by Jo Sullivan
How many nonprofits have you been associated with that have
a dream to be bigger — and not just a little larger in overall operation but
really big? And how- many nonprofits have you been associated with that have
actually done it? Ever wonder why the
number is so small? What stops nonprofits from making that transition — that
leap into another category? There must be a moment or moments in time that
divert the course for success for some but not others. Aside from all that “on
the bus, off the bus” chatter, there is some magic that some nonprofits seem to
find that evolves them to a completely different playing level. Or is there? Having had the opportunity to work with
nonprofits that hit huge growth periods and those that wanted to and talked
about it but could never achieve that takeoff, I offer the following
observations.
Mission
I’m not going to
spend much time on this point. We all have relevant missions out there, or we
wouldn’t exist. But the reality is -— because of time in history, really easy to
explain case for engagement or powerful imagery — some nonprofits are
positioned a little better than others. But I wouldn’t rule out any nonprofit
with the desire and some key ingredients to grow.
A Desire To Succeed
More importantly, a
collective desire to succeed. If the organization is split on what the idea of
success is, and if that disagreement is never confronted and met with a
collaborative goal, it’s destined to fail. When one or two people are dead-set
against something, their power to stop it is amazing. So before you assert that
you want to be big, your leadership and key support team members need to come
to agreement, stand behind that goal, and get truly excited and committed to
making it a reality.
A Visionary
Any nonprofit I’ve
worked with that made that transition — that revolutionary leap in size — had
one or two people really pushing forward the vision to do so. In some cases
that person was the founder and in others a CEO, head of program or of
development. It almost doesn’t matter as long as that person has a skill set,
ability to pull together the correct resources, and that spark or spirit to
keep pushing forward. And for every organization lucky enough to have a
visionary, it’s imperative to have ...
A Blocker
This is the person
who helps the visionary stay on point, focused and building with the members of
the organization who are most productive. The easiest way to detract an
organization from a goal is to have a few personalities who just seem hell-bent
on not succeeding — or at a loss as to how to even try! You know exactly who I
mean! First there is the ...
• “That’s never
going to happen around here... You never will get the board to agree to ...”
person. Hearing that 10 times a day could drive even Gandhi to give up and grab
a nosh at Cracker Barrel! There’s nothing wrong with a member of the team
providing a little reality check. The problem with visionaries, after all, is
that they sometimes get — well — visionary.
But a blocker can be
an effective tool in weeding out what’s just negative and what’s really a risk.
I could get all arm-chair Freud here and talk about the overriding personality
traits of the naysayer, but I’ll move on lest somebody decides to Freud me!
But, the reality is these people are usually the most dangerous to seeing
vision in the success. They slowly eat away at the excitement and passion until
little is left. A blocker in a relationship like this is very important.
Moving on from the
naysayer is the ...
• “We need a
protocol. We need a process. We need infrastructure. Everything is moving too
fast... We have to slow down!” person. Also very valid, these types can be
immensely helpful in exposing program weakness, poor building blocks that will
cause problems when real growth hits, etc.
But if they walk
around yelling about the fire and don’t bring a hose and ladder to put it out,
they’re not very useful. A blocker can help direct and ask these folks to draft
those crucial pieces of protocol for consideration. It gives the infrastructure
to come forward with a plan a little more robust than Chicken Little’s so the
leadership can review and implement as changes happen — rather than before or
after.
And lastly, we have
the most well- meaning but equally troublesome ...
• “I’m not sure what
to do, so I’ll just sit quietly in the comer and wait for you to come tell me.
Otherwise, I’ll just be here doing what I’ve always done” person. No.
Unacceptable. Everyone in key roles in an organization that has agreed
collectively to transformative change must contribute arid must make his or her
own work. And if someone is currently in a role he or she may not have the
skill set to do ... well... that’s another point. But a blocker can encourage
project development, offer continuing education opportunities, and keep these
people engaged and moving forward with something new. What’s the definition of
insanity? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Remember, the
blocker may be the executive director, and the visionary may be from
development, HR or operations. Unconventional partnerships breed unexpected
success. Don’t always look to do things the way you’ve done them (see above for
the definition of insanity).
