Community Foundations: Wondering How to Grow Your Asset Base?

Posted on by Alford Group

The 4 Things You Must Do First

By Jamie Phillippe, CFRE, Vice President with Lieve Buzard, Client Service Associate

Growing the asset base of a community foundation means the foundation will have an even larger impact on the community it serves. With more assets and resources, the foundation is able to support more nonprofit organizations (or the same organizations at a higher level) and collectively solve community problems and increase the quality of life for community members.

Often times, community foundations run campaigns to increase gifts from individuals, families, and corporations. There are FOUR THINGS that a foundation must do prior to undertaking a campaign to increase its asset base.

Where does your foundation stand in relation to these four elements?

#1 Strategic Plan

A comprehensive strategic plan must be in place to provide a road map, to provide credibility, and to provide a sense of urgency to the entire effort. Continue reading “Community Foundations: Wondering How to Grow Your Asset Base?”

Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary

Posted on by Alford Group

By Mary Kaufman-Cranney, CFRE, Vice President

During my tenure as the head of development with the YMCA of Greater Seattle, I was lucky enough to be there for the organization’s 125th anniversary.

As the 120th year of the YMCA of Greater Seattle loomed ahead, I asked our public relations volunteers if we should start getting ready to celebrate. Their reply? A resounding, “No! Save it for the big one at 125 – but start planning now.”

“Five years out?” I thought to myself. “That  seems crazy!” But as we started to explore the significance of the 125th and realize that no update had been done on our history timeline since the 100th – not to mention electronically capturing our history and thousands of photos dating back to the late 1800s – we had lots to do. Continue reading “Getting the Most From Your Upcoming Anniversary”

Multiply Your Impact: Enlist Key Donors to Create a Meaningful Stewardship Plan

Posted on by JoAnn Yoshimoto

By Wendy Hatch, CFRE, Vice President and JoAnn Yoshimoto, CFRE, Senior Consultant

Don’t we all agree that the most precious things in life are worthy of our best attention, effort and care? In the fundraising world, the most precious “things” are our donors and their philanthropic dollars.

Who among us has the luxury of a daily schedule that is just waiting to be filled with new ideas and activities? Nobody that we know! So let’s take 15 minutes – only one percent of our day – to ponder ways to work smarter and multiply the impact of our efforts, and benefit the most precious “things” – our donors!

How do you make sure that your donor stewardship is intentional, timely and effective? You need to plan for it! Wonderful ideas for individual stewardship activities, timelines and plans abound on the internet, so we aren’t going to reiterate them here. The idea we are offering is a strategy for multiplying the impact of your stewardship planning process by also using it as an engagement opportunity for key donors, staff and board members. Continue reading “Multiply Your Impact: Enlist Key Donors to Create a Meaningful Stewardship Plan”

Break on Through to the Other Sides: Unpacking Power Dynamics Between Funders and Funded

Posted on by Alford Group

By Diane Knoepke, Vice President, Alford Group

If you’re working in the social sector, you’ve probably said – or at least heard – things like this in discussions of the dynamics between grantmakers and grantseekers:

“We want this to be valuable for both sides of the equation.”

“I’ve sat on both sides of the table.”

“We need to understand how things work on the other side.”

Perhaps this “both sides” idea is a misnomer. At least that is what I walked away thinking after moderating two dynamic panels of funders and their nonprofit partners at Friday’s “Straight Talk: Unpacking the Power Dynamic between Grantseekers and Grantmakers” event, hosted by Chicago Women in Philanthropy. When we think of partners in funding relationships as the “asker” and the “asked,” we are missing a lot of dimensions to the power dynamics present in these relationships. Continue reading “Break on Through to the Other Sides: Unpacking Power Dynamics Between Funders and Funded”

Making the Most of Volunteers

Posted on by Alford Group

Are your volunteers worth their weight in gold, or are they simply weighing you down?

By Laura Edman, Vice President, Alford Group   Read Laura’s Bio

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Why do I bother with volunteers? It would be so much easier if I just do this myself.”

I admit it; over my 30-plus years as a fundraising professional, that thought has crossed my mind more than once. Yet whenever that happens, I think about the many times during my career when volunteers have made the critical difference between success and failure, between reaching that stretch campaign goal and falling short, or between successfully recruiting that key board member and having them turn down the opportunity.

So, how can you make sure that your volunteers really are worth their weight in gold, instead of being too much trouble to bother with? Here are some tips that might help you and some resources for more information. Continue reading “Making the Most of Volunteers”

Nonprofit Board Leaders and CEOs: Find excellent board members with these simple tips

Posted on by Alford Group

By Molly Hansen, Vice President, Alford Group  Read Molly’s Bio

How to find great, or even good, nonprofit board members is an ongoing challenge. For many nonprofit organizations the board development issue feels especially urgent right now. The competition for good board members is increasing.

The philanthropic environment has nearly recovered from the Great Recession, but many philanthropists are still very cautious about where to invest their dollars, time and energy. Organizations who have been largely supported by government grants and contracts, their long-held intention to diversify their revenue through board members with financial capacity and connections, are now faced with the reality that it’s harder than they thought to find strong board members.

Regardless of the type of nonprofit you serve, its size, or the nature of your board and organizational funding, the following tips will help you get started on a productive path of board development. Continue reading “Nonprofit Board Leaders and CEOs: Find excellent board members with these simple tips”

Taxes – Why should we pay them?

Posted on by Alford Group

Thank you to those who commented on my thoughts last week.  You had good comments and ideas.  Let me spend a few moments expanding on the recent difficulties in Washington DC due to a lack of “collaboration” and the inability to get an agreement on expanding the debt ceiling.  Hopefully we will see that impasse come to an end today or tomorrow with what could be a palatable bill for both parties.

There is a segment of the American society very adverse to taxes.  Now, I do not like paying taxes (who does?) – whenever I get my pay check I always wonder what I could do with even half the money that is deducted in social security and Federal income tax.  And then reality sets in.

Continue reading “Taxes – Why should we pay them?”

Collaboration is Easy to Discuss and Difficult to Do

Posted on by Alford Group

CollaborationEvery day the news carries another story about the work in Washington, DC to negotiate a deal on the debt limit and serious debt reduction activities.  The issues are familiar – potential spending reductions and potential tax increases.  One side will not budge from its position of no new taxes – and the other will not budge on its position of achieving results with new taxes and limited spending reductions.  We know they need to collaborate to solve this – yet they are providing a good example of what collaboration is not. Over the next few weeks we will discover if they do learn the meaning of the word.

In the meantime, in our own communities, we have the ability to collaborate every day – and yet in the nonprofit world I tend to see more competition than collaboration.  How can we set an example to work with other nonprofit organizations that have similar missions, values, and services?  Is there a chance to provide improved services to the community utilizing fewer resources and thus improving efficiencies?  Do organizations ever attempt to discover the answer to these questions?

Continue reading “Collaboration is Easy to Discuss and Difficult to Do”