What to Expect: Online Fundraising by Beth Pickard

When FLiP was up in Boston a few weeks back, I met Beth Pickard, an intern at Firstgiving.com. Firstgiving.com, “helps people realize the power of online fundraising”. I knew Beth had good taste when she complimented my recent post about being a fundraising consultant, so I asked her to tell us a bit more about what she does.

Online fundraising programs can be a less expensive and more creative way to raise some money, but with every nonprofit in the world launching their own program, how can you break through the clutter?

I used to be an ascetic when it came to using Facebook.  I uploaded my first profile picture and never changed it.  I never updated my “status.”  I rejected hundreds of group invitations, and I posted nothing personal.  I resented the mini-feed. 

But over the past year or so, I started to come around.  There is no denying that Facebook has helped to catalyze a new form of communication, sometimes referred to as “Web 2.0” or the “social media revolution.”  The platform, however, is only as good as how you use it, and it can be used for some very effective endeavors.  Networking rules remain unchanged; what has changed is the medium through which networking is happening. 

The key point here is that communication via social media (i.e., online) is becoming something that can’t be ignored.  This applies directly to philanthropy and fundraising, as online fundraising is transitioning from a niche to a primary source of income for nonprofit organizations.

Here are a few insights for effective online fundraising from our team at Firstgiving:

1) Be creative when you ask - Our most successful fundraisers inspire and get donors excited to give by creating interesting fundraising events.  They compete in endurance sports events, sell body parts (i.e, reserve space for a message on an arm or leg during a race in exchange for a donation), shave their beards, and give up birthday and wedding presents. 

2) Consider asking for small amounts - Sometimes people don’t give because they don’t think giving a small amount will make a difference.  Large donations are nice, but it is quite possible to meet a fundraising goal with small donations from a lot of people.  Ask specifically for $5 donations, for example, or even $1 donations.

3) Make it personal - Make a clear and personal statement about why you are doing what you are doing.  It helps people to get “on board” with you.

All that glitters isn’t gold: Why working at a nonprofit might just be a really smart thing to do By Supriya Balsekar

Editor’s Note: We carry on with our “What to Expect” issue.  Today, Supriya Balsekar tells us what it’s like to work at an innovative youth development nonprofit…and how it’s the perfect preparation for business school.

I was very much on the Women in Business fast-track. I worked in finance for two summers during college, and my senior fall, I applied and was accepted to business school. In the months prior to my graduation from college, however, to everyone’s surprise and some people’s horror, I deferred business school for two years and signed up to work at a nonprofit in the Bronx. From my interactions during my summer internships in the finance industry, I found that so many young, ambitious souls, myself included, had been socialized into believing that an elite financial firm was simply the next checkbox beneath an Ivy League college. Instead, I called my MBA admissions office to confirm that I could really do anything I wanted before starting the program. When the lady said to me, “Yes, you can do pretty much anything except watch Oprah for two years,” I signed on the dotted line for a two-year contract with CitySquash. 

CitySquash is an after-school youth enrichment program that enables at-risk youth from the Bronx to fulfill their academic, athletic and personal potential. Our year-round, intensive programming combines squash, tutoring, mentoring, community service, travel, culture, nutrition, independent school placement, employment training and college prep. As an after-school program activity or “hook,” squash is uniquely effective. Historically played at prep schools and elite colleges, squash maintains close ties to strong educational institutions today. As such, the experience of playing squash exposes our students to higher education and a culture that greatly values academic achievement. Moreover, winning scholarships to prep schools and colleges with the help of squash is not a far-fetched goal for our students, as squash remains a relatively small sport in America. And the results are stunning - of the 40 students in CitySquash’s first four middle school classes, 23 have won scholarships to selective parochial, independent day and boarding high schools.  Collectively, these students will receive $2.3 million in financial aid awards over the course of their high school careers. 

