S.T.O.P.

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Its likely that you have heard of a SWOT analysis, but what is STOP? STOP is a survival technique used by various military, para-military, and survival enthusiasts. STOP stands for Situation, Threats, Observations, Plan. For organizations experiencing any sort of hardship or increased challenges, it may be time to STOP.

A formal strategic plan is always preferred, but for any organization that simply needs direction and guidance on how to navigate immediate issues, the STOP approach can be of use. First, identify the Situation. We have to know where we are if we are going to make any decisions. This requires complete honesty about the situation.

Next, look at the threats. What is immediate? Don’t dwell on the negatives, but again, be honest about the real issues. Name the enemy. Failure to identify the threats prevents appropriate response to the issues.

Organize your resources. Take inventory of the assets in your possession and identify how they can be of use in your current situation. These assets may range from people to tools. The key here is to make sure that you know the resources available to address the threats.

Finally, make a plan. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Find a way to use your resources to address the threats and get from where you are to where you need/want to be. A plan is essential. Even a poor plan is better than no plan. But remember, it is not the plan, but the execution that determines success.

If your organization is in a bind, just STOP. You might be surprised just how far you can go.

What is your Event Fundraising Strategy?

Not all events have the same purpose. Before you decide to host an event for your organization, you first need to follow the following steps.

1. Create a special event that is meaningful to your organization, your board, and current volunteers. Pick something that is important but also that the community will want to be a part of and support.
2. Spend as much time in preparation and in debrief of your event as you do in execution. Spend time finding out how to get the prospect individuals to your event that care about your organization, and can help you accomplish the goals of your event. Make sure to write down the short term and long term goals of the event while everything is still fresh in everyone’s minds. Lastly, talk about pictures and hand written thank you notes and determine who will send them and when they will be sent. Complete the correspondence that night, or set up a time to send out thank yous and/or pictures. Each prospect follow-up should be sent from the person who has the existing or developing relationship with the prospect.
3. By planning, executing, and debriefing in this way for an event, you can create a fundraising strategy as follows: Special Event=Regular Donor=Volunteer=Meaningful Gift=Impact Gift. If implemented correctly you can follow this strategy in a circular motion, time and time again, successfully.

 If these tips are followed correctly the event will:

-Create a sense of community and belonging.

-Ensure responsible stewardship when event evaluation occurs.

-create highly rewarding relationships for your organization.

-Engage Volunteers, board, members, and members of the community.

By Guest Blogger, Kristy D. Burns, Senior Consultant and Fundraising Specialist for Burns & Associates, Ltd. 

No One Wants to "Save" a Sinking Ship

Every organization thinks that they have an important mission and that everyone should support their work. The truth is that not everyone will support your mission, and that is especially true if you are struggling. Furthermore, no one wants to spend their hard earned money supporting an organization that is dying. Asking potential donors to "save" this or that will not inspire them to get out their check books with very few exceptions.

When you want to solicit donations, you should be prepared to show what your organization is doing and how you plan to increase your impact with every gift received. If your organization is having troubles for any reason, and it looks like you may have to close your doors if the situation doesn't change, don't ask people to "save" you. Most people are not willing to give you funds if you are going to fail anyway. Chances are that you won't find a single wealthy person to get you out of the predicament you are in.

Now, before you start arguing with me and saying, "didn't you just right a book called Rescuing the Mission? Don't you help organizations that are struggling?" Yes, yes. I did write the book and yes, I do consult with organizations which are struggling. But even though the results are positive, we don't focus on "saving" the organization. If you want to turn your organization around or build support for your mission, you have to focus on what you have done, what you are doing, and what you are going to do with the funds you have to work with.

Organizations that are able to raise significant funds even when they are struggling to survive are those that focus on where they are going. If you want donors to trust that you are going to be efficient and responsible with their funds, you must be able to explain the reasons you are struggling and how you are going to overcome and improve the operation. Think of donors as investors in your mission. While they may support your cause, they need to know that you make good business decisions and can maximize the impact of every dollar.

Long histories of poor management and ineffective governance make for a very long and difficult road ahead, but not impassable. Take charge of the organization and don't make excuses. In the meantime, keep a positive attitude even if you don't know what is going to happen. Actions speak louder than words. Any lack of sincerity in your demeanor will cause flags to go up to potential donors. Saving an organization means treating the situation at hand as a difficult time. Failure to believe that your organization will get through the tough times will likely result in failure to get through the tough times.

To get a better understanding of this concept, you should pick up a copy of my new book, Rescuing the Mission. It provides a wealth of knowledge about what you need to have to keep a mission alive and shows the true story of a non-profit organization in my home town that was able to adapt and overcome. The donors and investors didn't "save" Geneva Hills, they supported the mission and understood the difficult time as a transition.

Stay positive. Make a plan and be prepared for many difficult days. You can keep your mission alive if you have a worthwhile and viable mission, beneficiaries of the products or services of your organization, and support from the community in which you work and serve. Finding help from a qualified consultant who has helped organizations transition through difficult times could also prove beneficial. You will need to make that decision for yourselves. Just remember that it sometimes takes money to make money. If your mission is worth keeping, do whatever it takes to make sure that it not only survives, but thrives in years to come!

