Posted by 101fundraising in Crowdblog on Fundraising on April 2nd, 2012.

From now on, every quarter 101fundraising will share with you the best blog posts published in the past quarter.

If you don’t have time to read all the valuable information that they publish, at least read these 10…

According to Crowdblog readers these are the best blog posts of the first quarter of 2012:

(1) Unexpected (?) fundraising tool: your ears as your money makers – Vera Peerdeman
(2) Climate change needed for donor centric fundraising! – Reinier Spruit
(3) The 5 fastest growers and their recipe for success – Reinier Spruit
(4) Get away from your desk and remind yourself WHY – Margaux Smith
(5) Reader Beware: Contains Dangerous Ideas on How to Motivate (F2F) Fundraisers! – Jack Ryan
(6) It’s you, not me – Rebecca Davies
(7) How my pissed off donor came back… – Gerbren Deves
(8) I’m awesome. You’re awesome. We’re AWESOME… aren’t we? – Kimberley MacKenzie
(9) Un-define fundraising – Brock Warner
(10) Fundraising almost always involves “change” – Mitch Hinz

Which ones did you appreciate? And how will you translate these tools into your agency? Please share with us! We would also love to hear your thoughts on other types of postings you would like to see here.

Posted by Frank Barry to Online Fundraising in Netwits Thinktank on February 17th, 2012

The research in the 2011 donorCentrics Internet and Multichannel Giving Benchmarking Report and the 2011 Online Giving Report is extensive and well worth the read if you’re into all things fundraising, but I’d like to focus your attention on one piece of the findings for now.

The majority of giving still comes from offline channels, but online fundraising continues to be a significant source for acquiring new donors.

In fact, the dominant giving channel for new donors 64 years old and younger is online. Plus, revenue and household income for online acquired donors is significantly higher than for offline acquired donors. The trend towards online fundraising is an important one to pay attention to. Here’s why …

• It has become increasingly common for new donors to give their first gift online.
• In aggregate, online-acquired donors have much higher cumulative value over the long term than traditional mail-acquired donors.
• Every year, large proportions of online-acquired donors switch from online giving to offline sources – primarily to direct mail.
• In 2011, online giving was up 13% on a year-over-year basis when large International Affairs organizations are removed from the analysis.
• In 2011, 87% of organizations had at least one online gift of $1,000 or more. The median online gift of $1,000 or more was $1,200. 43% of these donations were between $1,000 and $5,000.
• The largest amount given online in 2011 was $260,000.

We found this post intriguing and wanted to share with you all. It gives us the opportunity to explore a little and let our mind wonder about the "what ifs." Heather Carpenter believes that we should be curious and idealistic in our mission to change the world. Check out her story, then tell us about your own in the comments!

By Heather Carpenter (originally posted September 30, 2011 on Heather Carpenter's Blog)

I was speaking to a recent graduate of the University of San Diego who wants to land a job in the Foundation world — the challenge is she hasn’t had much luck landing her first job. She’s super talented, already has interned in a nonprofit along with earning her Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from American Humanics…the only problem is, few foundations are hiring entry level positions.

It was great to see her excitement in wanting to change the world. Then I thought back to the 7 long years I have been working in the nonprofit sector and what would I do if took a different route in my career. What would I do if I worked in foundations and what I would do if I were a Foundation officer?

If I were a Foundation officer I (and my staff) would do needs assessments within nonprofits to identify which capacity issues were present to maintain the nonprofits’ current programs. Then I would fund each nonprofit for 5 years (at least $100k or more per year) in order for them to hire, train, and support staff to maintain their current programs. I would also fund operations and any other administrative and support needs to run the current programs. Then I (and my staff) would do more consulting within the organizations on management and leadership issues along with overseeing the strategic planning process.

Furthermore, after 5 years the nonprofits may be eligible for additional funding for program expansion based on the results of the strategic plan and the progress made during the previous 5 years they spent building their capacity to do their current programs. If the organization received additional money for program expansion, I would also fund program evaluations.

