Top fundraising CEOs with whom we have had the honor of working have the ability to endear themselves to those who have capacity to make their institution’s dreams come true, are capable of articulating the vision for the institution to a variety of audiences, and spend a majority of their time doing these two things.  Read on to see if these essential CEO characteristics are present at your organization or as a frame for a potential new hire in the “number two” position for your organization.

The CEO is the voice, the visionary, the leader and the face of the institution and thrives in this role.  They are the ones in whom major donors/funders give their trust.  The CEO is who a donor considers before making a significant gift. A top notch Chief Development Officer* (CDO) knows when and how to use the CEO’s time for the greatest return.  The CEO motivates the Board members to be personally involved in fundraising and acts as a negotiator between Board and staff.

The CDO spends considerable time working with development staff, CEO assistant or Board assistant, volunteers, Board members and donor connectors to do the following tasks as they relate to major gifts work: planning and organizing, strategizing about prospects and calendar, setting goals and priorities, and learning about new and current donors through conversations and reviewing background information. The CDO is seeking always to put the President/Chair, the CEO, and key leadership in positions and conversations with donors for a win. The CDO's goal is to be so well prepared that the best suited leadership member (CEO, CDO, volunteer, Chair or combination) makes the right ask of the right person for the right project at the right time.  The CDO and CEO work in close partnership to raise funds.

A successful fundraising organization has the CEO and CDO spending a lot of time together building a strong and respected partnership.  Both parties share a joint commitment to the relentless pursuit of people who can help the institution.  The CEO and CDO share a joint ownership of problems and goals, a joint ownership of relationships, and a joint ownership of success.  This can only successfully occur through trust and constant honest communication.  The CDO is always lobbying and fighting for the priority share of the CEO time and knows that when she gets it that she can't blow it!  A good CDO has familiarity with the strengths, comforts, and places a CEO ‘shines’ and plays to these settings.  The CDO demonstrates loyalty, dedication, and confidentiality and offers ongoing relationship building and learning opportunities for volunteers.

There should be a disciplined schedule where the CDO and CEO meet each week to talk about the past, present, and future of relationships with donors and funders.  Time is spent reviewing meetings, stewardship plans, and discussing updates on donors.  Calendars are reviewed and a “top 25” visit schedule of recommendations are discussed.  Challenges for re-engaging donors or funders are discussed.  From there the CDO reviews the calendar daily and ensures the CEO’s assistant feels comfortable with all the meeting and conversation details to serve the donor and provide success for the CEO.   The CDO also works throughout the organization and with volunteers to ‘stop and celebrate’ the wins and keeps the team motivated between wins.   As issues come up with donors a good CDO is quick on her feet to present solutions and/or knows how to ask the right questions to move the relationship forward.  The CDO is also responsible for ongoing communication to the CEO and Chair/President including sending reports via e-mail of gifts that come in and suggesting donors to thank or call with scripts that make it easy for the leadership to act and say just the right thing.                      

*Chief Development Officer refers to the top development person in the organization who may or may not have this title                                 

This article was written in collaboration with the smart fundraising expert Debra Minton, Founder of Philanthropia Partners and is a salute to one of the best fundraising CEO’s, Dr. Donna Lopiano and the  successful partnership we had at the Women's Sports Foundation


 

I love this time of year for the magic it produces.  There is a sense of hope and possibility abounding.   At Imagine Philanthropy, I think of all the worthy nonprofits that are coming to their year end and awaiting donor’s gifts which will bring joy to their clients, their team, their Board and you, the donor!   One of my fun tasks next week is to process some yearend gifts and I encourage you to join me. 

Kudos to Tracy Gary and her team at Inspired Legacies for creating a list of deserving groups that are doing transformational work.  I invite you to spend some time reviewing Tracy’s list and making a gift that matters to you – that moves you and inspires you.   I am adding to her list three groups that make my heart sing as I feel strongly about their leadership, and their important work in transforming cultures, systems, and policies for women.   Know that either as an advisor or Board member to these groups, I have been immersed in their planning and feel strongly about the impact they are making in shifting humanity.   As well, any and all of the clients that Imagine Philanthropy works with on this list are doing incredible work and are deserving of your support.   

