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nonprofit management
Nonprofit Management Tip: 5 Ideas For Handling Evaluations
Sep 6th
Nonprofit organizations rely a lot on the help of volunteers. Whether it's assisting with an important fundraising campaign or helping out at a special event, their work can really help out. That's why nonprofits need to know the finer points of volunteer management. In this week's nonprofit management tip, we examine how organizations can evaluate their volunteers:
Volunteer management is so important that training sessions and orientation programs for volunteer managers can pay big dividends. Instituting such programs might not be easy, however.
Susan J. Ellis, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based consultant who specializes in volunteers, believes that volunteer leaders often need to be acquainted with the approaches that will help them to help other volunteers, as well as working to the benefit of such initiatives.
For example, it could be helpful to tell them that:
• It is worse to talk negatively about someone with others than to confront the person directly about poor performance;
• It is more flattering to suggest that a volunteer could do better at something than to act as if you think they’ve already done their best;
• If you want to recognize good volunteers, then deal with volunteers who are not doing the right things. Otherwise, you send the message to the others that it doesn’t matter whether they do something well;
• It could be a relief to the volunteer that you are offering options for improving a situation that the person also believes is not working well; and,
• Stress self-fulfilling prophecy. Set high standards and don’t settle for “Well, we’ve got to accept whatever volunteers do.” Expect the best and that’s what you’ll get. But don’t assume that everyone automatically comes with positive expectations, even volunteers.
Evaluating your volunteers can be a challenging task, so hopefully these tips were helpful to you. Feel free to share your volunteer management stories with us by posting in the comments section below.
Volunteer management is so important that training sessions and orientation programs for volunteer managers can pay big dividends. Instituting such programs might not be easy, however.
Susan J. Ellis, a Philadelphia, Pa.-based consultant who specializes in volunteers, believes that volunteer leaders often need to be acquainted with the approaches that will help them to help other volunteers, as well as working to the benefit of such initiatives.
For example, it could be helpful to tell them that:
• It is worse to talk negatively about someone with others than to confront the person directly about poor performance;
• It is more flattering to suggest that a volunteer could do better at something than to act as if you think they’ve already done their best;
• If you want to recognize good volunteers, then deal with volunteers who are not doing the right things. Otherwise, you send the message to the others that it doesn’t matter whether they do something well;
• It could be a relief to the volunteer that you are offering options for improving a situation that the person also believes is not working well; and,
• Stress self-fulfilling prophecy. Set high standards and don’t settle for “Well, we’ve got to accept whatever volunteers do.” Expect the best and that’s what you’ll get. But don’t assume that everyone automatically comes with positive expectations, even volunteers.
Evaluating your volunteers can be a challenging task, so hopefully these tips were helpful to you. Feel free to share your volunteer management stories with us by posting in the comments section below.
Management Tip: 3 Elements Of Activist Relationship Management
Aug 2nd
Here is this week's Management Tip of the Week. This one comes from the advocacy category:
Every cause needs its activists, but a nonprofit that hopes to get the best it can from concerned individuals needs to understand the potential they offer and to treat them as effectively as possible.
Speaking during the DMA 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference, Yvonne Garrett of OMP, Inc., Vinay Bhagat of Convio and Randy Paynter of Care2.com said that there are three main areas of concentration, with the second and third combining for a fourth.
The main thrusts:
* Recruit. Be thoughtful about the form of ask. Think about a pledge vs. “contact your legislator.” Think of constituent relevance. Offer multiple venues in addition to your Website. Provide a strong user experience. Remember viral marketing, including social media.
* Engage. Acknowledge returning Web visitors. Send tailored/updated stories. Make related appeals. Use multi-channel appeals: email, text, social. Provide rewards and incentives.
* Convert. Provide campaign-specific donation forms. Have an email welcome/conversion series. Follow up in a timely fashion with mail or TM. Apply filters to prioritize investment. Select appeals based on advocacy actions.
