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Nonprofit organizations depend on dedicated and effective board members to fulfill their mission and drive positive change in their communities. Success in board membership requires a combination of personal qualities, commitment to the organization, and fulfillment of legal responsibilities. In this discussion, we will explore the essential qualities and responsibilities that make someone a successful nonprofit board member. Understanding these key aspects empowers individuals to make a meaningful impact, actively participate in decision-making processes, and secure the organization’s long-term success.

Here are 5 qualities that make someone a successful nonprofit board member

1. Commitment to the organization

Successful board members demonstrate a genuine commitment to the nonprofit’s mission and the clients it serves. They prioritize attending meetings, actively participate in discussions, and take an active role in decision-making processes. By dedicating their time and expertise, they contribute to the organization’s growth and development. Successful board members also make an effort to be well-informed about the organization’s mission, services, policies, and programs. They continuously seek knowledge about the nonprofit’s work and stay updated on developments in the relevant fields. This commitment to staying informed allows board members to make their own informed decisions and provide valuable insights.

2. Personal financial contribution

 Successful nonprofit board members lead by example by making a personal financial contribution to the nonprofit. Before asking others to contribute, they confirm their dedication by pledging and paying an annual contribution. By making this financial commitment, they demonstrate their belief in the organization’s mission and values. Additionally, they actively participate in fundraising and resource development efforts. They make thank you calls to donors, bring colleagues and friends to fundraising events, and host friendraising events in their homes. Successful board members actively engage in cultivating relationships with potential donors and help secure in-kind contributions. By actively participating in fundraising activities, they support the financial sustainability of the organization and inspire others to contribute.

3. Ethical conduct and confidentiality

Successful board members always have the organization’s best interests in mind and avoid conflicts of interest. They adhere to the duty of loyalty, meaning they act in the best interests of the organization and do not use their position for personal gain. They maintain confidentiality of board deliberations and publicly support board decisions, even if they may have disagreed. Board members should follow conflict of interest and confidentiality policies, signing statements annually and excusing themselves from discussions and votes where they have a conflict of interest. By upholding these ethical standards, successful board members foster trust and ensure the organization’s integrity.

4. Active engagement and leadership

Successful board members actively engage with the organization beyond board meetings. They serve on committees, offer to take on special assignments, and take leadership roles when necessary. They attend and actively participate in the annual board retreat and strategic planning workshops. By actively participating in committee work and special assignments, they share the workload and contribute their expertise to the organization’s initiatives. Additionally, successful board members inform others about the nonprofit, acting as goodwill ambassadors. They make presentations at community venues, personally contact friends and businesses to support the nonprofit, and share relevant information with their networks.

5. Fulfillment of legal responsibilities

Successful board members understand and fulfill their legal responsibilities. They meet the duty of care by making informed decisions and exercising reasonable care in their stewardship of the organization. They meet the duty of loyalty by acting in the best interests of the organization, avoiding personal gain, and being faithful to the mission. They meet the duty of obedience by ensuring their actions align with the organization’s central goals, obeying the law, and adhering to the organization’s internal rules and regulations. By fulfilling these legal responsibilities, successful board members protect the organization’s reputation and build public trust.

Summary

Being a successful nonprofit board member requires a combination of personal qualities, commitment, and fulfillment of legal responsibilities. By demonstrating a commitment to the organization, making personal financial contributions, actively participating in decision-making processes, and upholding ethical conduct, board members can make a lasting impact. Additionally, active engagement, leadership, and the fulfillment of legal responsibilities contribute to the organization’s growth, sustainability, and positive change in the community. If you are considering joining a nonprofit board, embodying these qualities will help you contribute effectively and become an integral part of the organization’s success. Together, we can create a brighter future and make a difference in the lives of those we serve.

What qualities do you think make someone a successful nonprofit board member? 

The post 5 Qualities That Make Someone A Successful Nonprofit Board Member appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Becoming savvier about donor advised funds is a current trend in nonprofit fundraising. As a nonprofit, finding out which donors have a donor-advised fund (DAF) can be challenging since DAF accounts are privately held and not public entities, and because they are managed by sponsoring organizations or financial institutions.

