“Ninety percent of what we call 'management' consists of making it difficult for people to get things done”
- Peter Drucker
http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/11/04.html#a1412
And some more nice quote from Master Drucker:
http://www.gurteen.com/gurteen/gurteen.nsf/id/L001910/
I’m just sayin’ . . .
What do you think?
Did your nonprofit participate? If so, what did you do and how did it work?
What can we do to capitalize on the positive energy built up by this campaign?
What needs to be tweaked in the future?
If you don't feel like commenting, please contact me via email:
http://www.jeremygregg.com/contact/
Also, if you're on Twitter, please follow the DonorBridge tweets here:
http://twitter.com/DonorBridge
At midnight, the Donation buttons on all of the 300+ profiles on the www.DonorBridgeTX.org site go live . . . and hundreds of development officers around the community are going to be furiously entering credit card information into the system to secure their portion of the $300,000 matching funds.
See our feed here:
http://twitter.com/cnmdallas
And see my previous article, "UnTweetable: Twitter as Borg," here:
http://theraiser.blogspot.com/2009/04/untweetable-twitter-as-borg.html
For those of you who, like me, are awake at this godless hour, some opportunities that might be of interest....
CNM's Twitter Page: Jobs, seminars and more....
http://twitter.com/cnmdallas
CNM's Facebook page
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=53250078569
CNM's LinkedIn page:
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1160157&trk=hb_side_g
Please join!
And, don't forget that the last Wednesday of every month is The 501(c)lub! This is a FREE networking session for all staff, volunteers and "fans of" 501(c)(3) nonprofits. We're meeting for Happy Hour at the Elbow Room:
http://www.elbowroomdallas.com/
In honor of the 501(c)(3) organizations that are gathered, we are meeting at 5:01 p.m.
Come early, because I think I've convinced them to throw in some free food and drinks. Woohoo!
Party with a purpose!
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I thought that it was a good question, so here are some of the answers we came up with:
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I just completed my second month here at the Center for Nonprofit Management. It's been a fantastic journey of self-discovery and, in some surprising ways, renewal. My eyes have been opened to an entirely different perspective on the work that I've been doing for the past eight years.
I won't lie: it's been a great struggle at times. I miss my friends at CDM. I miss going to work every day above the busiest food pantry in North Texas. Strangely, I miss wondering whether I'll be able to make payroll every two weeks.
OK, well, maybe I don't miss everything...
The Center has been incredible. I've had the opportunity to meet some of the most dynamic organizations in our community, and have been able to share in some powerful conversations with people who are dedicated to changing the world. I've especially enjoyed the opportunities that I've had to sit across the table from full-time philanthropists and say,
"I am not here to ask you for a gift. I want you to see me and the Center as a partner in your effort to change the world. You give money to organizations so that they will be better and stronger. We do the same thing, only we do it through training and consulting. We want you to see us not as a grant recipient, but a mission partner."
Mission partner.
I've been thinking a lot about what that means.
I've especially been thinking about what it means for me on a personal level.
What is my mission? Why did I decide to make this move over to the Center? What is it that I am trying to do over here?
I put some thoughts together over on my ListenTheGift.com blog:
http://www.listenthegift.com/2008/12/what-is-this-all-about.html
I have no final answer. But this line from Jim Wallis is about as close as I've come to understanding why I am here:
"Where your gifts coincide with the crushing needs of the world, there lies your vocation."
Shoulder against the wheel,
Jeremy
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Looming leadership deficitAs nonprofits cut costs, they shortchange a new generation of potential leaders within their ranks. How can they fill the void?
San Francisco Business Times - by Sarah Duxbury
Finding enough suitable leaders in a post-boomer workplace could be the biggest long-term threat to the nonprofit sector — more serious even than the current economic crisis.
The problem is twofold. First, the sector is growing so fast, averaging about 6 percent growth a year, according to Bridgespan Group, that it will be hard to find enough people to fill all the executive positions that will exist within a decade, nevermind filling them with experienced nonprofit leaders.
That touches on the second problem: Nonprofits operate on such tight budgets they lack the resources to invest in training and mentoring for their own internal talent.
The worker shortage threatened by retiring baby boomers has been well-documented across the private, nonprofit and government sectors. But the nonprofit sector is perhaps unique in its limitations to get ahead of the problem in a meaningful way.