Effective use of the second and third parts leads to a fourth: Deepen. Remember, major donors are frequently active. It is increasingly critical to track messaging intensity/congruency across programs and channels.
To read more like this, check out the advocacy management tips page on The NonProfit Times.
Every cause needs its activists, but a nonprofit that hopes to get the best it can from concerned individuals needs to understand the potential they offer and to treat them as effectively as possible.
Speaking during the DMA 2011 Washington Nonprofit Conference, Yvonne Garrett of OMP, Inc., Vinay Bhagat of Convio and Randy Paynter of Care2.com said that there are three main areas of concentration, with the second and third combining for a fourth.
The main thrusts:
* Recruit. Be thoughtful about the form of ask. Think about a pledge vs. “contact your legislator.” Think of constituent relevance. Offer multiple venues in addition to your Website. Provide a strong user experience. Remember viral marketing, including social media.
* Engage. Acknowledge returning Web visitors. Send tailored/updated stories. Make related appeals. Use multi-channel appeals: email, text, social. Provide rewards and incentives.
* Convert. Provide campaign-specific donation forms. Have an email welcome/conversion series. Follow up in a timely fashion with mail or TM. Apply filters to prioritize investment. Select appeals based on advocacy actions.
Effective use of the second and third parts leads to a fourth: Deepen. Remember, major donors are frequently active. It is increasingly critical to track messaging intensity/congruency across programs and channels.
To read more like this, check out the advocacy management tips page on The NonProfit Times.
New Management Tips From The Bridge Conference
Jul 27th
With The NonProfit Times attending the recently concluded 2011 Bridge Conference, we had the opportunity to pick up some new management tips based on the information presented at the event. As such, we updated our site with three new tips in Research, Database, and Online. Here is one on the subject of online fundraising:
With online fundraising, content is important. Don’t forget the content.
With online fundraising, technology is important. Don’t forget the technology.
So, which is more important? Both are important. During the recent Bridge Conference, Shabbir Imber Safdar of The Safdar Group tried to put things in perspective.
He gave this advice: When you have consistently put out a small, original email every other week for four months that talks about your work without being repetitive or tired, you’ve conquered the content beast. That done, you probably have enough experience producing content to look at your technology.
Once you do that, there is the minimum functionality you need:
• You have a constituent relationship management (CRM) system that understands basic nonprofit donor management.
• People who come to your website can sign up for your email list without your manual intervention.
• You can easily create donation forms and link them.
• You can place a piece of Javascript code on the donation form, the donation Thank you page and other pages of your website.
• You can compose an email (without using HTML); you can send an email and track opens and clicks.
He also said that an organization at this stage might also have to suffer with:
• Manually adding people from your donation forms to your CRM or your email list, and;
• A website that doesn’t look all that great.
To read the other tips from the Bridge Conference, visit NPT's management tips page.
With online fundraising, content is important. Don’t forget the content.
With online fundraising, technology is important. Don’t forget the technology.
So, which is more important? Both are important. During the recent Bridge Conference, Shabbir Imber Safdar of The Safdar Group tried to put things in perspective.
He gave this advice: When you have consistently put out a small, original email every other week for four months that talks about your work without being repetitive or tired, you’ve conquered the content beast. That done, you probably have enough experience producing content to look at your technology.
Once you do that, there is the minimum functionality you need:
• You have a constituent relationship management (CRM) system that understands basic nonprofit donor management.
• People who come to your website can sign up for your email list without your manual intervention.
• You can easily create donation forms and link them.
• You can place a piece of Javascript code on the donation form, the donation Thank you page and other pages of your website.
• You can compose an email (without using HTML); you can send an email and track opens and clicks.
He also said that an organization at this stage might also have to suffer with:
• Manually adding people from your donation forms to your CRM or your email list, and;
• A website that doesn’t look all that great.
