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“The Road Less Stupid” for Nonprofits: Avoiding the Mistakes That Sabotage Growth
I learned a lot in 2020, and I’m sure you did, too.
Not that it wasn’t scary. In addition to public health concerns and economic instability, from the beginning, the news was assuring us, “Most small businesses won’t survive this pandemic!”
Um, hi, that’s me.
I chose to tune out the noise. In early April, 90% of my projects felt like they were on hold, but I knew I had spent every minute of 2018 and 2019 putting infrastructure in place to make 2020 “my year.” So, I just kept showing up. I ended up having my best year yet, serving the largest clients of my career, while they got their greatest results, all over the country.
A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste
That’s the title of Chapter 10 from the book I read in late 2020 by Keith Cunningham. Keith would know about this topic. He shares how his business was making scores of millions from real estate deals, but then lost every last penny they had!
Ouch.
He said, “We needed to hear, recover, and rebuild - but do it differently next time. We wanted to be certain that we NEVER had to experience this kind of disaster again. The thinking was not that we could somehow control the economy or interest rates. We couldn’t. But what we could control was the thinking, disciplines, and strategies that allowed us to get caught in the tsunami in the first place.”
Remember when everybody said, “most nonprofits can’t survive this pandemic”?
For me, 2020 was a mental game of tuning out the noise so I could balance a world of opposites for my business and my clients. You know, generalizations like...
⚠️ The news said, “most small-businesses won’t survive this pandemic!”
I chose to tune out the noise in early April 90% of my projects felt like all my clients went ‘on hold’. I knew I had spent every minute of 2018 and 2019 putting infrastructure in place so that 2020 could “be my year”. So, I just kept showing up despite the pandemic, it happened. And it happened by a landslide resulting in my best year yet - serving the largest clients of my career, while they got the greatest results, all over the country.
2020: The year OVERHEAD became cool
This year, I’ve talked a lot about many misconceptions in the nonprofit sector that I dearly hope are left in 2020.
I started a little firestorm on LinkedIn last week when I posted a video about this topic.
The biggest one, perhaps? It's that silly conversation about the financial ratios or percentages in our sector . . . you know . . . that overhead discussion.
Yes, I want you to use your money wisely and transparently.
But when a donor said to my client “I’m not giving to your nonprofit organization this year because you’re spending a combined 25% on Admin/Ops and Fundraising”, I was just as frustrated as my client.
📣 Repeat after me: It’s ok that my Admin/Ops or Fundraising percentages are higher during some years than others.
Nonprofits and your comfort level with RISK
I have a question.
How ready do you have to be ready for change?
So, my kitchen has been getting ready for construction longer than I'd like to admit.
We moved into a fixer-upper 8 years ago with a solid 70’s kitchen. You know, the ones with pink plastic tile and all brown vintage appliances. It isn't the ‘good vintage’ kind.
We renovated other rooms when we first moved in figuring that we’d do a full kitchen remodel in three years.
Well, it’s been eight. 😲
Don’t think I don’t WANT a new kitchen (read: I don’t have a dishwasher and my oven door flops open). But I want to get it right.
The Top 11 Fundraising Challenges Development Directors Face (Results from my Recent SURVEY)
I recently surveyed a group of Development Directors, to get a better handle on what you’re all facing. I found 11 specific challenges, but the good news is that they’re definitely fixable! So fixable that I’ve created a training just for Development Directors to help them learn to tackle these challenges and start raising more money in a more sustainable way.
The three biggest things Development Directors wanted help with were:
Gaining TIME back in your schedule (so you can actually move from reactive to proactive, strategic fundraising)
Learning how to find, cultivate, and secure larger gifts from INDIVIDUALS in a way that feels comfortable and not pushy
Getting more help from your BOARD members! (Like, helping them see you can't just turn the faucet on and off - they must help too!)
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How Molly secured 100% of her nonprofit’s funding by month 6 of her fiscal year (and was volunteer-run 2 ½ years ago)
100% Funded by Month 6: Molly’s Success Story
Two and a half years ago, Molly’s organization was 100% volunteer-run. Today, she has paid staff and raises double what she used to. In fact, this year, Molly raised 100% of her budget by the sixth month of her fiscal year.
Can you imagine what meeting your fundraising goals with six months to spare feels like?
“I was going to update you when we meet next week, but we are officially fully funded for the year!” - Molly
Molly is awesome and embraces the discipline that comes with fundraising, but I promise, she didn’t do this by magic.
![Summer [ EXPERT ] Hot Seat Series - Nonprofit Fundraising and Beyond](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65280fbed04ab77a3f0cb3bc/1700591581105-JD0V8KU5DX1GA94YTH6U/image-asset.jpeg)
Summer [ EXPERT ] Hot Seat Series - Nonprofit Fundraising and Beyond
EVERYTHING impacts fundraising.
It sounds like an exaggeration, but experience has taught me it’s true.
Every time I sit down with a new client, I start with the same question that launched me on my journey in fundraising over a decade ago:
What keeps them from securing large donations from individuals?
Time and again, I see that it’s not any one thing. There’s no magic piece to the puzzle.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How to Grow a Nonprofit During Tough Times (What I Learned During the Last Recession)
Across the country, median family income was at one of the lowest points in a decade. The unemployment rate was quite high.
The year was 2010, and I had just left my established corporate career to work at a nonprofit.
For 13 years, I’d worked in the corporate world doing work I’d loved. But like so many of you, I was moved by a mission, and had to be part of it. So I jumped into the world of nonprofit, with little network or connections.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: Is Your Biggest Fundraising Hurdle Your Organization’s Name, Look, or Messaging?
Is the name or look of your organization actually KEEPING you from raising funds?
I’m serious.
Years ago I was serving with a nonprofit and sat in on a board meeting. I heard the strangest thing - it actually stopped me dead in my tracks.
There were a number of board members mispronouncing the name of the organization. Yes, mispronouncing the name of the nonprofit board they were sitting on.
The THREE Nonprofit Misconceptions COVID-19 Proved Should End
How are things at your organization? If you’re panicking about fundraising, worried about the future, and not sure which steps to take next, you’re certainly not alone. Across the country and around the world, nonprofits are working out how to pursue their missions and keep paying bills during this very uncertain time.
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us a lot about ourselves, from our preparedness to gaps in our healthcare system. For nonprofits, it’s shown three major misconceptions that we simply can’t take into the future with us.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How Serena raised 37% Budget in December alone (and that’s not the best part)
What does it take to raise $250K from individual donors during the last 30 days of the year?
To answer that, we have to ask my LET’S GROW student Serena, who raised 56% of her $670K budget in December 2019 alone.
Wow! One quarter into her fiscal year and she was already more than halfway to her budget.
Fundraising PLAYBOOK: How Anthony Got His Nonprofit Board to Raise Money
“My board doesn’t understand they are supposed to fundraise.”
It’s one of the most common phrases I hear from Executive Directors, typically followed by:
“Our board is too small.”
“We don’t have the right people on our board.”
“We’re a working-board, not a fundraising-board.”
The Executive Director then sighs, as if the discussion is over, they’re just cursed, and there’s nothing to do about it.
There’s a lot to do about it.
I’ve seen small boards, boards with challenging people on them, and working-boards be amazing at fundraising.
What’s the secret? A different, and better approach to board fundraising.