Good data on volunteers

Many thanks to Nicole Pharm for turning me on to a great source for data on volunteering in the US from Volunteering In America. Check out the site and you can find data by state, city, some new research findings and how we volunteer.

But be careful---I went to the site and, even though I'm not a volunteer specialist, suddenly looked up and an hour had slipped by....the data is really interesting! If you are a volunteer coordinator, or planning on expanding your volunteer activities, check this out.

Character first for boards

I just returned from having a terrific two days with the Ronald McDonald House Charities board leadership session in Oak Brook. Great people, lots of fun discussion. I certainly learned a lot.

Yesterday, the group was focused on better board recruitment and retention. Most sessions on this start with what skillset the organization needs. We started with something different: what kind of person you should seek to have on your board. This set the group back a bit--they were ready to talk about skills. I pushed them to talk about character, and we got a great list going. Things like this:
Integrity
Dependable
Open minded
Entrepreneurial
Smart
This is not a complete list, but you get the idea.

Then we talked through a good laundry list of skills needed, repeatedly noting that the skills needed by any nonprofit change and should change in sync with their strategic plan.

But when we got done with those two lists, we focused on which is more important to start with: character or skills?

My feeling on this is strong: focus on character first. This is very consistent with pretty much all good leadership development advice: Hire character first in employees. Why shouldn't that extend to board members?

As John Maxwell says in his leadership writing: "You can't coach tall." Character first.

As you evaluate your board recruitment, make a list like the people at RMHC did: what kind of person do you want on the board? It will help avoid a lot of pain further down the road.

Google, and other free stuff

I was stunned recently when I asked a room of 200 or so execs how many of them had taken advantage of Google's $10k per month offer for free ads......not only did no hands go up, but most didn't know what a Google ad was....talk about opportunity lost. If you are in their group, check it out at Google Grants. Think about it---you want more volunteers in their 20's? You want more donors in that demography? TRY THIS! It's FREE.

Other free stuff---you should sign up for the free Fieldstone Alliance Tools You Can Use newsletter. Yes, they are trying to sell books, and yes, they are my publisher, but the stuff that they put in the newsletter is useful right now, even if you don't ever buy the book.

For instance, the current edition is about conflict resolution in the context of increasing collaboration and has some great ideas. Check it out.

I'm on my way to Chicago to teach at the Leadership Institute for the Ronald McDonald Houses from all over North America. I've worked with them before and they are great people. I'm looking forward to it.

Great attitudes during tough times....

I had a wonderful day with a group of nonprofits from Sarasota, sponsored by the Community Foundation of Sarasota (and a shout out to all the staff for making my day so easy). What a great group of nonprofit staff and board. Nonprofits in Florida are facing very very tough times, and so the topic of the day "Mission-Based Management in Difficult Financial Times" drew a crowd: the room was packed.

You might expect a lot of doom and gloom in a room like that, but people were upbeat, attentive and appreciative to the nth degree. Very inspiring, but then rooms of nonprofit staff always are to me.

I go back in December to talk about "Social Entrepreneurship" and in February to talk on "Generation Change in Nonprofits". I'm looking forward to both trips.

Mission-Vision-Values

This morning I was working on my August edition of The Mission-Based Management Newsletter, which will cover the topic of Mission, Vision, Values. In looking up some good resources I came across a fascinating (to a mission-nerd like me) website called Missionstatement.com, which has collected hundreds of mission statements, not only for nonprofits, but for schools, corporations, government, and individuals. Interesting reading, at least for me.

At the Alliance for Nonprofit Management meeting, I had the pleasure of hearing and then talking briefly to Darian Rodriguez Heyman, who is the ED of the Craigslist Foundation. In his talk, Darian told us about a new foundation online presence and asked for input from the group. Over and over, he repeated the mantra that was guiding the Foundation in its development: "Less time searching, more time doing good."

I loved hearing such focus on a key idea. While that statement is not their mission, it is a guiding principle for a major product, and allows the staff and volunteers to say focused on the desired outcome.

