Increase Your Success With Bequests 

Olivia Thomas, Executive Director of the Safe Place and Rape Crisis Center (SPARCC) opens a thick legal envelope. The return address lists the name of a law firm. Inside the letter states that SPARCC has been named in the will of deceased women. After sharing the good news with other SPARCC’s supporters, Olivia finds that no one knows her. When SPARCC researches its records, it learns that long ago the woman bought one five-dollar T-shirt. In her will, she gave SPARCC over $300,000.

Every nonprofit would like to receive similar news. While everyone wants to learn about a receiving a bequest, is it likely that your nonprofit will? The following test will help you rank you odds of success and improve them.

Bequest Test

Rank your nonprofit from one to five on the following five characteristics, with a score of five being high.

1. You Consistently Ask for Bequests. Rank your nonprofit high here if you include bequest reminders in all your print and online communications. Reminders include the common, “remember us in your will,” and similar prompts. They also include sharing stories about people who made bequests and the impact of their gifts. Your newsletters and annual report include stories about estate gifts. They share how they helped you do your mission and how such gifts are easy to make. When a donor shares that you are in their estate plans, you ask them to share their story. Why is consistent marketing essential? Personal events such as births, retirements, job changes, and unexpected deaths trigger estate planning. Consistent reminders “coincidently” remind donors of the opportunity just as they are organizing plans with their lawyers. Give your organization a five if you consistently ask supporters to remember you in their estate plans and share how gifts will help.

Your rank: ___

2. You Communicate Permanence. You drive to your favorite restaurant. The parking lot is empty. It is dark inside. Are they on vacation, or out of business? Before donors include you in their estate plans, they must believe you are viable. What indicates permanence? Your news conveys your stability. Your requests for money are about opportunities, not bankruptcy threats. You share ambitious but realistic goals. Even if you are a brand new nonprofit organization, planning to merge, or face an uncertain future, you can still encourage bequests. In this case, ask people to remember the mission in their wills, i.e. “Remember homeless children in your will.” Why is viability important? When donors make their estate plans they prefer for them not to be executed until a distant future. Rank yourself high here is you communicate your permanence. Your rank: ___

3. You Raise Significant Individual Donations. Bequests are a natural bi-product of individual fundraising and a culture of philanthropy. (See this article.) On tour of a food bank, you overhear this conversation:

Volunteer: “I’m excited by the new plans I read about in the newsletter.”

Staff: “Yes, won’t it be great to be in a new warehouse with good lighting so we can see these darn expiration dates without squinting.”

Volunteer: “I just wish I had the money you need.”

Staff: “We really appreciate your donations. I couldn’t believe all the peanut butter you donated this month. That was wonderful, we filled every families’ basket!”

Volunteer: “Just wish I could do more.”

Staff: “I felt the same way. You know what I did? I left my IRA to the food bank. It’s not a lot, but it gives me great satisfaction.”

Volunteer: “Maybe I could do something like that, too.”

Bequests are a form of individual giving. They allow people, even with meager means, to make major gifts. In the dialog above, a staff member who works where donors are valued, proudly shares her commitment, and encourages others to follow. Rank yourself high here if your nonprofit constantly seeks new donors, engages them, and stewards their gifts.

Your rank: ___

4. Key Supporter Bequest. Give yourself a three here if you have included your nonprofit in your personal estate plans. Rank yourself a five if all of your board has made a bequest and if all of your staff has at least been asked—individually. Board and staff members play an important leadership role here. While large bequests are always welcome, any bequest is a sign of commitment that gives these supporters the ability to invite people to follow them with integrity.

Your rank: ___

5. You Serve Model Constituents. Mature couples without children make ideal bequest candidates. Therefore, nonprofits such as senior service groups, hospices, hospitals, and established universities will rank themselves high here. However, if you have a long list of different kinds of supporters you can also rank yourself moderately high on this characteristic. Young adults make bequests to demonstrate their commitments to causes. Mature couples without children love young people and the nonprofits that serve them. Adults remember organizations that changed their lives and whose work they respect. If you don’t serve ideal bequest candidates because of the service you provide, increase your score here by growing supporters—amongst them will be bequest makers.

