see Mr. Hunter's advice to other foundation founders at “Giving While Living: The Beldon Fund Spend-Out Story” on the Beldon Fund website.

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (part 1 of a series)

2009-06-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

Mega Donor Values Warren Buffett (part 1 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Warren Buffett became famous a couple of years ago by making the decision to give more than $30 Billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Rather than funding a personal foundation, which he done for his late wife and for each of his children, he decided through his close and long-term friendship and respect for the Gates that he would trust them to make good decisions in giving away his money. His contribution really made a splash as the second wealthiest person in the world gave his money to the wealthiest person in the world.

The full story (and more) is presented in the recent book The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the Business Life by Alice Schroeder.

While a long, slogging read this is a must-do book for major gifts officers. I’ve gotten to know many people with significant wealth. But, as one of my donors who had a networth in the $100 million to $250 million range, said about somebody like Warren Buffett: "Now, that's real money.”

I’m not sure I’ll ever have the chance to get a chance to know a billionaire of Warren Buffett’s caliber, so this book was really important. It also gives excellent insights on Bill Gates and Mr. Buffett’s long-time partner and sidekick, Charlie Munger.

More to come

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas (part 3 of a series)

2009-06-18T06:17:00.000-07:00

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas (part 3 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

More from The New York Times article on Jim Collins. Good to Great and the Social Sectors took him the better part of two years to write and sold 400,000 copies. His new book, How the Mighty Have Fallen is just out.

Here’s a great tip on case development. As you know I’m a real maven on getting reactions from people on how to make the case better. Look what Jim Collins does:

“He gets feedback from a large circle of people. To make sure they don’t hold back, he refers to them as his ‘critical readers,’ and types in large letters atop the manuscript, ‘Bad First Draft.’ ‘That gives them the freedom to say. Jim already knows it’s bad, so let me tell him how bad.’”

Another case writing tip: “Collins has a deft touch with metaphors the enliven what might otherwise read like dry case studies – flywheels, hedgehogs, the bus.”

What has this to do with major gift fundraising? Nothing of course . . . or maybe everything. What have you read lately that holds implications for us? Let me know.

This article was the third of a series. For articles 2 and 3, see below:

Cultural Differences Impact on Major Gift Fundraising

2009-06-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Cultural Differences Impact on Major Gift Fundraising

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

As the United States becomes more multi-culturally diverse and as my weblog readers become more international, I am trying to learn more about cultural differences in giving.

I go to Montreal, Canada shortly to present a couple of sessions at AHP Canada. I realize I am a real neophyte when it comes to many international and cultural issues around major gift fundraising. So, I'm trying to read articles and talk to as many people as I can.

Here are a few things I learned recently from an article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy (6/4/09) by Donald Kirkwood “International Fund Raising: Lessons Learned.”

“All giving is local – raising money for a new building on a campus will be infinitely harder than raising scholarship support for students from the prospective donor’s own country”

This is good advice as you look for connections to fundraising in America from donors in other countries. It also reminded me of a good friend and major gift donor in Southern California who is Persia (Iran). He’s been in the United States for more than 30 years, but cares deeply about educational projects in Iran. I would think asking him to set up a scholarship program at a university here for students from Iran or from an Iranian background would be very attractive to him.

“Donors often want to be anonymous – in other cultures donors are more likely to request complete and absolute anonymity. . . . wealthy donors may fear kidnapping or personal harm to themselves or their family members.” For some cultures talking about money and wealth is uncomfortable “if you have the misfortune to be financially successful, it is bad manners to draw attention to the fact.”

I can't relate to the security issues mentioned, but I know from my son's Brazilian girlfriend that wealthy people in Sao Paula have concerns. I am certainly aware of the discomfort around appearing wealthy in the United States. I do a lot of fundraising in smaller communities and rural areas in the Western United States and I see this issue a lot. Many times we have partially overcome this issue by asking donors if they would be willing to be listed in a major donors category on the donor wall at $25,000 or more even though the donor has given $100,000 or $250,000. This seems to work, some visibility is okay but not at the highest levels. This caution about other cultures and gift visibility will be important to remember.

“Board roles are not the same – board membership is an honor, privilege, duty, and service to society, but too frequently it is not a role in which trustees assume responsibility for giving money.”