To read the other tips from the Bridge Conference, visit NPT's management tips page.
Nonprofit Management Tip of The Week
Jul 19th
We're going to start a new feature here on The NonProfit Times blog. Each week, we will post a management tip directly from our site here to the blog. The goal here is to not only get people more aware of this section of our site, but also to encourage discussion. It is our hope that our readers will give their insight into the tip, and whether they have had any success with it.
With the latest news about New Jersey considering mandatory disclosure requirements, I thought it would be appropriate to have this week's management tip be about donors. Specifically, this tip is about recent individual giving trends:
Despite the need for major gifts and foundation support, nonprofits still depend on the contributions they receive from individual donors, from that $5 check on up.
Speaking at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Fund Raising Day in New York 2011, Margaret Holman of Holman Consulting Inc. discussed trends that are holding in individual giving through the nonprofit sector. For example:
• Major donors continue to give, but they are narrowing their focus to fewer charities where they can make a bigger impact.
• People give when they have a sense of security and optimism about the future. The economic crash and rising health care costs have left few Americans with any sense of financial security.
• Lower-income people tend to be more generous than higher-income individuals.
• The most generous donors are more likely to give by mail and less likely than average to give online.
• More generous donors are more intentional about planning their support.
• Giving still happens because donors are involved with their organizations.
• Demographics still matter.
• People check out charities in the following ways: talking to someone who supports the charity, visiting a Website or searching the Internet, checking a watchdog organization or visiting the organization in person.
• Best practices are stay donor focused, keep it simple, develop relationships (don’t think of donors as wallets) and triage your donors quarterly for contact.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you noticed these trends as well recently? We'd love to hear your stories. If you are interested in reading more donor-related management tips, head on over to the NPT website.
With the latest news about New Jersey considering mandatory disclosure requirements, I thought it would be appropriate to have this week's management tip be about donors. Specifically, this tip is about recent individual giving trends:
Despite the need for major gifts and foundation support, nonprofits still depend on the contributions they receive from individual donors, from that $5 check on up.
Speaking at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) Fund Raising Day in New York 2011, Margaret Holman of Holman Consulting Inc. discussed trends that are holding in individual giving through the nonprofit sector. For example:
• Major donors continue to give, but they are narrowing their focus to fewer charities where they can make a bigger impact.
• People give when they have a sense of security and optimism about the future. The economic crash and rising health care costs have left few Americans with any sense of financial security.
• Lower-income people tend to be more generous than higher-income individuals.
• The most generous donors are more likely to give by mail and less likely than average to give online.
• More generous donors are more intentional about planning their support.
• Giving still happens because donors are involved with their organizations.
• Demographics still matter.
• People check out charities in the following ways: talking to someone who supports the charity, visiting a Website or searching the Internet, checking a watchdog organization or visiting the organization in person.
• Best practices are stay donor focused, keep it simple, develop relationships (don’t think of donors as wallets) and triage your donors quarterly for contact.
What are your thoughts on this? Have you noticed these trends as well recently? We'd love to hear your stories. If you are interested in reading more donor-related management tips, head on over to the NPT website.
Management Tip: 7 Essentials to Attracting Great Employees
Jul 6th
Here is a recent management tip direct from The NonProfit Times website. Check the management tips page often, as new ones are added every week.
***
Wondering why your organization has trouble attracting good employees?
Well, that article in The New York Times reporting your CEO has been found certifiably insane sure didn’t help, but in fact when it comes to hiring and retention, the times they are a changing.
In their book “Brand For Talent,” Mark Schumann and Libby Sartain offer information meant to show that getting and keeping top employees means awareness that present-day employees are not the same as those who grew up during the Depression, even if they are dealing with the Great Recession.
Schumann and Sartain offer seven essentials that can help deal with a new situation.
• Wake up. Today’s job-seekers see themselves, not you, as the consumers. With a world of information at their fingertips, and the savvy to maneuver it, they are looking for something that satisfies them.