This is a great example of developing a project mission, but more importantly, using that project-mission to help guide the process all the time, not just at the outset.

The cost of higher educution and nonprofits

One of the concerns I have about nonprofits recruiting and retaining the best and brightest is the cost of higher education which, as a percentage of average family income, is an enormous barrier. Not only does it stress out current nonprofit staff who have kids and are trying to figure out how to pay for college, but for someone coming out of undergraduate or grad school with a $20k, $30k, even $90k debt, the ability to work in a low-paying nonprofit is severely limited.

The recent federal bill to "fix" this problem is a start, but a poor one. Basically, a 22-year-old has to go to work for a nonprofit, work ten years, and then she sees some minimal help. Ten years? Ten YEARS? Ten years for a 22 year old is half their life so far, at least the part they can recall. Not much of an incentive, particularly for the average 22 or 23 year old who is still figuring out their place in the world, where they want to live and work, and what their real passion is.

We've always used financial incentives to push people toward desired outcomes. Whether its the ability to deduct interest costs on your mortgage to encourage home ownership, had rapid depreciation allowances to encourage businesses to build, or drill for oil. Let's put together a real program that helps both students and parents.

More and more families are taking out loans, rates for loans are rising: student loans now cost 6.8% and parent loans 8.2%. Rates went up last year to help cut the deficit. And, private lenders have stepped back from lending given the mortgage crisis....

Here's my suggestion:

A student with a federal debt (in his/her own name or that of his or her family) goes to work for a nonprofit. During the year, the debtor pays only interest on the loan. After one year, if he or she does the job, 5% is cut off the principle. This continues moving forward for as long as the individual works for a (any) nonprofit. The second year, the forgiveness is 10%, where it stays for each of years 3-5 and then it moves up again to 15% per year until the loan is retired with one last 10% forgiveness in year 9.

Thus, the student receives immediate help (interest only) and a reduction in one year, not 10.
Will congress change the law? Unlikely.

So, what can communities do? Set up the same program locally with some variation. I'd love to see community foundations put money aside for debt reduction for employees at nonprofits, corporations and service organizations like Rotary and Lions set up scholarships for graduated students who work for nonprofits. Local governments could offer property tax relief to nonprofit workers buy homes in the community they work for, and state governments could target the areas where the most workers are needed and offer incentives as well.

We want well educated employees. We know we can't pay our employees salaries that are competitive with the for-profit sector, and we know that our mission-satisfaction makes up for that to a point. But mission-satisfaction can't help here: we have to come up with a better way if we want the best people.

Green Nonprofits-resources

Everyone wants to do their part to green up, lower our carbon footprint, and be better environmental citizens. The Mission-Based Management Newsletter in April dealt with this topic in depth, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy had a set of resources recently that I wanted to share.

First, GreenNonprofits has just opened, and will be doing some work to allow nonprofits to be certified at green. Check them out at www.greennonprofits.org

TechSoup has a bunch of resources including a listing of recycling centers for your old tech. Take a look: www.techsoup.org/greentech/index.cfm

If you own (or are going to own) a building for your nonprofit, take a look at the US Green Building Council which has some great information on greening up your building both in design and use.
www.usgbc.org

Alliance, and a new resource

Fun to be at the Alliance for Nonprofit Management meeting in Dearborn...great to see so many friends and catch up.

A new resource announced today from Microsfot looks interesting...MS is calling it NGO Connection, and it advertises free/low cost software, TA, etc. I'll check it out but you should too.

Free stuff--a reminder to those who like this price...

I got a bunch of questions last week (yes, on vacation) from people associated with nonprofits who have heard about offers from Google and SalesForce.com. Yes, there is great free stuff (from both companies) or heavily discounted (in the case of Salesforce) available for nonprofits.

In Google's case, it's up to $10,000 a month in free Google Ads, which is, believe me, HUGE. If you set up the ads correctly, you can have them send people to your services page, your fundraising page, your volunteer page, or all three! Here's the information on this offer: http://www.google.com/grants/

In Salesforce's case, you can get their client management software free, or at an 80% discount. Again, a terrific offer, since this software rocks. http://www.salesforcefoundation.org/product

Remember that both companies have an application process, and it's not a slam dunk. But, check them out.

