Nonprofit

First Glance

Have you invited a guest into your home who pointed out some feature of your house that you never noticed? Have you sold a house and were amazed at what caught the eye perspective buyer’s? My parents collected Bev Doolittle paintings during my youth. One day I found additional camouflaged images embedded within one of her paintings and was surprised that they had been there all along. Have a look:


It is a reminder to me to invite ‘outsiders’ in for their perspective. The stories of mail room employees being called into executive level meetings to give a ‘gut’ reaction to a marketing piece continue to exist- except many organizations do this by going ‘live’ and then waiting for public feedback. Why not tap into the sphere of people who know about our enterprise but are not insiders. Get their reaction.

I have asked some of my educational consulting clients to allow me to contact parents who spend time in the parking lot after dropping their children off as school. Fascinating what I hear. Many of these parents are not on the Board, members of the Parents Association, or active volunteers; but they have an opinion and they are as influential if not more than any marketing campaign.

Are you inviting unique perspectives into your organization to get new perspectives? Focus groups comprissed of different cross-sections of your client base offers tremendous feedback. Asking for input from a broad range of constituents is dynamic.

Now back to that picture- I see 10 hidden faces at first glance, how about you?

Diveristy of Ideas

A friend reminded me of the importance of doing business with people who believe in accountability and professionalism. If you build a team that is simply composed of friends, the ability to shift between being peers to business associates or fiduciaries can be a complicated process. One of the benefits of having a diverse group of individuals serving on a board is to gain additional perspectives but also to avoid the trap of not wanting to upset a friends when expectations edge towards performance. There is never one person who can embody all the attributes and viewpoints but a team of individuals with unique perspectives brings a lot to the board room.

Who is going to ask the question that needs to be asked?
Who is going to ask for a clarification when not everyone in the room understands the data but are too polite to ask for a clarification?
Who will make sure that the organization meets the ‘best practices’ standards?
Who will speak for the small segment of customers who are easily forgotten?
Who will say ‘slow down’ if the group needs a moment?
Who will reposition the board’s message so it is easily communicated?

Who do you need that helps your team excel? Who do you currently have on your board that may be there simply as a friend-of-a-friend?

A New Way

Charity is dead.

The ‘E’ in CEO stands for ‘excuse me can you spare dime.’

The enterprise that has the most connections and funders wins the war for fundraising success.

Nonprofit organizations tweet, friend, link, blog, post, Evite, refresh, and blast in a constant attempt to gain market share and recognition.

More time is spent reaching out to volunteers, donors, patrons, foundations, politicians than they spend achieving their mission and running key programs.

Resources are frequently shifted in order to make an organization eligible for funding, awards, volunteers, community recognition, grants, facilities. New programs are adopted simply to meet the demands of a third party.

The number one attribute for nominating a new board member- capacity to give.

What if…
  • Nonprofit organizations spend 90% or more of their time and resources meeting the mission
  • Special Events and Gala fundraising events that typically cost 30 cents for every dollar raised become a gathering to report back to the supporters, volunteers, customers, partners, politicians. Exchange ideas, get feedback, engage, build community, connect.
  • General operating support should receive the highest deduction from the IRS. The more restrictions of the gift, the less deduction. Allow the board and staff decide what is the best way to use the resources and then provide constant communication and transparency.
  • One metric does not fit all nonprofit organizations. There is no perfect Return on Investment formula. Measuring success is an abstract exercise that rests in the liminal.
  • FOCUS: Announce your intentions and go do it. The fewer peripheral pieces the better. Stop hiring the best fundraiser as CEO if that is all they bring to the enterprise. Get the best leader, manager, strategic thinker, communicator, advocate, collaborator, visionary, and whatever else you need. Hire for the cause not the funders.
  • Be brave: go out and partner, leverage parts of your mission to other organizations that are better positioned to provide a service, share your challenges, be targeted.

Many more ideas to follow in a developing manifesto…what would you suggest to change the social sector? Is it really working?

To Plan?

Many businesses and nonprofit organizations that I communicate with have decided to put any long-range or strategic planning on hold. Most often the economics of hiring a consultant are given as the main reason. Some clients are moving in-house by using a self-facilitated process where a board member or volunteer leads the effort. I applaud those who are still thinking about the future and wonder about the organizations that exist only in the day-to-day mode.

All of this came full circle last week when both planes that I was scheduled to fly on encountered mechanical issues while in the pre-flight stage. Neither was especially alarming but it re-enforce the status of the airline industry. New orders for planes are being deferred and new aerospace technologies are being considered but few are being implemented at the moment. What is going to happen when everyone feels the need to expand or ramp back-up? The deferred maintenance and investment in new aircraft is going to create a backlog that will arguably take a decade to clear.