SWOT - Internal Analysis

Ah yes, the SWOT analysis. IF you don't already know what that is, SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. This analysis breaks down in to two different components, the internal (strengths and weaknesses), and the external (opportunities and threats). For the purposes of this post, we will focus on the internal environment.

Before we begin to analyze the internal environment, we should first understand why this is important. "Know Thyself" is a phrase that you may recall from your high school literature class or college philosophy course. It was a guiding doctrine of the Philosopher Socrates. It was inscribed at the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The Holy scriptures even state that we are to love our neighbor as our self. In order to do that, we must know ourselves. Why am I going on this tangent? Well, non-profit organizations must know themselves if they are to make effectively use resources and make necessary changes within the organization. The internal analysis is all about knowing thyself.

What is the internal analysis for? Ultimately, it helps identify the performance of all of the internal operations of the organization. Areas for consideration include strategic planning, financial management, marketing (both inbound and outbound), fundraising, organizational leadership and staffing, operational structure, evaluations, etc. Anything that can be controlled is included in the internal analysis. Lets take a look at the internal components of the SWOT analysis.

First we must identify the organizational strengths. Essentially, we are asking ourselves, "what do we do well?" This question is meant to look at positive internal assets, factors, or situations which are at this very point in time favorable for the organization. Examples could include demand for the services of the organization, or they could be sound financial management. Other common examples could be the depth of skilled volunteers, staff experience, or public support. These are just some crude examples, but each organization should identify its unique strengths.

Likewise, weaknesses need to be addressed.To better address these issues, we can ask, "where can we improve?" For the purposes of identification, we can use the same examples as before but in reverse, ie. lack of demand for services, poor financial management, lack of skilled volunteers, little experience, or less than desirable public support.

Compile the lists and look for ways to improve what you can using the strengths that you have. Use the external analysis which we will look at in April to compile a list of strategic issues and utilize the data to assist in the formulation of a strategic plan of simply design and implement an action plan for your staff.

So You Want to Start a Non-Profit

Everyday people are finding new causes to support. These causes range from small local concerns to global or international issues. Occasionally, a person or group of people decide they want to start their own non-profit organization. If this sounds like you, then consider this first.

You don't own your non-profit organization. You may be responsible for it, but you don't own it. By definition, a non-profit organization is publicly owned. You also measure the success of the organization by whether or not you are meeting the needs of the population you serve. Non-profit is sometimes a misnomer. Keeping balanced books is just as important for non-profit organizations as it is for a business.

Many non-profits get special tax status, such as 501(c)3 organizations in the USA. In the United States, the IRS will classify an organization as charitable so long as it fulfills public needs in areas such as science, social services, arts, religious, health, education, civics, environmental, human services, etc. Remember, not all purposes are acceptable for charitable status. Many lobbying organizations, while they may represent and seek to advance social needs, cannot be classified as charitable.

While you can create an informal non-profit, most likely you are looking to incorporate as a new organization. After you file with the appropriate agency, you then need to decide if you are going to seek tax-exempt status. During this process, you will also consider becoming a tax deductible entity.  This will allow donors to your organization to receive a deduction on their tax liability. Be aware that the IRS can take up to 18 months to review and decide on your organizations charitable status.

In order to operate your organization efficiently, you need to remember three key components to non-profit organizations; Board, Administration, and Programming. The board consists of the legally responsible individuals who make decisions about the organization including mission, values, policies, etc. The administration is responsible for carrying out those decisions to the community the organization serves. Programs are how the administration effectively meets the needs of the community.

Setting up your organization properly to begin with will save you many headaches in the future. Before you incorporate your new organization, you should know who is going to be on the board of directors, who are the officers including the chair, and who will be the Executive Director. Typically, the executive director is not a board member. You should also know how you are going to administer your operations, handle staffing and volunteers. It is a good idea to start looking at a potential donor base by cultivating relationships within your community.

If after all of this you still think you are ready to begin the process of starting a new non-profit organization, take a look at the following links. Answer the questions honestly and evaluate your situation. If you decide to go forward, be prepared to seek help in getting started. Burns & Associates will be happy to assist you along the way.


Greenlights Start up Assesment

Non Profit Center Questionaire

Building Better Boards

Boards have the ultimate responsibility for making decisions on behalf of the organization. It doesn't matter how big or small the organization is, the board can make or break the mission. Before you decide to nudge your board into a major overhaul, it is important know if a change is needed. As mentioned in the last post, assessments can help with this process.

If you think something is wrong, but you just can't put your finger on the issues, try looking for potential indicators that something is not quite right. Some common indicators of struggling boards are burnout, high turnover, micro-managing, low attendance and participation, maybe even conflict amongst the members.

The non-profit organization works best when it is highly structured. When structures are soundly developed and maintained, the actions of the members becomes more focused thereby determining outcomes that are positive for the organization. In highly functioning boards, the actions are more important than the blame. In fact, blame is never helpful, only divisive.