This is an important issue as we try to diversity our American nonprofit boards by bringing different cultures to our board tables. Their expectations for giving can and will be quite different. I know one of my college clients is bringing three prominent Latino ladies onto their board knowing this will be an issue. Another good reminder for all of us in the U.S. and internationally as we try to build a culture of philanthropy in our organizations and communities.

What issues have you uncovered in the United States and/or globally?

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas (part 2 of a series)

2009-06-16T06:10:00.000-07:00

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas (part 2 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

On Jim Collins from The New York Times article: “He approaches every aspect of his life with purpose and intensity. He wants to produce a lasting and distinctive body of work. He’s practiced saying ‘no.’ While he commands a speaking fee of $65,000, he limits himself to 18 a year with 1/3 of those pro bono for nonprofit organizations. He generally declines to do consulting work, but occasionally he will consult for a fee of $60,000 for two half days. And, no book tours.”

Here’s an interesting side with implications for fundraising – “no splurging. He and his wife live in a 2,500 sq. ft. house in Boulder that they bought 14 years ago. He keeps his overhead low.”

Look for indications like this when you approach donors, how they run their business and life says a lot about their attitudes toward money and how they should be approached for a major gift.

Peter F. Drucker, one of his mentors, gave have him this advice: “Do you want to build ideas first and foremost? Then you must not build a big organization, because then you will end up managing that organization.” So, Collins just hires a flexible crew of university students to help him project by project.

Here are ways that Mr. Collins looks for talent – some of his ideas may help us as we look for new people to bring into major gift fundraising.

"For each book project, he hires a team of about a dozen university students to help him. He prefers to learn as much as he can about them before he meets them. ‘Because if I meet them, I may like them, and then all the assessment of the person is going to be filtered by the fact I like them. I really want to see the quality of their work. I need people who that just weird need to get everything right.’ He’s interested in 4 intangibles: smart, curious, willing to death march (‘they will just die before they would fail to complete something to perfection’) and some spark of irreverence (‘it’s in that fertile conversation of disagreement where the best ideas come’).”

This article was the second of a series. For articles 1 and 3, see below

Big Picture Financial Planning for Nonprofits (part 7 of a series)

2009-06-15T19:08:00.000-07:00

Big Picture Financial Planning for Nonprofits(part 7 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Frequently asked questions

1) Is a contingency line really needed for our operating budget?

Yes, look over the past 3 years of your operating budgets to find items that surfaced during the year that nobody had projected. How much money was that each year? What revenue shortfalls were a surprise each year? Think back to the budget juggling the management team had to do when these surprises came to light. What if you’d had a 5% contingency at the time? And, in 2009 how much revenue did you expect that won’t show up this year because of decreased endowment proceeds, etc.

If you don’t need the contingency this year, roll it over to the next year or convert the excess contingency funds to the operating reserve fund.

2) Won’t I get penalized by foundations for having operating reserve funds?

Yes, if you have too much. The Council on Foundations studied this issue. They decided cash reserves up to 100% of your operating budget are okay. More than that are not. One organization had 500% cash reserves and was forced by public opinion to become aggressive in developing new programs to spend down their reserves for the good of society.

3) Can you ever have too much endowment?

Yes, the benchmark is 20% to 30% of your operating budget. I once worked for a place that had 45% of the operating budget coming from endowment. We were a sleeply, slow-moving institution until a new president came in determined to get the endowment working on new educational initiatives and community outreach.

This article was the seventh of a series. To read the rest of the series, please see below:

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas

2009-06-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

Channeling a Business Guru for Fundraising Ideas

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

I’m a big Jim Collins fan. Built to Last and Good to Great are fantastic books.

I’m especially fond of Good to Great I found one of my client’s CEOs had his management team read the book and discuss running their organization in Jim Collins’ terms. I had to really understand Good to Great to talk to this CEO in a language he could understand. It forced me to really understand Collins’ concepts.

A recent article in The New York Times, Jim Collins, No Question is Too Big by Kevin Maloney

was a great profile on how Mr. Collins works on his projects. This is the first of a series of posts that provide insight to major gift officers.

The first is his tracking of time.

Collins is highly disciplined and tracks his time in 3 major categories to meet his goals:

Creative 53% (research and writing books)

Teaching 28%

Other 19%

He set these goals several years ago and keeps a stopwatch with three separate timers in his pocket at all times. Then he logs his time into a spreadsheet. He figures he needs 70 to 75 hours of sleep every 10 days and monitors his rest to meet this objective. If he doesn’t get rest, he can’t create.