• Look ahead. You might have to market yourself as a good place to work. Think sensibilities, challenges, lessons, opportunities, the future.
• Create. A company must creatively market its employer brand to each segment of worker it hopes to secure.
• Segment. As with marketing, segmenting means adapting the talent brand message for each segment based on insight into audience needs and preferences.
• Implement. Be recognized, believed, personalized, and remembered.
• Sustain. There must be alignment of the culture, corporate identity and the consumer and employer brands.
• Survive. Be aware of and utilize social media to your benefit.
***
Wondering why your organization has trouble attracting good employees?
Well, that article in The New York Times reporting your CEO has been found certifiably insane sure didn’t help, but in fact when it comes to hiring and retention, the times they are a changing.
In their book “Brand For Talent,” Mark Schumann and Libby Sartain offer information meant to show that getting and keeping top employees means awareness that present-day employees are not the same as those who grew up during the Depression, even if they are dealing with the Great Recession.
Schumann and Sartain offer seven essentials that can help deal with a new situation.
• Wake up. Today’s job-seekers see themselves, not you, as the consumers. With a world of information at their fingertips, and the savvy to maneuver it, they are looking for something that satisfies them.
• Look ahead. You might have to market yourself as a good place to work. Think sensibilities, challenges, lessons, opportunities, the future.
• Create. A company must creatively market its employer brand to each segment of worker it hopes to secure.
• Segment. As with marketing, segmenting means adapting the talent brand message for each segment based on insight into audience needs and preferences.
• Implement. Be recognized, believed, personalized, and remembered.
• Sustain. There must be alignment of the culture, corporate identity and the consumer and employer brands.
• Survive. Be aware of and utilize social media to your benefit.
New Nonprofit Management Tips
Jun 27th
If you often visit The NonProfit Times on the web, you might have noticed a section of the site called Management Tips. This page features advice for nonprofit managers on a multitude of different topics, from finance to social media. We just updated this page with new tips for the following categories:
Reviewing the substantiation rules
The need for nonprofits to prove that they are doing good rather than scamming the general public is an ongoing one. New regulations are passed every year, but at The Georgia Society of CPAs 2011 Nonprofit Conference, attorneys W. Marshall Sanders and Margaret W. Scott reviewed features of a tax law passed in 1993, Section 170(f)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code requiring donors and nonprofits to “substantiate” a contribution of $250 or more if a tax deduction is to be allowed.
The substantiation must include the following:
• The amount of cash contributed and, in the case of non-cash contributions, a description of the property.
• A statement of whether the organization provided any goods or services in consideration of the donor’s contribution.
• If the donee did provide goods or services (other than intangible religious benefits), a description and good faith value of the goods and services. If religious intangible benefits were supplied, a statement to that effect must be supplied.
There are other aspects of the law to consider:
• No particular format is required for substantiation.
• There is no “family foundation exception” to the rule of Section 170(f)(8).
• The burden is on the donor, not the charity, to obtain the substantiation.
• Unhappy taxpayers continue to litigate the rule, unsuccessfully.
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rigorously enforces the rule.
***
To read the rest of the tips, visit the Nonprofit Management Tips page.
- Marketing
- Finance
- Social Media
- Revenue
- Planned Giving
- Boards
- Advocacy
- Database
Reviewing the substantiation rules
The need for nonprofits to prove that they are doing good rather than scamming the general public is an ongoing one. New regulations are passed every year, but at The Georgia Society of CPAs 2011 Nonprofit Conference, attorneys W. Marshall Sanders and Margaret W. Scott reviewed features of a tax law passed in 1993, Section 170(f)(8) of the Internal Revenue Code requiring donors and nonprofits to “substantiate” a contribution of $250 or more if a tax deduction is to be allowed.
The substantiation must include the following:
• The amount of cash contributed and, in the case of non-cash contributions, a description of the property.