Tides is a values based, social change platform that leverages individual and institutional leadership and investment to positively impact local and global communities.

Women Win is recognized as a leading global organization using sport as a strategy to advance women's rights.  Women Win envisions a world where women and girls are strong leaders and agents of change in their communities.

Women Effect Investments is a field-building initiative that seeks to mobilize more investment dollars toward improving the condition of women and girls worldwide.

Jennifer Buffett will change the world. You may not know her now, but when all is said and done I believe she will own the title, The First Lady of Women’s Social Change Philanthropy.  Jennifer is the life size symbol of NoVo – to alter, invent.  The NoVo Foundation she created with her husband Peter is based on the premise that if you give a girl an opportunity, she will become a successful woman who will in turn create successful communities, businesses, and families.  Jennifer’s story is just that.

After deep examination of the focus of their philanthropy and a personal examination of her own expression of her values and influence, Jennifer is speaking around the world sharing her personal story and experiences. She and her husband Peter spent years examining the interrelation between systems, culture, and relationships to determine place of impact and opportunity for change before launching the largest foundation serving women and girls, the NoVo Foundation.   Jennifer has incredible perspective to offer activists, social change drivers, and philanthropists and after hearing her recently, I distilled these ten concepts that are worth sharing; 

1. Look at the roots of the problems, examine patterns and themes and find the programs and the stories that rule the world and which ones make sense.
2. Acknowledge two conflicting truths:  1. Girls and women are the primary drivers of change.  2. Cultural attitudes and systems put girls in a vicious cycle; blaming them and affirming that they are not valued.   The girl effect demonstrates that if you invest in a girl, her family thrives, she contributes to her community, and eventually her country succeeds.
3. Invest in places where value is held and not yet recognized.  Note:  there are 600 million adolescent girls living in the developing world who are currently ‘undervalued assets’. 
4. Value balance and partnership and affirm feminine values. 
5. Encourage women to use their voice, say what is want and needed, take credit, and invite men to join as equal partners and co-creators. 
6. As a woman, choose to be seen and heard and work to change the course of the boat named Earth Community. 
7. Improve gender dynamics by recognizing that the qualities in the masculine ‘toolbox’ - force, hierarchy, punitive, and a focus on head not heart - are learned, normalized, and internalized. 
8. Honor and showcase the characteristics found in the feminine toolbox; listening, connectedness, experiential learning, honoring innate cycles and rhythms, and wholeness. 
9. Establish learning environments that allow for inquiry and participation. 
10. As conduits of feminine energies, allow the most precious qualities of clarity, strength, knowing and vulnerability of yourself to come into full light. 

I had the honor of being part of the Women’s Funding Network Worldwide Conference where women from Serbia, Mexico, Australia, Scotland, Nigeria, Canada, and every place in between, descended upon Brooklyn, New York for three days of convening and learning.  We spent time together skills sharing, relationship building, and listening to impassioned speeches from some of the world’s most dynamic female thought leaders. 

From the opening keynote featuring Marjora Carter, eco-entrepreneur, MacArthur Genius and founder of Sustainable South Bronx, to the closing keynote featuring Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and first Under Secretary General and Executive Director of UN Women, we all were in the presence of the power and resiliency of women leaders and the global women’s movement.  Being part of this ‘movement’ to me means that we choose to reassert feminine perspectives (also known as ‘a gender lens’) wherever it can heal cultures and communities.   

One of the panel discussions was hosted by filmmaker, scholar and founder of the Daphne Foundation, Abigail Disney. Abby spoke about the ways in which the feminine perspective has been erased from the media coverage of war across the world. Her documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell and her four part series called Women, War and Peace, which documents war through the eyes of women in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Columbia and the Congo, shows women’s contributions to war efforts on both the front lines and back lines. 