Your rank: ___

Interpret Your Score:

17-25: If you haven’t been receiving requests, it is only a matter of time. Keep up the good work.

9-16: You are likely to receive bequests. Improve your success by increasing your score, especially with consistent marketing.

0-8: You may receive a notice of bequest, but it will be a matter of luck. To increase your success, work on the factors about to increase you success.

Bequests are an equal opportunity income source. One day, every one of your supporters will die. All of them can be asked to include your nonprofit in their estate plans. Here are some additional dos and don’ts—

1. Don’t wait until you have time to start a complete planned giving program to seek bequests. Do add “remember us in your will” or similar statements in all of your publications today.

2. Don’t forget to recognize bequest gifts. Do share stories to thank givers and inspire more gifts.

3. Don’t expect quick returns. Do set up a system, like an automatic savings account, to regularly request bequests.

4. Don’t forget to encourage your greatest fans. Do encourage your board, staff, and volunteers to remember your nonprofit in their estate plans. Do suggest “easy” gifts such as designating part of their life insurance to your institutions.

5. Do create a legacy society when you have a handful of people who have made gifts. Give them special treatment.

Related Resources

Guilty As Charged: Prove Your Board Supports Your Organization
Waiting for Super Donor
Don’t Do This Alone: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy

May 2013

Become a Volunteer Magnet to Reduce Your Expenses 

“Beating the mouse,” is the goal of volunteer experiences at the Houston Food Bank according to Brian Greene, President and CEO. “The mouse” is a day at a Disney theme park. Almost all nonprofits offer volunteer experiences. Few nonprofits design operations, buildings, and processes with the goal of offering better-than-vacation-day ones.

The value of creating extraordinary volunteer experiences includes tremendous community branding, and something critical to the Food Bank: reduced labor costs. Envision organizing 70 million pounds of food a year. You must sort the contents of thousands of collection barrels, sacks of rice big enough for three adults to stand inside, fresh produce in danger of spoiling, and a mishmash of donated goods from grocery stores. Last year over 23,500 individuals volunteered at the Houston Food Bank. They contributed 200,000 hours. “What we have done,” explains Greene, “can be used elsewhere. It’s scalable.”

How It Works

How does the Houston Food Bank obtain volunteer help? Staff designs its operations and infrastructure to support volunteers and introduce people to the Food Bank. To accommodate volunteers, it is open 22 hours a day. It offers a state-of-the-art sorting center. Here a mechanical contraption brings volunteers baskets of food to sort. Baskets are used because they are more engaging than conveyor belts. Not only is the work engaging, it’s also valuable. Each hour of volunteering is valued at $75 because of the food that it provides.

Moreover, the complex is designed to make sure thousands of new people know about the Food Bank each year. Its footprint includes a conference center similar to those at college campuses that can support 1,000 participants. The Food Bank provides it to businesses and community groups at cost. When someone attends a conference, they see the Food Bank at work. When a conference involves teamwork, they can go down to the sorting floor while other participants watch them implement new skills from an overhead viewing area.

The Food Bank’s design also includes skilled labor. A job-training program offers people recently released from prison on parole or probation work in the warehouse. With the help of several government agencies, trainees learn job skills and how to use state-of-the-art-warehouse equipment. Here again the work preformed reduces the Food Bank’s labor costs.

The Essentials of the Approach

The Houston Food Bank designed its infrastructure and programs to reduce the road block that kept them from doing more mission. The strategy bi-passes the need for cash and directly obtains needed labor by creating engaging opportunities. The approach is renewable. Volunteers who love the experience return. The infrastructure also educates over 20,000 people a year about hunger. It creates donors, often for life.

Six Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Explore This Approach

1. Answer the following: “Big picture, what stops you from doing more mission?” If you reply, “money,” then answer this question: “If you had money what would you buy?” If you reply staff, answer this: “What exactly would they do?”

2. Gather ideas about how you might obtain the resource. The Food Bank became a volunteer magnet and it developed a warehouse job-training program. To start, collect at least a dozen ideas. Expand your list as you work.