Books, anniversaries, and Alliance

Back from a great 10 days on vacation, in NH with kids and significant others, seeing long-time friends, and relaxing on Squam. Much fun.

I read quite a bit, including taking a run at True North, the second book by Bill George, the author of Authentic Leadership. I'm about a third through and like it a lot. Authentic Leadership was very popular with my book clubs. I'll post more about this book when I finish.

In other book news, the 3rd Edition of Mission-Based Management is underway. I'm pumped about the update, and will post intermittently as I make progress and add new sections.

However, the biggest book news for me is that Generations has been awarded the 2008 Terry McAdam Award for "Best New Nonprofit Book" by the Alliance for Nonprofit Management. I'm really pleased and honored, particularly since the runner up this year is Forces for Good, which is an awesome book.

I'm headed out to the Alliance for Nonprofit Management annual conference in Dearborn tomorrow, do a half-day on Generation Change, see lots of great friends and, as a bonus, collect the award. The Alliance meetings are always a highlight of my year, and I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, today is Chris's and my 30th wedding anniversary. I have been SO lucky to have such a great wife and fantastic marriage...it certainly has been the launching pad for all my work....

I'll post from Dearborn....

Book Club is over

I knew it had been far too long since I posted, but had no real idea that my last entry was April 1. Sorry.

Much has happened between then and now for me, as I'm sure it has for you. Professionally, I've traveled to 12 states, given presentations on Generations and Nonprofit Stewardship, and met some amazing people. One trip was particularly fun: a return to New Orleans, where I went to grad school. Sad, amazing, wonderful and awful all wrapped up in a two day package.

Yesterday was the final set of calls for the book clubs that I've been facilitating since 2004. Budget cuts have caused the cutback, and while I am sad to lose both the conversations each month and the impetus to get my reading done, I certainly understand the sponsoring organization's prioritization. A good four years, for sure.

And now, I get to read more of what I choose!

And, in book news, the update of Mission-Based Management is underway. I sent my suggestions for improvement off to Wiley last week, and their editorial board meets soon to (I hope) approve the third edition. SO much has changed since I wrote the second edition in 2000. Should be fun work.

Tomorrow, I head to New Hampshire for a family week, and will do my best to post more regularly, starting with a list of what I think should be on every nonprofit staff and board's reading list.

Mission-Based Management, 3rd Edition?

I'm in the early stages of re-working the second edition of Mission-Based Management into the third edition. It's hard to believe that the second edition came out way back in 2000 (when I referred to a strong economy and balanced federal budget). Much has changed.

One thing that prompted the update is the number of undergraduate and graduate classes that use the book as their text. While I don't want to turn the book into an academic tome, there may be some things that students and professors want that I can include.

Hence my question: If you have used MBM, either as a teacher or as a student, what would you do to improve the book? Any and all suggestions are welcome....either email me at peter@missionbased.com or post a suggestion here for all to see.

In advance, thanks!

One more marketing trap

Longtime readers, either here, or of my books, know that I feel strongly that most nonprofits have a severe marketing disability that needs to be overcome if they are to be successful in providing the most mission to the most people. That disability is a trap, and now I've realized that there aren't just one, but two, traps to fall into.

The first trap/disability wraps around the issue of needs versus wants. People have needs. People seek wants, and nonprofits often get trapped in their perspective that everything really is about needs. The feds, states, United Ways---all of them do needs assessments. Nonprofits have professionals on staff in their area of expertise, and can diagnose needs very well. Whether you are a museum curator, a teacher, nurse, or rabbi, you can look at me (or my community) run some numbers (or tests) and tell me what I need. That skill is crucial to your organization's mission-success, but it runs smack up against good marketing which is all about wants. To find out about wants, you have to ask. If you don't ask, you can't give people the things they need in the way that they want them---and you don't do as much mission as you could.

(You can read more about my marketing thoughts at the Marketing Ideas section of my website.)