What is a donor-advised fund?

A donor-advised fund, or DAF, is an account where a donor can deposit assets for donation to charity over time. The donor gets a tax deduction for making contributions to the donor-advised fund. A sponsoring organization like The Jewish Communal Fund, Vanguard, Schwab, or Fidelity manages the account; the donor recommends how to invest the assets and where to donate them. Technically, once assets are deposited into a donor-advised fund, the sponsoring organization has legal control over them. But as long as the donor chooses a charity that’s recognized by the IRS as a U.S. charitable organization, the sponsoring organization will usually use your charities of choice.

Here are a few strategies you can use to identify potential donor-advised fund donors:

1. Donor surveys and communication

Consider conducting donor surveys or outreach campaigns to your existing donor base. At least one survey annually is a best practice, but I prefer attaching surveys to each of my donor thank you letters. Ask donors if they have a DAF or if they utilize any specific financial institutions for their charitable giving. This information will help you identify donors who might have DAFs. Be sure to record what you find directly into the donor’s record in your donor database.

2. Host charitable giving briefings

Either before or after the workday, invite a prominent financial advisor to speak and share tips on charitable giving and tax efficiency. The speaker should cover how donor-advised funds can provide more immediate income tax deductions for donors, as well as potentially reduce capital gains taxes and estate taxes. Promote the gathering as an “invitation only” event. Broadcast the event online either as a video or phone conference as well as in person. It’s highly likely that many of the attendees either already has a DAF or is considering establishing one. 

3. Publicly available information

Donor Advised Fund holders can search for charities to support by tax ID number or by name. Make sure your tax ID number is visible on your website so those donors can use it to recommend a grant to you. It also helps to make sure the name you do business as matches the name you have registered with the IRS so it’s easy for donors to find you when searching by name.

4. Research and data mining

Conduct prospect research on individual donors to gather information about their giving patterns and affiliations. Because private donor held DAFs are usually not made public, you must look for indicators such as previous grants made to your organization or publicly available information on their philanthropic activities. This research may provide insights into whether they have a DAF. A word of advice, not all prospect researchers know how to profile which donors are likely to have a DAF so be sure to ask about their abilities before hiring one.

5. Partnering with DAF sponsors

Collaborate with DAF sponsoring organizations or financial institutions by establishing relationships and open lines of communication. By fostering partnerships with these entities, you will make them aware of your important work, and they in turn may share that information with their account holders. Perhaps they will invite you as a guest speaker to one of their events where DAF holders are present?

6. Network and referrals

Leverage your existing relationships with donors, board members, and volunteers to inquire about potential DAF donors. They may have knowledge of individuals who are actively utilizing DAFs for their charitable giving.

Remember that DAF donors have the discretion to remain anonymous, and not all DAF donors may choose to disclose this information. Respect their privacy and focus on building relationships with donors based on their interests and philanthropic goals, regardless of whether they have a DAF.

What’s your experience with identifying donor-advised fund donors? Please let us know below.

The post 6 Strategies To Help You Identify Donor-Advised Fund Donors appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. Today’s question comes from a director of development who wants advice on how to quickly and efficiently find the best major gift and planned giving prospects:

Dear Charity Clairity,

We recently purchased donor analytics and now have a database overlay indicating who has major gift and planned gift likelihood. It appears we have a lot of potential, and now my boss wants me to start researching all our top prospects individually. I understand, but nothing has changed about our staffing or job responsibilities. It’s just me as DOD, an associate development director, a part-time events manager and an assistant who handles the database and donor acknowledgements. Everyone already had full plates. What’s the best thing for us to do next?

— Want to Do it All; Just Can’t

Dear Want to; Just Can’t,

Your predicament is one I hear often. Do more with the same amount, or even less, resources. It might work in the short term, but never in the long term. You’ll get to the point where balls are dropping fast and furious, you feel like crap because you can’t keep up, and the more failures (and negative feedback) you accrue, the more you feel like quitting (and others on your staff feel like quitting). And many do (the turnover rate in nonprofit development leads to tremendous loss of talent and negatively impacts the building of relationships essential to major donor development). 