I have been at CitySquash for three months now, working on management, development and strategic planning. I am truly happy and truly enjoy the work that I do, and I believe this opportunity will prepare me for business school and life in a way that most glamorous jobs would not hold a candle to. I was given multiple responsibilities including overseeing our land-acquisition project, planning and running the capital campaign to raise the funds to build that facility, and implementing and coordinating our transition to new and improved fundraising software, and redesigning our website from scratch. In addition to such projects, I was given the opportunity to coach squash and tutor our students. Spending time with the students is particularly valuable as it has given me a glimpse into their world, their values, their hopes and their fears. In many ways, the most important responsibility I was given all summer was serving as a role model to our students.

This experience has provided me with much professional growth and personal discovery. While my peers have found themselves stuck at the bottom of the totem pole, yearning to add value and flex their intellectual muscles, I have found myself playing a pivotal role in ushering the organization from childhood into maturity, and gained many of the hard-skills required to start and run a business. At one point during the summer, while evaluating the organization’s financial health and readiness for the new challenges posed by the economy, it really hit me – that I held a significant stake in the organization and that I, at 23-years of age, was actually going to affect our business practices and our students. I also quickly came to realize that our staff of eight twenty-somethings served as a beacon of light in the community. “CitySquash is a miracle in the middle of the Bronx,” one parent described on my first day, “Thank you for coming to us.” In that moment, I felt powerful beyond belief. I am confident that when I start at business school, I will bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and perspective to the table. For young people like myself, working at a social service organization might not only be a good thing to do, but a very smart thing to do.

What to Expect: Fundraising Consulting by Will Schneider

When I speak to college students about the possibility of a career in the philanthropic sector, their eyes generally light up when I mention my career in consulting. I know what they’re hearing. For some, it sounds like the perfect blended career; you get to work for the social good – and work in the for-profit sector at the same time. It’s all of the ability to sleep well at night that comes from working at a nonprofit or socially-conscious organization, except in addition to that warm and fuzzy feeling, you also get stock options. Right? Well… not so fast.

For this edition of our latest theme, “What to Expect,” we’re going to be exploring the truth about consulting. Our hope is that this “What to Expect” series will help you make better decisions about your career. As this theme progresses, posts will both include information about the nitty-gritty of day-to-day work, (i.e.  Elizabeth Miller’s post about meetings), as well as macro views, like my post today about life as a consultant. Without further ado, “What to Expect: Consulting.” 

Hi everyone. I’m Will. I’m a fundraising consultant.

Four years ago, when I had about two years of experience as a fundraiser under my belt, I left a job on the Major Gifts team (as a prospect researcher) at Carnegie Hall to work for Changing Our World, Inc. a national (now international) philanthropic consulting firm based in New York. The company advises individuals, foundations, corporations and nonprofits in the strategic raising or granting of funds; I work primarily with nonprofit clients in the Fundraising Division.

Raising money for Carnegie Hall is a fantastic experience; they know what they’re doing, and they do it very well. I was able to be a small part of the machine, and as such watch what was happening all around me.

I wanted to be a consultant largely because, well, largely because I like fundraising, and I felt I would have an opportunity to do more of it as a consultant for a variety of organizations than if I worked in-house for any one organization.  I assumed I would be raising money for dozens of clients over the years, applying the lessons learned from each client to the rest that followed. That’s what I expected.

What to Expect as a Fundraising Consultant – The Five Truths:

1) It’s like getting a new job every six months. I typically work with anywhere from one to four clients at a time. Engagements rarely last more than a year, and some are much shorter. The upshot is that the day-to-day experience of my job changes dramatically every six months or so. Some people like settling into a routine. In my opinions, these people would not like being consultants

Seeking Government Support and Funding

We’re pretty fortunate at FLiP because our day jobs as consultants at Changing Our World, Inc. have given us opportunities to meet colleagues with varying backgrounds and experiences. One of our newest colleagues, Courtney Powers, joined the company after spending two years as a Capitol Hill staffer. We were eager to pick her brain on what to expect when seeking government funding. Below is her take. Enjoy!

