Free workshop will help faith-based organizations manage change

The popular Compassion Kansas workshop series returns this month with a new session designed specifically for faith-based organizations.

“The Missional Faith-Based Organization” will be presented from 1 to 5 p.m. Sept. 20 by the Wichita State University Center for Community Support & Research (CCSR). There is no charge for the workshop, but reservations are required and space is limited.

This workshop applies lessons from The Missional Leader, a widely used book about the missional movement in American churches, to faith-based community work and outreach. It is intended to help people who are serving their communities better understand and respond to the changes in those communities – not to mention the changes that may be underway in their own organizations.

CCSR staff members Teresa Strausz and Seth Bate will be the workshop presenters. Both speakers have worked with a variety of community and nonprofit organizations around the state. Strausz is a licensed master social worker and the facilitator of CCSR’s trauma-informed care team. Bate has recently been working with congregations as part of the Leadership and Faith: Transforming Communities project, and this summer he was on a guest faculty team at St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City.

According to Strausz, part of the session will examine the relationship among faith-based service organizations, congregations and denominations. The workshop will also challenge attendees to consider the impact of spiritual practices that support the work of their organizations.

Bate said that CCSR has a long history of assisting faith-based organizations, but the focus of this workshop still makes it distinct.

“We’re excited to offer something specifically targeted to the situations of people engaged in community ministry through nonprofit and grassroots organizations,” Bate said. “We have some ideas we want to share, and we think we have a lot to learn from the people out there who are committed to this work.”

Call  316.978.3843 or (in Kansas) 800.445.0116 with questions or to make reservations.

Future free Compassion Kansas workshops are set for Oct. 8 and Nov. 9 (PDF flier).

Social Media for Nonprofits and Coalitions | By Amy Delamaide

CCSR presented a Compassion Kansas workshop yesterday for nonprofits and coalitions interested in learning more about optimizing their organizations' use of social media.

We had one handout detailing our assumptions going into the workshop:

Our Assumptions

1. We like social media and think it is useful.
2. We believe that it is no longer on the cutting edge, but that it is mainstream.
3. We believe that social media is most useful for nonprofits when it is used with targeted purpose, rather than as a diffuse, shotgun approach. Nonprofits rarely have the time or resources for anything other than acting with purpose.
4. We believe that when it comes to social media, participating and consuming information is just as important as broadcasting information.
5. We are users of social media, not experts.
6. We can’t teach you everything about every social media website.
7. For a nonprofit organization, your online presence must be consistent with your stated charitable purpose. We assume you will use social media as one method for carrying out your mission and strategies.

We had three presenters from local nonprofits using social media well. They described their roles and responsibilities for social media in their organizations, what they do well in social media, and some of the decisions their organizations have made about why and how to use social media.

• Thomas Stanley, Kansas Leadership Center
• Chandra Stauffer, KMUW 89.1
• Olivia Fletcher, Numana, Inc.

Then we presented a case study from a national nonprofit: "The Case of the Rogue Tweet." Sources for that case study included:

• American Red Cross
• CNN Money
• Tactical Philanthropy
• The Chronicle of Philanthropy
• Dogfish Head Brewery

It was great to have about 30 people thinking about social media and how to use it as one method for carrying an organization's mission and strategies.

Social Media for Nonprofits and Coalitions | By Amy Delamaide

Coming up in about three and a half weeks is our next Compassion Kansas workshop--Social Media for Nonprofits and Coalitions. Seth Bate and Amy Delamaide will moderate a panel of three people using social media effectively in their organizations. Each panelist will share a little bit about what works well for them and how they integrate social media into their existing strategies. Participants will have opportunities to ask them questions. We'll also consider a national case study of a "tweet gone wrong" and what the organization did in response.

The workshop is on June 28, 2011, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. in Wichita, Kansas.

If you're interested in attending this workshop, call CCSR at 316-978-3843 or email angela.gaughan@wichita.edu to register.

See and Be Seen | By Seth Bate

Where does your non-profit organization or coalition go to be noticed?

