•january 1 2015 npt layout 1 12/16/14 2:42 pm page 1 the ...€¦ · “a viral campaign is a...

Can You ‘Print’Your NextGenerationOf Donors?BY GEORGE WEINER

Questions that have been and aresoon to be asked by year:

1985: What’s your fax number?1995: Are you web friendly?2000: Is your site printer friendly?2010: Is your site mobile friendly?2018: Are you 3D friendly?2020: Is your organization printer

friendly?Five years is a long time in technology,

especially when factoring in Moore’s Law-- where processing power doubles everytwo years -- which makes it 7.5 humanyears or 52.5 dog years.

Looking out toward 2020 in the worldof 3D printing, price is the key indicatorthat will dictate consumer behavior andthen push the need for the nonprofit sec-tor to respond. The current price of ahome 3D printer ranges from $500 to$2,600. As this price drops toward thetipping point of home adoption, be pre-pared for this question: Is your organiza-tion printer friendly?

Whether you are on the funding orimplementation side, the upside andpractical applications of affordable 3Dprinting will be disrupting your field.Here are some examples when lookingdown the road.

Education working in the class-room. 3D printers will become the new“projector” for schools. Lesson plans willneed to include printable materials. Ifyou are talking about an ancient skull,you better have a 3D printout. Our fa-vorite example: This Radio Lab story(www.radiolab.org/story/taung-child/)

THENONPROFITTIMESTM

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

BY PATRICK SULLIVAN

If you were breathing this past summer, you couldnot miss hearing about the Ice Bucket Challenge.You couldn’t avoid it even if you tried. What youmight not realize is that the ALS Association, the ben-

eficiary organization, did not create the campaign. The or-ganization was able to seize the moment and capitalize ongood luck and good will.

The ALS Association, basedin Washington, D.C., harnessedthe momentum of the IceBucket Challenge phenome-non, created by the families ofthree ALS (amyotrophic lateralsclerosis, a neurodegenerativedisease) patients. The organi-zation’s leaders put out dailypress releases with the total amount raised and sharedsome of the best ice bucket videos on its social mediaplatforms. ALS Association President and CEO BarbaraNewhouse did a satellite media tour at the height of thephenomenon. The organization gained $115 million andnearly 3 million new donors.

“A viral campaign is a moment in time. It’s something

Viral Campaigns, page 4

Tech Futures, page 9

Viral CampaignsHave An InfectiousNature That MustBe Incubated

BY MARK HRYWNA

The evolution of #GivingTuesday has madethe jump from experiment to traditionright alongside Black Friday and CyberMonday as the “opening day” of the

December giving season.Some 20,000 nonprofits in the United States

got involved the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, rais-ing nearly $50 million, producing three-quarters of amillion tweets and millions of media impressions. Therewere an additional more than 6,700 partners in 28 coun-tries around the world.

Sharing Spaces, page 6

(Year) Three AppearsTo Be The Charm For#GivingTuesday

Participant inthe Ice BucketChallenge.Photo: SharonL. Chapman

Barbara Newhouse

3

Tech Futures

•January 1 2015 NPT_Layout 1 12/16/14 2:42 PM

Grant Thornton refers to Grant Thornton LLP, the U.S. member fi rm of Grant Thornton International Ltd.

At Grant Thornton, our not‐for ‐profi t professionals work extensively with organizations just like yours. That focus gives them deep experience to help their clients grow in their ability to serve the greater good. See how they do it at GrantThornton.com/nfp.

Instinct says: Choose a master of one.

Reason says: Hire a jack of all trades.


NEWS____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

11 Viral Campaigns Have An InfectiousNature That Must Be IncubatedBY PATRICK SULLIVAN

11 Tech Futures: Can You ‘Print’ YourNext Generation Of Donors?BY GEORGE WEINER

11 (Year) Three Appears To Be The CharmFor #Giving TuesdayBY MARK HRYWNA

17 American Red Cross ‘Vision’Reduces Staff, Pushes ConsolidationBY MARK HRYWNA

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COMMENTARY23 Thought Leadership?BY RICK CHRIST

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4 JANUARY 1, 2015 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com

like fire. You have to have a lot of dry tin-der around for it to catch,” said Cather-ine LaCour, vice president of corporatemarketing for software firm Blackbaudin Charleston, S.C.

It takes trust and empowerment ofyour employees, having a nimble infra-structure and being ready creatively tocapitalize on a moment, said MadelineStanionis, principal and creative directorat M+R Strategic Services in Washington,D.C. “This is a big deal. It’s really hard.How do you get ready for your 15 min-utes of fame?,” she asked rhetorically.

It starts with internal culture, said Stan-ionis, and that’s not something you canmanufacture on the fly. Leaders at organi-zations where employees are empoweredlet them know, “When something hap-pens, you notice something’s trending onTwitter, you have the ability and authorityto react: set up a donation page, put pressin place, send emails,” she said.

If your staff is able and permitted tojump on a hot topic, you’ll need a libraryof social media creative with which tojump in. “When we have a moment, wewant to aggressively tweet and get oth-ers to do the same, produce shareableimages on Facebook, have an email andget it out quickly, do some advertisingand get landing pages up, ready andeasy to find for people suddenly hearingabout you,” said Stanionis.

Third, you’ll have to be comfortablewith relinquishing some control. Some-thing viral will often morph beyond asingle organization. That last point issomething for which the Human RightsCampaign (HRC) in Washington, D.C.,was ready. HRC launched a campaignwhen the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates was getting ready to rule on theDefense of Marriage Act (DOMA) andCalifornia’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. By the time the decisionscame down (both struck down as un-constitutional), more than 10 millionpeople had changed their social mediaprofile pictures to a modified version ofHRC’s equal sign logo.

“We didn’t see this coming,” said HRCDirector of Marketing Anastasia Khoo, ofthe response. “We knew we’d built asolid plan and done everything we couldto ensure the possibility of going viral.We hoped for it, but it exceeded ourwildest expectations.”

Khoo said the social media compo-nent -- asking people to change theirprofile pictures to a red version of HRC’slogo -- was just one part of a larger cam-paign planned almost a month out. Un-like many viral campaigns, HRC’s washeavily planned and scripted. The mar-keting team created a “war room” dedi-cated to the cases and the campaign andhad daily meetings to update progressand the roles and responsibilities ofeach staff member involved.

While a 600 percent surge in trafficcaused HRC’s website to crash and theorganization gained 300,000 new Face-

book followers in two days, Khoo saidshe believes the campaign grew beyondthe organization. People changing theirprofile pictures didn’t necessarily knowthey were changing it to an LGBT-rightsorganization’s logo, and that was okay.

“While it was intrinsically our logo (inpeople’s profile pictures), we didn’t putany branding on it. There was nothing tosay, ‘Visit hrc.org for more information,’”Khoo said. “We made it about the move-ment and the people. It’s a double-edged sword. There was a huge increasein visibility but there’s still some work todo, and we continue to do that work.”

A campaign going viral becomes“something you’re not controlling,” said

LaCour. You can’t control people’s reac-tions to or uses of your moment, butyou can control and reinforce yourbrand. “Controlling brand is about con-sistency,” said LaCour.

She used the example of Make-A-WishGreater Bay Area in San Francisco. Anevent generated national coverage whenthe organization in November 2013granted the wish of a leukemia stricken5-year-old to be Batkid. “People remem-ber Batkid, but not Make-A-Wish,” saidLaCour. “But Make-A-Wish uses Batkid inevery marketing piece to associate thatmoment and give it more shelf life.”

Brian Frederick, a spokesman for theALS Association, acknowledged that theIce Bucket Challenge was bigger thanthe organization. “Many people did itbecause of the desire to be a part ofsomething bigger, engage with friendsand families and be part of a social phe-nomenon,” he said. “We recognize thatfor many people who did the challenge,the cause was secondary. We think thatinherent in the phenomenon itself wasthe desire to do good for a cause, andthat happened to be us.”

Part of being prepared for the mo-ment involves having a backup plan.What happens if the campaign takes off

and the resulting traffic takes out yourwebsite? HRC was able to redirect peo-ple to its Tumblr blog. It all goes back tohaving the organizational ecosystem inplace. “It was a stroke of luck and astroke of genius,” said Khoo. “It helpedus to continue our communicationscycle as the cases were heard.”

Some campaigns are exceedingly de-pendent on the moment, as in the caseof HRC and the Supreme Court. For oth-ers, such as the Ice Bucket Challengeand the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s Tap Proj-

ect from this past March, it’s the experi-ence itself that goes viral.

The Tap Project challenged partici-pants to put their phones down. Forevery 10 minutes a phone with the TapProject app activated spent on a flat sur-face, the U.S. Fund would convert asponsor donation in an amount equal tothe cost of clean water for a child for aday. The project was meant to show peo-ple that being constantly connected totheir phones is not a necessity, but clean

‘‘A viral campaign isa moment in time.It’s something likefire. You have tohave a lot of drytinder around forit to catch. --Catherine LaCour

VIRAL CAMPAIGNSContinued from page 1

Continued on page 5

Biggest, Best, Unique & BoldEverybody wants to be the next big thing and have the campaign

everyone’s talking about. Here are five nonprofit campaignsfrom around the world that really took off.

Most Ubiquitous: Ice Bucket Challenge, theALS Association (2014). Watching people onsocial media pour ice water over their headsbecame a standard part of just about every-one’s existence this past summer. The IceBucket Challenge generated more than $115million and 3 million new donors for the ALSAssociation, in addition to more than a fewlaughs and head colds.

Record-Breaking: Kony 2012, Invisible Chil-dren (2012). If you saw the video about Ugan-dan warlord Joseph Kony, congratulations,you’re not one in a million. It’s more like onein 100 million. Invisible Children’s campaign,launched in March 2012, reached a nine-digitviewership on YouTube in less than a week,making it the fastest video ever to do so.

Boldest: Likes Don’t Save Lives, UNICEFSweden (2013). A shareable campaign isgreat, but sharing is not enough. So it’s

somewhat ironic that UNICEF Sweden’s 2013campaign spread so wide. Four videos andad copy that read “Like us on Facebook, andwe will vaccinate zero children against polio”helped get the organization to more than250,000 Facebook likes. The ad was sharedaround the world. While those likes might nothave saved any lives, the money the cam-paign generated -- enough to vaccinate morethan 637,000 children -- surely did.