• A statement of whether the organization provided any goods or services in consideration of the donor’s contribution.
• If the donee did provide goods or services (other than intangible religious benefits), a description and good faith value of the goods and services. If religious intangible benefits were supplied, a statement to that effect must be supplied.
There are other aspects of the law to consider:
• No particular format is required for substantiation.
• There is no “family foundation exception” to the rule of Section 170(f)(8).
• The burden is on the donor, not the charity, to obtain the substantiation.
• Unhappy taxpayers continue to litigate the rule, unsuccessfully.
• The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rigorously enforces the rule.
***
To read the rest of the tips, visit the Nonprofit Management Tips page.
Advantage of Multiple Job Interviews
Jun 20th
Cross-posted from Nonprofit Jobs blog:
It can be successfully argued that the job interview is the most important part in the search for new employees. This is when you, the nonprofit manager, will truly get to know the prospective employee. A job candidate may look flawless based on their resume, but you might find that they are not as great after an interview. While it would be ideal to conduct one interview for every individual, you will find that it is much more beneficial to interview those candidates that are most exceptional a second time.
In general, the first interview is more of a "getting to know you" affair. You should be looking to find out if the candidate is truly the person they claim to be on their resume. You will ideally have too many candidates to interview for it to be wise to try and figure out if they will be "the one." Treating the initial interview as a kind of filter, therefore, will make it easier to figure out who will be the best fit for your organization.
And that is why it is so advantageous to conduct multiple interviews. While it would be best if you could figure out exactly who you want to hire based on one interview, it makes a lot more sense to have multiple rounds. You will undoubtedly be faced with prospects who don't live up to their resumes in the first round. By weeding out these individuals, you will have a better chance of finding out who is the best person for the position when you begin your second round of interviews.
It can be successfully argued that the job interview is the most important part in the search for new employees. This is when you, the nonprofit manager, will truly get to know the prospective employee. A job candidate may look flawless based on their resume, but you might find that they are not as great after an interview. While it would be ideal to conduct one interview for every individual, you will find that it is much more beneficial to interview those candidates that are most exceptional a second time.
In general, the first interview is more of a "getting to know you" affair. You should be looking to find out if the candidate is truly the person they claim to be on their resume. You will ideally have too many candidates to interview for it to be wise to try and figure out if they will be "the one." Treating the initial interview as a kind of filter, therefore, will make it easier to figure out who will be the best fit for your organization.
And that is why it is so advantageous to conduct multiple interviews. While it would be best if you could figure out exactly who you want to hire based on one interview, it makes a lot more sense to have multiple rounds. You will undoubtedly be faced with prospects who don't live up to their resumes in the first round. By weeding out these individuals, you will have a better chance of finding out who is the best person for the position when you begin your second round of interviews.
7 Tips to Confront "Poor Performers"
Jun 16th
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. You can add below average employees to that list.
As a nonprofit manager, you are always going to have to handle less than ideal employees. It's simply a fact of life. How you confront these individuals can determine how successful your organization can be. It would seem there are only two ways to deal with these types of workers: You can avoid a potentially messy confrontation and hope they improve. Or, you can meet with the problematic employee and tell them to shape up or ship out. In his book How to Lead by THE BOOK, Dave Anderson (founder of The Matthew 25:35 Foundation) says there is actually a middle ground. By combining gentleness with firmness, a strong nonprofit manager can approach these "poor performers" in a way that will get them to perform better without making a scene. He lists 7 ways to get the most out of these confrontations:
As a nonprofit manager, you are always going to have to handle less than ideal employees. It's simply a fact of life. How you confront these individuals can determine how successful your organization can be. It would seem there are only two ways to deal with these types of workers: You can avoid a potentially messy confrontation and hope they improve. Or, you can meet with the problematic employee and tell them to shape up or ship out. In his book How to Lead by THE BOOK, Dave Anderson (founder of The Matthew 25:35 Foundation) says there is actually a middle ground. By combining gentleness with firmness, a strong nonprofit manager can approach these "poor performers" in a way that will get them to perform better without making a scene. He lists 7 ways to get the most out of these confrontations:
- Confront with class: Anderson urges respect when confronting problematic employees. Keeping that in mind, it is best to discuss problems with poor performers in private rather than bringing up the problems in front of their colleagues. Making a mistake is embarrassing enough without it having to be revealed to everyone in the office.