Those of you who know me understand why I like this. As a staff leader, I’ve tracked the time of my staff at two different organizations for 6 months each. And, as a consultant I’ve tracked my time in quarter-hour increments for the last 18 years. When I perform a fundraising office re-engineering project I ask clients to track their time.

Peter Drucker had a great saying about knowledge workers in his 2001 book The Essential Peter Drucker:

“Effective knowledge workers, in my observation, do not start with their tasks. They start with their time. And they do not start out by planning. They start by finding out where their time actually goes.

“Then they attempt to manage their time and to cut back unproductive demands on their time. Finally they consolidate their ‘discretionary’ time into the largest possible continuing units.”

Major gift officers, we are knowledge workers – track your time and find out where you want to spend time and maximize that, and minimize the time you shouldn’t be spending (see time tracking chart at the beginning of this post).

Use a variation of the chart at the beginning of this post to find out how much time you are spending face-to-face with donors. Get your one-a-day donor visits in rather than pushing paper in the office? Track your time and find out.

What are your 3 key objectives for use of time?

This article was the first of a series. For articles 2 and 3, see below

Fundraising Case Statement Training

2009-06-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

Fundraising Case Statement Training

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Join us in person or by Webconference for a dress rehearsal training session for AHP Canada in Montreal – Great Nurses for a Great Community: An Innovative Case For Patient Care.

The time and date: Tuesday, June 23 from 4 - 5:15 pm in person in Portland, Oregon and for the first 20 registrations by Webconference.

Presented by Stephanie Cline, Executive Director, Harrison Medical Center Foundation
(Bremerton, Washington) and Tom Wilson, trusted advisor and coach, Campbell & Company (Portland, Oregon)

Harrison Medical Center Foundation needed a capital campaign but didn’t have a case. Learn how we got from ambivalence to excitement by creating a case for funding our nurses. Case elements will be shared and our fundraising DVD shown. We’ll conduct this session as an interactive workshop to help you develop a process to tease out a compelling case for your hospital and discuss ways to test the case with donors to strengthen it and your relationships

We invite you to the “dress rehearsal” for this training session, which will be presented for AHP Canada (Association of Healthcare Professionals) in Montreal on June 27, 2009 and at AHP International in San Francisco in September, 2009.

You can personally attend our session at Adventist Medical Center in Portland, Oregon or join us by Webconference (phone and/or Internet) on Tuesday, June 23, 2009 from 4 to 5:15 pm (PT).

We are particularly interested in having people join us on the Internet as Tom will be physically present in Portland and Montreal while Stephanie will be using the telephone and Internet for her part of the presentation. Both Tom and Stephanie will be in San Francisco for the September presentation.

Please make your reservation by emailing Tom.Wilson@CampbellCompany.com and information will be sent to you via email. Please indicate on either reservation email if you will attend in person or by Webinar so we can double check our lists.

The presentation location:

Garden Room located on the Lower Level - Cafeteria
Adventist Medical Center
10123 SE Market St
Portland, Oregon 97216

Grateful patient hospital fundraising idea

2009-06-11T08:26:00.000-07:00

Grateful Patient Hospital Fundraising Idea

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Foundation volunteer board members are great. They have cool ideas from their lives and businesses that we can all use.

At a recent board retreat one volunteer, who runs a rehabilitation center and several assisted living facilities, asked if we were giving our campaign movie out to all patients going home from the hospital? We said no, why?

She noted that a year or two ago they started sending their assisted living video home with all rehabilitation patients who were released. It only costs them a dollar a copy. Many people going home don't have a busy schedule as they still need to recover. She asked: "Why not do this for our campaign video?"

She said they also debated on whether or not to send a copy home several times a year if a patient is in and out of their facility. They decided why not. What was there to lose?

Empower your volunteers to brainstorm and share their knowledge and wisdom for your major gifts program.

Take a more disciplined approach to fundraising

2009-06-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

Take a More Disciplined Approach to Fundraising

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

It has been fun the last few years to worry less about balancing budgets and meeting project goals. Fundraising has been relatively easy and if donors wanted to "free lance" their giving to unique projects, why not?

