The Good Steward

After attending the Association of Donor Relations Professionals New York City Regional Workshop last Friday, I am feeling a bit refreshed and full of new ideas to try in the next year.  It’s one of my favorite times of the year, as the conference season is getting under way.  I say it all the time and will say it again — fundraisers need professional development opportunities (and many other things) to stay sane and effective.

There are many reasons that professional development is critical for fundraisers, but here are my top three reasons:

1. Time to recharge — We all can benefit from some time away from the office, which allows us to see the bigger picture and return to our work refocused.
2. Source of new ideas and inspiration — Conferences and workshops are always full of the latest and greatest ideas and strategies.  As Lynne Wester reminded us at the ADRP Regional Workshop, we can all learn from each other and borrow ideas  that will help our fundraising efforts.
3. Expand your network — Being able to pick up the phone or send a quick e-mail to a few fellow fundraisers with a question or issue is absolutely priceless.  Professional development events are the best place to make these connections and you should capitalize upon these opportunities to meet and get to know your colleagues.

What professional development events and associations have been useful in your fundraising career?  What events will you be attending this year?

For your information, I’ll be attending AFP’s International Conference in Vancouver next month (which I’ll be writing more about very soon), the New York Philanthropic Planning Symposium in May and Fundraising Day in New York this June.  I look forward to sharing some of the lessons I glean from these upcoming events with you.

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As National Mentoring Month 2012 draws to a close, I wanted to profile a young fundraiser that I have been mentoring.  I have had the pleasure of knowing Leticia John for probably about three years or so.  Leticia is the Development Officer at The Whitby School in Greenwich, Connecticut, with prior experiences at Iona College, Youth, I.N.C. and Changing Our World.  We first met while she was studying at our shared alma mater, The Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Graduate School of Public Service at New York University.  I have been and continue to be proud to help her in any way that I can as she builds a career and grows in the wide world of fundraising.

How did you get into fundraising?

Entering my first year as a graduate student at NYUWagner, I joined the Youth, I.N.C.’s  staff as an intern.  My program of study was a Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy.  I was thankful to obtain the position at Youth, I.N.C. because the organization worked with many small youth-serving non-profit organizations to help build their fiscal and managerial capacities to be successful in fulfilling their missions. Thus, I had a firsthand opportunity to work directly with executive directors, participate in trainings that focused on management, board development and of course strategic fundraising among many other topics. Working at Youth, I.N.C. was an invaluable experience, where I was able to learn the essentials of supporting start-up/small NPO’s and how to raise funds through one-on-one solicitations, direct mail solicitations, events and board development.

I decided to stay within the fundraising field because I realized it was an essential skill to have in the non-profit sector. Furthermore, there is always a demand and need for individuals to take on the responsibility of soliciting funds, whether through fundraising events or one-on-one interactions.  I also believed that I would develop a skill set that would be transferable in many other professions (e.g. policy and campaign management, program and event management, communications, executive leadership positions in public and or non-profit organizations and the like).  To the same extent, I really enjoy my daily activities as a fundraiser because it fits my personality — I get to plan events, meet new people, do research and make a real difference that has an immediate effect. Closing and stewarding a $10,000 gift and what that $10,000 can provide for an organization gives you an awesome feeling.

Based on your experience at Iona College, what are some pros and cons of higher education fundraising?

I’m not sure if my answer will be unique, but typically institutions of higher education have larger and more dynamic fundraising programs and capacities.  One of the biggest opportunities is that you have a larger pool of people to solicit.  It’s a great arena for someone to start their career; you can test materials, events, approaches, etc.  An obvious con is that higher ed (in my experience) is more bureaucratic and there may be too many “cooks” in the kitchen (for example, Vice Presidents, Assistant Vice Presidents, Directors, Associate Directors, Campaign Managers, etc.) with roles that can be very segmented or overly cloudy.  Some may also suggest that it’s harder (depending if you are raising unrestricted or restricted funds) to build a case and/or illustrate the impact of funds raised.

Nevertheless, I loved my experience at Iona because it was dynamic and there were so many opportunities to develop my skill set as a fundraiser.  The catch to any fundraising program is assessing if it has sufficient capacity and enough resources to effectively take advantage of those opportunities.

I think a larger conversation can be had on the pros and cons of working for a small or large fundraising team, though it really depends upon what you want to accomplish in your career as a fundraiser.

In your non-fundraising life, what are you passionate about?

Oh, this is thought-provoking!  I make an earnest attempt to just enjoy life.  I am very social and truly enjoy interacting with people.  There are so many beautiful places, tasty foods, fun adventures to experience — why not be passionate about experiencing it all with friends and family.

Where do you see the future of fundraising in the next 10 years?