So I’m not a program officer — However, I have completed numerous grant applications and proposals to keep organizations running as well as I consult start up nonprofits on setting up their operations, so I’m quite biased on building capacity within nonprofits, but I’m curious…what would you do if you were a Foundation officer?

Do not hesitate to share! We would love to hear your ideal and practical answers.

Are we devaluing the things we accomplish every day by celebrating only the biggest accomplishments? Drew Dudley believes leadership is not a characteristic reserved for the extraordinary and argues that we need to redefine "leadership." Check out Drew's funny story and inspiring message, then tell us about your own "lollipop moment" in the comments!

The Philanthropy News Digest recently posted a great interview with, Sarah Durham, the author of Brandraising. She argues that marketing and communications are fundamental for successful fundraising and gives a snapshot of the principles of brandraising in just four minutes. She also predicts that mobile communications and fundraising is the next big thing. Watch the video and let us know what you think!

By Julie Mozena
It seems as if I’ve been writing grants since time immemorial, and while a few things have changed over the years (grants.gov, anyone?), most of the basic rules I’ve learned over the years still apply. Today I’ll focus on what I think are the two most important parts of a grant proposal: The Needs Statement and The Goals and Objectives (or Outcomes).

The Needs Statement: You have a great idea for a new program—now what? Clarifying what need you are trying to meet is critical to ensuring your argument holds water with the funder. Here are some tips to keep in mind:
1. Success is achieved thru adequate preparation: Invest your time in learning what the problem really is—don’t just assume you know it. Find research that offers evidence in support of your argument, so you can refer to it as you write your needs statement.
2. Ask yourself the important questions: Is the need you are trying to meet—and the program design you want to propose—truly in alignment with your agency’s mission? And—do you have resources/expertise to carry it out?

Typical mistakes in writing a Need Statement:
o Assuming the funder already knows the problem (they don’t know YOUR unique situation)
o Throwing out a laundry list of statistics without “humanizing” them (offer a case study or anecdotes to personalize the problem)
o Skipping the need statement and focusing on how you’ll solve the problem; or, focusing on past accomplishments without addressing the current need and proposed solution
o Making the proposal about your organization’s needs rather than the needs of your constituency. For example, an agency should not seek funding to upgrade its computers because it will benefit its staff. Instead, focus on the clients – how will the capital improvement benefit them? 


Goals/Outcomes/Objectives: These provide the underpinning/infrastructure for your great idea. Everything you write must tie back to these. By clearly stating your goals and objectives (or outcomes – the terms are used interchangeably), an agency assures potential participants and funders that its programs produces results, and shows the general public that it produces benefits that merit support. Tips include:
There is not a right number of outcomes for a program: Depending on the size and scope of your project/grant request you might focus on one outcome, or two, or three….

There are 3 types of outcomes:
1. Initial outcomes are the first benefits or changes in a participant’s new knowledge, attitudes, or skills: “Women are knowledgeable about basic financial literacy and basic business English.”
2. Intermediate outcomes are changes in behavior that result from participant’s new knowledge, attitudes, or skills: “Women follow guidelines for improving their financial situation and English language capabilities.”
3. Longer-term outcomes represent meaningful changes for participants, often in their condition or status: “Women achieve financial independence.”

There are innumerable resources to learn more about grantwriting. Some favorite resources include Story Telling for Grantseekers by Cheryl Clarke, workshops at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership (Grantwriting workshop on February 9!), and The Grantseeker Institute at the Foundation Center.

Julie Mozena, principal of Mozena and Associates, is a successful fundraising professional with over 20 years of experience in program planning, grantwriting, research, and training. She has helped countless nonprofits, school districts, and government agencies around the nation raise over $60 million in funding for needs such as after school recreation and enrichment programs, mental health and substance abuse services, public policy advocacy, and much more.

Our resource library is a perfect place to begin researching grants. The Library also houses an extensive collection of nonprofit literature on topics ranging from governance and board recruitment to step-by-step guides on how to start a nonprofit (501c(3)). Visitors to the Library and Resource Center can access the Foundation Center Online database with more than 100,000 grantmakers and one million grants.

