The Do-Gooder's Prayer

Volunteers: "An Extra Pair of Hands" or "Lifetime Supporters"

I’m working with an organization to help them improve their volunteer management systems, particularly how they manage interns. For this organization (like most), volunteers add critical value to their programs and leverage their ability to meet the pressing needs and demands of those they serve. However, this organization (like many) is not consistent at treating volunteers like what they are – in-kind donors who have the potential to become monetary donors and lifetime supporters. The nonprofit/volunteer relationship must be mutually beneficial for it to be successful. Nonprofits must be intentional about giving their volunteers a valuable experience – an experience they will likely share with their friends (people who likely share their interests, professionalism and skills). 
    
I recently read Jacquelyn Smith’s piece, Internship Wish List: The 12 Things Students Value Most, on Forbes.com, reporting the results of a research study in which 65,679 undergraduates in the U.S. were asked what they’d most like to receive from an internship. The following quote details key findings and provides a compelling answer to the question: How can volunteer management help or harm a nonprofit’s ability to recruit quality volunteers?  

“Students want internships [volunteer opportunities] that allow them to grow, stretch and contribute. They want to be in a learning environment. When companies treat interns like an extra pair of hands or a fill-in for a vacationing employee without investing in the content of the intern assignment, this usually leads to a very unhappy, unfulfilled intern. That unfulfilled intern shares her experience with friends on campus and soon the company offering the internship is having trouble finding talent for positions there. Best in class companies develop each intern assignment with documented details about the assignment, deliverables and key measurable goals.” 

Think about how your organization manages volunteers. If you were to poll your former and current volunteers, would they put your organization in the “best in class” category or say they feel like “an extra pair of hands”?   

Do you currently seek feedback and input from your volunteers? If not, you’re missing out on invaluable information and an opportunity to move from assuming you’re “best in class” to ensuring it.  

Need help with improving your volunteer management? Contact me today to schedule a free consultation. 

Keep doing good!

All the best,
Michelle Nusum-Smith
Founder and Principal Consultant at The Word Woman LLC

Does your fundraisin​g strategy need a reboot?

Last week, I attended an event for nonprofit fundraisers. The participants included both newbies and seasoned fundraising professionals. Interestingly, both the newbies and the veterans expressed similar challenges in achieving their fundraising success. I heard things like: “My board just wants to me 'get the money” and “Everyone is expecting me to bring all the money in by myself.”

The comments I heard suggested that each of the nonprofits was missing a critical component to fundraising success: a culture of fundraising.

Fundraising is not the job of a single person or single department. Fundraising is EVERYONE’s responsibility.

Does a culture of fundraising exist at your organization?  It does if the following statements are true.

• All staff members understand their responsibility to generate support for our organization and know how to ask people to support our work.
• Our diverse board of directors actively engage in fundraising, regularly asking for money from individuals and corporations with whom they have affiliations.
• We have systems and processes in place to track donations, manage donor relationships, and ensure regular communication with donors.
• We have a strong corporate identity (brand) that reflects our high-quality, professionalism and impactful, mission-focused programming.

Were all of these statements true for your organization? If yes, congratulations!! If no, contact The Word Woman LLC now to get your fundraising reboot started today!

Nonprofit Grants: "If you buy today, we can keep the lights on."

All winning grant proposals have something in common: They prove the proposed activity is needed and demonstrate how the activity aligns well with the giving priorities and interests of the grantmaker.

A nonprofit can submit a very well-written proposal but if it doesn't align well with the grantmaker's interests, it won't get funded.

Most nonprofits have two need categories to consider -- operating (capacity) needs and beneficiary (client) needs. When it comes to generating support for their operating needs, nonprofits must be more like for-profits. For both nonprofits and for-profits, there are costs to do business, but you've never gone into a for-profit business and had the salesperson use their costs to do business to persuade you to make a purchase.

For example, would you  purchase new furniture because the salesman said, "If you buy today, we can keep our lights on"? Of course not. So why would a grantmaker to do so in response to a similar statement from a nonprofit?They wouldn't. 

In a furniture store, you'd want to hear something that would convince to buy their furniture instead of going somewhere else. You'd be interested in hearing about quality, comfort, warranties, stain resistance, etc. You'd want to hear how purchasing the furniture there would help you to achieve your goal to get new furniture while also providing your peace of mind that it would be a good investment. That's what would compel you to write a check, not hearing how their lights could be turned off at any minute.

A nonprofit must know when to submit a proposal to support their operating needs and when to submit a proposal to support their beneficiaries' needs. This is usually clearly explained in a grantmaker's funding guidelines. But in either case, a nonprofit must demonstrate how their beneficiaries will ultimately benefit because no grantmaker's giving priorities include utility bills, staff compensation or Internet service.


Michelle Nusum-Smith, Founder and Principal Consultant at The Word Woman LLC

Is your nonprofit seeking new funding? Do you need board development guidance? Are you thinking of starting a nonprofit? Do you have questions or need some general advice? If you answered yes to any of these questions, schedule a FREE 30 minute consultation by clicking this link and completing the form at the bottom of our Contact Us page.

3 Tips for an Effective Nonprofit Board

In working with existing and planned nonprofit organizations, I am often asked about board member recruitment and how to get existing board members to be more effective.

It's simple...
You get out of boards what you put into them.

Board recruitment is not to be taken lightly. Investing time and energy into identifying and securing commitments from highly skilled and passionate people is only half of it.

Every board needs a strong foundation. There must be detailed and well-understood policies and procedures that outline how the board is to function. These policies and procedures should be followed at all times.

During the recruitment process, board prospects should receive written, detailed position descriptions that outline what is expected of them -- time commitment, skills commitment, and financial commitment.

Board development must be intentional. If it is not, even board members with the best intentions will eventually become unproductive and ineffective.


Here are 3 tips for an effective nonprofit board:

• Ensure that the organization's bylaws are current, followed and continue to be effective in meeting the needs of the organization. Bylaws define how a nonprofit organization will be managed and how it will run. When followed, the policies and procedures outlined in bylaws help boards to govern effectively. 

• Each prospective board member should meet with the Executive Director and/or a board representative for a thorough discussion about what will be expected of him/her before any offer or acceptance of board membership. The prospect should also review the position description for the specific role they would occupy (i.e., Secretary, Vice-Chair, Member-at-Large) and have any and all of their questions or concerns addressed. This is also an ideal time for the Executive Director or the board representative to review the conflict of interest policy.

• Remove unproductive board members sooner than later. Like the old adage says, One bad apple spoils the whole bunch. Any board member who continuously fails to fulfill his/her responsibilities as outlined in their position description or doesn't fully comply with the policies and procedures outlined in the bylaws, should be asked to resign. If you allow a board member to regularly miss meetings, to not make a contribution equitable to that of the rest of the board, or to serve in "name only", the board members who are giving 100% will eventually feel resentful and become less productive.

There is a direct correlation between a nonprofit's success and how well its board functions. 

Michelle Nusum-Smith, Founder and Principal Consultant at The Word Woman LLC

Do you need board development guidance? Are you thinking of starting a nonprofit? Is your nonprofit seeking new funding? Do you have questions or need some general advice? If you answered yes to any of these questions, schedule a FREE 30 minute consultation by clicking this link and completing the form at the bottom of our Contact Us page.