When we think about war, we think about combat. We think about the front line. Abby’s work showcases the role that women play from the back lines in conflict and the impact that these conflicts have on women’s lives.  The work shows how women are targeted with systematic violence in wartime and how, with incredible fortitude and strength and little support, they hold their families and communities together.  Abby and her team are successful in bringing visibility to the tragedy of their invisibility and dismissal from their solutions and peace building work. 

After showing the series trailer, Abby talked about how rape is being used as a strategic tactic of wartime violence. She recounted stories of deliberations by the United Nations Assembly about whether or not to try rapists as war criminals when the acts are being perpetrated as a tactic of war.  Abby’s series, Women, War and Peace is scheduled to debut on PBS this fall. I hope you’ll all find some time to watch it and extend your role in the movement in any way that works for you.

(Photo credited to Pray the Devil Back to Hell.)

During a recent gathering of 600 dynamic women working for social and economic justice (2011 Women’s Funding Network Annual Conference), I facilitated a discussion  with my friend and frequent co-pilot, Ellen Landis, founder of Sharevision. The discussion was on donor activism (which later turned into a great conversation on power!) with the goal to create a safe space for women to vocalize their engagement and feel more confident and empowered to be the social change leaders they are.  As well, we had an intentional sharing of donor activism work from a mind, body, and spirit focus which helps people enter the “activist” conversation from different perspectives.

For that hour and a half these 40 women were able to share their successes, their challenges, their personal and professional triumphs and tragedies with each other. And, when it was over, almost all of the women remained to engage with each other like old friends with so much to learn from each other.  

The format of the donor activism work session was exercises that could be done with staff, donors, community leaders, Board members, etc.  One of the fun tools we used, that I am sharing, was the attached Donor Activist Bingo game.  We had the attendees go around and inquire of each other whether they were associated with or had used one of the action items (i.e. been a vocal advocate for an issue or has donated time to a campaign or made a bequest to an organization and told someone about this).  After this exercise, attendees were directed to find and listen to one other person talk about their proudest successful activism activity.  Finally, attendees were asked to move to another person in the room and imagine that she/he was a mentor in their life, describe what the mentor represented for them in their activist life, and then tell their success story again to their ‘mentor’. This is a good ‘get to know the people in the group’ exercise.  

I hope you found this helpful and feel free to let me know how it went!

When we think of human rights activists, we are often challenged to name five women across the globe who have fought for those in their community, state, or nation.   Roots to Resistance is bringing forth the images and stories of 12 remarkable women activists, bringing their stories to life via a web based platform, postcard distribution to schools and organizations, and a four city touring exhibit with Denise Beaudet, the award winning visual artist and creative activist. An art and activism project featuring the portraits of 12 women doing activist work in the world, the project is a political postcard campaign that will link people around the globe.

These incredible 4x9 foot portraits are done on recycled wood, wrapped in and connected to plants and nature. Denise portrays these women in their true activist flame and spirit; sharing the stories of their communities, their hearts and the extraordinary effect that their powerful life forces have had on the planet.

 Featured Activists include:

Natalia Estemirova-Chechnya-Murdered Human Rights Journalist
Malalai Joya-Afghanistan-Woman's Rights Activist
Chouchou Namegabe – Congo – Journalist/Women’s Rights Activist
Zapatista Woman-Mexico Environmentalist/Indigenous Rights Activist
Vandana Shiva-India-Eco Feminist/Environmental Activist
Rebecca Gomperts-Netherlands-Environmentalist/Reproductive Rights Activist
Dita Indah Sari-Indonesia-Labor Activist
Aung San Suu Kyi-Burma-Human Rights Activist
Wangari Maathai-Kenya-Environmentalist
Marina Silva-Brazil-Environmentalist
Yvonne Margarula-Australia-Civil Rights Activist
Maria Gunnoe - U.S. -Native American Human Rights Activist

Denise and selected installations were presented at this year’s Women’s Funding Network Conference in Brooklyn. To learn more about the Roots To Resistance project and the global political postcard exchange visit: http://www.facebook.com/rootstoresistance.

