We all know the old adage “what gets measured gets done,” but knowing what to measure is easier said than done.  In most professions certain tasks are closely correlated to success, and resource development is no different.  Many frontline fundraisers – especially those more junior – often find themselves defaulting to the easier “busy work” tasks that can make one feel as though they are being productive, when in fact they ignoring their most vital responsibilities.  Frankly, we all fall victim to this from time to time.

Fundraising outcomes (i.e. dollars raised) are the most commonly used metric for evaluating fundraising staff, but they are not the only metrics that we as managers should track.  While the amount of money coming in the door is obviously an important measure, there are several inputs that should also be considered, which I would argue are as essential.  First and foremost, fundraising is about one thing – relationships.  Donors give to organizations they feel connected to.  Yes, people occasionally give to organizations after a one-time catastrophic event, because a friend asked them to, or they received a particularly compelling card in the mail, and so on.  But when it comes to recurring gifts that grow in size over time – and into very large major gifts – those donors have been carefully engaged and cultivated.  This level of relationship building does not happen by sitting in an office filling out reports, or by dutifully…

It’s easy to spend time making flyers and posters to advertise your organization. Word of mouth is one of the greatest ways to get people talking about it. But have you considered doing another great deed to getting your business out there? People take notice in organizations that continue to offer their services to help out those in need.

With Dentistry from the Heart (DTFH), for example, dentists open up their practices to those who cannot afford proper health care all over North America. DFTH provides people in low-income communities with free dental care. Dr. Mario Pary of Smile Dental Center in Shreveport Louisiana participates in this event every year. Not only is this great a way to give back his community, but it shows people that he cares.

Doing nonprofit services to the community attracts audience through the press. If people are seeing that you’re doing good things, they’ll write about you. If they aren’t writing about you, then you should write about you. What? Tell people about what you have done. People want to hear that you have been doing good things to help your community. They don’t know it yet, but that’s what they want to here. If someone were comparing dentists, for example, they would most likely choose Dr. Pary over someone that doesn’t offer…

The dog-eat-dog mentality that is present in today’s business world has every company searching for a unique competitive advantage. What makes you stick out? What do you do better than your competition? And most importantly, why should a customer choose your company over the entirety of substitutes available?

Too often businesses focus on too narrow of a spectrum when trying to answer these questions. The solutions are almost always ideas which attempt to provide their specific product or service more efficiently, or at a higher level of quality. These are not wrong answers, if a company can implement a strategy to gain this sort of competitive advantage then they absolutely should. However, other varieties of competitive advantages do exist. A company that is involved with a nonprofit organization, or is active within a charity gains a huge advantage over a company that does not. This activity has several beneficial effects towards a business. It builds reputation within a community, adds credibility to all business endeavors, and gains respect from each individual customer who experiences these philanthropic events.

One businessman that has utilized this strategy to his advantage is Dr. Darren Flowers located in Anthem, Arizona. He has developed a special for new patients, where he donates the proceeds to a charity of the month, most recently the Red Cross. The low price of $…

Whether you were born into it, fell into it or discovered it along your life’s journey, today’s nonprofit professionals follow an evolutionary path much like that of our species.  Crawling, walking, running and potentially walking on water.  The exact time and place of those changes are never easy to spot, do not take a linear path or they can happen right before your eyes.  The Arizona State University’s Certified Nonprofit Professional credential through the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance (formerly American Humanics) is responsible for students who graduate, not crawling but running to their internships and first professional positions in local and national organizations.

Since 1980, the ASU program has provided both academic courses and hands-on experiences for those who aspire to careers in the nonprofit sector.  Graduates spend five semesters learning, growing and practicing alongside faculty, alumni, staff, nonprofit leaders and community partners, enabling them to become more confident and stand a bit taller before they enter the profession.

One of the most significant advances occurs during the Annual Alliance Management / Leadership Institute Campaign, affectionately known as AMI.  If studies are correct and people fear snakes, public speaking and asking for money more than anything else, this campaign has all but the snakes!  Students build off the work of alumni going back to the 1980’s raiseing funds to attend the national…

I returned from this Monday's Veteran’s Day Parade with a lingering sense of connection this year. My wife had a luncheon date so I went to the parade alone. To honor the occasion I wore a patriotic ball cap, a t-shirt that said, “Marine Dad,” and I hung my old Army garrison cap over my belt. I’d been watching the parade for an hour or so when a unit of Vietnam War era soldiers marched past. One guy in the unit looked over at me standing in the crowd, pointed at my garrison cap, and gave me a thumbs up. He saw the quarter-sized metal insignia on the cap that identified me as being in the Army Transportation Corps and as a UH-1 helicopter mechanic. That’s all it took. I smiled, nodded my head “yes,” and flashed a thumbs-up back to him. Without a single word we were connected. The affiliation was clear. He marched on and I walked home feeling part of a community I’d left 40 years ago. We had the common experience, like 10 million others, of having served in the military between 1962 and 1975.

Communities are funny things. As an academic I teach the “three conditions” that are required for a community to exist. The first is a common mission or experience. The second is a set of rules or laws that members agree to accept. The third is a system of governance for promulgating the rules, assuring compliance, and effecting change. Every biological community requires these “three conditions” to survive and thrive, but sometimes I am amazed with my lack of…