3. Organize your ideas into areas, such as skilled and unskilled labor. Within these categories gather the a) Easy-to-implement ideas, like starting a family night; b) First-step-ideas, like collecting emails. Pull out the ideas that need to be added to strategic-plans, like adding a conference center for long-term actions.

4. Select one area to on which to focus. The Food Bank of Houston needed all kinds of help. At first, they didn’t build a conference center or add a job-training program. They improved volunteer opportunities one experience at a time. From this base, they created a system that generates 200,000 hours of help yearly.

5. In your focus area, combine an easy-to-implement idea with first-step one. Start. For instance, you start a quarterly family event. At it, everyone who can read sorts food. Non-readers make cards to include in food baskets. During the event you incorporate a first-step-idea, collecting emails. After the event, you use them to send thank you notes, add them to your newsletter, and send early invitations to the next event.

6. Keep up the momentum. Gather more ideas. Study the work of others. Improve your opportunities one increment at a time. Beat the mouse.   

This month’s strategy explores an ingenious approach to obtaining volunteer resources to allow you to do more mission. Next month in Your Ingenious Nonprofit, you will learn about obtaining corporate dollars by creating scholarships-like opportunities.

May 2013

“Beating the mouse,” is the goal of volunteer experiences at the Houston Food Bank according to Brian Greene, President and CEO. “The mouse” is a day at a Disney theme park. Almost all nonprofits offer volunteer experiences. Few nonprofits design operations, buildings, and processes with the goal of offering better-than-vacation-day ones.

The value of creating extraordinary volunteer experiences includes tremendous community branding, and something critical to the Food Bank: reduced labor costs. Envision organizing 70 million pounds of food a year. You must sort the contents of thousands of collection barrels, sacks of rice big enough for three adults to stand inside, fresh produce in danger of spoiling, and a mishmash of donated goods from grocery stores. Last year over 23,500 individuals volunteered at the Houston Food Bank. They contributed 200,000 hours. “What we have done,” explains Greene, “can be used elsewhere. It’s scalable.”

How It Works

How does the Houston Food Bank obtain volunteer help? Staff designs its operations and infrastructure to support volunteers and introduce people to the Food Bank. To accommodate volunteers, it is open 22 hours a day. It offers a state-of-the-art sorting center. Here a mechanical contraption brings volunteers baskets of food to sort. Baskets are used because they are more engaging than conveyor belts. Not only is the work engaging, it’s also valuable. Each hour of volunteering is valued at $75 because of the food that it provides.

Moreover, the complex is designed to make sure thousands of new people know about the Food Bank each year. Its footprint includes a conference center similar to those at college campuses that can support 1,000 participants. The Food Bank provides it to businesses and community groups at cost. When someone attends a conference, they see the Food Bank at work. When a conference involves teamwork, they can go down to the sorting floor while other participants watch them implement new skills from an overhead viewing area.

The Food Bank’s design also includes skilled labor. A job-training program offers people recently released from prison on parole or probation work in the warehouse. With the help of several government agencies, trainees learn job skills and how to use state-of-the-art-warehouse equipment. Here again the work preformed reduces the Food Bank’s labor costs.

The Essentials of the Approach

The Houston Food Bank designed its infrastructure and programs to reduce the road block that kept them from doing more mission. The strategy bi-passes the need for cash and directly obtains needed labor by creating engaging opportunities. The approach is renewable. Volunteers who love the experience return. The infrastructure also educates over 20,000 people a year about hunger. It creates donors, often for life.

Six Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Explore This Approach

1. Answer the following: “Big picture, what stops you from doing more mission?” If you reply, “money,” then answer this question: “If you had money what would you buy?” If you reply staff, answer this: “What exactly would they do?”

2. Gather ideas about how you might obtain the resource. The Food Bank became a volunteer magnet and it developed a warehouse job-training program. To start, collect at least a dozen ideas. Expand your list as you work.

