For the past few months, I’ve had the opportunity to engage in a rewarding experience outside the private sector: supporting a local volunteer and non-profit organization who serve as a community resource to assist the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in search and rescue efforts for people in danger. While I am not engaged directly in helping save lives, the task I took was to assist the organization in their annual fund raising event that provides the single largest source of revenue, enabling the organization to acquire critical equipment; train volunteers in search and rescue operations, and fulfill their mandate.
I discovered that the skills I apply in the commercial and business sector such as leadership, sales planning, marketing, operations, and finance play an equally important part in achieving the goals of a non-profit. Here are some key learnings that helped me balance and apply the right mix of skills, and assisted the organization in meeting their key goals.
Applying Leadership Depending on the size of the non-profit, chances are the management teams are also volunteers; they have run businesses before, they are either part-time, full time or retired, and they have an opinion on everything!
Leadership is not about being the person in charge. It is about applying strong listening skills, observing, learning and absorbing new ideas, challenging those ideas that have become stale – in a positive way, and bringing new concepts and “a way of doing things” that can benefit the entire group.
- Get to know the team beforehand if possible. It helps to at least know one or more individuals personally, who can serve as your guide and offer valuable background on the project history, the pitfalls, the pluses, the minuses, and personalities of the team.
- Be prepared to prove your value. Don’t assume that the team will readily embrace you, even though your professional profile may speak volumes for itself. This is especially true if you are new to the committee, new to the community and aren’t active in business in the community you serve.
- Offer ideas by taking action on those ideas yourself and welcome feedback continuously.
- Be sensitive to people’s time. Remember everyone is likely not getting paid for their efforts so help set realistic goals.
Planning Considerations One cannot underestimate the level of planning! Depending on the size of the organization, assume what has been planned, gets unplanned, or rewritten to the preference of someone else on the committee.
- Determine early on who is accountable for each task, sub task. Is the current methodology working? In my particular scenario, the project is coming into its 15th year, and while the same guidelines have been used, can they be improved upon? Can the cycles be shortened?
- Automate where possible, taking into consideration there are likely no funds to support snazzy applications, nor even the time required to set up new or innovative approaches. There are many “free” tools on the market for project management. Take time to research those tools.
- Educate the team on the tools; don’t assume everyone is technologically savvy — some may resist change if they can’t understand it.
- Investigate what other non-profit organizations have done to successfully raise funds for non-profit. Learn from them – their mistakes and successes.
- Be aware of other organizations who may be fund raising at the same time and plan around this. In my particular experience, the local library was doing their annual fund drive and was targeting the same businesses we approached. There is only so much money to go around!
Sales – “Raising the Donations” A sale in the traditional sense is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or compensation. Fund raising to support a non-profit or charitable organization is not dissimilar in that the “salesperson” or “fundraiser” is selling a service that brings value for the greater good of an organization or community.
The difference lies in the approach to the sale and getting businesses to “buy” a perceived value that they or their customers may not benefit directly from — such as new products and/or meeting their business goals.
- Believe in what you are doing and why you are seeking to raise money or business donations. Be passionate about the organization, educate yourself on their mission and be able to share experiences that have positively impacted the businesses community or environment.
- Get to know the key business leaders. Found out who the key influencers are in the municipality, local government, and businesses.
- Use your network tools (such as LinkedIn, Facebook) to build a contact directory.
- Be professional (as in a traditional sales environment) in your interactions with the prospective donor/business. Remember you represent the organization, and the business looks to you in that vein. If your non-profit has any apparel with logo, consider it your uniform when you canvass the businesses.
- Meet your potential donors personally face to face and provide a professional letter of donation and event details. Refrain from sending email unless you know the person well. I was pleasantly surprised to experience how eager some of the businesses were to support the organization and immediately offered their donation on the spot.
- Follow-up, follow-up, follow-up. Businesses will gladly say they will donate, but collecting on “their word” takes effort and planning. Be persistent in a gracious and grateful way; remember you may want their donation again next year!
So what’s in for you as a business professional? Supporting a non-profit or charitable organization is a great learning experience. It can broaden your knowledge in diverse industries that you may not be targeting in your current business profession. It introduces new contacts to your professional network, and creates new friendships. It anchors you in the community where you can continue to contribute and nurture. Above all, it creates a sense of well being!