- Nix favoritism: Top performers are another constant for any nonprofit organization. But just because this individual hits the proverbial home run 99% of the time doesn't mean you should be cutting them slack if they happen to strike out once or twice. This will severely undermine the culture of your organization, as well as your credibility as a manager.
- Make sure the correction fits the "crime": Poor performers should be punished appropriately for whatever mistake they made. If it was only a small error, there is no need to institute harsh penalties for them. Anderson lists problems that stem from poor attitude, a lack of respect for the values of the company, or an overly inflated ego as issues that must be corrected most forcibly.
- Beware of committing a false kindness: Never try to forgo confrontational talk by just giving positive reinforcement. You might think this will help them perform better, but according to Anderson you are actually showing a lack of caring. He says that you should confront these problems before they get too big. This will help to teach employees that their leader cares about how work is conducted in the organization.
- Choose your battles wisely: A strong nonprofit leader will be able to know when a response is needed rather than a rebuke. Anderson uses the example of a mostly reliable employee coming in late one day. Instead of yelling at this employee, he suggests inquiring with them whether everything is all right. Tardiness from a repeat offender, on the other hand, would warrant a much different response.
- Follow up with follow-through: Always offer advice and encouragement after your initial confrontation with a poor performer. Failing to do this will leave the employee with no knowledge of what they need to do to improve. As Anderson says, it's like going to a doctor for a diagnosis and then refusing to take the prescribed medicine.
- Don't dig up the past: As tempting as it may be, you should never bring up past mistakes to poor performers. It does no good to live in the past. What's important is to correct the current problem, and bringing up dirty laundry won't help that.
Saginaw Valley State to Offer Nonprofit Management Certificate
Mar 30th
Looks like another school is getting on the nonprofit management bandwagon. I posted earlier that the University of Hawaii was going to offer a certificate in nonprofit management; well, now it looks like Saginaw Valley State is planning to do the same thing.
Anyone who is interested in taking the program, which starts June 1st, can start sending in applications today at the University's official website. The program, which is made possible by the United Way of Saginaw, is designed for upper level employees at nonprofit organizations. It looks like this certificate will help these individuals get through the often tricky world of non profit management by offering courses that cover the following areas:
Anyone who is interested in taking the program, which starts June 1st, can start sending in applications today at the University's official website. The program, which is made possible by the United Way of Saginaw, is designed for upper level employees at nonprofit organizations. It looks like this certificate will help these individuals get through the often tricky world of non profit management by offering courses that cover the following areas:
- Leadership
- Evaluation
- Governance
- Financial management
- Information technology
- Fund development
- Human resources
University of Hawaii to Offer Certificate in Nonprofit Managment
Mar 17th
Are you a budding nonprofit entrepreneur that lives in Hawaii? If so, there is some good news: The University of Hawaii at Manoa's Public Administration Program will be offering a graduate certificate in nonprofit managment this coming Fall, according to the AP. In a statement, the university said that the certificate will be designed for young professionals or students who are hoping to gain the skills they need to succeed not only in managment, but also grant writing and fundraising.
The courses needed to complete the certificate will give students the perspectives from public administration, business, social work, and public health. Those interested in completing this program should send in their applciations to the University of Hawaii at Manoa by June 1st.
The courses needed to complete the certificate will give students the perspectives from public administration, business, social work, and public health. Those interested in completing this program should send in their applciations to the University of Hawaii at Manoa by June 1st.
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