Mad Scientist!

Sometimes I feel like a mad scientist here in the NorthSky lab brewing up new formulas and innovative solutions for the nonprofits here in northern Michigan. I guess there is a little madness going on right now for all of us as we search for new strategies and approaches to age old problems: How do we increase our funding? How do we find and recruit strong Board members? How do we keep staff excited and engaged? How do we get the message out to the community with only a limited promotional budget?

The exciting thing is that when you investigate all that’s going on in the field, you discover tremendous innovation occurring on a national, regional, and local level. Right now, the NorthSky team is excited about the LaPiana "Real Time Strategic Planning" approach which is a practical approach to planning that takes the best of market-based planning and applies it to the nonprofit world. Many of you are also involved in the work we’re doing with Rotary Charities and Chris Ameen, a member of the NorthSky consultant network, on capacity-building models and evaluation. We’re also experimenting in our learning lab with a financial matrix from Fieldstone Alliance to identify and evaluate new revenue sources and with dashboard reporting with our colleagues at the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center.

We also benefit every day from area nonprofit managers and board members who share their innovations. We hear about new tricks for fundraising, volunteer recruitment, communications, and using technology.

So what are you doing in your own learning lab that is innovative and creative? Any thing you can share with your colleagues? Let us know by posting your experiences on our blog.

Enjoy the week,

Pam Evans
NorthSky Program Manager

Ensuring Board Members Have the Knowledge They Need

As I was catching up on my reading, one author commented that she has frequently heard executive directors lament that they are often the ones that attend professional development programs on board governance rather than members of their board of directors. This puts the responsibility on the executive director to interpret and provide leadership in board governance for their boards rather than it being an activity of the board. In thinking about this, it occurs to me that continuing education and professional development activities are frequently assumed to be for staff members only. With this in mind, should continuing education and professional development activities of the board be identified as strategies in continuing to grow an organization's capacity to meet its mission? Should these activities appear in the strategic plan? Should one of the committees of the board be charged with planning its own professional development activities? If so, what are some of the policies in practice?

Some recommendations include an annual board retreat, semi-annual board development learning opportunity and budget for certain board positions to participate in specific continuing education activities. So, who’s attending the next NorthSky workshop discussing the new Form 990 and its deeper focus on board governance? Have members of the board attended the Board Governance workshop and gained a keener understanding of their role and responsibilities? The nonprofit sector is like every other sector, it continues to grow and change. How is the leadership of the organization keeping current in an ever-changing world and assuring new board members have the same understanding of their role and responsibilities as existing board members? Looking forward to your thoughts. . .

Enjoy the week,

Debbie McKeon
Executive Director
NorthSky Nonprofit Network

Check out this article about ongoing Board Education:
http://www.help4nonprofits.com/NPLibrary/NP_Bd_OngoingBoardEducation_Art.htm

Seven Tips for Improving Your Year-End Solicitations

We’re fielding lots of requests from area nonprofits working on year-end fundraising campaigns. I expect as we get closer to the holidays, we’ll be hearing from even more of you. Those year-end appeals can be critical as you capitalize on donor receptivity and interest and ensure you meet your revenue budget.

A few tips to keep in mind as you work on direct mail solicitations.

1. The solicitation letter should be personal, appealing, and compelling. To make it personal, use a personal salutation on the letter and personalized address on the envelope. Craft your message to appeal to the audience receiving the letter. To help you do this, imagine yourself receiving the letter while sitting in the comfort of your home. How would someone capture your attention and create that very important personal link through the opening paragraph in the letter?
2. Attempt to keep the letter to one page or less to make it appealing to the reader. Use bullet points and white space so it’s not intimidating.
3. Use a story, testimonial or example to make a compelling case to the potential donor.
4. Include a response card and call-to-action that explicitly asks for the donation.
5. The greatest letter will not offset a poor mailing list. Put at least or more effort into creating a good mailing list that includes the right individuals, correct spelling of names, and accurate mailing information.
   
6. Be meticulous about grammar, spelling, and the look of the mailing.
7. Consider if an e-mail blast could work for your solicitation. For many prospects, an e-mail letter that links to more detailed information about your organization may be the ideal communication strategy.

Interested in learning more? Check out these articles:
http://www.malwarwick.com/learning-resources/articles/10-most-important-things-about-dm.html
http://www.fundsraiser.com/jul07/direct-mail-fundraising-program.html

How about you? Do you have any tips to share? Join this discussion by posting your suggestions and success stories.

Pam Evans
NorthSky Program Manager