Hashtag Takeover: #NoMakeupSelfie, Can-cer Research UK (2014). Some woman don’twant to be seen without makeup -- exceptwhen it’s for a good cause. Cancer ResearchUK spotted people using the hashtag #no-makeupselfie on Twitter this past March toraise awareness for cancer research, andcrafted a Tweet that included a text donationcode. The Tweet was shared 14,000 timesand the organization raised £1 million ($1.56million) in 24 hours and £8 million ($12.5 mil-lion) total.

Most Star Power: Do They Know It’s Christ-mas? 2014, Band Aid (2014). Trading on 30years of name recognition, U.K.-based char-ity supergroup Band Aid -- which includesU2’s Bono, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and OneDirection -- raised $1.5 million in minuteswith the release of its Ebola-themed remakeof the 1984 hit “Do They Know It’s Christ-mas?,” according to written reports. Thevideo has been seen nearly 3 million timeson YouTube. – Patrick Sullivan


JANUARY 1, 2015 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com 5

water is lifesaving.About 2.6 million people participated,

with $1.02 million in donations unlockedfrom sponsors. The New York City-basedU.S. Fund was also able to convert about17,000 participants into volunteers. “Wehad social sharing, but in the end the ex-perience itself was so compelling thatpeople shared it, people forwarded thelink,” said Rajesh Anandan, senior vicepresident of strategic partnerships andUNICEF Ventures for the U.S. Fund.

Anandan said he wasn’t worriedabout basing a campaign around a mo-bile-first experience about putting downyour mobile device. He said it was more“a fun way to connect the two notions,that you think you need your phone butyou don’t, but people need clean water.”

The U.S. Fund needed the dexteritythat Stanionis talked about when the or-ganization saw how quickly the cam-paign was growing: about 50,000 peopleparticipated on the first day and 150,000on the second. The monetization metricwas supposed to be a donation for everyminute, but Anandan said he quicklychanged it to every 10 minutes.

“We had a projection of how muchsponsor funding we had pledged alreadyand how much more was coming,” saidAnandan. He didn’t want to chewthrough the sponsor donations too soon,so he “had to make that decision quickly.”

A viral campaign’s bump in aware-ness won’t last forever. Like the Tap Proj-ect, some have an end date built in.Anandan’s team stopped “monetizingthe minutes” at the end of March 2013.The issue gets resolved for other cases,such as in the case of the Supreme Courtstriking down DOMA and Prop 8. Some-times the moment just passes and thecampaign peters out.

“You have to figure out how to con-vert those moment supporters to long-term,” said Stanionis. The U.S. Fundsigned up about 17,000 of those sup-porters as volunteers, first around cleanwater initiatives and then expanded intoto the organization’s other programs.The ALS Association is currently decid-ing on a strategy to engage their newsupporters. “We have millions of people-- donors and participants -- who don’thave an immediate connection to thedisease and probably don’t know thatmuch about the disease,” said Frederick.“We’re working on a larger strategy tokeep them engaged, based on what weknow about how they came to us.”

Figuring out the next best interactionis a tricky thing, said LaCour. “Engage-ment is about controlling the customerexperience,” she said. “Look at the cus-tomer life cycle and think about how tospark interaction across that cycle.” Shesaid it’s important not to let your base ofloyal supporters get lost in the shuffle ofnewcomers.

“Stewardship needs to happen, butnot at the expense of your base,” shesaid. “The focus is how to leverage the

campaign to continue to inspire yourbase. How do you keep your base talk-ing about your cause and your organiza-tion while keeping the organizationrelevant? They should be the focus.”

One thing the Ice Bucket Challenge,the HRC’s Supreme Court campaign andthe Tap Project have in common withone another and all other campaignsthat go viral: luck.

“It’s 99 percent luck,” said Stanionis.“When you try to manufacture those mo-

ments, nine times out of 10 it won’t work.”She said the 1 percent that isn’t luck

is “creative alchemy and good strategy.”You need to know what people are re-sponding to today, right now. Accordingto Stanionis, many nonprofit marketersare “trying to be relevant in pop culture,but because organizations go so slowly,they’ll launch something that was popu-lar six months ago.” Stanionis wouldrather see money spent on getting sys-tems in place. The key to viral content,

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Continued from page 4 she said, isn’t big production budgets;the best ones are produced quickly, onthe cheap, to rapidly respond to some-thing unfolding.

Luck might be being in the right placeat the right time, but if your organizationcan maneuver there and then, that’s justgood business. LaCour called it “feed-ing” luck. “Being ready, that’s not luck.That’s great organizational planning andstructure and systems and being readyto respond,” said Stanionis. NPT


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“Moving from an experiment to a hol-iday was always our goal,” said HenryTimms, executive director of the 92ndStreet Y in New York City, who is cred-ited as being one of the founders of theannual day of giving back. “This will re-turn year after year. If we can do thatright, it can be not just beneficial on theday and around the seasons, but alsomuch earlier in the year,” he said.

Research from Indiana University’sLilly Family School of Philanthropy andthe Case Foundation shows the amountraised by nonprofits around #Giv-ingTuesday increased by 63 percentcompared to 2013, noting nearly $46million raised, largely by U.S.-based or-ganizations. The increase in participat-ing organizations helped grow theoverall giving numbers but the aggregatetotal also had not yet included PayPal,which reported almost $4 million incontributions last year, as well as othersmaller donation processing firms.

“There’s still room for growth. This isjust the third year. You’re still seeingnew organizations,” said SteveMacLaughlin, director of product man-agement for Blackbaud, which that dayprocessed $26.1 million in online dona-tions to clients, up 36 percent comparedto last year. Transaction volume for

Blackbaud was up 50 percent, comparedwith an increase of 36 percent last yearversus year one.

MacLaughlin estimated the overallnumber could be more like $100 millionif information from other software firmsnot reporting is extrapolated.

There’s also a lag in reporting offlinegifts. “Someone could’ve been inspiredby what a charity did on #GivingTuesdaybut it won’t see it show up for days or

maybe even weeks,” MacLaughlin said.The thinking is that “$26.1 million, isthat what you see happen on Dec. 31?No. But in 2011, it was $6.6 million onthe same day. I’m not sure what else ismoving the needle that much,” he said.

#GivingTuesday is now among thebiggest days of December for Blackbaudin terms of volume and transaction dol-lars, along with Dec. 30 and 31.

The online story is being told butthere’s much more to the offline story,

which will be coming out in the comingweeks and months as data are dissected,Timms said. “The aim was to give De-cember a good start and it’s interestingto see that play out,” he said.

This year, for the first time, #Giv-ingTuesday data will be analyzed by re-searchers at Lilly Family School ofPhilanthropy through a partnership withthe Case Foundation. (See the story onwww.thenonprofittimes.com)

Una Osili, director of research for theLilly Family School of Philanthropy saidone of the goals is to further understand#GivingTuesday’s impact on the overallholiday season and how behavior mightbe changing, as well as what types of non-profits are engaged and how, whetherthrough volunteering or social media.

Initial estimates do show a significantincrease, particularly in online giving.It’s hard to gauge offline giving becauseit’s processed more slowly. Osili said

much of it seems to be due to more or-ganizations participating.

Initial evidence seems quite positive,with the overall level of engagement andmore nonprofits of different sizes in-volved and more transactions. “The in-crease in online giving shows somepotential for #GivingTuesday to be aclear role in engaging individuals acrossthe U.S. and the world,” Osili said.

The overall amount raised is very im-portant but it underestimates the poten-tial of #GivingTuesday because of somuch offline activity, increased level ofawareness and engagement, and the vastnumbers and sizes of organizations par-ticipating in just three years, she said.

#GivingTuesday will now shift into“listening mode,” as Timms called it, totrack, listen and learn as much as possi-ble. That will be synthesized into a fullreport to be released within the firstquarter of this year to kick off #Giv-ingTuesday 2015 planning.

Timms was heartened by the successin places like the United Kingdom, whichdoesn’t even celebrate Thanksgiving.#GivingTuesday in the U.K. reported a46-percent increase in giving, an 80 per-cent increase in text donations, and 270percent growth in online donations.

#GivingTuesday isn’t necessarily just

#GIVING TUESDAYContinued from page 1

Continued on page 7

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‘‘America wants to havea bigger conversationabout philanthropyand corporations willwant to be part of that.

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about the bottom line, either. “The reachof this from a media perspective is mas-sive,” Timms said, and the number ofmedia impressions will be huge this year.

Corporate support is among the as-pects that will be tallied in the weeksafter Dec. 2 and wasn’t included in theinitial estimates. Timms expects nextyear will see even more involvement onthe corporate side. “America wants tohave a bigger conversation about philan-thropy and corporations will want to bepart of that,” he said.

Bank of America ran a full-page ad inThe New York Times that referenced#GivingTuesday and its work with WorldAIDS Day (Dec. 1) rolled over to #Giv-ing Tuesday. Retailer H&M donated $7.5million in clothing to people in need.Avon Foundation raised $1 million fordomestic violence and CVS pharmaciesawarded $100,000 in 50 unexpectedgifts to charities, based on nominationsby local branches.

“We never got into this to be purelyabout fundraising,” Timms said, notingvarious volunteer efforts by charities thatday, such as the Philadelphia Orchestraoffering free concerts to the communityand supporters.

“We committed to how do we have a

Continued from page 6

Continued on page 8

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#GivingTuesday By The Numbers• Blackbaud

Online: $26.1 million, up 36 percent over 2013

• DonorPerfectTotal online: $1,441,740 with 9,302 transac-tions from 857 nonprofitsTotal offline: $10,709,286, with 27,326 trans-actions from 1,690 nonprofits

• Network for Good2,359 organizations$4,582,194 overall, up 157 percent$2,693,353 via DonateNow

• Razoo$1.733 million, up 52 percent

• Click&Pledge$2 million, up from $500,000 last year

• Salsa Labs$470,000, up 47 percent for organizationsthat participated both years

• #GivingTuesday was tweeted 754,000 timeswhich represents a 180 percent increase overusage last year. During the same period (fromDecember 1 through December 3, ET), #UN-selfie was tweeted 39,700 times (183 per-cent more than 2013), and more than 7,600#UNselfie photos were posted on Instagram.

• #GivingTuesdayBucks (Bucks County, Pa.)raised a total of $187,299, based on prelimi-nary reports from 30 of the 100 organizationsthat signed up for the day.

• #GivingTuesdayAR (Arkansas) mobilized 217organizations to participate in #GivingTues-day. Initial reports from 19 of those organiza-tions indicate more than $63,000 raised, withmany organizations yet to share results.

• #MDGivesMore (Maryland), which grew outof last year’s BMore Gives More in Baltimore,reported more than $8 million raised thus far,with results still coming in.