3. Organize your ideas into areas, such as skilled and unskilled labor. Within these categories gather the a) Easy-to-implement ideas, like starting a family night; b) First-step-ideas, like collecting emails. Pull out the ideas that need to be added to strategic-plans, like adding a conference center for long-term actions.

4. Select one area to on which to focus. The Food Bank of Houston needed all kinds of help. At first, they didn’t build a conference center or add a job-training program. They improved volunteer opportunities one experience at a time. From this base, they created a system that generates 200,000 hours of help yearly.

5. In your focus area, combine an easy-to-implement idea with first-step one. Start. For instance, you start a quarterly family event. At it, everyone who can read sorts food. Non-readers make cards to include in food baskets. During the event you incorporate a first-step-idea, collecting emails. After the event, you use them to send thank you notes, add them to your newsletter, and send early invitations to the next event.

6. Keep up the momentum. Gather more ideas. Study the work of others. Improve your opportunities one increment at a time. Beat the mouse.
 

This month’s strategy explores an ingenious approach to obtaining volunteer resources to allow you to do more mission. Next month in Your Ingenious Nonprofit, you will learn about obtaining corporate dollars by creating scholarships-like opportunities.

Every nonprofit would like to receive similar news. While everyone wants to learn about a receiving a bequest, is it likely that your nonprofit will? The following test will help you rank you odds of success and improve them.

Bequest Test

Rank your nonprofit from one to five on the following five characteristics, with a score of five being high.

1. You Consistently Ask for Bequests. Rank your nonprofit high here if you include bequest reminders in all your print and online communications. Reminders include the common, “remember us in your will,” and similar prompts. They also include sharing stories about people who made bequests and the impact of their gifts. Your newsletters and annual report include stories about estate gifts. They share how they helped you do your mission and how such gifts are easy to make. When a donor shares that you are in their estate plans, you ask them to share their story. Why is consistent marketing essential? Personal events such as births, retirements, job changes, and unexpected deaths trigger estate planning. Consistent reminders “coincidently” remind donors of the opportunity just as they are organizing plans with their lawyers. Give your organization a five if you consistently ask supporters to remember you in their estate plans and share how gifts will help.

Your rank: ___

2. You Communicate Permanence. You drive to your favorite restaurant. The parking lot is empty. It is dark inside. Are they on vacation, or out of business? Before donors include you in their estate plans, they must believe you are viable. What indicates permanence? Your news conveys your stability. Your requests for money are about opportunities, not bankruptcy threats. You share ambitious but realistic goals. Even if you are a brand new nonprofit organization, planning to merge, or face an uncertain future, you can still encourage bequests. In this case, ask people to remember the mission in their wills, i.e. “Remember homeless children in your will.” Why is viability important? When donors make their estate plans they prefer for them not to be executed until a distant future. Rank yourself high here is you communicate your permanence. Your rank: ___

3. You Raise Significant Individual Donations. Bequests are a natural bi-product of individual fundraising and a culture of philanthropy. (See this article.) On tour of a food bank, you overhear this conversation:

Volunteer: “I’m excited by the new plans I read about in the newsletter.”

Staff: “Yes, won’t it be great to be in a new warehouse with good lighting so we can see these darn expiration dates without squinting.”

Volunteer: “I just wish I had the money you need.”

Staff: “We really appreciate your donations. I couldn’t believe all the peanut butter you donated this month. That was wonderful, we filled every families’ basket!”

Volunteer: “Just wish I could do more.”

Staff: “I felt the same way. You know what I did? I left my IRA to the food bank. It’s not a lot, but it gives me great satisfaction.”

Volunteer: “Maybe I could do something like that, too.”

Bequests are a form of individual giving. They allow people, even with meager means, to make major gifts. In the dialog above, a staff member who works where donors are valued, proudly shares her commitment, and encourages others to follow. Rank yourself high here if your nonprofit constantly seeks new donors, engages them, and stewards their gifts.

Your rank: ___

4. Key Supporters Make Bequests. Give yourself a three here if you have included your nonprofit in your personal estate plans. Rank yourself a five if all of your board has made a bequest and if all of your staff has at least been asked—individually. Board and staff members play an important leadership role here. While large bequests are always welcome, any bequest is a sign of commitment that gives these supporters the ability to invite people to follow them with integrity.

