What are some of the essential elements of fundraising that EDs should be familiar with to find success? Let’s shed light on the division of responsibilities within nonprofit organizations when it comes to development efforts:
This organization closed six months later.
In our sector, we are not rewarded for admitting our struggles. We are not rewarded for rapid cycle learning, failing forward, or innovation. We aren’t even rewarded for partnering. Instead, the sector is fueled by what I might call the 99% success rate fallacy that goes something like this – “Dear Funder, We have a unique approach compared to every other organization you might consider funding. What we are doing is nearly always working for nearly everyone we serve. Please give more.” In short, we are rewarded for presenting solid proposals that project that we are unique, have it all under control, and we are excelling on all fronts. We simply need more money. After 30 years of leading and working in nonprofit organizations, I finally have the courage to say this: We are not all that unique, everything isn’t always under control, and we are rarely excelling on all fronts. Adequate funding is one essential piece, but that is not enough. We need to explore different strategies if we want to thrive organizationally, and more importantly, have greater impact collectively.
The article below from Liz Swanson expands on that topic, drawing from a workshop she recently led to help provide a framework on how to leave your leadership role. Get ready to enjoy her insights! A question for you: Imagine tomorrow you go into the office and announce you are retiring in 4 weeks. What is the biggest issue your board must consider?
This month we decided that getting down to business could wait. Instead of jumping right in, we decided to give everyone a turn to share their wins – uplifting stories about positive transformations we’ve seen, well-handled leadership transitions we’ve been a part of, and successful fundraising campaigns we’ve supported. As everyone shared their success stories, we realized that a clear thread was emerging. There was one thing these stories all had in common – great leadership.
While all executives across for-profit and nonprofit entities are susceptible to burnout due to the importance of their role, nonprofit leadership has the added risk factor of the personal toll that nonprofit work can take in the form of compassion fatigue to consider as well. (Additionally, nonprofit leaders in interim roles or on consulting engagements often work more than they bill, which only adds to their vulnerability to burnout.) These factors add up to a perfect storm of physical and mental health challenges for nonprofit Executive Directors.
And while nonprofit staff and leadership greatly appreciated the advice on how to avoid mission creep, board members asked a key question that we did not get to cover in that initial article: “What if we’re already dealing with mission creep – how do we respond?”
So, in this article we are going to address mission creep from that perspective. What do you do when mission creep is already happening? How can you recognize it? And what do you do to stop it? In the past it tended to be an informal position held by another leadership executive that was the Executive Director’s go-to person for help, but because more is being asked of Executive Directors these days there is a greater need for a more formal nonprofit COO role now to help handle these added expectations.
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