Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation

Due to the news this week that the Dodge Foundation named Chris Daggett as the new President and CEO, we moved the regularly scheduled blog post for our Monday Board Leadership series to today.

We think that every nonprofit board, large or small, start-up or mature, could benefit from learning from their peers. So over the next several weeks, we will feature board members (and a few executive directors), who recently completed our Board Leadership Training workshops, as Monday guest bloggers. We have asked them to tell their stories of implementing change with their board, including the challenges and successes.

We kicked off the series last week with one of our workshop trainers Allison Trimarco, who gave us some very practical advice and tips on fundraising. Today we hear from workshop participant Matt Finlay, who will build on Allison’s fundraising advice. Matt has been a board member since 2006 for one of our major partners here in our hometown of Morristown, the Community Theatre at the Mayo Center for the Performing Arts.

Therapy for Board Leaders

Boards of trustees are unwieldy things. They’re generally composed of a self-selecting group of opinionated, Type-A personalities. If the board has done its original job correctly, there’s even a modicum of diversity, so getting all those diverse, outsized egos lined up and pointed in the right direction can be quite a challenge. The phrase which comes to mind is “herding cats,” although that doesn’t quite do it. Cats are too languorous. Organizing a board of trustees is more like herding cats on crack.

Unfortunately, boards of trustees often have work to do. Depending on the size of the institution, there may be more or less staff to help with the grunt work, but there is one task which is common to all nonprofit boards: fundraising.

Which brings up the second major problem. Serving on the board of trustees of a prominent nonprofit is often considered highly desirable. It comes with recognition, and free tickets, and consorting with the mayor, and all sorts of other strange and wonderful perks. But there’s a dirty little secret known to most of those on the inside: fundraising stinks. It’s not very fun. The most significant task of a board of trustees just turns out to be unpleasant.

Now, I’m not talking about the partying kind of fundraising. Parties are fun. Especially those which include a cocktail hour. Most board members are quite happy to participate in this type of fundraising. Unfortunately, parties raise only a small portion of the funds which non-profits need for their day-to-day operations. No, the fundraising I am talking about is the kind which requires personal solicitations of large amounts of money from either friends or acquaintances, often with a significant chance of outright rejection. It’s an awkward business at best; at worst, it’s downright atrocious.

I vaguely knew these things when I was approached several years ago to co-chair the new $7 million capital campaign at the Morristown Community Theatre. At first I hesitated. But such a task fits with my personal philosophies about giving back to a community, so I whisked my concerns aside and committed.

I vowed to combat these fundraising roadblocks with the same things that I’d used to great success in business: organization, diligence and tenacity. I’d make the Theatre’s board into a fundraising juggernaut by simply giving them no options. I’d bend their will to fit my needs by organizing meetings, doling out responsibilities, and pestering for action.

It worked. Sort of. For a while. But not really. Then, it wasn’t working at all. Then, I almost became a parody of myself. I found myself in board meetings repeating the same things over and over again. Essentially, it boiled down to please: “Please help us…”; “Please contact those people on your list…”; “Please follow through with your commitments…” “We’re gonna do it this time! Come on, please?” I began to exhibit symptoms of Einstein’s famous definition of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome.

A faithful band of trustees labored on, but I became increasingly disheartened about the process. CEOs often talk about how lonely it is at the top, and while I would never compare my experiences with those of someone running an entire company, I knew what they meant.

Thankfully, I got some perspective from the Dodge Foundation. Thanks to an invitation forwarded by our Executive Director Allison Larena, I was able to attend a Dodge workshop entitled “The Care and Feeding of a Board of Trustees.”

It turns out that my experience was not all that unusual. In fact, according to the Dodge consultants, it’s pretty standard stuff. After a day of Dodge-led therapy, my mood was picking up. Better yet, I had some new ideas about how to manage the board and its capital goals. None of it was terribly profound or earth-shattering, but even the little things can sometimes make a world of difference.