• The Michael J. Fox Foundation raised$390,549 on #GivingTuesday, in addition toa $100,000 matching grant, through 1,647donations.

• The Museum of Jewish Heritage surpassedits $8,000 goal (double last year’s goal) tofund its Interfaith Living Museum program,which brings together 80 fifth-graders fromfour schools – two Jewish and two Muslim.Over the course of a semester, the studentswork together to learn about how artifactscan teach us about heritage and bring inartifacts from their own homes to teacheach other.

• 92Y, the New York cultural and communitycenter where #GivingTuesday was created,received the “first gift” of #GivingTuesday – a$1-million donation from more than 20 boardmembers, in a fundraising challenge to itscommunity.

• 92Y also shared its educational outreach con-cert, Maximus Musicus, with nearly 3,000public school children in New York, and, vialive webcast, schools in Argentina, Icelandand elsewhere. 92Y’s “knit-a-thon,” spear-headed by members of the Himan BrownSeniors Social Action Committee knittednearly 300 hats and scarves for pediatriccancer patients at Memorial Sloan KetteringCancer Center and, with MommyNearest,92Y collected 2,000 pieces of clothing and5,000 toys for children in need.

• Due to the generosity of individual donors andcorporations, combined with match fundingprovided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foun-dation, the United Nations Foundation’sShot@Life campaign raised more than$362,000 to combat pneumonia by providinglife-saving vaccines to children around theworld.

Sources: Blackbaud, DonorPerfect, Network forGood, Razoo, Click & Pledge, Salsa Labs, 92Y

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conversation about values, the promise ofgetting people to stop when time was allabout spending and trying to start a con-versation about giving, about connectingwith people’s communities,” he said.

The University of Michigan’s #Giving-BlueDay, a 24-hour fundraiser on #Giv-ingTuesday, raised more than $3 millionbut just as importantly, staff used socialmedia to engage everyone from alumni totheir president. “What they’re really doingis shifting people from donors to owners,”Timms said. “One of the shifts we thinkabout with #GivingTuesday is, how dopeople really change to own your cause?”

There were hundreds of hours of freetraining resources to the sector in prepa-ration for #GivingTuesday. “We thoughta lot about capacity building. It’s impor-tant that we try to be constructive anduseful. What no one’s talking about nowis what nonprofits are talking about:What have we learned from #Giv-ingTuesday, what went well, what didn’t.It’s just one of the interesting promisesof what happens next,” Timms said.

With nonprofit servers working over-time churning out emails this past Dec.2, one could fear oversaturation offundraising appeals. There’s also thefear that #GivingTuesday simply movesdonations from the end of the giving

season to the start -- something that dataanalysis hopes to prove or disprove.

“It is growing. It’s not cannibalizinggiving because people are just askingmore,” said Jon Biedermann, vice presi-dent at DonorPerfect. “Anyone infundraising will tell you: the more youask, the more you’ll raise. People saythey only can give one time, but if youask again, they usually do,” he said.

In the end, Biedermann isn’t con-vinced that #GivingTuesday will takeaway from other giving during Decem-ber given the net addition of new and re-activated donors. “These are yourSybunts, Lybunts (Last Year But Unfortu-nately Not This Year and Some Year ButUnfortunately Not This Year),” he said.

As #GivingTuesday grows, there willbe more creativity by charities. “You onlyneed to look at the results like Networkfor Good is posting, lots of smaller or-ganizations are doing very well,” Timmssaid. Network for Good reported some$4.6 million raised, up from less than $2million last year, for almost 2,400 mostlysmall or medium nonprofits.

The average gift was up about 4 per-cent for Network for Good’s totals, ac-cording to Jamie McDonald, chief givingofficer. “Our focus since July has been onstep-by-step tactical guidance and toolsabout how to take advantage of a day like

#GivingTuesday,” McDonald said.“A day like this that extends the giving

month into December is powerful andimportant,” McDonald said, because toomany organizations depend on Dec. 30and 31 to make their year, which is a lotof pressure for small and medium non-profits.

McDonald emphasized that smallnonprofits can be a part of the move-ment despite all the messages and expo-sure crowding into one day. “Theyshouldn’t shy away from it because theydon’t think they have extensive re-sources or a big staff that can’t capitalize;if anything we outperformed,” she said.

“We all have to be clear in the givingeconomy to continue to create leveragefor small, on-the-ground grassroots or-ganizations and that their participationin days like this can be highly leveraged,”McDonald said.

“#GivingTuesday is becoming a fixedpart of the landscape,” after three yearsof massive growth, said Clam Lorenz,general manager, social innovation, atPayPal. “Our #GivingTuesday effort isrolling into a month-long holiday cam-paign, without question the biggest thingwe’ve done,” he said, bigger than any-thing in response to natural disasters.

Shifting giving to earlier in December“primes the pump,” Lorenz said, and

fundamentally it’s about more givingoverall, perhaps smaller, more effectivegiving. The increase in gift size in PayPaltotals indicates to Lorenz that it could bethe beginning of a movement by peoplewho are giving as part of a plan versusjust giving in response to stimulus.“They’re getting into more serious, com-mitted, earnest donors,” he said.

“This effort often attracts the morecasual donor, which often means smallergifts but we’ve actually been surprised,this year actually seems like true, addi-tional donors, regular donors, are get-ting involved in #GivingTuesday,”Lorenz said.

PayPal had not yet released aggregatetotals at presstime but reported an in-crease of about 66 percent in donationsover last year. With nearly $4 millionraised in 2013, that would project to al-most $6.5 million for the 2014 version.

“By any metric, banners on our web-site, emails to users, we’re pulling morelevers than we have in history to encour-age users to give,” Lorenz said. There areabout 170 million PayPal users aroundthe world.

“#GivingTuesday is very small. MostAmericans don’t know what it is,” Timmssaid. “There is so much further we cango, to get to the scale that we think wecan.” NPT

CALENDAR

To get your event added to the calen-dar, email it at least eight weeks beforethe event to: [email protected]

JANUARY 8 The 37th Annual Nonprofit Conference(Rochester), sponsored by the NewYork State Society of CPAs/Foundationfor Accounting Education, will be heldat the RIT Inn and Conference Center,Rochester, N.Y.Info: www.nysscpa.org/faeconference

13-14 The Essential Grant Skills programof The Grantsmanship Center will beheld in Los Angeles, Calif.Info: www.tgci.com

15 37th Annual Nonprofit Conference(NYC), sponsored by the New YorkState Society of CPAs/Foundation forAccounting Education, will be held atthe New York Marriott Marquis at TimesSquare in New York City.Info: www.nysscpa.org/faeconference

14-16 The Legal Services Corporationwill hold is Technology Initiative GrantsConference at the Marriott Plaza SanAntonio in San Antonio, Texas.Info: http://tig.lsc.gov/2015-tig-conference

FEBRUARY2-6 The Grantsmanship TrainingProgram of The Grantsmanship Centerwill be held in San Diego, Calif., atFather Joe’s Villages. Info: www.tgci.com

3-4 The Essential Grant Skills will beheld in Tulsa, Okla., at the OklahomaFamily Empowerment Center.Info: www.tgci.com

2-5 The Fundraising For Impact Summit,sponsored by United Way Worldwide,will be held at the Astor Crowne Plazahotel in New Orleans, La.Info: http://conferences.unitedway.org

16-19 The California Association ofHospitals and Health Systems (CAHHS)will hold its 52nd annual HospitalVolunteer Leadership Conference atthe Hyatt Regency Indian Wells Resortand Spa in Indian Wells, Calif. Info: www.calhospital.org/2015-volun-teer-conference

22-24 Abila software will hold its annualuser and developer conference at theJ.W. Marriott-Austin hotel, Austin, Texas.Info: www.audc2015.com

23-27 The Grantsmanship TrainingProgram of The Grantsmanship Centerwill be held in Albuquerque, N.M., atthe University of New Mexico. Info: www.tgci.com

NONPROFITTECHNOLOGYCONFERENCE2015

Nonprofit TechnologyConference (NTC)March 4-6, 2015 · Austin, TX

CONNECT. LEARN. CHANGE.Join the largest group of nonprofit professionalsthat put tech to work for their causes.

Register now or learnmore at: myNTC.nten.org

“I LEARNSOMETHINGNEWATEVERYNTC, ANDTHE

OPPORTUNITY TO INTERACTWITHOTHERSWITHTHESAME ISSUESIMIGHTHAVE IS PRICELESS.”—14NTC Attendee

#GIVING TUESDAYContinued from page 7



about the Taung child with a printable skull(www.thingiverse.com/thing:332463).

Dinosaur bones previously only avail-able through a museum trip will becomea click away and will be made more pow-erful when connected with great curric-ula that nonprofits are creating.

Cause Awareness. If you are creat-ing awareness around a specific disease,people will expect to be able to print thevirus or bacteria to help understand theroot cause of the illness.

Environmental organizations shouldhave their supporters print endangeredspecies to gain a greater understandingof the issue.

Support in Developing Countries.3D printing will help solve the “last mileproblem” by being able to bring consis-tent resources to remote regions with asimple print. This is an untapped poten-tial for organizations coordinating withfield initiatives ranging from educationto building water wells. Can the wellsyou are building in underdevelopedcountries be fixed with printable parts?

ENVIRONMENTThere are efforts underway to convert

recycled materials into reusable printerfilament. This work could revolutionizerecycling, closing the cycle time between

collection and commercial reuse. Evencrazier is that the 3D printer can make afilament recycling tool (www.thingi-verse.com/thing:12948).

ADVANCED 3D AND 4D PRINTINGWe were just warming up to the con-

cept of 3D printing and suddenly we’realready at 4D? New 4D printing refers toself-assembling 3D printed objects andwas somewhat jokingly coined by SkylarTibbets from the Massachussetts Insti-tute of Technology (MIT).

Similar to the way Xerox copier/scan-ner/fax machines had a huge impact onbusiness despite never making it intothe home, so will advanced 3D and 4Dprinting. The limiting factor behind the

promise of advanced printing is the spe-cialty “ink” or unique raw printing mate-rials needed to create the product.

Major institutions such as universi-ties, hospitals, and industrial companieswill have access to this ink and be able toexecute on the work created by others.In the same way that open source codehas been furthered by the communityand leveraged widely, so too will theshared development behind advanced3D/4D printing. Even though consumersand organizations aren’t doing the ac-tual printing, they will still be able to in-form and fund the innovation.