I attended the February meeting of the Kansas Human Relations Association and ran into a familiar face. Gordon Criswell, human relations director for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., was there. He said the Human Relations Commission he facilitates was meeting soon to choose what community activities it would participate in this year.

Gordon’s timing seems right on to me. With spring fast approaching, this is the time to grab a community calendar and look for some opportunities to see and be seen.

These three questions may help guide your plans:

• At what community activities should we have an on-ground presence? Think about the audience size, the tone of the event and the opportunity for visibility. Are red-carpet and society page events where you should focus, perhaps because of the opportunity to interact with key decision-makers? Where is the best photo op? In your community, do people show up for the afternoon parade or the nighttime ball game?

• Who should be there? Is it the kind of event for which you want two dozen volunteers? Would it be more effective to identify a small cadre of staff, board members and donors? Is an unattended booth or a page in the program enough?

• How does the plan further your mission? Promotional activities are too costly in time and dollars to engage in lightly. What part of your strategic or marketing plan does this activity address? Are there ways that your participation can also reinforce your mission? For example, if your organization promotes early childhood learning, could you sponsor an activity for families with young children at your community picnic?

Please comment below to share your experiences with representing your organization at community events. Or catch me at the fair – I’ll be the one in line at the roasted corn stand.

Photo courtesy of ms.margie

National expert on transition planning consulting with CCSR

 Does the executive director (ED) of your favorite nonprofit organization remember The Beatles on Ed Sullivan?

Tom Adams visiting with Scott Wituk

That’s a wonderful memory, but it also might be a sign that he or she is considering retirement.

“A lot of people have a lot of investment in the work of a particular nonprofit organization. They’ve co-created something that’s very meaningful to them and the community,” says Tom Adams, president of TransitionGuides™.  “Unless attended to … there is the risk of it not going forward or not going forward successfully.”

For several years, the Wichita State University Center for Community Support & Research (CCSR) has helped nonprofits plan for and manage transitions of their executive staff. These transitions sometimes happen in unplanned scenarios – deaths or dismissals. Other transitions are planned, as the ED moves on to something else. Increasingly, these departure-defined transitions happen as EDs retire.

Thanks to a partnership with the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund, Adams has visited CCSR three times in the last few months to share his expertise in executive transition planning. This is helping CCSR expand and refine its abilities to respond to this key issue for nonprofits.

Adams says, in light of the beginning retirement of the Baby Boomers who remember growing up in front of the Ed Sullivan show, this is a particularly important time for non-profit executives and board members to be aware of this issue. It will not be a one-size-fits-all solution, especially because economic conditions are an incentive for some EDs to keep working longer than they planned.

“[The economy] is leading to more creativity about more gradual transitions and phased retirement and in some cases creative continuation of a role that’s clearly defined and not a threat to the incoming executive,” Adams says. “I think we’ll see more and more creativity as the economy continues to improve.”

Intentional planning by the board and staff members of organizations allows these creative ideas to take shape intentionally, before the pressure of an announced (or unexpected) transition.

“There are a lot of long-term executives and founders,” Adams says. “I find that succession planning is getting deeper and deeper roots each year … and that smart organizations are planning ahead for transitions.”

In addition to planning for the transition of the executive role, Adams feels strongly that to remain successful, organizations must increasingly fill key professional and volunteer positions with younger, more diverse talent. It might help to remember that Ed Sullivan populated his show with all kinds of performers, including the brash young working-class moptops.

“There is a wonderful opportunity over the next 5 years to make some significant change if people come together around that,” Adams says.

To learn more about executive transition planning, look for Tom’s new book, The Nonprofit Leadership Transition and Development Guide. To begin a sustainability review and examine your own organization’s need for transition planning, contact Amy Delamaide at CCSR, 316.978.6773. We want to hold your hand!

Managing Volunteers by Amy Delamaide: Part One

A Tale of Two Volunteer Opportunities…

In October, I volunteered for two different community events. The people running these events had several things in common: both organizations depended on a few staff people and hundreds of volunteers to make a large, annual event possible. They had a few differences: one had seven years’ experience gathering and organizing the volunteers they relied on; the other was running its inaugural event and learning for the first time how to manage volunteers.

