Board Staff Partnership in Fundraising: Making It Work

1. Board Staff Partnership in Fundraising: Making It Work Palo Alto Community Fund June 8, 2009 – 5 – 7 p.m. Kay Sprinkel Grace Presenter

2. What We Will Cover • Welcome, overview and participant expectations • Basic principles of successful fundraising • Creating successful partnerships in small shops and large: The AAA Model • Using partnerships to power your organization • Building external relationships: board roles • Sustaining internal and external partnerships • Summary and close

3. Basic Principles of Successful Fundraising Tried, true, trusted principles Moving from transaction to transformation

5. The Only True Innovation… • …Is an innovation in attitude based on these principles that attract 21st century donors: • Fund raising is not about money, it is about relationships • People give to you because you meet needs, not because you have needs • A gift to you, is really a gift through you into the community • Ultimately, none of this is about you (it is about your impact on the community and the relationships you build with your community)

6. Where It All Begins • Philanthropy – philosophical • Organization-wide philosophical commitment to the importance of relationships (“love of humankind”) • Development - strategic • Of relationships • Primary task for boards and staff • Fund Raising - tactical • Success happens when we have the philosophical framework and strategic development to implement our tactical approach to engaging prospects and donors

7. Transactional Bell Curve: The Way We Have Asked High Impact Philanthropy Kay Sprinkel Grace, Alan Wendroff

8. Transformational Infinity Loop:A New Approach to Asking High Impact Philanthropy Kay Sprinkel Grace, Alan Wendroff

9. Understanding Basic Donor Motivation • Connection (Linkage) • Direct experience or someone they know • Concern (Interest) • An interest in the issues you represent • Capacity (Ability) • Absolute and relative • Seldom a motivation to give on its own

10. Remember This?

11. What Donors Seek Now in the Organizations They Support • Issues • Ideas • Involvement • Impact • Investment • Kay Sprinkel Grace and Alan Wendroff, 2001 • High Impact Philanthropy (John Wiley & Sons)

12. The “Two Portfolio” Approach • Our sector operates in the world of two bottom lines • Financial return (financial investment portfolio) • Values or social return (social investment portfolio) • We must establish investor relationships with our donors – no longer can we relegate them into the “donor base” when they give • Our stewardship must be overhauled • Our leadership must be engaged • We need to focus on the return on social investment

13. Implementing the Development Process The multiple steps in which you can be partners as board and staff

14. Identify/qualify Develop initial strategy Cultivate Involve Evaluate and determine final strategy Assign Solicit Follow-through and acknowledge Steward Renew Each step is a partnership with volunteers and staff The Development Process

15. Defining Board/Staff Roles • Establish the role of volunteers (including board) in your organization by defining the role(s) of your staff – particularly in smaller organizations • Rework board member job description to indicate appropriate partnership(s) with staff and their roles as “connectors” with you and for you • Determine board member motivation: try the AAA program for getting them involved in donor and fund development

16. Where Do You Find Your Donors? • Donors are people who share your values • They self-identify, or we identify them • Those who become involved with your organizations are often willing to identify and involve others • It is important to have systems in place to keep track of your prospects and donors so you can provide follow up and stewardship

17. Consistency in Messaging: Highest Priority • From direct mail to high-end membership mailings to planned giving brochures: the core of the message must reflect the same values (even if the delivery system and the audience is different) • Because all of philanthropy (giving, volunteering) is based in values – your values must be evident for true investment to occur • If we laid your “start to finish” materials side to side, would the message be based on the same values?

18. What Our Communities are Looking For In Our Messages • The needs we are meeting (not the needs we have) • Our track record for meeting those needs (impact, not just reach) • Indications of creative, fresh, positive solutions to community needs for education, health, culture, arts – the full array of civil society options • Evidence of our partnerships with other community organizations

19. Stewardship: A Vital Board/StaffParnership The definition, nature, importance and neglect of a vital development function

20. Stewardship • The most important and most neglected part of development • You need a stewardship program that extends to all donors in some way • Maintain stewardship activities for donors even if they have “cycled out” of giving • Volunteer involvement is critical • Gain leadership commitment to stewardship activities and the budget to support them

21. Infinity Loop: Stewardship for Donor Retention 2. You Tailor Your Case 1. You Make Your Case 3. Your Donor Investors Champion Your Case High Impact Philanthropy Kay Sprinkel Grace, Alan Wendroff

22. Creating Partnerships in Small Shops and Large The AAA Program for Boards A Partnership

23. Raising Money: The Key Partnership • Every board member needs to be involved in the development process, but not every board member will be involved in fund raising • All board members can help identify, qualify, develop strategies, cultivate and steward -- it is part of the partnership with staff • The full development team is the partnership of the full board and staff; the core development team partners design and implement the fund raising program

24. Defining a AAA Board • A board with a “AAA Rating” is one where every board member is motivated to be an Ambassador, Advocate and/or Asker – tapping into board member motivation and designing assignments that are specific and geared to the board member’s motivation • AAA boards are partners with staff and provide leadership in developing relationships in the community

25. Board Role(s) in Raising Funds • Begins with giving (100% participation by the board) that leverages community giving (ask them personally – never by phone or letter) • Board members will play one or more of these roles to create a “AAA Board:” • Ambassador • Advocate • Asker

