Favorite Blogs

Yes, I, like so many, have my favorite bloggers and I can't help but to want to share! Why? Well, as usual, there is a story behind the motivation.

I was at lunch with a friend and former colleague yesterday. We hadn't seen each other in a long time, you know... that thing called life keeps getting in the way! As we began talking, I could see that she was feeling like a cog in the system. We have ALL been there and some of us stay and some of us run like hell. It is time for her to run like the wind, but it is almost impossible to do that with a lizard brain that has been very happy with having its way for quite a while without a little inspiration.

So we talked about life, work, ups and downs, what she wanted next, etc. I spoke with her about deciding to take the risk, about understanding that sometimes our biggest failures turn into our greatest successes, that without doing something, we are all inevitably doomed to do nothing. I told her she needed to read Linchpin by Seth Godin. I also told her she needed to decide to take action and then do it. Get your CFRE, go back to school... become inspired!

After that conversation, I began to think about my inspiration. How do I fight my lizard brain everyday? And trust me, I do fight it everyday! Heading back to school for my M.A. in Philanthropy & Development at St. Mary's was probably the biggest infusion of inspiration, but there are ongoing sources I turn to as often as possible, and many of those are phenomenal people communicating great things. You will see my blog list to the right hand side of this blog. Read them, follow them, gain inspiration and then inspire others! Seriously, think about what this world could be if we all became inspired and a war against the lizard brain ensued?

• 
  

Your wants for/from your board

So after reading "The Truth about What Nonprofit Boards Want", I am much more aware of what we, as nonprofit professionals need to be thinking, doing, evaluating to engage our boards to the greatest extent possible.

After research done by Corporate DevelopMint, the firm discovered that through correlation theory and linear regression analysis that the number one indicator for fundraising success is giving by the governing board: TOTAL giving, not percentage of the board giving. Ah HA! So the question then became, how do we get board members to give and engage at the greatest level possible? In the search for understanding what motivates Board members to engage, June Bradham gathered many stories through many discussions to better understand the answer.

She discovered nine truths:

Stellar board makeup

Passion for the cause

The right CEO or ED

Social time

Trust and transparency

The right kind of ask

The ability to get their hands dirty

Meaningful education

If you haven't read the book, you should... great information!

So the next logical questions are:


What do YOU as the CEO/ED/President want/need from your board? 


What are some of the greatest successes and challenges? 

I would really like to hear your stories about some of the best and worst times involving your board. Feel free to either message me privately, email me (tbranham@corporatedevelopmint.com) or leave a message here! 

The Joys of Communication

I was conducting a Vision and Mission session a few weeks ago with a few highly intelligent, dedicated, fabulous people who are working hard to create a foundation for the hospital they serve. About 5 minutes into the session I looked around to see 8 confused faces staring back at me. I had to stop and laugh for a minute. "What is it?" I asked. The chair of the Board of Trustees looked at me and said, "Tucker, what are you talking about? You have it all mixed up!" Huh, well, this is a good way to start of this type of a session. I mean, this process is amazing, but agonizing much of the time, so if they don't even know what a Vision statement is, we are in serious trouble!

So I asked them to explain to me what it is that I was confused about... what was I mixing up? They stated that I had the Vision and Mission statement confused with each other. To them, the Mission comes first and it is the grand dream for why the organization even exists. Then the vision statement is next telling how we will accomplish our Mission. Interesting.

This is not a blog about what a Vision is or what a Mission is, although, perhaps we should all have a discussion about that - later, but it is about communication. How can we communicate if our understanding of words, concepts, theories, tools, etc are different? We can't, at least not effectively anyway.

How often do we stop and ask, "are we on the same page here?" Is your definition the same as mine when we are talking about simple or complex concepts? Perhaps it isn't that we aren't being heard or we aren't listening, but that we aren't talking about the same thing while using the same words.

Next time, before I start this process, I will ask them what they define as a Mission and  Vision.  I should have been doing this all along instead of assuming that the way I see it is the way everyone sees it. After all, to assume makes an ass out of you and me!

The New Philanthropy

Back in the day of Rockefellar and Carnegie and others, we saw a real shift in the way donors began to think about giving back and making an impact. Charity had long been top of mind for anyone who wanted to help others, a cause, etc. Charity was/is easy, it meets an immediate need and does not always have to have a long, thought out process behind finding a solution to a problem. Charity is necessary and we always see a pendulum swing back toward this style of giving when the economy begins to slide.

Well, when Rockefellar and Carnegie (and others, there were definitely others, but for the sake of this post, let's keep it simple) came along with their mega bucks and powerful leverage in the world, they started a movement to something referred to as scientific philanthropy. They wanted to create long term and ongoing solutions to problems. This is not meant to be a history lesson, so I'm going to stop there with the background info, but there is a reason I bring it up. I feel that we are once again in a new era of philanthropy.