I think the field is on an upward trajectory. However, I believe that raising/soliciting money is also becoming very personal.  We all know that people give to people, but donors are becoming much more strategic in the organizations they support and supporting organizations that are personal to them, have meaning to them, relate to them, and have an effect on them.  As a result, fundraising has to become more creative and interactive.  It will be interesting to see if nonprofits with similar missions will compete or collaborate as they grow to make impact.

I also think that fundraisers who are in senior leadership positions are more inclined to stay in their positions than ever before.  I imagine this will have a negative impact on junior and mid-level fundraisers who are trying to advance their careers.  Nevertheless I think fundraisers will always be in demand and they will become an invaluable source to an organization the longer they are there raising funds.

If you didn’t have a chance to read last week’s Fundraising Mentor Profile, check it out here.

Do you have any questions for Leticia?  Has your fundraising career been similar to hers?  Do you see the future of fundraising in the same way?

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Since January is National Mentoring Month, I wanted to take this opportunity to profile one of my fundraising mentors, Michele Minter, the former Vice President of Development at The College Board and former Director of Development at Princeton University.  Michele is currently working as the Vice Provost for Institutional Equity & Diversity at Princeton.  I first learned about Michele from her father, a former community foundation leader, and have had the pleasure of knowing her for the last few years.  I hope that you take something away from her distinguished career in our field.

How did you get into fundraising?  Why did you build a career in this field?

This year I chose to make a transition out of professional fundraising in order to focus on Higher Education administration more broadly, but I am still deeply committed to and involved with philanthropy and the advancement field.  I’m co-editing a book for CASE on donor education, which will be a resource for advancement professionals who want to understand better how to organize a family philanthropy program, a giving circle, or activities that will help donors become more confident, informed and effective in their philanthropy.  I also serve on the Leadership Council of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University and as a steering committee member for the Women’s Funding Network’s “Millions Give Back: A Black Women’s Philanthropy Campaign” project.  And I try to keep my development skills from getting rusty by doing some fundraising for local causes.

Stay tuned for next week’s profile, which will be of an impressive young fundraiser that I have been fortunate to mentor over the last few years.

Do you have any questions for Michele?  Did anything in Michele’s experience stick out to you or resonate with you?  How have you benefited from mentors in your fundraising career?

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Every now and then, I will share a quick anecdote that can serve as a reminder to all of you wonderful fundraisers out there why you should be taking part in the ever-expanding community of fundraising and non-profit professionals on Twitter.  Here’s my first one, so please do enjoy . . .

When I first joined Twitter almost two years ago, I really had no idea that other fundraisers were using it, let alone how they were making use of it.  Now I never imagined that I could end up using Twitter as a source of prospect research, but it turns out that I did earlier this year.  While checking the latest tweets of the day, I stumbled upon a link to an article from Bloomberg Markets magazine entitled “Hidden Billionaires: Eight Really Rich People You’ve Probably Never Heard Of.”  Now if you know me (which some of you dear readers do, if only through this blog, LinkedIn and/or Twitter), you know that I see this sort of list as a bit of a challenge; when I see things like this, I always check the names on the off chance that someone is in our alumni database or is perhaps related to someone who is.  Occasionally I find a connection and this was one of those great times — it turns out that one of the billionaires on this list is married to an I-House alumnus.  Now I can say with great certainty that there is very little possibility that I would have stumbled upon this information at a later date, because we did not even know that this alumnus was married.

I say all of this to strongly encourage you to join Twitter, to start following your fellow fundraising & non-profit professionals (along with those news sources that interest you), and to join this dynamic community!  And when you join, be sure to tweet me @dan_blakemore.

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While completing a major stewardship mailing last week, I recalled that I needed to document the production process for this mailing (one that I first introduced last year to provide an annual report of sorts to all of our donors).

As someone who is a tireless cheerleader for the fundraising profession, I know firsthand why it is important to document these processes and assure continuity for our organizations.

Institutional memory is a critical part of the foundation of all organizations, but especially for non-profits and most especially for the development office in non-profit organizations.  When this memory is lost through staff turnover, the organization’s fundraising message can get muddled, relationships that were being actively managed can be squandered and overall fundraising efforts can become stalled indefinitely.

Smooth transitions among fundraising staff can significantly reduce the amount of time that a new staffer needs to get up to speed with the usual workings of an organization.  In my current role, I have been the beneficiary of well-documented work processes and it has made all the difference, especially when it came to executing major mailings and reports for the first time.  In addition to documenting processes, I have found it helpful to remain available for your successor (ideally in situations where you have left your position amicably) as he/she begins to pick up where you left things.  After leaving a past position, I willingly responded to queries from my successor for months and did so out of respect for the organization and my contributions to that fundraising program; now everyone is not as over the top as I am and I don’t expect them to be, but these realities of transitions are rarely discussed.