We encourage you to take a look at these resources on your journey in search of the money:

Organizing Your Grant Writing Calendar

20 Tips Every Grantseeker Should Know

Grant Makers reveal the Most Common Reasons Grant Proposals Get Rejected

Come on by and visit our library. If you have visited before, please tell us about your experience.

We want to say CONGRATULATIONS to each of the 131 nominees and 12 winners of the Heart of Marin Awards! You are the Heart of Marin!

The Center is honored to host the Heart of Marin Awards Luncheon every year. The 2012 event was held yesterday, and the nonprofit, business and volunteer community gathered to celebrate individuals and organizations who are committed to building a better Marin. A crowd of nearly 800 people filled the Marin Center Exhibit Hall at the county fairgrounds in San Rafael.

Here are a few words from some of the winners:

For many of us in our personal and professional work, a new year means a new start with formidable resolutions. In the spirit of Wordless Wednesday we leave you to pontificate on this question:

In 2012, what are the three things you know you can realistically do that will help your community?

Photo Source

Inspiring Generosity encourages you to create a practical list of resolutions to help you stay on track toward your goals.

Last week, the Chronicle of Philanthropy invited a diverse group of leaders and thinkers to share their 2012 resolutions for the nonprofit world. A few of our favorites are:

By Marilee Eckert, CEO, Conservation Corps North Bay

Last year when Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB) was nominated for the Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence award I knew the competition would be stiff.

There are many nonprofit organizations in Marin County doing important work in our community. Some people think that there isn’t much need in a county where the average household income is one of the highest in the country. The truth is that for those fortunate enough to have financial resources this is a great place to live, but for those trying to survive on a low income it can be very difficult. It is very expensive to live in this county and those without adequate resources or with special needs can feel very isolated and disheartened. This situation makes the work of Marin’s nonprofit community that much more important. Fortunately there are many high quality long- standing nonprofit organizations that have developed to meet this need.

So when Conservation Corps North Bay was among a couple dozen other well established organizations nominated I was hopeful but in no way thought it would be a slam dunk. At the awards ceremony, my good friend Susan Gilmore from the North Bay Children’s Center has just won the Excellence in Leadership award and I was very excited for her. Next came the Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence. My feelings were high from Susan’s win, especially because Susan’s daughter was in the audience to witness her mother receiving the honor.

The pressure mounted as Julie Wilder from Autodesk came to the stage to present the Achievement in Nonprofit Excellence.

When Conservation Corps North Bay was named as the winner I got a rush of emotions and a big smile covered my face. I was so happy to have CCNB in the spotlight in that room filled with so many other people who are doing such great work in our community. As I made my way to the stage I caught a glimpse of my colleagues smiling and congratulating me. It was very exciting. When I got to the stage all I could think about was all the youth we serve and how this would help us to be able to serve even more.

As I looked out at the crowd I thought about how hard our corpsmembers work to improve their lives. The projects we do in the community mostly include hard physical labor and all of our corpsmembers also participate in a rigorous educational program. Sometimes the hardest work they do is changing their self-defeating behaviors and making changes in their lives that will keep them on “a path to a better future.” With eyes brimming with tears and my heart full of pride, I accepted the award in their honor.

A few of our favorite tweets from the last week:

Recently, we have been exploring the use of asset maps in our own organization. We found this method to be helpful because it encourages community participation and it goes beyond the paper and pen format or filling out a survey on a computer. We think they are great tools that involve partners and want to share what we have learned with you.

What is an asset map? An asset map provides a visual representation of the strengths and resources in a community.

Nonprofits have used asset maps as a way to find available resources, make program decisions, or map local public services, institutions, and/or community partners. Asset maps also promote connections or relationships between individuals and organizations.