Your rank: ___

 5. You Serve Model Constituents. Mature couples without children make ideal bequest candidates. Therefore, nonprofits such as senior service groups, hospices, hospitals, and established universities will rank themselves high here. However, if you have a long list of different kinds of supporters you can also rank yourself moderately high on this characteristic. Young adults make bequests to demonstrate their commitments to causes. Mature couples without children love young people and the nonprofits that serve them. Adults remember organizations that changed their lives and whose work they respect. If you don’t serve ideal bequest candidates because of the service you provide, increase your score here by growing supporters—amongst them will be bequest makers.

Your rank: ___

Interpret Your Score:

17-25: If you haven’t been receiving requests, it is only a matter of time. Keep up the good work.

9-16: You are likely to receive bequests. Improve your success by increasing your score, especially with consistent marketing.

0-8: You may receive a notice of bequest, but it will be a matter of luck. To increase your success, work on the factors about to increase you success.

Bequests are an equal opportunity income source. One day, every one of your supporters will die. All of them can be asked to include your nonprofit in their estate plans. Here are some additional dos and don’ts—

 Bequests Dos and Don’ts

1. Don’t wait until you have time to start a complete planned giving program to seek bequests. Do add “remember us in your will” or similar statements in all of your publications today.

2. Don’t forget to recognize bequest gifts. Do share stories to thank givers and inspire more gifts.

3. Don’t expect quick returns. Do set up a system, like an automatic savings account, to regularly request bequests.

4. Don’t forget to encourage your greatest fans. Do encourage your board, staff, and volunteers to remember your nonprofit in their estate plans. Do suggest “easy” gifts such as designating part of their life insurance to your institutions.

5. Do create a legacy society when you have a handful of people who have made gifts. Give them special treatment.

Related Resources

Guilty As Charged: Prove Your Board Supports Your Organization
Waiting for Super Donor
Don’t Do This Alone: Creating a Culture of Philanthropy

“We love on what you are doing with the museum.”

“And the art students.”

“And the Bull’s.”

“And everything.”

As they talked, it became clear that they were confusing three local institutions. From their perspective, The Ringling Art Museum, Ringling College of Art and Design, and the University of South Florida had become one mega-institution.

What can you do when everyone, especially potential donors, confuses your nonprofit with another?

1. Recognize that this is a common problem. Ken Sterns, in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, wrote, “Some 60,000 nonprofits in the country have the word ‘veterans’ in their names …” Even if your name does not include the word “veterans,” with over 1,6 million nonprofits in North America, people are confused.

2. Take a long-term view. The need to clarify your identity is part the work of your institution. Embrace the challenge.

3. Learn how “similar” organizations want to be known.

4. Use this information to develop a three-point response. This key message informs people of your unique identify, celebrates their interest in your work, and invites them to engage further with you.

5. Likewise, develop a one-sentence response to clarify the role of similar nonprofits. Use as needed.

6. Share the responses with key supporters, your staff, board, and volunteers.  Train them how they can be used and why they are needed. Ask your key supporters to memorize it. Use role-plays to practice.

7. Practice and re-train regularly. Ask for feedback. Refine the message as appropriate. Celebrate the results.

Number 4, 6 and 7 are the most important.

What have you done to help people, including potential donors, to know your name and understand your unique identity?

April 2013

Traditional government funding mechanisms can actually do more harm than good. Their stop-start nature means that nonprofits must forever start and then discard even promising programs. I hear this from nonprofit leaders all the time. One recently echoed: “When the grant ended, we had to stop a great service that was saving the community thousands of dollars.”

There is a better way. Community Based Care of Central Florida (CBC) has developed a powerful new approach to working with government funders. It’s a model that can create enduring mission impact.

CBC serves children who are in the child welfare system by developing  community-based services for children and families. They obtain government funds in bulk, with funding commitments for up to ten years. Surpluses can be used to prevent children from entering the welfare system. With the money, CBC accepts the responsibility, the risk, and these conditions: all who need services must be served, no waiting list is allowed, and if more children need more services than the funds provide, CBC must raise them.