“Often in the nonprofit sector, because of the scarcity of resources, issues like training, professional development, leadership development are viewed as the most discretionary items and are the first to go in difficult economic times,” said James Canales, president and CEO of San Francisco’s James Irvine Foundation. “This is really important to the long-term health of an organization and of the sector.”
The nonprofit consultants at Bridgespan found that two-thirds of the time, a nonprofit board hires from outside the organization to fill a leadership position because there just isn’t the strength on the inside. Compare that to the estimated one-third of private sector CEOs being recruited from outside an organization, said David Simms, managing partner of Bridgestar, which spun out of Bridgespan to tackle the leadership deficit.
“The average nonprofit out there doesn’t have a deep bench,” Simms said. “There are not a lot of middle managers as there might be in corporate America, learning the ropes and then able to step into a leadership role.”
The scarcity model on which nonprofits operate, coupled with the difficulty of obtaining unrestricted operating funds, makes the sort of training programs common in private industry a luxury that few in the nonprofit sector can afford.
Change in San Francisco
That’s starting to change, thanks to efforts by Bridgestar, the James Irvine Foundation and Compass Point Nonprofit Services.
Bridgestar opened a San Francisco office in mid-October with two full-time executive recruiters. Their mission is to help nonprofits engage in the sort of searches they need when they can’t afford an industry giant such as Korn/Ferry. Bridgestar also provides ground-level training to people who want to pursue careers in the sector.
The decision to open an office here, Bridgestar’s third after New York and Boston, is based on the strength of the Northern California job board it has run for several years. This year, some 2,000 nonprofit executive positions will be listed there, Simms said.
According to Simms, 90 percent of senior leadership jobs in the nonprofit sector are not posted anywhere online. Rather, board members and employees do a sort of friends-and-family ask to fill positions, which is at best an uncertain way to find quality, experienced leadership.
“We believe fundamentally that results depend on leadership, strategy and capital … and that leadership is the most important to build a strong organization,” Simms said.
Funders like the Irvine Foundation are equally concerned, and have taken a different approach.
Alert to the looming leadership deficit, the Irvine Foundation established its fund for leadership advancement in 2005. Since then, it has awarded 39 grants worth over $2.5 million to provide customized support to executive directors of the foundation’s grantees through executive coaching, visits to peer institutions and funding to attend seminars. The awards have been between $35,000 and $70,000 each.
The foundation is evaluating the program’s effectiveness, but Irvine CEO Canales said that early feedback has been positive and grant recipients are reporting higher job satisfaction.
That, as well as results from a 2006 study called “Critical Issues Facing the Arts in California,” has Irvine prepared to dig deeper into leadership issues facing California arts organizations. The study won’t be complete until 2009, at which point the foundation will determine how it can act to address specific needs for leadership in the arts.
Skills and numbers
Where Bridgespan looked at numbers — how many individuals it would take to fill the gap between expected turnover and recruitment and the available pool of new talent — Compass Point has focused on the skills it must cultivate in the next generation of nonprofit leaders. It has received numerous grants to develop training programs for the sector.
There are some bright signs that could mitigate a leadership shortage. Many baby boomers retiring from their primary, money-making careers choose to put their professional skills into community service at a nonprofit.
And just as many dot-com veterans flocked to the nonprofit sector after the tech crash, many believe there could be a similar migration as a result of the current economic crisis.
“That’s the good news on the supply side, that a bad economy can lead to really qualified talent being available to address huge social needs,” Simms said. “The flip side is, will nonprofits have the resources necessary to avail themselves of the talent.” Indeed, many nonprofits have implemented hiring freezes in a bid to preserve programs.
Nor is the millennial generation, socially conscious as it is, the answer since few yet have the executive experience these nonprofits need, particularly in a recession.
“Boards, in particular, have a critical role to play in terms of nurturing and supporting leadership in the organizations they oversee,” Canales said.
That includes making sure a nonprofit develops its bench and invests in professional development, and that employees, particularly at the top, receive good salaries and benefits. The executive directors themselves must also take responsibility for mentoring their staffs.
But Canales warned against shortchanging the present in an effort to stave off future disaster.
“We’ve been focused on what we can do to help our grantees to foster the current generation of leadership,” Canales said. “A lot of time and attention could be diverted to the next generation, but let’s not do it at the expense of the current leaders, many of whom are on the verge of burning out.”
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Grantseeking 1: Navigating the Proposal ProcessSeating is limited, so please enroll early here:
Grantseeking 1 is one of the Center’s most popular workshops, valuable for both beginners and for people who would like to review the fundamentals of seeking grants. This practical class covers how to prepare to seek grants, types of foundations and grants, and the basics of public and private sector research and grant seeking. By the end of the class, you’ll apply all you’ve learned to conduct research for your organization!
