When I joined the board of Camp Fire USA River Bend Council, I was warned by a mentor: “If you’re a workaholic, you’re going to be a volunteeraholic. Be careful.”
Eight months later, I agree entirely. Don’t let yourself get burned out.
Three of my favorite bloggers just wrote about a particularly sensitive spot for me: reactive email time.
Yesterday, I tweeted about trying to get down to inbox zero. After two hours, I was down under ten emails, but had run out of time. Some of those emails have been sitting for weeks now, waiting for my response to move them ahead. And the problem I still find is that the emails come in faster than I can respond.
Katya, Beth, and Seth all write about the destructive, depressing, and demoralizing effect of spending your day simply reacting to emails as they come in. Too many days I feel that all I do is play switchboard operator, connecting emails from one person to another. I might only have to answer five-second questions, but those five seconds add up to hours throughout the day. By the end of the day, I can’t figure out what I accomplished and I feel depressed about not getting anything done. Since I track my time, I often end up with deficits…only accounting for five or six hours each day. This is even more frustrating; I know I worked hard all day and am stressed out for some reason, but I can’t even get credit for that because my hours look like I slacked off. If I’m only going to get credit for six hours, I might as well come in late and leave early.
To counteract this effect, I work from home once a week. No phone calls, no walk-ins, no meetings. I use these days to “clear my inbox”:http://www.43folders.com/izero, get my proposals done, and actually do work. In one day, I get a week’s worth of work done. The rest of the week is reacting and meeting.
I need to find a way to flip this on its head: one day for reaction, four days for work.
When you rely on volunteers, donors, and the heroic efforts of a handful of paid staff members, thanking people is an absolute must. In fact, you should be really good at it. If you want to keep people involved, you can’t let this go.
The problem is that thanking people takes time and optimism, two things that are scarce in too many non-profits. Between the tense, stressful meetings and the frustrations of trying to gain program participants and donors, it’s easy to forget the people who work so hard to keep the ship afloat. And with the amount of time you spend with some of these people, chances are you’ve begun to take them for granted as well.
So we came up with an idea: recruit someone whose entire job is to thank people. We haven’t come up with a title yet, but I’m liking “Minister of Gratitude” or “Captain Thank You.” Here’s a sample job description:
The Minister of Gratitude is responsible for properly recognizing the contributions of our many volunteers, staff members, and supporters. This position requires knowledge of all participants and activities within the council. These efforts may include writing personalized letters, planning events, procuring gifts, or meeting with individuals. The ideal candidate will be a positive, optimistic, creative, and thoughtful person who can remind others of why they joined our organization and let them know that their investments of time, talent, and funding are appreciated. This role is critical to the continued success of our council.
We haven’t actually recruited someone for this role yet, but I have an idea of some candidates. It will be a volunteer position, as are most of our folks, and we won’t have much budget for this person to use—but that’s not what matters when you thank people. Creativity, thoughtfulness, and timing matter a lot more than the price of the thank you.
So what do you think… do you spend enough time thanking your team?
Board meetings are shining points of optimism and positive energy. Nobody gets angry or frustrated, nobody holds their head in their hands, and there’s never any yelling. People are happy to be there, of course, so board member attendance is always 100%.
Ha. What a load of crap.
If you’ve been involved with any not-for-profit, you know what really happens.
In reality, board meetings are the outlet for all of the frustration accrued in the organization. Attendees often feel drained and depressed. It’s hard to see light at the end of the tunnel. And if you can’t see any light, you certainly can’t gauge your progress.
All this negativity takes its toll. It drains you. It increases burnout. Volunteers get frustrated, board members quit. You lose momentum.
Fight back. Fight hard.
You have to find the silver lining in every situation, and then point that out. Even if you’re the negative guy in the room, you can look at any given problem and find some positive that can come out of it. It takes a bit of practice, but the payoff is a more balanced view of any scenario.
Frustration is the result of energy expended without progress. It tells you that people still care and are still trying. It would be far worse if your volunteers were apathetic. The trick is to show positive progress and momentum – give people light at the end of the tunnel and they’ll find a way out.
Leadership is a lot of things, but one critical factor is direction. Have a direction, show how to get there, and then give people the tools to start moving. For some, this means strategic planning.
If you have more than one leader, it’s likely you’ll end up with a couple of different directions. Get your leaders on the same page by starting small and finding compromise. Explain that leaders of the organization needs to agree with themselves before the rest of the group will follow along. Find common ground and then march together.
Ever hear of “analysis paralysis?” It sums up exactly why so many projects struggle. Decisions get lost in committees. Few people want to make hard decisions and live with the consequences. Or be accountable for them when the decision was wrong. So they don’t do anything at all. Well, guess what? Inaction is the wrong decision.
