Donors who think beyond the check and who look for additional ways to engage with organizations find themselves enjoying a much more productive and satisfying relationship with those groups they support.
By Marshall H. Ginn, Capital Development Strategies
These donors are using their influence, networks and other resources to help nonprofits build capacity to fulfill their mission.
The July 2017 Chronicle of Philanthropy’s cover article “Renovation Nation” explored the makeover of three large, established charities. The major turnaround undertaken by each organization was the result of considerable culture shifts, new perspectives, and risky moves.
Author Heather Joslyn included in each profile “makeover tips” based on the lessons learned by these organization’s leaders. They included helpful and provocative suggestions such as “rethinking everything” about how you operate, “spiffing up” old programs, widening the net to find new supporters, and trimming the elevator speech down to 140 characters! A few of the tips stood out to me, especially ones that focused on messaging, storytelling, evaluation and leadership.