This session is offered quarterly, typically on the first or second Wednesday of the month. It is the first of a quarterly three-part series made up of GrantSeeking 1, GrantSeeking 2, and Writing the Case Statement Clinic.
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Thanks to the Dallas-Fort Worth Day Book for posting about the Center's upcoming event...
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Join your peers and a group of the Metroplex’s community support leaders to hear the latest about their funding priorities, initiatives, guidelines, success stories, and partnership opportunities. Learn how to best approach them to request support.
Among the Anticipated Panelists:
Patricia O. Alexander
Dallas Women's Foundation
Michelle Monse
Carl B. & Florence E. King Foundation
W. Andrew Smith, Jr.
Texas Instruments Incorporated
Event Location
Center for Community Cooperation
2900 Live Oak
Dallas, TX 75204Event Time
Friday, November 7, 2008
9:00 AM - 12:00 PM
For more info, or to register, visit:
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Dallas seminar targets young nonprofit professionalsSee the full article here:
12:00 AM CDT on Monday, October 20, 2008
ROBERT MILLER
The Communities Foundation of Texas and Exxon Mobil Corp. have joined the Center for Nonprofit Management in hosting the Ultimate Orientation for Young Nonprofit Professionals, a seminar for the new generation of nonprofit professionals, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday.
The session will be held at the Communities Foundation of Texas office at 5500 Caruth Haven Lane.
Nancy Barry, speaker, author and Gen Y expert, will lead the seminar, which will be tailored to help recent college grads and nonprofit professionals with five or fewer years experience succeed in the workplace.
Topics will include: why soft skills are important in the workplace; communicating on a professional level; things that drive bosses crazy and how to avoid them; and the importance of building relationships.
Each participant will receive a copy of Ms. Barry's book, When Reality Hits: What Employers Want Recent College Graduates to Know.
"To succeed, young professionals must learn the essential skills of working with people and navigating office expectations," said Cynthia B. Nunn, president of the Center for Nonprofit Management.
The fee is $50, which includes lunch and a copy of Ms. Barry's book. For more information or to register, visit www.cnmdallas.org or call 214-826-3470, ext. 239.
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Do you have an idea to expand the revenue for your organization?
Are you currently operating a business venture to earn income and help your organization achieve its mission?
Could you benefit from intensive technical assistance to achieve your earned income goals?
Join us to learn more about the North Texas Community Wealth Collaborative at an Information Session
Fort Worth:
Wednesday, November 5, 1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Ft. Worth Botanic Garden
Redbud Hall
3220 Botanic Garden Blvd
Ft. Worth
Dallas:
Thursday, November 6, 9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Center for Community Cooperation,
Oak Corner Room,
2900 Live Oak,
Dallas
Registration Deadline:
Friday, Oct. 31
The North Texas Community Wealth Collaborative is an exciting 11-month project focused on assisting nonprofit organizations in development and growing earned income ventures. These information sessions, facilitated by Community Wealth Ventures and the Center for Nonprofit Management, will provide an opportunity to learn more about the Collaborative, how to apply, and what to expect from participation in the project. We suggest that the executive director, a board member and another member of the senior staff attend the session.Six to eight nonprofit organizations will be selected from the applicant pool to participate in the Collaborative. It is designed for nonprofits that are currently running an earned income venture or have demonstrated a commitment to launching one. Collaborative participants will receive intensive business planning and venture development assistance, which will result in a focused business plan to guide the growth of the venture.
Register now!
Registration Deadline:
Friday, Oct. 31
Space is limited, so please RSVP early to reserve a spot.
Click here for more information about the program or contact Charlotte Keany at Keany@cnmdallas.org (214-826-3470, ext. 244) or Diana Peacock at dpeacock@communitywealth.com (202-478-6578).
North Texas Community Wealth Collaborative Partners:
Community Wealth Ventures, Inc.
Center for Nonprofit Management
Funding Partners:
Meadows Foundation
Amon G. Carter Foundation
Harold Simmons Foundation
Citigroup Foundation
Several anonymous funders
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Thanks to the Dallas Business Journal: for citing The Center For Nonprofit Managment's work in this article (fully posted below in case you do not have a login for their site):
Funding for nonprofits is changing (link)
Dallas Business Journal - by Joyce Tsai Staff writer
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2008/10/13/story3.htmlMore and more North Texas nonprofits are creating their own for-profit subsidiaries as a way to insulate themselves from the ups and downs of traditional fundraising efforts. The trend is likely to become even more common as nonprofits, like other businesses, try to survive in an increasingly volatile economy.
