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Welcome to Karen Eber Davis Consulting
Warm spring greetings.
Don't forget to sign up for the free Time Management telephone conference
tomorrow at noon. Last day sign-up day is today-only a few spaces left! This
issue offers you four ideas, beside low overhead to demonstrate your nonprofit's
value, a Money-Tastic tip to support your board's growth and more information
you can use now.
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Show Them Your Value,
Beyond Low Overhead
You are good. You do good work. You provide incredible value
to the community. You change and enhance lives. And it drives you nuts that
people judge your worth based on one statistic: the rate of your overhead[1].
In his book Uncharitable,
Dan Pallotta demonstrates that the question, what percentage of my donation
goes to overhead? ..."Is deeply flawed, gives dangerously misleading
information, and can reward charities that provide poor service and hurt those
that are doing the most good."
If potential supporters discontinue their use of overhead as
the evaluation standard of choice -what measurement might they use instead? More
important, what answers, besides low overhead, can you offer now to demonstrate the high quality of your
work regardless of any changes in evaluation standards. This article suggests four
techniques, based on what you already do, to demonstrate your contribution to
potential donors and the community at-large.
Let Others Do Your Talking
1.
Testimonials.
Imagine visitors going to the front page of your website and
reading an array of testimonials about your efforts. We all like
recommendations especially from third parties who share opinions about products
and services.Testimonials can be written
quotes or audio or video clips. Potential testimonial sources include customers,
donors, board members, family members, partners and community leaders.
If clients are not appropriate augment them with family members,
employers and partners, including staff from referral agencies or community
leaders with natural links to your organization. Recently, we developed a case
statement for a client
and used this quote from a foundation about the
organization. "For years, (the organization) worked tirelessly and without fanfare to
provide first-rate quality special-needs housing..."Ask others for a
quote about that explains why they support you.
Sweetser, the Maine organization offers a great example. On its
website, this comprehensive behavioral healthcare nonprofit offers testimonials from clients, donors, volunteers and family members including this one:
"I want to thank you for everything that you did for
our child while he was with you...You all offered him and us great support
and advice. He will carry this advice with him for the rest of his life... a
Grateful Parent."
Double or Triple Your Current Work
2.
Evaluations.
A second more quantitative option to proving your high value
makes use of your evaluations. Consider expanding the use of them, if these are
now only used internally or to respond to donor's requests. When you gather
positive feedback maximize its value by sharing this data with others. Publish
highlights. Create simple graphs that show information. Extract interesting
quotes. Share your follow-up action plan to show how you are improving based on
the information. Provide a link to the total survey results, warts and all, for
people to read.
You can view the Northfield, Illinois North Shore Senior Center's evaluation results, including 20 statistics from their customer surveys. The
data is divided into three categories: information and assistance, provider
responses and case management. The Center, by showing both strengths and growth
possibilities, (like the need to improve referrals and response timeliness) shows
value and enhances its credibility.
Let Your Numbers Talk
3. Comparative Statistics.
An additional way to show the impact of your work involves statistics.
The United Way of Central Florida's
website shares data concerning local needs in education,
income and health. Each statistic is followed with a fact about how the United
Way positively impacts that area.
Which of your statistics make you most proud? Perhaps it is the 300 referrals you
handle each month. Or, that fact that your children advance three grade levels
in one year. One organization boasted that it had the best customer ranking and
average cost per client (while also explaining how lower overhead would result
in substandard services.) Like the United Way, can you compare your results to data
from the community? What if you created an "Overhead and Other Facts" sheet to share
when people ask about overhead?
Show, Not Tell
4. Offer a Sample. On its front page,
The Red Cross,
has a video, "Haiti Earthquake Two Month Report." With this video, The
Red Cross demonstrates its work with few words. Using pictures to tell the
story, it explains costs and provides hope in this grim situation. As a way to
demonstrate your value, can you offer a similar "sample" so people see for
themselves the value of your work?
Beyond Overhead
It is not enough, to have a great organization and do good
work. Nor, in the future, if Pallotta words are headed, will low overhead
provide sufficient evidence of your value. To attract donors, enhance your
community esteem and open new doors, help your supporters to see your work and
its benefit. Share testimonials, evaluations, statistics, and samples. In any
case, remember your work is always more than one statistic. Be proactive and provide
potential supporters more than just evidence of low overhead.
Check out these related resources:
Two Are Better than One
Karen on Calculating the Value of Partnerships
(podcast)-another statistic to use
Grant-tastic #1 You Had Me at Dear Funder
How to Link Your Grants and Individual Fundraising
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Grant-Link: Beyond
Low Overhead
Low overhead helps. And, relationships with grant donors remains
paramount. Successful grants are also based on trust, good ideas and
credibility. Here, are four topics to cover in your narrative to enhance your
credibility-beside overhead:
1. Statistics and data about those you serve and your
results
2. Measures of Board Commitment including attendance, the percent
of board members that give to your organization and the total of their gifts.
3. Awards and honors, both for the organization and for
individual staff members. Recently, a client's staff member won a statewide
honor for her work. We mentioned this when we requested funding for the program
she administers.
4. Quotes from customers and referral partners.
Which are you using? Which can you add? We can help you
draft requests that shouts credibility, call us today.
[1] Overhead-
Ongoing administrative expenses, like insurance and utilities that
cannot be
attributed to specific programs, but are needed for the organization to
function.
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Budget
Resources for Board Training
#11. Encourage
your staff and others in your community to develop a
will. Statistics show that more than half of all people die without one. On the
other hand, 80 percent of planned giving money comes in the forms of bequests.
Your staff should create their own will and become advocates for everyone
around them to have a will for the good of the community -and possibly for the
benefit of your organization.
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Upcoming
Events
2010 Teleconferences
Raising the Bar
12 noon Eastern Time
April
16Raising the Bar on Time Management in Your Organization A free introductory session. This session looks at how
time management is different in nonprofit organizations and fundamentals of
time management for nonprofit leaders. Register by April 15. Send an
email to Karen at karen@kedconsult.com
May
14Raising the Bar on
Your Strategic
and
Other Planning:
Why Most Strategic Planning is Broken
and How To Fix Yours In this
session, we will look at why you must do strategic thinking and strategic
planning to succeed, why it is often done poorly and how to do it right. You
will leave with a dozen practical solutions to use at your organization to
create strategies that energize you and your leadership team. July
16Raising the Bar on Program Delivery
September
17
Raising the Bar
on Your Team Experiences,
From Networking
to Collaborations
Register today! |
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What's New on Advancing The Nonprofit Sector Blog
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Facts of Life about Money
Use
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Stuck
on Nonprofit Goals?
Creating
Clairvoyant Board Members
Your
Non Profit's
Playing Field
Learn More...
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Need help?
Call today and
get started!
941.924.4860
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Visit
Karen Eber Davis
Consulting
www.kedconsult.com
More tips!
New Booklet
Coming this Summer:
Time
Management for
Nonprofit Leaders,
121 Time-Tastic Tips
for Your Most Important Resource
New at
www.kedconsult.com.
Karen on Calculating the Value of Partnerships (podcast)
Tracking Worksheet for Donor Development
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