So, first trap: needs versus wants.

The second trap? This one has come to me slowly, kind of like a ship coming over a horizon....and it has to do with a more complex set of thoughts around generation change. Let me summarize.

Different generations are really different cultures (and sub-cultures, but that's not the issue today). Just as we are influenced by our ethnic background, just as we are shaped by our family, we are, in a very real sense, children of the times in which we grew up, shaped by the music, the culture, the experiences, the technology that surrounded us between the ages of 12 and 25 or 30. The more I talk to people about generation change, the more I see this clearly.

Why should this be surprising? It's true with ethnicity. All of us know that Caucasians and African-Americans "see" and "hear" things differently. My African-American friends often talk about the racial code words they hear in conversation, on television, or on radio that go right over my head as a Caucasian male. So experience and background can influence worldview, right? No news there.

I think it's the same for generations. If you know someone who is a Greatest Generation member, they usually think of money differently than those of us who are younger---why? They went through the Great Depression. That's an obvious influence, but there are hundreds more, often subtle ones that make up who we are.

Here's the trap.....being blind to generational differences in marketing: assuming that what I want from my generational perspective is the same as every other generation wants. This gets us back to one of my most quoted marketing truisms: Ask, Ask, Ask, and then Listen!

I'm still thinking this through, and it may not be as profound as it seems to me at the moment....we'll see.

What do you think?

Is generation change expensive?

In my talks on Generations, people seem most concerned about inter-generational conflict and executive transition. No one really seems to focus on the cost of this transition. At least I don't get questions about financial implications.

I think that partly this is because we feel we can do something about exec transition, and inter-generational conflict gets our attention since it drives us nuts. But money? We'll deal with that later.

That's a mistake. Things like attending to retirement costs of staff over 55, figuring out flexible benefits for younger staff, deciding how wrestle with health care costs for older staff who stay on into their 70's....all of these things are cheaper if done sooner.

Of course, there are lots of financial implications, both related to income and expense, and I talk about them in the current issue of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter. The topic this month is Generation Change and Finance.

Check it out...and sooner rather than later.

Reaching 60

No, not 60 years of age...but that'll come soon enough.

The 60 I'm referring to is 60 countries. My Mission-Based Management Newsletter is now read in at least 60 countries on six continents. (I used to have a subscriber in Antarctica, but her grant finished up and she returned to the US.)

When I say "at least" it's because I could have more...subscribers just have to give me their email address to get the newsletter each month, and with @gmail addresses proliferating, who knows? My subscriber base has grown a lot the last two years, and if current trends continue, I'll go over 2,000 subscribers this month or next.

My newsletter comes out once a month and covers a single topic each month. You can look at prior single topic issues as well.

Check out the current issue here. If you want to subscribe, just send me an email to subscribe@missionbased. com

If you do, you'll know you're reading something that nearly 2,000 other nonprofit professionals and volunteers are reading all over the world!

How cool is that? Join us!

What's a good mission statement?

A couple of weeks back, I posted on having taught at Boston University, and one of the classes was focused on finding good nonprofits to give to. One of their criteria was finding the best mission statement, and they asked me for some criteria. Since that class, I have coincidentally had a number of emails from other organizations asking basically the same question.

Here's my drill on this:

1. Less is more. The mission statement is an identifier, an "elevator message" and a motivator. You have to be able to convey what you do quickly to people to make your organization stand out. In an era with short attention spans, this has to be done quickly. If your mission statement is three pages long, or has 20 adjectives, it does nothing but bore. Think short.

2. First Vision, then Mission, then Values. One way to shorten many mission statements is to attend to the vision-mission-values sequence and to keep them separate. Vision is how you would like the world to look. Mission is what your organization does to help realize that vision, and values is how you do it (with respect, dignity, etc.). Many organizations put all three in their mission statement, insuring that they violate rule 1 above.

3. Use the mission everywhere. Once you focus and refine your mission statement, use it everywhere: in meetings, on paper, on your website, everywhere. Talk about it constantly. Make it an integral tool in decision making, budgeting, prioritizing, and planning. Remember, the mission is the reason your organization exists---so make it central to everything you do.