I suggest you go back to your boss and revisit the reason you invested in donor analytics in the first place. Chances are it was to (1) demonstrate (to yourselves and/or your board) you have hidden treasure in your own database, and then (2) to develop and implement a plan to take the next best steps. 

If you’d discovered very few likely major donor prospects in your database, you would know you need to work harder on things like new donor acquisition and board recruitment, seeking candidates with different networks than those you’re currently tapped into. You, however, appear to have discovered gold!

That’s great news. The logical next step is to invest in mining that gold. 

You don’t want to delay, because your data is fresh now. This means being as aggressive as possible within your current system, while planning strategically to change that system so it’s more capable of using the resources at your disposal. 

There are a number of ways to approach this, and they begin with short-term and long-term staffing configurations. The best way to propose organizational change is over a period of years. Here are some things you might suggest to your boss:

• We bought the research; now we need to free up some staff time to better target identified mid-range and major gift donors. What can we do to allow you, me, the associate director, and even the events manager to each take on from X to XX assignments? [Look at the number of prospects you’ve identified and pick the highest number you can manage. In the short term, this may mean leaving some good prospects untapped in favor of tapping the great ones. An industry standard is one major gift officer – doing nothing other than qualification, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship – can manage a portfolio of no more than 150 donors. Research and data entry is extra, so plan accordingly.]
• Let’s divide our scores into segments, see how many prospects we have in each, and figure out a level/score we won’t go below for the present. If we have more hot prospects than we can handle given current staffing (i.e., prospects currently significantly underperforming and representing obvious “money left on the table”), let’s consider taking something off of someone else’s plate (e.g., an administrative assistant; program director, volunteer coordinator, or anyone who has good verbal skills and enjoys connecting with people) to better target and close mid-range gifts that would raise huge dividends.  
• Let’s develop a list of cultivation “moves” and “touches” we can use to draw these discovered hot prospects closer to us. This may involve engaging program staff to help with tours, town halls, and other events. Their job descriptions will need to be modified accordingly, and their supervisors will need to be on board with these changes.
• Let’s develop a reasonable one-year budget for donor cultivation to include meals, transportation, token gifts, design, printing, and mailings.
• At the end of the year, let’s revisit what worked/didn’t work and consider hiring a dedicated major gifts officer to build individual cultivation plans, assure asks are made of top prospects, and continue the stewardship that strengthens relationships over the longer term. Their job will involve serving as “moves manager” to hold board and other staff who take on assignments feet to the fire.  

Note: While it is tempting to think you can simply assign major gifts development to board members and/or donor volunteers, this seldom works unless you have a dedicated staff person to support them. Making assignments, scheduling visits, following up, putting together materials, offering coaching, and cheerleading – it’s all essential and it all takes time. Done inefficiently or ad hoc it’s more trouble than it’s worth, resulting in disgruntled volunteers and few closed gifts. Ultimately, you’ll likely want to do this as the peer-to-peer model of fundraising is a highly successful one (donors who are approached by board members know they aren’t being paid to ask for a gift!).

Whenever you’re tasked to raise more money, more energy must go into changing how you do things. With major gift development, this means bringing in a new level of sophistication to get to the next level. That’s why you invested in donor analytics. That’s the way to turn “just can’t” into “yes, we can!”

— Charity Clairity

Please use a pseudonym, like “Want to; Just Can’t” did, if you prefer to be anonymous.

The post [ASK AN EXPERT] Next Steps After Purchasing Donor Analytics appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

The first lesson I learned while working in the healthcare industry was this: Expect change. Every year there was guaranteed to be a policy or procedural change that required change management, which led to the second lesson I learned: Figure out how to make the change last.

Organizations that successfully navigate change management have also made culture shifts to ensure lasting change.

