If you haven’t read this one….take two minutes now by clicking here.

Enjoy!

–RSC

In the previous article we looked at why good fundraisers are sometimes hard to find.  This article will focus on what you can do to both find and keep a good chief development officer.

Now that we’ve touched on some of the themes of why hiring and retaining is often difficult, let’s discover what your organization can do to attract and retain a great CDO with staying power.  Below are a few ideas:

• -Know what you want and what you need in a CDO before you launch a search.  Do you want someone who raises the money?  Leads a program?  Writes grants?  Grows a volunteer base of fundraisers?  If you don’t know what you want then you’ll take anything you can get.  Clearly define what skills you need and what “fit” you want.  Don’t start with the faults of the past CDO either — it’ll focus you in exactly the wrong area.
• -Make setting and reaching goals “winnable”.    Remember, your top fundraising staff is the “CDO” not the “ATM”.  They can’t produce cash out of thin air simply because the organization needs it.    Backing into an unattainable goal is among the biggest disappointments of any fundraising program and its leadership.  Challenge your CDO but don’t make it impossible to win.  Setting goals has to be as methodical as producing good art – you’d never ask your opera to “improvise” the last 20 minutes of a production, would you?  Good fundraising includes just as much orchestration, so treat it with the same care and respect.
• -Establish, implement and communicate a clear and relevant mission for the organization and then make sure that the fundraising objectives are properly aligned.  It’s difficult to have a strong fund development program if the organization is weak or isn’t living up to its mission potential  As my long-time friend and colleague Paul Hogle (Atlanta Symphony Development “Czar”) often says, “An Annual Campaign doesn’t create an institution’s mission, values, and vision; it reveals them.”  His observation is insightfully correct and development leaders of merit understand that a healthy, visionary and focused organization is critical to successful fundraising.
• -Don’t cheap out.  No, it’s not all about compensation, but if you expect to attract and retain high-quality leadership, then you will have to pay for it.  Take care not to measure “fair” pay using what others within your organization are paid because it’s somewhat irrelevant.  Your measuring stick is your “outside competition”, not your internal organizational payment structure.  But remember, the pay might attract them, but it won’t keep them – compensation is therefore only one small piece to the overall retention game plan.
• -Be personally involved in the fundraising.  Good CDOs need good leadership partners.  Whatever your role – CEO, board chair, development chair, etc. – your best demonstration of leadership is to be engaged in the fundraising process.  Participate.  Help develop volunteer leadership.  Let the CDO develop the structure, plans and tools, but ready yourself to be continually active.  The CDO wants to lead but needs your commitment to be successful.

Finding and keeping quality development leadership isn’t easy, but it is possible.  Your job is to change the “possible” into the “probable” so that you have consistent staff, consistent leadership and consistent fund development growth for many years. 

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net You can also become a Facebook fan by searching under “Robert Swaney Consulting”.

I have recently noticed that arts organizations are struggling to find smart, competent leadership for their fundraising programs.  Hiring a chief development officer (CDO) is becoming more difficult than ever and the recent trend seems to be well beyond anything that we’ve seen as “traditional”.  It’s a serious problem that has a tremendous negative effect on our nation’s arts organizations –and perhaps you have experienced this pain firsthand.

If you are a CEO, board chair or development volunteer, then you know that — at all levels of your organization — finding good people is tough and keeping them is even tougher.  But when the position is tied to generating revenue, then the effects can become more pronounced and transparent.  Some statistics cite that the average tenure of an arts / cultural CDO in the arts is now two years.  So, there’s a good chance that if you organization isn’t experiencing a development leadership “drought”, you won’t have to wait too long before it happens. 