26. Ambassadors • A role everyone can play • Starring roles in cultivation of prospective donors and stewardship of continuing donor-investors • Need to be well oriented and coached in the message • Masters of the “elevator speech” (and the “elevator question”) • Catalysts for donor-investor renewal • Think about who on your board plays this role especially well

27. Advocates • On the golf course or in the car pool – these individuals are strategic in their information sharing • They may also advocate for your organization on a more formal basis with government, another organization with which you are partnering or an institutional funder • Are informed not only of the case for support, but also are well integrated into your strategic plan and vision • Are well coached on desired results of the advocacy and handling objections • Think about who on your board plays this role well

28. Askers • Enjoy asking • Well informed, well trained • “Matched” with prospective donors (or current donor-investors) for maximum possibility of success • Teamed with another board asker or staff leader • Staff organizes the ask so the Asker’s focus can be on the single purpose of getting (or renewing) the gift • Benefit from the work of the Ambassadors and Advocates • Think about who on your board plays this role

29. The AAA Rating • Some board members will do it all • Most board members excel at one or two • Motivation is increased when board members are assigned to roles that draw on their skills and align with their “confidence” zone • Create a AAA program on your board that engages each member in a role that contributes to your organization’s advancement and helps them feel respected and engaged • As motivation increases, you will find board members moving among the roles – even to Asker!

30. Review of AAA Checklist See if this might work for your board

31. Using Partnerships to Power Your Organization What it takes

32. Board/Staff Partnerships • Transparency • Accountability • Clarity • Guidance • Communication • Results • Respect for time

33. Deploying the Partnerships • Board development • Donor development • Fund development • Financial oversight • Marketing and outreach • Planning

34. Cautionary Areas • Micro-management • Program direction/intervention • Personnel issues (block end runs) • In organizations evolving from volunteer-run to professionally-run, redefining the role with sensitivity to the previous role and respect for feelings and needs • Others?

35. Building External PartnershipsIn the Community The true mission is outside your windows

36. Assess Your Mission, Vision and Values as Community “Glue” • Is your mission about what you do, or is it about why you do it? (“We exist because….”) • Is your vision about your organization or about what you envision for your community? (“When we are successful…..”) • Are your values known, lived, expressed?

37. Mission Example • From Vector Health Programs, Eureka, CA • “Next to the human face, hands are our most expressive feature. We talk with them. We work with them. We play with them. We comfort and love with them. An injury to the hand affects a person professionally and personally. At Vector Health Programs, we give people back the use of their hands.”

38. Vision Example • From a “head start” type organization in New Orleans: • “Our vision is that every child in the greater New Orleans area will be ready when it is time to start school.” (As given by the founder at an awards lunch, 2003)

39. Philanthropy Based in values Development Uncovers shared values Fund Raising Gives people opportunities to act on their values

40. An Expression of Values • A thank you card sent to institutional and individual donors to a special campaign for a university library flooding emergency: • “Your gift to the Stanford University Libraries helps us assemble the sources, the arguments, the hypotheses, the wisdom and controversies of the ages. For all those here, and those yet to come, please accept our gratitude.” • Michael Keller, Librarian

41. Sustaining Board Staff Partnerships Renewal and dispersed leadership John W. Gardner

42. Renewal • The late John W. Gardner in his 9 Tasks of Leaders (On Leadership, 1989) said that “renewal” (commitment to reconnecting with information, inspiration) was one of the essential tasks • He also spoke about the importance of “dispersed leadership” in the vitality of organizations – and no where is dispersed leadership more evident than in good board-staff partnerships • Bob Waterman, The Renewal Factor, added to these ideas from an organizational standpoint

43. Dispersed Leadership • “…Vitality at middle and lower levels of leadership can produce greater vitality in the higher levels of leadership. In addition to all people down the line who may properly be called leaders at their level, there are in any vital organization or society a great many individuals who share leadership tasks unofficially, by behaving responsibly with respect to the purposes of the group…(the concept of dispersed leadership).

44. Dispersed Leadership • “How many dispersed leaders do we need?...We have barely scratched the surface in our efforts toward leadership development. In the mid-21st century, people will look back on our present practices as primitive…The reservoir of unused human talent and energy is vast…among the untapped capabilities are leadership gifts. We can do better. Much, much better.” • John W. Gardner, Introduction to On Leadership, Free Press, 1990

45. Partnership and Leadership • Leadership and partnership grow each other • Partnerships in our organizations with board and staff leverage and strengthen every aspect of our organization • Partnerships in our communities – particularly in a very collaborative-oriented donor market – speak well of us but, more importantly, have higher impact on our communities

46. Summary and Close Taking the next steps

47. Building Partnerships • Internal • Board/staff partnership is key • Size of your organization does not matter: it is a matter of scale and leveraging resources • AAA works: try it! • External • Collaborating with other organizations • Respecting and encouraging the “connector” role (Malcolm Gladwell, The Tipping Point) • Listening for community dreams so you are ready

48. Partnerships and Growth • Synergy is a stimulant • Engage partners in your dreams, but be ready to engage with a partner from the community in his/her dream • Partnerships are leverage for our dreams: internally and externally • Partnerships are powerful manifestations of the inclusive nature of philanthropy at its best

49. Closing Thought • “The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” • Marcel Proust

50. Board Staff Partnership in Fundraising: Making It Work Palo Alto Community Fund Kay Sprinkel Grace kaysprinkelgrace@aol.com www.kaygrace.org 415-831-2923