Here are a couple of helpful things which were reinforced in the workshop:

1. From Each According to His Ability (or Desire): The Dodge Foundation didn’t actually make this point using Marx’s famous dictum, but the applicability is almost perfect. Essentially, it means that a board leader ought to extract from each board member only those things which can be reasonably expected to be forthcoming. If a board member says something like “I don’t really like to make fundraising calls…,” then by all means don’t press it. This person will probably not make any calls for you anyway. Insisting will only make the situation uncomfortable. A well constructed board (or committee) will have lots of different jobs filled by lots of different individuals with lots of different skills. Use only those people who will benefit the particular job at hand.
2. Make It As Brainless As Possible: Complexity is anathema to fundraising. Judging from my own personal experience, even something as simple as a missing telephone number is enough to get someone to indefinitely postpone a planned fundraising call. Any serious work or research or preparation is likely to impede the beginning of a fundraising pitch. So take that aspect of the process away from board members. Make the process absolutely brainless and bullet-proof. If you’d like a board member to send a letter to a prospect, then write it for them, hand it to them, watch them read it, have them sign it, and then send it along. Similarly with telephone calls or tours, make sure 100% of the relevant information on a potential donor is at hand before the process even begins. Of course a large staff helps, but even board subcommittees can do the groundwork to make board fundraising brainless. Strangely, if it’s brainless, it can even become fun.
3. Keep It Fun: Have pizza. Gossip. Play music. Go out to Happy Hour. Make your fundraising activities the place to be. A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.

We’re almost finished with our capital campaign, so I think it’s safe now to pass judgment on the process. In the end, I made the right choice to volunteer for the campaign. I met a great group of people, I helped the community achieve a new level of sophistication in its performing arts capacity, and, perhaps most important, I had a lot of fun.

Thanks go to Allison Larena and her staff at the Theatre, to all of my fellow Trustees who helped with the campaign, and to all the patrons of the Theatre who helped us achieve our goal. Finally, many thanks to the Dodge Foundation for being an informed and consistent resource for nonprofits.

Matthew Finlay manages a private equity fund in Morristown and lives with his wife and three boys in Far Hills.  He has managed several operating and capital campaigns for schools, community enterprises and arts organizations.

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The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
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The Dodge Foundation is nearing the end of the second annual Board Leadership Training series led by the talented trainers of The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University’s School of Business.

Over the past six months, teams of board members and executive leadership attended workshops ranging from Nonprofit Lifecycles, Assessment, Board Care and Feeding, Strategic Planning, Board Fundraising, Board Financial Management, Board/Staff Relationships and Succession Planning. We have heard terrific feedback and ideas from many board members who are actively applying the learning to their board work. We thought that every Board, large or small, start-up or mature, could benefit from learning from their peers. So over the next several weeks, we will feature Board members (and a few executive directors) as Monday guest bloggers to tell their stories of implementing change with their board. They will share their challenges and successes. We hope you will share yours as well and help us create a Board Development Learning Community.

We are kicking off this series today with Allison Trimarco, one of our trainers who spoke on a popular subject: board fundraising. She covered a lot of ground in her day-long seminar, but in this post, she captures one of the major takeaways and offers a wonderful exercise that you can try with your own board.

He’s Just Not That Into You

Matchmaking Between Nonprofits and Donors
by Allison Trimarco

Photo courtesy Sister72/Flickr

I spend a lot of time talking with nonprofit staff and board members about fundraising – what’s working, what’s not, and most frequently, how to get board members more involved in fundraising efforts. Everyone wants their board members to be active participants in raising money for the mission, but nobody has figured out a foolproof method for motivating these otherwise devoted volunteers to take on this critical task.

When I ask leaders what they wish more board members would do, the most common response is introduce new people to our organization, and ask them for their support. Essentially, we want our board members to be matchmakers between our nonprofits and prospective donors, finding people who are going to feel that spark of excitement when they meet us.

This kind of matchmaking is one of the most valuable ways a board member can support his organization, but people are often reluctant to do it. I think professional matchmakers could tell us an important reason behind this reluctance to participate – if the spark is just not there, there’s no point in pushing the relationship. But in our efforts to find new supporters for our mission, this is often what we do.

If a prospective donor doesn’t return repeated phone calls, if they don’t attend events, if they seem reluctant to get together when you invite them to lunch, well, they’re just not that into you. Not every cause is for every person, and it’s not possible to convert everyone you meet into an enthusiastic donor. Continuing to pursue a prospect when their behavior is clearly signaling that they’re not into you is not effective fundraising.

This kind of continued rejection is one of the things that make board members reluctant to fundraise. No one wants to be the person who has to keep calling and calling someone who doesn’t really want to hear from them – none of us liked this feeling when we were dating in high school, and most people don’t want to experience it as part of their community service. It’s okay to let a prospect go if they don’t seem that interested. In fact, it’s the smart, self-respecting thing to do. Don’t ask your board members to spend their energy chasing prospects that will never amount to anything. If you want them to be your matchmakers, let them assess whether or not the “spark” seems to be there, and if it’s not, move on.