Let’s take a moment to unpack the problem.  There are different answers for different organizations, but below are some of the common themes:

• -Fundraising expectations are too high, not clearly defined or ever-changing.  In other words, your CDO can’t win, so instead becomes burned out and moves on.  Then as you try and fill the position, good candidates (who ask the right questions) will realize this weakness and shy away from the position.  This leaves you with the candidates who either “need a job” and / or are naïve about the expectations – often resulting in the quick and frequent turnover of CDO leadership.
• -The organization does not encourage productive fund development work.  Although a primary organizational concern, “need” alone no longer works for effective fundraising (perhaps it never did, but that debate is for a future article).  Impact, vision and relevance are the keys.  If your organization is weak in mission, execution or impact, don’t expect the fundraising effort to be successful.  Simply put, fundraising can’t “fix” all of the company’s ills — in other words, you can’t go north on a southbound train.  A good CDO candidate will also identify this weakness immediately – and will stay away.
• -Times they are a’changing and some development officers just aren’t up to the challenge.  It’s never been easy to raise money, but let’s face it that we’ve likely never had to work harder and smarter than we do right now to raise contributed revenue support.  Development professionals need to sharpen their skills and they need to provide more strategy, more urgency, more leadership and more commitment to their organizations than ever before.  Some development officers can meet this new challenge, but others can’t.
• -The competition is fierce and high-quality people can be choosy.  Arts and cultural organizations are competing with universities, national-impact organizations and a host of other institutions.  Candidates make hundreds of comparisons (beyond financial compensation) that ultimately lead them either closer to or further away from your organization.
• -There is a “fear” about moving to a new organization.  Even if present job conditions are not ideal for someone of high-quality, the thought of moving to a different organization and “starting all over” can be a scary one, particularly in the current economic environment.  There are sometimes many spoken or unspoken concerns regarding the ability to be successful, the stress associated with a new place and new goals, and other uncertainties.

Now that we’ve touched on some of the themes of why hiring and retaining is often difficult, the next article will focus on what you can do to find and keep a good chief development officer.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net You can also become a Facebook fan by searching under “Robert Swaney Consulting”.

In the previous article we looked at why leadership sometimes “stinks at the head”, missing their important and critical role in the fundraising process.  But now, let’s test how your organization rates.

You may think that your leadership is successfully engaged in the process because there is a development committee that reviews lists and talks about how much money is “out there”.  But if you can’t answer “yes” to these questions then don’t be so sure:

• -Does the board have a development committee that is actively engaged in the fundraising process? (meaning, do they regularly get positive results?)
• -Do the organization’s executive and artistic leadership regularly participate in the process of identifying, cultivating, soliciting and appreciating donors?
• -Does leadership have quantifiable goals related to the overall contributed revenue target?  Do they measure them?  Do they report them to the rest of the board?
• -Does your leadership (and do you) know every single donor / donor representative who makes up the top 20 percent of your organization’s base of givers?
• -Does your leadership continue to bring new prospective names to the table to be vetted for possible cultivation?

If you can answer “yes” to these questions, then keep moving forward – you’re doing terrific!  If you find yourself answering “no” to many of the questions, then it’s time to start taking steps to actively engage the leadership so that they share the ownership of the fund development program.

There is a related issue when defining “leadership in fundraising” – who should you involve?  Some organizations define it as “all board, all artistic and all executive leadership” – often called the “cookie cutter approach” because everyone is expected to do the same work.  Other organizations define their fundraising leadership as, “our development committee only, plus selected leadership”.  Then there are multiple scenario variations which can include an assortment of leadership involvement.  I’ll leave the discussion of those definitions for another time because it does (and should) vary from organization to organization.

For now just do a “gut check” and make sure that the CDO and his / her supporting staff are active in meeting our contributed revenue goals – but that they are not alone.  The first order of business is to be an engaged leadership unit so that you can indeed answer “yes” to all of the questions above and keep the “leadership head” from stinking.

A sometimes tongue-in-cheek blogger, Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

I’ve read that the freshness of a dead fish can be judged from the condition of its head. When a fish begins to rot, it first begins to “stink from the head”.  The same can sometimes be said regarding organizational leadership in fundraising.

Once an organization hires a Chief Development Officer (CDO), the board and executive leadership often begin to rest easy.  After all, now that there is someone in place to handle fundraising, everyone else can move on to other organizational priorities, right?  “If the new CDO needs us, s/he will let us know”, right?  In reality, I am of course being a little tough on the leadership, but please read on…

We know that most organizations don’t truly abandon their staff, but I would submit that at some sub-conscious level the CDO’s hiring is often followed with a little mental “check” in a box to signify that all things fundraising will now be taken care of by someone who is specifically put on the payroll for that very reason.  It’s almost irresistible not to check off that little box!