There is no right way to make an asset map, but many opt for computerized mapping in which the locations of resources, institutions or programs are listed on a geographic map (also known as GSI mapping) . Below are a few tools we recommend to help you develop your asset map:

· GSI mapping on Google

· HealthyCity’s mapping tool

Asset Mapping in Practice

· Mapping for youth development

· Asset mapping to improve schools, develop communities, and promote volunteerism

· Asset mapping as a planning tool (Mapping 2011)

Want to continue exploring? See these additional links:

· Identifying community assets and resources

· Asset mapping in detail

Have you used asset maps in your work? Please share examples with us!

By Leyna Bernstein
from Leyna Bernstein Consulting's Blog

I’ve been serving on nonprofit boards since 1994, and I’ve been providing board training and consulting since 1998. So you’d think I would have figured out what it takes to develop a highly effective board of directors, right? Uh….not so much.

While I consider myself a certified “governance geek”, I still have more questions than answers about how we make the “unpaid volunteers managing paid professionals” thing work. There are, however, a couple of things I do know for sure.

I know that if you’ve seen one board…..you’ve seen one board.

A board model that works great for Habitat for Humanity doesn’t work at all for the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra. Even the board that worked well for you a few years ago may not be the right board for your organization now. You can go ahead and stop reading this now if you’ll promise to ask your board the question:
What does great performance look like for this board at this time in the life of our organization?

The other thing I know for sure is that you cannot have an effective board without the right board chair. All the training and consulting in the world won’t build you a great board if your chair isn’t the right leader for the job.

I know this first-hand because I was a pretty lousy board chair.  Why? Because I’m often certain that I have the answer, I’ll quickly give an opinion even when I don’t know the answer, I enjoy the sound of my own voice, and I’m not the most patient soul in the world. Trust me, these are not traits you want in the leader of a collaborative group of volunteer leaders.

So what makes for a really good board chair?  In very effective organizations, the board chair is a facilitative leader—helping to develop the board, focus its attention, engage it appropriately in governing the organization, and build a strong partnership with the executive director.

Here are my top 5 traits for a really good board chair:

Listener
 Rather than broadcast her own voice, a board chair should draw out the ideas, opinions and knowledge of the rest of the board. This means paying a lot of attention to who is speaking, and for how long, at board meetings. It means spending time one-on-one with board members to learn how they make decisions, and how comfortable they are speaking up when they disagree with the majority. And it means soliciting ideas for making board discussions as rich as possible.

Planner
 Most board meetings waste the precious time that boards have to discuss and make decisions together. Since the authority of a board rests only with the group, not with individual board members, time spent at meetings should be very efficiently used.

In partnership with the executive director, a really good board chair sorts out what is most critical for the board to do. She identifies important issues and questions to discuss at board meetings, and crafts agendas that make the best use of the board’s time in meetings.

Match-Maker
 Board members really do want to feel productive and engaged. A good board chair makes sure to match each board member with the committee/task force/project that best taps her unique skills, interests and contacts. The chair should also ensure that the board is always thinking about its own evolution, and that there is a system in place to regularly identify needs, recruit new members, and advance promising leaders to greater levels of responsibility.

If I had a dollar for every board chair who told me they took the job because “no one else would do it” I would be a much bigger donor than I am.

Partner
 Executive directors know their lives can change overnight based on who the board elects to serve as chair. A good board chair works hard to develop a partnership with the executive director, and helps maintain clear boundaries between the ED’s accountability and that of the board. The chair should be available and accessible, act as an advisor and sounding board (when asked), and provide support and constructive feedback within the context of clearly defined performance expectations.

Diplomat
 The chair should be the model for board members’ behavior, both in and out of the board room. She should be able to represent the organization well in public settings, and handle delicate situations with tact and skill. A good board chair will be both diplomat and ambassador, opening doors for the organization and helping make useful connections in the community.

