A NOTE FROM LAURENCE

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I have had the privilege of giving quite a few workshops over the past year, most recently at NYU’s Heyman Center for Fundraising and Philanthropy, where I presented "Is It Really All About the Money? The Board’s Role in Fundraising," and last month at Fundraising Day, where I chaired the brand new Consulting Track and also co-presented as a speaker on "How the Right Consultant Can Help You Get It All Done."

I have noticed of late that nonprofit executives and trustees are looking for deeper answers to their organizational dilemmas. Over seventeen hundred people attended The Association of Fundraising Professionals' (AFP) Fundraising Day NY on June 14th, and over 6,000 people are reading this newsletter, an audience larger than ever before. LAPA News & Views has been published for six years, half the life of our firm. We began producing the newsletter on a lark to share our thoughts. We are now using it as a vehicle for sharing elements of proficient fundraising with nonprofit professionals. As a consequence, we have been rewarded with a growing and knowledgeable readership. Your feedback has demonstrated a demand for the details, concepts, and strategies of fundraising, which we are delighted to fill.

This edition of LAPA News & Views concerns itself with the proactive management of board meetings and with testing feasibility services in advance of new program ventures. Also in this issue, we share the latest trends in charitable giving, give you an important update about the new IRS form 990 and provide a step-by-step guide prepared by Giving USA about selecting fundraising counsel. Whew!

Thank you for coming to LAPA’s seminars, and for attending AFP’s Fundraising Day and for continuing to drive the dialogue to a high level for our sector. We welcome your questions and love hearing from you.

- Laurence A. Pagnoni, president - (212) 868-4800, ext. 0 or lpagnoni@lp-associates.com

Oh, I almost forgot! We recently updated our "fields of expertise." Click here to see the latest version.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TESTING PROGRAM FEASIBILITY

Starting a new program takes a leap of faith.  Before you leap, LAPA recommends conducting a feasibility assessment to test underlying assumptions, define objectives, and determine the viability of the new initiative.

"ASK LAPA": Answers to Your Questions About Management and Fundraising

"I have served on the board of directors of a children's charity for over two years now. Our meetings consist of reports from the staff (who are attendees throughout entire board meetings) and are facilitated by the executive director. I would like to see the board members more involved and speaking up during meetings. In fact, many members are coming late and leaving early. What can I do?" – Jane Levinson, Brooklyn

Board service is often an unseen and thankless job. I place your query under the large category of "organizational culture-shift." Your agency appears to need one. Part of the culture shift involves making a clear distinction between the board and executive staff. Have you asked yourself: "Why is the executive director running this meeting?" Having been an executive director myself, it is tempting to want to lead the board, but I assure you doing so will not help the agency. Perhaps the executive director is afraid nothing will be accomplished?

Whatever the reason, it is clear that investigating the history of his/her role at the board meeting and why the board chair allows this to occur is imperative. I suggest setting up a private conversation with the executive director, the board chair, and whoever else you feel should be there. Make sure you listen deeply and ask probing questions. Let everyone know that no decisions need to be made at the meeting, but that your goal is to learn more.

Because listening to reports makes people passive, it is no surprise that board members are not speaking up. Open-ended questions stimulate conversation. Consider shaking things up by having meetings where there are no reports but only an agenda with good questions. This is what a colleague of mine, Thomas A. McLaughlin, author of "Nonprofit Mergers and Alliances: A Strategic Planning Guide," calls a shift from a typical board agenda to a strategic board agenda. The following table highlights the shift he describes:

The repetitive nature of a typical agenda, consisting entirely of reports and updates, is obvious. For a board member seeking to use skills and knowledge to advance the cause, it is depressingly flat. It is hard to know what is important and what is not, plus it does not relate to the strategic goals of an organization. No one has much fun with this type of agenda, and very little is likely to get accomplished.

The Strategic Agenda has two strong advantages over the Typical Agenda. First, it draws board members away from the inherently backward-looking nature of reports and updates, and involves them in future-oriented discussions and debate. Unlike the Typical Agenda, which compartmentalizes material, the Strategic Agenda clearly illustrates the link between the items for discussion and strategic goals.

Second, the Strategic Agenda creates a sense of momentum and teamwork toward a common goal. The goals that board members work so hard to identify during a strategic planning retreat show up exactly as crafted on every board meeting agenda. Members know that they will be expected to engage in the dialogue, which prevents passive listening.

I also wonder how often your board meets. The smartest boards I have belonged to met four to six times a year, and the meetings were full-day. Occasionally those boards also had a longer retreat when it was warranted. Staying overnight allows members to focus on tackling long-range planning issues.

Finally, never assume that the board chair must always facilitate the meeting. Facilitation is a learned skill and the chair can ask others to take the lead if they have talent in this area. Again, this is the stuff of culture shift. When you are changing an organizational culture, one ought not to hoist specific changes onto a group until first learning more about its dilemma.

Often an outside consultant can play an important role in such a culture shift, but before you consider bringing one in, learn more about your needs. I hope this helps. Best of luck with creating a culture shift at your organization!

- Laurence Pagnoni, president

LAPA assists nonprofits with board development with an emphasis on building fundraising capacity. For more information contact Laurence A. Pagnoni, at 212-868-4800, ext. 0 or lpagnoni@lp-associates.com

NONPROFIT NEWS             

Giving USA Shows Continued Increase in Individual Donations

The Giving USA Foundation just released its “Giving USA 2007” yearbook of philanthropy. Following are some highlights:

• Giving by individuals is the largest single source of nonprofit donations, accounting for $222.9 billion or 75.6% of all estimated giving in 2006, an increase of 4.4% over 2005.
• Approximately 65% of households with incomes below $100,000 gave to charity.
• Charitable bequests totaled $22.9 billion for the year, making up 7.8% of total donations. When added to the giving statistics for living individuals, individual giving represents 83.4% of all donations in 2006.
• Total giving from private sources (individuals, foundations, and corporations) in 2006 was nearly $12 billion more than in 2005 (a 4.2% increase). 2006 giving totaled approximately $295 billion in 2006.

If you would like more information about how LAPA can help strengthen your organization's individual donor base, please call Laurence Pagnoni at 212-868-4800, ext. 1 or send him an e-mail at lpagnoni@lp-associates.com.

To order your copy of the “Giving USA 2007” yearbook, visit the Giving USA Foundation Web Site.

Finding the Right Consultant with Help from the Giving Institute - 8 Steps You Should Know

The Giving Institute provides an eight-step guide for choosing the consultant that is the right fit for your project and organization. Click here to read some foolproof steps to finding good counsel.

SAVE THE DATES

LAPA staff and associates may be reached as follows:

Sheldon Bart, MA, Grants Officer
Enid Harlow, MA, Senior Grants Officer
Blanche Norman, MA, Director of Grants Services
Dwayne Sampson, BA, Executive Assistant
Melissa Shurkin, MA, Senior Director

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