Elizabeth P. Fitzgerald's Blog, page 4

Corporate Sponsors – how much to ask and ROI

First of all, start early, even a year in advance of your event, to give potential sponsors time to budget for your request.

After you consider a company’s philanthropic priorities (interest), how business has been (ability to give), and their connection to your organization (linkage; probably through a relationship with someone in your organization), you will have a feel for an appropriate sponsorship level to solicit.  Here are suggested gift ranges:

Ask your contacts at companies with over 50 employees to sponsor, for example, the food at $20,000 with your event budget to validate the requestAsk companies with 12- 49 employees to sponsor in the single-digit thousandsAsk mom and pop shops for amounts in the hundreds

Choose the amount to request based upon your personal knowledge, experience, and these recommendations.

Because your contact may need to persuade their board of directors, partners, or CEO to agree to the sponsorship, include the following with your request.  Because some contacts will not want to meet, include everything you want to discuss with them in your introductory document such as:

A description of the eventEvent budgetThe specific amount, or narrow range, of sponsorship you hope to receiveTimelineinclude the return on investment (ROI) you are offering the potential sponsor

Here are some sample returns on investment:

For a major sponsor, you consider offering naming rights.Introducing the speaker, or speaking at the eventProvide up to three minutes to promote the sponsor’s business (good for them) and to explain why they chose to partner with your nonprofit (good for you)A link to their website homepage on yoursSponsorship acknowledgment on your websiteTheir logo on all event promotional materialsA thank you note published on social media and in local newspapers after the event that lists all event sponsors, largest sponsorships firstTheir logo on your websiteMentioning their company on any public service announcements and/or radio advertisementsTheir logo on billboard promotionsDisplay and distribute sponsor’s promotional materialsTheir logo on event name tags, table tents, overhead projection during the event, etc.

Know your local economy and adjust the ROI you offer to fit your situation. 

Lastly, beyond corporate sponsors:

Apply to local community foundations and service clubsAs your organization searches for grant funding, build a list of foundations that offer event sponsorships, too

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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Charity Board Meeting Minutes

What needs to be documented in your board minutes?

First, it’s a good idea to have your board secretary record minutes, freeing the chair to facilitate the meeting.

Then, this is the only information that needs to be recorded in your minutes:

AttendanceYour quorum (ex. “membership 9/present 7”)Decisions madeAction step assignments

The approved minutes become part of your corporate record.  Along with your bylaws and articles of incorporation, board meeting minutes are the foundation of your policy manual.

Finally, I recommend that you include your mission statement and a current list of pending action steps at the bottom of each meeting’s agenda to help the group stay focused and moving forward.

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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Right and in the Minority

Photo: Chinook Pass #ThanePhelan

What can you do when you find yourself in the right and in the minority? 

There’s a hot topic under discussion within your nonprofit board of directors.

Here are 7 Tips to help you navigate the situation:

Express your position in the discussion. If you fail to persuade the group, ask that the topic be revisited at the next meeting, giving everyone time to think over the problem.Come prepared to the next meeting with data, and possibly witnesses, to defend your position.Sometimes you will find support from the front, from the side, or even from the back of the room.  If possible, draw out your support.After discussion, if the topic isn’t tabled, vote your conscience.Then, this is important, ask the meeting secretary to note the reasons for your “No” vote or abstention in the minutes.  Make sure the note is complete and accurate before the group moves on.  Taking the time to include your statement of objection may influence the group to reconsider its position on the spot.  If not, you have distanced yourself from the impropriety.Depending upon the gravity of the situation, you may need to seek legal advice.

If your nonprofit builds a culture of integrity and accountability, unethical folk won’t stick around.

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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Easily Build your Policy Manual

Your policy manual helps you stay the course..

Systematic record keeping simplifies the retrieval of records when they are needed. – Government of Canada

Your policy manual will help newcomers find and honor the direction you have set, grow and maintain a healthy organization, and maintain high-quality delivery of services.  If you don’t already have one, you can easily get started today. 

Your board meeting minutes contain the decisions handed down from the beginning. Include board decisions that affect the way things are done in your manual.  There may be a sample you can use to get started from a similar organization or a nonprofit consultant.  If you are building a new manual or making big changes, ask your legal counsel to look things over before board approval.  Your lawyer will know current best practices in many areas, and can add them for you.

Your manual can guide you through difficult situations.  For example, if you have an employee conflict to address, the task becomes easier when you can refer to a board-approved protocol that outlines action steps.  When people are upset, having an established conflict resolution, or emergency management, policy can keep everyone safely working at their best. 

What else do you include?   New or updated procedures your staff develops, job descriptions and administrative checklists, all go in your manual.  When there is turnover, your manual helps with new employee orientation.  The people who come after you will be glad you took the trouble to document all this. 