Nonprofits thinking about how to manage volunteers can learn from what both organizations did well.

The two organizations both did several things well:

• They held a pre-event informational meeting for volunteers.
• They assigned volunteers to particular staff person for supervision of the volunteers’ activities during the event.
• They held “thank you” parties for the volunteers, with food, drinks, and celebration of the volunteers’ contributions to the event.

The organization with years of experience in managing volunteers did a few more things well:

• They respected my time – The informational meeting in advance of the event wasn’t too long, there was food available, I met and got to know other volunteers, and I met the volunteer coordinator and the staff person to whom I was assigned.
• They had several points of contact - They built “supervisory redundancy” into their system of volunteer oversight. There was one primary volunteer coordinator. Then each different type of volunteer reported to the staff person who oversaw that function. If I had a question, there were at least two people I could call for help.
• They had a central Volunteer Spot – During the event, the volunteer coordinator was available at a central location. I could access information about the event, instructions on how to help, and food or drink at that location.
• They had info available - Printed information about the event was available to all volunteers at several locations. This helped me feel equipped to answer the questions of event-goers.
• They gave me meaningful work - The activities I volunteered to do were clearly vital to making sure the event went well. I felt that my service was necessary—if I hadn’t been there, the event would not have gone as well.

What does your organization do well in its management of volunteers? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Picture courtesy of Mike Baird

Spotlight on an Initiative: Compassion Kansas

What is Compassion Kansas?

CCSR is in the last year of its Compassion Kansas initiative, a 3-year, federally funded project designed to enhance Faith-based and Community-based Organizations through grants, workshops and one-on-one capacity building assistance.

Capaci-what now?

Community nonprofits, groups, and coalitions can typically be very effective in targeting the specific needs of their local communities. But these smaller organizations frequently lack the organization needed to thrive.

These organizations are far more successful when they operate with adequate funds, thoughtful planning, a well-trained staff, effective boards, and the ability to respond to challenges.

That’s essentially what capacity-building is – giving organizations the tools to do what they do, better.

Okay, so what capacity-building services does Compassion Kansas offer?

In addition to the financial awards, Compassion Kansas provides:
•    Assistance in developing stronger grant applications
•    Strategic Planning
•    Plans for diversifying funding sources
•    Board development and leadership
•    Staff and volunteer management
•    Networking opportunities
•    Statewide attention to the work of these organizations

These services are provided through workshops, and one-on-one mentoring with a CCSR staff member.

What’s in store for the future of Compassion Kansas?

Compassion is undergoing some changes, but the Center for Community Support & Research is committed to continuing capacity-building efforts across Kansas.

So, dear Kansans in community coalitions, alliances, fledgling nonprofits – what would you like to see in the future as far as capacity building efforts go?

Foundation giving down 8.4% in 2009, Foundation Center reports

 “Challenged by a prolonged economic downturn, the nation's grant-making foundations cut their giving by an estimated 8.4 percent in 2009, a new report from the Foundation Center finds. The decline is the steepest since the center began tracking the data in 1975.”

According to the Foundation Growth and Giving Estimates report released by the Foundation Center on April 16, 2010, foundation giving was down approximately 8.4% in 2009. This represents a record decline since the Center began tracking information in 1975, yet it is a significantly lower decrease than one would expect, given the estimated 17% loss in foundation assets in 2009.

Facilitators at CCSR often hear from people who want to start nonprofits that they will “get grants” to fund their operations. While grants certainly can be a part of an organization’s revenue, CCSR often reminds enthusiastic founders that grants should only make up about 20% of their nonprofit’s revenue. The rest should come from members’ support and donations, corporate giving, events and fundraisers, and revenue generated from activities that support the organization’s charitable purpose.

It is also helpful to understand how grant-making organizations work. So here are two pieces of information that will help you understand a little bit more about foundation giving. Let’s call it “Intro to Foundation Funding.”