We’ve seen the amount and quality of leadership training for nonprofit executives increase dramatically in the last decade. I’ve yet to see similar programs for board chairs. Maybe that should be a topic of conversation at the next Governance Geek convention…

A lot of people love this time of year: the trees changing colors, the cold weather and, for many, getting ready to have a feast with friends and family. But for most of us in the nonprofit world, this week represents the beginning of Year End Appeal Season. Many small agencies rely on the year-end appeal to make or break our budgets. Below I have put together a few tips that may help ease your anxiety and increase your rate of return for the mailing.

1.    Set a realistic goal and articulate it to your donors, staff and board. This will help your stakeholders feel like the agency has strategic goals to meet to ensure the fiscal health of the agency.
2.    Be specific. Treat the appeal like a campaign by giving it a finite beginning and end. Articulate this to your stakeholders: “we want to raise $15,000 by January 15 to ___(produce 3 new plays from local artists)____. Won’t you help us meet our goal?”
3.    Keep the letter to one page (single sided). Make it easy on your donors: state the case, tell a story, include a picture and then make the ask. Direct people to your website where you can tell the story of your work in more detail.  Sample letters from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

4.    Personalize your letters! This week I received over a dozen appeals in the mail and half of them were addressed to Dear Friend – if I gave you money in the past, I am more than a friend, I am a supporter, a believer and…I have a name!  20 phrases that will make your donors feel like heroes.
5.    Write a personal note on each and every letter. Have your board, staff and key volunteers write personal notes to their contacts. For the others in your database write a sincere note to ask for support.  Advice on making your letters more “conversational” from Guidestar
6.    Pay attention to the envelope. Hand address each one. Your letter gets noticed and increases the chance of someone opening it. Want to increase those odds? Use a colored envelope that is not red, green or blue.
7.    Post the appeal on your website. This will catch the attention of those donors who are comfortable with online giving – your letter may lead them to your site but the web is highly distracting and posting the appeal online reminds them why they are there.
8.    Email the letter as a reminder to your supporters. If you have a monthly e-newsletter, send the appeal out to that list and include the ability to share it via social networks.
9.    Thank before you bank. Sounds simple but takes putting some processes in place. A thank you note in a timely manner goes a long way to build good will. A late thank you note (say - after the New Year for a donation given in November) has the opposite effect.
The Art of saying Thank you and How to write a better thank you note.
10.    And at last – CELEBRATE! It’s January 15 and it’s the end of the appeal campaign. Gather your staff, board and volunteers, run the final numbers and celebrate. Even if you didn’t meet the goals you set, celebrate.  Include your donors in this celebration and make sure to articulate the results of the campaign to your constituents.

Want more advice? Check out Dear Joan and Mal Warwick and Associates (Direct Mail Guru).

By: Atashi Chakravarty, Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership

The 2011 Marin Nonprofit Conference was an amazing day of spectacular speakers, presenters and attendees all conspiring for the common good. We started the morning by writing our intentions on leaves that decorated handmade wire trees. If you missed out on the excitement, look for photos of the leaves on our website soon! We documented the day through video as people made their way in and out of sessions. See what they had to say below:

"The keynote speaker managed to bring together a lot of thoughts that I've been having." -Robert Jenkins



"I found the sessions incredible...I went to the session with Jeanne Bell and I got a lot out of it and I'm still thinking about it." -Sheryl Cardoza, Chief Development Officer at The Marin Humane Society



"It's been exhilarating! It's always fun to get together with members of the nonprofit community." -Bruce Burtch, Executive Director at 10000 Partnerships

How often do you think about the correlation between economic inequality at the state/federal level and the crises we see in the every day lives of many of our clients? In this interesting video from TED Talks, Richard Wilkinson (co-author of The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger) charts the hard data on economic inequality. He shows that, when rich and poor are too far apart, there are real effects on health, lifespan, and such basic values as trust.

Kim Klein's keynote address at Conspiring for the Common Good: 2011 Marin Nonprofit Conference on November 2nd uses The Spirit Level as a jumping off point for talking about the social sector's leadership role in creating a healthy society. She will then lead a "lab" session for a smaller group to continue the conversation. Want to join in? Register now at www.cvnl.org.