You don’t have time for this!  No problem. Ask your board to organize a short-term board member task force to complete the project or to find the right volunteer(s). 

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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Who’s on First? Administrative Checklist

Costello: Look, you gotta pitcher on this team?

Abbott: Now wouldn’t this be a fine team without a pitcher.

Costello: The pitcher’s name.

Abbott: Tomorrow.

Costello: You don’t wanna tell me today?

– Abbott & Costello

Here at the frontend of the new year, with high turnover caused by the new coronavirus, be proactive and avoid confusion. Build or update your administrative checklist.

Your checklist is not just for you.  It is the single most helpful document you will leave for your replacement and for your organization when you are out sick or move on.  The legal counsel at a small nonprofit where I served as business administrator advised me to build a month by month administrative checklist summarizing my responsibilities, project timelines, and deadlines.

At the next organization I worked for, we built a team timeline for review at staff meetings.  After our capstone event, we discussed the reality that our timeline for preparing had been too short.  We agreed to move the start date up by three months.  As a result, the next year’s event planning went more smoothly and we secured more corporate sponsorships.  Yay!

Include everything that helps your job or team run smoothly like:

deadlines for licensesgrant application schedulesperformance reviewsthe date your sponsor “thank you” message should be published

Your checklist will help your organization focus on “important but non-urgent” task management, which according to Stephen Covey and my experience can be revolutionary.

Here’s a bonus tip:  Add a reminder to update your website and other online giving portals every fall to prepare for year-end online giving. 

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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30 Traits of Successful Nonprofit Boards

Use this list to facilitate a conversation on ways to strengthen your nonprofit charity board.

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

– Robert Collier

30 Traits of Successful Boards

Work first for the organization; then for their constituentsSurvey community needsGovern, not manage – your CEO managesWork within the focus of the organization’s missionBuild a culture of honesty, respect and humilitySet the course through long-range strategic planningUnderstand that nonprofit governance requires good business skillsEstablish, document and communicate guiding principles and policiesMonitor compliance with guiding principles and policiesParticipate in fundraising activitiesUnderstand that all authority resides with themClearly delegate authorityHave one employee – the CEOCultivate a high level of trust and confidence in the CEOHire slowly; fire fastUse task forces for well-defined projects with specific deadlinesUse committees for long-term or recurring project managementMake board development an ongoing priorityProvide new board member orientationRecruit new members for commitment to the mission of the organizationSpeak with one voiceMeetings may look like study sessions with few items discussed in detailRespect the agendaMeetings focus on the long term future more than the presentFocus individual efforts on what members do bestTrack resultsDiscuss conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interestHave diverse membershipUse resources in decision making such as budget, bylaws, articles, etc.Meet at least once each year just for fun

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

This list is found in Chapter 5 of my book, “Build Your Boat …Reach Your Destination.

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12 Grant Writing Tips

You can boost your grant writing success. Read on!

Apply for your 501(C)(3) nonprofit status with the IRS.

Use Candid’s Foundation Center website to search at http://foundationcenter.org Pro Tip:  join their email newsletter list to receive notices on new grants.

Claim your Guidestar profile and keep it current. 

Search for funding priorities that align with your mission. Besides using the Foundation Center database,

Find local grants through community foundations and service clubs.

What amount do you request?  Search past recipients with projects like yours to see what they were granted.  You can sometimes call and ask.

Build relationships & gather information – Ask for an appointment with someone on the grant-making team to discuss your proposal(s

Follow application directions and recommended format.  Answer questions clearly and plainly.  Unless they specify otherwise, use a 12 point font.  

Make sure your budget data balances.

Use percentages and “We”, not “I”.  For example, “75% of our students scored above 80% on the ITBS” sounds better than “6 students scored…”

Personalize each answer, but don’t start from scratch.  Build a file for your grant “parts and pieces” such as. list of board members, your organization’s history, your mission, project summary, community need, etc.

Upon notification, yes or no, send a thank you. Fulfill reporting requirements.

In closing, grant writing is a “long game”.  Keep applying.  Competition can be fierce by sheer volume of applications received.  Consistently spend 10 – 15% of your fundraising hours on grant writing. 

As always, I am hoping for your every success!

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Having trouble finding a qualified development director?

If so, you’re not alone…

According to Wipfli’s 2020 Nonprofit Challenges and Priorities Benchmark survey, nonprofits reported concerns about the talent gap.  Staffing-related issues ranked high:

49% said recruitment/workforce is a top challenge

49% said staffing and wages were a top financial concern

In 2015, the same trend was discussed in “Underdeveloped”, a survey of nonprofit leaders conducted by CompassPoint.  Read their report here.  This report found that turn-over is high and well qualified candidates can be hard to find.  For example, of the development directors surveyed half (50%) anticipated leaving their current jobs in two years or less.