Amidst the political banter, I would imagine that there is consensus on one thing;  there are far too many great organizations going unnoticed.  I call them diamonds in the rough.  Meanwhile there are thousands of folks who need their services and funders who would appreciate their smart work.  How do we resolve this issue in the philanthropic community and inspire donors to invest in marketing and technology?  

Everyone knows that a business spends a tremendous amount of money bringing their product to market.  They do focus groups, create brand profiles, build marketing plans for several audiences, and use a myriad of avenues to promote their product.  For a nonprofit, it is challenging to get a funder who understands that 1.  Spending money on marketing will make money, 2. Doing marketing is imperative for success, 3. Nonprofits are a business with customers, and 4.  Smart branding, media relations, and marketing is not cheap.  

Time and again at the Women’s Sports Foundation we struggled to fundraise for dollars that would pay for consulting help for a marketing plan or to underwrite promotional pieces about the programs.  We would build the costs into the annual budget to do marketing events, hire public relations firms, pay for print materials, etc. and always, when budget challenges arose, this was the place that was cut first.

Thankfully, the work we did was not so edgy or radical that corporations were willing to step up and carry the logo or message on their packaging.  This helped build the visibility of the organization for sure.  But it took a sophisticated donor who agreed to release some of her endowed gift to help update the organization’s brand, messaging, and website; an organization’s most important marketing platform.  I promised her we would return the funds to the endowment within a year because the new look and website would build shareholder confidence.   Donors had made it clear the image did not match the level of excellence of the organization.  As a former corporate marketing executive, she got it.  And yes, within a year we did repay the $300,000 to the endowment.

I know that some of you are thinking – wow, $300,000 seems like a huge sum of money!   But guess what, that is what it costs to do it right!  Recently I had lunch with Jason Franklin, the Executive Director of Bolder Giving, a great next generation mind and spokesperson for what I am calling the “generosity movement”.  He and his organization have a three year history of providing quality resources for giving and, with a recent matching gift from Gates Foundation, they are investing wisely in marketing. 

The investment Bolder Giving is making in a branding consultant, social media coach, and web development and media relations teams has paid off.  The organization was named or referred to every other week in the Chronicle of Philanthropy for three consecutive months and they are well on their way to meeting their fundraising goal with a dollar-for-dollar match by the Gates Foundation. 

Jason is engaging regularly with writers from more than 50 philanthropic outlets and, in so doing, is building public engagement on ‘what is enough?’ and making bolder gifts.  “We have made an investment of more than 25% of our budget on media, web, and communications and we know this is already paying off with increased interest and investment in the work,” says Jason.  

Suffice it to say, the next generation gets it.  The challenge is convincing some of the longer standing or smaller organizations Boards and funders that this is important.  

For additional resources on branding and use of social media check out Beth's Kanter's Blog, Big Duck, Non-Profit Marketing Guide and  Non-Profit Marketing and Fundraising Zone. 

While talking recently with a philanthropist about her giving focus, I asked ‘What would commitment to that issue look like, feel like?’  We then ventured onto a deeper conversation about what qualities come up around commitment.    Trust, communication, flexibility, and respect were themes we both agreed were part of commitment.

With the work I do with leaders, we often co-create affirmations or sayings that provide a reminder or grounding place on a topic.  For this conversation, we developed ‘I am committed to philanthropy that fully engages my mind and heart while demonstrating impact’.   From here, we reviewed what this would look like with some of the groups and projects she was evaluating for her giving.

I love these conversations as they are the fabric of true social change and movement building - committed funders, staff, and activists.

I found this great poem in The Scottish Himalayan Expedition that I often referred to at the Women’s Sports Foundation when I was working with some of the volunteers around fundraising.  For those who had played sports, they got it right away.  For others, it was a start for understanding the powerful and magical principle of fundraising success using visualization, stories, and goal setting.  Enjoy!