Board members who are not willing to put in the time and effort needed to learn about the organization and address the polices and functions of the board will often find themselves working on the same problems time and time again. While keeping meetings short may help the board members feel like participating, their ability to actually tackle problems diminishes significantly when there is not adequate time for dealing with those issues. Longer, more frequent meetings are much more productive than short infrequent ones. If board members cannot commit to the time requirements, it may be time to look for new members.

Remember, telling a frustrated board that they need to change is not going to make it happen. They need to be heard, not told. This is another opportunity for an assessment of the leadership of the organization. This is time to focus on the "how" not the "who."

If Jim is burned out and Sara thinks that Jim is the problem with the board, we need to find out why Jim is burned out instead of blaming Jim for his problems. A high functioning board will find the "who" irrelevant except in the cases where a member is acting outside of the interests of the organization. In this case it is better to assign more specific tasks with deadlines and desired outcomes. This will either get them more involved with the organization or they will likely leave. If they stay, it could be that they felt they were not permitted to help or contribute to the organization.

Focus on the structure. Diversity is great, but don't let desire for diversity to take away from the mission of the organization. That being said, never discount another person or their abilities just because the are different than you!

Importance of Assesments

When your board of directors gets together, do you ever assess your organization?  If the answer is "no," then you need to make it a priority. Highly functional non-profit organizations do many things but today I want to focus on just one of them. The assessment is a tool that helps to determine strengths and weaknesses of the organization. An assessment is a systematic approach to data collection on specific points.

Data collected during an assessment is then analyzed and ultimately used to draw conclusions about the status of the organization in the areas the assessment covers. A general rule is to start with a comprehensive organizational assessment which covers 10-20 questions about all aspects of an organization. In reality, the comprehensive assessment is a series of specifically directed assessments compiled in to a whole. These should include Legal, Board Governance, Human Resources (if applicable), Fundraising, Executive Director, Financial, Programming, Marketing, Strategic Planning, etc.

Before picking a tool at random, it is important to determine the focus of the tool. As mentioned before, this is where you determine what component you are going to assess. Next, determine the purpose. Why are you doing this? Is it to define your organization? Are you trying to compare to other organizations? Do you need to see how your organization compares to "best practices?"

After the purpose comes the assumptions. Does the tool assume the board is the initial board? Does the tool assume that you have seasoned staff and volunteers? After matching the assumptions to your organization, determine who the audience is.

Who is going to read the results? Is this assessment for the board? Staff? Funders? Community? Also consider who is going to administer the assessment. Is this process going to be "in house," or will you hire a consultant or some other outside person? Who will participate? Will board members be required to participate or will the assessment be purely random? Will you have a weighted scale based on who answers or will the assessment be completely anonymous?

Before making the final decision as to which tool to use, you also need to know if you have enough information to make sense of the results and how to apply them. Make sure you know if this tool can be reused, how long it will take to use, and if there are only certain times it can be used.

Cost is another area of possible concern. There are many tools available online and in books. Many of these tools can give you a good starting point if you need one. See at the bottom of this post for links to some useful tools. Some companies may custom design you a tool to fit your needs, but these can be costly and may not be available in the time you want to use the tool.

Make sure that you have the support you need before administering the tool. If someone has a question or concern, be ready to contact tech support if need be. Be prepared to modify the tool. As your organization changes, grows, and otherwise evolves, the needs and the areas which need assessment will change as well. A versatile tool should be easily modified and adaptable to your changing needs. Just remember to check to see if you need to get permission to modify or adapt a tool. Some online tools are free if you acknowledge the author. Some permit you to modify under the same circumstances. Other tools, are to be used as is and only with permission of the author. Know the restrictions on your tool before using. You may need to consult legal advice or contact the author prior to use.

Here are a couple of links to general assesments for your organization
http://www.lapiana.org/downloads/Start-Up_Assessment_Tool.pdf
http://surveys.wilder.org/fieldstone/lifestages/
http://www.greenlights.org/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/Discussion%20Questions%20for%20Board%20Self-Assessment.pdf
http://www.managementhelp.org/org_eval/uw_list.htm#anchor149020

Welcome

Welcome to the Non-Profit Know How blog. This blog is dedicated to the advancement of non-profit organizations. I am Geoff and my goal is to improve the impact of non-profit organizations by increasing the functionality of their governing boards, the leadership, committees, and staff.

Not all non-profit organizations are the same, however, there are topically many similarities. High functioning high impact organizations all have one major thing in common: They assess and evaluate at a minimum annually.

Our company Burns & Associates, Ltd. is based out of Ohio, but we work with clients all over the Midwest. We offer many different services for non-profit organizations including organizational assessments, business plan writing and review, board and leadership development and evaluations, strategic and work planning, and program evaluations.

We also consult for organizations that need to do capital campaigns, and other fundraising, non-profit start ups, and struggling organization turnarounds.

Burns & Associates, Ltd. is not a legal firm and no view or opinion ever mentioned in this blog should be considered legal advice. Always consult an attorney for any and all legal advice.

Periodically I or one of our associates will post on a specific topic related to non-profit organizations. the purpose is to emphasize the importance of quality high level governance to ensure positive and effective impact on the communities which the non-profit serves.

Thanks for joining our blog,

Geoff