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Show Me The Money: Creating a Fundraising Culture

April 2, 2019 by

This workshop helps boards understand their special role in fundraising and describes the five fundraising principles every board member should understand in order to raise funds for their organization. Fundraising is not an easy task, but it is a primary responsibility of every board of directors. This workshop will help board members feel more at ease with this daunting duty, and is ideal for board/staff leadership teams that are looking to expand the board’s role in fundraising and understand specific steps and processes for success.

Learning Objectives:
• Demonstrate a working knowledge of the roles that board and staff members play in fundraising
• Understand different types of fundraising, with an appreciation for the ways in which each type fits in with the financial model of their nonprofit organization
• Outline how board members can help and support different fundraising strategies

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Show Me the Money: Creating a Fundraising Culture

August 24, 2018 by

DESCRIPTION

This workshop helps boards understand their special role in fundraising and describes the five fundraising principles every board member should understand in order to raise funds for their organization. Fundraising is not an easy task, but it is a primary responsibility of every board of directors. This workshop will help board members feel more at ease with this daunting duty, and is ideal for board/staff leadership teams that are looking to expand the board’s role in fundraising and understand specific steps and processes for success.

Learning Objectives:

  • Demonstrate a working knowledge of the roles that board and staff members play in fundraising
  • Understand different types of fundraising, with an appreciation for the ways in which each type fits in with the financial model of their nonprofit organization
  • Outline how board members can help and support different fundraising strategies

Facilitated by Wendy Biro-Pollard, Volunteer Engagement Expert & BoardSource Certified Governance Trainer

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Too Many Volunteers?

July 17, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Too Many Volunteers - Non Profit Consulting and Training - Wendy Biro-Pollard 006
by Fonda Kendrick, VolunteerHub.com

It’s a perfect storm when it comes to volunteerism in America right now, based on several factors that we’ve blogged about in the past. The baby boomers are retiring, the unemployed are looking for activities to hone their skills for resumes and simply to fill their free time, and President Obama has issued a massive call to action on the volunteer front. Based on these three streams of supply, nonprofits are currently seeing an unprecedented demand for volunteer opportunities.

In an ironic twist, many organizations that have seen a rise in their volunteer numbers have also seen a downturn in resources. Lindsay Firestone of Taproot comments, “It’s like a Greek tragedy. We’re thrilled to have all of these volunteers. But now organizations are stuck not being able to take advantage of it because they don’t have adequate funding.”

Just a few months ago, The New York Times reported a huge surge of volunteers in areas all across the country. (One hundred thousand in New York City alone!) Suddenly, many nonprofits nationwide are saying something they never thought possible: we have too many volunteers! In fact, the Times quoted one anonymous nonprofit exec as saying, “Can you make them stop calling? Everybody’s inspired by Obama,” he noted. Then he tacked on, “They also don’t have jobs.”

Others echo the executive’s sentiment. Bertina Ceccarelli of United Way in New York, states: “It’s sad but true, but the irony is that sometimes it’s almost more work to find something for a volunteer to do than to just turn them away.”

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Blog, Volunteer Management Tagged With: , , , , ,

Older Adult Volunteers Bring New Expertise and New Life to Nonprofits

April 28, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Non Profit Consulting and Training - Wendy Biro-Pollard 104

(ARA) -When Margaret Ross retired from a career in nursing, she had no idea that her new life as a volunteer would lead her right back into healthcare. Neither did Mike Chesnut, whose work building retail partnerships looks a lot like his volunteer service for a group of Denver nonprofits that are fighting homelessness. The same is true for retiree Berlin Hall. Since leaving his accounting executive career, Hall’s desire to help at-risk families led him to volunteer to manage the books for a family services agency.

As they move into roles in service and volunteering, older adults like these are discovering that what they know is just as important as how much time they can give. Their help couldn’t have come at a better time. With demand for nonprofit services skyrocketing, fundraising and revenues are way down. Some experts predict as many as 100,000 nonprofit organizations could run out of money for their programs completely.

The recession has spurred more interest in volunteering among older adults, particularly among boomers, says Jill Friedman Fixler, a nonprofit consultant and co-author of “Boomer Volunteer Engagement.”

“This is a group with abundant skills and profound circles of influence and they believe they can have an impact in their community right now,” she says.

That was the idea for Chesnut. After leaving his job as a retail sales executive with Procter & Gamble, Chesnut, 64, spent several years as a counselor for small business owners. When he moved to Denver a few years ago, he decided to focus on helping nonprofits. As he explored his options, Chesnut was struck by Denver’s homeless problem. Millions of dollars were being spent pulling families out of shelters, but programs that were trying to keep families out of them to begin with were underfunded. After organizing a coalition of local nonprofits, Chesnut began a research project that eventually led to a successful $600,000 grant.

“Coming from the corporate world and working with large retailers, you learn to look for common interest,” he says. “What I did was put numbers to the problem.”

[Read more…]

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Volunteers Are a Wealth of Fundraising Ideas

April 20, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Non Profit Consulting and Training - Wendy Biro-Pollard

Do you have so much to do for your capital campaign, with so little time? Think about including your most zealous volunteers in your fundraising program, according to Michael J. David-Wilson, executive director for the Middlesex County College Foundation in Edison, N.J. Why not use your best supporters to cultivate other organization members?

David-Wilson presented his ideas in a session at the 46th annual Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) international fundraising conference in New Orleans. Here’s how to turn your volunteers into development participants:

  • Volunteer participation. Volunteers can be a great addition to your fundraising team. Just make sure if they are asking others for gifts, they make one of their own.
  • Major gift donations. Try to tackle big gifts early. Use your own board’s participation as examples of campaign giving.
  • Volunteer training. Ensure that your volunteer solicitors are properly trained before they ask for gifts. Team your professional fundraisers with volunteers for some role-playing in donation asks.
  • Give information. Compile important donor information for your fundraising team. Set up a gift amount to ask for and what that gift amount would do for the campaign.
  • Set up success. Everyone needs a boost of confidence. Arrange some telephone solicitations for your volunteers with donors most likely to give. That will put your volunteers on the right foot for in-person asks.
  • Provide backup. Volunteers don’t normally ask donors for gifts – so they may lose their confidence at the meeting. Couple volunteers with a professional development staff member who can move in if the volunteer gets too nervous.
  • Celebrate successes. Make volunteer solicitors excited about their hard work. Think about building some friendly competition among volunteers by tracking donor visits or the amount raised.

This Tip of the Week is reprinted with permission from The Nonprofit Times Weekly. Go to http://nptimes.com for more information.

Filed Under: Blog, Nonprofit Management Tagged With: ,
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