We have new power leaders in town (Gates, Buffett, Oprah, etc) and these folks are getting really tired of stroking a check without it being an investment that is going to work, create a major impact and it is going to be a VERY long term solution that will keep giving back. I, for one, am in love with this notion. Others, I think, are scared of it. What does this mean for us? Many leaders in the NPO world think it means nothing for them. They aren't going to change, their models are still going to work, they will still raise money.

This isn't totally incorrect. I have no doubt their models will still work for some and they will still raise money, but things will change - with or without them. See, it isn't just the big power gurus who are beginning to think this way. The entrepreneurs that you so desperately want on your board... they think that way too. Many donors are getting tired of you asking them time and again to give you millions of dollars. What did you do with the last round? Why are you not changing your model to make the funds you raised an investment rather than a gift?

Ok, Tucker, what are you talking about really? Let me give you an example that was related to me... and I think it makes the point. The local University wants to build a new music studio and library that teaches many languages, has a recording studio, etc... you get the picture. In order to make it happen in the best possible way, they will need to "raise" $10M from the greater community. You have two options, you can either do it the traditional way and go get a $3M gift and a $1.5M gift, a couple of $750,000 gifts and then move to the $500K level and so on. OR you can decide, let's look at this project a bit differently. You begin to ask, what would it take to generate revenue from the community for this facility in exchange for it being open to them? If you could answer that question and approach an investor/donor with the invitation to invest in this project, knowing that in 10 years, that $10M would be earned in revenue, then be reinvested... meaning that the original investment of $10M would continue to be reinvested... what else could you build, install, make happen?

So my question is why are we NOT thinking this way? What would it take to make us start thinking this way and asking these questions?

Because whether or not we, as nonprofit professionals, are ready to change in the face of this new philanthropy, our donors are there... I suggest we jump on this train and soon!

Transparency Scare...

It never ceases to amaze me how few people get excited about transparency. O.K., let me rephrase... it never ceases to amaze me how few board members, CEOs, CFOs, administrative leaders, etc. get excited about transparency, but it has ceased to surprise me. On the other hand, donors, shareholders, volunteers, community members, etc. are pleasantly surprised, elated, excited when these organizations do open their arms as say, "Trust us! We have nothing to hide. Ask us! We want to answer your questions. Drill us! We are prepared and ready."

My concern is never the organizations that want to show everyone what they are up to, their finances, their projections, but the ones that hold it so close to the vest. If I am your donor, volunteer, shareholder, etc. I want to know why you don't share that with me - openly, honestly, without hesitation. What is holding you back? What are you doing that you shouldn't be doing?

The lack of proactive transparency signals red flags. When I would hide things under my bed, it was never because I was excited at the prospect of my mother finding them... and my answer was typically, "It isn't mine! I'm holding it for Sammy."

So my question to you is this - are you ready to take ownership, answer questions, share your past, present and future with those who care so much about you or are you going to try and hide everything and blame it on poor Sammy when you have been discovered?

The Agitator has finally done it...

I read the Agitator's blog and if you don't, you should, because whether you agree or not, he at least makes you really irritated or makes you think and nod your head. Either way, he drives an emotional response.

I think one of the reasons this blog does get such a big reaction is because he always comes across as a "whatever I say is the absolute and if you don't believe me then you are seriously ignorant and misinformed." Now that may or may not be the intent, but regardless, that is how it is perceived... by me anyway.

So "The Agitator" aka Tom Belford very firmly believes that Gen Y and most of Gen X are a total waist of fundraising time. I have read his blogs and gotten so agitated at his narrow minded, think inside the box, lack of big picture thinking that I can barely stand it. It may not help that I am an incredibly reactionary person. After reading his post today, I couldn't take it anymore.

Tom points out that while Gen Y may have more people than Boomers at this time, they don't have any money, so spending time on them really isn't worth it... ok, so he actually said this in previous posts and then today talked more about having balance with it. Regardless, it is apparent that what he doesn't understand is that if you don't take the time to cultivate Gen Y NOW, you may lose your chance for the future with them... and let's face it, at some point, those people are going to have the money and power that you so desperately want to have engaged in your organization. So Tom, what happens then? Let's say people think you actually are RIGHT in that we shouldn't care so much about the younger generations because we all want immediate gratification and funding. Heaven forbid we think about the future and what could be possible if we actually did engage this social savvy, connected, influential group of people. You think Gen Y doesn't have influence, power, money? Really? Did you even see the Obama campaign? (I actually hate to use this example because I think it is too heavily used, but it does provide a great example.). Have you seen Charity Water take off? Tom's Shoes? Kiva? Regardless of what you think about the actual organization or cause, you can't argue that these thought leaders and YOUNG innovators have taken the philanthropic world by storm.

What is my point? My point is this, we have a choice to nod our head and agree with those who say we, Gen X and Y, have nothing to offer the philanthropic world at this time but our social networks and word of mouth (which is huge I might add... and to give a nod, Tom Belford did mention this), OR we can actually get our head out of our rears to look far enough into the future to say, huh, I know we have always done it this way, but perhaps it is time we open our minds to a new way of thinking and engaging...

In the end, The Agitator did its job... I am officially agitated!