What does this mean in practice? CBC obtains greater responsibilities and control of its income. Since CBC buys services from local nonprofit children’s service providers it also means that as these nonprofits produce results, CBC offers them rewards for success, income stability, and additional opportunities to improve children’s lives.

Furthermore, the lengthy contract incentivizes CBC to serve children immediately. This minimizes the time and expense associated with any child being “in the system.” If a child needs $100, or even $1,000 in services today that will prevent far greater costs down the road, CBC makes the investment.

The most important result of the effort is its effect on children. In the CBC service area, the number of foster children has been reduced by 35 percent. In the bigger picture, for years Florida languished at the bottom of state-by-state comparisons in this area. Today, according to Right for Kids, it ranks among the top five.

How It Works

Instead of government officials prescribing detailed procedure by grant application processes, governments buy results. By promising results, the nonprofit stabilizes its income. This frees CBC to focus on helping children and families to stay out of the system. This new exchange provides greater value to all: the government, the nonprofit, taxpayers, and, most importantly, vulnerable children. Fundamentally, a tried and true but challenging value exchange is transformed into one that is more successful.

How to Implement This New Funding Approach

You can use the strategy to obtain more value whatever sources of income your nonprofit receives.

For nonprofits with government funding:

“Setting up this arrangement is not for the faint of heart,” advises Glen Casel, the CDC President/CEO. He suggests that, “you leave it alone or decide to solve it.” If you want to transform your relationship with government agencies, expect a  multi-year effort to overcome inertia. “You also need a champion, such as your trade association, who has a voice and can give you a voice.”

For foundations and nonprofits:

Consider the income exchange processes that impact your nonprofit. Where do they work? Where do they challenge? How might they be improved? For example, The James Graham Brown Foundation in Louisville, Kentucky began funding the Brown Fellows Program at Centre College and The University of Louisville. The impetus for the Fellows Program was disappointment with funding requests, such as building and deferred maintenance, from institutions of higher education. Inspired by the board’s restiveness, the Foundation created The Brown Fellows Program. This program offers a full ride plus scholarship opportunity for twenty undergraduates a year, and meets the Foundation’s goal to promote the well-being of the citizens of Louisville and Kentucky. The colleges gain top students, tuition fees, and a closer relationship with the Foundation.

Five Steps Nonprofits Can Take to Explore Alternative Funding Models

1. Find and learn about models, like the CDC, that work.

2. Identify changes that will create more results.

3. Learn about your funding sources’ challenges. What results do they want?  What are their frustrations with the current process?

4. Commit to a change. Explore what you are willing to give to make the change.

5. Talk to your trade associations and peers to identify possible solutions and next steps.

This month’s strategy explores a new government-nonprofit partnership that positively impacts children’s lives. Next month in Your Ingenious Nonprofit, you will learn about a nonprofit that obtains massive in-kind help and how corporate funding flows naturally it.

“All transactions involve an exchange of value,” explains Bill Oakley, President and CEO of Goodwill of Central Florida, a nonprofit with yearly revenue exceeding 31 million dollars. “We continually study and seek to know more about why people give us their goods and money.”

This article introduces The Value Exchange Tool to help increase your income. The Tool helps you to clarify the value your nonprofit offers to different funding sources. The more you know about the value exchanges taking place, the more you can shape your income requests and grow your income.

All income or goods that your nonprofit receives involve a value exchange. Yes, this includes donations. For example, an orchestra learns that its children’s programs motivate many individual donors. Therefore, it always mentions and shows children in its annual appeal letter, as the letter is one tool the orchestra uses to garner new donors. The orchestra also actively identifies current donors who care about children and regularly informs them about programs for young people. In short, the orchestra ensures that people who are interested in children know about the value it provides to children. Donors who respond and provide income benefit by partnering with the organization to help local children experience and learn about music.