As a college student, I was introduced to global and domestic problems such as poverty, human rights violations, and environmental sustainability. Like many of my peers, I was impassioned by the idea that my generation could fix the world’s issues through globalization, mutual respect, and our collective philanthropic efforts. In college, I became involved with organizations such as S.T.A.N.D., Amnesty International and Doctors Without Borders, where I gained organizational experience and a brief introduction to philanthropy.

Until recently I was certain the solution to these problems was government. I was like a kid at the toy store overwhelmed with excitement by what I saw as the ideals of public service, civic duty, and democracy. My beliefs and passion motivated me and after college led me to America’s political hub, Washington, D.C.

In D.C., I was lucky enough to earn a junior position in a senior senator’s personal office. There I slowly (and sometimes painstakingly) learned the best ways to get noticed and, more importantly for many nonprofits, to receive funding.

However, after nearly two years, I decided to change my mechanism for helping others by moving to New York and accepting a position at Changing Our World, Inc., a philanthropic services consulting firm.  Today, I am armed with helpful knowledge of D.C.’s inner workings and complicated bureaucracies.

Working on Capitol Hill was a life-changing experience, and while it did not change my ideals, it did alter my perspective on solutions. I write this to share some of the lessons I learned as a Capitol Hill staffer, in hopes of helping development officers of nonprofits, big or small, learn the best ways to seek government support for their organization and/or cause.

Step 1: Secure a face-to-face meeting

Thomas P. O'Neill, Jr., former Speaker of the House, famously stated: “All politics are local.” Mr. O’Neill’s comment is possibly the most appropriate assessment of the American political system and therefore undeniably relevant to your nonprofit. Whether you are engaging your Congressman or Senator, the best chance of getting your foot in the door is to appeal to your own local member.

What to Expect: Meetings - By Elizabeth Miller

Welcome to a new series we're trying out - "What to Expect". So you want that dream job, you work hard for it, you eventually get it, and *bam* - it's not at all what you expected. This series will hopefully help you avoid that. For our first attempt, I asked guest author Elizabeth Miller to write about one of the biggest and most time-consuming parts of her job, preparing for and attending meetings. Elizabeth is a Senior Program Associate for The Overbrook Foundation.

If you work for a Foundation, it’s inevitable that you and your colleagues will spend a lot of your time either preparing for, attending, or debriefing from a lot of meetings. Surely people working in corporations, for-profit businesses and the nonprofit sector all have meetings too, but it seems to me that the core meetings of the world of private foundations are pretty unique. What’s different about our meetings?

In order to answer these questions I’ve put together a quick crash course, I’ll call it Meetings 101. Of course, every foundation is different in the way it’s structured and the activities it participates in, but in my experience, the types of meetings we attend can be broken down into the following categories.

Board Meetings

Every foundation has a Board of Directors (each state has its own law about the minimum number of Board members that they are required to have). These Boards have several functions but fundamentally they are responsible for the overarching work within the foundation and are held liable for the decisions made. Most Boards meet in-person periodically throughout the year, some just once per calendar year or in the case of more active boards up to four times. Board meetings are attended usually by both Board members and by foundation staff. They provide a formal arena in which to discuss program priorities and interests as well as governance issues, and to formally approve decisions reached and importantly, to approve grants that are up for review. They also provide an opportunity for Board members learn in more depth about the grantees and their work.

Committee Meetings

It is fairly typical that in addition to Board meetings, many foundations have committee meetings throughout the year. Again, it can vary by foundation size and type, but these committee meetings are often made up of Board members, or individuals who serve as advisors to the work of the foundation. These kinds of meetings can include Program Committee meetings, where committee members (who are often Board members, or in some cases other interested individuals asked to participate) vet proposals to discuss projects before they come to the full Board, for interim updates on existing programs. In addition to Program Committees, there can also be Planning Committees which help set agendas for upcoming meetings and retreats. Often there are Governance Committees which deal with internal issues related to policies and procedures of foundations. Investment committee meetings are outlined too and they give members an opportunity to make decisions about the kinds of investments the foundation may want to make.