1. Foundations follow a formula to figure out how much they have available to give. The formula can vary by foundation and is the responsibility of the organization’s board to determine. The formula is usually a percent of an average of a foundation’s revenue over a three- to five-year span. For example, the funds available for grant-making in 2010 could be [x] percent of the average of a fund’s average market value for 2007, 2008, and 2009, which will vary based on earnings in that time. A foundation might have several funds. The [x] is usually a small enough number to ensure that the fund will endure perpetually, such as 5%.This is called asset-averaging. What does that mean? Gains or losses in the value of a foundation’s funds are mitigated by the averaging process. But the 17% loss in assets from 2009 will lower the amount of money foundations are able to give for two to four more years.

2. Most foundations cannot give grants from a fund if the value of that fund has dropped below its historic gift value. Say Betty the Community Supporter gave $100,000 to her Local Community Foundation in 1997. Over time, through wise investing, the Local Community Foundation was able to grow the amount in that fund. But in 2009, the value of this fund dropped to $90,000. Most foundations have rules in place that prevent them from using that $90,000 to give grants. They must wait till the value of the fund returns to $100,000. This will affect the Local Community Foundation’s ability to make grants in 2010.

The Foundation Center reports that several factors lessened the decrease in giving: many grantmakers cut their operating expenses, a few key big grantmakers committed to giving more, and community supporters like Betty continued giving to foundations. This is good. But nonprofits should be aware that foundations may have fewer dollars available in 2010 and over the next couple of years. Communities should be aware that their arts promotion, social service, and youth-supporting nonprofits—among others—may be struggling to secure grants for even 20% of their budget, which may impact their ability to provide services.

With that in mind, individual donors should think about giving a little more to their favorite charitable organization this year, if they can.


Authors:  Amy Delamaide, Sarah Jolley, and Seth Bate

 Photo courtesy of Chet Thomas

Nonprofit Blogs I Read (and you should too!) | Amy Delamaide

Blogs I read

One of the reasons CCSR started blogging is because several of us on staff are readers of blogs. We thought CCSR could add to online content in our areas of expertise. We also admired the Kansas Leadership Center's efforts to blog and contribute to online content.

In an effort to share with readers of the CCSR blog which blogs we go to for ideas and new thinking, here is the first of posts about blogs we read. Mine are in alphabetical order, because that's how I have them organized in my Google reader.


Blogs on NP things I follow:

Bridgespan (all RSS feeds)
The Bridgespan Group is a nonprofit consulting firm out of Boston, New York, and San Francisco. The most recent article from them that I read was on Growing Global NGOs Effectively.  They have a number of articles and case studies available, some for free and some for purchase.

Center for Nonprofit Management
This Center is based in Bucks County, PA, north of Philadelphia. A recent post from them on the differences between hiring a consultant and hiring a facilitator for your planning work makes an interesting distinction, one we often debate at the CCSR. We tend more towards facilitating processes than providing consultation. From a client's perspective, defining which kind of support the organization needs or wants is crucial in finding the right person to support your planning efforts.

Don Griesmann's Nonprofit Blog
I started following this blog on the recommendation of my co-worker Sarah Jolley. His posts tend to be long and informative, with quite a few links in each posts for further reading.

Linksy on Leadership
Through work with the Kansas Leadership Center, I've had the opportunity to learn from Marty Linksy. He shared with me at a training session that he, as a Harvard man, was very familiar with the route from Cambridge to Wellesley College, where I went as an undergrad. His blog on leadership takes concepts developed in his books and applies them to current events.

The Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly (NVSQ)
The quarterly publication of ARNOVA  (The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action) is a treasure trove of scholarly articles on the NP sector. I subscribe to the RSS feed, but it's possible this is only available to me because of my university access. But go here and see if you can get it too. I usually read the abstracts, then click on the link and download the article to read later.

The Nonprofit QuarterlyNot to be confused with the NVSQ, the Nonprofit Quarterly is a Boston-based publication that actually prints on paper. From what I can tell, most of the articles are available online. It looks like they might have some political biases  I should be aware of. I haven't explored this blog/magazine very much.

Philantopic
I haven't explored this blog too much, because I just started following it. But it looks like it will provide articles and content from the Philanthropy News Digest, which could be useful.