I sincerely believe that it is a vital part of our duty to our organizations as fundraising professionals to do all that we can to assure that they can go on in the future without us; I believe that the best way to assure this is to leave a clear record of how things were done in the past.

How are you documenting your work in your current position?  Have you benefited from your predecessors documenting their work processes?

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After Rory Green asked me on Twitter yesterday about the best ways to learn about fundraising, way too many ideas came to mind that I could not get them all out of my head and into 140-character sections to answer her question.  In an effort to make it easy for you, dear readers, I have compiled a list of the top seven ways to deepen your fundraising knowledge:

1.  Do the work: If you are currently working in non-profit fundraising, the best way to deepen your knowledge is to take on stretch assignments.  Not only will you demonstrate your value to your boss and co-workers, but you will also have something substantial to add to your resumé.

2.  Engage with mentors: An easy way to build up your knowledge of fundraising is to identify and engage with a few seasoned fundraisers as mentors; these professionals will be able to help you develop professionally, serve as a sounding board for ideas you may have and generally help guide you through this work.

3.  Join a professional association/networking group: Whether it’s the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Association of Donor Relations Professionals, the Partnership for Philanthropic Planning, or a Meetup group, you should take full advantage of opportunities to engage with fellow fundraisers.  You never know what you may learn and who you could meet.

4.  Volunteer: Some say that the best training is through trial by fire.  If you volunteer with a group that you are already involved in to help out in fundraising, you could end up learning about more grassroots fundraising, how to craft sponsorship proposals for the business leaders in your community or anything else on the fundraising spectrum.

5.  Read industry publications: As you build a career in fundraising, it is absolutely imperative that you stay up on the current trends and happenings in the field.  A great way to do this is to subscribe to and regularly read at least one of these publications: The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Fundraising Success Magazine, Advancing Philanthropy (a subscription to which you get as a member of AFP), Planned Giving Today, and The Non Profit Times.

6.  Attend workshops & seminars or enroll in formal certificate/degree programs: A few times a year (time and registration costs permitting), you should be sure to attend a workshop or seminar related to your area of fundraising; these are usually a good combination of professional development and networking.  If you are in the Greater New York area, my two favorites are the New York Philanthropic Planning Symposium and Fund Raising Day in New York, sponsored by the local PPP and AFP chapters respectively.  If you live near one of the regional offices of The Foundation Center, they consistently offer interesting sessions on diverse topics in fundraising and philanthropy.  To take this a few steps further, you could also consider a graduate degree or certificate program in fundraising, philanthropy and/or non-profit management (in a later post I will share why I pursued a graduate degree and how it led me to my career in fundraising).

7.  Engage on social media: To take your learning to the next level, you should be actively participating in the conversations occurring on Twitter and the multitude of blogs and websites focused on fundraising (like this one!).  I am continually surprised and impressed by all of the people that I have been able to engage with and learn from through these media.

I hope that you find these strategies useful and that you will put them to use in your career.

Does this list reflect your experience?  Did I leave anything off my list?

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At the end of a very interesting NYU panel discussion last month, the panelists offered some great quick tips for managing a career in fundraising and philanthropy, which I am pleased to share with you below:

• Stay immersed in the current topics in your field (the specific issue area in which your organization works AND fundraising/philanthropy overall).

• Think reflectively on the skill sets that you possess and what others may be necessary in the sector.

• Assure that you are fluent in the various parts of fundraising, as you should find it easier to be more of a generalist and have the flexibility to comfortably work on different pieces of the puzzle.

Do you agree with these tips?  Have you used them in your own career?  What other tips would you suggest for managing a successful fundraising career?

If you did not read my recap of last month’s NYU panel discussion on how fundraising and philanthropy are faring as the American economy recovers, check it out here.

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This recent post on the 101fundraising crowdblog got me thinking about conversations I have had since starting my current position.  In most conversations about the particularly high turnover among fundraising staff, the focus is on the plentiful opportunities in the field, the tendency among many to leapfrog from one organization to another in one to two years and the innate pressures of having to raise money (especially in an economy like this one).  It is especially important that non-profit organizations focus on retaining their development staff members, as the role of institutional memory is critical to the long-term maintenance of donor relationships.  However, one point that rarely comes up is the responsibility that each non-profit has to retain its staff.  As I have been very pleased to gush to anyone who will listen, I-House has particularly impressed me with how staff appreciation is ingrained into the organizational culture (especially in comparison to where I have worked in the past).