What are the opportunities that your enterprise is missing because you are no longer holding planning sessions or scheduling retreats? How much is the day-to-day oversight of the balance sheet taking bandwidth from the organization’s ability to think strategically? It is as if everyone abandoned the wheel house to run down to the engine room to keep the power up but nobody is watching the seas. Who is in you Crow’s Nest scanning the horizon? If they exist, have you spoken with them recently?

Finite Thoughts


Listening to NHPR this past weekend and caught the conclusion of an interview about thinking and the brain. The author of the book (could not catch their name) promoted the idea of ‘cognitive cash’. The idea that we have a finite number of thoughts available to us during out lifetime. A number has been calculated on how many thoughts the average person has during their lifetime. How are you using your thoughts? How often do you spend it for a positive return on investment? Do you allow your thoughts to run free like a water running from an unattended garden hose? Does it matter?

When you add the idea of scarcity to an commodity suddenly the value increases. I have tried to think about this daily. How am I using my cognitive cash? Where and how am I willing to spend it?

How Many Letters Does It Take?


Waiting for a flight late last night and I am playing Hangman on my iPhone. I began to wonder how many letters do I need in place before I know definitively solve the puzzle? When does strategic guessing turn into certain selection of the remiaing letters. I am struck by the psychological shift that takes place the moment I ‘get’ the word and then type of the missing letters versus the ‘still guessing’ moments.

What can we do in our organizations and enterprises to help our customers complete enough of the word (or service) that their success is almost certain? What shifts can we make to increase their enjoyment and reward them? Think of websites that you visit, manuals that come with new equipment, airline limitation policies. Which ones make sense and which ones befuddle us and leave us more confused? If the customer ‘gets’ it right away they remember the name of the company. If the customer is frustrated they remember the story and share it with their friends and associates as a reminder of what does not work.

Are we supplying enough letters for the clients to win?

If A then B?


I wonder how often we stick with the conventional because if allows us to stay with a know entity and receive familiar outcomes? How many times do we change our route home? Do you ever breakout a different clothes? Do you try different stories at a social gathering? What do you order from the restaurant menu- could you spouse or friends guess your entree of choice? What assumptions control our behavior. I must do this because that is always the way it has been. Looking at some blogs this morning started me wondering:

  • What would the United States look like if Texas seceded from the Union? Would California leave next?
  • Why can’t a large ocean-going vessel protect itself from a motorized raft loaded with a few pirates?
  • Has the economic downturn increased our realization of what we value?
  • How will we go back to paying ‘full’ price for items? What will shift our consciousness away from demanding a discount?
  • If you received a free ticket that expires in one month would you fly half-way around the world to see a country you have always wanted to visit?
  • What role will books written about play in the future if consumers demand that you start a blog with a synopsis of your ideas first?

How quickly environmental factors influence our focus. What are you doing intentionally everyday? What parts of your life are left on default mode?

Who Do You Perform For?

Wandering by a half-opened door in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City I heard the classical refrain coming from a piano located in the performance hall. I spied through the door and saw a musician practicing from the stage. I tested the door, found it open and then walked-in and stood at the top of the stairs for a few minutes. I took in the opulence of the room and then focused on the music. Listening to the rehersal made me wonder who the musician was performing for at this moment. Clearly this was practice and not a public concert. I was an audience. For ten minutes I listened and watched as the pianist practiced and sometimes replayed the same bars repeatedly.

‘Does a falling tree make a sound if nobody is around to hear it?’ Do you need an audience to give meaning to your work? Does a painter need a patron or an author a reader? This very blog- who is the audience? When we use our talent, does it have to be directed at a specific recipient?

The other day I noticed a woman in the car behind me smiling and it was contagious. She was in moving traffic and simply part of the flow, not trying to communicate with any one person but her smile had an impact.

A football game in an empty stadium- does it carry the same meaning as a game in a sold-out stadium? What talents are we sharing and what is our intended impact?

What information are you uniquely positioned to share?


The control of information- ever wonder how you can suddenly be focused on a topic that was not even part of your conscious thought? Reading the morning headlines from different sources I read the important information as well as the ‘off-the-radar’ pieces. As an example, USA Today offered the following online article:

Lurid comic world of ‘Superman’ artist
A comic-book historian has unearthed hundreds of racy, violent and sadomasochistic cartoons by Joe Shuster, one of the creators of hero Superman.


How did this get to be front page news? Who selected it and why was it deemed important? Being able to control the flow of information is an amazing privilege and very powerful. I often wonder what each of us is uniquely positioned to provide as information? Your friend who always has the best stories that seem beyond reason. The blog that you read because it never fails to offer something valuable. The media source that you turn to first if you have been out of range for a day or two.

What information do people and businesses rely on us for?