But, times have dramatically changed. Major gift officers need a more disciplined approach. One would think this new way of thinking would be directed from the top of the organization, the CEO and the CFO. Or, donors would be asking tough questions.

This will happen and is happening in some nonprofit organizations. But, surprisingly, not enough.

Major gift officers need to ask tough questions internally righ now. Why do we want this new piece of equipment when enrollments are declining and salaries being cut? Shouldn't we be raising more annual fund dollars? More scholarships? More special project funds that are budget relieving? Or, what funds could we raise that are strategic in helping boost revenues in the future?

If your organization hasn't looked at their strategic plan in the last 3 to 6 months, ask them to do so right now. Use Peter Drucker's 5 Most Important Questions to "rebalance" your organizations operations and plans for the future.

Never forget, the only people who really care about strategic planning and future visioning are the fundraisers, the major gift officers who "sell" the future to their donors. It's time for nonprofits to get back to their core functions to realize their mission and impact on society.

Over $400 Billion of Capital Gains Will Help Nonprofit Fundraising

2009-06-09T07:37:00.000-07:00

Over $400 Billion of Capital Gains Will Help Nonprofit Fundraising

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

A recent article in The New York Times "Smart Giving in a Troubled Climate" author David Kay Johnston noted that $426 billion of capital gains will be realized in 2009 compared to $875 billion in 2007.

While this is a dramatic decrease, that is still a lot of liquidity going to individuals who can make gifts.

The article also quoted Professor Peter Frumkin, sociologist at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and author of Strategic Giving: "In tough times people tend to gravitate toward direct service becasue they want something concrete from their giving."

The article suggests 3 ways for donors to adjust their giving.

Conversion -- if you have an endowment pledge tell the organization in writing that you wish to convert your pledge payments to operations as they need the money now
Deferral -- if you have a 5-year pledge tell the charity that you need another year or two to complete the pledge
Triage -- cut back your giving to charities you feel make the biggest impact

As a major gift officer, you may want to mention these strategies to your donors as a favor and to help them see what you should be on their ongoing short list of preferred charitable destinations.

WOW Fundraising Experiences for Donors

2009-06-07T05:45:00.000-07:00

WOW Fundraising Experiences for Donors

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Everyone likes a pleasant, unexpected surprise.

I was going through the security line at the Portland, Oregon airport a few weeks ago. I fly Alaska Airlines a lot because of my Western United States consulting work. The guy next in line said: "You'll never believe who called me up the other day. I thought it was a gag at first when the fellow said he was the CEO of Alaska Airlines. He convinced me that yes he was the boss. He was calling just to say thanks for my business and to let me know how much he and the rest of the employees appreciated their frequent flyer customers. Wow, that's impressive."

Corporations are working hard these days to keep their customers. What are we in major gifts fundraising doing?

I was with a client the other day. In asking John how things were going he noted that their upcoming golf tournament was going to be off by 20%, hopefully a little less. He then told me this great story. One of their traditional sponsors was having a tough year. They couldn't help this year but hope to again in the future when the economy turns around.

John, felt badly for them and asked another lead sponsor who had two openings for players if he could include people from this other company so they wouldn't feel left out this year. The major sponsor said sure. John called up the former sponsor and offered the tickets. They were really appreciative of John's offer.

Wow. What a nice touch John. Help your donor friends when they're having a tough year. This company and their leaders will never forget. And hopefully like my airline friend they will tell others.

John did this because he's a nice, thoughtful person. What can you do for donors to get that WOW and warm glow.

By the way, if you're ever in Portland, Oregon and what to tell John thanks, he's head of Adventist Medical Center Foundation.

College Fundraising Unusual Gifts

2009-06-02T19:50:00.000-07:00

College Fundraising Unusual Gifts

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Too often we feel that we can only raise money from alumni or from people who have benefited from our organization.

In a recent issue of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, two recent major gifts stood out as unusual:

A $29.4 million gift to Fresno State University College of Agricultural Sciences & Technology from the Jordan family of Hayward and Dublin, California. Two brothers, one in construction and the other in cattle ranching, made this gift. Neither attended Fresno State.

$13.8 million to Taylor University in Upland, Indiana from Arthur Hodson a banker and farmer who made this bequest even though he attended Taylor but did not graduate.