There are 4 culture shifts that a nonprofit organization needs to make to maintain change management.

1. Adopt a culture that values feedback.

Many of us have been in the position of loving an idea on paper but later realizing it doesn’t work so well in practice. The initial idea on paper may not capture nuances of day-to-day work rhythms, or it may collide with current processes or services. The staff who may be working these day-to-day tasks may not be key decision-makers, which could create a communication gap.

Maintaining a feedback loop to ensure that you as a leader know what is happening at pavement level will do three things:

1. Creates confidence in your staff that they are a part of the change process.
2. Provides a sense of ownership in making the change work.
3. Signals any needs to make future adjustments during planning phases.

Remember: Obtaining feedback from your staff is not the same as using their feedback. Have you ever been told by someone that they value what you say, but then take actions that prove otherwise? At some point you disconnect or disengage, and in doing so, distrust seeps in and can create a toxic workplace culture. Regardless of the feedback, make it a practice to acknowledge it, address it, and when appropriate, implement it.

2. Adopt a culture that supports flexibility.

Flexibility and structure are not mutually exclusive. A nonprofit with a culture of flexibility embraces “new;” a new way of doing, thinking, and being, without compromising the organizations mission. When change has been initiated there must be flexibility in how the change is carried out.

How does a culture of flexibility look? Here’s some examples:

• The ability to scrap a new design and start over when it’s obvious that it doesn’t meet an objective.
• Relinquishing control to the best person for the job when it was not initially obvious that they would be the best choice.
• Inviting creativity. Creativity fuels flexibility!

3. Adopt a culture that values training.

A major pitfall for maintaining changes in an organization is a lack of training. Many organizations tend to provide a quick overview of how things are supposed to work without a proper system to evaluate their staff’s understanding of the proposed changes.

Training as demonstration without evaluation is only an overview. Without this, people will revert to what is easiest, most familiar, or most comfortable to them. There is no accountability. Regardless of whether a change will require a lot of training or not, it’s a good practice to take time to identify any training needs.

Ask these questions to determine when training is needed:

• Are we asking staff to do something they’ve never done?
• Are we expecting staff to figure out anything on their own? If so, can our current staff manage figuring things out on their own?

To create a lasting change within your organization, a culture that values training with evaluation will develop more proficient staff and maintain change.

4. Adopt a culture of accountability.

Don’t have a heavy hand without a soft heart. This is one of the fastest ways to lose great employees. Holding staff accountable for work that they have not been prepared to do is downright unfair.

Recently I was talking to a friend who disclosed she was leaving her job. Her response to me asking, “Why?”, was this: “I didn’t get hardly any training on what they were asking me to do. And then I was expected to jump right in to my new duties without having hardly any time to practice and get familiar with it. It was too stressful.” Not only did she feel as though she wasn’t adequately prepared, but her boss also berated her on her performance in front of her co-workers.

When it comes to having a culture of accountability it only serves the company well when there are two things present: 

1. Clear expectations.
2. Adequate training.

Without these two things, people will feel as though they can’t excel.

When people feel as though they can’t excel, one of two things typically happen: They quit, or perhaps even worse, they stay, storing up resentment, performing at the bare minimum level. When an organization has clear expectations and adequate training, accountability helps to make change lasting.

An accountability system that maintains change creates the following:

• Involvement. It promotes the idea that everyone’s work matters and is an important contribution to the organization. Everyone must do their part.
• Commitment. It undergirds the notion of how important the change is to the organization. The change is important enough to measure and monitor its performance.
• Excellence. It emphasizes that how the goal is met, matters. The point of change is to make the organization stronger, not weaker!

Are you currently making decisions about what changes need to be made within your nonprofit organization? If so, take the time to evaluate whether your culture will be able to maintain the change that is desired. It is beyond frustrating as a leader to invest time, energy, and money to make changes that can’t be maintained to meet the objectives. Take heart in knowing that with a little effort and tweaking your culture, it can be done!

The post 4 Necessary Culture Shifts To Help You Navigate Change Management appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.