New Approach: Molly Bogen of The Senior Source said her nonprofit is starting a for-profit venture, Platinum Care Solutions, to provide geriatric care management as a way to boost revenue to support her nonprofit mission to help the elderly.
Historically, nonprofits have relied on a hodgepodge of government and foundation grants as well as individual and corporate contributions to help them provide their services.
But many nonprofits, which receive tax advantages in return for their nonprofit status, are providing goods or services that increasingly can compete with for-profit entities — and the number of nonprofits is increasing faster than the funds to support them. As a result, nonprofits have seen the revenue tied to their for-profit subsidiaries grow more than 200% in the past two decades, and such dollars now account for more than 57% of nonprofits’ $251 billion annual revenue stream, according to the Social Enterprise Alliance in Washington, D.C.
There are currently more than 14,000 nonprofits in North Texas, according to Diana Peacock, a senior consultant for Community Wealth Ventures. One of those is Dallas-based The Senior Source, which has provided a range of services to seniors for the past 45 years.
It is on the cusp of launching a for-profit venture called Platinum Care Solutions, designed to provide geriatric care management to seniors, including professional assessment, written care plans, coordination of medical appointments, home health, transportation, and evaluations of nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and retirement communities, said Executive Director Molly H. Bogen.
It is a natural extension of what the agency has offered in some form since 1994 through its Elder Support program, which currently serves about 5,000 clients. The program offers financial services and case work consultations to caregivers and the elderly at little or no cost.
The nonprofit hopes to compete with the independent players in a fairly fragmented field of about 15 geriatric care managers in the Metroplex and has drawn a detailed business plan that calls for an initial capital investment of $275,000 to start the venture. The Senior Source hopes to add a new geriatric care manager position — to the two staff members it currently has — every year for the first five years once it launches Platinum Care Solutions.
By targeting baby boomers and older adults with incomes of more than $100,000, a demographic that is expected to surge in the future, the nonprofit is placing its faith in its business plan to boost funding for the nonprofit, which currently has a $3.5 million annual budget. It expects to generate sales of more than $910,000 and a profit of about $290,000, by year five, Bogen said.
It’s a way for the nonprofit to become more self-sustaining, Bogan said. About 43% of its annual funding comes from government grants, which have stayed stagnant. And government funding certainly isn’t assured even when the country is not dealing with a financial crisis, Bogen acknowledged.
Also, donations from individuals, corporations and foundations, which make up another 22% of the nonprofit’s funding, are “discretionary money” that can disappear or dwindle depending on the ups and downs of the economy.
Every dollar earned by the for-profit Platinum Care Solutions will pay to provide services to the elderly who cannot pay, she said, and help expand its mission of helping seniors.
Local guidance
As for-profit business ventures for nonprofits have grown, so have the concerns of their for-profit competitors.
For-profits can sometimes resent the encroachment of nonprofits into their market, Peacock said. One classic case involved the lawsuit filed against the YMCA by gyms who complained that the YMCA had an unfair advantage. (The YMCA eventually won.)
And as more nonprofits are seeing a need to understand the pitfalls of starting these kind of ventures, the tools and instruction for nonprofits in North Texas has grown.
The Senior Source sought the advice and training of the Dallas-based Center for Nonprofit Management, which has this year started to offer a 10-month business planning program to area nonprofits in conjunction with the Washington D.C.-based Community Wealth Ventures Inc., a social enterprise consulting firm. The cost of the program to the agencies is $5,000.
Diana Peacock, a senior consultant for Community Wealth Ventures, said nonprofits are increasingly looking at fee-for-service activities, whereas many years ago “they felt like they would need to be providing those services for free.”
To see examples of nonprofits creating for-profit subsidiaries, one doesn’t have to look far.
Consider Goodwill Industries International with its thrift stores, YMCA with its health and fitness centers, and Girl Scouts of America with its cookies.
But the efforts of smaller, lower-profile nonprofits to undertake these efforts have gained momentum in the past few years, Peacock said. Also, there’s more diversity in the range of business services and goods they will offer.