Based on who is giving the money, seven sources of nonprofit income exist. They are listed in the left-hand column of the attached Tool. Some nonprofits obtain income from all seven sources, others just three or four. Organizing income by sources helps you to see that entities within each source often seek similar values. Corporations, for example, anticipate similar value to what other corporations expect. This differs from the value that individual donors seek. (For more information about the income sources, read this article.)

The Tool asks you to identify the value you provide in exchange for income. To start your thinking, an example and a corresponding value exchange for each of the seven sources is listed. Under mission earned, the exchange is between a patron that buys a ticket at Atlanta History Center. The Center receives cash, and the patron receives access to the Center to learn more about Atlanta’s fascinating history. In all likelihood, the patron’s motivations are more complex than just learning history. Perhaps, she also wants a place to bring her out-of-town visitors. Or, her hobby is historic gardens.

Heifer International is the example for individual donations. Heifer provides gifts of livestock, seeds, trees, and extensive training to those in need. Their goal is to end poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. What value exchange is taking place? Heifer receives a credit card payment. The donor impacts poverty and hunger in a sustainable fashion. Again, this represents just one value. Some donors may care deeply about work in specific countries. Others may donate internationally to have a polite way to turn down dozens of local requests. To save space I haven’t listed these other values here, but you get the idea. You will want to list all of the major value exchanges from each of your income source.

It is very worthwhile to study the value you offer from the viewpoint of those giving you income. The tool makes visible and tangible what otherwise might be vague or even misunderstood. Nonprofit leaders often prefer the value to be all about the mission work. Very likely this is a component, but rarely is it the only reason for the exchange. For instance, say you provide amazing value by keeping children off the streets after school. A corporate sponsor, while appreciating that value, prefers the computer expertise you provide. They fund you because of it.

Filling in the chart is the first step. Next test your ideas. Asking people why they buy or donate to you. Record the answers so you can study them and consider their frequency. Make gathering data about your value exchanges part of what you do. Listen, and like Goodwill of Central Florida continually study and seek to know more about why people give you their goods and money.

Tools You Can Use
The Ten Most Important Nonprofit Measurement Tools

Value Income Exchange  

Service/Product and Value Provided

Related Resources:
You Can Find the Money You Need
Can Your  Nonprofit Obtain More Income? The Seven Sources  
The Gap Between Now and Your Vision

Singing is about reciting poetry and making melody. Singing is about using our voice in a different ways than we use them daily. Singing with others is about coordinating efforts and creating more. I know that science shows that group singing is good for us. (However, I am unsure if that research has been done yet.) Unlike children who have music at schools, camps and lessons, as adults we are offered few places to sing together.

One reason I like our congregation is that it is a singing congregation. Even people like me, who are not in the choir, and who do not feel particularly voice-gifted sing with gusto. Fortunately, on Easter I was surround by visitors. Unfortunately, the visitors around me didn’t open a hymnal and try to follow along—much less sing. And so, what would have been an interesting if not uplifting experience for them, had to be drudgery. They stood and listen as other around them sung and, I guess, waited for it to be over.

Life is about participation. To get the full measure of it, when you have a chance to sing, sing with gusto.

Are you energized by an exciting wonderful vision for your nonprofit? How can you close the gap between where you are now and move to your vision as effectively and as efficiently as possible? With effective strategy, of course.

This Process Visual, Strategy Options “Hurricane Tracks” gives you a picture of a nonprofit engaged is examining several strategies and the possible impacts of  their choices. It is helpful because:

• It illustrates that developing a strategy is a process that involves testing potential options.
• It implies that while we would all like to take a straight path to our vision, no path will be 100 percent straight.
• It shows that not all strategies succeed. Strategy 3 moves the nonprofit forward but fails to reach the vision. Strategy 1 moves directly forward, but ends up missing the vision. Strategy 4 gets to the vision the long way around and enters by a back door. Since it does arrive at the Vision, in this case, it is the second best option, after Strategy 2.
• Most important the Hurricane Track Visual reminds strategy developers that multiple options exist. Nonprofits succeed effectively and efficiently by exploring multiple strategies, selecting, and then customizing the one that fits best.