Reality is exactly the opposite.  A development director is hired to engage the board and other leadership in the fundraising program, not to replace them.  A good chief development officer will see the board, the executive leadership and the artistic leadership (among others) as essential tools for creating leverage that makes the fundraising program ultimately productive. But until the leadership sees itself in that same way, the CDO has a nearly impossible task ahead.

Why is it important to engage leadership?  Simply put, because leadership leads.  If they actively “give and get”, if they set a vision and inspire others to literally “buy in” to that vision and if they focus on making philanthropic support a key priority to the organization, others will follow.  Leadership’s active participation in – and focus on – fund development sends a positive message to the community that only leadership can send.  Leadership’s lack of interest and participation unfortunately does the same…and that is when the head starts to stink!

In the next article I’ll provide some key questions to help you know whether or not your leadership is as engaged as they should be.

A sometimes tongue-in-cheek blogger, Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

In the previous article we looked at the initial steps to analyzing how your annual campaign is “weighted” in terms of activity and revenue.  Today’s article will wrap-up the “next steps” and give you some food for thought as you go jump the shark for good!

Because time isn’t properly leveraged, many AF programs raise in excess of (a startling) 70+% of the goal in Q3-4 of the fiscal year.  That means that it took six months to get the first 30% and (hopefully) momentum will spike in the following six months to secure the second half (can anyone yell, “SHARK”!?!).  The loading of activities is all wrong for a safe, predictable campaign.

After you know the history of how your campaign is loaded, then start with your plan.  What if you could achieve 75% of your goals by the end of the second fiscal quarter?  How would you get all of the renewals, lapsed calls completed?  How could you close most of the sponsorships?  How about the “family” campaign (board, staff, musicians / artists / etc.)? What else can be ‘moved up’ in the frontloading process?

The beauty of frontloading is that it’s only painful one time, as you move to this new cycle (as opposed to backloading, which hurts all the time).  Therefore, it’s worth figuring out and getting over the hurdles that have prevented your campaign from getting this edge.

Here are just a few of the benefits associated with frontloading your annual fund activities:

* It minimizes the financial risk

*It provides time to react for any unexpected “hits” from last year’s renewing base

*It allows for proper identification, cultivation and solicitation of new prospective donors

Frontloading takes significant planning to implement properly.  My challenge to you is begin now to design a plan that frontloads your annual fund goals, activities, timeline and results, even if you can’t launch it until next year.  Once you work through the planning, you’ll see how “doable” the process is.  You won’t have to swim the shark; you’ll jump over him altogether.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

In the previous article we looked at why annual funds sometimes fail and how the final weeks of a campaign feel like trying to out-swim a shark when the distance to the shore is much longer than the distance to the shark.  Today’s article will look at the main reasons why we don’t get started sooner and what you can do about it.

Do you start fundraising on Day One?  Most don’t.  Instead, we (thankfully) crawl out of the water, exhausted from the previous campaign.  We towel off, taking a well-deserved breather after the close of the fiscal year and then stay on dry land to begin planning for the new year’s activities (30 days are gone – poof!).  After planning we begin preparing. (another 30 days – poof!).  Then we begin putting our volunteer teams together, writing letters, making sure all of our I’s are dotted and T’s are crossed so that we can get to the “real business” of launching our campaign (a final 30 days – poof!)  The first quarter of the new fiscal year is gone and we haven’t done much to add to the bank account.  The clock is still ticking and we’re just now beginning to get back into the water (because hey, there’s a shark). If this describes how your organization operates its annual fund, rest assured that it doesn’t have to be this way!

Frontloading your annual fund activity is the key to success.  Launch on or around Day One of the New Fiscal Year with the actual business of cultivating donors and asking for gifts.  So, how is it done?