All this, before COVID-19 added social distancing, and employee absences due to illnesses, and disruptions in child or dependent care to the mix we need to manage.

Unless you are in the fortunate minority of nonprofits with CEO’s who has a background in fund development, knowing how to hire and support a competent development director is critical to your organization’s success.  

These tips can help immensely:

Hire someone with 5 or more years’ development experience at one organization. If you see a resume with several short stays in past development positions, this candidate is likely missing essential skills.  A poorly skilled development director can “fake it” for about two years.  If you really like this candidate, check references carefully and read on. Hire for soft skills and provide training.

Good soft skills include but are not limited to:

a passion for your missiondiplomacyinitiativeproblem solving

Before posting this career opportunity, define the soft skills and personality traits that fit your and organization’s needs and culture. 

The “How to” stuff can be learned.

Hire a consultant to mentor your new or current development director.  This is a great investment!  Negotiate a number of hours per month with the consultant that fits your budget. Provide funding and time for online learning through courses and seminarsAllow and expect development staff to spend time at their computers learning from the Kresge Foundation’s online library or asking questions on LinkedIn Professional Groups.  Maybe Friday afternoons…Service club membership dues are a worthwhile relationship-building business expense for your development staff.  A COVID Era tip: Coordinate small group Zoom meetings with the CEO or a board member, the development director and a nonprofit expert known to your team.

The return on these investments will be seen in fundraising results.

To attract and keep the best, pay a competitive salary for your area.  These are difficult times, which is all the more reason tocompete for the best candidates.

 If your charity is are among the 37% indicating that COVID-19 is causing organization hardship due to a lack of funding, (cfrrr.org/), the development director position is one to keep well-funded while cuts are essential elsewhere.

Connect your Development Director with your community personally. 

When Misty Copeland was chosen in 2015 as the first African American principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre, their leadership team realized she would need support.  They helped build a network of New York City’s influential African American women community leaders to help her see what good hope her accomplishment was giving to our black community.  Intentionally build a support team for your DD.

Lift up your lead fundraiser:

Give your development director the floor.  Schedule, monthly reporting/teaching opportunities at your board meetings.Build a team of volunteers to help your Development Director.  After board members and personal referrals, look into unpaid or paid interns, AmeriCorps Vista, and VolunteerMatch.comYour CEO and/or board president can personally invite individual board members, colleagues, donors, and vendors to make introductions to prospective donors through their service clubs, businesses, and LinkedIn connections.Introduce your development director to other successful development colleagues in your area.

Let’s fill the gaps, so our organizations can weather our current storm of challenges!

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How to Build a Reserve during an Economic Downturn and Pandemic

Nonprofit’s can grow strong during adversity…

“Recent research confirms that the majority of nonprofits have woefully inadequate reserves in case of funding cuts or, more generally, if there’s a significant downturn in the economy.” – For Purpose Law Group 2020

So, when is the right time to start saving?  There’s COVID, right, staffing challenges, economic uncertainty…

Talk with your board of directors at your/their next meeting, as “now” is always the best time to start building a reserve.  Recommend setting aside a percentage of revenue going forward.  If needed, start with 2 – 5%. 

Increase that percentage every year as you’re able, until you’re at 10%. 

Whenever an unexpected large donation comes in that is not earmarked for a specific purpose, add a larger part to your reserve.

Eventually, you will have enough money in your reserve to cover 3 – 6 months of expenses. This is a good first goal.

hen, save more to start a future expansion or building project.  Take a patient, long-term approach.

Sometimes, board members feel they work for their constituents, first.  But, legally and practically, they are responsible for the sustainability and health of the organization.  When your board keeps the organization strong, then you’re ready, in good times and bad, to take care of your constituents.

As always, I work for you and am hoping for your every success.

– Elizabeth, Owner of Kronstadt Consulting

Posting regularly on Instagram:   4Nonprofits

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Local Funding

COVID-19 impacting your funding? Help is nearby…

So, where is local money for your charity nonprofit?

Ask individuals with a link to your organization, interest, and the ability to give. Your local and regional community foundations Local bank branches, hospitals, and credit unions Service clubs, especially Rotary International Many large corporations practice employee giving through Benevity.com Easily register your nonprofit with them today. Local businesses with connections to your organization – like your vendors

This list is in order of my experience – larger likely gifts to smaller.

Don’t know anyone at these places? Check your LinkedIn connections for an introduction.

Ask, ask; ask.

As always, I work for you and am hoping for your every success!

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