A few I-House examples that other organizations could consider replicating:

-Mid-year and annual performance reviews
-A staff development line in each departmental budget to support professional development activities
-Quarterly stipends for perfect attendance
-Grocery store gift cards for the winter holidays
-Recognition of milestone staff anniversaries (people are known to work here for many years — my boss just hit the 25-year mark)
-The Dining Room (a special one for my fellow foodies out there or those who just don’t want to leave the building everyday to get lunch)

Of course, I understand that many non-profits cannot implement all of these initiatives easily or quickly, but I want to get professionals in our sector thinking about ways to be more intentional about staff retention.

Non-profit organizations should not feel like all staff appreciation activities are high-cost or that a simple “thank you for your hard work” cuts it all the time.  Young non-profit professionals like myself especially thrive on regular feedback and will work ourselves silly for our cause (as will most other non-profit professionals); regular acknowledgment and sincere appreciation help “grease the tracks” and keep staff members going when multiple projects are due or a big event is coming up.  While this is a decent start, I hope that you will encourage our organizations to become more intentional about staff retention.

How is your organization explicitly or implicitly encouraging you to stay there?  Did a former employer do anything that encouraged you to stay longer or to leave sooner?

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Last month, I had the pleasure of attending the last session of the Philanthropic Planning Group of Greater New York‘s The ABC of Gift Planning seminar series, which focused on ethics and stewardship in planned giving.  The seminar was facilitated by veteran fundraiser and consultant Davida Isaacson; you can read Davida’s full bio (and more about the seminar) here, but let’s suffice it to say that she is one of the big names in the field especially after her amazing tenure at WNET/New York, where she helped raise $30 million in planned gift initiatives for the $65 million Campaign for Thirteen.

I learned a great deal in this session and want to share with you some of those lessons that may help you in managing your planned giving program (or serve as points to consider as you add planned giving to your fundraising program):

The primary ethical issue for fundraisers in planned giving is the tension between who’s interest are you serving — the donor or your organization?
As a fundraiser, you likely have a long and trusted relationship with your planned giving donors, but you also have a responsibility to secure gifts for your organization that will help support its mission for the foreseeable future.  When a donor wants to make a gift that may be more beneficial to him/her and not as useful to the organization, on which side will you fall?  [This is when Davida would start advocating that every non-profit organization compose its gift acceptance policies, which would provide a clear understanding of what gifts will be accepted; the processes of evaluation, valuation, disposal, etc.; what gifts you will not accept; etc.]

Planned giving is more vulnerable to ethical issues.
“Why?” you may ask, well you are usually dealing with older donors, with whom you and/or your organization tend to have longstanding relationships and are likely to trust you.  One particularly interesting issue that can arise in this work is the mental competence of the donors making these commitments.  How would you deal with a donor who is showing signs of dementia but wants to make a planned gift?  Is it even your place to bring this up?

Access to your fundraising database usually presents an ethical issue.
Have you considered that volunteers using your fundraising database could access all sorts of private information on your donors, board members, etc.?  Only because this came up while managing interns have I given this some thought before.  You should set up restricted access logins for your volunteers and anyone else who may need to access a certain part of your fundraising database; if this is not an option, you need to set some office policies in place about how information is provided to volunteers.

Your gift servicing operations must be viewed as a part of the stewardship process.
Providing tax reports, copies of completed agreements, endowment reports, acknowledgments and the like are another way to solidify the relationship with your donors.  By getting documents like these to the donor in a very timely manner, they are more likely to trust you and may even consider making another gift (especially when this is paired with more ongoing stewardship activities).  Be sure to review these processes in your organization and assure that there is a maximum turnaround of a few days.

A few other quick tips:
-When making calls to planned giving prospects or donors, do not get into too much detail if you have to leave a message.  Davida made a great point that the spouse or family of a donor may not agree with his/her intention to make a planned gift and may not pass on the messages if they know why you are calling.
-Use a gift disclosure form like this sample that Davida provided in the seminar materials.  A document like this gives you and your organization some extra protection in the case that the family or other potential heirs of your donor want to contest the gift at a later date.

Have you thought about any of these issues before?  What changes would you make to your planned giving program in light of these points?

P.S.  If you would like to see Davida in action and live in the NYC area, you should join PPGGNY or keep your eyes open for the class schedule at NYU’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy & Fundraising.

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This recent post from Fundraising Detective raises a very good question: Should fundraisers give to the charity they work for?

As was noted in the post and in some of the comments, I think that fundraisers should consider making a regular gift (of whatever size) to the organization where they work because it is important that you have given before you ask others to do the same (assuming that you are indeed passionate about the work your organization is doing — a prerequisite for fundraisers in my humble opinion).  However, I do understand the argument on the other side about putting in extra hours and going above and beyond your job duties for your organization.

I have made it a point to support the places I have worked as a fundraiser and think it has made me a better fundraiser.  What do you think?  Feel free to comment below and on the Fundraising Detective post.

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