Until one is committed
there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,
always ineffectiveness.
Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation),
there is one elementary truth,
the ignorance of which kills countless ideas
and splendid plans:
that the moment one definitely commits oneself,
then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one
that would never otherwise have occurred.
A whole stream of events issues from the decision,
raising in one’s favour all manner
of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance,
which no man could have dreamt
would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect
for one of Goethe’s couplets:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.”

W.H. Murray 1951

Two smart philanthropists have begun to map various causes related to women, the organizations working on these causes and the high priority resources and funding required by these organizations.  Their team has created a map of funding for domestic women’s causes by examining the 2007 and 2008 990’s (tax forms presented by non-profits to the IRS) of hundreds of women’s organizations and uncovered some interesting initial findings:

1.  Total philanthropic dollars to women and girls are less than 10% of all dollars.   The following organizations and movements have assets of greater than $3 billion; the America Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and the Environmental Movement – all of which demonstrates the potential impact of their work.

2.  The ranking of where philanthropic dollars are going in the ‘six buckets’* of women’s issues showed that health and women’s bodies (i.e. reproductive rights, breast cancer, maternal health, etc.) and safety (i.e. domestic violence, rape, etc) combined were more than all dollars focused on education, civic and legal rights, and economic justice.

So where do we stand and what can we do?  Here are some simple and bold suggestions for donor leaders in social change.  Some simple steps;

1. Be aware of the big picture as we allocate our dollars.
2. Work through women’s funds.
3. Urge awareness and collaboration amongst our grantees.

Some bold approaches:
1.  Fund marketing and technology as a key function of the mission.
2.  Fund finance systems and strategic planning efforts.
3.  Fund talent development.
4.  Fund areas of economic security, rights, and education at a higher level.

Stay tuned for Phase II of this enlightening research around mapping funding for women’s causes as new data and findings should be available soon!

*Six buckets are defined in this study as civic and legal rights, education, economic security, family and work issues, health and women’s bodies, and safety.  

What is at the core of your giving?  What factors motivate your decision making?  What is it that you would need to be more strategic in your philanthropy?  These are questions that help build a foundation for conversations around personal giving.  Before one can truly understand the impact or focus of any gift, it is helpful to distinguish between the types of organizations the gift supports.  There is a significant difference in the characteristics of “Charity” versus “Social Change” Philanthropy and understanding these differences may make a difference in deciding the type of organization your gift supports:   

Charity Philanthropy                                               Social Change Philanthropy
Short-term fixes                                                          Long-term solutions
Social services                                                             Social change
Reactive                                                                      Proactive
Individual responses                                                    Collective, organized responses
Dependent communities                                             Empowered, independent communities

This distinction is important as it helps people understand and ‘name’ the focus of their giving and whether they wish to address systemic or structural issues of discrimination, access, or equity through changing society or more immediately help those that are the victims of such issues.   No matter what type of work a donor chooses to support, there should be an assessment of the effectiveness of the organization, always seeking to support the human talent and capacity of organizations that make the bold changes happen.

Women’s funds have been at the forefront of social change philanthropy for decades.  The Women’s Funding Network (WFN) is the largest women’s philanthropic collaborative network in the world and lifts up the work of more than 150 women’s funds.   WFN has been a global champion for the investment in women led solutions to the most critical issues; economic security, access to education and health care, and freedom from violence.   Successful programs of WFN focus on leadership capacity, outcome measurement, and philanthropic engagement with the most public of these efforts being the recent Women Moving Millions campaign.  A recent study by the Foundation Center demonstrated that women’s funds have been delivering impact through effective coalition building and a bottom up / top down strategy.  The report also shared the work of women’s funds as leaders in the democratization of philanthropy and as social innovators working across sectors..

Now we are on the brink of a sea change as philanthropists begin to focus on investing in women as a solution to resolving or healing key issues in communities and society. Innovative and determined women’s funds  have led such smart investing for the past 30 years and are thrilled to have more folks joining the movement.  We welcome the social change investment to be directed towards women’s funds – a proven model that works.  To learn more about where a women’s fund may be near to your philanthropic focus, please visit the Women's Funding Network.