First, you’ll need to review your AF programs from the past three years.  Compare each fiscal quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 ) to the fiscal year-end gross revenue, to examine how much of the overall total was achieved per quarter.  Pay particular attention to how much was raised in the first two quarters combined versus the second two quarters combined.  What’s your Q1-2 versus Q3-4 comparison?  How much of the overall total does your program secure by the end of Q2?  20%?  50%?  You get the idea…

In the next article we’ll complete this outline and give you the strongest arguments for frontloading your campaign.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

The first day of every new fiscal year should begin with the blast from a starting pistol.  Why?  Because every moment in an annual fund feels like a race.  After all it’s an annual fund.  We get 365 days to raise the money – and not a second more.  And BANG! the moment one year ends another begins.

We all understand that every year has to end in outstanding fashion to help the organization’s bottom line, and we are therefore working at top speed to make it happen, right?  In fact, the last few weeks of every annual campaign feels less like running a race and more like trying to out-swim a shark when you’re thirty yards out (If I can just make it to the beach before….chomp).

Trouble is you can rarely out-swim the shark — particularly if you don’t give yourself as much time as possible.  Translated into fundraising-speak, it means that you will likely miss the fiscal year-end contributed revenue goal if you don’t use all the time you have – the aforementioned 365 days.  Why? Simple….you ran out of time!  As you may well know there are many reasons why we run out of time before the goal is met, but there is one that we have direct control over – when we get started.

In the next article I will outline thoughts about how you can jump the shark and get started earlier on the business of fundraising.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

In the previous article I provide warning against jumping too quickly onto the innovation bandwagon.  As I mentioned then, I am for innovation in arts fundraising, but only when it is carefully combined with a program that has mastered the basics.  Below are some thoughts about how to move forward with innovative thinking and new ideas.

How do you know when it’s time for innovation?  Ask and answer these questions –

*Why are you thinking about a new way of doing things?  Be specific.

*Are you successfully implementing the ‘basics’ of fundraising now?  Goals, tactics, timing and resources?

*Are you at peak efficiency but approaching a plateau in results? 

*Are Marketing and Fundraising growth in alignment?

*Is your organization outpacing the fundraising performance of its local peer organizations?  In dollars?  In donors?  In market penetration?

*Do you have available resources to implement new ideas brought about by a new idea?

*Have you thoroughly thought through the innovative idea?  What are the expected results?  How much time will it take?  What will it cost?  What resources will you need?  How do you know?

*What are you enhancing or replacing?  Is the projected net gain worth it?

If you had detailed and positive answers to those questions, then yes, you are likely ready to take action.  Those steps can include the following –

*What may be innovative to your organization / program may be “old hat” for one of your peer groups.  Always ask around, check industry-blogs and post questions on industry-related sites to see if others already have a track record with the idea.

*Develop a pro forma just like you would do with any new product or line of business. 

*Write a step-by-step plan and timeline to accompany the pro forma.  Is the idea worth the effort?

 *Set up benchmarks and then test your idea prior to full implementation, gauging the results and then making your final decision.

Generating innovative ideas is terrific and can be a wonderful way to enhance results.   But always pursue it for the right reasons and keep it real in regards to revenue expectations and the implementation.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .

Innovation is the American Way.  It’s what got us ahead and what will (hopefully) keep us ahead, right?  This thinking certainly applies to fundraising in the arts, too, right?  Then why don’t I like innovation in arts fundraising?

Here’s why…

*Those who embrace innovation sometimes do so while leaving behind the basic tried and true methods of fundraising that should never be ignored

*Innovation always looks great on paper but much more difficult to implement in “real life”

*Innovation often brings the promise of doing / getting more with less —  but in fact its implementation nearly always ends up being very, very hard work

*Innovation gives us hope – sometimes ‘false hope’ and we don’t realize it until too late

So am I really against innovation?  Certainly not – but I am cautious.  Innovation as the sole life buoy in our current challenging financial storm is dangerous.  Use innovation wisely, combine it with what you know works, perfect the basics and always strive to find the balance.

In the next article I will outline thoughts about knowing when it’s time for some innovative thinking and what your “next steps” can be once you are ready.

Bob Swaney is a successful 20+ year veteran of fundraising for the arts and is the founder of Robert Swaney Consulting, Inc.  For more information, you can email Bob at rsc@rrsconsult.net or visit www.rrsconsult.net .