In North Texas, for instance, the Catholic Charities Dioceses of Fort Worth Inc. is planning to expand its translation and interpretation services into a for-profit enterprise. It will draw upon the diverse immigrant population it serves, train them as translators and serve as a job placement service to provide those much-needed services at hospitals, public safety departments and the courts.
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After three and a half years, I have made the very difficult decision to leave my position as Director of Development for Central Dallas Ministries.
I admit, I did not see this move coming. I certainly did not look for it!
In fact, were it not for the work of my good friends Jim Chambers and Lesa Engelthaler at TNS Partners, I would never have applied. But Jim and Lesa are not the type to be turned down, and their persistence and sincerity convinced me that this move would be worth exploring.
I was drawn to the prospect of not just supporting the good work of one organization, but improving the work of over 1,300 organizations that are touched by the Center each year. One of my growing passions has been my work as an advocate for the overall non-profit sector, and CNM certainly stands at the forefront of the sector's efforts to improve itself as well as its standing in the community.
And I admit ... my fascination with the work of Robert Egger (founder of the D.C. Central Kitchen as well as the V3 Campaign) played no small part in my decision.
However, I do not plan to leave CDM ... merely to transition from "employee" to volunteer and advocate. Much of my heart and life are now wrapped up in the work of this wonderful ministry, and I have no desire to extricate myself from its future.
Beyond that, as I consider the road ahead, I realize that my path does not take me away from CDM's mission of building genuine community . . . in fact, if I am true to the Center's mission of improving the performance and impact of nonprofit organizations, my path will take me deeper into the heart of CDM's own mission.
This is still a difficult time for me. I am grateful that I am turning my work over to some of the best fundraisers in the city of Dallas: Lisa Goolsby, Jenny Fogel and Katie Goldberg are the "Power Trio" that ensures that CDM's wheels keep turning. Jessica Davila had the unenviable task of being my administrative assistant, and her incredible talents will continue to support the CDM Development team in their work. And thank God for Lisa Robinson, who just joined the organization as its Grants & Contracts Manager: her leadership will ensure that CDM continues its incredible trajectory of 20-30% annual revenue growth for the coming years.
Of course, the hardest part of my decision was facing the reality of being outside the immediate world of Larry James, the President & CEO of CDM.
I have worked with Larry nearly every day since February 1, 2005 . . . and I am continually amazed by the clarity of his vision for the community, the passionate dedication that fills his heart and the unbending strength of his will to improve life for our neighbors.
My greatest hope is that I will gain an even greater ability to help Larry and his team in this new position.
I look forward to the challenge.
Here is my new contact information, as of October 6th:
Jeremy Gregg, CFRE
Vice President of Development
Center for Nonprofit Management
2902 Floyd Street
Dallas, Texas 75204
gregg@cnmdallas.org
214.286.3470 ext. 224
I recently came across this nice resource from the good folks at Texas Nonprofits: a free and searchable database of non-profit jobs throughout the Lone Star State.
Better yet, they can email new openings two you twice a week. More here:
http://www.txnp.org/jobs/jobsearch.asp
As always, another good site is the Center for Nonprofit Management's "Opportunity 501" site. Slightly more focused on the North Texas region than the site above, it is located here:
www.opportunity501.org
For those of you who DO have your CFRE and would be interested in the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive designation, this likely comes as great news:
Philanthropy.com reports in their article What Senior Fund Raisers Need to Know:
The Association of Fundraising Professionals this month announced that it is revising the certification examination for its highest credential, known as the Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive designation.No longer will fund raisers seeking advanced certification be expected to answer questions on the exam about federal tax laws or bequests and other types of planned gifts.For those of you who are in Dallas and who are interested in taking the CFRE, a few of us are organizing a regular study group for a few Tuesdays prior to the AFP DFW Philanthropy Conference 2008 and the CFRE Review Course. We're meeting at the Center for Nonprofit Management from 5:30 - 7:00 on Tuesday June 3 and Tuesday June 10. Let me know if you're interested in joining us!
"The Center for Nonprofit Management is hosting the Get On Board Fair Thursday (tonight!) for people who want to serve on the board of a nonprofit group and other potential volunteers," reported Bob Miller of The Dallas Morning News.
Attendees can visit with more than 100 North Texas nonprofit organizations and learn about what skills they will need to get involved as a nonprofit board member or as a volunteer.More info here:
The fair is from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Cityplace Conference Center, North Central Expressway at Haskell Avenue. It's free and open to the public.
To register, find the list of participating nonprofits and get directions, visit www.cnmdallas.org or call 214-826-3470.