What's the best mission? It depends, but here's a great list of Best Charity Mission Statements from Seekler.com




If you want to add to this list, just click on it......

Bright eyes, Boston version

Had the great pleasure of speaking to both an undergrad and graduate class at Boston University's School of Management yesterday. Thanks to Professors McCormack and Post for letting me borrow their students.

Both classes were fun; with the undergraduates I talked about the characteristics of a good nonprofit, which should fit well into their big project: figuring out how to give $15,000 away to nonprofit applicants, which is, I suspect, harder than they thought it would be. The class is using Mission-Based Management as its core text, so there was a fair amount of give and take on what makes a good nonprofit, and how my characteristics of good nonprofits would also work for a for-profit.

In the grad class, we spent most of our time discussing what social entrepreneurship (SE) is, how the definition has changed, expanded, morphed and been adopted by a wide range of different activities. For me a social entrepreneur has always been "someone who takes risk on behalf of the people their nonprofit serves". However, the class defined SE as a business that is socially responsible, and a philanthropist who figures out how to help a nonprofit succeed, and someone who sets up businesses that help the underprivileged. We even went round and round about what social good is---and does it have to apply to people who are oppressed, or poor, or, or, or....

As you might guess, all of this was great fun for me, and I hope helpful for the students. It made me miss my teaching at Kellogg even more.

Some online help for you....

Two things popped up on my laptop this morning, both of which will be of interest to any nonprofit looking to maximize its website usefullness.

First, is SEMcares, and organization made up of Search Engine Marketing professionals who help nonprofits pro bono (or at deep discounts) get more from their website. If broad exposure is important to your organization, check them out.

Second is Google Grants. Anyone who cruises the web knows about Google Ads, those little boxes that show up to the right of a search query. I use them myself, and pay only when someone clicks on the box and goes to my website, or to this blog. It's called Google AdWords.

Google Grants allows you to do use AdWords for free.... if you qualify and apply. Thus, you could have a broader reach, and for free! Here's a hint as well: setting up AdWords is a breeze.

Check both of these resources out!

Board Re-org?

Much has been said recently about the need to re-think the Executive Director role in light of the combination of that Boomer-heavy position's transition to GenX and Gen@ combined with those generations hesitancy to even take on the position. I think that discussion is important and, while no clear models have surfaced yet, worth pursuing.

But what about boards? We all need them, we all should want them to operate as efficiently and effectively as possible. We want diversity of background, a great skillset, and commitment to our cause. So should we just do the same-old same-old, or try a new model?

While no model is for everyone, and certainly starting from scratch is unlikely for pretty much any nonprofit not in a huge crisis, tweaking your board model now and then to match both the needs of the organization and the capacity of the board members is probably a good thing. And that's the topic of my January issue of the Mission-Based Management Newsletter: Reorganizing Your Board of Directors.

Take a look. There may be a tweak there that's good for you.

Book Club Books worth a look

My book clubs are starting up again tomorrow for the January to June cycle. For the first set of calls, our books are:

Emerging Leaders: The Servant Leader, by James Autry
Advanced Leaders: The Wisdom of Crowds, by James Suroweicki

I love both of these books, and have recommended them to dozens of audiences over the past year or so. The Autry book is very, very practical. He describes his philosophy of servant leadership (you work for the people you supervise and serve them so that they can do their jobs) which I completely agree with, and then goes into very, very hands on applications of the theory. What do you do with employees who are having an office romance? What about an employee who is undergoing chemotherapy and wants to work, but whose presence is upsetting other workers? How do you lay off someone well?

Really good stuff.

Surowiecki lays out the premise that crowds (in most cases) make better decisions than a few experts. Through story after story he shows you that getting input into your decisions is worth the effort. I also agree with this, but it's important to remember not to just take a poll--as a leader you have to make the final decision---and live with it.

Excellent reading, and neither is overly long. The Servant Leader you can read easily on a snowy afternoon, or a long plane ride. Wisdom is a little denser, but just as fascinating.