Holy Grails
Now that you have
your visionary and blocker, you can look at the rest of your organization and
tackle a few more very common and very, challenging Holy Grails:
1. A wonderful,
dedicated team of people who all roll up their sleeves and do what’s asked
(aside from one or two from the above list) and now need to see things
differently. This is another key place I’ve seen growth fall apart in
organizations. Say you have a fantastic program manager who also happens to
like to write or take photographs or even worked at a previous organization in
HR. Or the opposite, a great development person who decided to make the leap to
field work but still manages the direct-mail program because he or she
has the knowledge. Those roles need to be clearly, concisely and completely
defined, and those roles and responsibilities need to be put where they belong.
It’s uncomfortable
just reading it, isn’t it? You’ve been there before. We all have. Some of the
most heartbreaking moments are when a practitioner from one area has to stand
up to a well-meaning and passionate colleague and say, “Actually, that’s my
job.” It creates a chasm immediately, and sometimes that trust is never
rebuilt.
It’s natural. We
don’t like to let go of things — even if holding on costs us a collective rate
of growth because we can’t expand into the roles we’re most qualified and
needed to do. I used to have a saying with team members: “Do your job. No, your
job. Not mine, not his, not ours. If you think you’re better qualified, wait
until someone gets beat down or quits and send in your resume.”
It really is painful to watch a burgeoning nonprofit hit this rock wall over and over and over. If we spent more time thinking we’re glad somebody else is an expert in XYZ than taking a session at a conference and thinking we are now qualified to do XYZ, partnerships between divisions would be a lot smoother and the end result of changing the fate of whomever or whatever we serve would happen a lot quicker.
2. A general
adversity and deep loathing of “change” of any kind. It’s human nature to some
extent, and while it’s one of the key brick walls organizations hit, it’s also
the easiest to overcome. Ask yourself, if you don’t change, what becomes of the
mission you serve? If you are unwilling to see a future in which you are different,
operate differently, perform differently, does it affect your organization’s
ability to one day close its doors and go home? When you take a moment and
consider the alternative, it becomes a little easier to accept that changing
your organization really can change the world.It really is painful to watch a burgeoning nonprofit hit this rock wall over and over and over. If we spent more time thinking we’re glad somebody else is an expert in XYZ than taking a session at a conference and thinking we are now qualified to do XYZ, partnerships between divisions would be a lot smoother and the end result of changing the fate of whomever or whatever we serve would happen a lot quicker.
3. The leap
organizations need to take with their donor files. Also a growth killer. The
larger we become and the broader and less personal our marketing efforts have
to be just due to size and management, the more people will complain. If your
team, you or your board isn’t prepared to swallow that fact and build
infrastructure to mitigate it, you become a program of one. You allow a very
loud, single, angry donor or maybe a few donors you were able to have a more
personal relationship with set the path of your program.
And before you try
to tell me I don’t care about donor service ... quite the contrary. We should
absolutely be accountable to our supporters, responsive to their questions,
respectful of their requests and transparent in our actions. But donors should
not drive strategy, communications standards and overall program direction. Our
job is to hire very smart people who know how to build these things and provide
strong customer/donor support simultaneously to continue to grow.
It’s another one of
those things that’s shocking to me: A nonprofit is willing to give up
exponential growth opportunities to the voice of a few. With flag codes,
analytics, donor modeling, inbound call centers and an influx of consumer
experts into our world, it absolutely, positively does not have to be either/or.
If you make the
choice to become “a program of one,” you can expect it will absolutely impact
your vision and desire for growth. Nobody said the growth wouldn’t be
respectful to donors. Just different.
4. The mix of
talent, employees and skill set. This one is very hard and cuts against our
compassion and hearts, which brought us all to this world in the first place.
But we have to acknowledge that there may be a time in which the team you start
with, no matter how good the members were at being a small nonprofit and how
much they know about your organization, does not translate into the next
generation of leadership.
It’s uncomfortable
just hearing it and no need to elaborate. It is why we train, offer conference
opportunities and hope the people we value the most elevate, with us. Good
visionaries and blockers make every opportunity available for that to happen.
But if there is a time that comes in which those difficult and painful changes
aren’t made, it either falls to one or two to carry it all, or the vision falls
short.
If any of this
sounds familiar to you, and you and your organization find yourselves stuck at
any of these points, you know how frustrating it can be. The beauty of growth
and change is you never know what role you may serve, so whatever presents
itself — if you remember first and foremost to serve your mission — the rest is
easy.
Good luck! There is
a whole world of need out there waiting for the next big nonprofit. Hope it’s
one you work for!
FS www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com Sept 2013
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