Mindblowing uses of 3D/4D printingthat are coming:

• Human tissue printing This is the end of the waiting list for

kidneys. The printing of human tissue(www.ted.com/talks/anthony_atala_printing_a_human_kidney) opens up worldsof medical possibilities and will shift thefocus away from donor registry building.

• Nano printing Printing at the nano scale will enable

innovation across manufacturing fields,technology and have practical medicaluses. The creation of nano biofilters andeven nanobots will enable easier engi-neering to occur at the nano scale --should be a fantastic voyage.

• Self-assembling 4D printing

Self-assembling printing involves 3Dprinters that create smart objects thatcan assemble themselves through ki-netic energy. This may not free peoplefrom the Sunday Ikea projects, but it def-initely makes folks at MIT excited.

• Printing foodThis is just gross. Though it excites

NASA with the possibility of printingfood in space and easily storing and pro-cessing food for long voyages.

• ‘Smart’ material printingSince the Roman aqueducts, our

plumbing technology has predomi-nantly relied on gravity to move water.Water pipes made from smart materialhave the potential to create a rhythmthat moves liquid through them.

Convinced yet? No one likes to be thefirst penguin in the water, but being thelast one surely means starvation. At thispoint it is not a question of if, but whenthe technology will hit mass adoptionduring the next five years. The real ques-tion that remains is who will be pushingthe purpose behind the printing - whichis why the nonprofit sector will need tobecome printer friendly by 2020. NPT

George Weiner is chief whaler at onlinecommunication, technology and fund -raising firm Whole Whale in New YorkCity. Tweet: @WholeWhale

TECH FUTURESContinued from page 1


‘‘We committed tohow do we have aconversation aboutvalues, the promiseof getting people tostop when time wasall about spendingand trying to starta conversationabout giving, aboutconnecting withpeople’s communities.

--Henry Timms


There’s no intent to throw abucket of ice over the efforts for#GivingTuesday but one has towonder about the euphoria. The

final numbers will show roughly $60 mil-lion was raised on Dec. 2 by some 20,000partner organizations in the United Statesand another 6,500 or so abroad.

Earlier this year, and granted it mightbe a one- or two-time phenomenon, theALS Association alone raised $61 millionin one week on its way to $115 millionwith the Ice Bucket Challenge. In Col-orado, 1,700 nonprofits generated $26.2million in one day on Dec. 9.

It is probably a simplistic approachbut basic math shows that worldwide#GivingTuesday brought in an average ofjust $2,264 per participant organization.

Organizers said that it is an advocacyevent along with a fundraising appeal.And, it’s only in its third year. The Col-orado event is only in its fifth year andraised roughly 40 percent of what theworldwide Tweetfest brought in.

Henry Timms, one of the event’sfounders, said that the point is commu-nity. “We committed to how do we havea conversation about values, the prom-ise of getting people to stop when timewas all about spending and trying tostart a conversation about giving, aboutconnecting with people’s communities,”Timms said.

It’s a welcome addition if this ismostly new money. This was a world-wide event targeted at potential donorswho are willing to give mostly throughcredit cards, debit cards and paymentprocessing services. Since most of thosebills won’t come due for 30 days, itmight be a bit easier to just make thatholiday gift on #GivingTuesday. Thatcould be disastrous for year-end giving ifgifts initiated through traditional re-sponse to solicitations ended up goingearlier via credit card and donors thenfigure they are done.

The hope is that #GivingTuesday willbecome the sector’s answer to Cyber-Monday when retailers hawk their waresonline. It seems as if philanthropy – bothtime and/or treasure – is being turnedinto a commodity when the example is aretail purchase, rather than an act ofgood will toward men (women and chil-

Warm Greeting#GivingTuesday still has a long way to go

dren, too). That is especially true asmore for-profit firms publically patthemselves on the back via full-page adsin consumer media describing theirwork with charities.

Hopefully the events that raised a fewbucks in a community did bring peopletogether to hatch additional ideas. Thatwould be a bonus.

It will be interesting to see the re-search being developed by the IndianaUniversity Lilly School of Philanthropy.They are measuring whether people

simply moved their year-end giving up afew weeks or if it is bringing in newdonors. “These are your Sybunts, Ly-bunts (Last Year But Unfortunately NotThis Year and Some Year But Unfortu-nately Not This Year),” said Jon Bider-man of DonorPerfect.

There won’t be a real way to knowuntil after the traditional giving is com-plete and the economics of an improv-ing economic is factored into the results.One has to wonder if there is a Plan B ifyear-end giving is impacted.

#GivingTuesday as a concept forawareness is fine. And, it is early in theevent’s lifespan to determine if it will bea fundraising machine. Between $50 and$60 million is far from chump changebut might not be worth the effort ofroughly 26,500 organizations. Clearly,many participant organizations endedup spending much more than they tookin. The economics of the event need tobe closely examined on an individualbasis. NPT

How to Create a NonprofitAppeal in 20 Minutes

An NPT Webinar StarringHerschell Gordon Lewis

E ver been called on to prepare a professional presentation ... andwondered how and when you’d be ready to perform? To make thechallenge even more impossible, you’re told, “Oh, and we need it thisafternoon.”

After January 15, you’ll be able to chuckle as you tickle the keyboard withconfidence and capability, because you’ll be using the tips, tricks, and tactics you’veabsorbed from what could be the most useful professional assistance you’ve everhad from a unique webinar: How to Create a Nonprofit Appeal in 20 Minutes.

Only nonprofit professionals are invited his private webinar, scheduled at2 p.m. (est), Thursday, January 15.

As you’re reading this announcement, questions might be flying through yourmind: Is it possible? Do principles actually exist, and all I have to do is apply myknowledge of our nonprofit to the knowledge I’ll pick up at this webinar? Howextensive is this webinar? Who’s behind it? Who’s delivering it?

Those questions deserve an answer. Principles do exist,and you’ll have them. This webinar takes just one-hour of yourtime. You never have to leave your desk. The NonProfit Timesis the sponsor. The presenter is internationally-recognizedauthority Herschell Gordon Lewis, author of many books,columnist for The NonProfit Times, and a member of the DirectMarketing Association’s Hall of Fame.

Here’s a sample of what will have you making useful notation after usefulnotation: You’ll be in possession of simple rules – how to start the presentation;what should constitute the “guts;” how to generate participation; words thatexcite and words that dull; simple internal tests that force you to stay on-target.

Generally regarded as the most lionized living copywriter, Herschell GordonLewis will add stimulus that can have an effect on anything you write from themoment you’ve attended this webinar. You’ll avoid low-power word such as“among” and “available.” You’ll discard many versions of “to be.” You’ll have atyour fingertips a quick litmus-test telling you whether your envelope copy, letterstructure, or email subject line is doomed before any outsider sees it.

Armed with fast and furious ammunition that really does make possiblecreation of a professional presentation in 20 minutes (or maybe, as you beginto apply these easy and fast little rules, less than 20 minutes), you’ll see andbenefit from lifetime value, especially since the webinar is priced at just $59.

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PAUL CLOLERYGENERAL RAMBLINGS

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THENONPROFITTIMES

www.thenonprofittimes.com



Heresy. Apostasy. Stupidity. Take your pick. These are just some of the

printable evaluations of this column that will un-doubtedly be hurled. Why will this happen? It isbecause just about every nonprofit managementorthodoxy will be challenged.

Everybody “knows” that a strategic plan is agood thing, and that sensibly managed organiza-tions have leaders who work hard at devising agood strategic plan so that the group can be wellrun for the foreseeable future. What could bewrong with that? Well, nothing is wrong withstriving to create a well-run organization. Theproblem is that most strategic plans are not par-ticularly strategic.

How could that be? After all, the word“strategic” is embedded in that widely-usedphrase. Here’s the bad news for strategic planfans. This column can be summed up in the fol-lowing three assertions:

• If it’s strategic, it’s not a plan. • If it’s a plan, it’s not strategic. • “Strategic plan” is an oxymoron. Here is the heart of the problem: The phrase

“strategic plan” has become so familiar and re-assuring that many managers have lost all per-spective on the profoundly wrong things it saysabout managing nonprofit organizations. It’s thelogical equivalent of a right-handed leftie. It’s aninteresting idea, perhaps, but self-contradictory.

Let’s look at this in a rational, calm fashionwith the goal of spelling out how to avoid theabove contradiction in terms. The first step is tounderstand that the term “strategic” is oftenused so broadly as to be almost meaningless.The one recurring aspect of “strategy” thatshould be constant is that it is about the future,especially the long-term future. By contrast,plans usually are made for a shorter time frame.This is an under-acknowledged and under-ap-preciated aspect of management. It is a bedrockpoint of strategy.

Strategy has some characteristics that dis-tinguish it from an operating plan. In addition tobeing about the long-term future -- three to five

years would be a good start -- it is conceptual innature. Strategies are really just broad ideasabout the way you want the future to look. Thereis no right or wrong at this stage, and goodstrategists will be the first to acknowledge thatthe future probably will not play out the way theycurrently estimate that it will (more on this later).

Strategies lead naturally to framing futuredecisions so as to make them easier to under-stand. Many executives stumble when imple-menting a strategy because they think a strategyshould tell them what decisions to make underwhat circumstances. Instead, they should set out

to create a strategy that is durable and adaptiveenough to accommodate most of the future out-comes that could reasonably be anticipated.

PRIMING THE MINDS Strategies should also prime the mind for a

wide range of future scenarios and potential re-sponses. This isn’t about predicting the future asmuch as it is about thinking strategically. In vir-tually every field in which nonprofits operate, it isoften next to impossible to anticipate in any de-tail what the future will be like in five years. Therole of a good strategy is to help boards of direc-tors and the executives think through the impli-cations of a variety of developments whileadjusting strategies and associated decisions toaccomplish their long-term goals.

The size of a nonprofit is a major factor instrategy formulation. One of the implicit reasons

don’t care to be involved in formulating strategy.After all, where can one find a sufficient numberof board members and staff members who enjoyidentifying and contemplating trends that mightor might not become important, are comfortablewith ambiguity, and who know how to use thatkind of information to help make decisions rightaway? This is a particularly difficult task withfewer hands available in a small organization.

GROUPS PRODUCE THE BEST STRATEGIES There are at least two subtle benefits of

using a group to generate a strategy: 1. Groups tend to produce higher quality out-

comes than do individuals; and, 2. It’s often hard in retrospect to trace failed

strategies back to one person. Incidentally, thisis one of the reasons that strategy formulationtends to involve multiple people in an organiza-

for crafting a strategy is to communicate theimage of a desired future for those who weren’tin the room for the discussions. Smaller groupshave a different challenge.

Nonprofits with a staff of four and a board ofsix have an easier time communicating an effec-tive strategy than those with thousands of em-ployees in multiple locations. This can be anadvantage, but the small size leads to difficultyin defining boundaries, which can take up a dis-proportionate amount of available staff time andshouldn’t be underestimated.

Of course, many people in an organization

tion: when you guess wrong, there can be safetyin numbers.

Of course, strategies are nothing withoutwork plans to implement them. This is wherepeople with a preference for plans instead ofstrategies will find their comfort level because“strategic” is often overshadowed by the moreintuitive orientation to operational tasks.

The short-term time horizon of work plans isalso far easier to deal with for many people thanthe nebulous longer term of strategy. Most peo-ple will also find the apparent orderliness of taskplanning to be much more comfortable thancontemplating strategic directions. Moreover,strategy is inherently conceptual and future ori-ented, whereas work plans offer a more hands-on perspective.

SUMMING UPThe accompanying chart briefly summarizes

the major differences between strategy and op-erations planning. The difference between beingstrategic and planning work is clear. The chartshows why “strategic” and “plan” do fit well to-gether, but not as a single process. First there isstrategy and then there can be planning. Strat-egy is broad and conceptual, planning is detailedand operational and should occur only after astrategy has been crafted.

Note also that whereas a good strategyshould endure for years, a good plan should andwill be changed to reflect shared learning andthe changing external environment.

Returning to the beginning, a strategic planas the phrase is frequently used is a contradic-tion in terms. Yet the two words together encom-pass the spirit of a good integrated planningprocess that happens to have two distinct com-ponents. In practice, the ‘strategic’ part is likelyto get less attention than the ‘plan’ part. A goodstrategy has to have both. Let them call it astrategic plan but make sure to spend a solidamount of time on both parts. Tell them every-body does it that way -- and in a little while you’llbe right. NPT

Thomas A. McLaughlin is the founder of the non-profit-oriented consulting firm McLaughlin & As-sociates and a faculty member at the HellerSchool for Social Policy and Management atBrandeis University. He is the author of “Non-profit Strategic Positioning,” published by Wiley.His email address is [email protected]

THOMAS A. MCLAUGHLINSTREETSMART NONPROFIT MANAGER

Strategic ≠ PlanThe two ideas can either be at odds or complementary

Strategy Formulation vs. Work PlanningPrimaryOrientation

Strategy Where to be Ideas Years

Operations What to do to Operational Weeks/Monthsget there details

PrimaryFocus

TimeMetric


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13

BY TED NEEDLEMAN

“We’ll deal with it when we have to”are eight words that no consult-ant or value added reseller (VAR)of accounting software ever

wants to hear. But that was exactly the reaction thatLyndy Januszewski, a managing consultant at SikitchLLP, a Microsoft Dynamics VAR in Napierville, Ill., kepthearing from a client.

Januszewski’s client, a nonprofit healthcare organi-zation with several separate legal entities, was in theprocess of implementing Microsoft Dynamics GP sothat the parent organization and its independently-run parts were all on the same page as far as account-ing software.

Early on in the specification process, the clientspeculated that it would be nice if all of the entitiescould reside on a single database. Januszewski andher team quickly realized that there were problems in-herent in that approach, especially in preparing theend-of-year Form 1099s for the vendors. But the clientlatched onto the single-database concept, and withbulldog-like perseverance would not let go -- hencethe eight deadly words.

There is software designed for just this purpose --to identify the transactions made by separate entitieswhile using a single unifying database. It is, however,provided as an add-on available at additional costfrom an independent software provider (ISP). Theclient just couldn’t see the need to spend the addi-tional money.

As far as installation failures go, this one wasn’t asbad as it could be. But addressing the issue “when theyhad to” ended up being at the end of the year -- thebusiest possible time period to have to solve the prob-lem. Sorting thousands of vendor payments by hand tosummarize all of the different 1099s that had to be pre-pared cost several hundred man-hours and thousandsof dollars. And that was before Januszewski’s team hadto tweak the software to prevent a future occurrence ofthe problem.

While a large proportion of accounting software in-stallations suffer little or no bumps in the road, some-times they do go way off the rails. Januszewski’sexperience illustrates one of the major reasons an in-stall project goes awry, and unfortunately, is morecommon than one might expect.

In the above scenario, the failure resulted from theclient not fully understanding the overall business andworkflow process and the VAR being put inthe position of telling the client they are goingabout things the wrong way. Almost every ven-dor and VAR consulted for this story emphasizedthe importance of making sure that you under-stand organizational needs in terms of features andimplementation, why it needs these, and who will beresponsible for what parts of the install and ongoingoperation of the software.

David Geilhufe, senior director, corporate citizen-ship and nonprofit vertical software at NetSuite in San

Mateo, Calif., was just one of the vendors to point outa primary reason an installation can fail: “The non-profit can’t fully articulate what it needs from andwhat is important in an accounting system. Executivesstruggle to ask the right questions about what thenonprofit requires.”

Sometimes, the wrong questions, or no questionsat all, are a result of the wrong people being involvedin the specification of implementation process.Joanne “Jo” Schneberger, a professional services con-sultant for Abila Software in Austin, Texas, noted thathaving the right people in the process, and makingsure that those people are qualified to make the deci-sions, is crucial. “In some situations a CFO might goout and purchase a new software and run the imple-mentation themselves, but it fails when they didn’tunderstand all the things that the team membersneeded from the software,” she said. “It is crucial tohave buy-in from employees using the system so theycan participate in the customizations to the structureand trainings.”

PROBLEM NUMBER TWOUnrealistic expectations are a second reason soft-

ware installations fail. Also a problem is thinking thatyour organization needs more or less than it actuallydoes.

“I got a call from the client of another VAR that han-dles one of the fund accounting products I also selland support,” said Matt Yezukevich, CPA, a consultingmanager at BlumShapiro in Quincy, Mass. “They hadmoved from QuickBooks to this new software becauseQuickBooks proved too limiting. But they also wentfrom about 1,000 accounts in their QuickBooks Chartof Accounts to a system that can easily handle 20,000accounts.”

This client, with five or fewer users most of thetime and between $7 million and $19 million in in-come, implemented a system configuration more ap-propriate for a $150 million entity. The reason for theoverkill was clear -- a director of finance who joinedfrom a much larger organization. Three directorslater, Yezukevich and his team were called in, drasti-cally pared down the number of accounts and in

about a month, had things running smoothly.The lesson, according to Geilhufe, is to ensure you

have the right people, process, and expectations inplace. “Include non-finance stakeholders in the ac-counting software decision and implementationprocess to ensure that finance isn’t isolated from therest of your organization. Have one or more senior ex-ecutives act as evangelists for the new accounting sys-tem to demonstrate management commitment to theimplementation,” he said.

“Do establish an executive steering committee,which meets regularly, and which is in charge of theimplementation. Do set a correct level of expectationsabout what the new accounting system will deliver.Do encourage staff to ‘own’ the system and start train-ing on the system early and continue it long after im-plementation so users are familiar with all aspects ofthe functionality,” said Geilhufe.

Abila’s Schneberger also warned that a good educa-

VARs’ View: 5 Reasons AccountingSoftware Installations Fail

Sponsored by

‘‘‘We’ll deal with it whenwe have to’ are eight words

that no consultant orvalue added resellerof accountingsoftware everwants to hear.

Continued on page 14

N P T S P E C I A L R E P O R T : A C C O U N T I N G S O F T W A R E




tional foundation in how nonprofit ac-counting differs from standard for-profitaccounting is essential for a successfulimplementation.

“There can be unrealistic expecta-tions that by implementation a fund ac-counting software that all your issueswill be solved. If the people leading theaccounting department don’t under-stand the basics of fund accounting thenthey can create a structure that makes ithard to pull the reports necessary. Ac-counting managers aren’t always ac-countants in nonprofits,” she said.

PROBLEM NUMBER THREEA third reason for software installa-

tion failures results from buying on nameor on a list of features rather than match-ing a product’s capabilities and featuresto the needs and requirements of yourorganization.

“Failure to do sufficient due diligenceduring the selection process is a placewhere some installations fail,” said PeterStam, president of Accufund in Need-ham, Mass. “Even if there’s an experi-enced finance director, they might notlook carefully enough at the details ofhow their organization’s needs will bemet. They get wowed by price or somesizzle factors pushed by the sales personand don't look at the details of how theywill be accomplishing their critical re-porting requirements.”

NetSuite’s Geilhufe echoed Stam’swarning. Nonprofit managers who “basetheir accounting software purchasepurely on a shopping list of software fea-tures are at a high risk of a failed imple-mentation.” Instead, he said, come upwith a list of solutions to important busi-ness problems your nonprofit faces. Thatlist will translate to a set of critical/must-have features for the accounting system.It’s something of a balancing act to findaccounting software that is specific forthe needs of nonprofits, but not overlyspecific in terms of boxing your non-profit into functionality that isn’t a fea-ture of your own operations so, forexample, the difference between beingfundraising-driven versus grant-driven.

PROBLEM NUMBER FOURGood planning is critical to a success-

ful accounting system installation, and isa fourth reason that these installationssometimes fail.

Donald Cassady, president and CEO ofGrants Management Systems (GMS) inKensington, Md., cautioned against rely-ing on staff who might not understand thenuances of nonprofit software, or for thatmatter, might not have the IT backgroundrequired for a successful implementation.“Unfortunately in the nonprofit world, es-pecially in smaller organizations theremight not be IT personnel on staff. Thatjob is left to the person ‘with the mostcomputer experience.’ If this is the case, itcould be worth the expense to an organi-zation to have an IT person on hand todeal immediately with problems arisingwithin the network environment.”

Yezukevich shared one such failure hisfirm got called in to handle. His cautionarytale revolved around a public arts organi-zation with a 25-year-old IT manager whowas good with computers. The client pur-chased a new accounting system based onname and reputation and installed it with-out help. “Unfortunately,” Yezukevich re-called, ”the internal project director wasgood with computers but didn’t really un-derstand the way the organization wasstructured. The situation was complicatedby the tremendous growth the organiza-tion was undergoing.”

process, a documented implementationplan, and an agreement by all parties in-volved (internal and external) that thisplan is the right one.”

Having a realistic implementationplan with definable milestones and tar-get dates is also a must for a successfulinstallation. It’s not enough to under-stand what you need. You also have tohave a detailed understanding of what itwill take to get there, how long eachstep in the process will take, and estab-lish target dates along the way. At leastone or more people on the planningteam, from your organization and/or thevendor or VAR you select, should haveproject management experience. Whilea vendor or their VAR might assure youthat the process is “plug in and go,”most experienced implementation spe-cialists will have the scars to prove that’soften not true.

The software was not set up correctly,and after two years of struggling with thenew software, Yezukevich’s firm wascalled in to consult. Hampered by an un-cooperative member of the organiza-tion’s board, Yezukevich was unable todo much but slap a bandage on theproblem, and the client continues tofight with a software solution that’s notthe right one for their needs.

NetSuite’s Geilhufe added, “Pay at-tention every step of the way in theprocess. Be involved and hands-on inboth the accounting selection processand throughout the implementation.Ensure that you start off with a list of realbusiness requirements rather than just alist of features. Do create a discovery

AccuFund’s Stam also weighed in onthe importance of being able to stick to aschedule. “One of the reasons an instal-lation can fail is not assigning an internalproject manager who has enough au-thority to get meetings scheduled andlight fires under staff for data and partic-ipation,” he said. “Having the internal‘go to’ person can make a huge differ-ence in whether or not an installationsucceeds.”

The experts said that you need to beon the lookout for the “I did it this wayin my last job” syndrome. This can be ex-tremely disrupting to a successful installprocess if the person responsible forcritical areas has a strong accountingbackground, but that background is notin the nonprofit area.

According to Kent Hollrah, seniorchannel executive – Nonprofit Solutionsat Intacct in San Jose, Calif., the key to asuccessful implementation starts withthe chart of accounts design. “It’s veryimportant to have someone leading theeffort who understands both the organi-zation’s needs and the special nuancesof nonprofit accounting,” he said. “Ac-counting for nonprofit entities is quitedifferent than for commercial enter-prise. There is simply no substitute fordeep, nonprofit domain expertise.”

FINALLY, NUMBER FIVEAccording to Abila’s Schneberger, a

fifth reason software installs fail is turn -over and a lack of training. “When there

LyndyJanuszewski

JoanneSchneberger

PeterStam

DavidGeilhufe

is turnover in leadership, it can result ina canceled or delayed implementation,”she said. And when responsible and/orwell-trained people leave the organiza-tion, it can throw a monkey wrench intothe installation, or the ongoing successof what would otherwise be a successfulimplementation.

Consultant and VAR Kent Arnold, CPA,CEO of RBP Methods in Beaverton, Ore.,shared a case that underscores this prob-lem. It involved a client in the mentalhealth field that was growing rapidlythrough acquisitions. The client was stuckwith a large number of simultaneous mov-ing parts including third-party billing,Medicare and Medicaid, and bringing onstaff from the newly acquired organiza-tions. The organization also had to trainnew staff members on how to use theirparts of the software in the midst of thechaos of performing the installation of thenew accounting system.

“The person who did the initial setupwas an employee of the client,” Arnoldsaid. “And, he left after four monthswithout training anyone in how the sys-tem was configured. The client calledthe software vendor, and they recom-mended that the client engage our firm.We went in and simplified the chart ofaccounts, reporting, and Human Re-source subsystems.” RBP Methods alsoarranged ongoing training so that theclient would not be caught in the samesituation in the future.

Schneberger is blunt about this area“Don’t cheap out on training. It is im-portant to make the investment in train-ing at the beginning otherwise it willcost you in the long-run. Your team willspend all the time calling support if thestaff isn’t successfully trained during im-plementation.”

Training the support team isn’t theonly education that might have to takeplace. If you don’t have people on the se-lection and implementation teams whounderstand how the pieces fit together, itmight make sense to either train yourpeople in areas that they are not profi-cient, or engage a consultant that’s notaffiliated with any particular softwarevendor or VAR to assist in the process.


Continued on page 15



While there are numerous VARs who cando a good job analyzing your organiza-tion’s needs, it’s best to leave thatprocess and decision in the hands ofpeople who don’t have a financial inter-est in the sale of software and/or services.

Thomas Walker, product manager forthe financial solutions line at Blackbaudin Charleston, S.C., also weighed in onthe importance of having educated spec-ification, implementation, and opera-tional teams. “When you think abouttraining during the software selectionand implementation process, you canbreak it down into two segments. Thefirst one is training as part of the archi-tecture and understanding how the sys-tem is going to work from thatarchitectural perspective,” he said. “Thatway, as design begins and goes throughany embellishment like testing, the usersthat are involved in that design phasefully understand the underlying archi-tecture of the software.”

The second phase of that, Walkercontinued, “is to begin to bring in theend users so that they are properlytrained on the software and begin to getcomfortable with it.”

THE BOTTOM LINEObviously, there are a lot more than

five reasons that a project as complex asimplementing a software installation canfail. The best defense against an installa-tion failure is planning. Know what yourorganization needs, who it needs bothinternally and externally to make the in-stall work, have a realistic timeline andexpectations, and have a plan in placefor future operation and change. Doingyour homework, and having resources athand to handle any surprises gives youthe best chance of having not only asmooth software installation, but wind-ing up with a system and personnel tokeep it operating smoothly once it’s upand running.

Finally, here’s one last suggestion. Ifyou don’t know something, or you’renot sure -- ask. That’s true before andduring the selection of software, whilethe implementation is proceeding, andafter the new system is up and running.Get help if you aren’t completely confi-dent you can solve a problem. NPT

AbilaMIP Fund Accounting Up to three users, $249/user/month;$149/month each user after three800-811-0961www.abila.com

AccuFund Inc.AccuFund Accounting Suite StandardSingle-user: $2,995; three users:$6,495;add $895 for each additional user.Cloud-based pricing starts at$150/monthAccuFund Accounting Suite ProfessionalSingle-user: $6,595; three users: $8,995;add $1,195 for each additional userCloud-based pricing starts at$225/month781-433-0233www.accufund.com

AgilonAgilon Business FinancialsStarts at $27,000 for 1 to 4 usersStarts at $42,000 for 5 to 10 users800-480-9015www.myagilon.com

Aplos SoftwareAplos Accounting $15/month for one user$25/month for unlimited usersAplos Oversight SuiteBasic enterprise platform free tononprofit users of Accounting Suite888-274-1316www.aplos.com

AraizeFastFund Nonprofit SoftwareSingle user, starts at $35/month; two tofive users, $60/month; $25/month forevery five more users FastFund Premium$75/month single, $100/month multi-user up to five users919-460-3990www.araize.com

BlackbaudFinancial Edge NXTSingle user starting at $249/month 800-443-9441www.blackbaud.com

Accounting AutomationThere are many accounting software packages employed in the nonprofit world.

Below are some of the more prominent applications.

Cougar Mountain Software DENALI FUNDBasecamp PackageSingle user $1,999; $357 eachadditional userAscent PackageSingle user, $2,999; $357 eachadditional userSummit Package Single user, $4,999; $357 eachadditional user 800-388-3038www.cougarmtn.com

CYMA Systems Inc.CYMA Not-For-Profit EditionBasic package starts at $795Typical 5 User System with Grantracking: $5,800800-292-2962www.cyma.com

eTEK InternationaleTEK FundamentalsStarting at $5,000 for one user800-888-6894www.etek.net

FUND E-Z Development Corp.FUND E-Z Nonprofit AccountingSingle user $1,995; each additionaluser approximately $500 FUND E-Z Nonprofit Accounting (Proadd-on) $1,495877-696-0900www.fundez.com

Grants Management Systems, Inc. GMS Accounting and FinancialManagement/Reporting SystemOne to two users, $3,500; three to four

users, $5,000; five or more users,$7,500; License and warranty,$35/month/userRevolving Loan Servicing SystemOne to two users, $3,300; three to fourusers $3,800; five or more users$4,300. License and warranty, $35/month/user800-933-3501www.gmsactg.com

Intacct CorporationIntacctTypical entry-level pricing for nonprofitsis $3,600/year877-437-7765http://us.intacct.com

Intuit Inc.Quickbooks Premier for Nonprofits Starts at $499.95/year for one user877-683-3280http://quickbooks.intuit.com/premier/Quickbooks Enterprise Solutions forNonprofits 13.0Starts at $1,000/year for one user 866-379-6635http://enterprisesuite.intuit.com/indus-try-solutions/nonprofit/

NetSuiteNetSuite Mid-Market EditionFree donation through TechSoup for upto 5 users at qualifying nonprofits NetSuite Fund AccountingStarting at $9,995/year for 5 users877-NETSUITEwww.netsuite.com

OneNFPOneNFP FinancialsStarts at $99 per user per month877-261-7045www.onenfp.com

Open Systems Inc.TRAVERSE for Not-for-Profit Starts at $195 per user per month 800-328-2276www.osas.com

Serenic SoftwareSerenic NavigatorThree users, startsat $16,000877-737-3642www.serenic.com


DonaldCassady




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BY MARK HRYWNA

Five years after bridging a $209-mil-lion operating deficit, the AmericanRed Cross is again slashing expensesamid a nationwide reorganization of

the 133-year-old nonprofit.As part of a plan called “Vision 2017,” the

Red Cross will eliminate almost 5 percent of itsworkforce, with many cuts already made duringthe past year. Approximately 1,200 of an esti-mated 26,500 jobs will be slashed throughoutthe chapters and national headquarters in Wash-ington, D.C., while consolidating the number ofregional chapters nationwide by one-third.

“Vision 2017” is a three-year effort that startedin the Biomedical Services Division during late 2012,with the majority of staff reductions and changes oc-curring this past fall and effective by the end of 2014.There likely will be “a small number of additional re-ductions in limited areas next year (2015) in unitsthat did not undertake all of their reductions” lastyear, said Roger Lowe, senior vice president, com-munications, at national headquarters.

Positions are across the organization --chapter and local biomedical services, as well asnational headquarters and a wide range of de-partments, with some units at headquarters see-ing a staff reduction of as much as 30 percent.

“Every segment of the Red Cross is taking afresh look at the work we do and how we can doit better and more efficiently, making the bestuse of donor dollars. These effects will affectnearly all of the Red Cross structure and opera-tions,” said Lowe, who since a November tele-phone interview left the organization to lead thecommunications team at the Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association. Theorganization declined to reveal estimated sav-ings associated with “Vision 2017.”

The changes occurring nationwide are “partof an overall effort to ensure that Red Cross iswell positioned for the future, with a goal for hav-ing more resources to spend on the communitieswe serve,” said Lowe. “We’re continuing to right-size biomedical services to adjust to changes inthe market,” Lowe said, describing a new chap-ter structure as “a local model for local services.”

Changes within the Biomedical Services Di-vision started earlier “because of the challengesfacing the entire industry and that extendedthroughout the organization with changes,”Lowe said. “We’re revising the structure to havevolunteer leaders to fill roles previously done bypaid staff members,” he said.

Approximately 96 regional chapters will bereorganized into 62 regional chapters, oversee-ing about 240 community chapters, making forabout 300 chapters in all. As recently as just afew years ago, Red Cross had 720 independentchapters, each with its own payroll systems, fi-nancial audits, websites and IT departments.During the past several years, those operationshave been consolidated nationwide.

The more recent reorganization is in responseto anticipating trends and challenges facing theorganization in the coming years, from decliningblood donations and decreased demand for bloodto rising debt and pension liabilities.

Some of the nation’s oldest and best-knownnonprofits have endured massive restructuring

in recent years. The American Cancer Societyconsolidated 12 divisions amid an organiza-tional-wide transformation during its centennialyear in 2013. Several years ago, Girl Scouts ofthe USA consolidated from more than 300 localcouncils into barely 100 while the national officein New York City restructured staffing levelsahead of the 2013 Fiscal Year.

The business models of revenue-raising

nonprofits that worked so well in the 20th cen-tury are “getting a little long in the tooth,” saidAlan Tuck, a senior advisor at Boston-based TheBridgespan Group. For example, the FidelityCharitable Gift Fund, a donor-advised fund, isnow larger than long-time workplace giving stal-wart United Way.

“Direct mail is still important but it’s not agrowth engine anymore,” Tuck said. Organiza-tions were built-up with modes of giving before

on the financial side, he said there also is pres-sure from donors who want to see results. “Don’tjust tell me you care, tell me results,” he said.

United Way Worldwide shifted from a fiscalintermediary to a community solutions organiza-tion. People no longer need United Way as apass-through because it’s easier to give directlyto a charity. The Y has been increasingly creatingsignature programs, which have real, measura-ble outcomes, with a consistency in delivering

Some Red Cross RegionsExpanding, Building

The American Red Cross “Vision2017” plan includes reassessingthe size of its vast real estateholdings across the country, look-

ing at property owned and rented by the RedCross at the local and national levels, and de-termining what it has and what it will need inthe future.

“This will take several years to imple-ment,” Roger Lowe, senior vice president,communications, said during a Novembertelephone interview. Lowe has since left theorganization.

That review won’t affect a new headquar-ters facility planned for the Greater Indianapo-lis chapter. The local headquarters will be anexample of a Red Cross “facility of the future,”said John Lyter, CEO of the American RedCross of Greater Indianapolis. “We’re thinkingabout how we use technology and how volun-teers come to us now,” he said. The currentheadquarters is a 56,000-square-foot build-ing that was built when people in central Indi-ana “came here for everything, so we neededa big old building.”

He explained: “We go to where the peopleare, more than people come to the Red Cross.So you need a hub where volunteers can gather,can at least have the technology and the stuff toprovide service so they can go volunteer in theway it works for them.” A new headquarters willbe more like 25,000 square feet.

Lyter described the changes associatedwith Vision 2017 as a “reorganization as wellas rationalization.” Indiana will have six de-fined chapters working as a single region, pro-viding coordinating functions, such as training,back-office operations and standards for serv-ice delivery, he said. Previously, Indiana wastwo regions and parts of three others.

“There are about four ways to organizethe Red Cross: They all work. There are rea-sons to change. I’ve seen this map before,”Lyter said, recalling a version in the 1970s

and 1980s that had 56 “visions” that weresimilar.

Most Red Cross chapters were organizedaround World War I, particularly east of Mis-sissippi. “If you look at the rest of the worldand how it organizes, it doesn’t organizemuch at the county level for social services,”Lyter said. The state organizes in 10 districtsthrough systems like Department of Home-land Security, state police, education and theDepartment of Health. “While we only have six

chapters, we’re using the state district map toinform how we staff the place. As we workwith partners, we will have staff aligned withthe way at least state government and othersthink about organizing their work in thestate,” said Lyter. He started as a volunteer in1967 before joining the paid staff in 1976.He’s been CEO the last 19 years.

The Red Cross in Indiana has between4,000 and 5,000 volunteers and staff now num-ber about 57, down about one-third from 79 inthe regions that made up the previous incarna-tion. The changes took effect this past Nov. 1.The reductions came through a combination ofa reduction in force (RIF), and eliminating va-cant positions. “We tried to take as many ofthem [vacant positions] into consideration aspossible,” Lyter said. Some staff approachingretirement did not want to go forward in thenew structure, he said. Staff received threeweeks’ notice and severance. – Mark Hrywna

the Internet came of age, he said, and millenni-als are not interested in joining member organi-zations. “Certainly 2008 brought that into thefore,” Tuck said.

“For a lot of these networks, and a lot ofthese organizations, it’s not just about scale butusing that scale for impact. It’s not just howmany people you reach but how many peopleyou help,” Tuck said. And while there is pressure

those programs that’s beginning to draw philan-thropy, Tuck said.

Leaders of these organizations are restruc-turing not just as cost-cutting measures but aneffort to deliver more impact, measure and ca-pability, Tuck emphasized.

Most changes at the chapter level were to bein place by Dec. 31, according to Lowe. This isthe largest reduction at headquarters since 2008when about 1,000 positions were eliminated tohelp bridge a $209-million operating deficit.

In 2012, Red Cross consolidated human re-sources, marketing, information technology, fi-nance and preparedness and health and safetyservices operations, “eliminating unnecessaryadministrative burdens,” though the organizationdeclined to provide an estimate as to savings.

Red Cross has been reducing its debt over thepast several years, from $613 million in 2009 to$539 million in 2013. Its debt-to-net-asset ratiospiked to almost 35 percent in 2012, betweenyears of 23.6 percent (2013) and 26 percent(2011). It also took steps to curtail its pension planin 2013. The organization reduced post-retirementpension liability from $1 billion to $558 million byfreezing the retirement system and offering alump-sum buyout for terminated vested employ-ees. Red Cross officials declined to comment be-yond a note in its financial statements. The planwas closed to employees hired after July 1, 2009and changes also were made at the time to retire-ment health plan coverage.

“Much of this is an internal restructuring,”Lowe said of the current reorganization. “We’reactually doing this in a way, in hopes that we willcontinue service in the community, hopefully ex-pand it, to serve even more people in the yearsahead,” he said. “As we’re working through this,our goal is people who depend on Red Cross forhelp in an emergency situation, training, for blood,won’t see a difference on the ground. Red Cross isstill going to be there,” he said, including thingssuch as CPR classes and swim lessons.

Approximately one-third of disaster servicespositions at headquarters were pushed out intothe field, Lowe said, and as part of the disasterstructure change they’re getting more decision-making authority on the ground.

Red Cross will continue to have a presence inevery state. Some states will have one chapterregion and others will have more, Lowe said. Forinstance, Ohio will have three regional chaptersbut still have community chapters in fairly largecities. In Michigan, three divisions were consoli-dated into a single statewide division, with 20 re-gional chapters reduced to six after layoffs inOctober. In California, four executive director po-sitions were eliminated. A newly formed Califor-nia Northwest chapter will encompass threeformer chapters that each had their own director.

This round of layoffs began in the BiomedicalServices Division more than a year ago. RedCross expected to collect one million fewer blooddonations in 2014 than it did five years ago,leading to declining revenue in the BiomedicalServices Division, which accounts for two-thirdsof the organization’s $3 billion in annual rev-enue. About 2 percent of the staff in BiomedicalServices was laid off a year ago, representingabout 360 of 18,000 positions at the time. NPT

American Red Cross ‘Vision’ ReducesStaff, Pushes Consolidation

Current headquarters of the American RedCross of Greater Indianapolis



Here is given, generic to themedia-loaded second decadeof the 21st century: Our capa-bility of knowing many speci -

fics of our donor-targets is far greater thanit was even a single generation ago.

So, a question arises, matching thatevolutionary (or devolutionary) trend:Do you agree that intensifying an indi-vidual appeal to match what we knowabout the individual is a “so what?” alter-native to emphasizing our worth as anonprofit organization?

You have four options when evaluat-ing how you might compete in the non-profit world, using ammunition distilledfrom what your organization knowsabout itself and about which potentialdonors represent a logical bottom-line.

If only as a double-check to reassureyourself that you haven’t let personalprejudices replace dispassionate judg-ment, why not check out these options:Do you agree? Disagree? Just ignore?

• Option Number One: I want tomatch my competitive offer to potential

donors (no prior association with us)with appeals worded to match whateverI know, based on existing donors. It’s upto the list company or local sources tosupply me with names.

Agree. Why? You’re allowing traditionto override opportunity, but you’re insafe territory.

• Option Number Two: I want tomatch one significant factor -- age, postalcode, or professional/employment cir cum -stance. Then, wording will match the factor.

Agree. Here’s one constraint: Antici-pate serendipity -- finding what youaren’t looking for. Use the obvious cir-cumstance-factors to refine response.You might discover a hidden lode -- age-ranges that are unresponsive, ZIP codesthat react positively to one approach butnot to others. Be ready to re-word as atest to see if you can intensify the per-centage of positive answers.

• Option Number Three: I want toopen new gates. I’ll aim outside the age-range, income-level, and other demo-graphic elements that have previously

driven appeals.Agree. The obvious provisions are

that you don’t leap off the deep end intoa slough of despond and that you tailorthe appeal so participation seems logicalfor those who exist within the segment.

• Option Number Four: Changemedia.

Agree. Switching from or to directmail, from or to an online communica-tion, or inclusion of social media showsa twenty-first century awareness of cul-tural change. Note, though, that here,more than with any of the other options,you include a panel representing what-ever media or even single medium hasbeen the most effective for you, dollarfor dollar. Invading new media can par-allel fighting windmills.

An assumption repeated here just forcompleteness is that no answer can betabulated and no experiment is com-plete until its second year, in which youre-approach donors for renewal. That’swhere recruits whose numbers haven’tquite risen above the break-even markcan surge. Don’t count on this, though.Safety lies in your original results.

A question that might accompanyevery one of the others: Does experimen-tation make sense when you haven’t ex-hausted the original lode? Sure, it does.

Competitors constantly snipe, and exceptfor highly dedicated and fanatical donors,all fundraising is competitive with allother fundraising. Inevitably, grist for ourmill is grist for other mills, and growthcomes from connecting outside our ownsphere as well as intensification within.

One more question, a repeat -- maybejust for clarity: If you base your market-ing philosophy on “Who we are” ratherthan “Who you are,” are you allowingtradition to override opportunity?

Agree. You know what Yogi Berra saidabout what to do when you come to afork in the road. (Take it.)

That’s it. Simple enough, isn’t it? OK,your turn. NPT

Herschell Gordon Lewis is a profes-sional writer who lives in PompanoBeach, Fla., consulting with and writ-ing direct response copy for clientsworldwide. He is the author of “Hot Ap-peals or Burnt Offerings,” an analysis offund raising techniques. His most re-cent book is his 32nd -- “Internet Mar-keting Tips, Tricks, and Tactics.” Amonghis other books are“On the Art of Writ-ing Copy,” (fourth edition),“CreativeRules for the 21st Century,” and “Howto Write Powerful Fund Raising Letters.”His website is herschellgordonlewis.com

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President and ChiefExecutive Officer

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Our client is seeking an experienced and effective ex-ecutive with the adaptability and flexibility to meetrapidly changing needs, possessing the strategic andresponsive mindset necessary to “re-imagine” thework of this long-standing and successful humanservice enterprise while maintaining the high stan-dards, core values and philosophy of the organization.

Founded in 1913, our client’s treatment philosophyis rooted in seeing the good in every child, whichserves as the guiding principle in its strength-basedapproach. Our client offers a wide range of commu-nity-based juvenile justice, child welfare and behav-ioral health programs, education and educationalmanagement services, as well as specialized resi-dential programs in an upper Midwestern state andtraining for education and youth development pro-fessionals around the world.

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Salt Lake City, Utah

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds for170 children’s hospitals across the United States andCanada, which, in turn, use the money where it’s neededthe most. When a donation is given it stays in the commu-nity, helping local kids. Since 1983, Children’s MiracleNetwork Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion, mostof it $1 at a time. These donations have gone to supportresearch and training, purchase equipment, and pay foruncompensated care, all in support of the mission to saveand improve the lives of as many children as possible.

This position will be responsible for the developmentand execution of national corporate partner campaigns de-signed to raise funds and public awareness for Children’sMiracle Network and its affiliated hospitals; serve as theprimary contact for his/her portfolio of accounts; provideaccount leadership; achieve account fundraising andawareness goals; and develop new fundraising campaignsand events. This individual is responsible for building andmaintaining relationships with all stakeholders and manag-ing the fiscal growth of assigned corporate accounts.

JOB DUTIES• Manage and grow a portfolio of national corporate

partner accounts• Develop, manage and evaluate strategic alliances with

corporate partner accounts in accordance with overalldepartment and organizational strategy

• Develop account goals and strategic business and op-erating plans

• Forecast, budget and track account revenue and ex-penses

• Plan, coordinate and execute corporate account stew-ardship activities

• Work in conjunction with various CMN Hospitals de-partments including Communications, Hospitals Rela-tions, Accounting, Insights and the Regional Team toplan and implement the strategic direction of individualpartner accounts

• Develop, enhance and manage cause marketing part-nerships with a relatively high degree of concentrationin fundraising, public relations, sales and marketing

• Cultivate strong corporate partnerships by building andmaintaining effective working relationships with con-tacts to fully engage and increase support and interestin growing their Children’s Miracle Network Hospitalsfundraising and marketing efforts

EDUCATION & EXPERIENCE• Bachelor's degree in marketing or business related

field• Minimum 5-7 years of experience managing partner

accounts or customers• Thorough knowledge of fundraising, cause marketing,

marketing and public relations• Demonstrated skills in achieving fundraising and

budget goals• Ability to effectively develop and implement cause

marketing strategies• Ability to effectively research, understand and monitor

partner businesses• Ability to effectively research, understand and monitor

cause marketing industry trends• Candidate should possess strong analytical skills, criti-

cal thinking skills and problem solving skills• Strong presentation and communication skills, both

verbal and written• Ability to interface and demonstrate leadership both in-

ternally and externally• High-energy self-starter as well as collaborative team

player• Proven ability to effectively communicate cross func-

tionally within company and with partner contacts• Demonstrated commitment to building and maintain-

ing strong business relationships with partner contacts• Ability to effectively communicate with senior leaders

internally and with partner contacts• Ability to travel up to 30% of working time

Apply online atjobs.childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org


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BACKGROUND SCREENERS

COMPUTER SOFTWARE

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CHARITABLE STATE REGISTRATION

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Mitch-Stuart, Inc., leading provider of no-risk auction travel pkgs.www.mitchstuart.com 800-574-9991 over $1billion raised for charities.

COMPUTERIZED FUND ACCOUNTING

COMPUTER SOFTWARE / PLANNED GIVING


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12 Abila abila.com/mip

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2 Grant Thornton GrantThornton.com/nfp

6 Grantsmanship Center 800-421-9512 tgci.com

8 NTEN myNTC.nten.org

10 NPT Fundraising Webinar bit.ly/hgl14

18 Peer-to-Peer Forum peertopeerforum.com

16 VolunteerHub volunteerhub.com

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THENONPROFITTIMESSUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

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JANUARY 1, 2015 THE NONPROFIT TIMES www.thenonprofittimes.com22


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The best thing about teamwork is that our team works.At Philadelphia Insurance Companies, we’ve raised money and pledged time for Ronald McDonald House Charities, the American Red Cross, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Face to Face, and the Challenged Athletes Foundation. We’ve shown these organizations and the nonprofits we insure every day that teamwork works. Because our team works. Learn more. Call 855.411.0797 or visit PHLY.com/socialservice.

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Baseball is known for its over-used phrases and bad grammaras much as it is for hot dogsand beer. But, I still cringed

when I heard a college coach introduce a6-foot, 6-inch pitcher by saying: “This talldrink of water will give you 110%, 110% ofthe time.”

Yogi Berra, the famous Yankee catcher,was adorable with his awkward handlingof his native English. The rest of us justsound like buffoons when we speak likethis.

Fundraising has its own Yogi-isms,and few of us have his charm in deliver-ing them. So, let’s retire some phrasesthat over-promise and under-deliver interms of meaning and clarity.

Let’s start with “cloud-based soft-ware,” which used to be called “soft-ware as a service,” which used to becalled “web-based software,” all ofwhich are sold by “application serviceproviders.” In my career we’ve gonefrom getting floppy disks with softwareupgrades, to dialing up the vendor’s com-puter and hoping they’d load their ownupgrades, to accessing our files on the In-ternet and hoping hackers weren’t alsoaccessing them.

While we’re poking fun at softwarefirms, let’s also call them out on “solu-tions” -- many of which are nifty piecesof software eagerly searching for prob-lems. A hammer is a “solution” -- if yourproblem is a protruding nail.

And, what about “industry-leading?”I remember when Avis bragged aboutbeing #2. Not even in Lake Wobegon(where all the children are above aver-age) can all the “solutions” be “industry-leading.” Just for fun, I Googled (anothersoon to be boring phrase) “industry-lead-ing, cloud-based solution” and found697,000 results with that claim in 0.38seconds. That’s a lot of bragging. (See theaccompanying screen shot.)

The age of “emarketing,” with orwithout the hyphen, is over. We used to“e-market” (then “emarket”) with e-mail (which later became “email”) butemail is now just one piece of a huge, in-tegrated web of channels, including so-cial media and mobile.

The “e” has to go. Call it “digital mar-keting” if you have to describe the chan-nels about which your boss is stilluncomfortable. But really, if you’re stillfocusing on digital efforts separatelyfrom postal, your entire departmentneeds to be retired, not just the wordsyou’re still using.

“Viral” and “organic,” when com-bined with growth should be handcuffedtogether and expelled. If “organic” meansgrowth that we didn’t work for, then“viral” means growth that we didn’t really

deserve. Campaigns used to “bomb,”“break-even” or “succeed” and they stilldo, though fewer will succeed if we settlefor “organic” and keep reaching for “viral.”

Besides, in this drug-resistant bacter-ial age, “viral” and “organic” make mewant to wash my hands and wear a mask.

Anybody older than 40 knows thatnice people have friends, and trouble-makers have “cohorts.” Cohorts need tobe indicted along with co-conspiratorsand members of a cabal.

“Deep-Dive” and “granular” is the

next pair to get the editorial heave-ho. Asin, “let’s take a deep dive into the data” or“if we get more granular…” Let’s face it.The big-picture numbers are just the sumof the little-picture numbers. There’s noway to increase your fundraising resultsby focusing on the total revenue number.You have to focus on retention rate, givingfrequency, and average gift. So start there,focus there, and don’t “drill down” (a “co-hort” of “deep-dive”) any further. And forheaven’s sake, don’t “drill up.” Ever.

Saying your organization has “silos”

is an excuse for failing to play nicely to-gether with the other professionals whohave their own goals and their ownbosses. Of course they worry about theirboss’s priorities more than they worryabout yours. It’s your job to show themhow they can meet their boss’s prioritiesby aligning with yours.

Of course, without silos, you’ll betempted to “interface” and “network”more. Don’t succumb to that tempta-tion. Instead, “meet” your colleagues (orcohorts, if you’re part of The Van BurenBoys) and “talk” with them.

A colleague contributed this phrase,uttered in her presence at a recent meet-ing: “We want to create data sets that areorganic and breathable to set us up forsuccess before the campaign.” I’d love tocriticize this, but I have to understandfirst what the heck this person meant.The best I can come up with is that theywant a bar of success that looks suffi-ciently “data-driven” but which they canlower if they need to declare victorywhen the campaign is over.

In “My Fair Lady,” Henry Higgins lam -ents, “There even are places where Eng-lish completely disappears; in Americathey haven’t used it for years.”

Let us vow, in fundraising, in 2015, tospeak from the heart and mind, not thesound-byte. NPT

Rick Christ is vice president for digitalfundraising (not “e-fundraising) at Amer -gent in Peabody, Mass. His native lan-guage is New York, but he now lives inVirginia and has been working on an Ap-palachian twang for the past 18 years. Helives digitally @FundraisingRick

Thought Leadership?Retiring words and phrases that have lost their buzz

RICK CHRISTCOMMENTARY

‘‘There even areplaces whereEnglish completelydisappears; inAmerica theyhaven't used itfor years. --Henry Higgins


Published by The NonProfit Times, inconjunction with Bluewater NonprofitSolutions, the newly released 2014Nonprofit Organizations Salary andBenefits Report provides current salaryinformation on 236 nonprofit positionsfrom entry level to the executive office –including detailed trend data for 2014 –and complete data on 94 employee ben-efit offerings including healthcare, re-tirement, executive perks, vacation, andmuch more.

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•january 1 2015 npt layout 1 12/16/14 2:42 pm page 1 the ...€¦ · “a viral campaign is a...

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