Boards run amok…or the stress, the stress, the stress

I got another one of those calls today –

“I don’t know what my board thinks it’s doing but they’re hurting each other’s feelings and they’re not making it any easier for me to get my job done.”

And after my initial reaction:

“What the heck is going on with these otherwise reasonable people?”

I started thinking about the stress level of Board members today.

Red ink abounds.

Groups are facing very difficult programmatic scenarios – way beyond cutting just travel and staff development costs.

Boards are making tough calls about invading endowments, spending rainy day funds, projecting deficit budgets and white knuckling it through.

And while the stress on nonprofit staff is not to be diminished, the stress on board members hasn’t been talked about much. 

And add to that board members’ own job-related stress.  Or, worse, lack-of-a-job stress.

What I sometimes see coming out of that pressure is a brusqueness, a rush to get the hard decisions made and live with the consequences – and a lack of process and relational behavior. 

Now I’m all for plain talk about the key issues in the room (does this program really return mission-value? what would happen if we cut out or deferred this entire budget line?), but running rampant over each other doesn’t help anybody.

It’s a tough Fall.  Let’s be good to each other.

So here’s my personal example.  I’m a board chair and last week as part of a regular chat with my executive director, after we went over the current grim financials, she complained that the staff was working at 150% yet there was no praise from the board, only picking at errors and omissions.  After a wave of defensiveness, including, I’ll admit, feeling guilty that as board chair I can’t personally solve the organization’s difficult financial straits – I channeled my better self.

I took a little time out of the board meeting later that day, to thank her, and the staff.  I noted that while we were all under a lot of strain, and continuing to hone our vision and programs under excruciatingly tough financial circumstances, we, the board, could go home, whereas this situation was, in fact, the staff’s “home” – where they lived everyday.

The whole tenor of the room lifted.  The sniping stopped, and a climate of gratefulness and graciousness took hold.

How can we bring more of that to the nonprofit universe?

Special Events: Full Speed Ahead or Reverse Course?

I received this plaint in my inbox last week…

“When and how do you determine at what point you call off a fundraiser?  Our event is scheduled for a month from now, but our board hasn’t secured any sponsors yet and our main fundraiser on the board is caught up in a new venture at work and hasn’t done anything so far…

Can you give me some guidance that I could present to my board tomorrow night? “

Signed,

Miss Yes-I-Know-I-Need-New-Board-Members!

That’s a good question, and one that more nonprofits should be asking themselves these days, I fear.

The answer, quite frankly, comes down to a cost benefit analysis.

As with so many difficult decisions, a chart can  help to weigh a few options.

If you create a spreadsheet where the first column is the original goals for the event – whatever you hoped you would accomplish with the event when you first started out; the second column is likely results in each area; and the third column is minimum results in each area that would make it worth it – you’ve got your projected benefits.

Now, at the bottom of this spreadsheet (or you can do it on a separate tab if you like), list the costs – what it's costing your agency both in real dollars, in staff/board time and attention (don’t skip this critical component), and the opportunity costs of what you aren't able to go after because of focus on this event.

Then think about if there's any possible way to boost the LIKELY projected benefits, and to reduce the costs in these areas.

And then, in a cold, hard calculation, you need to determine whether the benefits are worth the cost.

And finally, if they're not, how you can reverse course with minimum damage – if that's even possible.

So whether you should (cancel) is not always synonymous with whether you could, or whether you'd lose more from canceling than going ahead.

This is a complex conversation, and a difficult process to take your board through.  It helps a lot to have an ally on the board going in to a meeting like this – because special events are so totemic.

Canceling feels like failing, in a very public way – and it’s hard to have the courage to do so.

Fundraising Projections: A Sleep-At-Night Primer

Once again, the gap between “thought it would happen” and “here are the numbers” is looming large. 

Some organizations are finding, with sighs of relief, that fall fundraising income isn’t coming in as badly as they’d feared.

Others are finding that huge sums they’d been assuming were theirs, are not.

In volatile times, those with strong stomachs start discounting.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

I went back to the Cause Effective archives for an old chestnut we wrote in 2005 to help a client understand how to create fundraising projections, called “The Sleep-At-Night Short Primer on Financial/Fundraising Planning.” 

Sleep at night?  Doesn’t that sound good?  But I digress…

The idea is to create a LIKELY scenario – and a probable scenario. These days, one can slide between the likely, the probable, and even the worst case, on a week-by-week basis. 

But isn’t it better to have these scenarios, and understand how they run together, than to simply react as your organization is acted upon?

Donor Relations in a Moving Economy

I’ve been reflecting on all the uncertainty nowadays surrounding asking people for money in an economy that’s moving under our feet. 

For 6 months, we literally told people not to ask for a big gift.  Now, it’s not quite so clear cut.  But even short of a large ask, there are many ways to connect more deeply to those people who are likely to be your big supporters when the economy improves.

An article we wrote last fall about 2008 holiday giving – things to ask for when you can’t ask for gobs of cash – seems even more relevant now.

Some of that advice:

·      Offer the option of giving less right now, but giving over time

·      Make lists of items you need and ask supporters to donate (or purchase) them for your agency

·      Ask for time, for both general volunteering and for specific services

·      Turn donors into fundraisers on your behalf

Just the common tenets of fundraising, in uncommon times…

Don’t Be A Fair Weather Friend

We now know we’re facing what may be the tightest economy of our lifetimes.  (At least I hope so…)

We also know that donors, whether affluent or just getting by, feel less able to give during uncertain economic times, and that all go through more soul-searching before contributing.. 

This is a time of reflection and a time to return to the basic principles of fundraising, first and foremost of which is:

Fundraising is about values and about relationships, not about money.  Money is simply the currency through which moral and social priorities are expressed.

In that vein, some thoughts…

Don’t be a fair-weather friend.  Reach out to your supporters and talk about what is happening, to them and to your organization.  Express your understanding and sympathy for what may be a very difficult time.  Let them know your relationship to them extends beyond their moments of generosity, which will surely return, in time.

For those who continue to give, let them know how much you appreciate that continued support, particularly at this moment.

For those who can’t, express your intention to maintain the relationship and to ask at a more opportune time.

Your board members can help with this outreach – reinforcing the teachable moment that fundraising is about relationships, not just asking for money.

Accept help in all forms.  Offer opportunities for people to donate their time as volunteers or to provide in-kind goods and services.  Be creative in providing supporters ways to stay involved, even if cash is tight.

As donors align their giving with their financial capacity, you want to make sure that those who share your values are able to continue to travel along with you, whatever shape that takes.

Repeat after me: Fundraising is Friendraising. While aggressive approaches to attract new donations may not be timely, this is still an opportune time to cultivate new friends and get existing friends to learn more about your work, particularly if you can link your mission to meeting needs which arise from economic hardship.

Donors ‘R Us.  Establishing some common bonds around our anxieties – and some constructive responses – can emphasize to supporters that we are all in this together, as peers.  The bottom line is: we’re going to make it through, and we’re only going to make it through, if we stand together with our supporters as partners.