Instead, you need to appoint someone the final owner of any project, decision, etc. Force the vote. Sometimes it’s as simple as making a decision and running with it. But action, even in the wrong direction, can be better than inaction.
In every meeting, you absolutely have to present some positive outcome. Kay Sprinkel Grace calls this a “mission moment,” and I find it’s very helpful in taking the heat out of a negative situation.
This could just be a story of some impact your organization made. A presentation from one of your program directors. It could be a child coming in and speaking to your board directly. These are the stories and images that your donors, volunteers, and staff remember. A successful mission moment takes you out of the board room and into the mission, reminding everyone why they’re involved in your organization in the first place.
A lot of non-profits use the lure of tax deductions to get free work from vendors, contractors, etc. But what can you really deduct on your taxes?
One of the most popular articles on my web developer blog, grundyhome.com answers this question. After hearing a few discussions of this lately, I thought it was worth sharing here as well.
The short answer, in case the suspense is killing you, is that you can’t deduct the “value” of your time.
So now that I’ve pulled the rug out from under you, just how do you get help without paying a competitive rate? That’s the topic of my next article.
Last year, Camp Fire suffered a meltdown of sorts. We lost one of our computers, including our accounting files. It took months of poring over paper statements and receipts to manually restore our files. Not only did this create a huge strain on some staff and volunteers, but it slowed down the progress of the rest of the organization.
And it could have been easily prevented.
The NonProfit Times comes through with a solid evaluation of your emergency planning for technology. As many small non-profits struggle with adopting technology, understanding the ramifications is critical. And knowing how to keep yourself safe can make the difference between total collapse and sleeping soundly.
Remember, it’s not a matter of if you lose a hard drive, it’s a matter of when.
What an awful title. Kool and the Gang… eesh.
As the hideous parody title indicates, it’s all about delegation. That’s become my defense against small non-profit woes - too much to do with too few people and too little time. Getting others to do the work for you. After all, you can’t possibly do it all yourself.
Small businesses often struggle to find new work. One of the common suggestions is to ask your current customers for referrals.
This extends really well into the non-profit sector, where your current donors are probably some of the best sources of potential donors. Have your current donors provide prospect recommendations or introductions. If your donors are properly invested in the organization, you can even ask them to help make the ask.
This process does wonders for donor engagement.
I read a lot. I’m currently reading “Beyond Fundraising” by Kay Sprinkel Grace and “Making Library Web Sites Usable” by Tom Lehman and Terry Nikkel. I’ve nearly exhausted our small collection of non-profit resources at the Camp Fire office.
Amber just discovered an amazing resource: Indiana Youth Institute has a free library that you can use via mail.
Once you have requested materials, IYI will mail your materials to you by priority mail. In your package, we will include a postage-paid return envelope. Just place the items in the envelope, seal it and add your return address, and pop it in with your regular mail.
Check it out at IYI Library
I’m definitely going to sign up.
When we face seemingly insurmountable odds, it is easy to seek a silver bullet to magically solve your problems. We see this in desperate fundraising appeals to wealthy donors, last ditch (and very expensive!) advertising campaigns, and so on.
There is no silver bullet.
Sure, you might win the heart of some fantastically rich and generous donor who bails you out. Of course your ad campaign might catch the right person at the right time and land you tons of clients.
Or you could buy a lottery ticket to pay your bills.
In the real world (where you live when you’re not working for your non-profit of choice), we know better. We save money and make frugal decisions. We build our resumes through hard work and incrementally successful projects. We take life slow and build on the results we’ve achieved.
Momentum takes a lot of work to build. It’s hard. It’s even harder to reverse it. So don’t think you can do it overnight, with a silver bullet that never was.
From FundRaising Success comes the article, Treat your best donors right
A couple of gems:
…that’s what a lot of fundraisers do: They hand-pick the donors who are most responsive to their fundraising programs — and put them in a radically different program. And it’s probably costing them significant revenue.
[Major donors] give more money. Duh. But this fact should inform what you ask them for. Are you asking folks who routinely write you checks for $500 to give you $20? If you are, you’re not only leaving money on the table, you’re saying loud and clear, “We don’t really know you!”
They are a more valuable asset to your organization. It helps to approach them with investment thinking. The dollars you spend on them can trigger a much better return.
They get more personal touches, like thank-you phone calls or handwritten cards, birthday cards, special reports on your work, invitations to see your work firsthand, and other appreciative touches.
Non-Profit Chas shares his experiences as he helps take a small non-profit organization to the next level. Learn more about Non-Profit Chas