Rosetta Thurman
Written by a young, DC-based African-American woman, this blog presents a perspective of a young professional who benefitted from the work of nonprofits as she was growing up in Cleveland and who now consults with nonprofits seeking social change. This post considers how young professionals in nonprofit jobs can build the brand recognition of both their organization and themselves.

TNT: The Network Thinker
Valdis Krebs does interesting research on and mapping of social networks. This blog doesn't get updated very often, but if you like infographics and find social networks interesting, this is worth a read.

Transformative Concepts
Written by Maaskelah Thomas, a leader in the Wichita community and former CCSR facilitator, this blog has a couple of thoughtful posts on what organizations should look for. This one on whether an organization should hire a grant-writer or a fund development coach makes some good points.

White Courtesy Telephone: News, Opinion and Commentary from Inside the Third Sector I don't have much information about the origins of this blog. I think I started following it on the recommendation of a co-worker. Looks like it has at least 6 contributing writers. This post on "Messing with the Poor" has some good food for thought about nonprofits and poverty prevention or alleviation.

Young Professionals of Wichita
Because I am young, a professional, and from Wichita, I follow the Young Professionals of Wichita. Are you a YP? Does your local YP group blog? Follow it.


Blogs on the arts and NPs:

Nonprofits that support or promote the arts are a particular kind of NP. I have an interest in working with arts organizations, so I follow a few blogs dedicated to these NPs.

The Kansas Arts Commission 
The KAC started blogging pretty recently (their archives go back to September 2009). Their posts are useful to find out about arts-related programming, grants, and capacity-building in Kansas.

Michael Kaiser
On November 19, 2009, I attended a session on the "Arts in Crisis" with Michael Kaiser. He is currently the President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and he has written about his experience turning around major arts organizations. I follow the blog he writes for the Huffington Post: and the one he writes for Artsmanager. There is a bit of overlap between the two, and I could probably cull one of these. But they are written for slightly different audiences and sometimes that difference adds something to one stream or the other.

What blogs do you read to get the latest on the nonprofit sector? Let us know in the comments below.








Photo Courtesy of Moriza

Important Questions to Ask When Marketing Your Nonprofit | Robin Fertner

The word marketing usually conjures up images of over-worked advertising gurus poring over focus group data to create an award-winning campaign that will convince consumers once and for all that Coca-Cola is the superior beverage. Marketing may not seem like something a nonprofit should be worried about, but it is a crucial part of ensuring that your vision and mission are met to the best of your ability.

So, after lots of sweat, tears and IRS forms, you have your nonprofit up and running smoothly. You’ve developed your image, created a logo, and you’ve set up your website. So where do you go from here?  How do you start the daunting task of marketing?

This all may seem obvious, but these three important questions can easily be forgotten in the excitement of starting a campaign.


1.    WHY?
Why are you marketing your organization? What is your goal? Do you need more funds (well, of course you do – but are you actively looking to start a fundraising campaign)? Are you planning to expand your services? Do you just want the general public to know you exist?

Figure out what your organization needs most at this particular moment, and focus exclusively on that.  If your goal is solid, your message will be on target as well. You can always start a new campaign later on as your organization’s needs change.


2.    WHO?
Okay, before you blow your entire printing budget sending out postcards across the city/state/universe – take a moment to think about who your target audience is.  Who’s going to be most interested in what you have to say? Who is going to be most likely to give donations? Who has supported your organization in the past? Who do you want to support your organization in the future?

This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t target a broad audience – if that will best accomplish your goal. Social media offers a free/inexpensive way to reach the general populous.  Whether or not your entire state will care about what you have to say is up to you to decide.


3.    HOW?
Now that you know who you’re trying to reach, how are you planning to connect with them? This goes back a bit to the WHO question and knowing your target audience. If you’re looking to target seniors about your upcoming services, you may want to leave the Twitter out of this campaign.  If you’re looking to get support from the local art community, clip art and rainbow fonts aren’t going to cut it.

Think hard about who your target audience is, and what you want to convey to them. Figure out where they get their information, and what sources they find most trustworthy. Most importantly, keep track of your results – you may discover a better method for future endeavors.


Photo courtesy of Simple Insomnia