I was recently talking to a group of community people about one of the university clients I am working with and a lady said: "I attended but am not an alumn because I didn't graduate." Another fellow said, I attended for one year but transferred to another client because I wanted to be a pharmicist and couldn't at our local university. Both are alumns but don't know it.

Be open in your alumni policies to welcome everyone who has been touched by your faculty and classes.

Measuring the Productivity of Major Gifts Fundraisers

2009-06-01T18:02:00.000-07:00

Measuring the Productivity of Major Gifts Fundraisers

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Question -- How should we be measuring the productivity of major gifts officers without making them feel bad or under pressure?

In these days a little pressure is fine. But you’re right that it’s important to keep morale strong and everyone positive in these challenging fundraising times.

There’s a saying that you can’t manage people, you manage things and lead people.

You don’t motivate your staff, they motivate themselves. You can coach them and if necessary, replace them if they don’t perform.

Here are some coaching tools that I have found useful over the years. Add these to your yearly tracking systems in addition to any campaign or multi-year tracking you are doing.

1) Office objectives

Major gifts club -- Goal for number of total members for this year with progress to date shown graphically. Use a bar chart thermometer with targets for each month based upon trend lines from previous years -- Renewal % of repeat donors – target and actual to date -- Renewal % of new donors – target and actual to date

Corporate giving -- Outright gifts for the year, progress to date – use a bar chart thermometer with targets for each month -- Sponsorships (if applicable) -- In-kind gifts (if applicable – check this one out this year as it will be easier to keep relationships going with in-kind gifts if they have to say no to cash this year)

Foundation grants -- What’s your target and what’s the thermometer of progress to date?

Each of these 3 areas should have a progress for the year with projected progress by month based on last year’s trending to show if you are ahead or behind for the year. 2009 will be a tricky year so do the best you can and use the tools below to track activity until dollars come in. Please note that some staff may be directly responsible for each of these areas. Have them work on the trending objectives and the formatting of the charts. These graphics should be on a one-page dashboard report for each board meeting and for all the staff to discuss at the beginning of each month (yes, all data updated monthly no later than 3 days after the beginning of the month).

Activity reports.

I like the “one a day plan” of one substantive donor contact per person per day. Face-to-face meetings are always best but an in-depth phone call may work (remember 55% of all communications are nonverbal so too many phone and email contacts aren’t good).

Contacts should be tracked weekly and reported monthly to the head of fundraising. Debrief each report at personal, weekly staff supervision meetings. Contacts don’t count unless there is a written report on file. These tracking sheets and contact reports are great coaching devices to determine next steps, when it’s time to close the gift, and to overcome any call reluctance that may be preventing the one-a-day plan to be fulfilled.

Realizing that sometimes one a day visits aren’t possible, it’s okay to average 20 per month with some days having no appointments and others 2 or 3 (when I was a university vice president my average was 15 a week, but then I’m a little crazy).

How much money did you raise this month?

You still have to ask this question of each major gift officer. There’s no value judgment except to say that over time, a major gift officer should meet the following expectations:

Year 1 – raise salary and benefits (100% cost of fundraising)

Year 2 – raise 3 times salary and benefits (33% cost of fundraising)

Year 3 – raise 5 times salary and benefits (20% cost of fundraising)

Year 4 – raise 7 times salary and benefits (14% cost of fundraising)

A star will do far better than this. Take into consideration the maturity of your program and distances traveled by your major gift officers to their prospects (if they travel 50% of the time, productivity can be cut by one-third to one-half). If your organization is unknown, productivity will be lower as major gift officers are explaining who you are before they can ask for a donor investment.

Celebrate victories and coach to success.

We want everyone to secure Winning Gifts, so celebrate the wins, console the “not yet” wins, and coach major gift officers to get out there and meet donors to secure gifts.

Let me know of ways that you track major gift officer productivity.

More Charitable Anonymous Giving

2009-05-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

More Charitable Anonymous Giving

by Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

An earlier article on this website noted on the increased tendency for anonymous giving. A lead example is the donor who recently donated nearly $70 million to women-led higher education institutions.

In a recent article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy (5/7/09) Ben Gose noted that over the past decade anonymous giving has ranged around 5% but has increased since June 2008 to nearly 19%. Gose noted:

"Numerous studies conducted by the Indiana Center on Philanthropy over the past 20 years have shown that an aversion to solicitations from other charities, and a desire to keep a gift secret from family or friends are the two most popular reasons for giving anonymously."