How do you know if your fundraising program is (unintentionally) creating “he’s just not that into you” situations for your board members?

1. Prospects stay on a board member’s contact list for years, even though they have never made a significant gift. This is akin to having dinner with an ex-boyfriend a couple of times a year, even though it’s clear you are never going to get married.
2. Your prospect list is full of people who are not connected to your organization in any meaningful way. I think of these as the “random rich people” – names of well-known or wealthy people that get tossed around a lot during meetings. Are you asking board members to reach out to these people even if they don’t know them, and the prospect has never demonstrated any interest in the kind of work you do? If so, you’re basically asking them to respond to a “blind box” personal ad in a newspaper.
3. You’re spending a lot of time organizing different events that are attended by the same people. “Friend-raising” events have a role to play in any fundraising program, but if you’re having trouble getting new people to attend, you should think about a change in approach. Investing time and money in hosting multiple events where the same small group of people gets together and chats won’t bring new donors to the organization – and it distracts board members from meeting new people who could become donors. It’s like hanging out in the same bar every Friday night hoping someone new will come in.
4. Your board hasn’t spent any time thinking about the right kind of donors for your organization. Sustainable funding comes from solid, long-term relationships that meet the needs of everyone involved. It can be easy to have your head turned by flashier prospects, but these folks may not be “marriage material.” If you don’t know who you’re looking for, you’re likely to waste a lot of time on the road to finding the perfect match.

How do you figure out who you’re looking for? Here’s an easy group exercise that you can try at any board meeting to help your matchmakers look for the people who are right for you. All you need is flip chart paper and a marker.

Step 1: Think like a donor, not like a fundraiser.

All of our board members are donors – hopefully to your nonprofit, but also to other charities that matter to them. Ask them to think about why they choose to say yes or no when they are asked for a donation. Put your list of reasons why they say yes or no side-by-side on your flip chart, so you can compare them. Chances are, it will illustrate two fundraising truths: 1) people give to the causes that matter to them, when it is convenient for them to do so, and 2) approaching fundraising in a way that is respectful to the donor is always the most effective technique. This exercise helps remind us all that there are two sides to every fundraising relationship.

Step 2: Why do people like us?

Once you’re in the habit of thinking like a donor, ask yourselves why donors might be interested in supporting your organization. Be careful to avoid “insider” reasons that might be very important to longtime board and staff members, but wouldn’t inspire a new supporter. Think of it this way: on a first date, you don’t tell stories about a previous relationship. You talk about who you are today and the exciting things going on in your life right now. Longtime supporters sometimes want to start a conversation with a prospect by telling the organization’s life story – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Really great matchmakers focus the conversation on today’s achievements and tomorrow’s vision, and relate that to the prospect’s own charitable motivations. Once it looks like the relationship might be going somewhere, you can learn more about each other’s history. To help board members feel more prepared for these “first dates,” spend some time talking about the strengths of your mission and your organization. Understanding this will help you to identify the types of people who are likely to be inspired by your work, making it easier for board members to find new matches.

Step 3: Where are our red flags?

Finally, ask yourselves honestly: why might people hesitate to give to us? Have you been in the news recently for something negative or controversial? Is your cause difficult to understand and embrace? Are your programs effective and your finances strong? Facing these issues head on will help you decide if you need to invest in a bit of a makeover before you send your matchmakers out to look for Mr. or Ms. Right.

The impact of the recession on fundraising is real, and it may be a while before we see more favorable conditions. Helping board members find new ways to generate support for the mission will be a key priority for most organizations, but many continue to think of fundraising as a nerve-wracking, distasteful activity to be avoided at all costs. In reality, fundraising is just the transfer of passion about a cause from one person to another – and our board members are some of the most passionate people around. Encouraging them to share their passion for the mission with the right people – people who are truly into your work and enjoy knowing more about it – is the best way to bring out the matchmaker in everyone.

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Allison Trimarco is the founder and principal of Creative Capacity, a consulting firm that collaborates with nonprofits to find creative solutions to management challenges. She is also an affiliated consultant and instructor at The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University.

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The Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Newark is October 7 – 10!
Follow the Dodge Poetry Festival on Twitter
Become a fan of the Dodge Poetry Festival on Facebook

Follow the Dodge Foundation on Twitter
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