Non-Profit Chas

Found via Make a Difference Michiana. Originally posted at the Mint blog where they have plenty of other amazing things to check out.

Related links:

• Charity Navigator

• National Center for Charitable Statistics

  

A silent auction isn’t an easy thing to .

1. Get people to bid more than the item is worth.

You’re a charity, not a pawn shop. Avoid setting up items that have a clear dollar value (e.g., a $20 gift certificate) because it’s hard to rationally justify spending $50 on a $20 gift certificate. If you have gift certificates, use tip #6 to get bidders focused on the prize (a juicy steak dinner) rather than the cost ($20 at a restaurant).

2. Don’t make it about the items.

Some people will gladly spend that $50 on a $20 item, though. But you have to make those people understand that the bid isn’t a purchase price, it’s a show of support for your cause. If you do this well enough, the items won’t really matter.

3. Get items that can’t be bought.

You could arrange for lunch with a local celebrity or a chef’s tour of the kitchen at a nice restaurant. Backstage passes at a concert or an autograph don’t usually cost anything, but can be very difficult to get. The key to this tip is providing a unique experience or item that isn’t for sale (but doesn’t necessarily cost anything).

4. Create packages that have an inflated value.

A night out to a nice dinner might cost $75, but it can be worth far more. If you can pair dinner with tickets to an event or VIP treatment, the value of the package goes way up.

5. Create your own items for cheap.

Get a basket, bucket, or box. Into that container, put candles, lotions, cookies, pizza ingredients, or whatever themed package you can think of. These don’t have to be pricy, but have some variation. I spent $75 on a pail of barbecue stuff: wood chips, sauces, seasonings, grilling tools, and a cookbook. It felt like a great value, and it was right up my alley.

6. Show off the items, even with a picture.

This seems so obvious, but there are plenty of items that aren’t going to physically sit on a table to be examined. They might be event packages, a beach house rental, or a large item that you can’t fit. Print a photo of the item (or something representative), mount it on foam board, and display this on a small easel.

7. Stagger the finishing times.

If bidding ends at 9pm, you don’t necessarily know if won any of the auctions. But if half of the items close at 9pm and the other half at 10pm, those who didn’t win in the first round have a chance to pick up some of the other items. The disappointment of losing an item you really wanted can be a great incentive to make bigger bids later.

Sure, there’s a lot of demand for transparency in non-profits. Donor-investors expect you to run lean and clean, with as much efficiency as possible. But let’s face it: that’s not the goal of a non-profit. Your goal is your mission.

Dartmouth’s development office produced a fantastic 2 minute, 21 second video explaining their “business model” to donors. It’s done with some sweet animation and a sense of sarcasm that rarely succeeds. But in this case, it makes you sit back and appreciate just how difficult it can be to run a top-notch institution of higher education. Read more about their approach…

Last month, Camp Fire posted a new job – our Executive Director.

This was a big step for us. We’ve done it all wrong for quite some time, relying on a volunteer ED and trying to squeeze as much water from as many stones as possible. Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to suffer from burnout than to abuse your volunteers and demand heroic efforts.

Fortunately, we resolved to finally hire someone to take the job. There’s a whole different mentality when you hire someone than when you’re recruiting volunteers. You can be a lot more selective when you hire. They give a resume, you interview them, and you weigh the nuanced details of one candidate over another.

Define the Position

The first step is knowing what you need and putting it on paper. We’ve been running loose for a while, and HR is one area we’ve neglected. Position descriptions and policies and benefits and all that jazz – it’s pretty much nonexistent. So we looked to our national organization for some of the tools, and crafted a position description around that framework. More importantly, we decided what we really needed to focus on: programs first, fundraising second.

Honesty is the best policy

We’re not a big, strong organization. We’ve struggled and are currently digging our way out of some long-standing problems. It’s certainly a positive outlook, but not everyone wants to come into a fixer-upper of an organization. So we were honest about our history and situation. We really wanted someone who would be eager to take on the challenges and build something great. The worst thing you can do is hire someone who later feels duped and ends up leaving the job.

Post the Job for Free

Getting the word out was the most intimidating challenge for us – we had no idea how many people would apply, and we wanted to get as many applicants as possible. So we started with some obvious areas, and ended up spreading the word through some unusual places:

• Local community websites
• Craigslist
• Chamber of Commerce
• Local United Way
• National Camp Fire organization website

• Our personal networks

  We didn’t spend any money posting the job. No paid classifieds, no paid listings, not a dime. As it happens, most of our candidates came from our personal networking – people one to three degrees away from us. Any good HR recruiter knows that’s how the best job matches tend to happen – through their networking and relationships, not through blind application and resume sifting.

  Sort the Resumes and Interview

  We took in dozens of resumes, and our hiring committee (of 2 volunteers) sorted them, made phone calls, and scheduled interviews. After narrowing down to a core set of candidates, they scheduled a second round of interviews with a larger group of board members (including me). Having met with this core group, I have to say: there’s a lot of talent out there looking for jobs. Any of our candidates would be an excellent addition to any organization, but we only had room to hire one. (The thought crossed my mind that all of these candidates would be great board members, though I’m not sure how they might react to that conversation.)

  Retaining Good Staff when the Economy Turns Around

  The economy certainly plays a role in all of this. Some people have been laid off or had their savings hit by the market. Others are simply looking for a new challenge. There’s a lot of talent on the market. But one factor to consider is how your new hire might react once the economy improves.

• If your organization is a place that people enjoy working,
• If there are continued opportunities and challenges,

• If your people have invested themselves and are seeing returns – having built something great – they won’t want to give that up.

Camp Fire USA River Bend Council is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Executive Director. It’s a full-time position located in South Bend, Indiana.

View the position announcement >