So, for us major gift officers, as you negotitate big gifts for your institution, ask the donor if visibility right now makes them uncomfortable in any way. You still want to publicize a big gift to serve as a role model to others, but the donor may wish to keep quiet.

I have had several donors ask that they be publicly anonymous but if we need to mention their name and gift on a solicitation call to motivate another donor we can do so.

Major Gift Officer Hiring Questions

2009-05-28T19:54:00.000-07:00

Major Gift Officer Hiring Questions

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Question – “We’re getting ready to hire a vice president for our hospital foundation. What questions should we ask in the interview?”

Call references first as they will provide insights into the candidates’ experiences. As you review what references said, determine what follow-up questions to ask your candidates.

Then, look at their resume to see what natural questions come to mind. Such as: In your last position it notes you were responsible for the foundation. What impact did you have in your last full year there on giving? How many new donors? What was the largest gift and what was your role in securing it?

Also look for gaps in the resume. They happen, but try to find out why they left before securing a new job first.

Other questions you may want to consider asking include:

How do you work with volunteers and foundation board members to raise money? In answering the question, use some concrete examples from your career experiences.

How do you help a board member reluctant to ask for money overcome this challenge?

Talk about the best gift you landed and how the process worked.

What was your worst fundraising experience? Why was it a challenge and what did you learn from it?

How do you work with your staff to help make your foundation successful?

What role do you see for physicians in helping us raise money?

What role for the CEO?

Tell us about your experience in securing planned estate gifts? Provide a specific gift closing story.

What are your greatest strengths as a major gifts fundraiser?

What areas would you like to improve on?

As you can tell, most of these questions are trying to determine past behaviors and actions. They are the best predictor of the future. Look for impact, clarity of stories, and nuances that indicate the person’s direct role in securing gifts rather them observing the process. Also, try to find the “impact player” who has taken their last organizations to new levels of fundraising prominence. Try to separate out the “being responsible for” from the “increased major gifts by 30%” aspects of their resume and answers.

When I was running a university fundraising staff, I would ask new candidates to present written documents as well as an outline presentation to our staff and volunteers to make sure the person could write, present, and think on their feet as their audience asked questions.

Jobs for Change

2009-05-26T06:50:00.001-07:00

Jobs for Change

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

I got a notice of a new initiativefrom Danny Moldovan, Director of the Jobs for Change initiative at Change.org. He reports they have just made a big announcement in response to Obama’s call for public service. Jobs for Change is a career service and marketplace for social change jobs that’s been created in partnership with dozens of nonprofits, including Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, AmeriCorps Alums, and Encore Careers. You can check it out at http://jobs.change.org/.

Their goal is to spark a nationwide movement toward careers in the common good – including nonprofit, government, and social enterprise jobs. On the website you can find the beginnings of a well-designed, international database of social change jobs. They will be providing guidance on finding and developing a career in social change.

What a great idea.

Mention this website to your major gift donors who may be looking for public service jobs for their children who are recent-college graduates. We may also see a trend for younger retirees to take on nonprofit leadership positions.

Big Picture Financial Planning for Nonprofits (part 6 of a series)

2009-05-25T09:48:00.000-07:00

Big Picture Financial Planning for Nonprofits (part 6 of a series)

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Now, we’re ready to finish the elements of financial stabilization for nonprofits – special projects and endowment.

Remember we started with a balanced budget, a 5% contingency line item in the operating budget, no debt (eliminating it over 3 to 5 years), reserve funds (3 to 6 months of operating revenues built over time), and a venture fund.

Special projects.

Like any comprehensive fundraising effort we need to look at any special projects over the next 5 to 8 years (or longer) – if you have a 3-year campaign with a 5-year pledge schedule the cash flow from your campaign can go out at least 8 years.

So, look for any capital items – deferred maintenance on a roof, new equipment for a science lab, new beds for the entire hospital. Put these projects into a “shopping list” for donors to review.

Endowment.

Finally, come back to endowment. While not a magic bullet of financial success like everyone initially thought, a strong endowment is still important. National benchmarking shows 20% to 30% of your yearly operating budget should be generated by endowment.

Add all of these elements together and you have financial stable and vital nonprofit organization.

This article was the sixth of a series. To read the rest of the series, please see below: