How time flies!

We are celebrating a milestone anniversarythis year at KCI. For 30 years, we have hadthe honour and privilege of working withthousands of organizations across Canada,helping them to tackle their most difficultchallenges, achieve their loftiest goals andmake our collective dream of better com-munities and improved lives a reality.

Over this time, we have had the chance towork with an incredible group of clientsfrom coast to coast to coast - clients whoask us tough questions that push our think-ing…and who also share observations andideas that help to shape that thinking. In ad-dition, we have the chance to speak to hun-dreds of volunteers and donors every yearthanks to the projects we work on. With thehelp of these inputs, we have enjoyed ex-ploring and writing about the issues that are

important to you as leaders in the sectorthrough our Philanthropic Trends publication.

To celebrate our 30th anniversary, wepulled together the “Top 30” Trends articlesfrom throughout the years and put theminto a special compilation entitled 30[4]30.In creating the book, we had the chance to“walk down memory lane”, an activity thatwas interesting and fun. It was fascinatingto see what was on our minds as a sectorand profession at different times in the past and to reflect on how things havechanged…as well as how they have stayedthe same.

It also reminded us how fortunate we are to have support from our Trends AdvisoryBoard, a group of senior leaders in the sec-tor who help shape the direction ofPhilanthropic Trends and who share deeplyvalued insights about the topics that are

explored in its pages. The book gives us theopportunity to acknowledge, thank andcelebrate all our Trends Advisory Boardmembers, past and present, for their assis-tance and thought leadership throughoutthe years.

They say that “time flies when you are hav-ing fun” and that certainly has been thecase for us here at KCI. I hope you enjoy thisspecial 30th Anniversary edition of Philan-thropic Trends Quarterly in which we high-light some of the articles included in30[4]30… as well as share a few thoughtsabout what the future may hold.

Already looking forward to ‘60[4]60’…! !

Marnie SpearsPresident and CEO

Special Edition

T H E 3 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y I S S U E

SUMMER 20142

To say that a lot has changed since1984 feels like an understatement.To illustrate just how different the

world is today, consider that in 1984 the average house price in Toronto was$96,000, the first Apple computer wasgoing on the market and Sony andPhillips were introducing the very latestin audio technology – the CD player!

The world of fundraising and philan-thropy, too, has changed significantly. Innumeric terms, there were about 60,000registered charities in Canada in 1984compared with well over 85,000 today, an increase of 42%. And according toStatistics Canada, 3.9 million Canadiantaxfilers (25.7%) claimed charitable dona-tions in 1984 totalling $1.8 billion with anaverage donation of $458. Fast forwardto 2012, the latest year for which data isavailable, and we see that total giving has

increased to $8.3 billion, the number ofdonors has grown to 5.7 million and theaverage gift sits at $1,482.

And we see evidence of change not onlyin terms of numbers but also in terms ofhow the sector and organizations in ithave evolved, becoming more sophisti-cated and mature in response to what isan increasingly competitive landscapewhen it comes to fundraising.

Organizational Health

In that highly competitive fundraisingmarketplace, the health and vitality of theorganization is paramount. And one ofthe most enduring elements of a healthyfundraising organization is a strong cul-ture of philanthropy.

First explored in depth in the pages of

Trends in 2006, it continues to endure asone of the most critical elements of anyfundraising organization, as charities thatsuccessfully embed philanthropy into allaspects of their organizations are morelikely to succeed and achieve sustainedexcellence in fundraising results.

When building a strong culture of philan-thropy, there are several characteristicson which organizations should focus.First and foremost, the role of philanthro-py in achieving the mission must be wellunderstood by all in the organization,particularly senior leadership. Tied to thisis the notion that development must berecognized as a core function, with allstaff and volunteers understanding thatthey play a role in raising funds. Ac-countability must be deeply engrainedthroughout the organization and beunderstood and valued as more than a

SUMMER 2014 3

technical or regulatory requirement. Andfinally, donors must be seen as key part-ners in the organization, valued as muchfor their financial contributions as for allelse they can bring to the table.

While this focus on building a strong androbust culture of philanthropy continuesto be directed by these guidepostsalmost a decade later, the approach tostrategy development is evolving, as wediscovered in our Strategy Issue (Issue 4,2013). Strategic planning as an episodicundertaking is no longer as popular as itonce was. Because things are changingall the time, there is a need to take adynamic approach to setting and refresh-ing organizational strategy. As a result,organizations are choosing to undertake“strategic conversations” on an ongoingbasis and teaching people to think strate-gically every day.

What hasn’t changed is that strategy con-tinues to be fundamentally about threethings – understanding where you arenow, establishing where you want to be,and determining what you will need toget there. Depending on scope and cir-cumstances, this guide can be applied atany level in the organization – from themacro of setting overall strategy for theorganization to the micro of setting strat-egy to move a prospective donor to amajor gift…and everywhere in between.

Another article that made it into our30[4]30 “best of” compilation is the issueabout cost of fundraising (Issue 3, 2009).We have explored this topic in depthnumerous times over the years and, sadlyperhaps, it continues to be an importanttopic in the sector today. Looking on thebright side however, it also falls into thecategory of “we can’t change it if we don’ttalk about it”, so the fact that it is still part of the conversation is most definite-ly a positive.

In a nutshell, this issue boils down to edu-cate, educate, educate. We need to helpall stakeholders in the sector understandour reality when it comes to the cost offundraising – government, donors, thegeneral public…even our boards. All ofus in the sector need to get behind andconstantly reinforce three key messagesrelated to cost of fundraising: 1) there isno “right number”, as an organization’scost of fundraising is highly dependenton numerous factors; 2) while an impor-tant metric, it shouldn’t be the only met-ric by which an organization’s worthinessis judged; and 3) less doesn’t necessarilymean better, as fully assessing a charity’sworth requires information about its out-puts, outcomes and impact.

Team and Talent

“The challenges of recruiting, retainingand managing talent are consistentlyidentified among the top managementissues facing non-profit organizations inCanada.” This statement was made in ourSpring 2007 edition, and is just as appli-cable in 2014. In the increasingly sophis-ticated and competitive Canadian philan-thropic marketplace, talent managementis only growing in importance.

Turnover has long been an issue in non-profit organizations, particularly relatedto development staff. Recognizing thatas fundraisers we are in the “relationshipbusiness”, it goes without saying that it is

an issue of significant concern – tough tobuild deep, long lasting relationshipswith our donors when the prime keepersof those relationships keep changing.While we discovered in our edition onretention (Issue 3, 2013) that this issue isnot unique to the non-profit sector (theVP Sales position in the for profit sector,one that is similar to the scope of thechief development role, has an averagetenure of between 24 and 32 months), itbehooves us to ask why the issue is sopersistent and what can we do about it.

Among numerous other suggestions andideas, one concept that is beginning totake hold is to “mindshift” our thinkingrelated to our talent and the HumanResource function. We need to start think-ing about employees as assets and aboutHR as a strategic function in our organiza-tions which certainly doesn’t mean thateveryone should hire an HR professional.What it does mean, though, is that every-one in a leadership role needs to learn andunderstand some fundamentals of orga-nizational behaviour, human psychologyand how to strategically leverage talent.

Managing performance to achieve de-sired results and building strong teamsgo hand-in-hand. And so another topicthat has gained significant interest inrecent years is developing robust per-formance management programs thatmeasure progress against goals andmotivate staff. As described in our Spring2007 edition, the best guide in develop-ing performance management programscontinues to be the 4C’s: 1) Collect –determine key result areas and associat-ed measures from long term strategies; 2) Create – develop performance meas-ures based on key areas; 3) Connect –connect measures to the daily life of theorganization by creating appropriatetools and reports; and 4) Confirm – peri-odically assess the effectiveness of meas-ures and revise as appropriate.

“ “

We need to help all stake-holders in the sector under-stand our reality when itcomes to cost of fundrais-ing – government donors,the general public....evenour boards.

Issue 3, 2009

SUMMER 20144

Core Fundraising

Of course, no compilation of top articlesfrom Philanthropic Trends would becomplete without an exploration of thefundamentals of fundraising, startingwith perhaps the most important ele-ment – our donors.

Donor behavior has changed significantlyover the years – they want more involve-ment, more information, more detail,more impact and more choice, even atthe level of modest gifts than ever before.As society changes, so too, it would seemdo our donors - what they want from us,how they behave.

One of the key takeaways from our explo-ration of donors (Issue 3, 2012) is the needto better segment and target, somethingthat can only be achieved by doing a bet-ter job of listening. Gone are the dayswhen it’s enough to categorize our donorsby gift size and giving method (i.e. the“$100 direct mail donor”).

A final look back

The last section of 30[4]30 may be themost fun and interesting read of all! Thissection takes readers back throughthinking since we started publishing inthe late 1990’s. Have a look and see ifyou can correctly match the statementsdescribed below with the year in whichthey appeared in Philanthropic Trends!

1. An essential factor in the flourishingof Canadian philanthropy are significantchanges in tax policy, beginning withthe reduction of the capital gains ongifts of publicly traded securities.

2. An increasing number of Canadiansare choosing to establish foundations asa vehicle for their personal giving. As well,donor advised funds have become a sig-nificant force in American philanthropyand are beginning to surface in Canada.

3. A new definition and two recent pollsare broadening the corporate definitionof “social responsibility” to include morethan philanthropy. The Center for Cor-porate Community Relations at BostonCollege declared corporate citizenshipto be “about companies acting as economic and social assets to the com-munities they impact by integratingsocietal interests with other core busi-ness interests.”

4. “Catalytic philanthropy” (a termcoined by the Stanford Social InnovationReview) is emerging, and sees fundersbecoming implicated in the creationand delivery of the solution to a prob-lem rather than passively providingfunding.

5. Today’s donors and volunteers areasking hard questions and demandingmeasurable outcomes of their charitiesand those who manage them.

6. Emerging technology is providingnew tools for the fundraising arsenaland many organizations are exploringthe opportunities associated with newtechnological applications.

7. According to sector opinion leaders,some charities are testing the value ofcontinuing major gift programs as areplacement for special campaigns. In aspecial survey for Philanthropic Trends,results show there is a place for com-bined strategies.

8. The largest cash gift in Canadian his-tory made headlines across the countrylast year. Michael DeGroote’s extraordi-nary gift of $105 million to name theSchool of Medicine at McMaster Univer-sity was heralded as not only a landmark

for the University and Hamilton, but forall of Canada.

9. Stewardship and donor relationsbecoming more of a focus and it hasbecome the norm for organizations tohave full-time stewardship staff on theirdevelopment teams.

10. In tandem with Canadian philan-thropy flourishing, charities have begunto encounter a more sophisticated cadreof donors who seek evidence of out-comes, are likely to designate their giftsand are on the lookout to leverage theirgiving through matching dollars.

11. Successful development functionsare facilitating collaboration and com-munication among all fundraising pro-gram areas, and challenging develop-ment officers to familiarize themselveswith (and to promote) all aspects of giv-ing, including planned giving.

12. The alignment of corporate givingwith strategic business interests contin-ues to be an important trend and thepractice of establishing a donations policy with a clear focus has become the norm.

1. 20072. 2004 3. 20014. 20105. 20016. 20107.20018. 20049. 200710.2007 11. 200112. 2004

Answer Key

SUMMER 2014 5

Organizations now need to be muchmore sophisticated than that, findingways to relate to donors as people. This isthe spot where ”big data” and analytics isfinding relevance in the world of philan-thropy and fundraising. Gathering dataabout donors and then using that infor-mation to help us better build relation-ships with them is a requirement bothnow and into the future.

We have also seen some significant shiftsin the needs and behaviours of our cor-porate donors, as highlighted in Issue 4,2011. While the corporate sector contin-ues to be a key partner of the charitablesector in all ways, including as a key fun-der, giving from corporations has evolved(and is continuing to evolve) significantly.Some of the key trends we noted at thetime were greater alignment betweencommunity relationships and businessstrategies, the desire for corporations tolook for relationships that go beyond thedollars to include ways their employeescan be involved in the community and agrowing interest in funding issues asopposed to specific organizations.

No exploration of fundraising would becomplete without a look at another groupof key partners – our volunteers. In factIssue 3, 2010, which explored this topicin-depth, was introduced by the followingstatement: “We must never lose sight of thefact that volunteers are not an interrup-tion of our work, but rather our partners inaccomplishing it.” And sure enough, thatedition revealed that volunteers continueto be critical components of the workthat we do, but that like most areas relat-ed to fundraising, times are changing.Key findings from this edition illustratedthat no matter at what level (board, cam-paign cabinet, fundraising committees)no one size fits all, roles must be clearlydefined and that to get the best from ourvolunteers, we must invest time and re-sources to supporting them in their work.

In Issue 1, 2013, we turned our attentionto the topic of campaigns. We noted thatnot so long ago there was debate aboutwhether campaigns would become athing of the past. But as we discovered,not only are they alive, but thriving.Whether a $1 Billion campaign for a uni-versity or $500,000 campaign for thelocal community centre, campaigns con-tinue to be very relevant and effectiveways to raise funds.

But, they are evolving and dare we say,becoming more sophisticated in ap-

proach. This increasing sophistication isparticularly evident when it comes to cam-paign planning. In the “old days”, prepar-ing for a campaign was often as simple as putting together the case for supportand testing it through a feasibility study.Today, that planning is much more rig-ourous and complex, involving a combi-nation of assessing internal readiness,creating the “product” or case and testingthe external marketplace.

Emerging Opportunities and Tough Times

While the topics described in our “CoreFundraising” section of 30[4]30 have manyelements of innovation, they certainly fallinto the category of the more “tradition-al” components of the fundraising mix. A number of areas of opportunity relatedto fundraising are emerging, whetherthey be new technologies (Issue 2, 2010),new sources of funding (Issue 2, 2013) ormid-level giving (Issue 2, 2012).

“ “We must never lose sight ofthe fact that volunteers arenot an interruption of ourwork, but rather our part-ners in accomplishing it.

Issue 3, 2010

Collage featuring illustrations by Timothy Cook and Doug Ross

And as the makeup of the Canadian pop-ulation shifts, there is a need and oppor-tunity to find ways to engage people ofincreasingly diverse ethnic and culturalbackgrounds in our organizations. Weexplored this topic in Issue 2, 2011 anddiscovered a lot of misunderstanding,confusion – and downright fear – whenattempting to reach out to sizeable com-munity ethnic groups. Tending to thinkthere must be some “magic bullet” or pre-cise rule book, many organizations didnot know where to start, which combinedwith the fear of making a mistake, pre-vented many from going forward.

The good news is that we discovered weknow more than we think; there are farmore similarities in fundraising withindiverse ethnic groups than differences.Essentially, fundraising in ethnic commu-nities is based on linkage and interest.

How relevant is your organization to thatcommunity? And can you find linkages to it? Once you’ve answered these ques-tions, the guiding fundraising principlesare identical to fundraising from anygroup of prospective donors: build therelationship and the money will follow.

In addition to responding to emergingopportunities, we also discovered thatnavigating tough times is a wonderfulopportunity to learn, grow and improveour resiliency as organizations. Whetherit was 9/11 or the Great Recession, we dis-covered that challenging events force usas organizations to take a good hard lookat ourselves – at what works during timesof “business as usual” and what changeswe need to make during times of “busi-ness as unusual”. Serving as catalysts forreview, reflection and assessment, crisescommonly lead to positive change andinnovation by forcing us to re-evaluatepriorities, question assumptions and de-construct processes. And, those who seizethe opportunity and do it well generallyemerge stronger and wiser as a result.(Issue 1, 2009)

We’ve also learned how best to interactwith donors and other stakeholders dur-ing times of volatility and uncertainty.Just as staying invested for the long-term is universally understood as theright strategy for investors during un-certain times, staying active� in buildingrelationships with donors is the rightstrategy for charities during these timesas well. And rather than putting efforts on hold, it’s important to be strategic with fundraising efforts and to ramp upstewardship and cultivation efforts. Whensituations stabilize, as they always do, thisapproach pays dividends as donors andprospects will be ready to contribute.(Fall, 2008)

So in navigating tough times, it is criticalto remain focused and avoid distraction,to communicate often with externalstakeholders such as donors and pros-pects, to stay on mission and not losesight of who you are and the value youprovide. And finally, don’t forsake thelong term for the short term.

“ “

Challenging events force usas organizations to take agood hard look at ourselves -at what works during timesof “business as usual”and what changes we needto make during times of

“business as unusual”.

Issue 1, 2009

SUMMER 20146

Collage featuring illustrations by Timothy Cook and Doug Ross

SUMMER 2014 7

Marnie A. SpearsPresident and CEO

Nicole NakoneshnyVice President and Editor,Philanthropic Trends Quarterly

Philanthropic Trends Quarterly© is published by KCI.Unauthorized reproduction or distribution without attributionis prohibited. Philanthropic Trends Quarterly© is intended toprovide an anecdotal ‘snapshot’ of philanthropy in Canada.We hope it will serve as a useful overview for observers of thecharitable and nonprofit scene.

Aussi disponible en français. Illustrations by Rocco Baviera.

214 KING STREET WEST, SUITE 508, TORONTO, ON M5H 3S6 t: 416.340.9710 f: 416.340.9755 e: toronto@kciphilanthropy.com www.forwardthinkingKCI.comT O R O N T O O T T AWA M O N T R E A L C A L G A R Y V A N C O U V E R H A L I F A X E D M O N T O N

A look ahead – what the future may bring?

While we anticipate the amplification ofsome of the key trends that have beenemerging over the past decade, we alsobelieve that we are entering a period ofsignificant transformation. And whilethere will undoubtedly be challenges,we believe that “opportunity” is the bestway to describe many of the changesthat we are anticipating.

1. Emergence of The Digital Age –Consider the following signposts thatwe are now living in what can best becharacterized as The Digital Age: Theaverage washing machine today hasmore computing power than NASA usedin its Apollo 11 mission in 1969. More textmessages are sent each day than thepopulation of the planet. 100 hours ofvideo are uploaded to YouTube everyminute. The volume and pace of techno-logical change and innovation in theworld today is staggering, with implica-tions reaching into every aspect of ourdaily lives, including how we interactwith and give to charities.

2. The Next Generation – While it cansafely be said that each generation is dif-ferent from the ones that came before it,the impact of the Millenial Generation isexpected to be significant and far reach-ing. Tech savvy, impatient and used tobeing able to choose, their emergenceinto adulthood will have impact on charities from donor and employee perspectives.

3. Shifting views of Major Donors – Thetrend of major donors becoming more“deliberate, discerning and demanding”is expected to amplify. Greater expecta-tions and the desire for more details andinformation should be anticipated whenworking with donors who make signifi-cant investments.

4. Institutional Impatience – For betteror worse, we now live in a world thatwants immediate gratification andresponse and where the time horizonsfor results are shorter than they used tobe. This pressure to raise more money inshorter periods of time can sometimesoverlook that the organization’s rela-tionships and readiness for what isexpected just isn’t there yet. Best toaddress the issue head on. To determinewhat should be realistic expectations,facts speak so analyze programs, do apipeline analysis and educate your staffand volunteer leadership.

5. Reacquiring your AcquisitionStrategy. “Fewer donors giving more”has been a universal and constanttheme for many years now. We havereached a critical point where it is imper-ative for a concerted effort to be madeto reverse that trend. As a result, it istime to make acquisition a priority andto tackle it differently than in the past.We need to think of it like “businessdevelopment”, applying a holistic strate-gy to acquisition that goes beyond the

acquisition mailing in the direct mailprogram.

6. Relentless commitment to Steward-ship – Tied to an enhanced acquisitionstrategy is a relentless commitment tostewardship in order to retain donorsonce you have acquired them. Onceconsidered a “nice to have”, stewardshipmust be viewed (and resourced) in away that acknowledges it as a core function.

7. Mass Customization – One emergingtrend in consumer behaviour that chari-ties are going to have to come to gripswith is the desire to customize every-thing to specific needs and tastes – fromcars to clothes to media consumption.Expect this behaviour to spill over intohow individuals will want to make giftsto charities.

8. Your People Plan –Organizations thathave a focus on talent development and management will have a strategicadvantage in the future. As fundraisingorganizations, we work in a “relationshipbusiness” where relationship buildingand strategic thinking are the flywheelsand advantage comes from having thebest people to do the best work. Thoseorganizations that invest in developingand retaining the best people will be theones that will have a real competitiveadvantage.

Cover image featuring illustrations from past issues by Mark Airs, Steve Adams, Rocco Baviera, Timothy Cook, Jim Frazier, Marie Lafrance and Doug Ross.